Driving through the city...
"Are you sure you're okay, Jay?"
"Yeah. It's just weird having memories pop up like that —when you were talking about your mom."
"It scares me. I'm on edge not knowing what's going to deposit itself into my memory banks."
Silence.
They near their destination...
"Jay, I don't know if I'm ready for this."
They pull up.
They sit.
They wait.
"I can't—,"
"Anet." hand on hers. "You can."
Just as she begins to muster her courage...
The front door opens.
"Anet?"
The familiar voice, the familiar face, sends a wave of emotions.
"Mom." she breathes. Seeing her mother alive, gliding across the walkway, Anet moves quick. "Mom!" she sprints the remaining distance into mother's open arms.
"Oh, Anet! You were gone so long, I didn't know when I was going to see you!"
Anet laughs through her tears. "I, uh, didn't think I'd ever see you again." arms tighten the embrace.
Lauren looks into her daughter's eyes. Wipes her tears. "Oh, my little girl!" Searching, she brushes a tear. That soft smile Anet had far too long missed. "It's been so lonely without you; I don't think I'll ever let you leave again."
~•~
Jay didn't stay long. Mrs. Lauren Peters
thanked him for bringing her home safe before embracing him as well.
Anet needed to be alone with her mother.
He drives back into the heart of the city... Maggio Tower shining in the distance.
Jay's homecoming won't be as emotional as Anet and Mrs. Peters'. He'd been in the past for a week, but only a few hours in present time. Then he and Anet had been out of the city only a few days.
"Giacomo Lorenzo Maggio!"
A repulsive twinge curls around his intestines at the sound of his middle name.
"What do you mean by running off like that for days without answering your phone!?" his mother's arms cross, awaiting his explanation.
"I... was with Anet."
"You found her." his father. Perry Torelli-Maggio.
"Ugh. That girl!" Trini shakes her head, derisive. "She runs off after your engagement without a word—for six months! Who does that?"
"The girl got cold feet," Perry says. "But our boy knows how to warm her up." chuckle.
"She was gone for six months, Perry. Six. Months."
"Trini." he fixes his wife with that eye Jay knows too well. If anyone believes Perry Torelli-Maggio to be a teddy bear, then they didn't know him at all. Anet's new memory of him sharing cookies and cocoa meant not even Anet knew— or, was supposed to know? GOD! Time travel!
"She's back with you, son?"
"Yes, sir."
"She happy to be back?"
"She is."
"Good. That's good, son. Don't let her go again."
"I won't,"
YOU ARE READING
Through Time Again
Science Fiction((SEQUEL to Through Time She Came)) "Our family was always important to the Maggios, Anet. In your timeline, we had managed to stay well-hidden. Something changed and brought us back out into the game." 2010 is not how she left it. The Maggio and th...
