Across the Years (Beymani)

Chapter Nine: My Girl

Omniscient POV

Professor Smith was at the controls of the time machine when Beyoncé hit the recall signal. Just as he had promised her, he widened the wormhole from microscopic size to normal size to get her let up. Then, he sent the basket back down to her. A minute later, he could see it coming back with Beyoncé inside it. However, the young student's usual scowl had been replaced by a look of intense anger.

"So..." Smith started, taking in his employee's heated expression. "You were gone almost the entire night. You had fun... Yes?" he asked, hoping the look Beyoncé was giving him was just a sign of her being overly grouchy, as she often was.

Beyoncé quickly got in Smith's face, narrowing her eyes at him and giving him a hard poke to the chest. "Fun...? Fuck no! You need to check your machine, buddy! It was a bit off."

Smith backed up with a worried look. "Off? How?"

Beyoncé huffed and hardened her jaw. "The date was off by three years and five months! So instead of getting sent to the festival on May 12th, 1937 like I was supposed to, I ended up on October 9th, 1940. The day of the fucking London Blitz, genius! I could've died," Beyoncé ranted. "So no, it wasn't fun! I even witnessed them pulling some poor guy out of the rubble on my way back and he didn't look good. Not to mention how I spent the entire night sleeping, rather uncomfortably might I add, in the corner of an underground station. I'm tired, my back hurts, and I'm hungry as shit on top of all that. So no. Once again, I did not have fun."

Smith's light brown skin turned red as he took a rather nervous sip from the coconut he was holding. "Oh... My. I'm so sorry. I... I need to check the calibration."

Beyoncé nodded and grabbed the bag containing her modern clothes from the corner. "Yeah... You do that," she said in a chilling voice, followed by an equally chilling glare. "I'm gonna change, go home, take a shower, eat, down about fifty aspirin with half a bottle of bourbon, then go to sleep. Bye."

Smith frowned, feeling terrible about his mistake. Not to mention, he was half scared out of his wits. "Uh... Take the next week off with pay while I fix this. Once again, my sincerest apologies, Beyoncé."

Beyoncé simply grunted at him then left the room, slamming the lab's door shut behind her.

For the next week, Beyoncé relaxed and attended her classes as usual. Though her thoughts remained on Normani, she pushed aside any nerves about her eventual trip to the 1800s. Her mission will go as planned. No matter what, Normani's life will be saved.

Beyoncé returned to the lab a week later ready to work. No trips had been planned, so Beyoncé figured she would just run errands, as she normally did.

"So, did you get it fixed?" the employee asked upon returning from the store. "Cause that unnerving buzzing, you know, the sound of a couple hundred German Heinkel bombers headed in my direction, is not one I care to hear again," Beyoncé said abruptly.

Smith straightened up immediately. "Yes. A circuit board function had failed, causing the calibration to drift. I'll need to watch out for that in the future," the professor said sincerely. "I also took the time to install a secondary backup. I feel bad for what I've done, but I've got something that'll hopefully make it up to you. Here, take it," he said, handing Beyoncé a rectangular box.

Beyoncé looked at the box and opened it. Inside was what looked like a small, old ticket. Pulling it out, Beyoncé could see it was a well preserved and unused concert ticket.

"You've mentioned that you like The Temptations a lot. So, I found this on eBay and ordered it for you."

"Hell yeah! They're probably my favorite band," Beyoncé said, bringing the ticket up to her face to read it more closely.