Time Traveling 101 - ONC24

8 - Zorion

Zorion stared at the ceiling of Cinzia's bedroom, wondering what he was doing. A week had gone by and he had spent most of it with Cinzia. At least when she wasn't working.

But now he had to get back to his job and leave her.

A part of him regretted having to leave but this was a fling. It was going to come to an end and this was the end now. For him and Cinzia.

He would get back time traveling while Cinzia went back to her life. She would meet someone else, settle down and eventually die.

The thought made his heart ache but before he could think about it, his phone suddenly buzzed. Zorion sat up from the bed, carefully not to wake a sleeping Cinzia.

He grabbed his phone off the nightstand, looking to see that the caller I.D. was Grace. Zorion instantly answered it, knowing that for whatever reason Grace was calling him, it was important.

She would never call early or when someone was on vacation.

"Hey Grace." Zorion said in a low tone.

"Zorion." Grace greeted back. "Sorry for the sudden call but I need you back in the field."

Zorion glanced at Cinzia making sure she was asleep before he said, "What about the time machine. It still has a few hours to fully charge."

"Don't worry about that. It's a quick trip to 2276." Grace stated. "I need you to stop a hit and collect some documents from Martha."

Zorion stilled at the words. He only did observation work, not field work stopping Tempus hits. Besides, the 22th century was John's derestriction. Then he suddenly remembered John's wife was pregnant.

"Did Maria..." Zorion started.

Grace knowing what he was asking, responded, "Yes. She went into early labor last night. The baby's fine but John's off the job now and I don't have anyone to spare."

"Except me." Zorion finished.

"Exactly." Grace said before pausing for a moment. "Also the packet Martha is giving you is sensitive. You're the only person I can trust to bring them to me safely."

Zorion didn't like her tone despite being glad to know Grace could trust him. Needing him to take over another agent's job was one thing but getting sensitive documents was another.

There were special agents for that and if Grace didn't trust them...

"Something big is happening isn't it?" Zorion asked.

"Always on the nose." Grace said through the phone. "But you're right. I can't say much but Tempus is moving again."

"They really can't stay quiet." Zorion sighed. "Alright. I'll be on my way."

"Good. I'll send all the information soon." Grace paused again. "Tell Mike I said hi."

"Okay. I will. See you, Grace." Zorion said before hanging up.

He wondered how he was going to give Mike Grace's message. The two hadn't really spoken since the incident with Jordon.

It made Zorion all the more curious about the man but seeing how well it went with Mike, Zorion decided it was best to keep his mouth shut. He didn't need to make the situation worse.

He dropped his phone next to him and sighed, running a hand through his hair. He was going to need to leave but didn't want to wake Cinzia. Still, he couldn't just leave without saying goodbye.

He turned to stare at her, reaching over to tuck a stand of fallen hair behind her ear. She looked so peaceful with a small smile on her face.

Knowing he couldn't wake such a peaceful person, Zorion got up from the bed, heading over to her desk instead. He grabbed some pen and paper before scribbling a note that something had come up.

Once he was done, he grabbed his thing and made his way to the door. Just as he was about to leave, he heard some rustling and turned to see Cinzia waking up.

She gazed at him confused for a moment before frowning. "You're leaving?"

"Yeah. Something came up at work. They need me to grab the next flight." Zorion lied. "I didn't want to wake you so left a note... but seeing as you're awake, I can just tell you directly."

"Oh..." Cinzia was silent for a minute, tightening the bed sheets around her naked body. "Guess this is goodbye then."

"Yeah, this is goodbye." Zorion nodded, heading closer to Cinzia. He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. "Thanks for everything."

"Sure." Cinzia smiled awkwardly as Zorion pulled away. "See you around."

Zorion nodded, not sure if he was ever going to see her again. It was unlikely with his job. Still, he didn't need to tell her that.

"See you around." Zorion said before heading out.

He quickly left the apartment building, dawn approaching as he hurried over to his apartment. When he got inside, he passed Mike without greeting him before heading upstairs to his place.

He swiftly packed his things, a notification on his communication device pinging halfway through his packing. He glanced at it to find Grace had sent him all the information.

From the message, it seemed like Tempus was trying to take out the grandfather of some tech genius who did some work on the spaceships for inter-galaxic space travel.

Shaking his head, Zorion quickly finished up packing before heading over to the charging port. He saw the time machine had a few hours to go, being at 90%.

Still he didn't have time.

Taking it out, Zorion swiftly turned it on before setting the time period and coordinates. Once he was done, a blue, swirling portal appeared before him.

Zorion took a step into it, instantly disappearing along with the portal.