Time Passages (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

29. Previous Engagements, Part One

Freddie

I touched the large round button in the door ever so gently, and watched the panel rise smoothly up over my head, opening up the cabin.  Ah, the future. 

"Shall I come in with you, or wait?" Charles asked.

"Do as you like; this is your actual job after all," I told him.  "Right?  Aren't you a guard or something?"

"Yes," he nodded, but he said no more about it.  "I'll wait here, then, circle around till I see you come out." 

With that I strolled into Preus Hall (ugh, what a perfect name for such a dreadful place), quietly humming the song I'd heard last on Charles's music- and yes, it was more BJ fucking Thomas.  I tell you, the man was stuck in a musical rut.  I made up my mind to ask for something different when I got back into the car; there's a limit to how many times a person can listen to "Raindrops" in a span of twenty-four hours.

That little gnome of a scientist, Dr. K, sat waiting for me by the lift in the lobby, hunched over some sort of nature magazine laying open in his lap. I know that much because there was a picture of a family of lemurs on the page, and Danny had told me lemurs were his favorite animal- which is the reason why I even noticed what kind of magazine K was looking at, otherwise it's unlikely I would have given any sort of damn in the first place.

I stood waiting for him to look up, but the cover story about the bloody monkeys was clearly too enthralling, so finally I trilled, "Hellooooo?"

His head jerked up.  As soon as he saw me, he sprang out of his seat and didn't say one word until we were safe, sound, and beginning our descent.

"Right on time; great job," K told me. 

I shrugged.  "I'm very lucky, Charles was the one who showed up at the house, reminded me I had someplace to be."

It was true; at half-past eight that morning while I was working on that new little song (which was coming along quite nicely now, I might add), Charles simply showed up on the front stoop, said I had an appointment at nine, and I hadn't so much as called him to give him notice. I didn't even know the bloke's last name, yet Charles was basically becoming my temporary personal assistant- and the best part, it was strictly volunteer work.  But even so, I just wish there was some way I could pay him for it without dipping into Julia's own finances.

Absently nodding, K studied me a bit more closely.  "That was a good idea, taking off the mustache.  I almost didn't recognize you myself at first."

Just then, my coat pocket vibrated once.  Frowning, I reached inside, but the only thing inside it was Danny's phone, which he had mistakenly left on the kitchen counter that morning.  I pulled it out to see the little display on the cover say "1 Message: Uncle J."

Hesitantly I opened it up; why, I don't know, by all means I shouldn't have so much as brought the silly thing along in the first place, but there I was, silently reading what was sent to the phone.

It said, "Danny, who is that man in the photo?"

I was of half a mind to respond, say something overt and ridiculous to mess with "Uncle John's" head a little, except I didn't exactly know how to go about it- and asking the sluggish K would likely get me nowhere fast.  So I closed the phone and stuffed it back in my pocket.

The lift doors opened, and there was the quiet, empty hallway. 

"What am I in for today?" I coughed.  "Another zap?"

"One of those- plus a little extra stuff for the sake of progress reports.  Shouldn't take too much time.  You are still taking your pills, aren't you?"