The Time Traveler's Wife - The Other Side

The Dimwit Squad

May 2019

"Hey, Carm, have you seen the-- AH!" Laura yelps, grabbing her chest.

Carmilla comes running in, worried. "Laura? What is i--" She jumps as she finds what surprised her. "Oh."

Past Carmilla turns, confused and naked. "Uhm. Hi."

"April 2017, huh?" Carmilla asks, amused. "Had a little trip to see our creampuff back in November 2001?"

Past Carmilla nods, still slightly disoriented. Laura leaves the room and returns with some clothes for her, which she takes gratefully.

"Oh, isn't that when I gave you that note telling you to propose to me?" Laura laughs at the memory, which seems even more bizarre now.

"Yep," Past Carmilla replies. "Every time I think our lives and timelines can't get any more bizarre..."

"Tell me about it," Laura comments. "The last time a Further Past You popped up, we'd just had our first kiss. You had told me to freak Past You out so we'd have that heart to heart in the park, and I honestly think she peed herself a little in our living room."

Carmilla chuckles and leaves, coming back into the dining room with three mugs of hot cocoa. "What were you calling me for?" she asks Laura.

"Oh, I was wondering if you've seen my latest notepad for the whole Goat Kidnapping case," Laura replies, taking a sip.

"You left it out on the bedroom balcony when you were working last night, babe," Carmilla replies.

Laura's eyes widen. "Oh! Right."

Past Carmilla is fully dressed and walking around the house now, taking it all in. They give her some space, watching in amusement.

"Wanna see the upstairs, too?" Laura asks when Past Carmilla seems to have done her full tour downstairs.

"Sure," Past Carmilla says, drinking her hot chocolate.

Laura and Carmilla take her upstairs and Laura grabs her notepad from her chair on the balcony.

"So, someone's kidnapping goats?" Past Carmilla asks, looking out of the balcony.

Laura laughs. "No. It's some creep wearing a goat mask who's been taking girls for years. I made a pun about it to my boss and she made me say it on air and ever since then the public ran with it." She sighs. "Recently he's started physically harming his victims. I think he's getting restless and is about to slip up."

Her eyes widen.

"Oh, well now I see why you were so freaked out by how dangerous it was for me to pursue this," she says to Carmilla.

Carmilla gives her a pointed look. "Uh huh." She looks at her past self. "Let's not bombard her with our problems, shall we? This gal has a proposal to plan."

Past Carmilla gulps. "Yeah, so I... I guess I did actually propose? Or did we not get married and just moved into a house together?"

"Oh, there was a proposal, alright," Laura laughs and walks back to the bedroom, heading for the cardboard box with the old photo album and videos.

She opens it and roots around before pulling out a sheet of paper.

""Hi, Past Me. I know we've taken a firm stance against spoilers in the past. But every iteration of us have all seemed to agree that this one little spoiler is fine, because it'll give us the nudge we need. Propose. Propose, but do it when it feels right. You're gonna need to go back to the bookshare and find a copy of Worthy of Trust and Confidence, by Kara A. McLeod. Pretty sure you can figure out what to do from there. It's what we've always done and what we'll always do because, no matter where or when, this is the only person who will always be your home. She'll always be your reason to stay. She'll always be the place you travel back to. We've known that, we've always known that. You're scared reading this. You're gonna be scared doing it, too. But she'll be there for you, as she always is, to build you up and show you how strong you can be. So... Propose. Yours, Future You."