Date: 06/18/2001
From: SouthernSlider

Good morning, all. Hope your weekend was fabulous. Happy belated Father's Day to all the fathers out there. Hope everyone else had a good day with their dad.
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Chapter Fifteen

Quinn reluctantly returned to the hotel on the professor’s suggestion, knowing in his heart that Maggie would not be there with Remmy and Colin. They waited only a few
minutes for the guys to appear empty-handed, with Quinn’s agitation and worry growing by leaps and bounds with every second.

“No sign, Q-ball,” Remmy said as they approached the pair. “Looks like you had no success either.”

“Yes and no,” Quinn answered. “I found where she’s probably been, but there’s no trace of her now.” He heard Professor Arturo’s low, under-the-breath ‘posh’ as he
explained his answer to Remmy and Colin.

“I was there, man!” Remmy burst out. “And there was no one in the place when I was there, either. But I did think, at the time, I heard voices coming from the back.
When I yelled out, there was nothing but silence. The place was so freakin’ creepy, I left immediately.”

A chill went down his spine as the thoughts of time travel he had entertained earlier surfaced. What if he had, on a wild hair, gone back in time? At least, on these
parallel worlds, he had the company of others in the same situation. If he had time-traveled, he would be all alone and clueless. Just like Maggie if she went through
with it . . . just like Wade now. Remmy closed his eyes, trying to swallow the pain bubbling up from the depths of his soul.

Quinn turned on his heels and raced out the door without a word. The others hurried to catch up to him.

“What now, brother?” Colin asked as they practically ran down the street.

“I’m going back to that store. The answers lie in there somewhere.”

The irritating bell over the door jangled Quinn’s nerves as it rang out. The store was still empty. Now he knew something was going on. No one would leave their store
unoccupied like this unless there was a dire problem. He hurried down the small corridor toward the back.

The locked door he had encountered on his first visit was standing wide open. Peaking inside, there were more shelves with more bottles, a lone chair sitting in the
middle of the small room, and a musty odor. Quinn heaved a disgusted sigh as he looked around. There was nothing -- but that gnawing gut-feeling of his that would indicate
Maggie had been here.

He turned and started to leave when a small glint on the floor caught his eye. He ran to the chair, noticing something on the floor right next to the front leg. Picking it up, a small gold pinkie ring glinted in his fingers.

“I hate to say ‘ I told you so’, Professor, but . . . I told you so. Maggie’s been here.” He held the object up in the air for the others to see. “This is the pinkie ring she bought on the last world. Remember how she carried on about it; and about not being able to wear any jewelry while in the military?”

“That’s right, Q-ball,” said Remmy as he took the small object from Quinn’s fingers to examine it closer. He returned it to Quinn’s palm as he voiced his concern.
“But now what? Why was she in this back room and where is she now?” An eerie silence blanketed them as he waited for Quinn’s answer. There was none. They all swallowed their own explanation of her disappearance in fear. Had she really gone back in time?

***

Maggie struggled against the ropes that held her wrists bound to the chair to no avail. The man knew his knots. She wasn’t going to get out of this without help. <<But
there isn’t going to be any help. They don’t care; and even if they did, they don’t know where to find me. I don’t even know where I am.>> She struggled to keep the tears at bay. <<You aren’t going to turn into a blubbering female at this point, Beckett.>>

“Dammit!” She kicked the chair leg with her heel, in frustration. It brought nothing but pain.

“Now, now, Miss Beckett. Let’s keep a civil tongue in our heads.” The man from the store walked in just as her agitation began to build.

“Oh, I’m just getting warmed up, mister. You’ve never heard some of the words I’ve got stored up to use on you.”

“Well, fortunately for both of us, those words won’t hurt a thing. Go ahead, then; have at it, if you think it will make you feel better.”

Maggie wiggled and grunted against the ropes, cursing a blue streak and more as the man became amused at her plight. It made her all the more angry and frustrated as he
leaned, nonchalantly, against the desk with folded arms and watched her squirm. She pressed her lips together and fumed, refusing to provide entertainment for him any
further. Forcing herself to push all that anger to fathomless depths, she took a deep breath and willed calmness to the surface.

When the man saw she was through with her little tirade, he pushed himself away from the desk and went to the other side to sit down. Leaning back in the large chair, he
stared at her several moments, his fingers drumming on his lips and chin as he contemplated his next move. Maggie continued to push her emotions away.

“I must confess, Miss Beckett, none of my insiders know what to make of you. We usually can find out government information rather quickly around here, but you have
us stumped.”

“That’s because there’s nothing to find out,” she said. She almost kept silent, but decided if she talked calmly, she could pump the man for her own information. She was
the only one that could get her out of this situation. Stubborn pride couldn’t get in the way. “You know, you might make more head-way if you give me a little information. Why did you get so all-fired, bent-out-of-shape just because I wanted to go back in time for a few minutes? That’s what your shop does, doesn’t it -- take people back in time?”

The man’s eyes squinted at her proposal, studying her intently, fingers still playing at his chin. He sat up suddenly, and rested his elbows on the desk, hands clasped
together.

“You really have no clue, do you, Miss Beckett?”
---------------------------------------

SS

Oh, do tell!!

Date: 06/18/2001
From: DieselMickeyDolenz

This ought to be good. What could be so bad about going back in time for just a few minutes? What could be so horrible that this man would willingly spend hours with Maggie Beckett?

DMD

I know a few...

Date: 06/18/2001
From: Missye

Marines and I know the way they speak sometimes. I'm surprized that the show didn't have Maggie cussing fire sometimes. I can't wait to read more.
Missye

Original URL http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/1095/3458
Nominated by DieselMickeyDolenz