The Ripple Effect (13/16) by: Ina-chan It came so suddenly that it almost felt like a physical blow... He pushed the offending stool that failed to give him the support he suddenly needed when the unexpected quake pulled the floor from under his feet. "Is everyone okay?" Meg's voice called out before the very same words exited his mouth. The chorus of positive replies gave him the luxury of relief . Meg's head popped over the lab table and peered down on him. He wasn't sure if he hit his head in the process and that he was imagining it, but for a split second, he was positive that there was a look of disappointment in her eyes, "Damn, he's consci--er... I mean, you okay Ben?" "Yes," The young man replied as he got on his feet and rubbed the sore spot on his arm. He gave his co-worker a leveled look, "Thank you for your obvious concern for my well-being. Now, can you please explain what the hell is going on here?" "That last one was extremely bad," Charles Wallace suddenly commented in a grave tone "I'd say somewhere between a six and a seven in the Richter," Meg added, delighted with the opportunity to stall her colleague's demand, "From the looks of the condition of the lab... I'd hate to take a looksee outside." "What does it mean?" Jessie asked worriedly Charles Wallace swept a reluctant glance at the occupants of the room before speaking, "Too many things happened that shouldn't have happened in this particular section of the timeline..." "Charles..." Meg started, trying hard not to glance at the future father and son "This timeline can't support itself anymore..." Benton frowned and tapped his fingers on the table impatiently, "Hello. I'm still waiting for an explanation here." "We might as well tell him something," Hadji said quietly Benton eyed his colleague and pointed at the Indian boy, "I thought you said he can't speak English." Meg sighed. "Benton... For various reasons, but primarily, your well being... We can't tell you everything..." Charles Wallace began as he gave an anxious glance to the uncharacteristically quiet and passive blonde boy , "This is going to sound very strange...but do you remember Father's theory on the Tesseract?" *** Her instincts told her... more like... SCREAMED at her to run. She probably would have... until she saw her eyes. They were frightened eyes. As if trying hard to fight the warding fear of panic. Probably a reflection of her own... only the other woman's had a touch of... sadness. "Are you all right?" Rachel asked the woman as she braced the stranger from teetering due to the struggle between quick passing unrest of the ground and the load in her arms. A movement caught her attention. Rachel glanced down and was met by another pair, only these ones were obviously struggling against the weight brought by the hour past his bedtime. For some weird reason, her heart suddenly started to pound faster. The stranger steadied the small child with one hand while balancing her umbrella in the other while glancing around them nervously, "I think it will be best if we go somewhere else." Rachel nodded, "Do you need help?" "Thank you," The woman replied gratefully as she let younger woman take the child from her arms. The little boy started to squirm in protest, "It's okay Baby. " For a moment, it seemed that the boy was about to start a big fuss. A long yawn, however, over powered his efforts. And despite the instinctive distrust children his age has for strangers, he curled up on the young woman's shoulders and gave in to the call of slumber. "How old is he?" Rachel asked "Seven. He's turning eight in a few weeks," The woman replied, "He's pretty small for his age." "He's deceptively heavy for his size too, "Rachel murmured absently. But despite that, holding this child in her arms gave her this... 'feeling'... how strange. The two women walked in the rain silence, both lost in their thoughts. Rachel has always been overly fond of children... but for some strange reason, she felt that there was something particularly... unique... about this one. She studied the boy's mother from the corner of her eye. Her defining features, save for her eyes, were hidden underneath the hood of her rain gear. With the way she kept surveying their surroundings, it doesn't take to be a Benton Quest to figure out that this mother and child aren't out for a pleasant walk in the rain. She made an involuntary stop as she felt heat started to rise up in her cheeks. Why the heck did she suddenly thought of him like that? She looked at her companion and was relieved to see that the older woman seemed too preoccupied with her own thoughts to notice her. She nonchalantly pretended to focus her attention and interest to the parked dark sedan across the street as she hurried to catch up with the other woman. "You looked a bit lost." Rachel glanced at the other woman with a start, "Pardon?" "Back there," The older woman clarified, "You looked like you were lost. Are you a tourist?" "Y-yeah. I guess you can say that." The woman's eyes softened, "I can relate. We're somewhat tourists here too..." "So you're trying to find your way back to the hotel?" The woman looked at her uncertainly. She fiddled with the handle of her umbrella and looked down on the ground guiltily, "Actually... I have a more selfish motive when I first saw you. I really don't want you to get involved in this, but..." She glanced at the sleeping boy before looking back at the younger woman, "I'm desperate." "Desperate?" "I can't tell you all the details," She replied, "I can tell you that I just put you into considerable danger. There are some people after us." Rachel instinctively held the boy in her arms into a tighter protective cocoon, "Why?" "I don't know... it all happened so fast... Right now, I'm concentrating on finding a way to find the people who can help us." The older woman replied tiredly, "When I saw you... I felt... well... I can't really explain it... But I felt like I could trust you. I'm not really a strong believer of fate... but it felt like something was guiding me to you. You probably think I'm some kind of crackpot or something." "You can't fight destiny," Rachel stated absently The older woman looked at her in surprise. Rachel made a small nervous laugh, "Uhh... Its just something someone I know mentioned to me." The woman simply nodded, but from what Rachel can gather, she could tell that the woman was having a form of internal struggle. As if she was trying to pull something out of a distant memory. They stopped at an intersection and waited for the pedestrian lights to give them their signal. The woman surveyed their surroundings once again. Then she turned her head back on front stiffly and looked ahead as she instinctively touched the sleeping child with her free hand, "Did you notice a sedan behind us a while ago." Rachel's own thoughts raced as the taste of fear started to filter into her senses, "There was an empty one parked way back." "Well... I'm afraid to say that its not empty. There's a man slowly walking toward us from behind. Don't look," The other woman frowned, "The moment the light changes, I want you to run across the street as fast as you can. I'll draw him away from you. I'm the one they're after, so he won't come after you." "What about---?" Rachel stammered in a frightened voice "Don't worry about me. Go to the Royal York Plaza, find a man named Phil Corven. If you can, find Be---" "Mommy?" The little boy stirred awake, as if sensing their impending separation The woman swore under breath, "Mommy's going to go somewhere for a while, sweetheart. You stay with the nice lady and she'll bring you to Daddy. I'll see you in a little while, okay?" "NO!" The boy wailed as he suddenly struggled violently against the young woman's grasp. Rachel staggered against the child's sudden burst of energy, but miraculously managed to put the boy down on the ground safely. "Jonathan, don't argue with me," His mother said sternly The boy stopped uncertainly, "But Daddy said..." "I know what Daddy said, "She replied in a gentler manner, "But its just going to be for a little while. I'll see you back in the hotel, and then we'll make a drawing of our adventure for Daddy over some hot chocolate, okay?" The boy shook his head in protest and tried to suppress a hiccup. The woman reached down and wiped her son's face, "It's okay, Baby. Don't cry. Mommy loves you." She looked at the stoplight and turned to the younger woman. Rachel made a quick glance behind her and saw the figure in the not so far away distance, as if anticipating their action, start to pick up in his speed. She clutched the little boy's hand tightly and stared impatiently at the light. As it turned green. (To be continued) Comments, criticisms, bricks to [email protected]