Disclaimer: JQ characters belong to HB & Turner Productions. Charles Wallace
and the idea of the tesseract belongs to Madeleine L'Engle. Characters used
without permission. No $$ made for this venture. Enjoy! ^_^.
Category: Adventure, Episodal, X-over, a touch of Fantasy
Rating: Some language and concepts for mature audiences
Summary:  

The Ripple Effect (4/?)
by: Ina-chan

        A young woman gaped nervously at the edifice before her, as if
uncertain of her next move. She brushed a strand of rich chestnut-auburn
hair from her eyes and took a deep breath as she took another step
forward... only to falter and stop on her tracks... again.  She slumped her
shoulders and sighed. 
        "...As  a token of my appreciation," She added the words she has
been practicing all afternoon out loud
         She scolded herself, 
        She blushed at the thought. 
        "Stop it !" She chided herself out loud with a slap on the forehead.
        The woman looked up longingly at the building. How is it that such a
man that she met for only mere brief  periods of time... a man she barely
knew... a man who was merely being friendly and helpful to a confused
emigrant  in a new world... would stir such... such... "feelings" within
her. She closed her eyes and wished again for the millionth time that she
possessed her roommate's easy going nature.
        What would she do in a situation like this? 
        She would march up hose steps and invite the most fascinating
substitute archeology lecturer in this University to go out for a round of
drinks in the student pub.         "THAT is what you should do," she
instructed herself 
        She narrowed her eyes, straightened her back, and clenched her fists
in determination, "If your father can stand against bull headed politicians,
you can do the simple task of asking a man out... You can do this!"
        With that, the young woman marched her way into the physics
department building...
        ... and was plowed down by a fast moving small figure emerging from
the doors.
        "Hey!" She cried out in surprise as she gripped the little boy's
shoulders, "Watch where you are--"
        "Get out of my way," The child's icy monotone voice cutted in 
        The woman frowned, "Just who do you think---"
        "GET OUT OF MY WAY."
        That's when she finally saw it.
        His eyes.	
        She let go and took a quick step backwards as she nervously watched
the little boy climb back on to his skateboard and ride away.
        She never considered herself as a superstitious person, but the way
that child looked at her... it almost made her believe her mother's silly
midwives tales about curses and evil eyes... His eyes... 
        They were the lightest warmest brown. With a less hostile
expression, even quite pleasant to look at. But at that moment, there was a
strange quality to it... not just  because of the dangerous mask that the
child wore. It looked... well... abnormal. Like the brown tincture of his
eyes swallowed the blacks of his pupils until they were nothing more but
tiny pin marks...
        The woman shook her head and pushed the incident to the back of her
mind. She glanced at the building and once again put on a determined stance.
        "You have more pressing matters to attend to, Alena," She whispered
to herself	  	
***

        "I have an explanation for this. You see... Benton... this is
Hadji..." Meg stammered as she stood up to lead her co-assistant to a
strategically located seat . She gave a the Indian boy standing frozen a few
meters away a significant look, "He's with a... high school group tour..."  
        "Okay..." The newcomer responded patiently, "Why is he here, instead
of 'touring'?"
        "Because... I'm giving him a tour," Meg continued as her voice
lowered into a whisper, "You see... Hadji's new to the country and he can't
speak English."
        "Is that so?" Benton said with a raised eyebrow. He reached out to
shake the boy's hand, "Hello there Hadji. Good afternoon."
        "Good afternoon," The boy repeated absently as he automatically took
the older man's hand
        The redhead turned back to his co-assistant, "I thought he can't
speak English."
         "Actually, he can," Meg snapped as she gave Hadji a glare, "But
very LIMITED English."
        "Good afternoon," Hadji repeated weakly
        The older man gave the girl an unconvinced smirk, "You didn't have
to keep the door locked." 
        "But we had to or it will ruin the surprise," Charles Wallace
suddenly spoke as his nine-year-old form popped out from under a lab table,
"Surprise!"
        Hadji stifled a gasp of astonishment at another one of their
companion's transformations and glanced at the other University student
uncertainly. If she even noticed that her brother morphed into a child's
body probably no older than seven or eight, she was sure doing a good job at
hiding it.*
        The man gaped at the small boy, "Charles Wallace! Since when did you
get here?"
        "Just a while ago. My Dad us drove up to see Meg, but Dr. Carter
cornered him so we're kinda stuck here. Hadji's visiting from India and he's
staying with us for a few days. He's been thinking of maybe studying here in
the States for University a couple of years from now, so Dad thought it was
a good idea to have him tag along," Charles Wallace grinned and tugged at
the man's sleeve, "So what have you been up to? Dad told us that you're
finally getting your archeology Ph.D. Do you think you can show me the
artifacts in your thesis? Huh? Huh?"
        "He said all that without blinking an eye," Hadji whispered to
himself in awe
        "See... I told you there was an explanation," Meg burst out with a
tangible edge of relief in her voice.
        Benton laughed, "I figured it just as much. It's just so much fun
watching you squirm."
         Meg scowled at her friend, "Well, what brings YOU here? Aren't you
supposed to be helping Dr. Mahler?"
        "I was but---" Benton began
        "Pardon me," A soft accented voice called out shyly from the
doorway, "Hello. I hope I am not disturbing anything important."
        "Hey Alena," The red head greeted warmly, "Come on in and join the
party."
        Somewhere from the back of the room, emitted a suspicious stifled
choking sound. Hadji forced out a series of simultaneous coughing before
either of the newcomers had a chance to look up.  	
        "So, Alena, what's happening," Meg cutted in
        "Nothing really..." Alena began as she timidly looked at the young
man before her, "It is just that... I was wondering if... that is..."
Loosing courage, she turned away from the man and looked the brown-haired
girl, "There is a small gathering at the student pub tonight. Margaret,
would you like to accompany me... Benton, you are also welcome to come..."
        Meg swept an uneasy glance at Hadji then at a spot at the back of
the room, "Gee Alena... I don't know,  I'm busy tonight..." She looked at
her co-assistant and gave him a wry meaningful grin, "Well... I don't think
you have anything to do tonight. Why don't you play escort Alena and Rachel,
Ben."
        "No!" Benton shot back, "I mean... I'm not sure... I mean... I'm
sure you and Rachel can... you know."
        Meg groaned and rolled her eyes.
        Alena wrung her hands nervously, "Actually it is just me. Rachel is
rather preoccupied tonight."
        "Oh."   
        Hadji gave a certain spot at the back of the room a worried glimpse
as an uncomfortable silence settled in the laboratory.
        Benton cleared his throat, "Well... in that case, we'll see... I
still need to track down and capture my boss' son."
        "OH NO!" Meg exclaimed, "Did Dee run off to godknowswhere again?"
        "I'm beginning to believe that this is part of an elaborate plot,"
The red head murmured suspiciously
        "Ever since the day Benton set foot in this University a couple of
degrees ago, the faculty's kids has been ambushing him at least once every
Open House weekend," Meg explained with a mischievous grin, "I told you
Gigantor will be your downfall."
        "Oh shush," The young man    
        Alena frowned as her thoughts raced back to the earlier incident,
"This Dee... he does not happen to be around nine or ten years old, dark
hair, brown eyes, and rides a skateboard, does he not?"
        The red head jumped to his feet and snapped into serious attention,
"Where?"
        "He just walked out the building around five to ten minutes ago."
        Benton grabbed the undergraduate's shoulders in gratitude, "Thank
you Alena. You're a life saver." With that, he disappeared from sight. 
        Meg looked at the other woman a sympathetically as she watched the
other woman slump her shoulders in defeat, "I'm really sorry."
        Alena shrugged, "It is all right. Not a problem."
        "Maybe next time," Meg said soothingly with a smile.
        "I doubt it," The foreign woman smiled back before leaving.
	
(To be continued)
 
Comments, criticisms, bricks to [email protected]

*The very weird thing about Charles Wallace in the "Wrinkle..." is how
Madeleine L'Engle portrayed him as physically younger than his chronological
age, yet at the same time his intellectual maturity and insight is beyond
his age group. And more complicated still is that... when he was portrayed
as six, or seven, or fifteen years old in the books... he still has the
feelings, insecurities, and typical personality of a child within that age
group. Which is very difficult to portray if you didn't create him. So this
long note is merely to apologize for the out of characterizations I put
Charles in to for the flow of the story.