What if an element of the universes I’ve written was to change? What are the consequences? (Some of these deal with the past of the universe and some with the future. They may contain spoilers.)
“The one that got away,” Diana commented, with a welcoming smile.
Dan nodded. “In the flesh.”
For a few minutes, they caught each other up on their latest news. As a comfortable silence fell between them, Dan watched Di with a hint of speculation in his eyes.
“You’re not in a relationship?”
She shook her head. “You?”
He shook his, too. “Have you ever wondered…”
“Whether we gave up too easily?”
He nodded.
“And you’re living here, now?”
He waved a hand, indicating their current location: his new apartment.
“Handy,” she noted. “Only a short drive from me.”
“That’s one of the reasons I chose it,” he admitted.
“What are you thinking?” she whispered.
“That I’d like to try again,” he replied.
Their lips met and time stood still.
“You know what? I’m tired of this,” Honey declared, as Brian made another strategic retreat. “I’m not a little girl and I can make my own decisions. And I’m not afraid of any problems caused by your grandfather, who didn’t even really know you.”
“You can’t say that,” he argued. “You don’t know what he was capable of.”
Honey shook her head. “It doesn’t matter what he was capable of. If there are legal difficulties, my father will get me a lawyer. If you’re worried about skeletons in the family closet, well, my family has those, too, and I don’t care.”
“But your aunt–”
“Doesn’t get a say,” she interrupted. “I don’t want to be a society airhead and marry one of those self-important, greedy, smarmy, obnoxious idiots she keeps pushing in my direction. I just want you.”
“For story research?”
Honey laughed. “No, that would just be a side benefit.” She took a step forward. “You want to, don’t you?” she whispered.
He hesitated a moment, then pulled her into his arms.
Dan and Di seemed to grow apart as a couple. But I’ve always wondered if I did the right thing by having them break up.
What if Honey did more to deal with Brian’s insecurities?
“Honey,” Dan greeted, meeting her eyes only for a fraction of a second.
“Dan,” she answered.
They each retreated to opposite corners of the room, allowing their friends to fill the gap between them. Things had gotten easier over the years, but neither of them could forget those seven years they had spent together and neither of them, it seems, could bring themselves to move on.
Dan had certainly tried. And while he couldn’t be sure, he thought Honey might have, too.
“You okay?” Mart asked him, in a low voice.
His shoulders rolled in a shrug.
“Anything I can do?”
Dan cast him a look. “You got a time machine? Go back and tell me to stay the hell away from her.”
Mart let out a sigh. “If I could, I would; though I don’t think I’d phrase it that way.”
“Maybe if you’d been there, you’d have made me see reason.”
“I doubt you’d have listened,” his friend answered.
Dan nodded, conceding the point. “You know the worst part? If she offered me a chance to go back, I’d probably take it and to hell with my principles.”
Mart looked across the room at Honey, seeing the barely-hidden longing in her face and wondering if the thought was in her mind as well.
“It’s going to blow!” Jim yelled. “Everyone back to their own reality!”
Screams rang out through the dingy old version of the clubhouse, as fourteen Bob-Whites all tried to get into their correct group.
“Alternates first,” Brian commanded.
Alternate Trixie formed a portal and her friends started leaping through. Honey’s hand reached back as Mart dragged her into the swirling patch on the wall. Trixie ducked through last and it winked out.
Her original counterpart wasted no time in doing the same.
“Quickly!” Jim urged, watching the events outside.
“No!” the other Honey called, as she too tried to stay back.
“No time,” Dan told her, carrying her bodily through the portal.
Trixie jumped through just as the explosion hit, and the swirling blue and green patch snapped off, leaving a plain wall.
“No,” Honey murmured, between broken sobs. “No, no, no, no, no.”
“Is everyone okay?” Brian asked, looking around. “We’re in the right reality, aren’t we?”
Trixie checked both rooms. “Sure looks like it, but I can’t make another portal, so wherever we are, I think we’re stuck.”
“But I’m not in the right reality,” Honey wailed, into a sudden, horrified silence. “Oh, please, I want to go home!”
“You really didn’t sleep with Dan.”
Trixie shook her head. “It’s not like that between us; it’s never been like that.”
“Because, if you had…”
She nodded. “Yeah, I know. And I’m sorry that the story got out. I didn’t mean to hurt anyone, least of all you.”
Jim looked away.
“Does this change anything?” she asked.
His gaze snapped back to her face. “Are you kidding? Of course it does!”
She took a step closer. “How?”
For a moment, he gazed at her, open-mouthed. “For one thing, I think I need to change my attitude,” he told her, eventually.
She took another step. “Anything else?”
The next thing she knew, they were kissing.
Honey and Dan’s relationship has always been a little volatile. But what would happen if they broke up for good?
This one is from some unknown future event which may or may not happen. What would happen if one of the Bob-Whites got permanently swapped with their double?
What if Trixie and Jim had an actual conversation about what happened between her and Dan?
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