It was official.

Jake hated time travel.

Granted, this was his first time time traveling.

But still.

The sentiment stayed the same.

And they hadn’t even meant to time travel. As most things with this job, it had been a complete accident. One second he was studying an artifact that they’d discovered in some businessman’s basement, and the next second he’d been thrown into the First Crusade of 1099. So, really, it wasn’t even his fault.

The arrow sticking out of his chest certainly wasn’t his fault.

“Jake?”

Oh, and there was his time traveling companion, right on time.

Though, he figured, technically he was probably the time traveling companion considering Flynn had done this before. Hell, Flynn would probably argue he’d done this twice before, but Jake wasn’t exactly sure if time traveling the ‘long way around’ really counted as time travel.

Ohgod, he really hoped he wouldn’t have to travel back the long way around.

“Stone, oh my god!”

Flynn’s face hovered in his fuzzy vision, and Jake was most definitely dying because Flynn looked concerned which was just all kinds of wrong. When had Flynn ever looked concerned about things that didn’t directly concern his survival alone?

“Hey, Flynn.” And if his voice slurred a little, well, could you really blame him? Arrow in the chest, remember?

“You have an arrow in your chest.”

Certainly no one could ever say that Flynn wasn’t perceptive beyond his years.

“I do,” Jake mumbled. He crossed his eyes and peered down, trying to see the famous arrow he’d heard so much about. “It really hurts.”

“Y-Yeah, yeah, I can imagine.” Flynn was rambling, and, honestly, Jake did not have the capacity to follow along with it. Instead he opted to nod and groan in pain every once in a while and hope he didn’t miss anything important.

And then Flynn’s hands were patting his chest which ow.

With as much strength as he could muster (which, admittedly, was very little), Jake tried to push him away with a, “C’mon, man, I don’t fuck with you when you have an arrow sticking out of your chest.”

“I officially give you permission then.” And, wait, hold on, was Flynn’s voice shaking? As a matter of fact, his hands were shaking too.

Jake frowned. “Dude. I’m gonna be okay. I know you’ll take care of me.”

Flynn’s hands paused over Jake’s stomach. Still trembling. “W-What if I can’t?”

Jake snorted which honestly was not his best move. He resisted a very manly sob of absolute agony and muttered, “You can. You’re Flynn Carsen. You can do anything. I trust ya, man.” He waited, but Flynn’s patting didn’t resume. “You’re the Librarian, Flynn. I trust you.”

The patting resumed. “Right. Right. I’m the Librarian. I can save you. It’s fine. You’ll be fine. We’ll be-.”

“Why are you patting me?” Jake interrupted softly. Not that he was sure he minded all that much anymore. Maybe it was the shock finally kicking in, but everything was starting to feel pretty numb.

“I’m, uh, I’m looking for a knife. I’m going to cut the shaft in half so it’ll be easier to move you. I don’t want it getting caught on anything and risk tearing the wound even more,” Flynn told him astutely as if he’d dealt with arrows sticking out of his time traveling companion’s chest before.

Which, honestly, maybe he had.

“I don’t have a knife,” Jake mumbled. “Why don’t you just take it out?”

“No, no, no, no, no, no-.” Flynn was speaking too fast again, and Jake was having a hard time keeping up. “-bad idea. Very, very bad idea. You don’t want to bleed out, do you?”

“Probably not.”

“You don’t,” Flynn corrected him. “You really, really don’t.”

Flynn’s face was back in his field of vision, and Jake couldn’t help grinning up at him. His hair was wild around his head, mud plastered like hair gel making it stick up even worse than usual. He had a cut above his right eye. He was attempting to grin back, but it was more like a grimace than anything else.

“You ready to stand up?” Flynn asked him.

“Born ready.” Jake smirked.

Flynn hoisted him to his feet and Jake promptly blacked out.

~~~

When Jake woke up, he really shouldn’t have been surprised to find he was back in the Library in one of Jenkins’s many ‘recovery rooms.’ Because of course Flynn had saved the day without him. He wouldn’t be Flynn Carsen if he hadn’t.

He also shouldn’t have been surprised to feel a dull ache in his chest and really shouldn’t have been surprised when that dull ache quickly morphed into a searing pain when he tried to sit up.

And, yet, there he was, yelping like an idiot because he’d tried to sit up. Like an idiot.

He nearly startled again when there was a shout of surprise next to him and a loud thump as Flynn fell out of his chair and hit the ground rather hard.

Jake frowned. “Flynn?”

Flynn popped back up, chin resting on the edge of Jake’s bed, grinning. “Hello, Jacob.”

“Why are you here?” Jake asked as he reached up to rub demurely at his chest. He really missed when he could go a day without almost dying.

“I was waiting for you to wake up,” Flynn told him. He scrambled to his feet and sat back down in the chair that had been positioned next to Jake’s bed. He was still grinning, bright eyes latched onto Jake’s. “And now you have.”

“Uh-huh,” Jake grunted. He let out a long breath and sunk back into his pillows. “And how did we get back to the Library?”

“With my master brilliant plan.”

“Uh-huh.”

“…Eve might have saved us.” He sounded sheepish, but the grin still didn’t disappear.

Jake almost snorted, remembered how bad that had hurt the last time he thought that was a good idea, and grinned instead. “Sounds more like it.” He glanced at Flynn to find him staring expectantly at Jake and frowned. “What?”

Flynn’s cheeks flushed for a second before he shrugged and leaned back into his seat, trying to appear nonchalant. “N-Nothing. I’m just…really glad you’re okay.”

“Yeah, well, thanks to you probably,” Jake admitted. “Uh, thanks, by the way.”

“Of course,” Flynn said solemnly. “Just don’t do it again, okay?”

Jake smirked. “No promises, man. I mean, I am practically the teams’ punching-.”

He cut off when one of Flynn’s hands gripped his own tightly. Flynn was pale, and Jake could feel his hands trembling again. “I mean it. Don’t do it again.”

Jake’s smirk softened into a small smile. “Dude, if you don’t cut this out, I might actually believe you were worried about me.”

When Flynn opened his mouth to reply, Jake expected some scathing denial and was surprised when instead came out, “I was. Very.” Flynn squeezed his hand. “So don’t do it again.”

“R-Right,” Jake stammered. He nodded. “Sure, whatever you say, man.”

When Flynn smiled softly at him and his chest fluttered, well, it was probably the arrow’s fault.

Definitely.

Absolutely.

Eve knew she was supposed to be mad – the others told her as much. Stone offered to be a punching bag for her. Cassandra delivered her some tea with a sympathetic smile on her face. Even Ezekiel offered to punch Flynn when – if – he came back.

And she supposed she was a little mad. He’d left. Again. Despite time and time again of her telling him how much it hurt. A little bit of her kind of hated him. No…no, that wasn’t right. A little tiny bit of her kind of hated the little tiny bit of him that didn’t know what else to do. He was scared, but, dammit, so was she. She just wished he didn’t deal with his problems this way.

But she wasn’t totally mad because, in reality, he never did actually leave.

Well…he did leave.

But he came back.

She could see it when Jake had lost a very important book on ancient Olmec culture. Could hear it when, a week later, he had the book in his hands, muttering over new notes that he could’ve sworn hadn’t been there before.

She could see it in the way Cassandra had lost a very important ingredient for her potion only for it to show up a day later, freshly cut and ready to be mixed. She could smell it in the way that the potion had been a fail but had made the Annex smell like carnations for days.

She could see it in the way that Ezekiel had stumbled on a new recipe for cookies that he just had to try. She could taste it in the way that they were her absolute favorite flavor.

She could see it in the way when a new book was left on her desk that he knew she would find interesting. In the way that all the dishes would be washed in their apartment when she got home after a particularly hard day. She could feel in the way that whenever she was at the Library, she never really did feel totally alone.

So, yeah, maybe Eve should be mad – pissed, even – but she just couldn’t find it in herself to hate him. He was dealing with his stuff in his way, and, yes, it was absolutely infuriating.

But Eve loved him.

Ariel was getting worried. And, okay, maybe it was a bit silly, but Lucy hadn’t been to visit her in a couple of days. Ariel reasoned that Lucy didn’t really have any obligation to see her, but she hadn’t missed a day since Ariel had found her stuck in the rain. So, yeah, Ariel was getting a bit worried.

She was weaving a few flowers together, trying to ignore the knot in her stomach, when she heard a familiar yelp. Eyebrows scrunching together, she scrambled to her feet and weaved through the prairie grass that was nearing her chest now.

She padded along until she found the person she had been so worried about. Lucy was on the ground, and when she noticed Ariel come up, she gave her a sheepish smile. “Hi.”

Ariel rolled her eyes fondly – a gesture she’d definitely picked up from Lucy – and stuck out her hand for Lucy to grab. As she pulled her up, Ariel asked, “What took you so long? I was getting worried.”

“I-I was making a picnic,” Lucy stammered, and it was then that Ariel noticed the basket that was on the ground, food sprawled around in the dirt. Lucy sighed. “I guess it doesn’t even matter now.”

Ariel frowned. “Oh, come on now, don’t be silly.” She bent down and picked up an apple. With a flick of her other hand, the dirt melted away and the apple was as good as new. She bit into it with a cheeky grin. “See, it’s perfect.”

Lucy blushed and blurted, “You’re perfect.”

Ariel’s smile wobbled, and she dipped her head. “I-I don’t really know what to say to that.”

“Oh, uh, right, I’m sorry. That was the five cups of coffee talking, I just meant-.”

Ariel cut her off by leaning up and pressing a soft kiss against Lucy’s cheek. “Whatever you do, you better not take it back.”

Lucy’s face went pink. “Uh, yeah, no, never. I would never.”

Ariel grinned. “Good. C’mon, help me gather up the food, and we can enjoy a floating-picnic.”

“What is that?” Lucy asked, already bending down to pick up some strawberries.

“It’s where I use my magic, and we float off the ground instead of sitting like normal people,” Ariel said with a grin.

Lucy’s eyes widened. “Awesome.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You’d think after I won the fifthduel to the death, you guys would stop asking for them,” Flynn said with aproud smirk; Excalibur was floating at his side, wiggling with excitement.

“First off,” Ezekiel groaned fromwhere he was leaning against the wall, “they weren’t ‘to the death.’ We’re all very clearly alive.”

“And, secondly, if you didn’t have freaking Excalibur you wouldn’t keepwinnin’,” Jake pointed out from where he was sitting on a bench. He had agrumpy frown on his face and it was entirely because of the gash across hishand that Eve was currently wrapping up for him.

Flynn flippantly waved around hishand. “Pah, semantics. I’m fairlysure I won each of those duels fair and square.”

Jenkins, a little out of breath andpride a little bruised, huffed in annoyance from where he was laid out in achair. His sword, a pale comparison to Excalibur, was leant almost a littledejectedly next to him.

“Alright,” Flynn said twirlingaround with room, Excalibur turning with him, “who’s next?”

“I’ve already gone twice!” Jake immediatelyshouted defensively. Eve, a sympathetic smile on her face, patted him on theshoulder before quickly tightening the bandage around his hand. He yelped andglared at her.

“I’m playing nurse,” Eve said with ashrug when Flynn turned some puppy-eyes on her. She squeezed Jake’s hand,causing him to yell out in pain again. “See, he’s very injured.”

“I just quit, plain and simple,”Ezekiel said with a long, drawn-out breath. He lifted his right hand in a mockof the boy scout salute. “No excuses from me.”

“Come on, guys,” Flynn said with asmall pout. “Cal needs to train! He needs your help.”

Excalibur whimpered for sympathy.

“How is kicking our asses training him?” Jake asked, doubtful.

“Well, uh, you see, it helps him…”Flynn trailed off, clearly thinking hard about it. He glanced at Cal for somehelp, but the sword just barked at him. “Look, the how and why don’t matter;what matters is helping Cal get better at fighting!”

“I can help!” Cassandra offered asshe walked into the training room. She was precariously handling a tray of teain her hands. She wandered over and gave Jenkins the first cup. Then sheglanced at Flynn with a frown. “What am I helping with?”

“Dueling!” Flynn said excitedly,grabbing Excalibur’s hilt and swinging him in her direction.

Cassandra frowned a tiny bit. “Oh.”She set another cup of tea next to Ezekiel’s head. “Well, I could help withthat.”

“You really don’t wanna,” Ezekielmuttered, grabbing the cup and sipping noisily from it.

Flynn ignored him and flourishedExcalibur around expertly. “Well then, Cassandra, grab a sword and prepare foryour doom!”

“Isn’t that a little…much, Flynn?” Eve asked withbarely-concealed annoyance. He only shrugged apologetically at her.

“Here Cassie, you can use mine,”Jake said, holding out the hilt of his sword to her.

Cassandra grinned gratefully at him,handed him her tray of tea, and grabbed the sword. She stepped back beforegiving it a few experimental swings. She had a faraway look in her eyes, andJake wondered if she was calibrating the types of swings she needed to use orthe amounts of moves that Flynn could do. Either way, it was bound to be aninteresting duel.

Cassandra nodded, a sure grin onhere face, and held up her sword towards Flynn. “So, does someone say go or dowe just-?”

Her question was cut off as Flynnlet out a loud battle cry and started hacking at her sword with Excalibur. Ittook Cassandra a few moments as the scream startled her, but once she gotbalanced again, Cassandra fended him off like a pro. The small training roomwas filled with the sharp sound of blade-on-blade as the two danced around eachother, swords flying a mile a minute.

As they continued to fight, Jakeleaned towards Eve and asked, “Is it really smart to be practicing with real swords?” He shook his now-bandagedhand at her for emphasis.

“Meh,” Eve said with a shrug. Shenodded towards Cassandra. “She’ll be fine.”

Jake snorted. “I know; I was worriedabout Flynn.”

Eve smirked at him.

Soon, Flynn was out of breath, andhe was the one who was forced to block and parry. Cassandra’s blows were preciseand clean, calculated within nanoseconds of each other in her brain. She was grinning;she’d hardly even broken a sweat. Even Ezekiel had sat up to watch them; a tinysmirk on his face as Cassandra practically decimated Flynn in front of them.

Eventually, Cassandra’s face pinchedin concentration. She took a few more strikes before she jumped back, forcedFlynn to lose his balance, and reached out with her sword to press it against Excalibur.With a practiced twist of her wrist, Excalibur was sent across the room. Flynncrumpled onto the bench behind him, panting as Excalibur whimpered inexhaustion.

Cassandra let the sword fall to herside. She had a pleased little grin on her face. Jenkins stood up, saying, “Welldone, Miss Cillian.” He glanced at Jake and Eve and mouthed, ‘I taught her that last move.’

“Y’know,” Flynn huffed, “we’re tryingto train Excalibur, not make him loseall of his confidence.”

Cassandra smirked. “Well, I guess he’lljust have to start training a little bit harder.” She glanced at the others andbeamed. “Anyone up for some orange slices and bananas?”

“I will cut them myself if it means Ican get the hell outta here,” Jake said immediately, jumping to his feet.Ezekiel, never remiss for taking an escape when he saw one, quickly scrambledto his feet and raced out after Stone.

Eve got to her feet as well andwinked at Cassandra. “Nice job, Red.” As she walked by Flynn, she ruffled hishair and smirked. “Better luck next time, honey.”

Jenkins followed her out of theroom, shooting Cassandra a small smile as he did so.

Cassandra stepped up to Flynn andoffered him a hand up. Once he was on his feet, he shook her hand, anunreadable look in his eyes. “That was…very impressive, Cassandra. Maybesomeday you’ll be able to wield Excalibur better than even I do. You’re veryskilled.”

“You’re…getting there.” Cassandralaughed at his squawk of indignation and quickly ran from the room.

Flynn looked helplessly at Excalibur,hoping for some kind of reassurance. The sword just bonked him in the head withits hilt and soared after Cassandra.

“Then what the hell do you drink on a hot summer day?”

“Uh…water?”

“B-But what about the phrase ‘when life gives you lemons, make lemonade?’ Do you just not understand it? Or do you need to hear ‘when life gives you lemons, limes, and some carbon dioxide-?’“

“What are you even saying right now?”

Eve stepped up to Cassandra, who was sitting at her desk and trying to appear as uninterested in the squabble as possible. 

(She wasn’t doing a very good job.)

Eve sighed. “What are they fighting about now?”

Cassandra glanced up at her with a tiny frown. “Jake found out that Ezekiel calls Sprite ‘lemonade.’”

Eve frowned too. “Well…he is Australian. That’s just what they call it.”

Cassandra shrugged. “Jake was still offended.”

Eve rolled her eyes. “I’m not gonna intervene on this one.” She stood there and listened to them bicker with Cassandra for a few more seconds. When she glanced back down, she saw that Cassandra was chewing on her lip, clearly in deep thought. “What’re you thinking, Red?”

One knew it was a bad day when JacobStone could find no argument to his father’s orders of checking out thecommotion coming from the toolshed. Instead of fighting and insisting thatsomeone else do it, he just huffed a small, annoyed breath and began thetrudging walk to the half-leaning half-falling toolshed just outside of the digsite.

He was hoping just for some foolishteens who thought an oil rigging site would be a good, secluded make-outlocation, but it was more likely some native, boy protestors who thoughtgetting onto the site and messing with some equipment was the best way to makeJacob’s dad listen to their pleas to fuck the hell off.

Then again, if it was some teenprotestors, it was probably better that Jacob was the one to investigate. Anynumber of the other workers – his father included – would’ve called the cops.Meanwhile, Jacob planned to send them on their way with a slight slap of thewrist, sincere apologies for his father’s work, and bitten back agreementsthat, yes, his father was an absolute ass-hat who probably deserved to go tojail.

When Jacob reached the toolshed, heinstantly realized why one of the other workers had complained about acommotion. Bangs and clattering noises emanated from inside of the shed.Occasionally, Jacob even heard some swears and groans. Whoever it was, wasdefinitely not having a fun time in there.

He walked up to the toolshed andyanked the door open. He was surprised when a flailing body fell out of theshed and onto the ground, creating a little bit of a dust cloud as it landedwith an ‘oof.’

The young man before Jacob was wearingwhat appeared to be a tattered, sensible pantsuit. He was younger than Jacob,but he definitely wasn’t a teenager trying to sneak onto the site. In fact, helooked very lost with his confused eyes flickering around, searching forsomething familiar.

“Uh, hi,” Jacob said.

The man’s eyes finally landed onJacob, and it was as if he was just now seeing him. He took in Jacob’sappearance quickly before a large grin spread across his face. “Oh, hellothere.” He suddenly frowned and smacked his lips together; Jacob’s eyebrowsknitted together at him. “Australian, huh? That’s a new one.”

“What?” Jacob questioned as the manjumped to his feet. He brushed himself off a little – although it didn’t domuch, he was so dirty – before he looked at Jacob again. He glanced around,eyes still searching. Jacob was compelled to look around too, although hewasn’t exactly sure what they were looking for.

Eventually, the man’s eyes landed onhim again. “Do you have a mirror?”

“Uh,” Jacob mumbled, “no. But I gota phone with a camera.”

“Oh, perfect!” The man took a stepback and grinned an award-winning smile, shooting finger guns at Jacob. “Makesure to get my good side, alright? Although, I’m not quite sure which side thatis yet…”

“Dude,” Jacob said, pulling out hisphone and holding it out, “you can just use the front-facing camera.”

“Oh, sure, smart!” the man said. Hereached out and took the phone, quickly facing it towards himself and –presumably – pulling up the camera app. He frowned and then grinned.“Australian and…Korean?” He squintedat the screen and studied himself before nodding decidedly. “Korean.” He thengrinned that wide grin again and snapped a picture before he tossed it toJacob, who fumbled with it for a few seconds before securing it and stuffing itback in his pocket. “So, uh, where…arewe, exactly?”

“Uh, Ardmore,” Jacob told him. Heonly looked more confused so he added, “In Carter County.” Still, confused.“…Oklahoma?”

“Oh!” he exclaimed. “We’re inAmerica!”

“Uh, yeah,” Jacob said nodding. “Youweren’t aware of that?”

He shrugged. “Not really.” He lookedlike he was about to start walking away when, apparently, a thought struck himand he turned back to Jacob. “I’m sorry, what was your name?”

“Uh, Jacob,” Jacob told him. “Andwho the hell are you?”

“Well,” he said with a sly grin, “Idon’t like to brag, but back home they called me the Thief.”

Jacob was unimpressed and rolled hiseyes. “Seriously, kid, I need your real name.”

“Kid?”he snapped, clearly offended. “I’ll let you know that I’m-.” He bit his tongueand then sighed. “Never mind, it’s not important. Just look at this, and we canbe done with it.”

He pulled a leather notepad from hisback pocket and held it up for Jacob to see. Jacob had to hold back an annoyedbreath as he said, “Seriously? Do you think I’m stupid? That’s blank. Look, Idon’t wanna start any trouble here, but if you don’t tell me who you are, I’mgonna have to-.”

“Wait,” he interrupted. “It’s blank?”

Jacob rolled his eyes again. “Yeah,man, it is. I’m not an idiot. Even this ol’ Oklahoma boy can tell that’s ablank piece of paper.”

The man’s grin widened impossibly,eyes flashing with intrigue. “Well, color me embarrassed, I think I misjudgedyou, mate.”

Jacob huffed. “Look, whatever, justtell me your real name and maybe I can get you out of here unnoticed.”

“Uh, well, alright then,” the mansaid, chewing at his bottom lip. “The, uh, first name is…Ezekiel! Yes, I’vealways liked that name. And the last is…wait, what’s your last name?”

“Stone…?” Jacob said, his patienceslowly waning.

“Good, good; didn’t want to have thesame last name. So, my last name is…Jones! Yeah, that sounds good. EzekielJones.” He stuck out his hand. “Nice to meet you, Jacob Stone.”

“You really expect me to believeyou?” Jacob asked, eyebrow slightly raised.

“Well, since you didn’t believe mewhen I told you my real name, no, notreally,” Ezekiel said with a small quirk of his lips. “But you’ll just have tosettle with it. Now, I need your help.”

“The only help you’ll be getting’from me is me helping you get the hell out of here before my dad notices you,”Jacob said. He reached out and grabbed Ezekiel’s shoulder, beginning to yankhim towards the gates of the oil site.

“Hold on, hold on!” Ezekiel shouted,quickly slipping from his grasp. “I’ve got a way out of here; I just need tofind it, okay? I think I crash-landed somewhere nearby; we just need to find myship.”

“Your ship?” Jacob asked, incredulous. “What are you, an alien?”

Ezekiel shrugged. “Well, yeah,thought that was pretty clear.”

Jacob squinted his eyes at him. “Youreally gotta lay off the lying, man.”

“And you, Jacob Stone, need tobroaden your horizons,” Ezekiel said with a small wink. “Now, like I said, I’msure my ship is around here somewhere, but first, I have to change.” He looked down at the tattered pantsuit that Jacobhad nearly forgotten about. “The past iteration of me could pull this off, butEzekiel Jones…not so much. I think I’m going to go for a bit of a more modernoutfit.” He glanced up at Jacob. “Do you think we could find something likethat around here?”

“Dude, I told you, I need to get youout of here,” Jacob said adamantly. “If my dad finds you out here, he’ll callthe cops on you, and he’ll kill me for not doing it first. So, I just need youto-.”

“And I told you,” Ezekielinterrupted, “that I’ve got a way out. But I can’t do it in this.” He gestured to himself. “And,plus, I don’t have any shoes. I mean, I could go in and grab the heels from theshed, but I’m pretty sure they’re not gonna fit anymore. So…clothes?”

Jacob sighed. “We’ve got a lost andfound…c’mon.”

~~~

Ten minutes later, Jacob foundhimself nervously standing outside his dad’s office, tapping his feet andcrossing and uncrossing his arms over his chest. Ezekiel was banging andgenerally creating a lot of noise behind him, but Jacob did his best to ignoreit. A few moments later, the door was swung open and Ezekiel was stepping out.

He had ditched the pantsuit forskinny jeans, a gray t-shirt, a dark blue jacket, and a snapback that Jacobhadn’t even known was in the lost and found. Instead of bare feet or heels, hewas now donning a pair of tattered, white converse. He grinned. “How do Ilook?”

“You look fine,” Jacob huffed. “Now,can we go now?”

“I told you,” Ezekiel said, hopingaway from the door, “I’m not leaving until I find my ship. Now you can eitherhelp me, or I can fight you.”

He held up his fists in what Jacobassumed as a threatening gesture. He took one look at his short build andsnorted. “Whatever, man. Let’s just go find your…ship.”

At this point, Jacob was sure thatEzekiel was just some confused stranger off the streets. For now, he wouldhumor him, and when it came time to leave, he’d get ahold of some local authoritiesand help him find his way home.

Jacob spent the next four hourschasing after Ezekiel as he ran about the oil site. He ducked behind equipmentto avoid other workers seeing him and had even thrown a hardhat over hissnapback. Other than the hardhat, of course, he stuck out like a sore thumb,and on more than one occasion, Jacob had to draw attention away from the man ashe tripped over some shovels and caused quite a scene.

When the sun was starting to set inthe sky, Jacob tiredly said, “Look man, just, lemme take you home tonight andthen tomorrow we can come back and keep looking.”

Ezekiel turned a frown on him. “Whydo we have to-?” He cut himself off quickly, “Oh, right. Humans need sleep; youguys are such a weak race. So, where do you live?”

“Where do I live?” Jacob asked incredulously. “Why, do you think I’m lettin’you stay with me or something?”

“Well, obviously,” Ezekiel said witha shrug. “Where else am I supposed to stay?”

“I dunno. That’s for you to figureout, man,” Jacob said.

“You’re going to let me stay withyou,” Ezekiel said with a sureness that Jacob had never seen a stranger possess.“You’re going to let me stay with you because on some level, no matter how deepinside you it is, you believe me. You believe that I’m an alien, and youbelieve that I crash-landed my space ship on your oil site. And you are absolutely intrigued.” He smirked. “Aren’tyou?”

Jacob narrowed his eyes at Ezekiel, studyinghim for a few seconds. Eventually he sighed and said, “I’m stayin’ at a hotelin town. You’re lucky I’ve got two beds. C’mon, alien-boy.”

Ezekiel didn’t say anything, but hissmirk did get bigger.

~~~

“So, wait, your entire planet was destroyedexcept for you and the spaceship that you stole?” Jacob asked. His wordsslurred together a bit due to the couple – waymore than a couple – of beers that he’d had. He and Ezekiel were lounged out onthe couch in Jacob’s hotel room where Ezekiel was telling him the stories ofhis past.

“Yep,” Ezekiel said with a nod, atiny grin on his face. He’d been drinking too but as of yet, seemed prettyunaffected. “Well, me and another guy, if the rumors are true. Heard some talesabout him, but we haven’t crossed paths yet. That probably has something to dowith space and time being completely infinite. It’s hard to run into anybodytwice these days. Well, except Jenkins. Somehow, I keep running into that oldguy, but, to be fair, it’s pretty hard to miss an immortal.”

“Wait, Jenkins…” Jacob said slowly,face pinched in concentration. “Was he one of the ones that journeyed with you?”

Ezekiel shook his head. “No, notJenkins. He’s just an annoying thorn in my side that I see every hundred yearsor so.” He sighed and looked away. “No, I haven’t had someone by my side in areally long time.”

“Why’s that?” Jacob asked. “I mean,don’t you get lonely?”

Ezekiel’s face darkened, and heshrugged. “I mean, yeah, I guess, but in the end, it’s not worth it…it’s neverworth it.”

Jacob snorted softly. “That’s a bitoverdramatic, don’t you think? I mean, what happened to them? They get bored orsomethin’?”

“They died,” Ezekiel said bluntly,voice quiet. “In the end, they always die, and it’s always my fault. I don’tlet anybody else come with me anymore because in the end they’ll die, and theirlife will be completely pointless all because they met a strange person whocould show them all of time and space.”

“You’re too hard on yourself, man,” Jacobsaid, startling Ezekiel into looking at him. His eyes were wide, stunned byJacob’s casual tone. “Dying is a part of life, man. I mean, take it from a guy whosema died when he was six and was never loved by his dad. Just because she dieddidn’t make her life pointless; she’s the best damn memories that I’ve got. Didshe have to go a little early? Yeah. But did she make her life completely worthliving? You bet your alien ass she did. Just because those people died didn’tmean they did it for no reason. Everybody’s got an end; I can’t imagine an endby your side as anythin’ less than spectacular.”

Jacob stretched out his back andclimbed to his feet with a yawn. “Well, I’m gonna hit the sack. Feel free totake the other bed. We’ll find your ship tomorrow, don’t worry.”

As Jacob stepped away, swaying onlyslightly, Ezekiel said quietly after him, “Thanks, Jacob.”

He had a small, gentle smile on hisface that Jacob didn’t see.

~~~

The next day they woke up bright andearly to head out for the oil site. They searched for another hour until,finally, they found the thing that Ezekiel claimed to be his spaceship.

“Dude, you’re kidding me, right?”Jacob asked, standing a few feet away as Ezekiel rushed up and threw his armsaround his ship. “Like, this is a practical joke…right?”

“What do you mean?” Ezekiel asked,still clinging to the ship.

In front of Jacob sat the DeLorean. Like,the actual DeLorean from Back to theFuture with all the heavy machinery on the back with the iconic licenseplate, ‘OUTATIME.’

“This is the freakin’ DeLorean, man!”Jacob practically shouted, unsure if he was angry or excited. He decided on amix of the two.

“Well, I mean, she’s a bit differentfrom when I last saw her, but I’m sure she’s just trying to fit in,” Ezekielsaid, patting the top of the car comfortingly.

Jacob snorted. “Whatever, man.” He glancedover his shoulder when he heard a shout that sounded a lot like his father’s.He prayed to God that the old man hadn’t noticed he was missing. He looked backto Ezekiel and threw a thumb over his shoulder. “Look, man, I gotta go. It was…interestingmeeting you. I hope you find what you’re lookin’ for out there.”

Jacob was about to turn away whenEzekiel blurted, “Wait!”

Slowly, Jacob looked back aroundwith a raised eyebrow. Interestingly, Ezekiel was a little flushed. “Look, I dida lot of thinking about what you said last night…and you’re right. Everybodyhas a predestined end, and maybe…well, maybe it’s not entirely my fault thatthey’re gone now.”

Jacob’s eyes were slowly widening,but Ezekiel wasn’t done. “I can’t promise you safety; I can’t even promise youa long life, but I can promise you a way out. You want an adventure? Well, I cangive you one and have you back here before anybody else would even notice. You’re…you’revery different, Jacob Stone, and I’d be honored if you’d join me.”

“Wait,” Jacob said, a small smilegrowing on his face, “are you serious? I can leave with you?”

Ezekiel nodded with a little grin ofhis own. “If you’re up for it.”

“Y’know, when you said we were gonna get all hot and sweaty today, this is not what I thought you meant,” Jake panted. At the last second, he brought up the sword in his hands to defend himself and jumped back a few steps to avoid another swooshing swing.

“I know, that’s why I said it,” Jenkins said back, and damn if he didn’t sound smug. He came at Jake again, sword lunging for the Librarian’s throat.

“Shit!” Jake yelped, ducking back away from Jenkins. He was tired and aching, and sweat dripped down his face. He supposed he could just quit and leave, but Jenkins rarely had time for him anyway; he wasn’t about to give up the opportunity.

The blade swiped inches from him nose.

But, on the other hand, reading a nice book with a cup of coffee was way more relaxing.

“Why’re we doing this, J?” Jake asked, voice breathy. His throat was starting to hurt, and he had a stitch in his side. “I mean, is this really necessary?”

“Of course it is,” Jenkins said, and the bastard was hardly out of breath. He took another swing at Jake that the Librarian quickly parried. He raised an eyebrow in a swift, impressed expression before schooling his features and lunging at Jake again.

Jake jumped to the side and brought his sword down on Jenkins’s with a clattering of metal. The move surprised Jenkins, and he lost the grip on his sword. The momentum was so strong that the tip of his blade imbedded into the wooden floor. He huffed and began attempting to yank it out of the ground.

“Oh, thank god,” Jake mumbled, leaning against the wall in an attempt to catch his breath.

Jenkins glanced at him sideways while still trying to retrieve his sword. “Don’t get too comfortable, Mr. Stone.”

“Course not,” Jake muttered, “because didn’t you hear, it’s a crime now to make sure you don’t pass out from exhaustion.”

That had Jenkins’s mouth twisting into a wry smile, and Jake couldn’t help but grin at it. The caretaker schooled his features once more, saying, “You wanted to know if this was important?”

Jake shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so. I mean, I can fight, you know. I trained in Shangri-La for Christ’s sake.”

“You can fight with your fists,” Jenkins corrected. “It takes actual skill to duel with a sword.”

“Hey!” Jake said defensively. “What do you mean ‘actual skill?’ I spent months mastering-.” He cut himself off when he noticed the mischievous look in Jenkins’s eyes. He huffed, falling back against the wall behind him. “Real funny, Jenkins. You’re quite the comedian.”

Jenkins bowed his head to Jake, a small smile still on his face. “Happy to oblige, Mr. Stone.”

In one swift move, he pulled the sword from the floor and swung it at Jake. The Librarian acted quickly, using his own sword to deflect the other blade. With a swift twist of his wrist, the sword went flying out of Jenkins’s hand and across the room. Jake looked down at his own sword with wide eyes.

When he glanced up, Jenkins was grinning. “I knew you had it in you. Now, let’s see if you can do it blindfolded.”

Jake groaned loudly but didn’t say anything as Jenkins walked across the room to grab his sword.

At least he’s not asking me to do it with my arm tied behind my back, Jake thought to himself. He nearly yelped when Jenkins looked back at him as if he had read his mind. The caretaker sent him a quick wink, and Jake was suddenly forced to reevaluate everything he’d ever thought in Jenkins’s presence ever.

He flushed. Well, it was definitely a good thing he and Jenkins were already a couple because otherwise he would have a lot of explaining to do.

“Sword up, Jacob,” Jenkins said, stepping back into the center of the room with his own sword raised.

Jake only sighed as he lifted his own sword and stepped up to Jenkins.

~~~

An hour later, he had a gash in his arm the length of a stapler.

At the very least, Jenkins was happy to patch him up and make him some tea.

“Stone, look out!”

Ezekiel looked up at Eve’s shout.He’d been working on getting their boat untied from the dock while Jacob wasmaking sure the local natives didn’t reach and attack him. Jacob already had ablackeye; who knew the Lost Boys of Neverland were so hostile.

Eve had shouted because a Lost Boyhad his bow pointed towards Jacob. Unfortunately, Jacob too distracted tryingto yank off a kid that was clinging to his back and biting his neck to doanything about it. Ezekiel huffed, briefly considered what a bad idea this was,and jumped to his feet, shoulder checking Jacob out of the way.

Luckily for him, the arrow didn’thit anything vital and instead imbedded itself into his shoulder. He shouted inpain, doubling over as his hand curled around the wooden shaft. Jacobapparently managed to get the biter off of him and came to Ezekiel’s side,wrapping a protective arm around Ezekiel’s waist and shoving him into the boat.

“Baird, let’s go!” Jacob shouted. Hegot to work on finishing untying the boat and shouted when another Lost Boyjumped on his back. Eve raced up, grabbed the kid by the collar of his shit,and tossed him back towards the others to create a bowling ball effect. Sheshoved Jacob into the boat and leapt in after him.

As she started the boat, Jacob leantover Ezekiel, hands hovering nervously over the arrow in his shoulder. “Whatthe hell were you thinkin’, Jones?”

“I don’t know,” Ezekiel said. Heglanced up and gave Jacob a sideways grin. “If it makes you feel any better, Iregret it though; it really hurts.”

Jacob rolled his eyes at that.“Believe it or not, that doesn’t make me feel better.” He let out a sigh andwrapped his hands around the shaft of the arrow. He met Ezekiel’s eyes andtried to give him a grin that game out more like a grimace. “This is gonnahurt.”

Ezekiel grit his teeth together andmuttered, “Just get it over with.”

Jacob yanked out the arrow, and thatwas the end of their Neverland adventure. Everything was good.

~~~

It was about an hour later whenEzekiel realized that everything was notgood.

They were back in the Library,debriefing after the mission. Cassandra, who’d stayed home, was sitting at raptattention as Jacob and Eve described the island of Neverland to her. Ezekielwas off to the side, a bandage wrapped securely over his shoulder, feeling decidedlymiserable.

Pain radiated from his shoulder, andhe could feel it throbbing with his heartbeat. Sweat was building up across hisforehead, and he felt shaky. He had figured it was just due to shock fromgetting shot, but now he wasn’t so sure.

While the others were distracted, hechecked on his shoulder. Slowly, he peeled the bandage away to reveal the woundunderneath. He was shocked to find black tendrils snaking away from the wound.They curved down his arm and towards his chest. Distantly he realized that itmust be some sort of poison.

“Uh, guys,” Ezekiel murmured, but hewas far too quiet for the others to hear. He glanced up to look at them, andwhile they were only a few feet away, it seemed like miles to Ezekiel. He gotup unsteadily to his feet and began at a stumbling pace towards Jacob.

He got halfway across the roombefore running into a table and falling to the ground. He groaned on the floor,but the others rushed over so at least it worked. Jacob was over him first,worriedly frowning at him. Ezekiel grinned up at him. “Uh, something’s wrong.”

It was then that he promptly passedout.

~~~

Ezekiel woke up a few hours laterwith a headache and a sore shoulder. He groaned, eyes squinting against theadmittedly dim light of his bedroom. He glanced to the side to find Jacob,sprawled in a chair and snoring loudly. Ezekiel resisted the urge to roll hiseyes and threw a pillow at the Librarian, laughing lightly when Jacob snortedawake and jumped into a standing position.

“How’d you know where I live?” wasEzekiel’s first question.

“What?” Jacob asked sourly, rubbingat his nose a little. It was then he realized that Ezekiel was awake and quickly broke out into a grin. “You’re up!”

“No shit,” Ezekiel said and againresisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Now, how’d you get in here?”

“That’s seriously your firstquestion?” Jacob asked, huffing and falling back into the chair. “Not, ‘how am Ialive’ or ‘how’d you guys save me’ or ‘what the hell happened’?”

Ezekiel smirked. “I was poisoned,you guys asked Jenkins for an antidote, and he saved my life ‘cause he’s awesome.Now, about that first question…?”

Jacob sighed. “Eve knows where youlive and has a spare key.”

“She what?” Ezekiel exclaimed, snapping up into a sitting position.

“That would be what’s important toyou,” Jacob groused. He got to his feet, rested a careful hand on Ezekiel’schest to push him back down, and started to leave the room, shaking his head. “Staythere. I’m gonna make you some soup or somethin’.”

Maybe getting himself hurt for Jacobwasn’t a bad idea after all. He had the man himself doing his every bidding, hehad the team obviously worried about him, and he’d probably be able to milkthis out for the next week or so.

Then he rolled onto his side andyelped when his shoulder flared with pain.