Save You - Choni

Part 28

No One's POV

After the tender moment, Cheryl got serious. "Ok, I need to go over some things with you."

"Ok."

"Now first of all, tell no one you are from 1869. The time machine that we used was one of a kind. Most people do not believe it possible to travel through time and would think you had lost your mind. Another reason we don't want people to know, as some may want to use it for evil purposes."

Toni nodded. "What do I say then?"

"I have a friend Mary, who is going to get you some identity documents so you can pass as someone from this time. We have come up with a story that explains things. Your parents were both English, John and Sara Topaz. They moved to the remote Scottish Island of Eilean Nan Ron before you were born. They were the island's only inhabitants. Your parents rejected all forms of technology and preferred to live a simple life, away from other people. They only came to the mainland 2 or 3 times a year and only for supplies. You grew up on the island were kept very isolated from the modern world. You've recently decided to rejoin the modern world and sadly were attacked in London shortly after you arrived. I know it's a lie, but it will explain you not knowing what a lot of things are. Do you understand?"

"I understand."

"Ok, as I said you're in a hospital. You'll seen lots of strange things, but the doctors and nurses here want to help you. In fact, they've been ordered to give you extra special treatment. This room you're in with the nice carpeting and tan walls, is the best one here. Don't be afraid of them."

"It looks strange, but it is nice."

"Ok, now that we have that straight. The doctor told me you should be out of the hospital in 5-7 days."

"Then what?"

"I told your father I would take care of you and in any case we can be together. You can stay with me in my apartment in Herford."

While the prospect of being with Cheryl all the time had a giant thrill element to Toni, the prospect of actually living in sin made her uncomfortable. She felt very torn about it. But as to not offend Cheryl and knowing she didn't have any choice, Toni smiled. "That sounds nice."

Cheryl then leaned over and kissed Toni on the cheek. "Just you and me."

A loud knock at the door broke the momentary quiet of the room.

Cheryl made a fist and growled at the interruption. "Come in."

The door quickly opened and in walked Jughead, shopping bag in hand. "She's awake. So good to see that."

"Who is this?" Said Toni.

"This is...."

Before Cheryl could answer, Jughead walked up and shook Toni's hand. "I'm Professor Jughead, inventor of the time machine. Not to mention super genius."

Cheryl shook her head and muttered something about a runaway ego.

Toni smiled politely and gracefully shook his hand. "Pleased to meet you. I'm Antoinette."

"I am so sorry Antoinette that things turned out as they did. I'm just so glad that we were at least able to get you to the hospital in time."

"Thank you Professor."

Cheryl thought for a moment. "Hey how come it's Professor Jughead instead of Doctor Jughead like you were calling yourself earlier or did I screw up your time line too?"

"No. Professor just sounds more impressive. Cheryl did you explain where he is?"

"Yes, she is London in the year 2022. She's taken it rather well."

Jughead looked to Toni and studied her polite expression. Sadly, he very much doubted she had even begun to accept anything. Not wanting to ruin the moment, he said nothing.

"Hey, what of the machine? How does it look?"

Jughead pulled up a chair, sat down and shook his head. "Junk. Total Junk. Every circuit, relay and every other part of it is totally fried." He then looked apologetically to Toni. "I am sorry, but to put it simply, the door between your world and mine is closed and will be so for some time. I wish I could give you a different answer but I can't. "

"I understand, Professor." Toni said with a note of sadness in her voice.

Cheryl suddenly remembered her promise to Toni's father. "You can rebuild it. Can't you?"

He nodded. "Yes. But I'm afraid it may take some time. It took me 10 years to build it. Some of the components were very hard to find."

Again Toni nodded.

"Jughead, I still don't get how you remember the old time line. I understand I did as I was the one that went back, but you remember the old one too. I don't get it."

"Well, I remember the old one, you were upset because she married him and all that and you went back to stop it. I think it's because my close proximity to the machine. I was shielded so to speak. So were all the journals and other items of Toni's you had. They are as they were in the box, you stored in the lab."

Cheryl pointed to the shopping bag Jughead was holding. "What's in the bag?"

He pulled out two small green books and placed them on the table next to Toni's bed. "Cheryl told me you liked to read so I ran down to one of the larger bookstores in town and found this. I was looking for something you may be familiar with and was in luck. I found bound volumes of the 19th Century literary Journal "All the year round." I believe Fred Dickens founded it and ran several of his stories in it. I have volumes for the years 1869-1874. I'm not sure if you've read it, but I thought it may help to have something to read that you were familiar with."

Toni picked up one of the books and paged through it. "My father was a regular subscriber; I'm very familiar with this publication. Thank you."

He then pulled out a tan book. "I saw this and it looked interesting, the author is from your era."

Toni examined the book and smiled. The title read. "The complete poetical works of Adelaide Anne Procter"'

"I love her poetry, thank you."

He then pulled another book and a few pens. "Though I have not read them myself, I do understand your journals are very important to you. It thought it may also help to be able to write your thoughts down. It's a journal book you can write things down, very similar to the ones you had."

Toni examined one of the pens with a curious expression then looked at the blank book. "Thank you very much. You're so very kind."

Cheryl shifted her feet and silently cursed herself for not thinking of getting anything for Toni, to ease the transition like Jughead had.

As Toni continued to look through her new items Jughead turned to Cheryl. "Have you even been home yet?"

"No, I've been here ever since Toni got here. I slept in that chair in the corner last night."

"You do look a bit worse for wear yourself. You should go home, get cleaned up, rest a bit yourself."

At this point, a brown haired woman around 30, wearing a doctor's coat came in. "Hello, I'm Doctor Graham. I see you're awake."

"You're a doctor?" Toni said with disbelief, having never seen or heard of a female doctor before.

"She's been rather sheltered and somewhat isolated, so you'll have to excuse her. She mean's no insult." Cheryl said quickly, hoping to prevent an embarrassing incident.

"Toni, women are doctors all over the world, it's quite commonplace now."

Toni felt embarrassed, but tried to not let it show. "I see. My apologies Dr. Graham. I wasn't aware."

"No Worries." Said Dr. Graham. "If you'll let me check out her vitals and bandage, I'll be on my way."

"That's fine doctor."

Dr. Graham, quickly and professionally checked up on Toni, then quickly exited.

"As I was saying Cheryl." Jughead spoke up. "You should go home and get cleaned up."

Cheryl shook her head. "I'm not sure if I should."

"It's Ok, Cheryl. I have some books to read and journals to write in. I'm actually kind of tired and would like to sleep a while anyway."

"I don't know....."

"Go ahead Cheryl. I will be ok."

"Fine, But I'll be right back."

Cheryl didn't want to leave and was rather nervous at the prospect. But she was wearing dirty clothes and having not bathed in several days or actually more than 153 years, smelled pretty ripe.

Before leaving, Cheryl gave Toni a crash course in how to adjust the bed and use the call button for the nurse. She also reminded Toni of the cover story they had come up with. Cheryl also told Toni to ignore the odd looking screen on the wall and hid the remote for the TV in a drawer.

"Are you sure you're going to be alright Toni? Perhaps I should stay."

"I will be fine. I will sleep and after I will do some reading."

"I don't know..."

Toni pointed to the door. "Cheryl go."

Jughead got up and nudged Cheryl towards the door. "Come on, let's go. I'll chat with the doctor for a minute and tell her that Toni may be confused about certain modern things. Go with your cover story."

Cheryl paused in the doorway and couldn't feel a deep stab of regret for ripping Toni away from everything she's ever known. "I'll be back. If you need anything, you just press the button for the nurse. They are here to help you. Bye Toni."

"Bye Cheryl."

Soon Toni was alone, which is what she wanted. The more she thought of it, the more she saw, the more her home seemed distant. She needed time to think and process what she had already experienced. It was all so overwhelming and intimidating. She could hear faint noises coming from the outside, strange noises. She wasn't sure if she wanted to know what they were.

On top of it she was scared and upset. A lot more scared and upset than she let on with Cheryl. While she trusted Cheryl and knew the girl would return, she felt the need to be alone, to deal with it. She had been brought up to hide her emotions as a proper lady should. Even with her closeness to Cheryl, she still needed to be alone.

Alone in her room, Toni began to cry.

Cheryl left the hospital with great unease, but did so regardless. In the subway heading home, she reflected on how badly she had screwed things up. The more she thought of it, the worse she felt about it.

"I should have just knifed him. The first day I got there. Just found him, acted all sexy, lured him to an isolated spot and simply killed him. Toni would have been sad, but she would have moved on. She'd be at home with her father, not ripped away from everything she knows."

As Cheryl got off the subway and got on the bus for the short ride to Herford, something occurred to her. She had stopped the wedding and prevented Toni's death. That picture and those items would have never ended up in that shop. Thus she would have never found them, launching her on this quest. By changing the past, she eliminated the reason for her to come to the past in the first place.

Cheryl soon began to wonder if she somehow created a paradox. Would she find another version of her at home? One who has no idea who Toni even is. It all seemed absurd, but was a real possibility.

Cheryl got off the bus and headed home. As she got closer to her flat, she got more and more nervous. Soon the church across the street from her flat came into view. Before going home, she needed to check on one thing.

Cheryl walked straight towards the church yard and right to the spot where Toni's grave once stood.

In its place, stood a worn and chipped tombstone.

"George Hitchens 1795-1871"

Thinking for a moment, Cheryl actually remembered him. He was an old who walked with a limp and had this constant, deep wheezing cough. He would come to the Inn usually on Fridays and chat with whoever was around.

"I did it." Cheryl said, not feeling as good about it as she had hoped.

Cheryl picked up her bags and headed back to her flat across the street. A quick look showed nothing different about the building. In fact other than the tombstone, Herford looked much like it did before she left. Though she still felt a bit disoriented as it looked much different than it did in 1869.

Needing to face the music, of the consequences of her actions, she entered her building and unlocked her apartment door.

Her first impression was that the air in the room was hot and stale, not to mention quiet. Cheryl stepped in, closed the door behind her and looked around. Much to her surprise, it looked exactly like it did when she left. The windows were all closed and nothing appeared to have been disturbed. In fact, she could see a thin layer of dust on the small table just insider her doorway. It very much looked like no one had been here in several weeks.

"Hello." She said, hoping not to get an answer.

Much to her relief, there was none. Cheryl then took a quick look around her apartment, to see if anything was different.

What startled Cheryl most, was the fact that absolutely nothing was different. She looked in every drawer, every cabinet and cupboard and all was it was when she left 10 weeks ago. Even the empty coffee cup she had left sitting in the sink, was exactly where she left it.

"What about the paradox?" Cheryl thought.

It was a paradox, just the fact that nothing had changed. Cheryl even found a note pad she had scribbled some notes on about Toni a few months ago. The note pad, both listed the date of her marriage and her death.

Cheryl simply was not able to explain it, how despite her changes in the timeline, that nothing in her apartment was effected in any way. Cheryl found it rather baffling. She made a mental note to tell Jughead about the phenomena, but guessed he'd have no explanation either.

Cheryl thought how someone once said, the only thing guaranteed in life are death and taxes. Cheryl had one other thing to add to that list; the fact, that in life there are some questions that simply never get answered.

Cheryl then stripped out of her clothes she for the first time in 10 weeks, stepped into a hot shower and was finally able to relax, knowing the hard part was behind her.