Off Duty with Sam Snow & Kit Casey

3 // Interlude: After the Time Jump (Boxing Day Special)

Adrian's note: I'm not sure if I can consider it a "comeback," per se, but it's been a while since I've tended to my own literary works. I've gotten a new job since the last chapter I've written for Off Duty, and with the new Creature Cases holiday special out already on Netflix, I thought I might as well write this and get it out of the way. There will be more to come in the new year, so stay tuned!

This chapter contains spoilers for The Creature Cases' holiday special, "The Missing Mammoth: A Holiday Mystery," which can be streamed on Netflix (or apparently, YouTube as well! In that case, I've attached it above this chapter in case you'd like to watch it).

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[Setting: As usual, Sam and Kit's quarters at CLADE HQ. It's the morning after last night's holiday party, which they almost missed out on because of their time jump into the Ice Age and back. The two agents are sitting at their desk in front of the window; Sam is checking something on his tablet computer, and Kit is working on another drawing.]

Kit Casey: [gently puts down her marker] "You know, Sam, I just realized something."

Sam Snow: [curiously] "What is it?"

Kit: "That time jump we had last night—the Stinkwells' gift—I'm not so sure if... if that was—"

Sam: "A good present to give?"

Kit: "Sort of, kind of, yeah..."

Sam: "Well..." [pauses] "...they did intend for it to be a surprise gift. Good intentions, you know?"

Kit: "Yeah, but..." [lightly chuckles] "...we surprised ourselves, didn't we? Even if we got to solve another Creature Case and get Grammy back to her herd, I don't know if I'd want to do it again."

Sam: "I can see where you're coming from. One paw, you get something meaningful out of it besides the food or the presents; the other one, it's not how you'd want to spend the holidays."

Kit: "Exactly. And that time jump button has some consequences to go along with it. We could've changed history, and we did. We did that! We just have to teeter along carefully with it if we did it again, and I'm sure the Stinkwells will walk us through it—properly walk us through that. Say... how many power cells does RON have?"

Sam: "Just the one cell, I think."

Kit: "We could've had a backup power cell!" [sighs] "Oh well... we can let them know we'd need a backup or two in case we jump back in time again."

Sam: "That would be the smart thing to do. I'm with you on that."

Kit: "That would've been the right thing to do after what we went through last night. Yeah, I betcha that would be the best thing to do after that."

[A few minutes have passed by. Kit has already gone through most of her drawing and is just about done coloring it in; Sam has left his computer open, no longer perusing through its browser, and is simply looking through a magazine about UFOs instead.]

Kit: "You know what would be funny though, Sam? We end up jumping back in time, but not that far back, and then we'd meet ourselves! And then the whole universe goes POOF! Right?" [chuckles]

Sam: "Oh yeah." [laughs] "There just isn't enough room for two master detectives..."

Kit: "Even funnier: my past self and I look at each other, I say, it's me, she says hi, and then I say, I'm the problem, it's me!"

Sam: "Then the whole universe implodes!"

Kit: "Exactly!" [laughs] "It'd be a heck of a way to go out."

Sam: "I'll say."

Kit: "What would you do if you met yourself from the past? Like, 'not that far' in the past?"

Sam: "Well... I'd start by telling him how good-looking he is, he tells me right back how good I look, and then we'd try and go on a master detective adventure. Before the universe explodes, of course."

Kit: "That sounds about right... and a little wrong, maybe." [chuckles}

Sam: "Why?"

Kit: "Here's how I see it: you and I balance each other out pretty well. My yin to your yang and vice versa. There just can't be two of you, because you'd end up going nowhere—"

Sam: [defensively] "I think myself and I make a good team together, thank you very much."

Kit: [playfully scoffs] "Yeah, right. You definitely need me. You really need me."

Sam: "For a Creature Case? Yes, I do. But not for a classic whodunit mystery!"

Kit: "You'd still need me for that. Just saying."

Sam: [sighs] "Fiiiiiiiine."

Kit: "Don't let that go to your head, either."

Sam: "Yeah, yeah... Whatcha think, should we go talk to the Stinkwells about that button?"

Kit: "I don't see why not. They're not really busy today... I hope."

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Off Duty returns in 2023. Stay tuned... ;)