Time Passages (Queen or Freddie Mercury Fanfic)

Lab Rats: Rain Check

Danny's doing?  K thought to himself.  Funny, but Danny hadn't forced Freddie's hand to grab Julia's wrist.  Looked pretty voluntary to me.  But that's none of my business, I'm sure.

"But I'll still ask him- or see if Jules could get any info out of-" Stuart cut himself off. "Oh, that reminds me, she and are having lunch today at noon.  God, I almost forgot.  Yeah, I'll ask her then."

Then Stuart addressed the worker bees still swarming in and out of Speck, "How's it coming, team?"

"The final subsystem diagnostics are running, Dr. Preus," the young intern Madelyn announced, looking up from her screen.  "Main systems are functioning at an adequate level for safe transport."

"Is the bridge still stable?" Stuart asked.

"Still holding strong at eighty-seven percent," Gabe replied brightly, which meant Speck's grasp on the moment had been weakened by only thirteen percent over the past three or so days.  The more the continuum moved in the meantime, however, the faster the bridge would lose its all-important strength, making for a less than seamless transport.

Fortunately, the team had done such a thorough job of repairing Speck's fried servers and sub-servers, that even after the authorization request would be submitted and answered, they were estimating they could send Freddie back home tomorrow evening, thereby drawing Experiment "B-13" to as neat and concise a close as they could have hoped for.  In about thirty hours at most, all this brouhaha would end, and Julia would never have to trouble herself with Freddie again.  Stuart had vowed to personally ensure as much.

A little dialog box appeared on one of the screens, announcing that the final subsystem diagnostics scan was complete, having found no bugs left to sweep.  Burned out parts had been replaced, the systems not affected by Speck's bridge rebooted.  The slightest of relieved smiles crossed Stuart's thin lips. 

"All right, good work, everyone," he sighed, clapping his hands.  "Now let's switch her on all the way."

It took about five minutes for all the data counters and visuals to recalibrate and reconnect themselves with the cross-continuum bridge.  All present watched and waited with bated breath, hoping every long hour of overtime work (which fortunately, they could apply as extra credit or much-needed lab hours on their transcript, which made this vast undertaking a bit more bearable) had not been for naught. 

In the meantime, Stuart turned to C.  "By the way, I've been giving the, uh, spying some serious reconsideration-"

"Spying?" C looked offended.  "I prefer the word 'monitoring' personally.  If it's good enough for the NSA-"

"Okay, fine.  Just listen to me.  I've changed my mind.  I don't want you monitoring Jules and the kid anymore."

K's eyes widened; he kept them on the screen so no one noticed.  But C was beside himself.  "Why not?" he demanded.

"Because I feel guilty spying- uh, monitoring my girlfriend and invading her privacy when there is absolutely no cause for it."

"I don't believe this," C exclaimed.  "How many times have I-"

"Tim," Stuart whispered, drawing him out of earshot of the team, "whatever you think went on between Jules and Bucky, I just don't see it- certainly not after I did some research when I got home last night.  I got an eyeful."

"Dr. Preus, that's the illusion!  That's what he wanted you to think! Only just last night-"

"Nope.  I don't want to hear it."

"But-"

"Tim, I appreciate the concern, but you're looking for trouble.  Maybe years ago they kissed a few times, and maybe she got butterflies in her stomach in one hot, less-than-lucid instant when he happened to look at her the way he does- but even then, I think that's just the way he looks at people.  The guy's not ugly, I admit, and I can see Jules maybe being attracted to him at some point, but Tim, look.  He's gay.  He's with some guy named Jim.  It's near-impossible that what you told me is true.  I'm serious, he and she couldn't be more dissimilar.  She's a sensible, practical, no-nonsense kind of woman, whereas Freddie- let me put it this way: if he were any campier, he'd be Bette Midler."