After leaving Minnesota, the traveling quartet stopped in a hotel for the night. Jack, luckily feel asleep quickly in his own room while Chea Karen and Glory watched tv in their own room.
"Ok I have a stupid question." Chea asked.
"Whats that?" Karen replied.
"Why are we driving all the way back when we could have just zapped us there by now?" Chea asked. Karen shrugged in response.
"Beats me." Karen said. "I thought you liked kicking it on route 66."
"We're not actually on route 66." Chea reminded her. We're a little west of that."
"Oh, yeah, right." Karen said after thinking about it. "That is a good question, since we were able to come all the way over from our home dimension to here with four people in the car."
Glory looked watched an episode of CSI while they talked. "I have no idea what you are talking about. The lab guy is soooo hot."
Chea and Karen glanced at Glory then laughed.
"Thats a good question, but theres another good question we've been putting off." Chea said.
"About what to do with the you-know-whos?" Karen asked.
"Okay two things." Chea said. "You been eating a lot lately."
"I know." Karen said. "Mike and I have been thinking about a family." She sighed. "And if it does happen this time around it could mean a lot of changes."
"Like what?" Chea asked.
"Well would zooming around other dimensions be bad for me and the baby? It could mean I can't go anywhere for at least nine months." She explained. "Maybe its a sign."
"Whats a sign?" Glory asked now taking more interest in their conversation than in Greg on tv.
"It might be the last time we do this kind of thing, just go off anywhere we want to any old time." Karen said. "It means that somethings happening that we never expected when we were just going on a short vacation two or three years ago....we may be just settling down in the tv dimension."
"Which brings us back to the clones." Chea asked. "Do we bring them with? Do they stay here and eck out their own existence? Don't forget we havent even met Paul yet."
"Right." Karen nodded. "I don't want to bum this trip out any more than right now, but I get this eerie feeling some hard choices are going to be made, and soon."
Chea nodded. "I have a hard choice to make right now."
Karen looked at her friend with a small smile. "Like what?"
"Chicken or fish?" Chea said. "If we're getting oriental take out, we gotta pick something out for Jack too."
"Three gets egg roll!" Glory burst out. Chea and Karen looked at her. "Well its true."
"Shes right." Chea said. "At least we will get fortune cookies." Chea laughed.
"Oh tre yummy, I'd rather eat an old hat." Karen grimaced.
"Micky would take you up on that if he was here." Chea giggled. "Micky. I never knew how much I miss him till now. I can't want to see him again, see if hes changed any."
Karen nodded. "Not even a year married and this is the first time I've been away from Michael long term. I'm sure the other guys are in Livvie and Briannas hearts right now, in some way." Chea looked at her friend. "I think we gotta face it, our future is changing as we speak. The people we saw in the future may not be the people we become, for all we know we may be the only Monkee spouses."
Chea nodded. "How can you tell?"
Karen shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe too many Meg Ryan movies."
After the fun day at the magical amusement park, Brianna sat in her half room with Paul reading a book. She heard him shut the light off, and within a few minutes she could hear him snoring softly. She got out of her bed, clad in a pjs with bunnies on them, a joke gift from Micky, and tiptoed around the partition that divided their room. She looked around the corner and saw Paul curled up around a pillow with the top of it close to his face. He looked so cute when he was sleeping. Davy when he slept, she had noticed, he kept his head barely above the pillow as he slept, so he wouldnt muss his hair. She had always wondered how he managed to get any sleep but he was always up early the next day. Paul didnt seem to have the same vanities, however and his soft brown hair spread across the pillow like little fingers reaching for the sky. Brianna laughed at herself softly for being so alliterative and left the room. She walked down the hallway and peeked into Livvies room. She had some light music playing, Sade? She may just be a modern woman yet.
Brianna dug through a drawer and found some cup of soup. She grabbed a cup and dumped it in while pouring in some hot water from the tap. The first time she had the soup was icky, she had forgotten to put enough water in it. Now with a full cup of chicken soup she stirred it as she waited for it to cool she slipped outside onto the deck and sat on a swinging couch.
The night was cool but not cold enough to make Brianna go back into the house for a light jacket. She was about to sip her soup when she felt someone put a blanket on her shoulders. She looked up and saw Livvie.
"Hey." She said quietly.
"Hey." Livvie said. "So I guess they are on their way home now."
"Right." Brianna nodded. "And we'll get to meet that other clone and have her and Jack fill out a survey."
"Then we go home." Livvie said.
"Right." Brianna sighed. Livvie looked at her.
"Is there something wrong?" Livvie asked. "Put enough water in there this time?"
"Oh no its fine this time. Added pepper to it." Brianna said stirring the mixture in her cup. "But there is sort of a problem."
"Whats that?" Livvie asked.
"I'm not so sure I want to go home." Brianna said looking at Livvie with a serious look in her eyes. "I'm starting to think I want to stay here."
"That is funny." Livvie nodded. "You want to know something even funnier?"
"What?" Brianna asked warming her hands around the cup. "I think I want to stay too." Livvie answered. Brianna raised an eyebrow.
eighteen
