Being the daughter of two detectives meant that Charlotte Peralta was a curious little girl who didn’t hesitate to investigate her surroundings. Her brother was far more cautious and she should probably listen to him since he was older, but that wasn’t her style at all. Messy pigtails bouncing, she dragged him to the front door of the apartment they’d determined belonged to their father and Charlotte didn’t hesitate to knock on the door.
She had no idea where they were or how they got here. It definitely wasn’t Brooklyn and she hadn’t been able to find listings for most of her aunts and uncles. Her parents had different addresses, which was very odd, and she’d made the decision to seek out her father first since she was a daddy’s girl and he was less likely to yell at them for whatever was going on, even though it wasn’t their fault.
“Johnny, don’t hide,” she admonished her brother who seemed to be shying away from the front door. “Daddy isn’t gonna yell at us.”
***
“We should have gone to the police station or found a trustworthy adult, not come here all by ourselves,” John said quietly in his sister’s ear, as though he didn’t want the door to hear. “That’s what mom always says to do if we get lost.” He looked nervously at the front door.
Jake got up from where he’d been lying on the couch, watching TV with a big bag of potato chips and another equally big bag of sour gummy worms. He was pretty confused. He knew this was a small town and things were different here, but random knocking on his door was still something basically unheard of.
He was even more surprised when he opened the door and there were a pair of kids standing there. Without any adults. He looked around over their heads, hoping there was maybe an adult hiding somewhere. He really didn’t know what to do with kids.
There were no adults. Which meant Jake had to be the adult. Yikes.
“Um, hi there,” he said in his best talking-to-kids voice. “Are you, uh, where are your parents?”
Then he remembered the post he’d seen the other day, about future kids arriving in Madison Valley. “Wait,” he said. “Am I your parents? T. Parent. One of your parents.”
***
“Hi Daddy!” Charlotte said brightly. That answered that question. “What’s this place? How’d we get here? Where’s Mommy? I’m hungry.” She didn’t wait for an invitation inside, simply pushed past him and went inside. When she saw the bag of chips on the couch, she climbed up and helped herself. ***
That left John to sort things out with their father, who was still standing there looking rather shocked and surprised. And also rather younger than John remembered. Unlike Charlotte, John noticed the questions that their dad had asked, and alongside everything else, he started to put two and two together. It seemed likely that they were, somehow, in the past. “Hi, young-dad,” he said solemnly. “I’m your son, John. That’s Charlotte.” He stuck his head into the apartment, which was a mess, and added another piece to the puzzle. There was no way that Mom would let any place they lived look like that. He wasn’t a big fan of it either, and made a face. “You and Mom aren’t together yet, are you,” he said. He made another face. “Mom won’t like you letting her eat all those chips, you know,” he added.
“Uhhh,” said Jake, turning between the two kids, entirely unsure what to do. “Why don’t you come in, John,” he said, hoping to at least get the two of them in one place where he could watch both of them. “And um, you’re right, your mom… isn’t here right now. Do you… have any contact information for her or… anything?”
“Thank you,” said John politely, and stepped inside. He sat down cautiously on the edge of the sofa, beside his sister. He dug into his pocket, where there was a tiny notepad, and flipped it open carefully. He handed it to his father.
Jake looked at the piece of paper, which had, in very neat handwriting, all the contact information for both of the children and their parents. And, of course, their mother was Amy. Which, as far as Jake was concerned, was both a great thing and a terrible thing. Great because it meant that, in some timeline, him and Amy got together again. Terrible, because it meant that he had to now call Amy and tell her that the two of them had kids to take care of for the next however many weeks.
Then again, that wasn’t that bad. The two of them had been on friendly terms, at least, recently. Just because being around Amy was painful didn’t mean he wouldn’t be happy for an excuse to spend more time with her again.
Jake picked up his phone and sent Amy a message, which he figured would be less awkward (for him) than phoning. Heyyyy guess who had future kids show up at his door… spoilers it’s me and they’re calling you Mommy.
***
Charlotte rolled her eyes at her brother and kept eating chips. At least until he made the comment about how Mom wouldn’t like it. Then she stuck her tongue out, mouth full, and said “Stop snitching, Johnny.” Mom wasn’t here so she couldn’t get mad. That was solid five year old logic.
When her brother sat next to her, she tucked the bag closer to her, not intending to share her ill gotten gains with him.
It didn’t take long for Amy to reply to Jake’s message, though her response would probably only confuse him further. Is RJ back? I can pick up breakfast and come over.
“Is that Mommy?” Charlotte asked when his phone made a noise. “Where is she?”
***
“Mommy’s, uh, on her way, uh, sweetie,” Jake said, trying desperately to sound like a father, since she clearly was too young to figure out what was going on. Not that he really knew what was going on. Amy seemed surprisingly unsurprised, though, so he hoped that she had a better idea how to handle things.
John ruined his father’s charade by turning to Charlotte and saying, “Mom and Dad aren’t together yet,” he said. “We’re in the past. See, look at the date,” he said, casually taking the phone from his father as though this was something he did all the time, and showing the on-screen date to his sister. Then he casually handed the phone back to his father.
Jake, not sure how to handle this, took back his phone quickly. There’s two of them, one named John and the other Charlotte. Please bring breakfast. And come quickly. Charlotte is eating all my chips, Jake texted back. Who is RJ? he added in a second text.
***
Oh my god, Jake, you can’t let a child eat chips for breakfast! I’m on my way. Amy’s text came through almost immediately, though the follow up was a bit slower. I’ll explain RJ when I see you.
“Ooh, time travel!” Charlotte said, bouncing on the sofa a little. “Like that old movie Daddy likes with the funny car. ‘Cept we didn’t get in a funny car.”
She was pretty easy going though and could roll with the punches so she didn’t really seem phased by anything that was going on at the moment. As long as she had her brother and her parents, nothing was that bad.
***
Why not? I eat chips for breakfast all the time. That’s kind of the problem - she’s eating my breakfast, Jake replied, only half kidding.
He figured he needed to do something until Amy got there to keep the kids entertained, although Charlotte seemed pretty happy curled up with the chips, and John seemed pretty content just sitting there. Still, they were kids. Jake would be bored just sitting there, so he had to assume they would be too.
“Alright kids, Mommy’s on her way,” he said. “Do you want to play a game while we wait for her? We could play… I spy… or… hide and seek… OR we could do that thing where you mix vinegar and baking soda and make things explode,” Jake said, remembering suddenly that he had both the ingredients for that in his cupboard. “What do you kids think?”
“I would like to read a book,” John said studiously. He knew that the things that Dad suggested often got them into trouble when Mom arrived, and besides, he genuinely would rather read a book than either of the things that Dad had suggested. He glanced at his sister, though; he had a feeling she would have other ideas.
***
“I wanna blow stuff up!” Charlotte exclaimed. “Reading books is boooooooring.” She much preferred being active and doing things to sitting still and reading and hated that they had mandatory family reading time every evening. “Do we still hafta have reading time?”
Maybe since they were time traveling, they would be able to have fun instead. Especially if Mommy didn’t live here. Being with Daddy was way more fun.
“Are the grandpas here? What about Aunt Rosa and Aunt Gina and Uncle Charles and Uncle Terry?”
***
“We have mandatory reading time?” Jake said, laughing to himself a little. That was definitely an Amy thing. It kind of warmed him to hear about what their life would have been like if they’d still been together. Warmed his heart in a bit of a painful way.
“It’s the best time of day,” John said, shooting his sister a look. It was great; no one bothering him while he snuggled up against their mom and they all read books.
Jake hesitated at the question. “Well, Aunt Rosa is here,” he said. “Everyone else isn’t, but I’m sure they’d love to visit if they could.” He wasn’t sure of that at all, but it seemed like a good thing to say to a kid.