Hm… I guess I'm listening to "Your Song" right now, off of the Moulin Rouge soundtrack… good music on that movie, I tell ya. I did want this story to be longer, but… I don't really think that there's anything else to be said in it, really… plus, I wanted to finish it before Sunday, because I won't have any computer access for the next two weeks… I'll probably get back kinda early January… probably the 4th or 5th, if all goes as planned, with a new story. I know, it sucks… but this isn't something I want to do… it's more something that's being forced upon me…

Hm… I'm going to warn you now- if you're eating while reading this… that might not be such a good idea. Don't tell me that I didn't warn you…

Keely eyeballed Owen warily as he sat down with his lunch tray. "You're not going to eat that, are you?" she asked, as he smelled it apprehensively. "What is it, anyway? Assorted horse parts?"

"It can't be that bad," Owen reasoned.

It was worse.

Taking a bigger sniff, he added, "Though I'm not sure if I should be eating it with my nausea…" Owen had been suffering nausea since P.E. that morning.

"I wouldn't touch that with a ten foot shaft," Via muttered, as Keely took out a brown paper bag.

"Hey, Muffin," Phil said, sitting at the table.

"And now it's my nausea," Keely said, dropping her lunch bag with an unsatisfying plop on the table. Owen looked up at her, pointing to the dropped bag. She waved her hand in a go ahead gesture, and he hastily took the bag.

"So what do we have here?" Phil asked nobody in particular, taking a gander at Owen's plate. "Say… that looks familiar…" he muttered, pointing to a rather odd-looking greenish blob in the food.

"It does," Via said. "Oh! I know what that reminds me of!"

"What is it?" Phil asked.

"It's when we were traveling, that thing that burst out of that guy's thorax, and we hit it, and hit it, and hit it…"

"…And it just wouldn't die!" the two finished in unison, and began laughing maniacally.

Keely and Owen looked at each other, then raised an eyebrow at the two.

"Oh, sorry… inside joke," Phil covered. Owen shook his head, and continued rooting around in Keely's lunch bag. "Oh… here we go," he said, pulling out a small plastic cup of Jell-O. Phil let out a piercing scream, and ran out the cafeteria. Via soon followed him.

Keely and Owen had a brief staring contest, then Keely muttered, "I'd better make sure they don't start doing anything hasty," and made a quick exit. The whole room had fallen silent, then the chatter began again once the door behind Keely shut.

"Phil," Via muttered, as she approached him, "what's wrong?"

"That… thing Owen pulled out of--"

"Phil, that's Jell-O… it's a food."

"But it looks so much like--"

"I know, but that won't happen for another forty years. You're going to blow your cover if you keep freaking out about minor things like Jell-O…"

"I suppose you're right," Phil said, and looked out the window, and promptly screamed again. "They're here! They're here! Albino Brain Chiggers! Run for your lives!"

"Phil!" Via shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders. "It's just snow… okay?"

"Snow?" Phil muttered, looking at the outside world again. "Oh… what do you know…"

"Phil, are you ready to act like an adult in there now?"

Phil nodded.

"Okay… let's go."

"It's about time I found you," Keely muttered, coming up alongside the two. "What was that about?"

"Phil just had to… unload some stress," Via covered, as the three of them sat down at the table.

"Hey, guys," Owen greeted. "All calmed down?"

"Yeah…" Keely muttered. "I don't even know why I bother, anymore… I couldn't care less about anything right now…"

"So does that mean you're willing to go out with me?"

"No," Keely snapped. "I'm hopeless, Owen. Not desperate."

"She torched you," Phil muttered, smirking.

Keely smiled and popped a pill down the hatch Owen told Phil to shut his mouth.

"Careful, Owen," Keely warned. "Make him mad and he might crash into you with his car and kill you."

"Keely, we've been over this," Phil said, in a warning tone. Keely rolled her eyes. "You're so childish, Keely," he added when he saw that. Keely stuck her tongue out at him.

"Watch it, Phil; I have a cane and I know how to use it."

"I'd like to see you try," Phil retorted.

"You want to bring it on?" Keely asked, standing up.

"Let's go," Phil said, also rising.

"Phil," Via shot in a warning tone. Phil took one glance at her and immediately sat down.

"You two…" Keely muttered. "I don't think I'll be able to put up with you…"

"Well," Phil said, as Owen left the table, "we can't help it that we were destined to be together."

"How do you figure you were destined to be together?"

"Come on, Keely… what are the odds that two people will travel back in time, have their time machines break down, and meet each other in the past?"

Keely frowned. "Not too good, I guess…"

Via and Phil smiled at each other. "And there's no other way I'd rather have it…" Phil muttered, placing a hand on hers. The two gazed into each other's ey--

"Oh, please…" Keely muttered, ruining the moment, while looking the other way. "There are people trying to eat in here…"

"If you don't like it, why don't you leave?"

Keely sighed. "Fine… I have to get ready for the afternoon announcements anyway." She got up to go down to the video lab.

"Be sure that you don't get DVT in the other leg," Phil said.

Keely rolled her eyes, and whacked him in the back with her cane. "Never annoy a cripple," she said, and hobbled out of the room, glad to be away from any possible display of public affection.

Looking at the frame of the door to the AV lab, she saw a mistletoe plant hanging. Shaking her head, she tossed it into the trash. It's just a weed anyway, she thought.