“Todays the day,” Nick told Sam as they were eating a scrap of egg from Jasmine’s breakfast.

Sam gave him an arched look that told him that she didn’t believe him.  “Really?  Cause you said that the other day.  Oh, and the day before.  Oh, and don’t forget the day before…”

Nick let a frustrated sigh, “Ok, so I might have been wrong the previous times.  Do you know how difficult it is to gauge how much energy you need to rip a hole in the fabric of space to go to the exact place you want to go?  No?  Well it’s not easy.”

Sam shook her head as she nibbled on the egg in her hand.  It was Friday, almost 5 days since Nick woke up and a few days passed the supposed day that they were leaving.  Still Sam didn’t mind spending a few more days here, as long as Nick was with her.  Before Sam could say anything back to Nick Jasmine came into the room quickly grabbing her school supplies.  She seemed extremely happy ever since Nick returned.  They haven’t told Jasmine about them leaving soon and were waiting until they were about to go.  They both agreed that it would be best to wait till the last minute to tell her. 

“Are you sure you want to come along with me to school?”  Jasmine asked them uncertainty.  Jasmine was afraid that something might happen to them if they went with her.  Sam too was scared but Nick insisted that they should spend as much time with her since they would be leaving soon and didn’t want Jasmine to feel abandoned by them. 

It occurred to Sam that other than Annabel they were her only true friends.  Sure she had Isaac and Ruth but they couldn’t talk to her, and the other kids at school found her a little weird that she doesn’t kill buggies like them.

“Yeah, besides how are we supposed to give you the answers to the math test today,” Nick said teasingly.

Jasmine put her hands on her hips and said upset, “I have been studying and don’t need to cheat.”

Nick smile, “Good, so you don’t mind if we come by and see how you do then?”

Jasmine thought about it for a quick second and nodded, “Ok.”

As Jasmine picked them up and put them in her pocket in her shirt like she always did, Sam gave Nick a gloomy look.  “Are you positive that we are leaving today?”  Nick nodded to her.  “How do you think she’s going to take it?”

“Hopefully well, because I don’t know what we’re going to do if she tries and stops us.”

Sam gave Nick an angry look.  “She wouldn’t do something like that,” Sam said defending Jasmine. 

“I know, but people do stupid things when they are upset.  Trust me, I know,” Nick said quietly.  He knew from his past experiences with the just about everyone he meet in this universe.  Courtney, Annabel, most of the girls on the soccer club.  It was probably the reason why everyone tortured the buggies all the time. It was to take out their aggression for the day or past experiences.  He just hoped that Jasmine didn’t behave like most of them.

“Well you aced that test,” Nick told Jasmine as she set them back down on her dresser the moment they got home.

“Really?” Jasmine asked excited.

“Yup, we watched you answer every question and you did great.”

“I’m so glad.  With you two helping me study I won’t have to worry about any more tests.”

Sam looked at Nick who had a saddened look on his face.  “Umm, about that Jasmine.  You see Sam and I are thinking about heading back home… our other home.”

The joy left Jasmines’ face immediately.  “But, I thought we were friends.”

“We are,” Sam said. “But we also have families too.  My mom and dad are probably worried sick over me.”

“When are you leaving,” Jasmine asked saddened by the news of them leaving.

Sam looked at Nick who said, “We can leave tomorrow morning if you want to spend one more day with us.”  Jasmine wiped at her noise and quickly gave them a smile.

“Ok, let have one more fun day together,” Jasmine picked them up and brought them over to her doll house where they played dolls for the rest of the day.  In no time it was dinner, then bed.  Jasmine asked if they would stay for breakfast.  Nick said that they would love to, and wished her a good night.  When she finally went to bed Nick took Sam and brought her over to their bed and tucked her in.

“You’re not going to sleep,” Sam asked Nick worried.

“I’ve got a couple of things I wanted to do before I go to sleep.”

“Like what,” Sam asked curious.

“There are just a couple of things that need to be taken care of before we leave.  Don’t worry I’ll be back soon.” 

Nick took a step back and vanished from Sam’s view.  She wanted to go with him but something told her that it was personal.  She just hoped no one was going to get hurt.

Courtney was sitting on her bed texting Paul to see if he wanted to meet up tomorrow at the mall.  She just sent the text when she heard a voice she thought she would never hear again.

“Hello there, Courtney.”  She quickly turned around to see Nick in a gray hoodie perfectly fine, on her nightstand.

“Nick,” She gasped at the impossibility of him being here.  “How…?”  Before Nick could say anything she grabbed him.  It wasn’t a possessive grab to capture him but a loving grab as she brought him close to her chest and held him there for a moment.  “You have no idea how much you made me worried.  I came home to talk to you about Paul when I couldn’t find you.  That’s when I remember the night before and ... well I thought I flushed you when I went to the bathroom at school.”  Nick was pulled away from Courtney’s bosom, “How did you get here?”

“It’s a long story.  I just came here to see how you are doing.”

“I don’t understand, I’m doing fine but… why would you see me after everything that I did to you?”

“What you did to me was,” Nick didn’t have to say anything as Courtney’s face said it all, she felt guilty.  “But you also tried to help me.  I just wanted to thank you for trying to help and saving me when you found me.”

Courtney was at a loss of words.  “… But what I did-”

Nick stopped her, “Let’s just leave it behind us.”

“Ok, so now what?”  Courtney asked as she set Nick down on her nightstand.

“Everything fine at school with those girls?”  Nick asked.

Courtney was surprised that he remembered or even cared.  “Uh, yeah everything’s fine.  They hate me more than ever, but…” She smiled, “I’m the one going out with Paul and not them.”

Nick laughed, “That’s good.  I wish you two the best of luck.”  Courtney’s phone rang as she received a text.  She looked down and read the message from Paul saying that he would like to hang out.  “Goodbye,” Nick said.

Courtney finished reading the text and looked up puzzled, “Goodbye?”  When she looked up she found Nick was gone from where he was.  Courtney was surprised at his disappearance but wasn’t too shocked considering how he got here and everything else about him.  “Goodbye, Nick.”

Tracie was lying on her bed tossing a soccer ball up in the air and catching it.  She was thinking about her sister she had been acting very strange for the past week.  She wouldn’t say anything to anyone and seemed very depressed or worried. 

“You trying out to be a goalie?”  Someone asked causing Tracie to nearly miss the ball and hitting her in the head.

“What?” She asked confused as she looked at her doorway; no one was there.

“Over here,” the voice said again and Tracie looked over at her T.V. stand and saw Nick stand next to the T.V.

“You?  What are you doing here?”  Tracie asked as she sat up from her bed.

“Just checking up on the leg, everything fine?”

“Yeah… don’t know how you did it but it feels better than it has ever felt.  I don’t even have that scar from when I feel off my bike when I was a kid.”

“Ops, didn’t mean to do that.  I just wanted to thank you for your help.  If I weren’t for you God knows what would have happened to me.”

Tracie’s face darkened with rage, “I heard some of the stories about what the girls did to you while I was gone.  I swear I-”

Nick cut her off saying, “Please just let it go.  What’s done is done.”

Tracie let out a huff and said, “Fine, but still I think I should beat a few of them.”

Nick laughed, “Then you wouldn’t have a soccer team.”

“I think I could manage without a few of them,” She said laughing.  There was some silence when she asked Nick a question, “That night when Anna gave you to Jasmine, did anything happen?  She seems different.”

Nick paused and didn’t say anything.  Finally he said, “How much time do you spend with her?”

Tracie shrugged, “Not sure, why?”

“Between school and soccer practice and everything else, how much time do you spend with your little sister?”

Tracie thought about it and finally said, “I guess not much.  I mean I try but,” Tracie felt like a total jerk now that she thought about it.  Sure they did things like get ice cream but she would bring her friends with her too.  She wasn’t really alone with her sister much.

“Yeah, something happened to her, and she needs someone to talk to.  She’s a lonely girl and has no one.  In fact Jasmine is the only person she talks to at school as a friend.”

Tracie felt even worse.  “I didn’t know.  What should I do?”

“Tomorrow why don’t you and her go pass the ball around a bit and talk?  She looks up to you, you just need to spend some time with her as a sister.”

“Ok, I will,” Tracie said determined.

“Who are you talking to?”  Tracie’s mom asked as she walked into her room. 

“What,” Tracie asked as she turned around to see her mom.  When she turned back Nick was gone. 

“I heard you talking, were you on the phone?”

“Uh yeah, yeah I was.”

Annabel was lying in her bed going trying to sleep.  She didn’t get much sleep after what transpired last week.  She always tried to sleep but had horrible nightmares.  She would dream about that man chasing her and right before she was caught she would wake up.  Annabel thought of telling someone about her dreams but no one listened to her, and she didn’t want Jasmine to think she was a scaredy cat.  Annabel tossed and turned in her bed trying to fall asleep but was too anxious to do so. 

“Having trouble sleeping?”

Annabel knew that voice.  She quickly turned her light on and saw Nick standing on her desk.  “What are you doing here?”

“Well, I went to school with Jasmine and noticed that you seemed distracted.  Just wanted to make sure you were ok.”

“Why?”  Annabel asked skeptical at him caring.

Nick let out a sigh, “Because even though you were going to keep me for your own personal toy, I know you were just lashing out.  I know what it feels like not to have friends while everyone around you is happy with friends.”

“You do?”  Annabel asked.

“Yeah,” Nick said sadden at the memories of his high school years.  “But you’re not alone, you have friends.  Jasmine is your friend, so is your sister, and I don’t mind being your friend either.”

“Really, you want to be my friend?”  Annabel asked confused.  “But I never had a buggy as a friend.”

“Buggies are like anyone else, you just have to be friendly and careful with us.”  Annabel went over and picked up Nick and carried him to her bed.   “Annabel, why don’t you come over to Jasmine’s after breakfast with your sister?”

“I’ll try.  I’m not sure if my sister will have time to.”

“I wouldn’t worry about that.  Now why don’t you get some sleep,” Nick said as he used his powers to put Annabel to sleep.  He also turned the lights off.  He could tell she wasn’t sleeping well because of how tired she looked in school.  She must have been plagued with nightmares about what happened.  Doing one last thing, he made sure she wouldn’t have any more nightmares.  With everything done, Nick went back to Jasmine’s room.  Sam was asleep in her bed.

He looked over at the empty beds that were Isaac and Ruth, who left a couple of days ago to see if they could find other buggies who might need help.  Jasmine told them that she would help them and anyone that they found.  They said they would be back Monday, so Nick and Sam told them that they were leaving and would be gone by the time they get back.  They said their goodbyes and let them go their own way.  Nick got into the bed and closed his eyes waiting for the next day to come. 

“Jasmine, pancakes are done,” Jasmine’s mom said waking everyone up.  Jasmine got up and out of bed and headed for the breakfast table like usual.  Sam turned to see Nick was in the bed still trying to get some sleep. 

“You up?” Sam asked.  Nick mumbled something that Sam couldn’t hear.  “What was that?”

“I said I don’t normal sleep this well, it’s got to be this bed.”

Sam gave him a mocking looking.  The bed was pretty much tissue paper folded up.  “Well then I’m going to get up.”  Before she could roll out of bed Nick stopped her.

“Ok maybe it isn’t the bed.  Let just stay here for a few more minutes.”  They stayed in bed till Jasmine came back with some food for them.  As she entered her room they got out of bed and went to say good morning.  After breakfast Jasmine looked at them and asked if they were going to leave now.

“In a little bit,” Nick said.  Almost if all planed the doorbell rang.  Jasmine’s mom opened the door and called Jasmine to the door.  When she came back she had an excited face on as she held a soccer ball.  “What’s up,” Nick acting like nothing was up.

“Tracie and Annabel want to go play some soccer.  Do you guys want to come with us?” 

Sam looked at Nick with a suspicious look, “Sure.”  Jasmine picked them up and carried them outside to go with Tracie and Annabel to the park to play soccer.  “Is this what you did the other day at night,” Sam whispered to Nick. 

Nick shrugged, “I thought that we might as well say goodbye to them too.”  Sam shook her head at him.  She did want to say goodbye to Jasmine but still had an uncertainty feeling about Annabel.  They all found a bench at the park near an open area for them to play with the soccer ball.  Jasmine put Sam and Nick down on the bench and stepped back.  “Well, I guess this is goodbye.” Nick said.

Annabel had a confused look on her face, “But I thought we were going to be friends.”

“We are, but we need to get home.”

“So I guess we won’t see you all again?” Tracie asked. 

Sam looked at Nick and asked fearful of his answer, “Will we?”

“After everything we went through and what happened…” Nick said drawling it out.  “Why would we not come back to visit our friends?”

Sam smiled.  She was glad that they could come back and visit their friends.  Sure it was dangerous here, but she felt bad about leaving Jasmine, Ruth, and Isaac here never to see them again.  Sam could tell the others were glad at his response.

“Might be a little while before we see each other again but I swear I’ll come back to see how you all are doing.”

“Ok,” They all said smiling. 

“Ready,” Nick asked Sam.  Sam nodded and also said goodbye to them.  Nick held on to her hand and held his free hand out.  That same black orb that Nick used against Ralph started to appear in his hand.  It slowly grew then Nick closed his eyes and started to concentrate.  Finally he opened his eyes and said, “See you all later.” 

Next thing Sam knew everything went black and she passed out.

Sam slowly opened her eyes.  She was looking up into the sky lying down in some grass.  Not giant grass but regular sized grass!  She sat up and looked around.  Nick was lying down on his back with his hand still holding Sam’s.  Looking around, she noticed they were at the same spot they were when they left.  It was the same boulders and open field area that Ralph and Nick fought at before. 

“Are we home?” She asked herself out loud.

“Yup,” Nick said with his eyes still closed.

“How do you know?”  Sam asked concerned that he might be wrong.  Nick opened his eyes and looked at her.  She could tell he was positive that this was home.  Smiling she lay back down and looked up at the sky.  They just stayed there as the day was slowly turning to night when suddenly Sam sat up.  “Crap, my parents!  They must be worried sick about me!”  She quickly went to run back to campus to see if her car was there but was stopped by Nick who was still holding her hand. 

“I’ll take you back to your car.”  Nick walked her through the woods back to campus.  Sam wanted to run but Nick seemed to be acting calm which calmed her too.  When they got to her car which was surprisingly still there, it was dark. 

Sam laughed, “Can’t believe my car is still here.”  She opened her car door and got in.  She watched Nick get ready to leave when she called for him to wait, “You want a ride back home?”

“Sure,” Nick said getting in.  They drove back to her house where he walked her to her house.  She opened the doors and saw her parents setting up for dinner.  They both had a worried expression that turned to anger.

 “Where have you been young lady,” Her mom asked sternly. 

“We were worried sick about you,” Her dad said. 

“Sorry mom, dad.  I… um, lost track of time,” She said feeling like an idiot at her answer for being gone for about a month or so.

“You were supposed to be back a couple of hours ago,” her mom said as she set the table.

Sam looked confused, “A couple of hours?”

“Yeah that when you got out of school.  It’s been a long time since you came over Nick,” Sam’s dad said.

Sam was about to say something about them being gone more than a few hours when Nick said, “Sorry I met Sam at school and we got carried away catching up.”  They both seemed fine with that answer.

“Do you want to eat dinner with us,” Sam’s mom asked.

“I should go see my parents they are probably just as worried.”  Nick started to walk away.

“Let me say goodbye,” Sam said as she walked Nick out.

When they were outside of hearing Sam gave him a wide eye look, “A couple of hours?  It’s like we never left, how is that possible?”

Nick shrugged, “It’s possible that time stopped when we left and started when we came back.”

“But how is that possible?”

Again Nick shrugged, “Not really sure.  Even I don’t have all the answers.”

“What about Jasmine will it be like we never left?”

Nick shook his head, “Not likely.  We weren’t from her universe so we shouldn’t have affected anything with them.”

They stood outside until her dad said, “Honey hurry up.”

Sam blushed, “I guess this is goodbye.”

Nick smiled, “See you tomorrow?

Sam smiled at him, “Ok.”  She leaned forward and kissed Nick.  “Or later on tonight where we use to meet?”  She asked seductively.

Nick couldn’t help but smile even more, “See you in a couple of hours.”

1 year later.

A year had passed since Nick and Sam went to that other universe.  Since then not much has happened.  Nick and Sam were still together but it was a weird relationship.  That summer they spent every day together but when school time came back it was like her relationship with Mark.  They barely saw each other.  She was busy studying or had work.  Nick was barely around due to him having to fight someone or help others that needed his help.  In fact she hadn’t seen him or heard from him for almost a month.  She was worried that something might have happened to him.  If it weren’t for him promising that he would see her today she would have rushed over to his house to see him. 

“Hey Sam!”  Beth shouted at Sam as she came across her path.  They quickly started to chat and talk about what they were going to do over summer break. 

“I think I’m going to go back to the beach again and work on my tan.  You want to join me this time?”  Beth asked.

“I’m not sure, I might have plans.”

“Plans with whom?  Your boyfriend,” Beth said jokingly.

“Actually yeah she does,” Nick said behind them making them both jump.  Sam turned around and felt joy spread through her as she hugged him.  “Sorry, had some business to take care of.”

“So this is Nick?  You said he was cute but not gorgeous,” Beth whispered to Sam.

“You said I was cute?”  Nick said grinning after hearing what Beth whispered, causing her to blush.

“Maybe,” Sam said.  “You better have something fun for us to do that beats the beach.”

Nick grinned, “Well, I thought we could met some friends we haven’t seen in a while.  But…”

“You mean Jasmine?”  Sam asked excitedly.  She wanted to see how she was doing.

“Yup,” Nick said as he held his hand out.  Sam took his hand and they started to walk away.  Sam couldn’t wait to see Jasmine.  Beth watched them walking away towards the woods confused at what they were talking about.

Sam looked at Nick and said, “I can’t wait to see how big they’ve gotten…”