Once Janet got into the stratosphere, she paused to hover.

     "Why are you stopping, Janet?" Niki asked. 

     "I'm surprised, really." Gramps replied. "Janet's sole purpose, supposedly, is to protect my family. Janet could take us to another dimension if she wanted to, if she felt it was the best way to keep my family safe."

     "Janet's an Azure ship, though," Niki said. "You don't control her. The Azure control her." 

​     "Correct."

     "Then they're the reason we're parked here, but why? It doesn't make any...no no, I get it."

     "What?" Gramps asked. 

     "My mission. I have to see that Adam Forwarder returns safely to Earth with his child."

     "No," Gramps said. "What you're thinking, the answer is no."

     "I'd have a better chance of protecting Adam with a fully weaponized starship at my disposal."

     "It was allocated to me to keep my family safe. Nothing more." 

     "We're at a critical point here, Gramps. Adam should be coming through that portal any second now."

     "I'm not putting my family in harm's way. They're to remain here with Janet, and Janet's not doing anything but keeping them safe."

     Niki sighed. She closed her eyes, opened them again, then said, "Anything else we can use?" 

     "We've got a van onboard." 

     "A van." Niki chuckled. "I'm pretty sure Mother Naturia has no problem crushing vans."

     "We're not going to have to worry about Mother Naturia so much, I don't think. Abby and the kids stay with Janet. You and I will go get Adam Forwarder." 

     Niki sighed again, then shrugged. "Time's a wastin'," she said. "Where's the van?" 

     "I need a few minutes, first," Gramps said. 

     "Uh..." 

     "Five minutes, please." 

     "You gotta' crap?"

     "Five minutes." Gramps turned to Alison. "You know this wasn't the timeline I was born into, right?"

     "I don't know anything, really."

     "One Adam per timeline, that's the deal, even though, at the very beginning, there was only the one Adam."

     Niki said, "Gramps, for..." 

     "Shh! This is important. Alison, in my timeline, where I was the Adam, the woman who was to become my wife and bear my child was your grandmother." 

​     "I..."

     "I know. You knew your grandmother, but you're thinking of the woman in your timeline, not mine. Her name was Elaine." 

     "That was my grandmother's name." 

     "That's what I'm saying. The Elaine in my timeline gave birth to our child the same weekend as Woodstock." 

​     "Abigail. Mom."

     "No. It wasn't Abby she gave birth to in my timeline. It was Galatea, the woman who was to save the multiverse from The Fours." 

     Abby said, "Dad, are you sure this is the best time to..." 

     Gramps ignored her. "Galatea didn't fare as well against The Fours as we'd hoped. The Fours devoured my timeline. I watched its' tentacles reach across my past and future to obliterate it all."

     "But you escaped?" Alison asked.

     "I don't remember any of that part. How I wound up in this timeline, I have no idea. It took me a couple of years before I became completely myself again. Once I regained full strength, I sought out your grandmother in this timeline." 

     "Even though she was a complete stranger." 

     "I loved her. All I could think about was Elaine. I loved Elaine more than anyone I'd ever loved before in my long, long life."

     "So what happened to her, the Elaine in your timeline?" 

     A look of such sorrow crossed Gramps features then that Alison felt sorry she asked the question...

     almost. 

     "I can't really talk about that," Gramps replied at last. "With both Elaine and Galatea, I...no, I can't talk about it." 

     "Gramps, please," Niki said. "We need to go."

     "Yeah, yeah, you're right. This is going on longer than I...anyway,​ what I need you to know right now is that I am your grandfather in every way but one."

     "There is only one way to be a grandfather," Alison replied.  

     "Gramps, please!" Niki pleaded.

     "I love you, Alison. I love you all." Then, to Niki,

     "Let's go."  

                                             CONTINUE