Chapter Five

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"So let me get this straight." Prince glances from Ronnie to Lani and back. "You," he points at Lani. "Are from 1995 and are engaged to --"

"To you," Lani states bluntly. Her fingers are toying with the strings of the hoodie she's borrowed from Ronnie.

Prince swallows, looking at his wife. "And you have travelled back to 1995 and met --"

"You."

"This is giving me a headache," he confesses.

"You're not the only one." Ronnie looks at Lani, studying her carefully. "Lani, just before it happened, did you feel any different? Did you feel -- anything?" She doesn't want to say it outright, because she doesn't want to lead Lani on - if they're going to get to the bottom of this, whatever this is, they're going to have to think very hard about what's happening to them.

"Dizzy. I felt dizzy. It was like --" Lani blinks. "Like a dizzy spell, you know when you get up too quickly after you've been lying down for a while."

"That's what I felt!" Ronnie almost jumps with excitement. "Just before I left yours, when I walked out and travelled back. It felt like the world --"

"Started spinning out of nowhere," Lani finishes. Her eyes are still fixed on Prince as she watches him closely, as if she can't quite believe what she's seeing. Ronnie knows that's how she must have looked just a few days ago, when she'd seen her Prince.

Only, 1995 is something Ronnie has already lived through. 2020 is something Lani can't even imagine - and here she is. Ronnie can only be thankful that Prince is a bit of a technophobe, because she doesn't know how long they have together and she doesn't want to waste the time explaining what a smartphone is.

Prince shifts slightly closer to Ronnie, as if for reassurance. "But I don't know you," he tells Lani. "I've never met you in my life. How could I have been engaged to you -- did I suffer a sudden bout of amnesia or something?"

This makes Lani huff a laugh, though Ronnie's not quite sure why. "I don't know. I really don't know." Her eyes are fixed on Prince and Ronnie's linked hands.

Ronnie clears her throat. "Have you noticed anything else out of the ordinary, happening around these things? Anything like --"

"Items disappearing out of nowhere?"

"Seriously, Lani, get out of my head."

Lani smirks. "The saline you gave me last time. That's disappeared. I couldn't find it."

"And the blood --"

"Blood?" Prince interjects, his head snapping to look at Ronnie. She squeezes his fingers.

"Calm down, it's just blood for tests I drew from Lani's baby. It was gone. I thought I was going nuts."

"And what about the tissue?" Lani interjects. "The tissue I gave you at --"

She stops herself immediately, and Ronnie's brain screeches painfully. Please don't say cancer clinic, please don't say it, please don't --

"-- at the park, where I met you."

Thank God Lani is incredibly perceptive. "Yeah. Yeah, that was gone too."

"Y'all know how crazy this whole thing sounds, right?" Prince looks at Lani. "Like, absolutely crazy. How do we know that you're not someone who just randomly decided to raid my shower?"

"Prince," Ronnie says quietly. "I know her. I've seen it with my own two eyes."

"That's not the point, Ronnie, lots of things could happen, you know how it was like with --"

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