Numb3rs fic: "You remind me of someone I used to know"
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Title: You remind me of someone I used to know. (& at my lj)
Author: Keenir.
Pairing/Characters: Colby Granger, Amita Ramanujan.
Rating/Category: PG-13 Gen (pre-Het or post-Het)
Spoilers: Bones of Contention.
Summary: Amita has saved Colby once, but she regrets not having saved him twice. Time's funny that way.
References:
- Kennewick Man
- the book 'The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan’ by Robert Kanigel.
- the 'The Outer Limits' episode Tribunal.
- the Polgahana(sp) ritual, cited in the series 'Out of Egypt' hosted by Kara Cooney.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The door wasn't an issue for Amita, as it had been slammed open by vehicle's flight through the air, permanently stuck pointing in the wrong direction. US Army seatbelts were a minor distraction en route to her goal of getting Colby out.
At this moment, as the sun started to set on the Afghanistan countryside, "Let's get you out of here," Amita said as she hauled Colby to a safe distance from the jeep.
There were others who had been in the jeep when the I.E.D. had gone off, Amita knew. Dwayne Carter, hurled away in the flight. Ichabod Paine, D.O.A. from the explosion. Valerie Resnick, dragged to not far from here, and not likely to wake up for another day. Minimal changes, Amita reminded herself, taking a seat beside Colby and waiting for him to wake up.
That wasn't a long wait. "Who?" Colby asked.
"I'm Amita, Colby. Amita Ramanujan." A pause, knowing Colby as well as she did, meant she knew what books Colby used to read back in Idaho. "I'm no genius Iyengar. I'm a time traveler."
He stared up at her, and Amita was tempted to tuck one strand of her hair behind her ears, mostly to hide the few gray hairs that Charlie had given her. Too much time at work - then again, if I hadn't worked so hard, I wouldn't be here now.
"You saved me and - my squad?" Colby asked. “What about them?”
"They're okay," Amita lied, hating having to do it, but knowing the lie was required. If I want to help Colby here...
"Good."
"Anybody asks, tell them Dwayne saved you," Amita said.
His face was vivid confusion, that and pain. "But -"
"Trust me, Colby, even tell Dwayne that he saved you - he just doesn't remember doing it."
"Why?"
Conservation of history. Minimizing my impact. I love you. "A very good reason."
"I'd be locked up?"
"Most people who claim to meet a time traveler, do," Amita said.
Seeing another question on Colby's face, and knowing that there was another Coalition patrol coming through - attracted by the detonation - Amita said, "Let's just say that your integrity is fine," she assured him, "but time's..."
Colby nodded. "Thanks. If I can help -"
Amita nodded, "I'll be in touch. Though, fair warning, I won't recognize you next time we meet," and she stood up and backed away, looking like she was vanishing or dissolving into a gust of windblown sand.
* * *
Colby was told by one of the departing students that Charlie and Amita and Larry would be right back. So Colby sat down in the little office; most people would have made themselves comfortable, but Colby didn't, he just waited.
"Hello," Colby was told.
He swiveled the chair around, and there, standing as far from him as she'd sat last time, was Amita...with a few more grey hairs than the Amita of the here and now. Still hot, though, Colby felt. "Hey," he said.
"Hello," Amita replied.
"Haven't seen you around." Missed you
Missed you. "I'm afraid I'm the bearer of bad news, Colby," Amita said.
"Well that's not ominous at all," Colby said. In apology for that, he offered her his chair.
"Thanks, but I can't stay long." She sighed. "The skull is authentic, as you've seen. It just isn't accurate."
"Accurate?" Colby repeated.
"It's of European descent, and it's as old as they say." It’s not like Piltdown Man - more like Kennewick.
"But?"
With a voice that even Colby could hear the guilt in, Amita said, "I belong here more than it belongs there."
"I'm going to assume you don't mean the Heritage Museum," Colby said.
Amita nodded.
"You mean where it was buried for thousands of years." Was it a friend of yours? he wondered.
Another nod. "It's yours."
Colby blinked. Usually when a woman said that to a man, they were talking about kids. "The skull?"
"Yes."
"Wow."
"I'm sorry," Amita said, both glad that he wasn’t questioning her admittedly bizarre-sounding claim, and comforted at his trust.
"For what?" Colby asked.
"I was in the process of undoing the sequence of events that left you out there," Amita said. And I was so close - "But then the skull was discovered... I'm sorry, Colby."
"Not your fault."
"I wasn't fast enough."
Colby blinked. "You're a time traveler."
She smiled. "History doesn't branch out, not like we thought it did. We can tweak and shade the finer details, but not to the point that it changes anything. Up until that skull was unearthed, nobody knew it was there except those of us who went back that far."
"So you could've taken it out - you didn't, and I don't hold that against you," Colby said.
"Thank you," Amita said, her voice hushed, her eyes downcast.
"Anything I can do for you?" Colby asked.
A dozen answers came to mind, flitting around inside Amita's mind - all of them, equally untenable. I could kiss you here and now, Amita thought. I could give you Nikki's number, or Liz's, tell you their favorite foods or songs. I could tell you that you could win me away from Charlie with hardly any effort. Something and anything, both being too much for here and her. Even one of those actions could hurl earlier-her to the side, physically and mentally, perhaps even psychologically. And that was a best-case scenario.
In her mind, Amita did what her teachers had taught her to do when timetraveling frustrates you as it must - take the situation, keep the feelings blazing hot, ball it up in my hands, ball the whole damn fiasco and whatever else in my hands, then hurl it at the floor and let it shatter. Most times, it worked.
* * *
Everything that has happened, will. Everything that will happen, has. There's nothing left to do that can lessen it even a little. Alone, Amita stood in the evidence room, looking at the skull one more time. "I'm sorry," she apologized, and heard in response exactly what she expected:
Nothing.
**********************************************8
The End
Title: You remind me of someone I used to know. (& at my lj)
Author: Keenir.
Pairing/Characters: Colby Granger, Amita Ramanujan.
Rating/Category: PG-13 Gen (pre-Het or post-Het)
Spoilers: Bones of Contention.
Summary: Amita has saved Colby once, but she regrets not having saved him twice. Time's funny that way.
References:
- Kennewick Man
- the book 'The Man Who Knew Infinity: A Life of the Genius Ramanujan’ by Robert Kanigel.
- the 'The Outer Limits' episode Tribunal.
- the Polgahana(sp) ritual, cited in the series 'Out of Egypt' hosted by Kara Cooney.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The door wasn't an issue for Amita, as it had been slammed open by vehicle's flight through the air, permanently stuck pointing in the wrong direction. US Army seatbelts were a minor distraction en route to her goal of getting Colby out.
At this moment, as the sun started to set on the Afghanistan countryside, "Let's get you out of here," Amita said as she hauled Colby to a safe distance from the jeep.
There were others who had been in the jeep when the I.E.D. had gone off, Amita knew. Dwayne Carter, hurled away in the flight. Ichabod Paine, D.O.A. from the explosion. Valerie Resnick, dragged to not far from here, and not likely to wake up for another day. Minimal changes, Amita reminded herself, taking a seat beside Colby and waiting for him to wake up.
That wasn't a long wait. "Who?" Colby asked.
"I'm Amita, Colby. Amita Ramanujan." A pause, knowing Colby as well as she did, meant she knew what books Colby used to read back in Idaho. "I'm no genius Iyengar. I'm a time traveler."
He stared up at her, and Amita was tempted to tuck one strand of her hair behind her ears, mostly to hide the few gray hairs that Charlie had given her. Too much time at work - then again, if I hadn't worked so hard, I wouldn't be here now.
"You saved me and - my squad?" Colby asked. “What about them?”
"They're okay," Amita lied, hating having to do it, but knowing the lie was required. If I want to help Colby here...
"Good."
"Anybody asks, tell them Dwayne saved you," Amita said.
His face was vivid confusion, that and pain. "But -"
"Trust me, Colby, even tell Dwayne that he saved you - he just doesn't remember doing it."
"Why?"
Conservation of history. Minimizing my impact. I love you. "A very good reason."
"I'd be locked up?"
"Most people who claim to meet a time traveler, do," Amita said.
Seeing another question on Colby's face, and knowing that there was another Coalition patrol coming through - attracted by the detonation - Amita said, "Let's just say that your integrity is fine," she assured him, "but time's..."
Colby nodded. "Thanks. If I can help -"
Amita nodded, "I'll be in touch. Though, fair warning, I won't recognize you next time we meet," and she stood up and backed away, looking like she was vanishing or dissolving into a gust of windblown sand.
* * *
Colby was told by one of the departing students that Charlie and Amita and Larry would be right back. So Colby sat down in the little office; most people would have made themselves comfortable, but Colby didn't, he just waited.
"Hello," Colby was told.
He swiveled the chair around, and there, standing as far from him as she'd sat last time, was Amita...with a few more grey hairs than the Amita of the here and now. Still hot, though, Colby felt. "Hey," he said.
"Hello," Amita replied.
"Haven't seen you around." Missed you
Missed you. "I'm afraid I'm the bearer of bad news, Colby," Amita said.
"Well that's not ominous at all," Colby said. In apology for that, he offered her his chair.
"Thanks, but I can't stay long." She sighed. "The skull is authentic, as you've seen. It just isn't accurate."
"Accurate?" Colby repeated.
"It's of European descent, and it's as old as they say." It’s not like Piltdown Man - more like Kennewick.
"But?"
With a voice that even Colby could hear the guilt in, Amita said, "I belong here more than it belongs there."
"I'm going to assume you don't mean the Heritage Museum," Colby said.
Amita nodded.
"You mean where it was buried for thousands of years." Was it a friend of yours? he wondered.
Another nod. "It's yours."
Colby blinked. Usually when a woman said that to a man, they were talking about kids. "The skull?"
"Yes."
"Wow."
"I'm sorry," Amita said, both glad that he wasn’t questioning her admittedly bizarre-sounding claim, and comforted at his trust.
"For what?" Colby asked.
"I was in the process of undoing the sequence of events that left you out there," Amita said. And I was so close - "But then the skull was discovered... I'm sorry, Colby."
"Not your fault."
"I wasn't fast enough."
Colby blinked. "You're a time traveler."
She smiled. "History doesn't branch out, not like we thought it did. We can tweak and shade the finer details, but not to the point that it changes anything. Up until that skull was unearthed, nobody knew it was there except those of us who went back that far."
"So you could've taken it out - you didn't, and I don't hold that against you," Colby said.
"Thank you," Amita said, her voice hushed, her eyes downcast.
"Anything I can do for you?" Colby asked.
A dozen answers came to mind, flitting around inside Amita's mind - all of them, equally untenable. I could kiss you here and now, Amita thought. I could give you Nikki's number, or Liz's, tell you their favorite foods or songs. I could tell you that you could win me away from Charlie with hardly any effort. Something and anything, both being too much for here and her. Even one of those actions could hurl earlier-her to the side, physically and mentally, perhaps even psychologically. And that was a best-case scenario.
In her mind, Amita did what her teachers had taught her to do when timetraveling frustrates you as it must - take the situation, keep the feelings blazing hot, ball it up in my hands, ball the whole damn fiasco and whatever else in my hands, then hurl it at the floor and let it shatter. Most times, it worked.
* * *
Everything that has happened, will. Everything that will happen, has. There's nothing left to do that can lessen it even a little. Alone, Amita stood in the evidence room, looking at the skull one more time. "I'm sorry," she apologized, and heard in response exactly what she expected:
Nothing.
**********************************************8
The End