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Chapter Text

"Thanks for walking me home, Phil," said Keely. She was clutching desperately at her tiny purse, switching back and forth between glancing shyly at Phil, and ducking her head. From the warmth of her cheeks, it was safe to assume that her face was as red as her dress. Fortunately, the moonlight was sparse and fleeting, just enough to hide this problem. Unfortunately, the effect only served to accentuate the fact that the evening was increasingly romantic. Keely was having a hard time forgetting that mere minutes ago, she'd been slow-dancing with Phil in the Diffy's garage.

"No problem," said Phil, his voice unnaturally soft so as not to disturb the stillness. She shifted her weight slightly, uncertain of what to say. But he solved that problem by continuing to talk. "Hey, listen, I'm sorry about tonight," he hedged.

"Don't be," she said, in the flickering yellow of the streetlamp, she saw hope in his eyes. "Everything worked out anyway."

"I guess so," he said, stepping closer. Keely tensed with anticipation. If Phil was about to do what she thought he was about to do, she wanted to be ready. She was very scared, because she and Phil hadn't discussed a relationship, but he had called her hot, and he was jealous of Owen. So she was pretty sure he liked her. And she was positive she really, really liked Phil.

"Keel," he said quietly, stepping even closer, and Keely knew this was it. She shut her eyes, waiting. She could feel his breath.

A blast shook the air, a shotgun crack that made Keely jump. She glanced over her shoulder apprehensively, but nothing else had changed about the night.

"Just a car backfiring," said Phil, and his logic served to calm her, but the moment was forever lost. She looked at him and could see it in his eyes, but neither would bring voice to it.

Keely smiled slightly. "It's late," she said.

"Yeah."

"I should... I should go."

"Yeah."

Keely hustled up the walk to her house, regretting every step.

Christmas Eve, Keely went over to Phil's house. She'd been working up the courage for her plan, and apparently the working up part had taken longer than she'd expected, because when she arrived on the Diffy's front porch, the lights were already off in the house. Phil opened the door in his pajama pants and a t-shirt, and he blushed hotly when he realized who was standing there. "Keely, is everything okay? It's like, almost midnight."

Oops. She should've asked for a new watch for Christmas. "Well, I just... I mean, I know I'm not going to see you tomorrow, since we're both spending the day with our families, and I just, I wanted to give you your present."

"Oh." He blinked. "Do you wanna come in?"

"I don't want to wake your parents," she said. "I can just do it here." She reached into her enormous purse, trying to find Phil's gift. "I know it's nothing like what you gave me for Christmas a few years ago," she stammered, finally finding it. She'd been going crazy for the past few days, thinking about how Phil had managed to save the Yuletide Star, and Keely's Christmas, and how nothing she gave him would ever compare to that. She could only hope this would at least show her gratitude. She pulled the present out of her bag.

Phil eyed it with trepidation. "A plant?"

"Not just any plant," she said. "Mistletoe."

"What about toes?" he said, staring at her uncomprehendingly.

Keely swallowed her frustration. Mistletoe had probably died out in 2057 or something. Wasn't that always the case? "It's a tradition," she said. "When two people are under the mistletoe together, they have to..." She tilted her head back and forth.

True to form, Phil interpreted nothing from the gesture. "They have to... do the Macarena?"

Keely sighed. "No, Phil. They have to kiss."

"Because of a plant? That seems sort of—" Keely cleared her throat, and Phil widened his eyes. "Oh. Oh."

Keely smiled. This was the moment she'd been working up towards for what felt like ages. She licked her lips, muttered a quick prayer under her breath, closed her eyes, and moved in.

The boom that rocked the air around them made her lose her footing, careening off her path towards Phil's lips and instead nearly bashing her face against the doorframe.

Recovering quickly, she whipped her head around, and thought she saw something this time, thought she saw the flash of a large white rectangle at the end of the street. But it was gone.

"Did you—?" Keely asked, then thought better of it. "Never mind. I should go. Merry Christmas, Phil."

Phil was staring at her, utterly perplexed. "Merry Christmas, Keel."

They had to use up all of the napkins Phil had brought to wipe off their faces after the battle, but Keely didn't mind. There were worse things than smelling like cake batter, after all.

Keely leaned back, snacking on cheese and crackers, and tried to think of her life before Phil. They'd only known each other for over a year, but it was such a powerful year that it seemed like her life had only just begun when Phil Diffy walked into it. He did so much for her, and it seemed like she did so little in return. Was the simple act of keeping his secret a fair exchange for all the sweet things he did for her?

"Keel?" Keely blinked, finding that Phil was waving his hand in front of her face. "Are you in there?"

"Yeah," she said. "Just thinking."

"Oh, okay."

She smiled at him brightly. "Phil, I'm just so happy we met."

Phil grinned, the sort that made her feel a little wobbly inside, and glad that she was sitting. "Me too," he said.

She was beginning to feel nervous, as if her body knew what she was going to do before she was. "Look, Phil, I—"

"Yeah?"

There was a smudge of cake on Phil's cheek still, ruining her moment. She leaned forward, using the cleanest napkin corner she could find to swab at his face. "All better," she muttered.

Phil deflated slightly. "Oh." The nearly imperceptible slump of his shoulders didn't go unnoticed by her, however, and she wondered if maybe he'd been hoping for something more. She was still too close, after all. And they did miss their chance before. It would make this a perfect birthday.

She decided to go for it. She closed her eyes, inches from his face, scared out of her mind but really excited. She was just about to hit ground zero when something seemed to explode behind them.

To her surprise, Phil straightened. "What did that sound like to you?" he asked.

It sounded like missed opportunity, was what.

Actually, it sounded like previous missed opportunities. The night after the dance, the picnic, and now this. It was the same sound, every time. What had been annoyance before was now turning out to be a coincidence.

Phil wasn't even noticing her. He was looking all over the park, his features screwed in thought. The ruined moment with Keely was the last thing on his mind.

Maybe it was more than a coincidence. Maybe it was a message. One that said maybe she and Phil weren't supposed to be together.

A moment later, the sound duplicated itself, softer this time, and followed by a steady hum. A lawnmower. The park service, going to work. Phil frowned as his concentration was disturbed. But concentration on what? Was he that oblivious to the fact that Keely had just tried to kiss him?

Phil whipped out the Wizard, pressing buttons and waving it around. He was looking for something.

Whatever it was, he didn't find it. He pocketed the Wizard once more. Curiosity ate at Keely, made her want to ask what he'd been looking for, but irritation at the situation won out, and she said, "This has been a really great birthday, Phil." Regardless of what had just happened, she meant it.

Keely stayed for a few more minutes, but it was only a gesture of politeness. She was embarrassed, and Phil was elsewhere mentally, unable to return to the picnic despite what appeared to be his best efforts.

Heavy-hearted, Keely headed home. She tried to convince herself that just because it hadn't happened this time, didn't mean it couldn't still happen. Where one door closed, windows opened, or however that went.

It was only the beginning.

Phil Diffy wished, not for the first time, that he'd paid better attention during those time machine driving lessons his dad had tried to inflict on him. Going back or forward a few minutes in one set space wasn't too bad. But maneuvering this beast through ion clouds and warps was proving to be much, much more than Phil could handle. He was all alone in the rented machine that had caused his family so many problems. He was all alone, he was lost, and he was exhausted.

He was also crashing.

Phil, when he had time to, would give himself major props for navigating the time machine back where it needed to be. Unfortunately, a lot of it was busted, and he was having problems parking. Dates kept flashing on the TPS (Timeline Positioning System) as Phil skidded through time just as a plane would bounce to a stop on the tarmac.

October fifteenth, 2004. December twenty-fourth, 2004. March twenty-sixth, 2005.

Each time, the time machine landed, skittered, made a roaring sound as it backfired, and then skipped ahead into the time portal.

This was where he wanted to be, the time that he'd been in Pickford with Keely. He needed her. But he couldn't get the machine to stay for more than a few seconds at a time.

Somewhere in 2007, a little boy ran over to his toddler sister, sitting on the lawn of the house they'd moved into only months earlier, wailing because a loud noise had scared her.

In 2008, a shaggy man in a fur pelt cocked his head and sniffed at the air, recognizing a scent that he hadn't encountered in a few years.

In 2010, the RV crashed. It did not just stop on the street in front of the Diffys' house, it skittered across the sidewalk, tore up the lawn, and finally came to a screeching halt in the middle of the garage. Bric-a-brac rained down on its time-weathered surface, things crashing and rattling in a cacophony of chaos. Then the engine died.

Phil backed up the emergency generator he'd picked up in 2090, and made sure his first task was to activate the distress signal. The generator was weak, and Phil knew he didn't have much time. "I'm looking for the Doctor," he said urgently. "Doctor, wherever you are, this is Phil Diffy. Please come get me. My family's missing. I need your help." He pressed the 'send' button, praying that the message reached its destination.

Then someone knocked on the RV door.

Chapter Text

For a full year, Keely Teslow had watched the Diffys' house for any sign that they had returned. Then a new family moved in, both killing her ability to watch the house comfortably, and extinguishing her hope of a return.

Keely's friends told her to move on, that there were any number of guys at H.G. Wells who would give their left foot to date her. But Keely tried it once or twice, and didn't like it. She had always known Phil was very important to her, but she had never really realized how vital he was to her survival until he was long gone. As a distraction, she plugged away at her schoolwork, and ended up graduating valedictorian, with a sizeable scholarship to NYU.

New York was a long way from Pickford, in every way possible. And not being in Pickford, she'd thought, meant not thinking about Phil. Not thinking about Phil was key.

She was twenty years old, a sophomore, when she went home for Christmas break. The family that had moved into Phil's house, the Nesters, had moved out the year prior, only to be replaced by a new family, whose name Keely only knew in passing. They had two kids, a little dark-haired boy and a little blonde girl. They chased each other around the yard, screaming at each other, and it was easy to draw parallels. Being back in Pickford was bringing a whole slew of memories.

Keely was sort of dating this guy David, more like he was really interested in her, and she didn't have the heart to say no. She had to think about her future, after all. She couldn't be a good journalist if she spent the rest of her life pining over Phil Diffy. Besides, in the Giggle, she had seen herself married, and she knew it was impossible that she had married Phil. So she dated, and thus, David. She was sitting around her house, waiting for him to call, when she heard the thump. "Mom?" she asked, before remembering that her mom had gone out grocery shopping. She would have to investigate the thump herself.

As she went down to the first floor, the thump grew decidedly louder. It was coming from the kitchen. Keely clutched the phone tightly in her hand, hoisting it above her shoulder as a weapon. She crept closer, trying not to tremble, and was greeted with an impossible-sounding crash. "Don't move!" she yelled, jumping forward, brandishing the phone, her eyes squeezed shut.

"Keely?" came the answering growl.

Keely opened one eye tentatively, recognizing the growl but unable to believe it. Yet what greeted her was unmistakable: grimy, dirt-smeared (she hoped it was dirt), matted hair. She opened the other eye. "Curtis?"

"Keely!" Curtis flipped the pot he was holding into the air, and it landed on the floor with a crash. Curtis toddled forward, arms outstretched, and hugged her awkwardly. "Keely, Keely, Keely."

Keely hugged him back, but five years had erased the memory of how badly the caveman smelled a lot of the time, so their embrace was brief. "Curtis, what are you doing here?" she said. "Is Phil back?"

Curtis shook his mangy head. "Phil go home, no take Curtis. New people move in Curtis house. Curtis follow Keely home, live in Keely basement."

Keely gaped. "For four years?"

"Tell Keely mom, Curtis like detergent brand."

"I'll be sure to tell her that, thanks," Keely said distractedly. How could the Diffys have left Curtis behind? He was as much a part of their family as Pim was, certainly far more productive to the household. For the Diffys to not come back for Curtis... Keely gasped, her hand flying to her mouth of its own accord. Something must have happened.

Before she could express this horror, however, movement through the kitchen window caught her eye. Her first instinct was to step in front of Curtis, to hide him from prying eyes, but it wasn't the movement of a person. A fierce wind was starting up in her backyard, tree branches flapping errantly, leaves shaking loose and cascading to the lawn. Worse yet was the noise. It sounded like a car trying to start, but lower somehow, deeper, hollower. And yet... alive. Keely didn't understand why she felt it, but she just knew. Something about the sound was very much alive.

And it was getting louder.

Keely ran to her backdoor and flung it open, getting there just in time to see the large blue box land in the middle of her lawn.

"Keely mom get new car?" said Curtis over her shoulder.

"No, Curtis," she shushed him.

The door to the box opened, and Keely was surprised to find that she actually recognized the man stepping out of it. Phil's friend, from five years ago, the one who couldn't fix the time machine. Behind him stepped a blond woman, about Keely's age.

"Oh, hello," the man said cheerfully, spotting Keely. "Keely, isn't it?"

"Yes," she said. She straightened, loosened her death grip on the door frame, and stepped outside of the house. "You're..." she tried to remember the name, so long ago, "the... Mechanic, right?"

The blond girl snorted laughter, hiding her face behind her hand.

"The Doctor," the Doctor answered without blinking. "This is Rose."

"Hi," said Rose, still smirking.

"Hi," said Keely tightly. She really wasn't in the mood for pleasantries. "What's going on?" she asked the Doctor.

"I received a distress signal," said the Doctor. "From our friend Phil."

Keely's heart constricted. "Is he... okay?"

"Judge for yourself," said the Doctor, beckoning her forward. Keely was too worried about Phil to really think about her actions, and the fact that she was following a complete stranger into a giant box. But it was more than a box. Inside, it was enormous, larger than her living room, larger than her entire first floor. The walls were amber-colored, speckled with black, humming with life. In the center of all of it was a large console of sorts, which the Doctor led her over to. In a moment, Phil's voice crackled through the air. It was horribly mangled, the message breaking in and out.

"This is... Phil Diffy... my family's missing... need help..."

"It was placed today," the Doctor said. "Near here."

"If it was placed today, then he's still all right," Keely said. "Right?"

"Correct," said the Doctor. "All we have to do is find him, and then—"

"Doctor!" came the cry from outside. Rose, sounding more than a little scared.

Without even blinking, the Doctor was dashing out of the box, anxiety etched into his face.

Rose was standing motionless on Keely's lawn, eyes wide and frozen, as Curtis circled her, rubbing his head against her arm and grunting delightedly. Keely recognized the sound as the kind he made when he got a new toy. She stifled a giggle at Rose's horrified expression.

"Ah," sighed the Doctor, a knowing smile crossing his face. "Curtis, Phil's caveman friend. No worries, Rose."

"Curtis, down," said Keely. Curtis, mollified, obediently trotted over to Keely's side. "Are you hungry?" she asked him. He nodded. "Go on inside. I think there's a ham sandwich in the fridge or something."

"Muchaga!" Curtis announced gleefully, running off.

"Sorry about that," Keely said to Rose.

The woman was already composing herself. "No problem," she said. "Does he always do that?"

"He hasn't been around people in awhile," Keely said. "He's just lonely."

A wailing siren undulated as it passed Keely's house. Curiously, she went around the side of the house and saw one, two, three cop cars careening down the road.

And pulling in front of the Diffys' house.

Keely didn't even spare a second thought to the caveman in her kitchen, the time machine in her backyard, and the fact that her mom was going to be home soon, instead dashing down the street. Cops were spilling out everywhere, and as the house came closer into view, Keely could also see the garage, completely trashed. The family, the... what was it, the Weirs?, were standing on the sidewalk. Keely approached the mother carefully.

"Mrs. Weir, I'm Keely Teslow, from down the street."

The squat woman looked her over before lighting up with a smile. "Madge's daughter! Oh, Keely, darling, I've heard so much about you. Your mother is a peach."

"Thanks," said Keely. "I heard all of the sirens, is everything okay?"

"I'm afraid not. Some lunatic drove his RV right into our garage. It's barely even standing now. A drunk driver, I'm sure. The property damage is exponential. Roger called the police."

"I'm so sorry," said Keely, distracted. RV? It had to be Phil, it just had to be.

There was a commotion at the edge of the property then, as a handful of cops dragged a struggling suspect over to a police cruiser. "It was an accident!" the suspect yelped, and Keely craned her neck, trying to see. The officers blocked her view, and shoved the suspect in the back, slamming the door before she could see anything.

Another officer came over to the family. "Mrs. Weir, we've apprehended the offender," he said. "May I take your statement now?"

"Of course," said Mrs. Weir, glancing at Keely.

"I'll just be stepping over here now," Keely said quietly, backing away.

The paddy wagon was just now pulling away, backing onto the street, and bringing the rear window directly into Keely's view. The dark-haired man in the backseat plastered himself to the window when he saw her. "Keely!" came the muffled cry. "Keely!"

"Phil!" said Keely, too overwhelmed with the slew of emotions swirling around her to think of any other word. She was mentally swamped: confusion as to how and why Phil was there; worry about his fate; happiness at the mere sight of him; a stab of longing, for what they'd lost; and hope, for what they might gain. Without thinking of what anyone around her might hear, she blurted out, "Phil, don't worry, I'm coming!"

The car drove off before she could discern if he'd gotten her message, and Keely ran back to her house, hoping it wasn't too late.

Thankfully, the Doctor and Rose were still in the backyard. "Where did you run off to?" asked the Doctor impatiently. "Humans, they're always darting away somewhere."

"Phil," panted Keely. "Time machine, it crashed, Phil got arrested. He's at the police station. We need to go get him."

"All right," said the Doctor. "Hop aboard." He went to get into his time machine, but Keely couldn't quite bring herself to follow. After a moment, the Doctor stuck his head back out. "Listen, I can do this with or without you. But I expect that Phil would much rather see your face than this daft old one. So are you coming or not?"

Keely went aboard.

She didn't know what had happened, but the Doctor straightened at the console moments later, and headed for the door. "Stay here," he told the women.

Rose waited as long as she might have to count to five before following.

"He told us to stay here," said Keely.

"And do you always do what you're told?" said Rose with an enigmatic smile.

If nothing else, Keely didn't want to stay inside the creepy time machine, and she scampered after Rose.

They were in an alley that opened up across from Yeldar's Bakery. Keely drew a map out in her head, and realized they must have been right next to the police station. She and Rose headed out to the street. "Where does your plan take us next?" she asked Rose.

"Well, I imagine we'll need to infiltrate," said Rose.

"Great!" said Keely. "Get your Wizard, we can rig up some police uniforms..."

"My Wizard?" Rose said blankly.

"Yeah," said Keely. "You have one, right? I figure, if Pim's allowed to work one, you must be."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"You're from the future, though, aren't you?"

"Where are we, again?"

"2010."

"I'm... no, I'm from the past."

"Well, what good does that do me?" huffed Keely.

The Doctor came out of the police station, someone shuffling behind him. "I thought I told you to stay where you were!" he complained.

Keely wasn't listening, though. She was fixated on the man behind the Doctor.

He was at least as tall as she was now, and his shoulders had broadened. A five o'clock shadow was covering his thicker jaw. His hair was longer, sort of moppy. His eyes were darker, tired, but when they saw Keely, a light flickered. His smile was exactly the same as she remembered it, tried to bring to life from photographs for five years. It was bright, stretching across his face, sending a jet of warmth to her gut.

"Keely," he exhaled, jumping down the last handful of steps, and Keely was surprised to find that her arms were already outstretched to hug him. She squeezed his shoulders, felt him tighten his arms around her torso in response. Any moment of happiness she'd felt in half a decade, she realized in that moment was a lie. She had never been happier than she was right then.

"I've missed you so much, Phil," she said, her voice so low she wasn't sure she'd said it aloud.

Rose nestled her head against the Doctor's shoulder, smiling. "Aren't they sweet?" she said.

"Absolutely darling," the Doctor answered. "May we go now?"

Phil broke the hug. "Where are you parked?" he asked.

"In a slightly less conspicuous location than you," said the Doctor.

"Not my fault," said Phil. "You're using a working time machine."

"Now, you can't go laying any blame on me. I fixed your machine perfectly, minus a few simple modifications that if your father had any wits about him, he'd be able to solve."

"Hey, he did," said Phil. "Dad got it working again. But we forgot Curtis. We were going back for him, but we got caught in a time warp. We've been jumping ever since." His gaze fell on the Doctor's companion. "Is this Rose?"

"You've told him about me," said Rose, a grin blossoming as she turned from one to the other. "What has he said about me?"

"Only that you keep him sane," said Phil.

"I was lying," said the Doctor with a tight smile.

Keely wasn't particularly comfortable with the way that Phil and Rose were eying each other, with the familiarity of two fellow time-travelers. She cleared her throat, and asked, "How did you break Phil out of prison?"

"Psychic paper," said the Doctor. "Tells the reader what needs to be known." He whipped it out, a small billfold like it might contain a police badge. He opened it; it did.

"Very cool," said Keely, impressed. It had been awhile since she'd gotten to play with future gadgets; she'd forgotten how bizarre and fun they could be.

"We are in a police box, after all. We might as well be police." The Doctor grinned. "Now. Rescue missions leave me parched. Who's up for a cup of tea?"

"Oh, I am," said Rose, the two of them scampering back to the alley and the TARDIS.

Keely clapped, unable to contain her delight. "Tea!" she squealed. "Oh, they're so British!"

And so, the team was assembled.

Phil Diffy had been bounding in and out of time for what equaled five years now. He'd seen all manners of delights and horrors, and now that he was finally safe in the arms of friends, he was chugging down tea.

"What happened?" asked the Doctor. Phil found it was easiest to meet his eyes, rather than look at either Keely or Rose. Phil had, after all, been completely alone for the past year. Rose was blessed with abundant curves, and the excess eye makeup she wore made her gaze particularly sultry. And Keely was... well, she was Keely. For five years, he'd been carrying the memory of their kiss on his lips, and here she was, all grown up, Keely squared.

So he focused on the Doctor. "We were going back for Curtis, when we got caught in a time warp. But the machine's been busted for so long, and tinkered with, and not to mention it was used when we got it—"

"Hold on," interrupted the Doctor. "Used? You got a used time machine?"

Phil shrugged, embarrassed, noting out of the corner of his eye the way Keely hid a smirk behind her hand. "Well," he covered, "you know my dad."

"Yes, and the more I know him, the less I respect him. Go on."

"So the time machine wasn't exactly up to par. At least, not enough to withstand a lengthy jump, and that first jump was pretty lengthy. We went ahead to I think the 2600's. We were going to stop to ask for directions, but the warp pull was too strong for us to stay long."

Phil frowned, remembering his mother's obvious horror, and the way she'd desperately tried to keep it in check for the sake of her children. "Dad got stuck. He was getting out of the machine, he was going to look for help, and that was when the warp pulled us back in. Without him." He swallowed, then calmed himself.

"The next jump was the fastest. We ended up in Ancient Rome. That was where we lost Pim." Keely's hand found his own, and squeezed. Phil found that he was still embarrassed to admit how much he cared about his sister, even if Keely already knew it. "Mom and I were headed back home, we had barely enough fuel to get there. We figured if we made it, we could get the Time Police to help. They had better resources for finding Dad and Pim than we did, anyway. Our main power was running low, so when we stopped off in 2100, we decided we might as well pick up a generator. We figured that if we stayed together, it didn't matter. But I was putting the generator back on the time machine, and Mom dropped something... She stopped to pick it up..."

Phil grimaced, ashamed at his mom's lapse in judgment. "Well, that was a silly thing to do," said the Doctor, causing Phil's cheeks to burn. When Phil met the man's gaze, it was deadly serious. "And certainly not your fault at all," the Doctor continued, almost gently.

Phil smiled his thanks, letting the Doctor's empathy soothe the flutter of anxiety in his gut before he finished. "I tried to send out a signal, but then the engine started dying, and I started crashing. You know the rest."

"First order of business," said the Doctor, "telling the TARDIS where to go. Does it matter which of your family you pick up first, Phil?"

"Surprise me," said Phil tiredly. He would have loved to have any of them back safe.

"Oh, delightful. Come then, Rose, we have a surprise to set up."

Rose smiled at the two additions to the crew. "Phil, why don't you give Keely a tour?" she suggested.

Phil got up, his hand still clutching Keely's, and pulled her to her feet. He took her far enough away from the Doctor and Rose so they could talk, which he figured was the intention all along.

Keely flicked her fingers at the mop on Phil's scalp. "You let your hair grow," she observed. "I don't like it."

"Like there's really an opportunity for a haircut when you're careening through time," he said, unable to help himself. She was raking her eyes over him with such intensity that she might as well have been unraveling his DNA strand by strand. It unnerved him, hence the bad attempts at humor. "You cut yours," he said of her hair. "I don't like that."

Her eyes dimmed, a candle flickering out. "You've been gone for a really long time," she said. "I grew up, Phil."

"I can see that," he observed, taking the opportunity to return her intense stare. He was finally taller than she was, or at the very least, not looking up at her anymore. She was curvier than he remembered, as well, and her hair was a little shorter, and straight again. It was weird, how she could be very adult, and at the same time, very Keely. She completely gorgeous, however, and it was driving him crazy.

"Listen, Keel, I know it's been awhile, but I just wanted you to know that I thought of you every single day since I've left. You kept me going."

Tears were welling in her eyes, and Phil instantly regretted his words. He'd only ever seen Keely cry a few times, and each instance broke his heart. "Phil..." she said, her voice breaking, and before he could think up something comforting to say, she'd lunged at him, erasing five years' worth of loneliness, frustration, and guilt, in the simple act of pressing her lips to his.

Phil kissed Keely —his Keely— with urgency, just like he had during their last minutes together. Losing Keely was made all the worse by the fact that for a few moments, they'd actually been together. Because of that, he'd not only lost his best friend, but his girlfriend, the person that he loved. Keely was crying, salty tears falling into the corners of his mouth.

"You have no idea how much I've missed you," she declared, kissing the spots where her tears had marked his skin in a flurry of motion.

"I can guess," he said, tightening his grip around her. He reveled in the simplicity of touch, of companionship, at the fact that no matter how bittersweet, they were somehow managing to pick up where they'd left off. The notion warmed him from the inside out. "I didn't think I'd ever see you again."

"Neither did I," she said, but this time, her voice broke, and she struggled to get away from him. "Phil, there's something I have to tell you. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, but it's been five years, and... Phil, I'm seeing someone."

It was as though someone had removed one of his ribs, and then jabbed him in the lungs with it. Phil deflated with a painful ache. "Oh," was all he could think to say.

"Phil..."

Phil forced a smile. It was all he could do, all he'd ever been able to do. "Keely, I just want you to be happy," he said. "That's the only thing that matters." Though he really did want her happiness, his reaction was only halfway genuine.

"Phil?" asked Rose, coming up to them. She noticed Keely's wet face, and blushed slightly. "I'm sorry, am I interrupting?"

Phil smiled at her. "No, what do you need?"

"We're here," said Rose. "2654."