One of the first places Eliot thought to go in search of the solution he needed would have been no surprise to those who knew him well enough. However, he hoped that Claire and Sean would take heed of his pleas not to seek him out until he did discover what he needed to. It was his former lover’s and magical mentor’s old home that he found himself heading toward upon leaving Sean’s estate that evening before the sunset would wake his vampiric acquaintances once again.

It was true that he and Douglas had not parted on the best of terms, but Eliot had no illusions that Douglas would even still be alive. After all, the man had been entering his forties when Eliot became trapped outside of their own timeline. And after Douglas’ past as an unaging ghoul enslaved to the Tremere vampire whose strange magic had made him into the mage he was when he and Eliot met, Douglas had never voiced any desire to extend his own life any longer. Though he had been the one who taught Eliot the permanence spell. That was the same spell that had been cast on Claire’s vampiric blood in Eliot’s veins years ago. Eliot had not even passed twenty when he had cast that spell. To this day, it was still granting him the appearance of a very young man, even though his true age was nearing sixty rather than twenty.

What Eliot was hoping to find was that Douglas’ many magic wards were still surrounding the house, protecting all that arcane knowledge from anyone who might have come near the house at all in the years since Eliot’s departure and likely Douglas’ death during such. Though it was unlikely that the wards were still standing after the man who created them had gone from the world. However, Eliot had helped him cast and maintain many of those wards in their time together, and he hoped that because of that, they had indeed managed to hold throughout the years.

What Eliot did find though, was something completely unexpected. Or rather, someone completely unexpected. Upon his approach to the house, he managed to pass through the first and weakest of those invisible mystical wards he had helped cast and maintain all those years ago. That was when the front door opened, causing Eliot to pause in his tracks.

Out stepped a strikingly attractive young woman, who looked to be no older than Eliot himself appeared. She had deep brown eyes, tanned skin, and long, soft light brown waves. She let out a sigh that seemed more tired than surprised as she took a step off of the porch in front of the home.

“Well, it took you long enough, didn’t it?” she greeted him in a tone almost identical to the one Douglas had used upon he and Eliot’s very first meeting ever, so many years ago.

“What? And who...?” Eliot startled at her sudden appearance as well as her words as he managed another small, wary step toward the house.

“Yes, I suppose seeing me here would have been surprising even if you hadn’t overcrowded your mind with all those other things during your time away, huh?” she managed an attempt at a smile at least.

“What?” Eliot repeated. “What are you talking... And who even are you? And why, and how, are you even...” he just shook his head, finding it hard to even form any of the myriad questions he had right then into actual logical sentences, especially in a language that wasn’t even his first no less.

“Breathe, Eliot,” she allowed another soft sigh and another step forward. Though her calling him by name did not seem to lessen his confusion in any way. “As for a few of those questions, I’m Summer, and I live here, now,” she added more quietly.

“Summer?” he whispered rather than spoke. “And you live here now?”

“Yes, and yes,” she stated with a pragmatic nod as she moved to pick one of the flowers from the extensive garden that had now taken root in front of Douglas’ former home.

“Somehow, those answers don’t help,” he managed to find a bit of that humor that Claire had always loved about him, even before so many other things had happened in their lives together.

Summer swallowed a smile as she turned toward him, taking a long whiff of the flower in her hand. “My father lived here. Now I do. What’s so strange about that?”

“More than you know,” Eliot answered under his breath as he studied her appearance once more, as though trying to ‘solve’ her in some way.

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“Come now, Eliot. You can’t be that surprised. After all, you practically tore your mind apart because of how much you loved a woman, didn’t you?” Summer needlessly reminded as she too took stock of his own appearance then.

Trying to bite back his shock at her having even more knowledge of him than she already seemed to, he had to clear one thing up before even trying to continue the conversation. “You’re not actually saying you're Douglas’ daughter... somehow?” he added more quietly.

“Please, I’m sure you know how,” Summer couldn’t help a small chuckle.

“But he never...”

“And you never... before Claire, anyway, right?” Summer smirked knowingly. “Besides, Eliot,” her voice grew more sad then, “you were gone for a long time, before you were even actually gone, weren’t you?”

Eliot was at a loss for words for another long moment before continuing, “But I was 'gone' for fifteen years and you...”

“And the seven years before that you were barely here either. That’s twenty two long years, Eliot. Plus, you and dad, you had a bit of a disagreement about you doing what you were doing, long before you even got trapped in your own head, didn’t you? Is it really that hard to believe that he found comfort somewhere else?”

“And that comfort... it led to you... being born?” he had to restate, just to make sure he was fully understanding how this young woman even came to exist, let alone know so much about him.

“That does tend to happen when both people, being comforted,” she decided on, “are actually alive,” she smirked again as she moved to pick another flower.

Eliot took another breath, as he looked around, remembering all the times he had spent here before this young woman had even been born. “And your mother, she was...?”

“Just a girl. A girl that dad befriended after he lost you. And, eventually, it turned to more. Obviously,” she added wryly.

“So, was your mother, like us? Like me and your father, I mean?”

“Not quite. She was only a witch. But that also means that she understood the unexplained, and didn’t condemn him for it,” she smiled sadly.

Eliot swallowed, his eyes scanning their surroundings once more. “It seems I missed a lot.”

“Yes, you most definitely did,” she agreed in that same pragmatic manner of hers.

“It also seems that you didn’t miss much about me though. He really told you all about me, and all that happened, and why, and how?” he asked in a near whisper.

Summer had to push back some of her own emotions before speaking. “He lost you and turned to my mother. Then he lost her, when she had me. And then all he had was me. And he knew he could never get my mother back, but with you, there was still some hope that he might see you again, before...” she had to take another pause. “So he did all he could to try to understand what and how it all happened and try to figure out how he might someday be able to fix it.

"And, as I got older, I was a curious little thing. Shocking, with parents like mine, right?” Summer smiled again, “So I became his confidante, his assistant, his pupil. And when he was gone, I figured the least I could do to honor his memory was keep learning all I could.” Summer seemed to be tearing up a moment then and turned away before making herself continue at last, “But it seems you managed to finally find that way back yourself, finally,” she added pointedly as she turned back with another half smile.

“But I was too late to see him again, it seems,” Eliot admitted sadly.

“But, did you at least find what you needed? The thing that made you do this to yourself in the first place?” Summer asked hopefully.

“I found more than I wanted to find. Kind of had no choice in that. Couldn’t get back, after all,” he stated with the same sadness and regret.

“But you’re back now? I mean, this is the real you? Not just some illusion or wisp or whatever?”

A sad smile tried to reach Eliot’s lips, “Yes, but...”

“How did you manage to get back?” Summer continued as she gestured for him to follow her toward the house.

“I finally saw my own time, the present. And I revealed myself to Claire and told her she had to lead me back to my body. Then I used everything I had to return my mind to it finally,” he explained as best he could as the two of them entered the house.

“So you’re really back in control again?”

“Well Sean compelled me to come back. And I am officially back, right? Compulsion fulfilled,” he stated in a near whisper.

“Then why do you seem so upset, still?” Summer asked perceptively.

“Because, I can’t really be back, for real, until it’s safe for me to be near them again. Near her again. And I still have to be able to remember what I need to remember to save her,” he took a shaky breath. “And that’s why I came here at all, to hopefully find a way to finally be able to do both of those things, somehow.”

Summer let out a heavy sigh, then a smile, “Well, I guess we should get started then.”