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There was a discrete knock on the door, 1-5-9-2-6-5-3-5-9. The door opened slightly, and a basket with groceries slid in between. Eske grabbed it and whispered: 'Thank you, Marie Sue.' from the other side, a mumbling reply: 'You're welcome! Have a nice end of the world!'; and the door closed.

Eske went to the kitchen and removed his black blazer, rolled his shirt sleeves and tucked his tie inside it. 'Now, where does she keep the apron?'; he said to himself, putting down the groceries when his phone rang.

Incoming call Penelope Relogio - 159265359. 'Schrodinger, speaking.'; he greeted while finally finding the apron.

'Eske. It is me, Penny. Eske, it went to 0.9%.'; she was sulking, on the precipice of a meltdown. 'My fucking Time-DNA went up to 0.9%!'

'Hey, hey, calm down, I know. Everything is okay. I sent the WTL number where your doppelganger is to HQ. We are cleaning both TLs. So your T-DNA will go back down to zero,'; he said, trying to reassure her.

'What if it's not enough! And She, or I, I mean, what if this other Penny is like me, and she jumps? And she destroys everything! I can't lose this timeline! I have a life! I fucking love my life! I have a family, two kids, and a wonderful husband. I have friends! I don't want to lose anything! Ecke, I can't lose everything!'

'Penny, she is a receptionist for some lab thing and no offence, but she doesn't look that bright. When she sees the announcement, she will probably spend the last hours with family and friends. And besides, she didn't receive any communication to join us. Your place is safe. You know that.'

'But if she figures it out. I did! Fuck, she is me! I figured out how to fucking travel time!'

'How are the downloads?'

'98.7%'

'Penny, as the founder, I would order you to sit at your desk and calm down. Act business as usual.'

'As my friend?'

'Get rid of her. You run fast, and you have the training. Get a gun, and just be sure you get out before Nona ends both timelines.'

'Did this happen to anyone else? Or am I this unlucky?'

'I'll tell you later at Ava's party. If you show up, you know the answer.'

'Thank you. Thank you for so many things. You and Nona..., I..., Thank you!'

'Just go. Don't make me look bad. If you die, I will be pissed.' He hung up, and Eske put on a coffee pot and began cooking breakfast. His eyes were glazed over, and he had been working nonstop since they arrived.

For this timeline, almost three years had passed, at home, not even seven hours. Once they would end here, it would be has going back home after a working day. But it still feels like almost three fucking hard years.

Not being able to talk to his wife normally and share their days was the hardest, but he was dying for her to wake up. He went through his phone and chose the usual playlist because the golden rule of any Time Travel is to always have an awesome playlist. Then he picked a song by one of their favourite bands. Queen "Love of My Life". Composed by Freddie Mercury and dedicated to his then-girlfriend Mary Austin. The song was track nine on the album A Night at the Opera, released in 1979, the same year he proposed to Nona. This was their song:

> Love of my life, you've hurt me

>

> You've broken my heart, and now you leave me

Nona woke up and smiled. She mumbled the lyric back while yawning and realising her two socks remained on her feet. It smelled so good, fresh flowery and nutty. Someone was preparing coffee. She walked to the kitchen, and there he was, focused on a pan fry, turning with clumsy mastery what looked like pancakes.

'Good morning, love of my life!'; she greeted, leaning against the fridge next to him.

Eske smiled and replied, singing: 'Can't you see? Bring it back! Bring it back!'; he stopped when she hid her chuckle with her hands. 'Everyone is a critic!'

'You are making breakfast?'; she wondered, a bit surprised.

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'Don't you remember? You can't keep anything in your stomach made by this timeline.'; he explained and handed her a plate. 'Here, I hope you like them.'

Nona gave a bite and immediately a second, moaning: 'So good!'

'Where is the chef's kiss?'

She looked at him with her mouth completely stuffed. He laughed and turned the music down. He hugged her while she still held the almost empty plate. 'What year did we meet?'

'1944.'

'What is our timeline?'

'The first nine decimal digits of PI.'

'My middle name?'

'Otto.'

'What is the name of our cat?'

'We don't have a cat because you are scared of cats.'

'I'm not scared. I'm allergic. How could such a handsome big guy be scared of those fluffy sadistic cute creatures.'; he chuckled at his own joke. 'They are so creepy.' He hugged her tighter and kissed the top of her head: 'Today is...'; this was always the tricky question.

'The end of the world!'; she said proudly.

'What day is today, baby? Come on, you can do this.'

There was a heavy silence. Eske could feel her stumbling as she moved her head down. 'Is something important...'; she was struggling.

'Very. Is the most important thing we have.'; Eske tried to keep his voice stoic, but this was always the most challenging part. Nona forgets. 'It's going to be fine. Just give yourself a chance. We did this before.'

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'Ava.'; the sound of their daughter's name on her lips made him almost cry with relief. 'It's her birthday!'

'Yes! Nice!'; he held his wife's face and kissed her: 'Don't worry about anything. I have already arranged everything. So once we are done, we join the party.'

'That sounds exciting.'; she served herself another cup of coffee and asked Eske if he wanted as well.

'Yes, please.'

Nona prepared a second mug and asked: 'Why are you behaving as if you don't see me since I don't know when.'

'You don't remember?'

'Baby, I'm absorbing two timelines. It is a miracle I can even talk. And it is gross. This timeline tastes like...'

'Overcooked steak. You told me.'; Eske smiled, biting a pancake and realising they were dry. How could she eat this?

'I would have said shit. But yes, that is correct. Now, what happened?'

'You forgot about me.'

'Where you, my sexy neighbour?'

Eske stared at her while sipping his coffee: 'Think harder.'

'My sexy roommate?'; she was looking straight into his eyes.

'No, not really.'; he said, disappointed. 'We lived in the same house.'

'Bestfriend??'

'Cat.'

'Oh.'; she thought for a moment and repeated in disbelief: 'Cat?'

'You saw me as a cat. I think you only saw me or heard me before and during time events. Those happened a lot, by the way. The last ones started even to touch you, and I got some frenetic jump scares.'

'A cat?'; Nona asked again.

'Yes, and there was no way to get out. I tried everything, greeted every day with our code, Love of my Life, but you wouldn't sing it back. I tried to seduce you. All my old tricks didn't work.'

'I'm so sorry.'

'It's okay. I'm glad you're back. And you're okay. In a few hours, we jump home. Have a nice party with our friends, see Ava and sleep in our bed. That is all that I need. This mattress is awful!'

'A cat?'

'Love, you got stuck on that one?'; Eske laughed, refilled her coffee, and asked: 'You don't remember anything from the past three years?'

'No.'; she shook her head.

'Okay.'; he sighed and continued: 'So you have plans for today? Before blowing up the world?'

Nona nodded slowly with a sly smile and asked: 'Did you have anything in mind?'

'Nothing specific. Why?'

'Well, I would love to catch up time with my handsome husband.'; Nona winked at him while her sweater started slowly disintegrating into a cluster of black particles floating around her naked body.

Eske's face turned red, and he looked away, biting his lip: 'No. No.'; he protested.

'Why?'

'We are not doing this again in a timeline ready to disappear at any moment. We are not having an Ava incident again.'

'But I want to!'; she said, faking a sad puppy face.

Eske didn't know what to do with himself, they did have more than time to have their own private fun, but last time almost cost her life. 'Can't we have fun at home?'

Nona looked at him disappointed: 'You are sure? Because I have decided I will spend the rest of my day naked, not sure about you.'

'You're kidding.'

'No.'

'Come on, that is so unfair.'

She shrugged at him, walking to the bedroom.

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