Time Will Tell

This tale is borrowed from the story written by NaughtyVisions' "Meeting Daddy in the Past" as I, being a romantic, saw a slightly different angle to take that I thought might be fun. I won't claim originality and thank Naughty for sparking this idea.

*****

My name is Adrianna, I'm 19 years old and something of a nerd in a movie star's body.

Well, at least that's what my daddy, John, says.

I prefer not to talk about myself, but to give you an idea, I'm built kinda like Charlize Theron, except I got a bit more up top. I'm not huge by any means - a 34C - but combined with my curly blonde hair and blue eyes daddy says I could star in movies if I wanted to.

But, that's not the life I'm seeing down the road.

I'm nearing graduation with a physics major at a major university thanks to a stellar homeschool program daddy put me on early in life. I could have graduated high school way back when I was 11 or 12, but daddy didn't think that would help me socially. That was the story he told me before I turned 18, though it took another year to realize daddy and I would take a different social path than most people.

Anyways, I know I'll be in school a bit longer as there's graduate school then a PhD program. I've already incurred a few looks of disdain from professors trying to steer me away from what I believe to be my life's work: perfecting time travel.

I don't say this to ring bells and proclaim to the world of my amazing discovery when in reality it wasn't that hard a problem to solve.

I really have to be careful who I reveal this to, but I've made some discoveries that include planetary alignment and peak gravitational forces that can alter the Earth's orbit of the sun. This isn't a regular occurrence, but something I worked through and realized when I was 13. I mentioned it to a homeschool friend, but he laughed and said I was just experiencing my first period.

I didn't care, because I knew it to be true and knew also the distortion would reappear every three years. By age 16 I had built a functional, though simple time machine. With it I transported a frog in a pink knit sweater back 20 years to where I lived then, and now. Daddy received the house as an inheritance from his mother so I knew he lived in it all his life.

I talked to daddy one day and brought up the frog in a pink sweater, not telling him what I did mind you. Just talking silly to see if it stirred up anything in his memory. Sure enough! He mentioned a time 20 years ago when he saw this strange looking frog sitting on the dresser in his bedroom one morning and how it remained motionless for about 20 minutes.

That strangely clad frog then went POOF! It disappeared as he was looking at it and trying to decide what to do with it!

He talked with such animation in his voice - mom scoffed at him and said something about how my daddy spent too much time as a young man experimenting with drugs.

I knew better, and besides, I liked that look in daddy's eyes when he told the story. To be honest, I thought he looked cute.

But then I was always drawn to daddy's good looks - I got his blue eyes, though my fair skin and blonde locks come from mom. Daddy was dark complexioned, his family originally lived in northern Italy before immigrating to the United States.

Daddy was about 6-foot, 2-inches, around 180 pounds; solid though not hugely muscular. In fact, I'd joke with him and suggest he would be the leading man if I were ever in the movies.

"Farrah darling, I'll be your Lee Majors anytime you're ready to dazzle Hollywood with your good looks," he would say to me. I'd blush at the thought of being swept up into his arms and kissed, though I wasn't ready to admit it to him.

Yeah, I liked daddy a lot, and later that feeling turned into a deep romantic love. As I said before, I'm in my 19th year, and I think the biological clock was ticking in mom's head. She began to get very bitchy; dad couldn't do anything to please her, to the point she was constantly putting him down.

Mom was a good looking lady, but she had the brain of a turnip. I was lucky, I got her looks and daddy's brain.

Daddy would confide in me of how stressed out he was. Money wasn't an issue, though he worked as a highly successful architect, the inheritance made life easy and predictable.

"Sugar, I don't know what to do with your mother, I think she's just sticking around devising a way to take me for whatever she can get."

Daddy said he made her sign a pre-nuptial agreement years ago, and though they fought about it, he had to insist as his standard of living was far above what she came from. Over the years, daddy showered mom with money, jewels, vacations and beautiful clothes.

But, none of it mattered. Mom came into daddy's life from who knew where and maybe she was trying to fill that hole in her heart. To make things worse though, she completely cut off communication with any family she might have had - we never met anyone nor exchanged cards at Christmas. It was as if mom decided to hang all her hopes on dad that she could erase her past and live care-free the remainder of her days.

To further compound her growing misery, her bitchy ways had pretty much alienated her from the people who might pass as friends to her, to the point where the past year she was pretty much a loner.

"Why can't she be sweet and beautiful like you Darling?"

I remember the day he asked me that and how it hatched a thought - a reason for my life's work!

"Daddy, I'm sorry you're hurting and that mom is being so mean to you. I've never told you this before, well, not like this, but I love you - like you love mom or perhaps how you did years ago. I'm so proud of you and ... if it's OK I say it, I think you're cute."

Even with his Mediterranean good looks daddy couldn't hide the blush.

"Thank you Sugar, it sure feels good to get such a sweet compliment - it's been a while for me."

We had the house to ourselves that evening as mom was out playing bingo. Daddy snickered for a second saying that's how she sought to improve her brain power.

"Daddy, you know my life's ambition and I appreciate you don't tell me time travel can't be done, like everyone else does. But one thing I've never told you before ... remember that frog?"

"The one in the pink sweater?"

"Yes, daddy. I'm sorry if this shocks or hurts you, but I planted that frog in your past when I was 16 to see if I was on the right track for time travel."

It did shock him - "wait a minute Sugar ... are you saying ... that ..."

"Yes, daddy, I wanted to test my machine and needed a subject who I knew well - someone I care about so I could check the results."

"Where exactly are you going with this research Darling?"

"I'm to the point where I'm tweaking and adjusting tiny parts of the machine, and thanks to the centrifuge you donated to the university, I believe I'm ready to make a test jump back in time to prove my calculations correct."

Oops.

As I said, I'm kind of a nerd and don't always judge how someone might respond to my intellectual musings. Daddy fainted and fell like a sack of potatoes. Thankfully, we were sitting on the couch and he landed in my lap.

When he came to, daddy was embarrassed and tried to get up, but I held him still for a moment.

"Daddy, I know this is going to sound weird, but thanks in part to you holding me back from college years ago and insisting on my homeschooling, I've been around you a lot. And ... over the years I've developed a crush, at first, and later ... well ... like I said before I'm in love you with you daddy and wish things could be different between us."

"Sugar," daddy started then leaped to his feet. "I'm sorry if I ... I didn't mean to lead you into something destructive ... I thought I was being a good father ... I ... what do I say?"

"Daddy," I got up and shushed his lips, first with my finger, then for the first time in my life, with a soft, though brief, kiss to his lips.

Needless to say that kiss and the tender way I held him got his attention.

"Sugar, thank you so much for loving me ... except ... well there's mom and then there's the law or at least moral statutes. Are you really saying what I think you're ..."

I didn't let him finish as I leaned in again and kissed him longer this time, I opened my mouth and poked his lips with my tongue. I felt daddy exhale as he gave in to love, the pure love I felt for him. Was it wrong? Is love ever really wrong when it involves two people who are passionately in love with each other?

"Adrianna darling, listen to me," daddy said as he pulled away from me. "I love you too, but ... I know you believe your machine will work, but transporting a frog is a lot different than ..."

Daddy broke down in tears, and I knew where he was going.

"Nothing will happen daddy, my calculations are correct. I know this will work."

Still, there was one more matter to resolve. This one could be tricky as it involved a third party.

"Daddy, I've got an idea for you to consider - I know mom is making you miserable, in part because you still love her, or at least who she once was. What would you say if I could fix your situation and guarantee your wife would love you for the rest of your life?"

"You can do that Sugar? How? Your mom is getting more withdrawn and sullen practically from one day to the next."

"Daddy, you've told me how you and mom first met and how I was the result of your third date. But consider if you'd never met her before."

"But Sugar, if I'd never met your mom I wouldn't be holding you now."

"That's not entirely true daddy." My hands rose to his face as I pulled him close for the deepest, passionate kiss yet. Once again he responded as I fell back on the couch and he covered me with his strong, masculine body. I even felt a hint of arousal from him, though he quickly shifted to where he was lying there beside me outstretched body.

"Sugar, I need to know what you have in mind."

"Daddy, I can calculate a trip back in time to coincide with the day before you met mom. I've studied the causal effects of time distortion and have determined I could go back in time and replace mom as your girlfriend/lover. If that trip is successful, when I return you will be in the arms of your loving wife - me!"

"But, Darling ... what of ... you're my daughter ... would we?"

"Yes, daddy. I could conceive the day before you were to have met mom. If that happened, our daughter would be the child of a mother and father who live their lives deeply in love. She would be blessed by two parents of high intelligence, but more importantly two people with big hearts full of love.

"If I didn't conceive right away ... well, we would have a lifetime together to practice!"

"And your mother ... would she?"

"Mom would miss that third date and her life would take a different turn. Maybe better, maybe not. I think you can agree she isn't happy where she's at as she can't think of a way to connive any of your inheritance away from you."

"When does this need to happen?"

"Well, I'll be 19 for four more months so there is a window still available, though the distortion happens every three years so it would be best to go soon. I'm confident I can get everything ready by this weekend when mom goes in for her daylong spa treatment."

"Sugar, I ... it's hard as I feel guilty at the thought of what would happen to your mom ... but ... OK, it really seems the best option, and one we're fortunate to have. I know you know what you're doing and I see your love for me - that in itself is so reassuring. And, I love you too - would you be my sweetie?"

"Time will tell daddy," I said as we returned to holding and kissing each other.