Chương 12: Time To Reel Him In

Rosalind made her way to the product development floor. It housed several other related departments such as quality assurance but she was willing to bet that wasn't where her father was. He would want to be in a lab; that was always where he was most comfortable.

Sure enough, she peeked through the window of the second lab they passed and found him wearing a pair of prescription goggles with his hair sticking up everywhere and his sleeves rolled up, tinkering with something. It was strange seeing such a familiar sight with a significantly younger version of him.

They had found Julian but that was only half the problem. Where was Nora?

She wouldn't be able to figure that out unless she went inside and looked around but how could she do that without raising suspicion? She knew her father tended to get far too into the zone while he was working…was it possible to waltz in there without being seen?

Rosalind resigned herself to risking that when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Nora was waving to her. The only part of her that stuck out of a supply cupboard was her little hand.

Apparently, she had been spying on her father from inside of the cupboard with the door cracked enough to notice her sister looking through the window. Atta girl!

They couldn't exactly retrieve her right now though. She wasn't sure what to do so she asked for a second opinion. "Ed, I found Nora but she's stuck in Dad's lab right now with no way to get out unseen."

His voice was muffled because of the tarp as he replied. "Why not leave her there for a while? She's probably gotten some good stuff already. With how long it took us to figure things out, there's only an hour or so before lunch, right? He'll come out to eat something then and we can grab her."

An excellent idea that brought up a point Rosalind hadn't thought of. Lunch. How were the three of them going to eat? Was there a cafeteria anywhere in this building or were they going to have to leave and come back? If she had been smart, she would have packed something in a backpack.

She really didn't want to be here all day…would it be possible to get away with barging right into the lab and asking Julian to look at her watch instead of conducting multiple days of surveillance?

There were two other people in there right now but if they left at any point and she was able to catch him alone, they might be able to get this over and done with sooner rather than later. It was risky but she knew that he would be interested in seeing what made it work the moment she showed it to him.

Izzy had barely accepted their story so she didn't want to tell him the truth. He was a wild card.

The Julian Shea she knew and loved (before losing his wife) was brilliant, a bit scatterbrained when it came to unimportant details such as where certain objects ended up, and warm toward his family. This young man was obviously not the same based on that picture she saw yesterday.

Without anyone he loved holding him back, he would likely be more of a mad scientist, which was what happened when he got obsessed with building the time machine. If he figured out what the smartwatch actually was, he might want to steal it from Rosalind and keep it for himself. Who knew what he could use it for without having a specific purpose for it?

Was this a negative way to think of her father? Yes. But she felt that it was justified after what happened before. She wouldn't be in this mess right now if not for him.

She wanted to fix all of this to get her mother back but she wanted to get her father back too. Since she was interested in most of the same things he was, they had been close before he went mad with grief.

That didn't change the fact that she was mad at him and didn't fully trust him. Especially since she had already seen her mother in this time be different than the one she remembered. At least Izzy was still kind and accepting of them, if reluctantly.

Rosalind knew her father well enough to know he didn't care about anyone outside of their family. At this point in time, it was highly likely he didn't care about anyone at all.

He definitely wasn't trustworthy but he was also the smartest person she knew and therefore her only chance of getting this thing fixed. She was going to have to take the risk and get this done as quickly as possible.

She didn't want to burden her mother any more than she already had and did want to go home and get life back to normal ASAP. She wanted to be with her real mother, not this young woman who was obviously freaked out but still trying to be nice to them.

As she was lost in her thoughts, someone walked by and she realized she was being rather suspicious standing in the hallway like this. She needed to pretend to move when people were coming.

That led to awkwardly going up and down the hallway in front of the lab for the next forty minutes until the first person came out. And another ten for the second person to come out.

Edison grumbled on and off the entire time about how stupid this was. Honestly, Rosalind felt pretty stupid too and that wasn't a common occurrence for her. She hastily told him not to say anything about Julian being their father as she burst into the lab with her cart.

She accidentally slammed the door on her way in and that made him look up and regard her as indifferently as if she were air. "Can't you see I'm in the middle of something? Come back later."

It was now or never. She took a deep breath and left her brother in the cart as she stuck her wrist out for him to see. "You're the smartest person I can think of. Can you fix this? I know it looks like a smartwatch but I can't take it to a regular repair shop."

Julian's brows rose fractionally before his expression returned to being as cold and blank as before. His face may as well have been carved out of marble for how lifeless it was.

He began scrutinizing her more closely. "That uniform doesn't fit you properly and your voice is juvenile. You don't work here, do you? Did you honestly break into this building and then my lab looking for me specifically to fix your watch? How do you even know of me?"

Busted. Rosalind could be partially honest here. She took her mask off and saw him blink at her incredulously.

"I don't work here and it isn't a watch," she admitted. "There is a thing called the internet, you know. I'm quite familiar with your accomplishments."

Julian replied flatly. "I can't deny I'm slightly flattered to have a young fan but this is highly inappropriate. You should be in school. If anyone finds out you broke into the building and stole a janitor's cart, you'll be in big trouble. Why did you, anyway? The uniform would have been enough of a disguise."

Edison took that opportunity to pop out of the cart and hold his hand up in a brief wave. Once he came out, Nora felt secure enough to leave the closet too.

Their father flinched both times they appeared and a hint of astonishment made its way across his cold features. "There are more of you?!"

"I couldn't leave my siblings behind," Rosalind explained. "Anyway, I guarantee you'll want to see this watch. It's like nothing you've ever seen before. You wouldn't turn down the chance to see something no one else has yet, would you?"

A small frown appeared as he seemed to internally debate whether or not he believed her. After thirty seconds of deliberation, he spoke again. "It looks like a regular smartwatch to me. I don't know what sort of game you're playing here but I don't have the time or patience to accommodate children."

"You sure don't," Edison muttered bitterly under his breath and she subtly stepped on his foot to let him know he needed to shut up.

Rosalind supposed his skepticism was understandable. It was time for Plan B. She pulled out the cell phone and chose to put up the most impressive holographic display she could think of.

Julian eyed it with interest and she knew she had him hooked. It was time to reel him in.

"I'll let you take this apart and figure out how it works if you fix my watch-that-isn't-a-watch for me," she offered in her best attempt at a wheedling tone. "But I do have a few conditions."

"What conditions?"

"I have to be in the room as you work on it and it stays with me when you aren't. I also can't tell you what it is."

"I can't fix something if I don't know its intended purpose; that would take a ridiculous amount of trial and error. I can't agree to that condition," he said dismissively.

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