An old, small purple mountain norn was traveling through the incubator room. He had been imported from C1, apparently. He ran his hand through his hair, until he remembered he didn't have any (baldness does that to you), then continued limping through. "Oww!" he spat, tripping over the teleporter. He looked at it for a moment. Yeah, he'd seen this before. Lessie... what did he do with that thing? Nnn... it must've been every bit of 3 hours ago. Maybe if he pushed it, he'd remember. So he did.

The teleporter flashed, and he found himself in a room. It wasn't like any room in Albia he'd ever seen. Wait ... it was all coming back to him now. This was where he and Jenna.. ! Oh, that was it! And then, that thing had separated them, and he had never been back.

Until now.

Soo.. maybe if Jenna had been here.. maybe she still was. Soo, the obvious plan was to find her. He took a step off the teleporter, and exited the room. Tiptoeing down the hall, he caught a sight of a rather tall thing -- it looked a little like the thing that had sent him back away from Jenna so long ago, buuut... different. Yeah. She opened a door, and the norn slunk outside with her. She walked up a path to a box, pulled out paper, then went inside again. The norn watched this, continently. However, there was a weird sensation down his back. Like something breathing? He turned around to find a really big gray hairy thing. The hairy thing made an extremely loud sound. What was that, a bark? Jack didn't stick around to find out. He ran, best he could. The hairy thing chased him, barking, out onto some gray hard ground. The norn heard a noise, and then all he could remember was lights, a honk, a bark and a screech. Everything went black.

The gray hairy thing, aka a dog, stepped back and whimpered a bit. The norn was lying in a small, bloody hump, and boy was it not moving. He turned around, and ran off.

-----

Katherine and Blip had dug themselves a hole in the back yard. OK, so Katherine had dug the hole, and Blip directed. Give the boy a break, he has no arms. Susan was setting with a notebook, writing. Boggles, Lydia, and Ben were playing in a nearby mud puddle. Kass was trying to make sure they didn't get too dirty, because that's what moms are for, and Karr was actively encouraging them, because, let's face it, that's what dads are for. Jenna had fun watching the whole mess, simply because she liked watching Kass and Karr going through the same things she had to go through. That's what grandparents are for.

The dog ran up to Susan, putting his front paws in her notebook. "Wolf!" she scolded. "It's all muddy!" Katherine and Blip snickered a little. Even though Susan wouldn't admit it, the dog, which belonged to her and went by the name "Wolf," was essentially stupid. (That's what dogs are for.) They loved teasing her about it.

"Maybe he's helping you write." Blip remarked, trying hard not to sound sarcastic.

Susan scratched Wolf behind the ear. He thumped his foot insanely, and panted. "Of course he is," she insisted. She stopped scratching him. He once again put his paws in her notebook and barked. "Whazzat, boy?" Susan asked. Bark, bark. "You want me to follow you?"

"Come quick!" Katherine pretended to imitate Wolf. "Timmy's stuck in the well!"

"Shut up!" Susan reprimanded, although she obviously thought the remark was funny. "I really think he's trying to communicate."

"Yeah, right." Blip teased. "Watchie-here." He floated over to Wolf, and, in his least-threatining voice, said, "Aww, Wolf, you de stupid puppy! Yes, you is! Yes, you is! You so dumb, you couldn't tell the difference between simple insults and compliments! Oh yes yes yes!" Wolf licked Blip, and Blip gave him a quick 10 volts to remind him never to do that again.

"Quit it, both of you. Now," Susan turned to Wolf. "what do you want me to see?"

Wolf barked and ran off, with Susan following him.

A few minutes later, she returned.

"A dead norn."

"A what?!"

"Katherine, did you leave the HoloDeck on again?"

Katherine thought for a minute, then said several very not-nice words that I really shouldn't repeat.

Lydia, Ben, and Boggles stopped playing for a moment. "Who was it?" Lydia asked, wiping some mud from her eye. It left a brown streak across her face.

Susan shrugged. "A purple mountain norn, or something. I don't know the name."

Both Katherine and Jenna froze. They knew perfectly well who it was.

"I only had one!" Katherine insisted.

"Jack!?" Jenna gasped, "Do you know how old he was?"

"He didn't have any hair, so, he was probobly a pensioner." Susan reasoned.

Katherine nodded. "It had to of been Jack."

At this point, Karr took interest. "Jack.. didn't you say he was my dad?"

Jenna nodded sadly. "I just don't know what happened to him the last time I saw him.. We had just.." She glanced at Lydia, then went on. ".. and then.. I don't remember why, but he just disappeared."

Blip and Susan took a good stare at Katherine. She hung her head.

"It was me."

A mumbled collective "What?" rose among everyone.

Katherine blinked a little. "When you.. erm, yeah, it sort of startled me. I didn't think, and I sent him back to Albia. It was a dumb move, I know.."

Jenna stared at Katherine for a moment, then left.

-----

It was dark outside. Jenna didn't know what time it was. She was sitting up now, when she was supposed to be asleep. Everyone else in Katherine's room had drifted off, but she just couldn't sleep. Sure, it was Jack's death. That's the kind of thing that'll keep you up all night.

"Jen?"

Good Shee, was she hearing voices?

"Jen?"

Yup, that was it. She was totally insane.

"Jen, don't tell me those floppy ears can't hear anymore. I've been looking for you all day!"

She turned around to find the ghost of Jack. "A-are you real?" She gasped.

"As real as you are." He laughed. She laughed too, and they hugged each other. "So.. what have you been up too?"

Jenna smiled. "How do I describe 3 hours?"

Jack looked around the room. "You can start by telling me who all these people are."

Jenna looked around the room. "Oh! Right! This is Karr. Remember the time we kisspoped?"

"How do you forget your first?"

Jenna blushed a bit at the comment. "Well.. he's ours."

"I have a son?" Jack stepped toward Karr a bit, and put his paw on Karr's back. His eyes watered a bit.

"And that's his mate, Kass. And here's there daughter, Lydia,"

"I'm a grandpa?"

Jenna smiled a bit. "And these are her friends, Ben and Boggles."

Jack blinked for a moment. "Thank you.."

Jenna put her arm around Jack. "Thank you."

Laughing a little, Jack shook his head. "Remember the first time we were ever here?" He tickled her.

Jenna laughed a little, then returned the favor with a tickle.

Looking deep into her eyes, he leaned forward a bit. His lips found hers, then they kissed. Then, it just sort of happened..

"Kissss-pop"

When Jenna opened her eyes, he was gone.

"Mom?"

Karr was behind her.

"Karr?" She asked. "Did you see him?"

Karr cocked his head a bit. "See who?"

"Jack!" Jenna desperately pleaded.

"Mom, I think you were dreaming." Karr reassured her.

"No!" She insisted. "It was real. I felt it and everything.."

Karr shook his head and sat beside his mom, with his arm around her. He laid her head on his shoulder, just like she did when he was a little boy. "Mom?" he asked, trying to imitate what he remembered that she'd do when he was little. "Tell me about what you did."

Jenna smiled a little bit. "Well.. I introduced him to everyone.."