Kindred Spirits

"I... This is... You are actually..." Dexter stammered, too stunned by what he just witnessed. Turning towards Sophie, the young man felt his eyes water and lip quiver, his body shaking as he choked back a sob and hugged her tightly. "Oh, Sophie, I am so sorry!"

"It's alright, Dexter." Sophie said, hugging him back. "I didn't expect you to believe me anyway."

"But I still shouldn't have said those things to you and called you a liar. You don't deserve that!" Dexter sobbed, "You're the first woman to like me - like, actually like me! Despite my flaws. I... I love you, Sophie."

"I love you too..." Sophie said, tears of joy in her eyes as she stroked his back.

"I guess I just... Didn't want history to repeat itself." Dexter said as he pulled away, wiping the tears from his eyes.

"What do you mean?" Sophie asked, she and the others looking confused.

"Well..." Dexter began with a sigh as he sat on the bed, "Frank is my fraternal twin brother. We never really knew our parents, they left us at an orphanage a day after we were born. I was always the smart one growing up, and while having brains wins you getting bullied by your brother and scholarships for both writing and science to steady your dream career of being the world's greatest science fiction writer, what it doesn't win you is friends. And, admittedly, I did get a little cocky at times, so you can imagine that I didn't have many friends. And then I met Rachel in high school."

"Rachel?" Karen asked, feeling as though this story sounded a little familiar.

"Rachel was the most popular girl in my old high school." Dexter explained, "She had looks, brains, talent; everything. Which was why I was surprised when she asked me out during my senior year. We went on a few dates, and I started to fall for her, thinking that she had fallen for me too. Then she threw a big graduation party with every senior student in school, a kind of going away present as she was going out of state for college. I was there, of course, and Rachel lured me to the bedroom; promising me that she was going to give me a very special going away present. So, I followed, watched her strip, stripped naked, and -"

"Don't tell me: She laughed at you and then had your entire class see you naked, where you were ridiculed and mocked about how your body looked?" Sophie asked. "And then it was revealed that she had been manipulating you the whole time?"

Dexter blinked a few times, shock on his face. "Yeah..." He replied slowly, "And it was made worse when they revealed that Frank had orchestrated the whole thing just to laugh at my expense. How did you know -"

"Because, baring a few details, that was the exact thing that happened to me." Sophie replied, sitting down on the bed next to Dexter and hugging him.

"Oh, Sophie..."

"Come with me!"

"What?!" The other three in the room asked in shock.

"I made up my mind." Sophie calmly said, "I want Dexter to come back to 2347 with us, if he wishes to do so."

"But what about all that stuff about him possibly being the ancestor of somebody important to the future?" Cindy asked.

"Wait... What if I'm -"

"Thankfully you're not our ancestor." Sophie replied, cutting Dexter off. "Carol and I have had our family tree memorized since we were kids. Speaking of which," she turned to Carol, "since you apparently had your phone on you the whole time, maybe you could check Elgoog for anything relating to Dexter?"

"Elgoog?" Karen asked.

"The name Google rebranded itself as in 2117." Sophie explained with a shrug.

"Let's see..." Carol said as she pulled up the search engine, "Looking for any news on 'Dexter ...'... Um, what's your last name?"

"Adams."

"Okay, 'Dexter Adams'." Carol said as she finished typing it in. A few seconds later, her eyes widened. "Wow! Turns out Dexter is actually famous around this time."

"He is?" Sophie asked, a little downhearted.

"I am?" Dexter asked in shock.

"How?" A confused Cindy asked.

"Yeah! He's famous because, after tomorrow night, he disappears from this time period forever."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"WHAT?!" Sophie, Dexter, Cindy, and Karen asked in shock.