Archive of Our Own

Cavendish jammed his key into the car’s ignition with more force than he needed and nearly twisted the metal in two as he quickly tried to start the time vehicle. The beaten up car groaned and sputtered, but refused to start despite Cavendish’s efforts, the lights scattered across the dashboard flickering in tune with the wheezing engine.

“You’re flooding it-”

“I am not flooding it!”

Dakota nervously looked out the window, a hand firmly clamped on the door handle with a grip so tight his knuckles were starting to turn a pale white. He swallowed thickly.

“Cav, you gotta- you gotta start the car,” he said, his voice wavering in a rare break of his usual laid-back self. “or they’ll tear this car and us apart like paper.”

“I’m trying!” Cavendish snapped, his brow slick with sweat as he kept turning the key. His hands were shaking and it was making it hard for him to keep his grip on the key, much less turn it repeatedly to try to start the piece of junk vehicle.

“Guys?” Even Milo was nervous, his voice quivering and small, with hands wrapped tightly around the straps of his trusty backpack.

Something slammed into the car. There was the sound of glass cracking and metal being torn. The car was sent skidding across the asphalt, barely staying on its wheels as it spun out. A cry sounded out but Cavendish wasn’t sure who it was, or what.

“Cav!” Dakota braced himself against his chair, his eyes wide with fear.

Cavendish grunted, turning the key one last time before a resounding snap startled him. He could only stare in disbelief as he brought the severed key fob up to his eyes. His lungs felt like they were being crushed as he struggled to breathe, trying to ward of the hysterics that were quickly taking hold of his body. Cavendish could feel the horrified stares of both Milo and Dakota as they, too, stared at the key fob.

Dakota let out a strangled noise, and Milo looked like he was torn between crying and simply gaping in shock.

There was another hit, and Dakota nearly broke the window with his head as the car was violently jostled to the side. Outside, the inhuman creatures wailed loudly, screaming of bloodlust as they continued to assault the car with reckless abandon. Their claws dug deep into the body of the time vehicle and their feet warped the metal of the car like it was nothing.

Cavendish felt a hand suddenly clamp down on his shoulder. He whirled around to face the pale face of Milo, the boy’s eyes like pin pricks. Cavendish could feel Milo shake in fear, something he wouldn’t believe could ever happen to him.

“C-Cavendish,” Oh God, the boy was stuttering. “You can get us out of here, r-right? There’s got to be another way.”

Milo’s eyes glistened, and his lip quivered. “Right?”

Cavendish didn’t say anything. He didn’t have the heart to tell the boy that no, there wasn’t another way they could get out of this and they were going to die, all of them. The key was broken and Milo had lost his cattle prod to fighting off the creatures. They had nothing.

His doubt must of shown on his face, because Milo’s grip was suddenly light and his face was even paler than before. It was absolutely heartbreaking, and Cavendish’s chest is filled with dread because it might be the last emotion he’d see on Milo before their demise and he never had the chance to-

Both of them jumped when Dakota threw his fist at the dashboard, cracking the screen. He was seething, teeth bared and clenched.

“Work, you stupid thing!” Dakota growled, hitting the console again, his fist slowly creating an indent in the metal. “Work!”

If punching the dashboard hurt as much as it looked like it did, then Dakota wasn’t showing it. The man slammed his fist into the console and sparks danced around the impact.

“I’m not gonna die this way!”

Another hit.

“Milo’s not gonna die this way!”

Another.

“Cav’s not gonna die this way!”

Cavendish blinked in surprise at the fierce emotion in his friend’s voice when he said his name, but his attention was abruptly torn away from Dakota when the car sputtered to life with one final brutal punch.

Without a second thought, Cavendish pressed down on the accelerator and flicked on the time controls, a glowing blue portal opening in the air, bright turquoise lightning arching off of it, and within a second they were gone in a flash, leaving the creatures scrawled out on the pavement.

The time stream was an overwhelmingly welcoming sight. Dakota felt like crying with joy as he watched the clocks - that he put there! - drift by. Milo all but fell into his seat, one hand still gripping his backpack strap tightly.

Cavendish let out a breath he didn’t remember holding. They were safe now. The car was barely staying together in the time stream, and Cavendish watched as one of the headlights and several scraps of metal broke off of the car and disappear into the stream, but nonetheless, they were alive.

And that’s all that mattered right now.

“What do you mean we can’t get back to our own times?!” Cavendish cried, his hands nearly tearing out his hair.

“What I mean,” Dakota said levely, “is that the time controls are all messed up. We can’t choose where we’re gonna go anymore, it’s all random.”

“Random?! You mean we’re stuck traveling to places who-knows-when-and-where and we can’t do anything about it no matter what we do?!”

Dakota shrugged. “Yeah, that’s about it.”

Cavendish let out a cry of frustration. “We’re done for! We were supposed to drop Milo off after all this and get back to our missions and now we can’t!”

“Hey, c’mon,” Dakota nudged Cavendish with his elbow. “it’ll be fun. We could see so much cool stuff with Milo here!”

Dakota ruffled Milo’s hair and the boy laughed, trying to swat Dakota’s hand away. It was nice to hear his upbeat laugh and infectious good mood again after what they’d just gone through, and Cavendish partly suspected his partner did what he did just so he could hear Milo laugh again.

“No, it will not be fun,” Cavendish snapped. “We have to fix the car and then we have to get home, or Block will have our hides!”

“And how are we gonna get the parts?” Dakota stopped ruffling Milo’s hair and spread out his arms, gesturing to the cobbled streets and rickety wood buildings around them. “We’re in, like, the past, Cav. There are no parts to fix the time controls.”

“I-” Cavendish spun on his heels, scanning the environment around him frantically. Dakota was right. They were too far in the past for proper parts. “We can’t-”

Dakota clapped his hand on Cavendish’s back, and the older man looked down at the smiling face of his friend. “One adventure, Cav. Then we’ll try to find some parts. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”

Cavendish quickly glanced at Milo as Dakota said that, and there was a growing pit of dread forming in his stomach when he saw that Milo looked just as excited as Dakota at the prospect of adventuring through time and space. This was going to end badly, he knew it. He breathed out of his nose in annoyance and defeat.

“Fine. One adventure, and then we’ll get parts.”

Dakota and Milo whooped and jumped in excitement, and quickly clambered into the car before Cavendish took one step. Dakota settled himself in the driver’s seat, hands eagerly clutching the steering wheel and the taped up key shoved into the transmission, and Milo had practically thrown himself into the back.

Cavendish rolled his eyes before making his way towards the passenger side door. He slid into the seat and Dakota flicked on the time controls the second Cavendish closed his door. The portal opened in front of them and Dakota revved the engine. Cavendish quickly tightened his seatbelt.

“Next stop, adventure!”

Milo scratched his head. This wasn’t the post office. He squinted at the map Cavendish had given him in his hand. No, it most certainly said that the building in front of him was a postal office.

He glanced back up. Awfully small for a post office, but it was the future after all. Maybe they got smaller as technology advanced. Honestly, he wouldn’t be surprised if they disappeared completely. What’s the use of a post office when you could send a message anywhere instantly? And it seemed like packages weren’t being shipped by trucks as often anymore. Cavendish had said something about experimental teleportation technology coming into fruition around this time.

Milo fiddled with the letter in his hand. It was dated to be read in 2175, or by anyone who was a part of the Bureau. A cry for help and a request for new parts, he suspected the letter to be about. It was their best shot at being saved.

Milo subconsciously rubbed his arm, where gauze and most likely a fresh scar ran down the length of it, spanning from his elbow to his wrist. It was from their previous adventure, in the time of the Aztec empire. Milo didn’t realize just how good some of the warriors were at throwing their weapons, and Dakota was nearly killed for interrupting a sacrifice. The car still had dents and scratches in it, including a broken spear sticking out from one of the doors they had yet to remove.

Taking a deep breath, Milo stepped towards the futuristic post office. Immediately, a strong gust of wind stole the letter from his hands, and sent it fluttering down the street. Milo cursed his luck as he ran off to catch it. Of course it wouldn’t be this easy.

Murphy’s Law seemed to be a little crueler than normal, repeatedly snatching the letter from Milo’s grasp and sending it through increasingly dangerous situations. Milo hopped over runaway trash cans, dodged falling branches, narrowly missed being hit by a hover car, and tripped down a hill after trying to dance around a hologram in the middle of the road.

Milo pulled a glowing frisbee, which had been sitting on the hill he had gracefully tumbled down, from his hair and quickly tucked it into his backpack. One never knows when a frisbee might come in handy, and besides, it looked pretty cool and no one was running after him for it right now.

He glanced upwards at the lamp in front of him and his face broke into a grin when he caught sight of the letter. Acting quickly, he clambered up the metal post, hands reaching as far as they possibly could as he brought himself closer to the letter.

His fingers barely grazed the edge of the paper before another gust of wind blew the letter straight into a nearby wood chipper, which hungrily gobbled up the letter within a second. Milo watched as off-white confetti was thrown out of the wood chipper and fell into the pile of wood shavings below.

For a few seconds, Milo just stared at the pile, before slowly sliding down the pole. The moment his feet touched the ground, he booked it towards where the time vehicle was.

Hopefully he’ll get there in time before they were forced to leave again. They were already in hot water for what they did to the president and his house.

Dakota sipped his milkshake absentmindedly as he stared at the stars. It was quite surreal to be somewhere other than Earth, and the only time he’s ever seen aliens was on the television. Now, there were aliens of varying shapes and sizes roaming around, and Dakota wondered if he was dreaming.

There was a frustrated grumble and a shuffle of paper beside him. Dakota didn’t turn his attention away from the aliens, trying to distract himself from the fact that they were currently lost in time and space, and so far had no way to get home.

He was so engrossed in his alien-watching that he missed the first part of Cavendish’s question.

“-what do you think, Dakota?” Cavendish asked, not looking up from his map in his hands. Beside him, Milo was drinking his own milkshake.

“I think it’s weird,” Dakota said, to which Cavendish glanced at him in surprise. “What kind of asteroid sells milkshakes?”

Cavendish sputtered, before glaring at his friend. Milo snorted into his milkshake and barely held in his laughter. The effort was spoiled by milkshake becoming lodged in his throat and sending Milo into a hacking fit in an attempt to remove the glob. He was still laughing, though, with ice cream dribbling down his chin and onto the rocky floor. Cavendish squawked, and began to thump Milo’s back to help the laughing boy, offering several napkins to clean Milo’s face of the sticky mess.

Dakota smirked, and turned away, once again staring at the aliens as they went by. He’ll have to catalog the Shooting Star Milkshake Bar for later visits when they finally get the car fixed.

They’ve been together for at least a week now, traveling to unknown times and places in the hope that they’ll eventually get the parts needed to fix the time controls. Each and every place they go to, it’s not what they need.

It seems like Murphy’s Law doesn’t want them to stop traveling just yet.

“Yo, dibs on the helmet-thingy with the horns on it.”

Cavendish folded his arms, not bothering to snatch it away from his partner. “That’s a viking helmet, Dakota.”

“It is?” Dakota’s eyes widen and he stared at the helmet in disbelief. “I thought they didn’t have horns.”

Milo stopped rummaging through the pile of animal pelts nearby, and glanced up at the two agents. “Yeah, Cavendish. Vikings didn’t have horns on their helmets. And thank goodness for that, or I would have a lot more trouble in the viking part of the Natural History Museum.”

Cavendish felt his cheeks heat up with embarrassment. “Then why does this helmet have them?

Milo cocked his head. “I’m not sure. Maybe somebody wanted to be scarier?”

“Or, or,” Dakota plopped the helmet on his head. “they wanted to carry things on their heads. ‘Cause, y’know, the horns would keep ‘em up?”

“Mmm hmm,” Cavendish rolled his eyes and rested his hands on his hips. “Still doesn’t quite explain why you two have never seen a horned viking helmet. This helmet would most certainly be found in the future.”

Dakota adjusted the helmet. “Maybe a better question would be why you’ve never heard of a non-horned viking helmet, Cav. Is this like you not knowing what a giraffe is?”

Milo snapped his head up to face Cavendish, a smile dancing across his lips in amusement. “You don’t know what a giraffe is?”

Cavendish covered his now red face with his hands. “I- of course I know what a giraffe is, Milo.”

“Nah, he didn’t,” Dakota said. “Not until I told him on Halloween.”

Milo’s grin widened. “Really?”

The older time agent pinched the bridge of nose. “...yes,” he admitted.

There’s a bout of laughter from both parties, and Cavendish found himself smiling along with them. They push his buttons, sure, but he couldn’t stay mad at them. They’ve become much more than just acquaintances to him.

And when they’re being chased by some incensed vikings back to their car and Dakota is doubled over laughing about him being the reason why there are no horned viking helmets (he forgot that the helmet was even on his head. It took about a minute in the time stream before he realized that he had it on), Cavendish still can’t bring himself to be mad.

There’s a ghost of a smile on his face as they drift in the time stream to their next adventure, listening to Dakota’s excited ramblings and Milo’s similarly excited responses with more attention than he used to.

They all miss something. It's only natural when you're stuck traveling.

Milo misses his family. Cavendish misses the organization the missions gave him. Dakota misses his bed.

“You can’t just take the jewel just like that, Dakota!”

“And why not?”

“They’ll kill us if they find out!”

“So? It’s not the first time we’ve had bounties on our names.”

“I was really hoping we wouldn’t get any more. How are we to explain to Milo’s family that he’s wanted on five different planets, 150 years in the past on Earth, and 25 years from his time?”

“I’m sure they’ll accept it if you say he did it for the greater good…”

Both Cavendish and Dakota wonder if the Bureau knows that they’re lost in time, changing certain points in history (or rather, fulfilling the roles they apparently had in them). It’s a bittersweet thought. On one hand, they could be saved and be returned to their time and Milo to his. But on the other, they would have to stop adventuring.

So when the system in the car that tracked them breaks, neither of them complain.

Behind them, the metal door exploded outwards, and a large alien slid into the room, gun in hand and humming with energy.

“I’ll teach you to mess up my shot, you stupid apes!” he snarled, leveling his aim at them and squeezing the trigger repeatedly.

Dakota barely had enough time to dive and bring down Milo and Cavendish with him before the streaks of energy flew past and into the wall behind them. The air reeked of ozone and static and was filled with a buzzing sound as the gun started to recharge.

“Run!” Dakota cried, grabbing both Milo and Cavendish by the scruffs of their shirts and yanking them up to their feet with a grunt. They scrambled out an open door nearby, several more streaks of energy hitting the wall behind them, leaving dark blast marks on the light gray surface.

They heard an enraged yell and the ground shook as the alien took after them. The moment they made it out into the neighboring room, Dakota immediately took the lead, and Cavendish took up the back, sandwiching Milo between them, and booked it. They had done so with such fluidity it was as if they’ve always ran that way.

None of them knew when they started running like that, or why, but they hardly had time to think about it as they ducked into various hallways in the maze that was the trading post they had landed on.

“I knew we should've just gone back to the car!” Cavendish hissed to Dakota, just loud enough for the man to hear. “We had everything that we needed but no, you just had to insist on getting that drink!”

“Hey,” Dakota snapped back. “I didn't know that he was a ‘galaxy-class’ hitman, alright? I’m sure the juice will wash right out of his clothes.”

“You also cost him his target.”

“That's a good thing right? Now that guy isn't gonna die.”

“Dakota!” Cavendish pulled his hair in exasperation. “That wasn't a good thing at all! Now he's going to kill us!”

“Well, you win some and you lose some, Cav.”

Cavendish didn’t respond, choosing instead to just frown and ignore Dakota for the time being, focusing instead on getting off the trading post alive.

They shoved past more aliens and hopped over crates and stalls. The car came into sight, and they immediately beelined towards it, trying to ignore how close the roars from the alien trailing them were and the occasional blast of energy hitting the floor in front of them.

Dakota all but threw himself at the driver’s side door, Cavendish and Milo not too far behind him. He shoved the key into the ignition and stepped on the gas the second the car rumbled to life. The time controls flicked on and the familiar blue portal opened in front of them, welcoming them into the time stream.

As the car drove into the portal, the incensed threat of their pursuer, muffled by the walls of the car and the time stream, rang out.

“I’ll get you three and make you pay for what you did! Nobody, and I mean nobody, messes up Breen’s shot, you hear?! I’ll kill you all the next time you dare to show your faces!”

The portal closed behind the car before the alien could get to them. For a moment, there was a tense silence as they strained their ears to hear whether or not the alien had gotten lucky after all and was in the time stream with them. When they were certain that the alien hitman wasn’t in the time stream, they all simultaneously sank into their chairs, each of them letting out a sigh of relief. The words of the alien echoed faintly in the stream.

Cavendish snorted after a moment. “I doubt it, dear boy,” he replied quietly.

Dakota cracked a smile at the snarky comment, and Milo giggled, hand covering his mouth.

“Wow!” Milo’s eyes practically sparkled with excitement as he took in the landscape around him. Hills filled the field as far as the eye could see, and each one was covered in flowers of every color imaginable.

Cavendish and Dakota stopped behind Milo, both of them enraptured by the beauty as well.

Cavendish slowly removed his hat from his head in awe. “My word…”

Dakota rubbed his eyes. “Am I, like, seein’ things right now? ‘Cause this cannot be real. No way can something be this calm.”

But it was calm, much more so than what they had become accustomed to on their travels. There was a slight breeze that created waves in the sea of flowers, and the trees that were dotted around the area covered the ground in cool shade. The sun shined pleasantly, and the temperature was practically perfect.

Initially, they all had an itching that something was going to jump out from one of the trees or out through the ground and ambush them, but as they stood there in the calmness, the more the tension left their bodies, and, for the first time on an adventure, they all relaxed.

Dakota immediately took to one of the nearby trees, settled himself in the shade, and leaned against the tree and closed his eyes. Within seconds he was asleep, light snores escaping his lips.

Milo seemed to have the same idea as he, too, made his way to the tree, his movements more sluggish and slower than usual. He tossed his backpack to the side and curled up against Dakota, his head resting on Dakota’s shoulder. Dakota shifted in his sleep, scooting closer to Milo, and the corners Cavendish’s mouth twitched upwards when he saw Milo’s features soften into a calm smile as he too fell asleep.

The older man walked towards the tree, his own eyelids feeling heavy from exhaustion. It wasn’t every day that they could sit down and rest, so Cavendish was fully intending to make the most of their break in their agenda. A nap sounded heavenly right now.

He settled himself on the opposite side of Dakota and rested his head against the trunk of the tree. The grass was impossibly soft and Cavendish soon found himself nodding off. His hand found its way onto Dakota’s before he knew it, but he did not move it away like he would usually do. For now, he was too tired to care, and he slipped into a peaceful sleep with a small grin mirroring Milo’s own on his face.

In the distance, a farmer watched as the three slept and unconsciously embraced each other in their sleep. Had she known better, she would’ve thought they were a family simply out on a picnic and napping together under the shade of one of the trees.

And she wouldn’t be wrong.

It took a few months, but the Bureau had finally caught up to them and brought them back to 2175. At first, they were all elated. They had finally made it back. No longer did they have to worry about angry mobs accusing them of witchcraft or entire alien species wanting them dead. Now, they could rest those worries, forever.

But the implications started to dawn on them. Being found meant that they couldn’t travel together anymore. Milo was being forced to return to his own time, and Cavendish and Dakota had their own issues with the Bureau.

“Galavanting through time with a broken time vehicle? Ferrying a boy from the past with you? Changing the space time continuum with your inane antics? Claiming that they were necessary? What makes you think I’d forgive you two clowns so easily?” Block had said, each world practically growled out as he jabbed his finger at their chests.

“Well, you see-” Cavendish began.

“‘I see’ nothing!” Block barked, cutting off Cavendish in an instant. “You two have caused enough trouble here! You both will be suspended from your duties here at the Bureau until further notice, no questions asked! Am I clear?”

Cavendish and Dakota said nothing.

Block slammed his fist against his desk. “Am. I. Clear?”

They snapped to attention. “Yes, sir!”

“Good,” Block turned his attention to Milo. “And as for you, you’ll be returned to your own time and as far away as possible from these two.”

“But Mr. Block, sir, they’re my friends,” Milo said, hands gripping the straps of his backpack tightly. “I don’t want to be away from them.”

Block pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t start, kid. You’ll be returned to your time and that’s final, you hear?”

“But-” Milo hung his head, his voice a hoarse whisper. “Yes, sir.”

After his words, Block allowed them to hug for one last time - perhaps out of pity - before they were separated. Milo and Dakota were nearly sobbing, and Cavendish was trying to keep it together as his eyes misted up. The hug was too short, and Milo grabbed onto their arms for as long as he could before being pulled away by one of the other time agents.

Dakota buried his face in Cavendish’s chest, and Cavendish wrapped his arms around him. He watched as the time agent opened the door of a sports car for Milo, and squeezed his eyes shut when it disappeared into the blue portal in front of it.

He felt Dakota hug him tighter. Cavendish rested his chin on his head, not moving as another time agent approached them.

They’re suddenly at their respective homes, Milo in his suburban, danger-proof house, and Cavendish and Dakota at their apartments in 2175.

Milo’s family greets him with hugs and kisses and tears as they embrace their son who had gone missing for over a month. Martin is shaking slightly as he holds onto Milo and his breath hitches and Bridgette is asking where he was through her tears and Sara is trying to catch him up on Doctor Zone but she’s failing to say even one word. Diogee is by his feet, his tail wagging excitedly at the sight of his long-lost owner, barking as he’s trying to lick Milo’s cheek.

Milo hugs them all tightly and he can’t bring himself to say anything just yet. They see all his new scars, the one that ran from his elbow to his wrist, the collection scattered across the knuckles on his right hand, the discoloration of the burn peeking from under his sleeve, all of them.

And they ask him. But he can’t answer. Not yet.

He’s too overwhelmed and worried about Cavendish and Dakota, his time traveling friends and practical family. He wonders if they are okay, or if they had gotten back to work yet and they had their time machine back and fixed and able to go to any time imaginable without the worry of ending up somewhere else and that they had traveled to his time and were on their way-

It’s wishful thinking, but Milo can’t help but be optimistic.

A few months later, and Cavendish and Dakota find themselves back in the Bureau of Time Travel.

They thought for certain that they would never step foot in another time machine ever again, but were surprised when Block contacted them - rather begrudgingly - and told them to return to work.

Apparently, their story had checked out, and that they were the reason for several historical occurrences that needed to happen. They, and Milo as well.

God, how they missed that kid.

So, when they get their beaten up time machine back, time controls repaired and operating correctly, they immediately try to set the controls to Milo’s time. Block stops them immediately, and to their dismay, tells them that they are banned from seeing him again during missions, and that the car would immediately return to the Bureau if they tried.

Dakota suspects that there are glitches in the system which they could circumvent, but Cavendish doubts it. The engineers were rather thorough with rebuilding and programming the time controls this time.

Despite the fact, Cavendish has a small pocket of hope that maybe, maybe, there was a glitch in the system, and that they could see him again.

It’s wishful thinking, and both of them can’t help but feel optimistic about it.

Milo misses Cavendish and Dakota. Cavendish and Dakota miss Milo.

But time is finicky, and Murphy’s Law happens.

They all silently agree it’s hard to talk when they’re crying with joy when they see each other again.