I didn't know I could run this fast.
Actually, I didn't know I needed to run this fast unless there was a cockroach involved.
But apparently, all it takes is a time-traveling child, a stupidly gorgeous man, and a black car full of "alternate timeline hunters" to make me sprint like I was in the Olympics.
When we finally ducked into an alley, my lungs were filing official complaints.
"Okay—" I wheezed, bent over like a grandma in yoga class, "someone explain. In human words. Preferably with pictures."
The kid didn't even look winded.
Of course.
Children are demons.
"We don't have much time," they said, still clutching my hand like a lifeline. "But Dad found us a temporary zone."
"A what?" I croaked, still recovering from nearly dying. Again.
Before anyone could answer, the man—Ruhan, apparently, because the child had yelled that name mid-sprint—pressed his palm against a rusted side door. Something clicked. The door swung inward to reveal…
…a fully furnished apartment.
I blinked.
"What," I said, pointing at the impossible living room inside a trashy alley wall, "in the Marvel x IKEA crossover hell is this?"
"It's a safehouse," Ruhan said simply. "Timeline-sealed."
Timeline.
Sealed.
Right.
Of course.
Makes perfect sense.
I stepped inside on autopilot, still clutching my grocery bag like an emotional support vegetable kit.
The second the door shut, the kid sagged with relief.
"We're safe for at least an hour."
Then their eyes flicked to me, wide and hopeful.
"Mom, don't be mad—"
"I'M NOT YOUR MOM!" I blurted.
Silence.
Echoing silence.
Award-winning silence.
The kid's face fell like I had just kicked a litter of puppies.
Ruhan's jaw tightened, not angry—just… hurting.
Guilt stabbed me immediately because I am a weak human being who cries over Pixar movies.
"I mean—" I corrected quickly, waving my hands like a malfunctioning traffic signal, "not yet. I mean, not biologically. I don't think. I don't know. I'm a virgin, so unless God decided to do limited edition immaculate conception for me—"
"Mom," Ren said gently, "in my timeline, you held me the first night I was born. You sang to me. You cried because you said you didn't deserve me. You and Dad were… everything."
I swallowed hard.
Oh no.
I can't handle this level of emotional violence at 4 PM on a weekday.
Ruhan cleared his throat, voice low.
"We know this is overwhelming. But Ren isn't lying."
I spun around.
"Oh good. GREAT. Thank you for confirming the existence of my alternate self's non-virginity, because clearly my day wasn't chaotic enough."
He huffed—almost a laugh. Almost.
But his eyes…
They were soft.
Too soft.
Like he'd seen me before.
Like he missed me.
I looked away before my brain could start shipping us.
"Fine," I said, pacing like a feral auntie in a family function. "Let me get this straight. This kid is from another timeline where I—SOMEHOW—not only dated you but had a whole child. Things went wrong. Child arrives here. Black-car boogeymen are chasing us. And I'm supposed to just… accept this?"
"Yes," Ren said.
"No," I snapped.
Ruhan crossed his arms, which was honestly unfair because his arms should be illegal in 23 countries.
"We don't expect you to accept everything," he said. "Just to trust us until we can explain more."
Trust?
I just met him one chase scene ago.
And sure he looked like a Greek god dipped in danger and expensive cologne, but—
Wait.
Cologne.
I stepped closer and sniffed him without thinking.
Ruhan froze.
Ren blinked.
I realized what I had done and nearly passed away on the spot.
"I—I wasn't smelling you!" I lied. Badly. Horribly. "I was checking for explosives. You know. Like a… sniffer dog. But human."
Ren whispered, "Mom, you're so weird in every timeline."
"THANK YOU," I hissed.
Before my embarrassment could physically kill me, Ren grabbed my wrist.
His little fingers were trembling.
"Mom," he whispered, "you're glitching."
My heart stopped.
"What?"
Ruhan was at my side instantly.
"You felt anything unusual? Heat? Pulling sensations? Memory flashes?" His voice was clipped, controlled—but underneath, electric panic.
I shook my head—
Except…
No.
No, that wasn't true.
I had felt something while running.
Something warm at the back of my skull.
A pull.
A flicker.
A memory that wasn't mine.
Ruhan cupping my face.
Ren giggling.
A home.
A life.
I staggered.
"Oh no," Ren whispered. "It's starting."
"WHAT is starting?" I snapped, because yelling is my love language at this point.
Ren looked up at me with eyes too old for a seven-year-old.
"You're syncing with the other you."
I stared.
"What does that mean?"
"What does THAT mean??"
Ruhan answered quietly, voice barely above breath.
"It means you're beginning to remember… us."
My stomach dropped to hell.
Ren stepped closer.
"In my timeline, you always said your heart knew before your mind did."
A shiver crawled up my spine.
"No," I whispered. "No, no, no—I can't handle philosophical nonsense right now. I haven't even processed my breakup. Or the fact that I ran for my life in crocs."
Ren and Ruhan exchanged a look.
A look I didn't understand.
A look that said they had seen me—another me—go through this before.
I felt something crack open inside my chest.
"I'm not your mom," I said quietly this time. "Not really."
Ren shook his head and hugged me anyway.
"You're her," he whispered into my shirt. "Just… earlier."
Something in me broke.
Not painfully.
Just… wrong-timeline heartbreak.
I didn't hug back.
But I didn't push him away either.
Ruhan watched us like a man watching the ghost of his entire life.
I cleared my throat aggressively.
"Okay," I said stiffly. "Fine. I will not faint. I will not scream. I will not run. But I need answers. Real ones. No timeline poetry. No cryptic riddles. No Marvel quotes."
Ruhan nodded once.
Firm.
Serious.
"Agreed."
Ren took a shaky breath.
"It started," he whispered, "the night you died."
I froze.
Ruhan's eyes snapped to the kid.
"Ren."
But it was too late.
The words were out.
And I couldn't breathe.
"I—what?" I croaked. "I WHAT?"
Ren's voice trembled.
"In my timeline… you died trying to protect us. And Dad—"
Ruhan's face went stone-hard.
"Ren. Enough."
"No!" the kid cried. "She needs to know! The Collectors are hunting us because she wasn't supposed to die! The timeline broke, Dad! It broke because—because—"
The lights suddenly flickered.
The air vibrated.
Something outside the walls BOOMED.
Ruhan snapped into soldier mode.
"They found the safehouse."
I stared in horror.
"What do you MEAN they found the safehouse?? We've been here for FIVE MINUTES—"
Ren grabbed my hand.
Ruhan grabbed my arm.
"Mom," Ren whispered urgently, "don't freak out—"
"DON'T FREAK—???"
A sharp metallic screech tore through the alley.
The door shuddered.
Ruhan's voice dropped into a lethal whisper.
"They're here."
The final knock wasn't a knock at all.
It was a fist.
Punching straight through the metal.