I'm writing this for fun, got the idea from the RP board. :)

~Stacey

---

Kimberly Mitchell came down the steps into the living room of her in-laws' home, where she and her husband also lived.

"Mom!" she called, walking through the bright room and grinning at a picture of her and her husband on their wedding day.

"In here, dear!"

Kimberly walked through the living room and through the doorway to the kitchen. Her mother-in-law stood at the sink washing the breakfast dishes.

"Mom --" Kimberly started, stepping over to the sink.

"He's still in the lab." the older woman said, smiling and glancing at her daughter-in-law with bright brown eyes.

"Still??" Kimberly's own brown eyes rolled up toward the ceiling, then focused on her mother-in-law again. The young woman grinned."Well, maybe I can go in and coax him out."

"I think there's a chocolate bar in the cupboard."

Kimberly laughed."That's okay, Mom. I'll try it without bait at first."

She walked through the kitchen, and to the door to the garage. I haven't seen Billy this intent on something for ages, she thought to herself as she stepped into the cement-floored area. I'm glad, but he hides in that lab forever!

To her right was a door with a single small window in it. There was a nail in the wall by the door, but it was empty.

Good, he's not welding, Kimberly thought, heading straight for the door. If her husband had been, an arc welder's mask would have been hanging on the nail for anyone who wanted to enter.

Stepping through the door, she saw a man in coveralls bending over something on a neatly arranged workbench. She walked over to him and peered over his shoulder. "Hon, Mom and I were wondering if you were going to come out of here before you were forty."

Beside her, the man grinned, making little lines appear at the sides of his mouth. "I just have a little adjustment to make here, Kimmy, and I should be finished."

Kimberly stood back with her arms folded, knowing she could rarely tear her husband away from his work until he was done -- particularly if he was "almost done". Within another minute--

"Yes!"

Kimberly looked at the little device that filled the palm of her husband's upraised hand."Okay, hon--what is it??"

"A time-travel-interdimensional-travel device."

Billy's wife shook her head as if to clear it."I know I'm not Zack, but -- say what??"

He held it out so that she could see. "It's a device for travelling both through time and dimensions," he said a little more slowly. "This dial at the top sets the date to which you'd like to go, this green button activates the ability to travel through time, and pushing it and the red button simultaneously allows you to travel through both time and dimensions."

For a moment, Kimberly seemed to be processing this information. She then looked up at Billy incredulously and said, "Um -- hon, no offense, but -- how do you plan to see if this thing works?"

Billy grinned, his blue-green eyes sparkling behind his silver-rimmed glasses."Well, Kim, I was wondering if you'd test it with me."

His wife's eyes rolled upward."Oh, dear...."

"Come on, Kim, not all of my inventions have been -- uh -- unsuccessful."

Kimberly grinned gently, put her hand on her husband's shoulder and looked him in the eye."Sweetheart, I know they haven't, but...some of your inventions of the past keep coming to mind...."

"I know, Kim, the Cake-o-matic wound up making a mess...."

"Yes. There was cake batter all over the Youth Center, and it took six of us three hours to clean it up. Then there was that thing you made where two people were supposed to be able to read each other's thoughts. When you activated it, I wound up walking around in your body."

Billy had to shake his head over that one. "Well, Kim, no offense, but it wasn't altogether pleasant for me to be walking around in your body, either."

He brightened."That was years ago, though. Please, Kimmy, come with me when I try it."

His wife sighed."You know, I hate it when you give me that puppy-dog look. All right, let me leave a note for Mom."

She went over to the workbench, found a pad and pencil, and scribbled a hasty note:

"Mom, gone to test out one of your dear boy's new inventions.
Where and when we're going, don't know. When we're coming
back, don't know. Suggest you not keep dinner for us. You know
how your boy is when he's exploring new places (times, dim-
ensions....)
See you soon,
Love,
Kimberly and Billy.

She left the note on the workbench and turned to her husband. "Okay, hon, let's do this."

Billy grinned and adjusted the dial on his device."We won't go too far ahead -- only twenty-second century."

"Oh, sure. Only a hundred years."

He glanced at her and took her hand. "I'll be pushing the other dimension button, too, just to warn you."

Kimberly smirked."You didn't have to tell me that. You always take your little adventures to the extreme."

Billy chuckled and poised his thumb where he could hit both buttons at once. "Okay, Kimmy, here goes!"

He hit the buttons, there was a flash of light, and the two were gone.