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“Get them out of here. You have half a day or so before they come to, but the sooner the better.” She nodded at the Watcher, who called in some security personnel to escort the men back to town, or at least far enough away that they couldn’t see the TCR, Sadie reckoned.

“The loose ends are now taken care of.” The Watcher smiled.

Were they going to do the same to her and Teddy? She couldn’t imagine a world without having known Wally. She didn’t want to. She squeezed his hand, unwilling to let go as the Watcher moved toward her.

“I don’t want to forget,” she said, tears filling her eyes. “Please don’t take this from me.”

“It’ll be easier if you don’t remember him,” the Watcher said gently. “It doesn’t fix the fact that you were supposed to die, but it does help at least take away the danger of knowing the future.”

“No! I don’t care. I won’t speak a word the rest of my life. I swear. I’d rather have the pain of loss than be missing a part of my life. My ranch is already destroyed, don’t take my memories too.” She clung to Wally, who held her just as hard against him.

“There’s another way,” Wally said over her shoulder.

Sadie released him enough to look up at his face. He brushed the tears from her cheeks and smiled. “I think you’d like it in my time, and I know Teddy would. The sky’s the limit for him with all the tech at his disposal.”

Sadie’s mouth dropped open.

“This is highly irregular.” The Watcher’s voice rose as they spoke. “You can’t just offer that.”

“How do you know this isn’t exactly what was supposed to happen?” Wally challenged, taking her hands in his and glaring at the Watcher. “History says they died. The only thing anyone will know any different is that they died in a fire. Eli, the man that killed them, according to history, was hung and killed. He’s already dead, too, in this scenario. Seems to me this is a cleaner solution than replacing them in a timeline they aren’t supposed to be in.”

The Watcher shifted uncomfortably on their feet. “It’s an intriguing theory, Dr. Doyle, but I am—”

“Simply a government agent nowhere near as schooled in these theoretical matters as the man who invented time travel technology,” Nicole said, plucking the black memory gadget from the doc’s hand. “So you will defer to his judgement. Besides, we could use someone like Sadie as a tour guide on future voyages to this time period.”

Sadie startled and looked to Wally.

“I believe the boss just offered you a job,” he said. “I’d take it. The benefits are great.”

Sadie laughed gleefully and hugged him.

“I already said this tech is going out of commission. There will be no further excursions of the resort.” The Watcher mashed a fist onto a floating silver tray.

Nicole lifted the gadget she’d snatched, frowned, and sunk it into the Watcher’s neck before they could move. Everyone stood stunned as their eyes went glassy.

“Dr. Doyle?” Nicole said as though nothing had happened.

“Um, yes, boss?”

“Theoretically, when we return, it’ll be only moments after we left, correct?”

Wally nodded, hugging Sadie to his side.

“And how quickly can you fix the cloaking device?” she asked.

“Thanks to Teddy here, it’s almost done. With his help and access to the right equipment, we should be done in a matter of hours.”

“What do you need?” Nicole asked, meeting his eyes.

It clicked in Sadie’s head. “You want to start the vacation over the right way so the Watcher won’t know the difference. You are clever, Miss Nicole.”

Nicole smiled. “Whatever you need is yours. We will keep them quiet until you’re ready. And as for you two,” she glanced at Teddy as well. Jackson can adjust the resort’s records to show you as guests. They need never know the difference.”

Sadie threw her arms around Nicole’s neck and squeezed, nearly knocking the woman off balance. “Thank you.”

“Come on, Teddy,” Wally said. “We have work to do.”

Sadie smoothed over the skin-tight black dress Lacey helped her pick out for the occasion. It ended mid-thigh and dipped low enough to show off at least half of her breasts. It was barely there, and she loved it. She also loved the thigh-high boots and the way her hair felt after she’d dipped it under the blue light of the magic straightener thingy.