Chapter 12: June 24, 2006

Rory had a notebook. He didn’t use it to track every one of Megan’s visits—that would be too much—but he did use it to track the important things. The things she said he’d tell her eventually. The things he needed to remember to keep the space-time continuum from collapsing in on itself.

And the things he needed to remember just for the sake of sanity.

So when it reminded him that on June 25, 2006 that he was going to need to wake up at 3 the next morning to feed Xavier, he took it seriously. He remembered how tired and haggard Megan had looked when she had popped in several years earlier.

It was easy to remember: he saw it every day. Xavier—as it turned out—was a bit of a colicky baby, and Megan barely saw any real sleep. She also didn’t get unstuck very often, for whatever reason.

Before going to sleep, Rory made sure he knew where the next bottle of pumped milk was, and made sure the water boiler—which thankfully had settings other than just boil—had plenty of water in it for heating up the milk. Megan asked him about it, and he just said, “Spoilers.” She accepted that as an answer, as he would. Time travel was weird, after all.

And so when Xavier woke up at 3 in the morning, and he felt Megan rouse from bed, he also forced himself up, following her out into the hallway—where she didn’t even seem to notice him—and making his way around to the kitchen.

Xavier kept screaming, but he was soon there with warm milk (if from a bottle instead of a breast) and the baby was soon content and falling asleep on Rory’s chest.

Rory also fell asleep, and that’s where a popped-back Megan found the both of them three hours later.