Time Traveler: To the Moon and Back. E233. Regrets

A few minutes later, still at Juliette’s house…

“Well, at least the babysitter already arrived; I took her upstairs with Rowan,” Dustin reported, returning to his sister’s side.
“Thanks, Dusty”, Juliette barely replied.
“Feeling any better?” he asked, seeing she hadn’t finished the tea he had prepared for her.
“Frankly? No”.

“Can I get you anything else? Anything I can do for you?”, Dustin insisted.
“Yes. Tell me, that woman, Ann… Did say anything about me?”
“About you? What do you mean?”
“I mean, does she blame me for what happened”.

Dustin thought long and hard before answering.
“Ann doesn’t blame you. In fact, she’s the one who feels guilty. She said something like if she hadn’t kicked Rob out of the house, maybe he’d be fine now.”
“That’s kind of true.”
“It is, but – why does it worry you what she might think of you?”

“It doesn’t worry me, I ask because I feel like this is all my fault.”
“What? Come on, Jul, you didn’t kick Rob out in the middle of the night, Ann did.”
“Because he asked her for a divorce to keep a promise he made to me,” Juliette cried.
“Well, it was his call to ask her for a divorce, but she put him at risk by throwing him out in the middle of the night”.

“You know, I should’ve left Robin alone; accept he wasn’t for me and let him and his wife live their lives in peace,” Juliette continued, through her tears. “Now, because of me, he’s lost it all, his home, his family, maybe even his own l… “
“Jul, stop it, okay?” Dustin cut her off, pulling up to his feet.

“Being negative doesn’t serve us well right now.”
“I-I know, I’m sorry, I’m just so scared,” Juliette blurted out, letting her tears flow. Dustin tempered his tone.
“You have nothing to apologize for, I understand how you feel; I am scared too. But we can’t let fear overpower us. Now more than ever we gotta stay strong and collected”.

“See, Rob made his choice. He chose you over Ann because it is you he loves. He was determined to ask Ann for a divorce; nothing could have stopped him. Now, what happened to him afterwards was unfortunate, but it had nothing to do with the other stuff. And it’s not your fault, or Ann’s, or even his own; no one is to blame for this. Okay?”

Juliette nodded as she slowly stood up. Dustin continued as gently:
“Hey, Rob isn’t gonna lose his life, cause we’ll track him down and rescue him from wherever he is. It might take a while and it sure as hell won’t be easy, but we gotta stay positive at any rate”.
“I want to stay positive, I really do, but I just can’t. This is too much, Dust…”

“This is just too much,” Juliette broke out, hugging her brother as she started to cry again.
“Hey, easy…”, Dustin muttered, hugging her back.

“Look, Rob is in serious trouble, yes, but he’s smart, brave and is also well trained. He’s a time traveler and was a cop before that. He’ll sure know how to defend himself should he need to, no matter how tough the situation may get,” he concluded.

Dustin’s words didn’t seem to be enough for Juliette, and in truth, neither for himself. His speech was more wishful thinking than a certainty, but he could not afford to show his dread right now, not with Juliette in this mood.
As if she sensed her brother’s real thoughts, Juliette gently pulled away, muffling a sob.
“I’m sorry, the last thing you need now is another woman in tears to comfort”, she whispered.

“And the last thing you need is try to play tough like you always do,” Dustin replied to the point.
“Well, as you can see, that’s not coming easily to me right now,” Juliette replied.
“That’s okay, you’re allowed to let off some steam this time.”
“If only that would give me some relief, but I don’t feel any.

“If only that would give me some relief, but I don’t feel any. This whole thing feels like a nightmare; like the universe literally conspired to tear me away from Robin… I just don’t get it. Why they had to abduct him? They could have taken anyone! Why did it have to be him of all people?”

“I ask myself the exact same question,” Dustin mused, scooting back to sit on the arm of the couch. “It’s beyond belief to me that he has been chosen randomly, or just because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“What exactly are you saying?”, Juliette startled.
“Well -”

“My theory is that this alien ship came down specifically to take him away.”
“Yeah, it would seem that way, but – for what reason? And why are you so sure it was an alien ship?”
“What else could it be? I doubt that thing belongs on this planet. As for the reason…” Dustin stopped, biting his lip to silence his suspicions and what Judith had revealed to him that night.

“Dusty?”, Juliette pressed. “What were you going to say? Do you have any idea why these people wanted Robin?”
Dustin kept quiet once more. Telling his sister what he knew about the future, or his theories about Robin at this point would only stoke her distress. Sure, when/if Robin returned, he would probably decide to tell her everything about himself and what he and future people as a whole knew about the aliens. But until then, he would not fill his sister’s head with any more worries than she already had.

“Listen, Jul, I know you’re a skeptic like Dad, but also like him, you’re a scientist, and as such, you do know that it is possible we may not be alone in the universe, don’t you?”
“I do, and it’s not something that scares me”, Juliette hurried to answer.

“What terrifies me about all this is that whoever took Robin will hurt him, or worse, never give him back,” she added, concern and fear returning to her face.
“Don’t worry, Rob will return; we will bring him back.”
“And how are we gonna do that? We don’t even know where they took him.”

“Well, that’s why we gotta move fast with the search and a rescue plan; we don’t want these people to try any of their ‘experiments’ on him.”
“Y-you think they would do that?”
“I hope not, but the longer it takes us to locate him, the more opportunity they’ll have to get creative, and the less chance we’ll stand of rescuing him safe and sound”.

“We have to put our fear aside, be smart, and also very quick. So I suggest we start right away.”
“Okay, but how, where do we begin?
“Well, I suggest we ask mom and dad for help, they’re sure to come up with some good ideas.”
“I agree, but right now? They must be still asleep.”
“It’s almost 6 am, the captain at least must be up by now, so I suggest we go there at once. If you’re feeling a bit better, that is.”

“I don’t think I’m gonna feel better any time soon. And you’re right, there’s no time to lose, so I’ll go get my jacket”.
“Are you sure? Wouldn’t you rather stay with Rowie and maybe get some sleep? I could go talk to Dad and report to you later.”
“No… True, I’m not in my best mood, but I won’t rest until I see Robin back home safely.”

(To be Continued)

Credits for the poses in this episode:

Do not be sad, baby! by IMHO
Consolation Poses by Sicilia Forever (Sims Fans Forum)
Depression Posepack by Cake Poses (Chan)
Elastic Heart by Sweetwilight (TSR)
Emotive Talks by NotJustaBook
Casual Sitting Poses, Emotion Male Set 2, Convo/Emotion Poses Set 2, Male Hug, Snooty/Snobby/Attitude, Walk and Talk Set 2, and Standing Poses Set 2, all of them by Poses by Bee.

Thank you very much to all of them for making these last episodes possible! 🤗💖