Waking up Just Got a Little Too Weird for Me

"Okay, so that neighbor is out," Casey grumbled, walking back into her apartment, rubbing her arms which had little red scratches all over them.

"What happened to you?" Much asked, nodding towards her arms.

"Um, she wouldn't answer the door so I kinda sorta tried to break into her apartment. And her cats kinda sort of attacked me," she replied sheepishly.

"Why don't we sit down and talk about this now? Like normal people?" Robin asked, looking over at the strange girl.

"Really, just come and sit down and let's think this through," Allan agreed, grabbing Casey's arm and sat down on the couch, though not before looking at it cautiously.

"I need a shower. I feel disgusting. I've been in this pair of underwear for like 2 months," Casey said, looking down at herself in disgust.

"Or we can shower. That's an option as well," Allan smirked, looking appreciatively up and down the girl's body.

"I said 'I' need a shower. Singular, here. Which means not you," Casey grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Why don't you go do that while we talk over what to do?" Robin asked her gently.

"Yeah, okay," she replied, jumping off the couch and heading into her bedroom to grab some clean clothes.

She was out in a minute and began making her way down the hallway to the bathroom before backtracking to the living room where the outlaws currently were.

"Stay in here. Do not leave for any reason. At all," she said, pointing at them.

"What if there is a fire?" Will asked.

"Extenuating circumstances aside," she replied, "Also, don't touch anything. I know everything looks awesome here, but you guys will most likely break it. So don't touch. Anything."

She made her way back down the hallway and to the bathroom. After she had been gone for two minutes, Allan got up and went to go down the hallway.

"Where are you going?" Djaq asked.

"Going to have peek, obviously," he replied as if that were totally natural.

"Sit down," Will said, pulling Allan to sit down on the floor beside him.

"So what's the plan, Robin?" Much asked, turning to his master.

Robin opened his mouth to speak, but closed it before he did, a troubled looking coming across his face.

"Honestly," he said, "I don't know."

All of the outlaws exchanged glances, never having heard their fearless leader without at least half a plan. Or claiming that he had a plan. To hear him even admit that he didn't have one was very worrisome indeed.

He sat down on the couch beside Little John, his face still in the same troubled expression. The others just watched him in silence, not sure if they should break the awkward silence. Thankfully, they didn't have to, as Casey chose to walk out of the bathroom five minutes later, having taken the shortest shower known to man.

"So what have we come up with?" she asked, towel drying her hair and sitting down beside Allan.

"I'm not exactly sure. There has never been any type of situation like this before, so we have no precedents. Or at least none that any of us know about it," Robin replied, looking at Casey.

"Well, thankfully I know how to remedy that," Casey smiled, standing back up and walking back into her bedroom.

They all stood up and followed her curiously, trying to all squeeze into the bedroom. She went and turned on her computer, and they watched in fascination as it came on.

"What is this witchcraft?" John asked from the doorway, peering over everyone else's heads.

"It's a computer. And I'm going onto the internet, which is like a collection of all of the knowledge in the entire world," she replied.

Nobody said anything in response, so she turned around to see a mixture of confused and stunned faces looking at the computer.

"Mind officially blown, right?" she laughed.

As the desktop popped up, she clicked on the internet icon and quickly typed in 'time travel' into the search bar. Several thousand results popped up, so she narrowed it down to 'real time travel', which still popped up several thousand results. She then changed her search to 'actual time travel' which looked like it might have some promising results. Sifting through the ridiculous 'herbs, spices, and chanting' results, she stumbled upon a hopeful link. She clicked on it.

The title of the page that popped up was 'The Legend of Time Travel'. It was mostly just people claiming to have time traveled, and really didn't say anything helpful. It was when she scrolled to the bottom that something helpful popped up.

"Based purely on speculation, as there is no scientific proof to prove these claims, it is said by these so-called time travelers that the places to which they are transported to are of some significance. It is said that the time traveler has some deep connection to the time period. Most are unsure of how this strange phenomenon takes place, but most speculate that a strong thought process about said time period seems to be the key."

"A strong thought process? Are you kidding me? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. I can't tell you how many times I thought long and hard about coming home before," Casey grumbled, turning the computer off.

"So that's it? We just have to think really hard about going home? Not being funny, but that doesn't make any sense."

Casey whirled around to face Allan and the rest of the gang.

"No duh, it doesn't make any sense because the night we got here, I sure as hell wasn't thinking about coming back," Casey replied.

"Maybe it works the other way? Like maybe if you're thinking about how bad it would be to go to a certain time is when it takes you there."

Casey turned to Michael with a thoughtful look on her face.

"You know, that actually kind of makes sense. I mean, that night I wasn't exactly thinking about it, but it was sort of at the back of my mind how much I didn't want to come home now. And the night I arrived in 1192, before I went to bed, I did wonder what you guys wore for pajamas and decided I didn't want to find out. Maybe that could be it."

"So the key to going back home is to not want to go?" Will asked.

"Okay, so we've hit a snag in our plan. No problem, we'll figure it out," Casey replied, turning to Robin for the plan.

"Why did we come back with you?" he asked, his eyebrows furrowed in deep thought.

"Do you have to question everything?" she asked him in a huff.

"I'm just trying to figure this out, Casey. It doesn't make sense for us to have followed you," he replied.

"Maybe because she formed a deep bond with us, so her mind automatically brought us with her?" Djaq suggested.

Robin nodded his head, the concentrated look still on his face. They all walked back out into the living room and sat across the room. Casey's stomach grumbled, reminding her that she hadn't eaten since the night before.

"Are you guys hungry?" she asked, looking around at the gang.

A chorus of 'yes's' was heard so she picked herself off the floor and went into the kitchen. She sifted through the fridge and freezer, seeing if anything was in there to feed five grown men, a woman, and a preteen boy. After looking through the cabinets as well, she realized she did not, in fact, have enough food.

"Cool. I get to go to the grocery store and leave seven people from 1192 in my apartment. Alone. Without supervision," Casey sighed as she walked back into the living room.

"Alright, so I have to go to the… market, to get some food for breakfast. I'll be gone a minimum of fifteen minutes. Now, seriously guys, don't touch ANYTHING. At all. I cannot express how serious this is. And don't leave. Please, please, please," she stressed, looking at each of their faces.

"Don't worry, we'll be good," Allan smiled at her.

"Djaq, you're in charge," Casey said, pointing to the woman.

"Hey! I'm Robin Hood! Shouldn't I be in charge?" Robin cried indigently.

"I don't trust you in this time as far as I could throw you," Casey replied seriously.

"So, I'm supposing not very much then?" he said.

She gave him a pointed look before grabbing her keys and wallet and speed walking down the stairs, hoping to God that her apartment building would still be standing when she got back.

* * *

After getting all of the groceries she would need for the next few days in case they got stuck here for longer than planned, Casey drove home. Parking in the lot and getting out to looking at the groceries in the back, she decided it couldn't hurt to let the guys come down and take them up. After all, 6 dozen eggs ("Family reunion," she'd said to the suspicious cashier) and 4 pounds of bacon, which was only for breakfast for the next few days, was a lot for a girl to handle. So she grabbed the bags she could carry and walked up to her apartment. She stood outside the door for a minute, dreading what she'd find inside, before sighing and pushing the door open. What she saw almost made her turn around and walk back out.

Allan and Much had Will in the middle of the room, his whole body wrapped up in what were probably 4 rolls of toilet paper. Robin was looking on and laughing, John just stood off to the side smiling, Michael was laughing beside Robin, and Djaq was looking on disapprovingly, but she was obviously trying to hide a smile.

"Hey, Casey! Look what we found! Body wraps!" Allan exclaimed, gesturing to Will in a very proud fashion.

"I feel ridiculous," Will said, or mumbled really as his voice was muffled by layers of toilet paper.

"Wow, just, wow. What did I say about not touching anything?" she asked, trying to sound stern but failing at it as there was a huge smile across her face.

"Well, honestly. You can't just leave us here and expect us not to touch anything," Much replied as if she were stupid to think otherwise.

"Whatever. Get that crap off of Will and come help me," she replied, going to set the bags in the kitchen.

The trip to the car and back took a lot longer than it should have, as the gang wanted to stop and look at absolutely everything. John almost had a heart attack when they got to the car, and she had to almost force him into it to retrieve some bags. Finally they made their way back up to the apartment.

"Okay, so obviously I am a horrible cook, so Much, you have to help me," Casey said, making her way into the kitchen and gesturing for him to follow her.

"What're we supposed to do?" Allan asked, looking around the apartment in interest.

Casey debated on what to do with the rest of them before deciding. She walked over to the DVD collection and pulled out Robin Hood: Men in Tights, before sticking it into the DVD player.

"Remember how I said I was on a show and we watched it on a little box?" she asked them, turning back to them.

They all nodded eagerly.

"Alright, well, this is that box. I put in something about Robin Hood, and you should enjoy it," Casey smirked in Robin's direction.

She was sure that everyone else would get a kick out of it, but had a feeling that he wouldn't like it too much.

She went back into the kitchen with Much following her. After explaining the concept of a stove three times, they were finally ready to start cooking. She gave him the duty of cooking the bacon while she herself took over scrambled egg duty.

"Am I doing this right?" Much asked uncertainly, standing as far back from the skillet as he could while still being able to flip the bacon.

He'd learned the hard way about the popping grease.

"Yeah, you're doing fine. Flip that one piece," she said, pointing to the one on the far left.

He did as he was told, though not very skillfully. Casey continued scrambling the eggs in her own skillet, adding a bit of cheese for flavor.

They finally managed to make enough food that would satisfy all of the gang, and Casey set out plates and silverware, going into the cabinet to get some glasses for some milk to go with breakfast. She walked out into the living room to call everyone to breakfast.

"Casey, what is this nonsense? This is not me in any way, shape, or form!" Robin exclaimed as soon as he saw her, his voice holding a tone of mortal offense.

The other members of the gang just sniggered when his back was turned.

"It's one take on your legend," Casey smirked before continuing, "Breakfast is ready. Come get your food."

Soon, everyone had a plate of eggs, bacon, and a biscuit, along with a glass of milk.

"This is delicious," Allan exclaimed with his mouth full, holding up a piece of bacon.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, Allan," Djaq scolded.

He smiled cheekily at her, his mouth still full, before going back to his food. Soon after, everyone had finished their food.

"So, who's going to do dishes?" I saw that little fountain like thing in there, so I'm assuming we don't have to go to the river," Much asked.

"No, we don't have to go to the river. We don't even have to do the dishes in the sink. Come here, you're gonna get a kick out of this. Bring your plates," Casey said, standing up and taking her dishes into the kitchen.

The outlaws followed and watched as she pulled down the dishwasher, not having any idea what it was, and observed as she stuck her dishes into it. They all followed her example and after everyone was finished, she reached under the sink and pulled a little blue tablet out and stuck it in there, and then closing it and turning a knob on it. It made a really loud sound as it started up, scaring everyone except Casey.

"What does that do?" Will asked curiously.

"It washes the dishes for me," Casey replied, smiling at all the shocked looks on their faces.

She heard John mumbled something under his breath, and she was almost positive it was 'witchcraft'.

Casey clapped her hands together, "Alright, who wants to see how I wash my clothes and shower?"

* * *

"This is the most awkward I've ever felt in my entire life," Much said, looking down at his current attire.

Casey had sifted through her guest room and managed to find some of her older brother's old clothes, which she gave to all the guys to change into after they'd showered so she could wash their clothes. It was mostly just boxers and t-shirts, but it was funny to see them in other clothes. Djaq was just in a pair of her sweats and a t-shirt, as was Michael as he was too small to fit into her brother's clothes. She'd made sure to give him the ones that said "Sexy Bitch" across the seat of them.

The outlaws had managed to understand the function of the shower rather easily, which surprised her as she'd had to explain the function of the washing machine a total of four times. The shower had only taken two.

"I think you look dashing," Casey giggled as Much stood in the middle of the room as if not sure what to do.

Will was currently showering, and Allan and Robin were the only ones to go after him. John refused to shower, and also refused to have his clothes washed, which was probably for the better as Casey didn't think she had clothes that would fit the big man.

"We still need to figure out how to get back," Robin said, bringing the situation to a more serious tone.

"Maybe we can just think that we don't want to go back?" Casey asked.

"I don't think that would work. Both times with you it seems like your subconscious is the one that is making you travel, and you can't really control your subconscious," Djaq reasoned.

"Okay, so maybe we just need to find someone who genuinely doesn't want to go back, and then maybe we'd all go back with them since we all have a connection to each other," Allan suggested,

"Okay. Does anyone genuinely not want to go back?" Casey asked, looking around.

Everyone just looked at her, no one raising a hand.

"Really? You guys have seen all this cool crap that I live with, and no one wants to stay here?" Casey asked.

Still, everyone remained silent.

"Good try," Casey said sadly, patting Allan on the thigh.

He smiled at her and quickly kissed her on the cheek.

"We'll figure it out," he whispered into her ear.

She smiled at him in response.