Jeff did intend to play around more with the Chronivac, but his new life meant new responsibilities. Days turned to weeks, as he would keep telling himself he'd play with it tomorrow. Weeks turned to months, and Caaliyah needed him more and more as her pregnancy developed. When due date came, Jeff was there holding her hand as she gave birth to a baby girl. More time passed as each day seemed to pass into the next one, with Jeff busy juggling his new life and Caaliyah busy with the baby they named Patricia.
Soon enough, Caaliyah became pregnant again, delivering another girl. Patricia and her little sister Nicole became the focus for Jeff. His older children were soon off to college. Jeff had practically forgotten about the Chronivac by this point, but he didn't forget that he wasn't always like this.
Ten years later, the family was sitting down for dinner one night. Things were strangely quiet, family dinners tended to be lively. Patricia, now 9, and Nicole, now 7, had been picked on in school for their hair. Caaliyah had thought it would be fun to put it in dreads as part of her often changing her daughters' hair. Patricia and Nicole had been hassled by a group of kids saying that they weren't black enough to wear dreadlocks. This same group of bullies made fun of them for speaking Somali with each other. Eventually Patricia spoke up and said that if the bullies came again, she would fight them. Caaliyah and Jeff told her to tell a teacher instead, but Nicole reminded them that they both had, but little had changed. The tense atmosphere ended when dinner was over. Caaliyah was especially saddened, she knew her daughters were hurting when they didn't even touch the desert she made.