"Okay," Rose said, gripping her coffee mug in a completely unconscious mirror of her attempt to get a grip on this situation. She eyed the tall blonde woman sitting across from her at the table. "So that makes you my however-many-times great granddaughter?"

"Yup." Michelle crunched through another carrot stick. "You can say 'descendant' if you'd rather," she offered. Rose waved this aside as irrelevant.

"But what if I don't get together with Danny? Will you just disappear?"

Michelle shifted uncomfortably. "I'm still trying to work that out. Rip and Booster are really more experienced with this time travel stuff than me. The short answer is 'no.' I think."

"You think?" Rose's voice went up an octave with the question. She didn't want this responsibility. She barely knew Danny! The idea that something she could do or not do would cause Michelle and all the generations between them to not exist made her feel like the walls were closing in --

Michelle reached out and laid her hand on one of Rose's wrists.

"Hey. Calm down, Rose. If you get all stressed out over this, you're going to hurt yourself."

"I could make you not be born! That's worth getting 'stressed out' over, Michelle! I like you! I don't want you to die because of--"

"I like you, too," Michelle interrupted with a smile. "And I don't think you should have to live your life by some predetermined set of guidelines just because Rip says so, okay? You live your life, and I -- or whoever comes after -- will be proud of you for it. All right?"

Rose took a deep breath, let it out as a gusty sigh. "All right," she agreed, sheepishly shaking out her hands to rid them of the tension from white-knuckling her mug.

"Good." Michelle leaned forward, lacing her fingers together over her plate. "So -- tell me about you, Rose Levin."