I wrote this for a Yuletide stocking stuffer. I was quite excited to see Time Trax on the list of fandoms. I remembered it well form having watched it all a few years ago when I was so sutpidly busy at work that all I had a brain for when I got home was watching videos and sleeping. I haven't looked recently, but last Christmas this was the only Time Trax fic on the Yuletide website.
Time Trax reminded me of Quantum Leap - it had the same buddy pairing going on, and Darien and Sam were both dependent on their holographic companions. So I was thinking about Sam not getting home and whether Darien would be happy there, after spending so much time in 1993.

“Selma.”

There’s no answer and the room is dark and silent. Darien sits up, frowning, before he remembers that Selma can’t reply because she isn’t here. They took her away to upload the data stored on her and he won’t get her back until the morning.

He only got given for the mission he was on, so it stands to reason once he'd found all the escaped criminals and come home they'll take it away from him. Present tense - I don't write it often and I don't remember why I did in this one.

He kicked up a fuss, of course, but the reality was he didn’t need her, not here. He was home and everything was normal and why would he need a computer to explain life in this time to him?

Except he's been away a long time and a lot's changed in that time, no doubt.

Sighing, he gets up and goes over to the window. Outside are bright lights and beyond is the moon. It’s a view he had once been accustomed to seeing.

I reckon the lights weren't as bright in 1993...

When he was in the past he used to dream of home and everything that was waiting for him there. But all that is really here is a house and a job. He had those in the past too, along with a faithful friend and a woman he loved.

Faithful friend = Selma. There's a line somewhere near the start of season 1 about him not knowing whether he loved Elyssa because he didn't have time to find out. He did with Annie, though, and she might well have been the deal breaker on him wanting to stay in 1993.

He knows why they really took Selma away from him, along with all his other possessions. It was so he can’t send himself back to 1993; to a home he belongs in far more than this one.

And the final irony of the title is revealed.

Rating: G
Spoilers: None
Summary: Darien's home - or is he?

"Selma."

There's no answer and the room is dark and silent. Darien sits up, frowning, before he remembers that Selma can't reply because she isn't here. They took her away to upload the data stored on her and he won't get her back until the morning.

He kicked up a fuss, of course, but the reality was he didn't need her, not here. He was home and everything was normal and why would he need a computer to explain life in this time to him?

Sighing, he gets up and goes over to the window. Outside are bright lights and beyond is the moon. It's a view he had once been accustomed to seeing.

When he was in the past he used to dream of home and everything that was waiting for him there. But all that is really here is a house and a job. He had those in the past too, along with a faithful friend and a woman he loved.

He knows why they really took Selma away from him, along with all his other possessions. It was so he can't send himself back to 1993; to a home he belongs in far more than this one.