A/N- Wow...here's the last chapter. I wish it weren't, but it is. The main thing to note about this chapter is I like to think that Wilbur is really a genius in his own sense. Basically, he acts like alot of really smart guys that I know but just like them, I don't think he wants to embrace it. Okay so with that said, I can also personally imagine him having pretty nifty ideas, of course, lacking in the expertise to carry them out...just like most of his schemes : )
Finally, I'd like to take this time to thank everyone who reviewed this story. I got so much positive feedback. I'm honored that so many people took the time to let me know how they felt about the story. I hope that in the end, it was worth the read.
Father Knows Best
Franny, still choking for enough air to stabilize herself, began to cry at the sight of what had happened. "Wilbur! Look what you've done!" She yelled at Cornelius. "I know this isn't the kind of father you want to be. You said you were afraid of turning into a horrible father...I had faith in you. I still do…" she was now sobbing uncontrollably. "Look at your son down there!"
Cornelius looked at Franny, and then down the hill at where Wilbur still lay motionless. He slowly made his way down the hill, a confused look in his eyes. "Wilbur? Wha-what have I done?" A light of understanding began to glimmer in his eyes again as he grew closer to his son.
"Carl, he's acting from memory, we have to find whatever is controlling him and destroy it while we still have a chance," Lewis declared.
"Here," Carl pulled out an invention from his many robotic innards. "It's the scanner, one of your best inventions, besides me."
"Not now," Lewis wasn't in the mood for humor. "Let me see that!" He grabbed it and scanned Cornelius as he staggered past them. "It's in his ear."
"The earpiece," Carl said knowingly.
Lewis waited for his future self to stop beside Wilbur. "Now!" He threw the scanner down and made a mad dash towards himself. With a huge leap, he jumped on Cornelius's back and yanked the earpiece from his ear. The sudden jerk from Cornelius, sent Lewis flying backwards, but fortunately he was caught by Carl.
"Wilbur? No. No, I didn't mean to hurt him. I tried to stop myself..." Cornelius could barely look at Wilbur as he was cradled by Franny, who had already run down the hill to him. He looked so lifeless in the arms of his mother.
Lewis walked over with Carl close behind. "Wilbur? Is he...no, he can't be. I won't let him be! I-I'll go back in time. I won't let this happen. I'll stop it before it can."
"You could, but you'd have to get someone to fly the time machine for you," Wilbur said, opening his eyes. "Last time you tried to drive, it was a bit of a disaster."
"Wilbur!" they all cheered at the sight of his being conscious.
"Wilbur, I'm sorry. I should have listened to you," Cornelius hugged his son.
Franny also hugged him, "But we're just happy that you're safe."
"Franny, I'm sorry if I hurt you, too. I love you both. I-I just..."
"You just weren't yourself?" Franny managed a brave smile, knowing that the worst was over. "I'm okay. But I think this proves that communication from the start is best."
Frankie came over to them, "The police are here for da animals. We've managed to capture dem all. But what a fight! We had to pull out all da stops on dem. Cannons, trains, paintballs, dough, uh, fashion…yeah, apparently prissy cats don't change much even when dey want to take over da world. Anyway, da police want to speak to da Mr. or Mrs."
"I'll go handle it," Franny volunteered, hoping to give Cornelius and Wilbur time to talk. Carl followed along, not wanting to be caught in the middle of anything, especially since Wilbur always managed to shift some blame to him.
After a few moments of awkward silence, Cornelius finally tried to make an excuse, "Maybe I should go help your mother."
As Cornelius turned to leave, Lewis gave Wilbur a stern look. Wilbur understood the look and knew that Lewis was right. "Dad, wait. I'm to blame for all of this. You had no reason to listen to me."
"Wilbur, this is my fault. I'm the father, you're the son. It's my job to listen to you and do whatever I can to keep you safe. I didn't do that."
"Franny's right. You two need to start talking. I'm not going back to the past knowing that the future me and my future son have a lousy relationship. What happened to being best friends? Now it sounds to me like Wilbur is being Wilbur, and you're starting to think that it's because you're not doing your job as a father. I can relate to the feeling," Lewis stepped in to try and move things along.
"Well, yeah, maybe if I weren't always working," Cornelius started.
"Working? I don't care when you work. I love seeing the new inventions you come up with. I wish I could come up with amazing ideas like you do," Wilbur admitted. The ice was finally broken. Lewis walked back to the mansion, knowing that his future self and his future son could manage from there without his help.
"You do come up with amazing ideas. I just have a hard time keeping up sometimes. Just because I'm a genius doesn't mean I can't be a little slow myself sometimes. You're so much like you're mother. You're adventurous, you know what you want and you do whatever you can to get it, and you do whatever you can to set things right when you think they're wrong."
"I just sometimes get in over my head," Wilbur spoke honestly.
"That's because you don't always think things through. You're young, there's nothing wrong with acting like it. But maybe you're more like me than we think."
"Really?" there was a bit of a shine in Wilbur's eyes. His dad was his hero, but sometimes he thought admitting it would be too weird.
"When I was under the mind control, I could still hear everything that was said. It was you who knew what to do. You were the one smart enough to know that you could tap into my hippocampus and bring me back to my former self."
"Well, yeah, but..." Wilbur stopped, thinking about it. "I did, didn't I?"
"Yes, you did. And not only did you figure out the answer, you made it happen. I want to show you something." Cornelius led his son to the lab. He uncovered a small prototype.
Wilbur's eyes grew wide, "That-that's my idea. But how did you...I don't understand."
"Your mom was in your room one day, looking for a missing trombone..." Wilbur only laughed a guilty laugh, "...and she came across a blueprint. Why didn't you tell me you kept blueprints?"
"Because, I get ideas but I don't know how to make any of them actually work. Plus, I like doodling on the blueprint paper. It makes me feel important."
Cornelius laughed, "It explains why I'm always running low on blueprint paper. You could have come to me for help."
"I didn't want to bother you with something silly."
"This idea here is a brilliant one. And Wilbur, you can bother me anytime, even if it's silly."
"Like a dog wanting to take over the world?"
"Yes, like a dog wanting to take over the world."
"Hmmm, so none of this was because you were having a psychological breakdown," Wilbur laughed. "That's good to know."
"So, how many blueprints do you have?" Cornelius was extremely curious.
"A whole drawer full."
"Well, then, maybe we should set up some time from now on for you to come work with me in the lab."
"Sounds great, dad," Wilbur hugged his father, taking him off guard, but it didn't take long for Cornelius to hug his son back.
"Well, I guess it's a good thing we thought to build two time machines," Cornelius said to Lewis as they all gathered around the broken one.
"At least I can't be grounded for it this time," Wilbur said confidently, and rather cockily.
"Yeah, well. Like father like son I guess. I'll go get the other one, and I'll make sure it's running smoothly before either of you take off anywhere."
"What's this," Franny reached for something among the rubble. "I don't believe it. It's little Wilbur from our class assignment. So this is what happened to it," she laughed, obviously recalling something.
Lewis looked at it, "I'm sorry, but I figured the real Wilbur was more important," he smiled and looked at his future son.
"Absolutely," Franny also smiled. "But, um, just in case I'm not so forgiving in the past, don't hold it against me. I was pretty attached to this thing, and for the record, I knew leaving it with you wasn't a good idea."
"Maybe I don't want to go back," Lewis only semi-joked about the matter. He knew he would love Franny someday, and he already liked her a lot, but sometimes she scared him. He took the doll from Franny and looked at it. An arm and leg was out of socket, there were scuff marks all over, and there were wires sticking out from where the tracking device used to be.
Franny pulled Wilbur aside, "You might want to try and help Lewis with the baby matter. If I remember right, I was on the verge of never talking to him again. And I can't remember why we didn't fail altogether."
"No worries, mom. I'll think of something," Wilbur was obviously already hatching a plan in his mind.
"Good, just don't make it worse."
"One time machine, ready for time travel", Cornelius pulled the time machine to a stop, and got out. "Don't stay gone too long, Wilbur. I though maybe we'd visit the Alamo."
"Really? Awesome!"
"The Alamo? I don't think so," Franny said sternly. "That's worse than alien zombies."
"We'll talk about it," Cornelius winked at Wilbur.
"Right! Come on, Lewis!" They both jumped into the time machine.
"So, Wilbur, anymore psychological breakdowns I should be on the lookout for?" Lewis asked jokingly.
"Nah, you turn out to be a great father," Wilbur smiled at his dad, and then shut the hatch before taking off.
"See, what'd I tell you," Franny looked at her husband knowingly.
2 Days Later (In The Past)
"You can't ignore me forever," Lewis leaned over to whisper to Franny, who held their patched up baby as far away from him as possible. She wrote something on a piece of paper and gave it to him. Unfolding it he read, "If we fail, I will never speak to you again." Franny sure could hold a grudge.
Lewis was about to say something else, but was stopped when the teacher asked him and Franny to step out into the hallway with him. "Lewis, Franny, I was informed about why your baby is in such a terrible state. Now usually, I wouldn't make exceptions on a project like this, but since you are two of my best students, and since the circumstance could allow for it, I will only ask that you both write a 5 page report on some of the troubles of parenting. Hand it in to me tomorrow and you both should still receive a B on this project."
Lewis couldn't help but wonder how his teacher knew, but it didn't take long to catch Wilbur out of the corner of his eye. He must have said something to help.
"Oh, and Lewis, I was asked to give this to you," the teacher handed a note to Lewis.
Lewis opened it to see it was a note from Wilbur. "Dear Dad, I don't know if this will mess up the time stream, but in the future, please don't ever micro chip me. Please. Love, Wilbur."
Wilbur waited until Lewis had gone back into the classroom, before heading back to where his dad was waiting outside.
"You're getting a B," he said as he jumped into the passenger seat.
"I think your mom will be okay with that," Cornelius chuckled. "So, where to next?"
"Remember that one Father's Day when you and me went camping, and mom bet us that we couldn't last more than 2 days?"
"Yeah…that sounds like a plan. We can at least make sure we come home with our dignity," Cornelius and his son snickered.
"To the time machine!" both father and son said simultaneously, followed by happy laughter. Wilbur got in first, but Cornelius waited. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a special item that he always kept with him. It was an old folded piece of paper, very age worn. It was the note that Wilbur had just given his dad's younger self. He smiled as he looked at it; knowing by heart what it read. "Don't worry, son. I won't," he whispered before placing it back in his pocket. He finally jumped in, "To the future?"
"To the future!" Wilbur exclaimed as father and son both disappeared into the clear blue horizon.
THE END