A/N - Wow, how long has it been?! Seriously! I apologize to my readers for the unnecessary delay. I guess life was getting pretty busy and somewhat hectic lately. From school concerts, to two of my best friends leaving my school, fanfiction hasn't been the first thing on my mind. Thanks for sticking with me though, and thanks for all the reviews you guys have been leaving. Sorry I haven't had the chance to answer you back, but I'm thanking you all now. You guys rock!

So, onward to the story!

Chapter 6:

Cornelius did nothing but stare at Wilbur in disbelief - a stare which morphed quickly into a glare. Wilbur gulped and gave a sheepish grin. Franny didn't notice; she was waiting for Eloise's reaction.

The ginger haired beauty looked slightly unconvinced, then suddenly errupted into uncontrollable laughter. "Oh really, Franny! I must admit, you had me going for a second there. But seriously, this only proves my point further."

"What are you talking about?" Franny asked, still unaware of Wilbur and Cornelius's silent stare down.

"This has got to be the most crazy stunt you've ever pulled, Framagucci. Dragging one of your brothers into this so he can pose as your date." Eloise continued her laughing.

"My brothers?!" Franny's nose scrunched up. "Eww! You think he is my brother?." She gestured at Wilbur.

"Okay Franny, game over. He's totally one of your brothers. Either that or a cousin or something."

"He's not related to me!" Franny exclaimed. Wilbur and Cornelius flinched as her voice rose to an uncomfortable level.

"Are you kidding? There's totally a resemblance." Eloise put her hands on her hips.

Franny whirled around and gave a good look at Wilbur, her head right in his face.

"Do you mind?" Wilbur asked moodily. "Some personal space." Deep inside, however, he was slightly fearful. What if she did see a resemblance? How was he going to respond to that?

Franny still studied Wilbur. He did look kind of like he could be her brother, but that didn't necessarily mean anything. Lots of guys looked like her brothers. Plus, if he was a relative, she would've known it.

She finally said, "I don't know what you think, Eloise. But I can tell you he is definitely not related to me."

Wilbur sighed in relief.

"Though I am curious to know what you're doing here, Wilbur." Cornelius spoke for the first time. Wilbur blinked twice. Now, even as a seventeen year old, Cornelius sounded just like his father.

"Wait ... you know him?" Franny asked Cornelius.

"Uh, well ... errr," Cornelius tried to cover himself, "Yes ... yes! Wilbur and I go back quite far actually."

"More like we go forward," Wilbur muttered under his breath. Thankfully, nobody heard him.

"Really?" Eloise and Franny asked at the same time.

"Yeah," Wilbur spoke, coming to Cornelius's aid. "We're buddies. But I had to ... uh, move away." Just then, Wilbur put an arm around his father. "So, how you doin', buddy? What have you been up to, friend I haven't seen in such a long time?"

Cornelius pulled away from Wilbur's arm. "Just tell me what you're doing here." He asked firmly.

"Ah, yes! Funny story actually. You see, I was in the neighborhood ... if you know what I mean...and I decided to stop by and see how you were doing. I have so many questions for you."

"Uh huh," Cornelius crossed his arms. "And you hunted me down."

Wilbur raised his hands defensively, "Hey, Gram - err, I mean - your mother told me where I could find you."

"Of course she did."

Franny cleared her throat impatiently. "Well, I'm sure you two can have plenty of time to catch up later. Right now," she grabbed Wilbur's arm and dragged him toward her, "Wilbur promised me a dance."

"What?! I didn't - OW!" Wilbur cried in pain as Franny elbowed him in the ribs.

"Yes, of course you did. Don't you remember?" Franny said sweetly, batting her eyelashes at Wilbur. "And it was just so sweet of you too!" She emphasized the word "sweet", and glanced back toward Cornelius. It had a good effect; he looked alarmed. But not quite jealous ... yet.

Eloise shrugged her small shoulders. "Well, as long as you're going with Wilhelm..."

"Wilbur!" He corrected, gritting his teeth.

"Whatever. As long as you're going to dance with him, Franny, I think I'll borrow your inventor friend again." Eloise strutted up to Cornelius and put her delicate hand on his chest, then she turned back to Franny. "I'm sure you won't mind."

Hearing this, Cornelius immediately cleared his throat. "Uh, excuse me. I have to, uh ... may I have a word with my friend Wilbur here? In private?"

"Cornelius, c'mon. What's the hurry?" Franny asked urgently.

"It's important, trust me." He told her. Then, taking Wilbur by the arm, he said, "Excuse me."

"What on earth was all that about?!" Cornelius was shouting at Wilbur.

"Hey! Don't look at me! I'm just as much in the dark as you are. But if I'm not mistaken, I think my own mother was just hitting on me. Gross!" Wilbur made a face in disgust.

Both boys were now in the men's restroom. It was the only place they could go to have private conversation.

"Now let me ask you the million dollar question of the day. What on earth are you doing here?!"

"Gee, feel the warmth." Wilbur responded sarcastically. "I thought a father would be happy to see his only son - heck, his only child."

"I would be perfectly happy to see my son on any other occasion. But why did you have to pick now. Of all nights!"

"Hey, how was I supposed to know that this was an important night? If I had known, I wouldn't have come at all."

"Don't you get it, Wilbur?" Cornelius asked. "You might have severely damaged the time stream. Your existence is probably at stake at this very moment."

"Pfft, no way!" Wilbur dismissed the idea with a wave of his hand. "If I was in any trouble, wouldn't I be, like, fading already? Or I would already be gone with a gust of the wind." He shuddered as he remembered what it was like the last time he was erased from existence.

"Okay, so you're not disappearing. But we've still got a big issue on our hands." Cornelius paused, "And you still haven't answered my question."

"All right, all right," Wilbur gave in, "I came here to ask you for some advice."

"Oh, is that all?" Cornelius asked sarcastically, "What? Was it too much of a hassle to ask me back at your house?"

"No," Wilbur growled, "It's just ..." He stopped suddenly.

Cornelius became alarmed. "Wilbur, what's wrong? Did..." he gulped, "did something happen to future me?"

"No, it's just ... well, let's be honest. The kind of advice a Dad gives you is different from the kind of advice a friend gives you."

"Maybe because the kind of advice a Dad gives you is actually good advice?" Cornelius suggested.

"C'mon, Lewis! I'm being serious here!"

"Lewis?" Cornelius questioned.

Wilbur shook his head. "Ugh, for some reason I keep thinking of you as Lewis. I mean, what am I supposed to call you? Cornelius? Dad? El Padre?" He asked.

Cornelius sighed, but smirked slightly. "You can call me Lewis if you want. But Franny only knows me as Cornelius so..."

"Say no more, I got it!" Wilbur chirped. "Lewis when we're alone, Cornelius when we're out in public."

"Yeah, that works," Cornelius shrugged. "And now..."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. What am I doing here? Well, see, I came here for your assistance in a very pressing matter."

"What kind of 'pressing matter'?" Cornelius asked suspiciously.

Wilbur sighed. "Okay, look. There's a new guy at my school and I know he's no good, but he's asked my friend Alexia out on a date, and she's gone all gaga over him, even though I know he's bad road, but she won't listen to me unless I prove it, so I'm going to need some sort of spy glasses or something, and maybe I can snoop on him and find out what his deal is before he takes Alexia's heart, throws it on the pavement, smashing it into a thousand pieces and ..." Wilbur paused, panting slightly, "Yeah, that's about it..."

"Uh-huh," Cornelius said slowly, trying to take in every thing Wilbur said. "Future me wouldn't help you, so you came to me."

"Yeah, pretty much." Wilbur admitted, "But c'mon, Lewis. I mean, this should be a snap for you. If I'm correct, you've already invented quite a few things already, and you've graduated college. And I figure that you'd jump at the chance to help someone, because..." Wilbur paused slightly, giving his father a sweet, but serious look, "...that's the type of person that you are."

Cornelius broke out into a huge smile. "Thanks Wil," he said.

"Ah, don't mention it." Wilbur said, sporting his contagious trademark grin.

"You know, I've really missed you." Cornelius admitted.

"Really?" Wilbur asked. "Well, that's understandable." He smirked. "But don't your friends here keep you company."

Cornelius' grin faded. "Actually, I, uh ... don't have too many friends. Well, except for Franny, and I see Goob every now and then, but ... yeah...."

"Wow," Wilbur said. Suddenly, he remembered what Grandma Lucille had told him about Cornelius not having many friends, and it all sort of made sense.

"Most people only see me as a nerd."

"Aww, c'mon Lewis! You're not a nerd. You're a cool kid." Wilbur paused. "To be honest, I've kinda missed you too. Well, I mean, I have a lot of friends, but none of them are quite like you."

Cornelius didn't say anything, but just gave Wilbur a pat on the shoulder. "So we're still best friends?"

"Duh, of course!" Wilbur answered with a grin.

"Good."

There was a small pause. Cornelius gave a good look at his best friend/son, as Wilbur did the same to Cornelius. Both boys had changed since the last time they were together. Cornelius noticed that his son was starting to look a little bit more like him, especially in the face, but he still had the Robinson cowlick, not to mention his mother's soft brown eyes. Wilbur had also become slightly more muscular. Cornelius guessed that maybe his son was on a sports team at his school. Wilbur's voice was also slightly deeper.

Cornelius, however, had changed quite dramatically. Or at least, that's what Wilbur thought. He was so much taller than he was when they had met, but still very skinny. His jaw had become harder, making his chin appear more pointy. No longer did he have his round boyish face with his chubby cheeks. He looked so much more like Wilbur's dad now, and even sounded like him. But ... he was still Lewis.

Wilbur broke the silence. "So, are you gonna help me or not?"

Cornelius sighed. "I suppose I will, for old time's sake."

"Yeah, that's right! The Robinson duo is back in action! High five, bro!" Wilbur raised his hand, and Cornelius slapped it.

Then suddenly, Cornelius's mind returned to the situation at hand. "What about Franny and Eloise? How are we going to find out what's up with them?"

Wilbur shrugged. "They're girls. They're all a bit funny."

"I don't know Wilbur. They're really scaring me. Especially Franny. I've never seen her this way before."

Cornelius quickly relayed the whole story to Wilbur: from asking Franny to the dance, to Eloise and dancing.

"Yikes," Wilbur said. "Looks like someone's going to an awful lot of trouble to prove herself."

"That's exactly right." Cornelius nodded. "And I'm not sure what to do."

Wilbur then put an arm around his dad. "Now, don't worry. You've got me. Together, we'll get to the bottom of this.

"Swell," Cornelius muttered sarcastically.

A/N - Yay! We finally have some Wilbur and Lewis interaction. Their dialogue is just so much fun to write! I hope they are in character enough. I figure that they both would have missed each other, and that they still are best friends.

The whole "Lewis doesn't have very many friends" thing is partly inspired by a deleted scene on the MTR blueray. Lewis tells the Robinsons that he really doesn't have many friends, other than Wilbur, because most kids find him kind of odd. You can see the exclusive blueray scenes on YouTube if you search for them; they're really funny!

So, review please?