I stood back a little as my family swarmed Lewis, asked endless questions.

"I feel fine. In fact, better than I've felt in a long time." Lewis grinned at my mom.

"Franny, they're gone! Oh, this is terrible!" I cringed when I heard my dad yelling from inside the garage.

"Oh, boy." My mom glanced at the door.

"Well, he's home early." Grandpa Bud looked at his watch.

"Franny, where are you? The time machines are gone!" I cringed as he flung the door open and it slammed behind him. He caught sight of Lewis and grinned awkwardly. "Oh." They waved at each other. My dad gave my mom a questioning look. I knew I was dead. I tried to sneak away silently under the cover of the group of people, but everyone suddenly stepped aside. My mom grabbed my arm and yanked my forward. She pointed at me and my dad just nodded. He glared at me as if to say I'll deal with you later.

But I knew I couldn't go down without saying something. "Ratted out by the old lady. Harsh." I sighed and didn't meet my dad's gaze.

I carefully backed the time machine out of the garage as Lewis was talking to Carl. I could feel my dad watching me as I turned it around. I glanced over at Lewis, who was now talking to my grandparents.

"Time travel now, questions later!" I shouted, urging him over. He started to obey, but my mom stopped him. I rolled my eyes and honked the horn impatiently.

"Alright, I'm coming." Lewis clambered into the backseat of the time machine.

"Well it's not like you're never going to see them again. They are your family after all." I reasoned, starting the time machine.

"Yeah," he smiled and fastened his seatbelt.

We took off and he waved to everyone down below. When the bubble popped he looked confusedly out at the dark, rainy sky.

"Wait a minute; you're supposed to take me back to the science fair." He said, turning to face me.

"I know." I sighed.

We landed outside the sixth street orphanage, 1995. As I flicked on the invisibility, Lewis commented, "Well I think you punched in the wrong numbers."

"We agreed, if you fixed the time machine, I would take you back to see your mom."

I bit my lip as he jumped up a looked around wildly. "What?"

I opened the hatch and spun my chair around. "A deal's a deal."

I watched as he walked behind the shrouded woman, stepping gently on the wet sidewalk. As Lewis crept behind his mother, I was hit with a jolting thought.

I wouldn't exist if she kept him.

Fearfully, I stared at Lewis as he reached out to his mother. I took a deep breath, preparing for the dreadful sensation of disappearing from time. This time though, would I go back to that place, or was that just for temporary alterations? The voice whispered a question at me.

Is it worse to die, or never exist?

I gulped. "That is an excellent question." A terrifying one as well.

Lewis stopped, and withdrew his hand. He looked at it painfully before backing away slowly. His foot slipped and he hid as the woman turned around. I breathed a sigh of relief when she turned and walked down the dark street. Lewis walked back up the steps to look at the infant lying in the box. He knocked on the door and ran to the time machine. We watched as a woman in a housecoat came out and took the blond baby inside. I started the engine and we flew off, back to the disastrous science fair. We emerged out of the sunny sky and parked on the roof of the orphanage. I hopped out of the time machine, turning to face my preteen father as he hefted the Memory Scanner out of the time machine.

"I don't get it. Why'd you just let her go?" I asked.

Lewis looked at me thoughtfully. "Because…I already have a family."

I was taken aback by this, suddenly filled with so much emotion. He smiled warmly, and rushed forward to embrace me. I was stunned for a minute, then tightly returned the hug. I could hardly remember the last time I had bee this close to my dad.

"I never thought my dad would be my best friend." I said over his shoulder. He smiled and we broke apart. I pulled the Memory Scanner plans, which I had taped back together, out of my pocket. "Now don't make me come and bail you out again." I joked. "Remember, I have a time machine, and I'll just keep coming back until you get it right!" Lewis laughed, and turned towards the door. "You got that motto?" I called.

He tapped his head. "Got it."

"Good, don't forget it." I jumped back into the time machine.

"I don't think that's possible." He said, opening the door. "

"You better get going." I told him, starting the time machine.

"See ya later, Wilbur." he said as I flew up into the sky.

An idea popped into my head. I zoomed around, hoping it would work. I honked the horn, and he looked up at the sky. I had (hopefully) spelled out "See ya later Dad" in the exhaust. I saw him smile right before I popped back to 2037.

I quietly parked the time machine in the garage and snuck up to my room. I tiptoed and slithered down the hall, avoiding detection. (Although Buster may have seen me once.) I quickly slid into my room and locked the door behind me. Sighing in relief, I flicked on my light. A figure appeared out of the darkness. I jumped at the sight of my dad sitting on my bed.

"We need to talk."

I cringed. "Hey, Dad, you know this really isn't the best time, cause, I…" I glanced around, fumbling for an excuse. "I have a lot of homework."

"Mmm-hmm. Sit down, Wilbur." He had his arms crossed, and he did not look at all happy to see me.

I gulped and obeyed. Sitting down tensely, I avoided his eyes.

"Wilbur?" he said sternly. "Look at me."

I shifted uneasily in my desk chair. "Am I really grounded till I die?"

He looked at me seriously. "No. But you are in a lot of trouble."

I sighed. "I kind of figured that."

"Why didn't you just tell me you left the garage open?" he asked.

"Because I thought you would be angry…" I said quietly.

"I might have been a little mad because you didn't listen to your mother, but I could have called the TCTF and all of this could have been avoided."

I was extremely surprised to learn there really was a TCTF.

"Wilbur, you could have told me. I wouldn't hate you."

"Yeah, sure." I mumbled to myself.

"What?" he asked, shocked.

"Nothing, never mind." I said, turning away angrily.

"Wilbur, how could you think that? I know I'm busy a lot but-"

"A lot? Try all the time! " I shouted, standing up and finally facing him. His bright blue eyes widened as I started to yell at him.

"Now wait a minute, that's not true-" he began, but I cut him off.

"No, it is true. Ever since that time machine, you haven't spent any time with m- your family." I hastily corrected.

"You really feel that way? Like I don't pay any attention to you?" he moved closer to me.

"Yeah, and when you do, you're just trying to make me like you! I'm not an inventor, Dad! I get a B in science and you look at me like I'm the biggest disappointment in your life!"

My dad stared at me, hurt. "Wilbur, how could you think that? What would ever make you think that I hate you?"

"Well, nothing I do is good enough for you! I try so hard! You don't even love me!" I shrieked.

"Wilbur!" he said, his voice raised. "I love you more than anything! Whatever you do, whether good or bad, I still will." I stared at him as he said this, a lump coming back into my throat.

"You could have lost both time machines, and the only thing I would care about is if you were going to disappear at any moment! Why can't you see that?" He lowered his voice, staring me straight in the eye. I felt my eyes fill with tears, threatening to spill over. I tried to hold them back, because the last thing I wanted to do is cry in front of my dad.

"Wilbur, you're my son. That's the best thing anyone could ever do." he said, putting his arms around me. I couldn't help it. The tears came rushing out with a wail as I started to sob on his lab coat. I just let all the stress and tension from the past few days -heck, the past few years- go, and all through it my dad held my close, making me feel all the better.

Eventually the tears gave way to exhaustion, and I pulled out from my dads arms, slipping into bed. He pulled the covers over me and turned out the light. Before I fell asleep, I finally realized who had pulled the covers over me last night. Smiling into my pillow, I dreamed peacefully of meatballs and dinosaurs.

~THE END~

A/N: There you go. The end of my first MTR fanfic. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorited. It always makes me glad to know my work is appreciated. Oh, and before I go, one more thing:

Keep Moving Forward!!!