This is more of a fanfic to "test the waters" as MtR is not my home fandom. In fact, this is my first time even attempting to write a fanfic for MtR.
If you are one of my watchers that reads everything I write regardless of the fandom, be warned that this contains spoilers for the movie.
I don't own Meet the Robinsons and did not make any money off of this. Come on, it's called a fanfic for a reason.
She carefully walked down the sidewalk, hoping that nobody was watching her. The thing that she was doing was normally frowned upon, even if it meant that they would both be better off. And that was all she wanted; for him, for her precious boy, to be better off.
Glancing up, she spotted the sign under the lamppost that said '6th Street Orphanage'. This was it. She was almost there. There was still time to change her mind, to take him and run. Still, she moved forward, up the stairs, gently placing the box down.
She stared at him for a few moments, wondering whether this was really the right thing to do, before leaning down and picking him up and hugging him. This would be her last chance to hug her son. He cooed a bit, and she smiled sadly, patting his blanket-wrapped head a few times.
She could still do it. She could still-
Slip.
Her head jerked up as the sound of somebody quickly running reached her ears. That had sounded like a foot slipping right behind her. Had somebody spotted her? Thank goodness for the rain, which gave her an excuse to wear her cloak, because whoever it was behind her had only seen the back of her head and couldn't identify her. She looked around, but couldn't see anybody in the streets; it was just her and her baby.
However, perhaps it was best that she left the area as quickly as possible. Quickly, she set her boy down.
Mildred, caretaker of the orphanage at 6th street, sighed as she went downstairs. She had finally managed to calm little three-year-old Jolie to sleep, and was heading to her own room to get some much needed rest. Caring for these poor, unfortunate children was a full-time job, but she wouldn't leave them for the world.
Knock knock knock knock knock.
The woman blinked and turned on the lights, just as whoever it was at the door knocked again.
Knock knock knock knock.
It sounded rather urgent. Who could be calling this late? Mildred opened the door a crack, but didn't see anybody standing there. She looked around, before hearing a whimper.
There, at the doorstep, was a blanket-wrapped baby inside a box.
She gasped. Quickly, she removed the chain from the door and fully opened it, scooping up the tiny baby in her arms. Mildred rocked him a few times to soothe him, before glancing around the area. There was nobody there. Whoever had knocked on the door (Mildred assumed it was the baby's mother) was long gone.
Still, she was glad she had been up and about at this time of night. Had she not, the baby might have caught a cold from the rain. Smiling, she adjusted the blanket slightly, catching sight of blond hair on the baby's head, before heading back inside the orphanage just as there was a rather unusually bright flash of lightning.
Twelve-year-old Lewis was confused. "Wait..." the blond-haired boy asked. "I thought you were supposed to take me back to the Science Fair." It had not been raining during the Science Fair and it had most definitely not been night.
Wilbur sighed. "I know."
The time machine flew down in the front yard next to the stairs of 6th Street Orphanage. With the foliage, the darkness, and the rain, anybody would be hard-pressed to see the bright red machine even without its invisibility function. Lewis frowned. "Well, I think you punched in the wrong numbers."
The black-haired boy looked uncomfortable. "We agreed that..." his voice trailed off a bit, "if you fixed the time machine, I'd take you to see your mom."
"What?!" In all honesty, he had forgotten about that. True, he had gotten quite upset with Wilbur when he heard the other admit to Franny that he would not have taken Lewis to see his biological mother anyways. Lewis leaned forward, looking outside the glass cover of the time machine. It was rather difficult to see with the rain, but he could see a slight figure in a cloak holding something and walking down the sidewalk.
Mom...
As the woman climbed up the steps of the orphanage, Wilbur opened the lid of the time machine, turning towards Lewis. "A deal is a deal," he said, an unreadable expression in his eyes.
Lewis hid behind the bannister at the bottom of the stairs as he watched his mother reach the door of the orphanage and set the box containing his younger self down. As she picked him up and held him in her arms, hugging him one last time, he knew the truth.
She loved me.
Mildred was right. His biological mother hadn't wanted to give him up; she clearly wanted him. The blond-haired boy silently went up the stairs, approaching his mother, who was still hugging Baby Lewis. He could talk to her now, convince her that giving him up was not the right thing to do. After all, the future was not set in stone, was it? His time travel excursion had proved that the future was malleable and subject to change. He could change the future now.
Making it to the top of the stairs, Lewis reached out to touch her.
Wilbur's eyes widened.
No! He isn't!
But just as his hand was an inch away from her backside, he froze.
He wanted to live with his biological mother, yes, but he did not know anything about her family. On the other hand, he did know the family he would eventually have if she left him there. Could he really give them all up? His large, quirky, friendly future family?
Could he give up Lefty, the giant octopus butler? Buster, the dog that couldn't afford contacts? Spike and Dmitri, the doorbell obsessed twins? Carl, the sentient, worrywart robot?
Could he give up his Uncle Joe, the chair-bound worker? His Aunt Billie, the toy train lover? His Uncle Fritz, who was attached to his wife? His Aunt Petunia, the literal puppet wife?
Could he give up his cousin Tallulah, the clothes designer? His cousin Laszlo, the art fiend? His brother-in-law Gaston, the inventor of the meatball cannon? His brother-in-law Art, the pizza delivery superhero?
Could he give up his wife, Franny, the conductor of singing frogs?
Could he give up his adoptive father, Bud, who always lost his teeth? Could he give up his adoptive mother, Lucille, who baked cookies by dancing?
But most of all, could he give up his son Wilbur, who was also his best (and only) friend?
He bit his lip as he pulled his hand back. The answer might as well have been held up by an insane bowler hat robot bent on taking over the world -- No. As much as it made his heart twinge, he knew he couldn't. He already had a family. Why should he trade the family he has for one he doesn't know? Carefully, he began to back down the steps, making sure that his biological mother didn't hear him. He would run back to the time machine and tell Wilbur to take him back to the Science Fair. He would fix the Memory Scanner and do the first step for making his own future. He would --
Slip.
As his foot slipped off the last stair, his mother's head shot up. Quickly, Lewis ran to behind the bannister of the staircase and ducked down as he watched her glance around, looking for whoever it was. From his hiding spot, he saw her set his baby self down in the box, climb down the stairs, and run away in the opposite direction from where he was hiding.
Lewis then realized something: she had not knocked on the door before leaving him there.
The story of his finding was something that Mildred had told over and over again. "I had just calmed down one of the children and was on my way to bed when I heard some rather urgent knocks on the door. I turned the light on and rushed towards the door as whoever it was knocked again. Then I opened the door and there you were, wrapped in a blanket inside a box. I tried to find somebody, but there was nobody there. There was a particularly bright flash of lightning as I took you inside, almost as if it was a sign that you were special..."
A cold feeling settled in his stomach. Had he screwed up time again? He stole a peek at the foliage where the time machine and Wilbur were, half-expecting to see the older boy disappear again in front of his eyes.
His future son stared back at him, as solid as ever.
He swallowed. So he could still fix it, then...? He climbed up the steps as he heard whimpering, his head looking down at the blanket-wrapped baby in fascination. It was one thing to meet himself as an adult, but to see himself as a helpless infant was even more unreal. Baby Lewis quieted down as the twelve-year-old Lewis's shadow fell on him, as if at ease.
Steeling himself, Lewis approached the door and raised his fist.
Knock knock knock knock knock.
He paused for a second, before deciding to knock again for good measure.
Knock knock knock knock.
The knocking was rushed, as the blond boy was eager to hide before the door was answered. It would, after all, do no good to have Mildred from this time period find his twelve-year-old self. As soon as the last knock was finished, he ran down the stairs and hid inside the time machine just as Mildred opened the door and found Baby Lewis.
Wilbur and Lewis watched silently from the time machine. Lewis wasn't sure exactly what to think, but he was sure of one thing: he had made the right choice. He needed to, in the words of his adult self, keep moving forward to the future, and not look backward at the past.
Just as Mildred smiled down at Baby Lewis and began to walk back inside, Wilbur fired up the time machine. It disappeared with a bright flash that could have been mistaken for lightning.
Lewis said nothing as Wilbur set the time machine down on the roof of the 6th Street Orphanage and opened the hatch. As the two boys hopped out of the time machine, with Lewis pulling out the Memory Scanner, Wilbur finally spoke up. "I don't get it," he said in a quiet tone. "Why'd you just let her go?"
Turning, he smiled at the older boy that was both his son and his best friend. "Because... I already have a family."
At that moment, Lewis could have sworn that Wilbur looked like he was about to cry. However, knowing his thirteen-year-old son, he probably would have denied it until the end of the world.
He walked up and hugged him tightly, burying his face in his shoulder. Wilbur seemed startled at first, but then he hugged him back. "I never thought my dad," the black-haired boy whispered, "would be my best friend." The two let go of each other. "N-now don't come and make me bail you out again!" he grinned shakily, handing Lewis a piece of paper.
When Lewis looked at it, he gasped. It was the sheet with his Memory Scanner blueprints, which he had crumpled up and eventually ripped apart and thrown it away. Wilbur had apparently kept the scraps all this time and taped the pieces together at some point. However, unlike the last few times Wilbur had tried to give it to him, the inventor boy was glad to see it. Lewis smiled at him. "I won't."
"Remember! I've got a time machine!" Wilbur grinned. "If you mess up again, I'll just keep coming back 'till you get it right!" Lewis chuckled as his son climbed into the time machine. "You got that motto?"
This time, the grin split his face. He knew exactly what motto Wilbur was talking about -- it was the motto that his adult self used in the future. Keep moving forward. Of course I will. "Got it!"
"Don't forget it!"
"I don't think that's possible!"
As Lewis picked up the time machine, Wilbur punched a few buttons on the time machine. "You'd better get going."
"See you later, Wilbur," the younger boy said as he picked up the Memory Scanner and headed towards the door leading from the roof of the orphanage. Just as he opened the door, he heard honking coming from the sky. Turning around, he glanced up to see Wilbur spelling something with the puffs of gas just before the familiar flash of light indicated that he had traveled through time.
SEE YA LATER, DAD.
Lewis just shook his head in amusement. Really, how could he have ever thought that he could give up Wilbur?
Like I said, this follows the movie events closely because it was a "testing the waters" fic to see if I could write the characters believably. I do have original ideas in the works. :)