Hiya, guys! Sorry this took so long! I had a small bit of writer's block here, but it's over. Ironically, Christmas music cured it...
Anyway, enjoy and review!
-Robin
Chapter three
Wilbur landed the time machine back into the garage and killed the engine.
"Alright, we're in 2037. Start explaining." Lewis said from the backseat. Wilbur sighed.
"Believe me, you'll find out soon enough."
The two boys walked into the Robinson living room, where they found Franny pacing around, a worried look on her face, mumbling to herself.
"Wilbur Andrew Robinson, where have you been?" She demanded when she saw Wilbur. Her eyes widened when she saw Lewis, who waved nervously. "Wilbur, how could you bring him here? First your father gets arrested and now this!"
"That…is an excellent question." Wilbur replied.
"Whoa, wait a minute!" Lewis said. "Cornelius – I – got arrested?" Franny and Wilbur nodded. "What happened?"
"Someone called in an anonymous tip that there was an illegal jar of Jellonium in the lab. Two policemen showed up and searched the lab, finding the jar. They arrested Cornelius because of it." Franny explained.
"So I came back to get you to help me prove you're innocent." Wilbur said.
"What's Jellonium?" Lewis asked. Franny looked to Wilbur for an explanation.
Wilbur took a deep breath. "Wait twenty-one years, three months, two days, eighteen hours, twelve minutes, and thirty-two seconds." He said. "You'll find out then."
Lewis looked at him funny for a minute, then back at Franny, who sighed.
"I'm sorry, Lewis, but it's just too risky for you to be here." She said, shaking her head. "You have to go back."
"Not necessarily." Wilbur said. "I used the Time Pause 3000 and froze time, so it's like Lewis isn't even here."
"You're sure you did it right? You're sure time in the past is stopped?" Franny asked, crossing her arms.
"What do you mean by that? It's like you totally don't trust me!" Wilbur said.
"And I have good reason to." Franny said.
Wilbur sighed. "That's not the point." He said. "The point is, yes, I did it right. Everything was frozen when we left. Look at Lewis's watch! It's frozen."
Lewis looked down at his watch. It was true. The digital numbers were frozen and unchanging.
"Alright, then." Franny said. "Lewis, you know you're welcome here. You can stay as long as you like."
"Great!" Wilbur said and Lewis agreed. It would be good to see his future family again!
"I'll tell the family you're here." Franny said, walking off towards the dinning room. "Wilbur, show Lewis to the guest room."
"'Kay, Mom!" Wilbur said. He turned to Lewis. "C'mon."
Lewis followed Wilbur to the guest room, which was down the hall from the music room.
"Here you go." Wilbur said.
"Thanks." Lewis said, putting his suitcase on the bed.
"Yep. Come on, I think Mom wants us downstairs." Wilbur said. He and Lewis walked down the door and down the hall to the dinning room.
...oOo...
Lewis was welcomed back by the Robinsons warmly. He could tell by the looks on their faces that they were happy to see him, but their minds were with Cornelius at the Todayland Jail.
But something still plagued Lewis. He knew Cornelius – because, he was, after all, Cornelius's younger self – and he knew that he would never do something illegal.
After breakfast – since it had been so abruptly interrupted – Lewis went into the guest room to change. After he was done, he went off to find Wilbur, who had been pretty quiet all through breakfast.
"Hey, Carl, have you seen Wilbur?" Lewis asked as he passed the robot while walking around the house.
"'Fraid not, Lewis. Sorry." He said.
"Hm…" Lewis said. "Well, if you see him, tell him I'm looking for him."
"I will. Is it just my circuits going haywire or was he actually quiet at breakfast?" Carl asked.
Lewis shrugged. "He was quiet." He agreed. "I haven't known him long, but I know that's just not him."
"You're right." Carl agreed. "Let me know when you find him."
Lewis nodded again and walked off. He stopped by the music room on his way. Franny was conducting her frog band slowly, and they were playing cheerily, but Lewis could tell that nothing, not even her passion for music, could get her mind off of her husband.
"Mrs. Robinson?" Lewis asked, sheepishly poking his head in. Franny turned around.
"Oh, hello, Lewis." She said, smiling. "Is something the matter?"
Lewis shook his head. "No, I'm just looking for Wilbur. Have you seen him anywhere?"
"No, I'm afraid I haven't." She said. "Did you check his room?"
"He's not there, I checked." Lewis said, nodding. "He seemed pretty quiet at breakfast."
"Wilbur was really upset when they arrested Cornelius." Franny agreed. "He and his father are pretty close."
Lewis nodded, but didn't say anything. "Thanks, Mrs. Robinson." He said.
"Call me Franny." Franny said, smiling. "You might as well."
"Alright…" Lewis said. "Let Wilbur know if you see him I'm looking for him."
"I will, Lewis." Franny promised. Lewis nodded again and walked out into the hall again. He could hear Billie playing with her train in the train room, Gaston in the cannon room, and Tallulah and Laszlo arguing, as usual.
Lewis walked past Wilbur's room again, but his best friend was nowhere in sight.
"Hm…he wouldn't be in the garage, would he?" Lewis wondered aloud. He turned on his heel and was about to walk towards the garage when he heard a loud thump come from the door at the far end of the hallway – the lab.
Lewis walked towards his future lab, wondering if the thump he had heard could have possibly been Wilbur.
But what would he be doing up here? Lewis thought as he climbed the stairs.
"Wilbur?" He asked, poking his head around the corner of the staircase. When he got no response, he showed himself fully in the lab. "Wilbur?" He asked again.
The only answer he got was the clinking of a wrench, a bonk, and an "OW!" from a machine in the center of the room. Wilbur's feet were sticking out from a small door on the side near the bottom of the machine.
"Wilbur?" Lewis asked, walking up to the invention. Wilbur climbed out. Grease was smeared on his face, and he had a wrench in one hand.
"What?" He asked.
"I've been looking everywhere for you." Lewis said. "What's up with you?"
Wilbur shrugged. "Just worried about my dad, I guess." He said. "That's why I'm trying to finish this." Wilbur jerked a thumb over his shoulder at the invention.
"What's it do?" Lewis asked.
"Ironically for this situation, it proves a person's innocence or guilt in a crime." Wilbur said, standing up. "Dad explained it to me this morning before he got arrested."
"I just have one question," Lewis said. "Cornelius would never use something illegal in an experiment, that much I know."
"That's what's bothering me, too! How did that Jellonium get in the storage basement in the first place?"
Lewis shrugged for at least the tenth time that morning.
"Unless…" Wilbur said.
"Unless what?"
"Unless someone put it there!" Wilbur said.
"But who would do that?" Lewis asked. "Do I have any enemies in the future?"
Wilbur shook his head, thinking about it. "Not that I know off…except…"
"Except?"
"Except that dude that works at Inventco! Mr.…Mr. Wain, I think." Wilbur said. "He's always hanging around your company. I've always had this strange feeling around him…oh, and his intern, Mandy!"
"What's so bad about him?" Lewis asked. "And his intern?"
Wilbur shrugged. "I don't know. There's just something about those two that I don't trust." He said.
Lewis was about to say something when Franny called.
"Lewis, Wilbur, are you up there?"
"Yeah, Mom!" Wilbur called back.
"Come on downstairs. We're all about to go up to the police station."
"'Kay, Mom!" Wilbur said.
"We'll be leaving in ten minutes!" Franny called back.
Wilbur groaned, sat down, and put his head in his hands.
"Dad is going to kill me." He muttered.
Yeah, Wilbur's most likely going to buried alive for bringing Lewis back to the future again! Even though, he was only trying to help!
-Robin
