Wilbur stormed up the steps and slammed the front door closed behind him. His family stopped what they were doing and looked at him. He ignored them all and continued up to his room. Once inside and alone he sunk to the floor and retrieved the now worn box of Violet's photos. He spread the photos around him, he had wanted to burn them, get rid of them and move on but seeing them around him he just couldn't do it.
"So, that's the girl," Franny said sitting down next to him. Wilbur jumped, he hadn't even heard her come in. She picked up one of the photos, a shot of Wilbur and Violet making goofy faces. She smiled and put it back down. "She's a beautiful girl, Wilbur."
"Why did I have to leave her Mom?" Wilbur asked as tears welled up in his eyes. Franny pulled him into a hug the way she did when he was young and stroked his hair.
"I don't know baby. And even if I did I know it wasn't fair. You can't help who you fall in love with."
"I'd give anything to see her again," he whispered and he clung to her, he wondered when she got so small and fragile feeling. He remembered her being big and strong.
"Even if it meant giving us up forever?" Franny asked lifting Wilbur's chin so he'd look at her.
"I'd never want to lose you, Mom. I just wish there was some way I could have her and still be able to see everyone here. But Dad said I can never go back so it doesn't really matter."Franny gave Wilbur a kiss on the forehead and left, she hated seeing him like this. Cornelius had just gotten back from a special meeting and she wanted to talk to him about Wilbur.
"This has got to stop Cornelius," she said once they were alone away from prying family ears. "Wilbur barely eats, he barely speaks. It's been six years and I can't watch my son live like this anymore. There has to be a way for him to see that girl."
"I think I may have found a way. But like I told you before, if he goes back he can't come home again. Living in two times is too hard on the time stream; it causes all sorts of paradoxes. He'd have to commit to living in the past and never have contact with us in that time."
"Can we go back and see him?" She asked, Wilbur was her first born she couldn't just give him up completely.
"I've done some calculations and as long as we only ever go back to visit now and then I think it would be alright. It's trying to live in two lives that can't be done."
"What will happen to the Wilbur here? If he has to go back and stay back what will we say?"
"We'll have to pretend he's dead. For all intents and purposes in this time, he will be."
The next morning Cornelius called Wilbur down to the garage and he handed him the keys to one of the time machines.
"Dad, what's this? I don't get it," he said confused and he looked at the keys.
"I'm letting you go back. Go and find Violet."
"You said I could never go back. You said that it would create disturbances in the time stream."
"What I said is that you could never go back as Wilbur Robinson and try and live in two times. I did some research Wilbur, that girl you went back to visit so often got married and had children-"
"I know that Dad! I lost the only person I've ever loved and now I've seen her family, a family that should've been mine!"
"That family could be yours Wilbur!" Cornelius shouted back getting impatient. "As I was saying, Violet Parr married a man but I was unable to get any concrete information about him and Violet refused to speak to me.
"Yes, it seems that while the time stream can be changed for the negative like what happened with my old friend Goob it can also be changed for the good. Go back to the past, take your mother's maiden name and live there. Try to win Violet back. If you do then that girl Viola may cease to exist. It's called the ontological paradox. But you'll have Violet."
"But if I go back to the past, I'll never be able to see you again." Wilbur argued; as much as he loved Violet he couldn't just abandon his family. Then it dawned on him, his mom knew he would be given the choice. Everyone knew he would have to choose between blood or love.
"Yes you will. You, my son, will have to commit to a time. If Violet is truly what you want then you will have to take the time machine and not come back to this time. Your mother and I will be able to visit now and then but that's all I'm afraid. If you go to the past to stay, the you that lives here now will be, for all intents and purposes, dead. Or you could stay here and forget about Violet once and for all."
"Dad I'm older than when I last went back. If I go back it'll have to be six years after when I stopped going. That's a long time to make someone wait. What if Violet doesn't want me back?"
"Keep trying for a bit but if you're sure she doesn't want you then come home. I set the time machine to only have two travels. One to the past and one to our time. If you decide to stay then set it on auto pilot and send it here." Wilbur nodded and gave his dad a hug. Cornelius held him tightly for a moment then let go and handed him a duffel bag. "It was your mother's idea. She wanted to be sure you had enough to get started and had a few things from home. She and the rest of the family wanted to be here to see you off but they were worried you'd change your mind. Good luck, my son."
Wilbur took the duffle bag and got into the time machine carefully setting the date to the day he was supposed to meet Violet, 6 years later. He looked out the window as he began to drive out and noticed everyone, His mother, Grandpa Bud, Grandma Lucille, Uncle Fritz, Aunt Petunia, Uncle Dimitri, Uncle Spike, Uncle Gaston, Aunt Billie , Uncle Art, Tallulah, Laszlo, his siblings Demelza and Darwin, Carl, Ty-Rex and Lefty, come out of their hiding places to see him off. He put on a smile and he waved good bye, next thing he knew he was under the invisibility shield and heading to Java, the hut. Even though it had been years he still did everything the same as he always did. He parked the machine and locked it, taking the duffel bag with him, and headed down to the street. The first thing he wanted to do was go to Violet's house and beg her to take him back but he knew that wouldn't work.
So instead he did the hardest thing he could imagine. He walked in the opposite direction and set about find a newspaper or internet café to find apartments for rent. He didn't want to just show up in Violet's life with nothing this time, he wanted to do things right.
Wilbur found a small internet café and sat down at a computer feeling almost lost. He needed to find a job and a place to live before he could even try to get Violet back and he couldn't get one without the other. With a sigh he decided to open up his bag and see what the family had packed for him.
Inside the bag were some of his favourite clothes, two photo albums, enough money to last him a couple months rent in a small place and some forged documents to get him set up. Curious Wilbur took out the documents to see what was there. He had a birth certificate, high school diploma and a university diploma. The university diploma had the courses he had taken in his time, mostly mechanics because he had tried to fix the machines himself but he also had two years of master of architecture that he had taken for fun. That's when it hit him, he get a job with an architecture agency or even a construction site if he had to.
It took a few hours but he found some job listings for both construction work and architecture agencies and he even found a small bachelor apartment that he was lucky enough to get almost on the spot because the current occupant needed to get someone to take it off her hands immediately.
Wilbur slept in a cheap motel for the first night and the next day, after dropping off his things in his new home he went for a few job interviews. He felt as though he had some super natural luck that helped him through the first two days of being alone. It wasn't until he was home that night and he stood looking at his place that he felt how hard it would be and how alone he was, for the first time in his life there wasn't anyone he could go to.
