DISCLAIMER: Okay, so I own nothing Meet The Robinsons related and all that jazz.

A/N: So, this chapter is really long. It's about ten pages long on Word, so yeah. I just wanted to get a lot done in this chapter and down that I have they should go back to their normal length. So yeah, have fun with all of the words and stuff.

After watching his sister and Kolbie for a long while, he decided that he had to talk to her. He had to hear her voice and hear the music in her voice. He had to. The male pushed himself off the ground and walked towards his sister and Kolbie. Mary-Jane saw him first. Her blue eyes lit up when she saw him. She smiled and stumbled over to him. Wilbur leaned over and picked her up.

"Wilbur, Wilbur, look what Kolbie did," the blond shouted excitedly. She held her wrist out to her brother to show him the pen tattoo. It was a heart with a dove inside of it and Mary-Jane written in cursive about the dove. The heart was shaded a light blue and his sisters name was written in a purple color. Wilbur twisted the girls' wrist a little and then looked at Kolbie. "Isn't it pretty?" MJ asked her brother.

Wilbur's eyes never left Kolbie. She was looking down, as she did when someone complimented her or even spoke well about her. Her bangs covered her eyes, so he couldn't even see her expression in her eyes. However, he lips were pressed in a firm line and one of her canine teeth was visible. He exhaled slowly and sighed. He then nodded to answer his sisters' question. "Yes, yes, it is." He tilted her head to the side and placed Mary-Jane on the ground. "I'm sure that mom and dad would love to see it. Go and show them." Mary-Jane nodded and dashed down the stairs. Once he was sure that she was gone he held his hand out to Kolbie. "My sister has taken a liking to you," he told her as she took his hand. She nodded. "Okay. So I'm in charge of showing you the guest room and stuff like that. Is that okay with you?" He'd started to question things with her now. She nodded. "Follow."

She walked along side him, her hand in his and their fingers entwined. She felt her heart pounding in her chest, but it wasn't a bad thing. In fact it was far from it. Kolbie had never felt this way before. She'd never had her heart racing every time that she saw someone, well never in a good way. She'd never found herself at a total loss for words when she was around someone. She'd never felt her face grow warm when someone looked at her. All of this was new. She had never even held hands with a guy before Wilbur. He didn't know it, but he was covering a lot of virgin terrain with her.

Wilbur twisted open the door open and stepped inside. He attempted to drop Kolbie's hand, but she made no move to do the same, so he kept his fingers twisted in hers. He flicked on the lights on and he pulled her in after him. "All right, this is your room." The walls were painted a light brown color with a crème colored accent wall. The accent wall held the bay window and in front of the window sat a large circular bed. The bed was dressed in sky blue sheets. Next to the bed, in a corner, sat a chase lounge, it wore a large pillow the same color as the sheets. The hardwood beneath their feet was maple colored. "You like?" She nodded. "So," he looked at the clock, "we will have dinner in about ten minutes. So I'll leave you here." He turned to leave but realized that Kolbie was still holding his hand. "Yes?"

Her five seconds passed as she spoke quietly. "Can I see your room?"

"Yeah," he replied. He thought for a moment, trying to remember if his room had been cleaned. It had. He walked with her down the hall two doors down and he pushed his down open. He turned on the lights in his bedroom and sighed. Her felt her grasp loosen on his hand, but he didn't let go, so she didn't. His room held a light grey color on the walls and his bed was dressed in dark blue sheets. Painted on his walls, in neat cursive, were quote of musicians. 'You don't need any brains to listen to music.' - Luciano Pavarotti. 'Thank you for the music, the songs I'm singing. Thanks for all the joy they're bringing. Who can live without it, I ask in all honesty. What would life be? Without a song or a dance what are we? So I say thank you for the music, for giving it to me.' –ABBA. 'When words fail, Music speaks.' - H.C. Anderson. 'There' nothing you can know that isn't known.' – John Lennon. 'Time you enjoy wasting, was not wasted.' – John Lennon. And there were so many more. His room was set up like the guest room; the bed was in front of the window. However, where the chase lounge was in the guest room, sat a multitude of guitars. Most of them acoustic, however, there were a few electric ones. In front of the guitars were notebooks and pens.

"Wilbur, dinner," his mother called from downstairs.

"We should go," Wilbur whispered in her ear.

Kolbie looked over at him and nodded. She followed him out and he reached behind her and closed his bedroom door. She followed him slowly down the halls. Even through her shoes, she felt the pushiness of the carpet. She'd never been in a house so comfortable, yet alone this big.

Wilbur stopped suddenly. "Okay, what's up? You've only said five words to me." She didn't answer him after her normal five second pause. She only ran her index finger down the cut that ran from his eye to his jaw bone. It had healed rapidly. Wilbur caught her hand and laced his fingers in hers. "It's fine. I went to the nurse for her to heal it, so my parents wouldn't notice." She still didn't speak. She just looked down at their entwined fingers.

Five more seconds passed. "I apologize. I'm just feeling a little overwhelmed, I suppose."

Wilbur rolled his eyes and lightly pulled her toward him. She tripped, clumsily, over her left foot and fell into his chest, as he loosely wrapped his arms around her. She chuckled lightly and smiled. "You'll be fine here. I promise. Nothing is gonna hurt you." He felt Kolbie nod against his chest. "Okay. Now, we have to go to dinner. It is spaghetti night," he laughed. The raven-haired boy kissed the top of the girls' head. "You will be fine."

The two teens walked down the stairs and into the dining room. Kolbie stopped suddenly seeing all of Wilbur's family. Wilbur pulled her arm lightly and sighed. He mouthed that she'd be fine. She must have believed him because she followed him in. They all seemed to look at her. She felt her face grow warm. Wilbur pulled her into the seat between him and his mother. He figured that she would be more comfortable nest to people that she knew. And he was right. She relaxed visibly.

"Robinsons meet Kolbie," Franny announced. "Okay, so I gonna introduce you," his other whispered to Kolbie. "Okay. Bud," Franny pointed to a man with sitting next to Wilbur's' father. He wore his clothes backwards and was smiling at her. Not in a creepy way, just like an old guy smiling at you kind of way. Kolbie flashed him a smile in return. His grey hair was pointed at the side of his head, like devil horns. He wore large glasses that made his eyes large. From what she could see, he wore a purple sweater. "Fritz," she pointed to a man with a piece of brown hair pointed up at the front of his head. On his hand was a…. puppet? He looked stressed and worried. Fritz had a bald circle and then hair on the lower part of his skull. She shook her head and nodded to the man. "Joe." Joe was a very obese man. He sat at the other end of the table and was lying back in a chair. He too had a piece of hair pointed at the top of his head. However, unlike Fritz, he had hair. "Petunia," Franny said, pointing to the puppet clad in a green dress. Her hair was red and her eyelashes were purple. Unsure, how to acknowledge her, Kolbie nodded. "She's married to Fritz. Tallulah," A red head smiled at her. This lady was dressed in a dress that was black on the right and white on the left and she wore a hat that looked like a mass of buildings. "Lazlo," the red head male nodded to her. His head was covered by a white helmet with a yellow line down the middle and a propeller on the top. His body was covered by a green shirt and the shirt was covered by a white blazer with a purple belt and a purple mask covered his eyes. "Billie," a tiny curly haired brunette smiled at her. She was clad in a teal dress. "And Lucille," the gray haired woman smiled at her. Her hair had a slight pink-ish purple tint to it. She was very pretty and she had a lovely smile. "And that is Frankie." Franny pointed upwards at the chandler to the green frog in a tuxedo. He winked at her. "And that's everyone."

"Alright, dinner is served," Carl said. As he spoke, a multitude of little Carl's started to run about the table, carrying plates of spaghetti.

"Mum, where's Art?" Wilbur asked.

"He's out delivering pizza," Franny replied. "It's a busy night."

Kolbie twisted her fork in her pasta and watched the family. She'd never seen a family like this. It was foreign to her. It was like a scene from a movie. They were so functional and perfect. A smile tugged at her lips as Bud attempted to eat a forkful of the pasta in his magic marker drawn mouth. She looked at Wilbur from the corner of her eye and saw him looking at her too. She felt her face heat up and she looked down quickly. She head Wilbur laugh and she rolled her eyes.

"Art! You weren't supposed to be here!" Franny exclaimed as her brother walked in. He was dressed in a superhero outfit; the colors were red and white. And in the center of his chest was an 'R' in a gold circle. "Art, this is Kolbie." Another man followed Art. "Oh, and this is Gaston," Franny announced to her sons' friend. He was dressed in a black and red jumpsuit and had a large cone shaped hat on his head. Kolbie tilted her head in confusion and heard Wilbur laugh at her. She looked at him from the corner of her eye and pouted. "Kolbie, Gaston, Gaston, Kolbie."

"Pleasure to meet you," Art said. He grabbed plate of spaghetti and walked over to the seat by Lucille.

"Nice to meet you," Gaston echoed.

Dinner passed without any problems. In the back of Wilbur's mind, he wondered if his mother had told the family not to do anything stupid today while they were at dinner. Halfway through dinner he'd slipped his hand under the table and found hers waiting for his. A small smile played on her lips. He twisted his pasta with one hand and held her hand with the other. He was content with this. If she couldn't admit that she had feelings for him, which she obviously did, he could live with this. The little things that she did that she hadn't done previously, like eye contact, no matter how short it was, her smiling, and the other tiny, minuscule things, let him know. Apple pie and ice cream was for dessert. Wilbur was worried. Apple pie and ice cream was a messy food in their house. Wilbur prayed that it would be clean tonight.

However, his prayers were unanswered. While Joe was reaching for his plate he flipped it over. The ice cream flew at Lazlo and landed on his face. Lazlo flipped his ice cream at Fritz but it landed on Petunia. Fritz's ice cream landed on Billie. Billie placed her ice cream on a toy train and set it flying at Tallulah. After letting out a shrill scream she tossed hers' at Franny, but it landed on Wilbur. Soon every ones ice cream was in play, except Kolbie's. But Wilbur changed that by rubbing his on her nose. She squeaked and tossed hers' at him, he dodged it and it landed on his father. Kolbie shrugged and hid behind Wilbur as Cornelius through his at her. Once the ice cream melted and there was no more apple pie the family left the table. Wilbur pulled his ice cream covered friend up and pulled her upstairs.

He laughed and hugged her lightly. "Your hair smells like vanilla," he told her.

She waited her usual five seconds before responding. "Is that a compliment?"

"No, because I am more of a chocolate man," he said playfully. He looked at the clock and sighed. "Anyways, I'd better go. It's late."

Her usual five seconds passed. "It's seven thirty."

"Ah, you can tell time," he said. "But um, I'm gonna go and get rid of the vanilla smell off. You should too. There's a shower in your room and Tallulah and Billie have left you some stuff in the drawers. I'll see you tomorrow." He kissed the top of her head and laughed. "You have an apple in your hair. Come here," he said. He pulled the baked apple from her hair and smiled. "Got it," he placed the apple in his pocket and sighed. "Okay. Good night, Kolbie," he told her before kissing her check. She sighed as he pulled out of their hug and opened her bedroom door. "And you said the chivalry was dead," he called to her as he walked down the hall towards his bedroom. She shook her head and walked into her room.

Wilbur was unable to sleep. He'd left Kolbie and taken a shower. Then he'd done his homework. While he was doing his homework he wondered if Kolbie was doing hers also. He looked at the time again finding that it was nine. Wilbur sighed as e grabbed a shirt from his bed and pulled it over his head. He then walked out of his bedroom, down the hall, around the corner and to his sisters' bedroom. He knocked on the door and waited.

"Come in," his sister called.

Wilbur rolled his eye and walked into the room. He looked at his sister, who was curled up under her covers. He sat down on her bed and the flopped back down next to her. "So," he asked her. "No stories for me?"

"I already told Kolbie," she yawned.

"Did you really," he asked her.

"Yeah, she's a good listener," his sister replied.

"But I want to hear the story," Wilbur whined playfully.

"God, okay. So this guy pushed me a recess, so I hit him and shoved him off a swing," she said.

"Wait, a guy pushed you?"

"Yeah, but it is okay. Kolbie said that if it happened again to tell you. She said that you would be able to handle it."

"Did she?" Wilbur asked.

"Yeah, she said lots of nice things about you. She said that you're smart and funny."

"Really," he said. He was surprised that she would even say that about him.

"Oh, yeah, you were supposed to know that. Never mind," the blond said.

Wilbur pulled her ribbon out of her hair and sighed. "All right, you have to go to sleep."

"It's Friday," she whined.

"I don't make the rules. I only enforce them," Wilbur told her. He pushed himself off her bed and smiled. He kissed her check. "I love you, MJ," he told her as he dropped the ribbon on her dresser.

"I love you, too, Wilbur," she replied. "Hey, read me a story."

Wilbur laughed. "Okay. I will. Which one would you like to hear?"

"The Frog Prince," she said.

"All right," he said slowly as he plucked it from the shelf. He lay back down on his sisters' bed and sighed. "Okay here we go The Frog Prince by the Brothers' Grimm. One fine evening a young princess put on her bonnet and clogs, and went out to take a walk by herself in a wood; and when she came to a cool spring of water with a rose in the middle of it, she sat herself down to rest a while. Now she had a golden ball in her hand, which was her favorite plaything; and she, was always tossing it up into the air, and catching it again as it fell."

"After a time she threw it up so high that she missed catching it as it fell; and the ball bounced away, and rolled along on the ground, until at last it fell down into the spring. The princess looked into the spring after her ball, but it was very deep, so deep that she could not see the bottom of it. She began to cry, and said, ''Alas! If I could only get my ball again, I would give all my fine clothes and jewels, and everything that I have in the world'."

"Whilst she was speaking, a frog put its head out of the water, and said, 'Princess, why do you weep so bitterly?'"

"'Alas!' said she, 'what can you do for me, you nasty frog? My golden ball has fallen into the spring.'"

" The frog said, 'I do not want your pearls, and jewels, and fine clothes; but if you will love me, and let me live with you and eat from off your golden plate, and sleep on your bed, I will bring you your ball again.'"

"'What nonsense,' thought the princess, 'this silly frog is talking? He can never even get out of the spring to visit me, though he may be able to get my ball for me, and therefore I will tell him he shall have what he asks.' So she said to the frog, 'Well, if you will bring me my ball, I will do all you ask.' Then the frog put his head down, and dived deep under the water; and after a little while he came up again, with the ball in his mouth, and threw it on the edge of the spring. As soon as the young princess saw her ball, she ran to pick it up; and she was so overjoyed to have it in her hand again, that she never thought of the frog, but ran home with it as fast as she could."

"She lied to him," MJ said though a yawn.

"Yeah, she did. And you say that every time that we read this story." Wilbur closed the book.

"No, keep reading," she told him.

"You are about to fall asleep," he told her.

"No, keep going 'til the end, even if I do fall asleep."

Wilbur sighed and opened the book before continuing: "The frog called after her, 'Stay, princess, and take me with you as you said,' But she did not stop to hear a word."

"The next day, just as the princess had sat down to dinner, she heard a strange noise - tap, tap - plash, plash - as if something was coming up the marble staircase, and soon afterwards there was a gentle knock at the door, and a little voice cried out and said: 'Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said by the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'"

"Then the princess ran to the door and opened it, and there she saw the frog, which she had quite forgotten. At this sight she was sadly frightened, and shutting the door as fast as she could came back to her seat."

"The king, her father, seeing that something had frightened her, asked her what the matter was. 'There is a nasty frog,' said she, 'at the door that lifted my ball for me out of the spring this morning. I told him that he should live with me here, thinking that he could never get out of the spring; but there he is at the door, and he wants to come in.'"

"While she was speaking the frog knocked again at the door, and said: 'Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said by the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'"

"Then the king said to the young princess, 'As you have given your word you must keep it; so go and let him in.' She did so, and the frog hopped into the room, and then straight on - tap, tap - plash, plash - from the bottom of the room to the top, till he came up close to the table where the princess sat."

"'Pray lift me upon chair,' said he to the princess, 'and let me sit next to you.' As soon as she had done this, the frog said, 'Put your plate nearer to me that I may eat out of it.'"

"This she did, and when he had eaten as much as he could, he said, 'Now I am tired; carry me upstairs, and put me into your bed.' And the princess, though very unwilling, took him up in her hand, and put him upon the pillow of her own bed, where he slept all night long."

"As soon as it was light the frog jumped up, hopped downstairs, and went out of the house. 'Now, then,' thought the princess, 'at last he is gone, and I shall be troubled with him no more.' But she was mistaken; for when night came again she heard the same tapping at the door; and the frog came once more, and said: 'Open the door, my princess dear, Open the door to thy true love here! And mind the words that thou and I said by the fountain cool, in the greenwood shade.'"

"And when the princess opened the door the frog came in, and slept upon her pillow as before, till the morning broke. And the third night he did the same. But when the princess awoke on the following morning she was astonished to see, instead of the frog, a handsome prince, gazing on her with the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen and standing at the head of her bed."

"He told her that he had been enchanted by a spiteful fairy, which had changed him into a frog; and that he had been fated so to abide till some princess should take him out of the spring, and let him eat from her plate, and sleep upon her bed for three nights."

"'You,' said the prince, 'have broken his cruel charm, and now I have nothing to wish for but that you should go with me into my father's kingdom, where I will marry you, and love you as long as you live.'"

"The young princess, you may be sure, was not long in saying 'Yes' to all this; and as they spoke a brightly colored coach drove up, with eight beautiful horses, decked with plumes of feathers and a golden harness; and behind the coach rode the prince's servant, faithful Heinrich, who had bewailed the misfortunes of his dear master during his enchantment so long and so bitterly, that his heart had well-nigh burst."

"They then took leave of the king, and got into the coach with eight horses, and all set out, full of joy and merriment, for the prince's kingdom, which they reached safely; and there they lived happily a great many years."

Wilbur closed the book and rolled of off his sisters' bed. He placed the book on the pillow next to her and then he left the room.

Wilbur rolled over and sighed. He looked at the clock and then rolled back over. It was nearing midnight and he was not able to sleep. He'd played his guitar, which usually calmed him down, but not tonight. Tonight he was suffering from insomnia. He lay in the darkness of his bedroom looking out of the window. He'd switched his position and now he was laying with his head at the foot of his bed and his feet at the head. He sighed as stared at the full moon. A sudden soft cry startled him. His mind immediately fell on his sister. But he realizes that she was too far away from her room to hear her. The then cast it off as a trick of the mind. He closed his eyes but he heard it again. He slapped himself mentally, it was Kolbie. Why hadn't he thought about her first?

He rolled off his bed and ran out of his room, not bothering to put on his shirt. He then ran into her room, not knocking either. In the darkness of her room he could see her curled up in a small ball and she was shaking. He knew that she was asleep and he turned on the lights, but dimmed them so that he could see her. Her cries then turned to soft strangled screams. What was going on? He panicked and walked over to her bed quickly. He reached over and touched her shoulder lightly. "Kolbie," he said softly, trying not to startle her. But she continued to shake like a leaf. "Kolbie," he said louder as she pushed her shoulder. There was no positive change. He then noticed that her hair was stuck to her forehead. He had to wake her up. "KOLBIE!" he exclaimed. She gasped as she sat up. She brushed her bangs from her forehead. Her heart raced in her chest. Her breath was short and coming in gasps. Wilbur reached out and touched her back. She flinched away and leaned away from him. She whimpered. He sighed and looked at her. She was still shaking. "KC," he whispered to her. She looked at him her eyes were dark and he couldn't read them at all. He hated that. He reached his hand out to her and she crawled away from him.

Something in Wilbur's brain clicked: her father. He sighed and sat in the chase lounge and watched her. He hoped that the distance would calm her. She continued to shake and whimper. "Kolbie," he tried again. Her grey eyes were a little less dark, but still unreadable. "Kolbie, it's okay. Kolbie, I promise that I won't hurt you. I promise that no one will." She exhaled slowly and stopped her whimpering. However, she continued to shake. He stood up and walked over to her again. He held his and out to her. She took his hand and he sighed. He pulled her towards him. "Can I take you to my room?" He asked her. She nodded. He lightly pulled her off the bed and out of the room. Her hand shook as they walked into his room. Wilbur took her to his bed and sat her down. He then took a guitar from the corner. He sat on the floor and strummed random stings as he watched her. She pulled her knees to her chest and sighed. Her shaking had subsided. "So you okay now?" He asked her not stopping his strumming.

Her five seconds passed. "Yes, I am okay." She looked out of the window and sighed. "Wilbur," she said, not looking at him. He looked at her, but continued to strum. "I lied to you."

"Did you?" he asked her.

"Yes, I lied about my mother," she told him, still avoiding eye contact.

"Would you like to tell the truth?" he asked.

"When I was nine, my mother didn't just die. My mother killed herself," she told him. She ran her fingers through her hair. "There was so much blood. She slit her throat with a butch knife. He was yelling at her. She'd told him that she was going to leave. She wanted better for us, for her and me. She wanted to file for divorce. When she told him, he freaked. She had our bags packed. We were going to leave the next day. He was so mad. He told her that she had to say, or he'd kill her. She wanted to leave so badly. She had our stuff and she was preparing to leave and it just turned bad. There was more yelling and shattering glass and she was screaming. He was hitting her; beating her. And she was taking it. I'd gotten so good a zoning the sounds out and but not that night. I saw it all and I heard it all. She told him that she'd die before she let me suffer anymore. He told her, that was her choice. She stormed into the kitchen and grabbed a knife. She was screaming too. She'd never screamed before. I was hiding, behind the sofa. That's where I hid. And then I heard him shouting, 'Move the knife Ava. Don't do this'. He grabbed me and pulled me from behind the sofa and held my arms to my side. He said," she sniffled. It wasn't until then that he realized that she was crying. He stood and walked over to sit next to her. He stopped and she nodded, saying that it was okay from his to sit next to her. "He said, 'If you do that, then I'll kill her. Then she said, 'At least we would be together without you'. I think that it's only reason that I'm alive now. He doesn't want us together. She flashed me this look. I'm not sure what it was. It was like between sorry and 'I'm-finally-happy'. And she was gone and all that was left was blood. There was blood and a crying nine-year-old with nowhere to turn."

Wilbur pulled her into and loose hug. He rubbed her back lightly. Her tears hit his chest and he sighed. He ran his fingers through her raven hair before speaking. "Am I allowed to say, I'm sorry?"

She let out a strangled laugh and shook her head. "No."

"Okay, I won't," he kissed the top of her head.

She exhaled slowly. "You know, I think that I am done running," she told him.

"Are you now?" he asked.

Her five seconds passed. "Now all you have to do is catch up."

He laughed. "No worries, I will."

Her five seconds passed. However, it seemed shorted. "So you gonna play for me?"

"Do you want me too?" He asked her. She nodded. "Then yeah, I'd love too," Wilbur walked over to his guitar and grabbed it. As he started to sit on the chase lounge, he spotted Kolbie shaking her head. He allowed her right eyebrow to lift. He also noticed that she was lying down. Her black bang was covering her right eye. She looked stunning and she didn't even know it. She had no clue and it hurt him for her not to know. "Are you having a problem, Miss. Charles?"

She nodded. "You can come over here. I don't mind."

"Oh, so does that mean that you trust me?" He asked her as he walked towards his bed and sat down.

"Yes," was her immediate answer. There was no pause, no thinking. The immediate answer started him. He looked over at her and she laughed and a faint blush graced her cheeks. "I apologize. I didn't mean to startle you."

"No," he said as he reached out to touch her cheek. She didn't flinch away and he sighed. Maybe she was really done running. He pulled his hand from her cheek and strummed the guitar. "Don't be. I was just becoming more used to the pauses."

"Well, now you have to get un-used to them," she told him playfully.

He rolled his eyes and sighed. "I suppose that I will. So do you have any requests?" He asked her. She shook her head as she brushed her bangs from over her eye. She tossed him a crooked smile. "So I can play anything that I want?" She nodded. "All right," he muttered.

Wilbur let his mind wonder as he strummed. He fell into a Beatles song again. He shook his head. Hey Jude was the tune that he strummed tonight. It only took a moment for him to notice that Kolbie had started to hum along with the chords. He smiled to himself and looked at her from the corner of his eye. He left her finish off the song, she seemed to be enjoying it. This was the first time that he'd seen her happy, or at least content. He started to strum out another song, Strawberry Fields; he figured that she would hum along to this one as well. However, she didn't. The raven-haired male looked down to see that her grey eyes were closed and she had a fistful of his comforter. He sighed with a slight smile on his lips as he walked over to place the guitar on the stand. He then turned back to Kolbie. He gently pulled the comforter from her fist and picked her up. He pulled the covers back and dropped her, lightly, onto the bed. As he turned away from her to go to the chase lounge, he felt her hand grasp his.

"What?" he asked her softly.

"Stay," she muttered. He looked down at her. One of her grey eyes was open. She looked so innocent.

"Alright," he told her. Wilbur slid into his bed next to her, dropping her hand. "Tell me if you want me to go," he mumbled into her ear.

She shook her head before speaking, "I don't want you to go."

Wilbur sighed as he loosely draped his arm across her. She leaned her head against his bare chest lightly. He stroked her raven hair as she drifted off. He heard her breathing slow and become light. He sighed. He knew now that he might be able to sleep. He kissed the top of her head and found her hand holding his. He smiled, she was never that far ahead of him in the race, if he was this close to catching up with her.