This is probably the longest final chapter I have ever written on FanFiction. With that said, thank you for reading this story! I did cry while writing the second half of the story. I actually was not sure on how to end this story, but, based on my days playing "Criminal Case," I tried to give a story on what Wilbur is doing with TIME, also providing closure on the transition from one chapter to another. I hope you will enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Now, I do have another story lined up that is going to take place 3-4 years later, but I do not have a title yet. Hopefully I'll come up with that by tomorrow. DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything related to "Meet the Robinsons" or "Criminal Case," I only own Karena and Diana.
FRANNY'S POV
June 16, 2045 – Todayland, North Montana, USA
When I had encouraged Wilbur to take the job in New York, I had never imagined that letting him go was going to be the toughest phase of life I would ever go through. It only seemed like yesterday that Wilbur was brought into my arms for the first time. It seemed like yesterday when he took his first steps, when I gave him his first karate lesson, and when Karena entered our lives for the first time. I was there for everything Wilbur did for the first time, and I was there when he needed a shoulder to cry on. I attended all of Wilbur's graduation ceremonies, concerts, and his wedding, and I cheered him on every time. Yesterday, Wilbur was a boy; now, he is a married man with a baby, and he is living a new life.
I got up, put on my robe, and took my morning walk over to his room. Controlling my emotions has gotten easier over time. The first time I took the walk, I could not stop crying. Thankfully, Carl was there to comfort me, for he, too, had taken the walk to Wilbur's room every morning. Carl helped me realize that I was not alone, for he was going through the same thing. In fact, after the first week, Carl had told me to go see a counselor, who had explained that I had empty nest syndrome and that it was common among mothers whose children had left to live their own lives. She had encouraged me to give my son a call that night, and this was a phone call I will never forget.
FLASHBACK: June 2, 2045
I sat in the music room with the phone in my hand, mentally preparing to make the call, and I pushed the button. I heard the phone ring a couple times before I heard a voice.
"Wilbur here."
"Hey, honey, it's Mom."
"Hi, Mom. How are you doing?"
"I'm missing you. I miss you every day." Tears started to form in my eyes.
"I miss you too, Mom. And so do Karena and Diana." My thoughts went to my granddaughter, who was born four months ago and looked almost exactly like her dad.
"Can you say hi to them for me?" I asked with a small smile.
"Of course I can! So, did you call just to say hi?"
"Not exactly. Oh, I wish I could call every day and say hi."
"You can do that, you know, even if I don't answer. You can always leave a voicemail. You're my mom and I love you. So, what's on your mind?"
"Wilbur, I saw a counselor today," I replied as a tear fell on my face.
"You saw a counselor? What about?"
"Ever since you left, I've been walking to your room every morning, and I cried every time. Carl walked over there too, and he was the one who recommended I see a counselor."
"Oh."
"The counselor said I had empty nest syndrome, and she recommended that I call you and… I wish I had told you what was going on in my mind before you moved."
"Well, I have no plans tonight if you want to talk about it. I guess I wasn't the only one going through something."
"Wilbur, you're my only child. And Karena was right: the process in preparing you for your move was not easy. This whole time, I was putting you first because that's what a mother does."
"Right."
"I guess I didn't realize how much it affected me until you and your family left. Dinner was very quiet that night because the energy you brought to the table was gone. Every morning when I get up, I walk to your room and bawl my eyes out because you weren't here. Of course, I know you're in a place you need to be and I'm happy for you—"
"Mom, you need to think about your happiness, too. You and Dad are the most amazing parents I could ever ask for, and I love you for being so inspirational. If you think about me too much, then you won't be able to live your life the way you want to. How's the frog band doing?"
"Come to think of it, I haven't seen them in a while."
"Oh, Mom. You grew up with a passion for frogs and music, and you continued that passion throughout your life. Don't let the empty nest syndrome get to you, because, as a wise person told me, you won't be going anywhere with your life. You have to let me go and keep moving forward. Or, here's another idea: the Todayland schools are looking for a teacher to fill the void Karena left. With your degree and teaching certifications, maybe you can fill the void. Teach kids during the day, teach your frogs after school, and spend time with family the rest of the night."
"Wilbur, have I ever told you that you would make an amazing counselor?" I asked with a teary smile.
"No, Mom, you haven't. Why? Am I helping you?"
"More than you know," I replied, wiping away my tears.
"Mom, are you crying?"
"Yes, but I'm okay. It's just that letting you go is not easy."
"Leaving you and the family wasn't easy for me either! Do you know how many times I cried because of my anxiety?"
"Touché," I replied with a chuckle.
"Look, Mom, the family has always been known for the energy from each member. We all have our own energies. Don't let the loss of one kind of energy dampen the feeling. Enjoy those food fights we are known for! Mom, I want you to be happy, and I want you to call me to tell me about your day, even if I don't answer. And I want you to smile, because I want you to know that you are always with me, no matter what."
"Oh, Wilbur, I love you so much."
"I love you too, Mom. Now, keep moving forward, and go practice with your frogs."
"Thank you, Wilbur. You have no idea how much this phone call means to me."
"More than you know. I'll talk to you later, okay?"
"Alright, Wilbur. Say hi to Karena and Diana for me."
"I'll do that! Bye, Mom."
We hung up, and I was feeling happy for the first time in a week.
END OF FLASHBACK
"Are you thinking about Wilbur again?"
I turned to see Carl at the door, and I gave him a smile.
"Yes, I am. I was remembering my first phone call with him. Every time I go in this room, I think of his presence here."
"Wilbur will come visit us," Carl assured me. "I know he will."
"It will be nice to see him again someday."
"He can come home for the holidays," Carl suggested.
"I wonder what he's up to right now," I pondered as Carl and I walked out of the room to meet the family in the dining room.
WILBUR'S POV
May 30, 1431 – Rouen, France
Amy had felt a disturbance when someone used a time machine to get to France in 1431, so she sent me and the team to Rouen, France in 1431 to figure out what was happening. When we got there, Agents Jack Archer and Zara Tien had discovered the body of Pierre Cauchon. Using my history books and my computer, I had explained to the agents that Cauchon was the judge presiding over Joan of Arc's trial on the charges of heresy, witchcraft, and cross-dressing. On the crime scene, the two agents had found a document, which they sent to me. So here I am, reading the document, which was fascinating, but then I found a stain on the document. I called the forensics expert on my phone.
"Hey, Theo. I found a fresh stain on this document. Is there anyway you can take a look at this?"
"I'm on my way, Wilbur."
I took a second glance at the stain, and two questions entered my mind. Is this the document that was recently made here in 1431, or is it a stolen document from some museum in France? Also, did the stain come from 1431 or from the future?
"Hey there, Wilbur."
I looked up to see Theodore Moon walking in my office, which looked like a library.
"Hi! Thank you for coming."
"What do we have?" Theo asked, and I showed him where the brown stain was. I watched as he took a sample of the stain and placed it on a small dish of some sort. "I will take this back to the lab and come back with the results. It should not take me too long."
"Thank you, Theo. Meanwhile, I'll run this document through and see if it was recently made or if it's from the future."
The next thing I did was run the document through a machine that would configure the document's age, and what I discovered shocked me: the document was over 600 years old! I heard my phone ring, and I went to answer it.
"Agent Robinson speaking."
"Wilbur, it's Theo. I figured out what the stain was. It's coffee. But, did coffee exist in 1431?"
"Let me look," I replied as I rapidly typed on my computer to look up the history of coffee. "According to my sources, yes, coffee did exist in the 15th century, but get this: the origin of coffee is in Ethiopia." I paused, putting on a stern expression. "Theo, Ethiopia is down in Africa. There is no way that coffee could have been sent up to Europe that fast - not with only their ships. In fact, coffee did not reach Europe until over 100 years later."
"So this means, that the document came from the future?"
"That's exactly what that means. I ran that test, and the document is over 600 years old. Whoever killed the judge is definitely from the future. I'll call Jack over here now."
I hung up and paged Jack and Zara back to the time machine, and they, along with Theo, showed up within half an hour.
"Hi! You must be the new historian," Zara said, holding out her hand for me to shake.
"You must be correct," I replied with an enthusiastic smile on my face. "Wilbur Robinson, at your service. Now, let's talk about this document you sent me. This document covers every detail about Joan of Arc's trial: the opening statements, the witness testimonies, everything, even the guilty verdict and the sentence. But there's a catch: this document is over 600 years old."
"Six hundred? But there's no way a document can be 600 years old!" Jack exclaimed. "Was paper even invented yet?"
"Keep in mind, Jack, that people having been writing stories for thousands of years," I explained with a smirk. "The Egyptians used papaya and their pyramids to tell stories. But that's not the point. You are right, Joan of Arc did not exist 600 years ago—"
"Which means this document is from the future?" Zara asked.
"Exactly. Which means we have a crime in the future as well," I explained with a stern expression. "Whoever killed the judge stole this document from a museum in France in the future and came to the past to carry out the murder. But, the killer left behind a fresh stain on the document, but I couldn't make sense of it, so I enlisted Theo's help."
"Thanks, Wilbur. I collected a sample of the stain and it's from coffee."
"Coffee? In France?" Zara asked in doubt.
"At this time in history, coffee was just beginning to form in Ethiopia," I explained, crossing my arms. "Ethiopia is all the way in Africa. There is no way that coffee got to Europe that quickly. As a matter of fact, coffee did not reach Europe until 1565."
"So not only is our killer from the future, but they also love their coffee," Jack said with confidence. "Thanks, Wilbur!"
I saluted the two agents as I got back to work. I knew for a fact that the judge being killed was not going to make a difference on Joan of Arc's fate, but I wondered if the judge dying was going to change his future. In doing my research, the judge had died 11 years earlier than he was supposed to. The news eventually spread that the culprit had been caught and that he is currently held captive in the time machine.
"So, what do we do now?" Zara asked. "Do we just go back to the future?"
"No, the timeline is still messed up," I explained, remembering my time travelling adventures. "We have to find a way to go back a few hours earlier and hide Cauchon. World history may not have been affected too badly, but Cauchon's history certainly is. He had died in 1442."
"What do we do?" Jack asked. "Approach him and say that his life is in danger?"
"That is exactly what you are going to do, Jack."
"Who put you in charge?" Jack asked with annoyance.
"Hey, as long as someone gets the job done, even if it's me. Actually, Jack, can I borrow your costume? Zara, can you take us back a few hours earlier?"
"You got it!" Zara replied as the time machine got fired up. By the time we landed a few hours earlier, I was in full costume, and I went out with Zara to find Cauchon. We were successful in convincing Cauchon to hide to avoid the criminal. Jack managed to stop the criminal, and, according to our technology expert, the two versions merged together, so we were able to go back home.
June 16, 2045 – New York City, New York, USA
Jack and Zara immediately took the criminal to jail, and I went to my office in TIME headquarters. When I got there, I was greeted by my boss.
"I take it everything went smoothly?" Amy asked, and I smiled.
"As smooth as we can get," I replied. "Jack and Zara are working on bringing the criminal to justice."
"Very good! What about you? Did they give you anything interesting to work on?"
"Oh! Speaking of which, they did send me a document that details everything that happened in Joan of Arc's trial, but the document was over 600 years old. Has there been a theft in France recently?"
"Come to think of it, there was a theft in the news about an ancient document that was stolen from a museum in France," Amy answered, pondering in thought.
"This document we have in evidence may be that same one then," I said. "But there's a catch: the criminal stained the document with coffee." Amy gave me an angry expression. "But, I have good news. I brought along a machine that can get rid of the stains. I can get on that right now."
"I'll go with you. I want to see this."
Amy followed me into my office, and I opened my desk to find the machine that my dad had invented to get any tough stains out of clothing. I wondered if it would work for old documents as well. I turned on the machine and placed the document underneath it as if it was a pair of hands. Within five minutes, the stain was gone.
"This is amazing!" Amy exclaimed.
"So, what are we going to do with the document?" I asked.
"The document is evidence—oh, Wilbur!"
"What?" I asked with a perplexed expression.
"You got rid of some of the evidence!"
"Whoa, calm down. Theo collected a sample of the stain."
"Oh whew!" Amy exclaimed, putting a hand on her head. "It's been a long day."
"I don't blame you," I replied with a chuckle.
"Speaking of which, it's the end of your shift. Go ahead and write your report, and then you can go home and be with your family!"
"Thanks, Chief!" I started to run off, but I was stopped by a hand grabbing my arm.
"Wilbur, just call me Amy. We're all on a first name basis here."
I smiled at her as I went to my office to type my report.
KARENA'S POV
Westport, Connecticut, USA
I was in the kitchen making my favorite meal that Wilbur and I came up with: macaroni and cheese with hamburger meat and white cheese while Diana was close by me on her tummy on her blanket on the floor. I had kept a smile on my face because of all of the sounds that my baby daughter was making, such as "eh," "ah," or "ooh."
"What are you doing, Diana?" I asked. "Are you watching Mommy cook dinner?"
"Ah!"
"Yeah! Mommy's making some delicious food, and when she's done, she's going to feed you."
"Ah!"
"Yeah! Are you hungry, Diana? It'll be any minute now."
Right on cue, I heard the front door open, which meant only one thing: Wilbur was home.
"Hi honey!" I shouted across the house.
"Hey, Karr!" Wilbur shouted back. "Where are you at?"
"The kitchen!" Soon enough, I felt two hands on my shoulders and a pair of lips on my right cheek.
"Ah, macaroni and cheese with hamburger meat. My favorite."
"It's our favorite, Wil," I corrected him as I turned to peck him on the lips, then I watched him look around.
"Now, where did my princess go?" Wilbur asked before he looked down. "Oh! There she is!"
"Da!" Diana exclaimed in happiness as she gave her dad a big smile. Wilbur reached down to pick Diana up and kissed her on her small head. Oh, sure. "Da."
"Did anything exciting happen today?" I asked as Wilbur sat down at the table with Diana.
"I went to France!" I turned around to give him a perplexed look.
"What did you do, Wilbur? Take the time machine overseas?"
"Yes, I took the time machine. No, I did not go overseas."
"What happened in France?" I asked, setting up two bowls.
"Someone from our time stole a document from a museum in France and took a time machine to 1431."
"What happened in 1431?" I asked, not remembering my history.
"Joan of Arc got burned at the stake," Wilbur answered. "My guess is, the criminal had a crush on Joan of Arc and was angry at the judge for sentencing her to death. Not that there would have been much of a difference in history."
"So, how does that work, exactly?" I ask, putting the two bowls in front of me and Wilbur. I took Diana and prepared myself to nurse her.
"When we find the criminal responsible, we go back a few hours to stop him or her from messing up the timeline, restoring it in the process. Although, I wonder if that theft in France could lead to something more."
"I doubt it," I replied with a small wince. "You caught the criminal. I think Carl would call that a job well done."
"What about things on your end?" Wilbur asked, taking a bite of his food. "How did Diana do?"
"Miss Diana has been very talkative today," I explained with a smile as I prepared to burp our daughter. "She always has something to say when I say something."
"Oh? Has she called you mama yet?"
"No, I wish. But she's getting there!" I exclaimed as Diana let out a burp. "Wow, that was a loud one. She is definitely a daddy's girl."
"Besides the looks?" Wilbur asked with a grin.
"You burp pretty loud yourself, mister," I jokingly replied, and my husband gave me a perplexed look.
"Okay, Karr, I'm 22, not 12."
"I'm just teasing! I know you've matured since then." I set Diana back down on her blanket on her back and kissed her head as she closed her eyes for another nap. "So, did you bring the wine?"
"Huh?" Wilbur asked with a confused look on his face.
"You said you went to France. Did you get the wine?"
"Karena, France was in war in the year I went to."
"I'm kidding! Goodness, Wilbur, where did your sense of humor go?"
"Floating in the clouds somewhere," my husband answered with a grin, and then he drew in to give me a kiss. "I love you, Mrs. Robinson."
"And I love you, Special Agent Robinson," I replied, kissing him back and enjoying our life in Connecticut.