Chapter 28: Only A Matter of Time: Part 4. (Special thanks to Jokermask18 and Incrediblesfan1 for the requests!)
Dash returned to the present and looked around, seeing his family's symbol before breathing a sigh of relief. Then, he felt sad.
"Man, I really screwed up. First, I ruin my mom's career and now I almost ruin her life?! I really don't deserve to be her son anymore." Dash said before he ran off and stopped in a cold, abandoned street, where he walked around for a while.
Meanwhile, Elastigirl, having lost Mr. Macho after his return to the past, was swinging back home.
"Man, I can't believe Mr. Macho got away. I wish Dash had been with me. He might could've helped me catch him." she said before she remembered how she had treated Dash and slapped herself in the forehead.
"Man, I shouldn't have blown up at him. I should have let it go until next time. I vowed my family would always come first. I'm married and have three kids. I should let them matter to me more than some silly grudge. I better go find Dash and tell him I'm sorry." Elastigirl said before she swung further into the city.
Meanwhile, Dash was wandering through the alley before he heard someone say, "Hey, Speed Demon!"
He looked and saw a trio of kids carrying bags full of chips, soda, and candy.
"Hey. What's with the bags?" Dash asked.
"We're out on the streets and robbing convenience stores. We're runaways. What about you?" a kid with blonde hair asked.
Dash lowered his head, 'Guess this is my life now.' he thought before he walked over to the leader and said, "I'm running away, too."
"Think you can help us?" the leader, who was a kid with brown hair asked.
About an hour later, Elastigirl landed on a nearby rooftop and sighed, her search for Dash having been unfruitful. Suddenly, she heard a convenience store alarm and hurried over. She looked in the window and saw, to her shock, Speed Demon and the kids.
"What in the world?!" Elastigirl asked before she jumped down in front of the door just as the kids were running out. They froze at seeing her.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Elastigirl asked.
Dash was speechless. Now, his mom wasn't just going to think of him as someone who had ruined her career and life, but also a no-good thief.
"You see, Miss Elastigirl, we're runaway kids and we're robbing convenience stores to get by." the leader explained.
"The theft, I understand. But, why, pray tell, is my son with you?" Elastigirl asked, expecting an explanation.
"I'm running away, too." Dash said.
Elastigirl looked shocked before she felt guilty. She kneeled down and looked at the children.
"So, do you kids really think it's gonna be better? Out here? You'll have no safe place to go, and no one to feed you, or give you water when you get thirsty. You could wind up in really bad trouble. I know you kids are just trying to get by, but what you're doing isn't right." Elastigirl said.
The kids looked surprised before they looked at the bags they had stolen and felt guilty.
Later, after returning the kids to their homes, Elastigirl took Dash home and they sat in the living room.
"Dash, why were you going to run away? I'm sorry I yelled at you." Elastigirl said, looking sad.
"I forgive you, but I wasn't running away because of that." Dash said before he explained everything that had happened.
"So, you thought you were running my career, ended up running back in time, met me in the past, caused me to miss meeting your dad, altered my future, and because of all this, you think you're ruining my life?" Elastigirl asked.
"Yeah. But, I want to make it up to you. I don't know if this will, but I already have an idea." Dash said before he rushed off.
Elastigirl waited for a while after Dash ran out. He soon came back with something behind his back.
"What do you have there, Dash?" Elastigirl asked.
"Mom, these are for you." Dash said as he gave her a bunch of yellow flowers.
"(GASP) Dash, that's so sweet!" Elastigirl said as she took the flowers and smelled them with a wide smile.
Dash then smiled before his mom put the flowers in a vase and scooped him up before she held him with a smile.
"Dash, let me tell you something. All those ten long years ago, when you were first born, the day I held you at the hospital was one of the most magical days of my life. I knew that God must love me because He Blessed me with the little miracle that I'm so proud to call my own son, born of my flesh and blood. Dash, all these years you have been a part of my life are the best of my life. All the times I cradled you, put you in a little swing, or fed you your bottle, even all the times you got into mischief were the best times I've ever had with you. When you graduated from kindergarten and then made it to the fifth grade, I was the proudest mother I could ever be. I was even more proud when you worked with us to stop the Omnidroid and came in second place at the track meet. I was especially proud of you when you came to save us from Evelyn. Dash, you in no way ruin my career by being my son. You make it a hundred times better and so much more worth it. Everytime I see you with me on the front page of a newspaper, I smile as wide as I can. You light up my sense of adventure every time you fight crime alongside me. Even when I feel near defeat, all I do is think of you and Violet and Jack-Jack and your father and your aunts, and I get right back up to carry on the fight. You inspire me a lot to be fearless like you, Dash, and that's one of the many things I love about you. I think you are the coolest child I've ever met. I mean that. Always be full of faith that I'll never think of you as someone who ruins my career or my life just because you're my son, or because you accidentally alter my past, because you're always going to be the miracle that I'm so proud, grateful, and honored to call my little boy, and that I will love eternally with all my heart, Dashiell Robert Parr. This is what I vow and promise to you, as your mother, Mrs. Incredible, Elastigirl, Helen Traux Parr." Elastigirl said with a smile before she kissed him on the forehead.
Dash had tears running majorly as he gave Elastigirl a tight hug around the neck and cried loudly into her shoulder, her doing the same.
"I love you so much, Mom!" Dash cried.
"I love you, too, Dash!" Elastigirl cried.
After they had stopped crying, they wiped their eyes and smiled at each other before Elastigirl asked, "Now, what did you do with that pamphlet?"
She then carried Dash in one arm while digging through the pile Dash had tossed his pamphlet in before she found it. She looked at it and smiled at seeing it was a pamphlet for a super awesome water park that was very popular.
"Is this what you wanted me to do with you?" Elastigirl asked.
"Yeah!" Dash said.
"Well, pack your stuff and we'll spend a day there!" Elastigirl said, earning herself a hug from Dash.
"Awesome, but I have a question." Dash asked.
"What's that?" Elastigirl asked.
"Do you still do free swings through the city?" Dash asked.
Later...
"YEAH! WOO-HOO!" Dash and Elastigirl said as they swung through Metroville.