In a cloud of thick smoke, Robot reappeared in the cage. The cage was lifted up and Robot's arms returned into his chassis.
"Robot, are you okay?" Will asked.
"Affirmative." Robot said.
"Come on out." John said. "Doctor Smith should be coming any time soon soon."
Robot complied then twirled toward the professor and Will.
"Doctor Smith will not be returning." Robot announced.
"What?" John asked. "Why is he not returning?"
"Because another version took his place and he didn't have to make the decision to leave to save you." Chronos said from afar.
John turned toward the man of Time.
"Another version of Doctor Smith?" John asked.
"Gee," Will said. "Two Doctor Smiths? That is more wild than anything I have been through."
"Yes." Chronos said. "The other version will be there to fill you in of what exactly happened back on Earth."
"What happens to the other version?" John asked.
"Doctor Smith dies after he has a fatal stroke." Chronos said. "Your version would have suffered the same fate decades from now if he made it to live that long."
"If he wants to die with my family around him then we will let him." John said.
"He must have been through a lot to get back to Earth and interfere in the timeline."
Once Will acknowledged the sheer fact, he grimaced a second after saying that with pity on the man. The sheer circumstance that built him up into that position and his counterpart to allow him to do that. He knew the heartbreak, the sorrow, the bitterness that his older counterpart must have felt when he were letting Doctor Smith go.
"He discovered the consequences of his actions, Will." John reminded his son once he placed a hand on the child's shoulder. "It had to have been worse than how we fared from here on."
"Yeah." Will agreed with a nod.
"He has been through a lot." Chronos said.
"Let's go home, son." John said then grinned and they proceeded to walk away.
"Not unless you pay up." Chronos said, sharply. "Five years, Professor Robinson."
John paused in his tracks as did Will.
"Negative," Robot said as he twirled toward the man of time as the duo turned toward Chronos. "Doctor Smith informed me on the way here that his current counterpart is to pay for the trips."
"Five years?" Chronos asked. "Did he give his consent?"
"That, he did." Robot said. "Five years is not a lot."
Chronos went through the chain of events then watched the man proclaim the consent as he were being transported by the machine.
"Th-t-t-t-r-t-t-t-that sneaky, stubborn, foolish man!" Chronos stammered in anger. "He will live for twenty-eight years! Not thirty-four years!"
"Somehow," John voiced to his son. "I get the feeling that he will spend those years well."
"Me too," Will said as they chuckled over the complaining older man.
"Didn't ask for his counterpart's consent but since he is him. . ." Chronos frowned then shrugged. "The matter is mute."
Chronos took out the roll of tape put it into a machine and slid the tape out that carefully slid out a strip of tape. Chronos cut off the strand of tape then rolled it up and put it into a box of tape. He grinned as the tape was rolled back up and returned to the slots of tape. John's eyes rested on the man of time then the man waved them off.
"Free to go." Chrono said. "Go." he waved a hand off. "Before I change my mind."
The duo turned away then went on.
Will awoke that morning then fetched the ingredients that were necessary for cooking breakfast. He had seen his father do some of the cooking as a child when his mother couldn't cook prior to the mission taking them away so he followed the memory to a tea as he put vegetable oil on the pan, cracked several eggs then dropped them in, and spun them repeatedly, with toast and plates waiting alongside him. He observed the apartment that had housed four additional people lacked them in nature.
It was quiet as he heard the shower run then he smiled. He turned on the television set on the counter and waited as the news came over the line. The Jupiter 2 was represented on the screen as going along the course - mostly - but it was going several meters off the original course on a new one that still lead to the destination as it rested across from the news reporter. Will smiled at the developing story then set the table up with the freshly cooked breakfast. Then he made some pancakes in the second pan using his personal experience in space as a guide.
The children came into the dining room that was full of steaming food and they sat across from the other, perfectly dried, all dressed up in modern day outfits that he had purchased from JC Penny's in the middle of the night along with a stylized bra that his daughter seemed to prefer as it existed on Earth. Will smiled as the television volume was down. The only sounds that filled the air was silverware clacking against the plates and Rose held a magazine in her lap as she ate between bites with large eyes.
Will had to end the silence.
"Listen," Will started. "you have to stay on Earth-"
"No!" Zachary roared as he stood up from the table. "I am not staying on Earth while you leave me behind!" Zachary shook his head. " I spent two years to find you after mom died because she said you were the best person to spend a childhood with!"
"You were six years old when you went into space for me." Will said. "I am not about to let you grow up to become a sixty-six year old traveling in space for a way to my continuity."
"So?" Zachary furrowed his brows. "This is just like that."
Will sighed, exasperated.
"Son. . . ." Will started.
"I have only SPENT A YEAR with you in my life! I don't want to let you go! You're actually a great dad."
Rose tuned out the conversation as she read a magazine intently.
"Zachary, if we get back to my time, you are going to grow up alongside me." Will began to explain to the young boy with a certain calmness that was a bit soothing. "And your dad will be your grandpa." He winced at the unusual situation that his father would find himself in. "He will be raising you."
"So what?" Zachary folded his arms with a glare pointed back toward Will. "He is family." he sat back down into the chair. "And so are the other members, I don't care the differences in how old we are-all I care is being part of the Robinson family!"
Will sighed, that doesn't weird him out in the least.
"Zachary, you are part of a Robinson family with Branca, Vulet, Rose-"
"BUT YOU'RE NOT PART OF IT IF YOU LEAVE."
Will winced at the scream that came from the boy who's voice strained.
"Distance doesn't matter in family, Zachary. You have my blood running through your veins, you have the heart of a Robinson, you have the teachings of one, and you have the ESP rating of a Robinson." Will reminded the young boy. "Which means I will always be part of it."
"You promised me that you wouldn't let the same thing happen to me."
"What part?"
"Never seeing you again as I grow up." Zachary replied as Rose looked toward her father expecting a retort.
The words cut into the wound of the absence of Will lacking his family.
"I am doing this for you." Will said, softly.
"The Jupiter 2 is DIFFERENT." Zachary resumed then gestured toward Rose and himself as he leaned back into the chair. "You have a whole new family. A family that counts on you!" he threw his hands up into the air. "Why do you want to throw that away?"
It was quiet in the dining room as the word stung into the captain's chest.
"Because that is the only thing that has kept me going for the last twenty years." Will smiled upon the boy with bright red hair. "Getting them back to the Jupiter 2, intact or aged as I am, it all depends on what happens after I press that little button."
Will's smile faded as he stared upon the young boy as he meekly shrugged at the fact that made the boy's face fall.
"I am counting on being taken away and return to the timeline that I come from. The unexpected always happened when it came to space and me and Robot and Doctor Smith and my folks."
Will sighed, lowering his head, then lifted his head up.
"Whether I want it or not. This is me making sure that you - " he pointed from Rose to Zachary. "-have a new normal should Robot, I, Jupiter 2, and Doctor Smith be taken away."
Zachary was silent as he listened to his father calmly explain his motivation.
"I want you to have the childhood that you deserve. If news reporters have to be part of it then so be it but it is the one that grounds you down to Earth. If I don't find a way home then you can join me at Alpha Centauri in five years. That is where I will be if I don't find it." Zachary stared at the older man, his brown eyes displaying nothing, nothing of potential, just a slight sign of seeing how unfair it was. "And Robot."
"And the Jupiter 2." Rose said.
"And the Jupiter 2," Will amended. "I will come back to bring you there." Then Will cleared his throat. "If you want to be there by then."
Zachary was quiet as he stared at his father for a long moment.
"That is a deal." Zachary said then glared back at him. "And you can't cheat your way out of it."
"I don't cheat my way out of things, Zachy." Will leaned back into the chair with a snicker and put his hands on the back of his head "I. . more so. . . find a third option."
"That is still cheating, father." Rose butted in.
Will leaned forward unclasping his hands from the back of his head.
"Everyone has their opinions." Will shook his hand with a smile. "Rose, I am leaving in a month."
"Okay." Rose said then squinted at her father. "That is a very specific number."
"A month is all I need to find a way to secure your grandparents and your aunt's lives." he tilted his hand sideways on the table.
"Just a month?" Rose asked.
"Just a month is all that is needed." Will grinned in reply to the younger woman. "Just to catch up with the Jupiter 2 and all do what I want after getting the equipment ready and/or invented."
"Oh no." Rose said as her features fell in horror and dismay. "You're going to go on a invention spree."
"It's not going to be messy like last time." Will assured the young woman.
"Father, last time you nearly blew up the auxiliary deck!"
"That was a accident."
"Thirty times says you need to use their help."
"I don't want them involved on this."
"They see things differently compared to you, which isn't a diss, it's more of a 'they got a different pair of eyes' when they see your inventions."
"I won't be too close."
"My first birthday cake that I remember-you got too close to that!"
"It was a dancing cake! Who says no to that?"
"I do. And it exploded right in our faces."
"You were covered in icing and cake. It wasn't the worst explosion then." Will reminded Rose quite amused. "You and the others scraped off what you could and ate it anyway over my objections about how safe that a imploded cake would be."
"It was a delicious cake- asides to the mechanical bits that were unlickable - that I had." Rose said in fondness. "You should have left it as a cake."
Zachary was howling with laughter.
"I don't know if I can trust Alpha Control but given they have defense contracts and experienced inventors for this sort of thing, it does seem they are more prime to ask for their help." the older man changed the subject with ease as his daughter's eyes squinted back at him.
"Father, why do you want the others not involved?" Rose asked over Zachary's laughter.
"Because I got them where they need to be." And Zachary ceased to laugh.
Will was cutting his pancakes up then applying syrup on to them with a twirl as his eyes were focused on the stack then cut into the pancakes with a knife with the syrup resting on the center of the time.
"Mason far away from the kingdom, Branca and Vulet in a safer place, Gale getting to be on a planet full of cultures and people who need help. The two of you-" he gestured a fork at them then took a bite of his scrambled eggs and swallowed. "-getting to live on the planet I was raised on as millions go for Alpha Centauri in five years."
"And technically, I would be your uncle at the age I am at in freezing tube." Will added between bites as the children ate their breakfast. "And technically as your uncle I am also obligated to take you to a zoo, to a aquarium, to anything in general before I get down to business with Alpha Control on a very important matter."
"Wooooooohooooo!" the children cheered.