Chapter 3

The two guys soon learned that this Bedrock was just like theirs.

"At least this will make it easier to find Gazoo," said Barny as the search began both thinking they would find him right away then, but that was not the way it was because they couldn't find him. They looked in all the usual places, the places where Gazoo had popped up before, but the little green guy disappeared. The day passed and it wasn't until late in it that they stopped searching. Gazoo could be gone. The thought was in both their heads that maybe he'd left them there, but neither of them wanted to believe that. Neither of them wanted to be stuck there.

"What now, Fred?" whispered Barny as they sat on a park bench side by side looking to his friend for the answers like he always did.

Without Gazoo, they were stuck there. Their Wilma, their Betty, they would never see them again. Wilma would never yell at Fred again something he never thought he would miss until then. Betty would never kiss Barny on the cheek as he left for work again and letting tears fall he shook his head. He never thought he would have to miss that; he had never pictured a life without her. But there were others too. Others that they would never see again like Pebbles and Bambam. They were stuck and they didn't know what to do.

"Answer me, Fred. What do we do now?" exclaimed Barny watching his friend very closely now. But Fred didn't say a word. He seemed to be deep in thought and Barny could guess his thoughts were the same as his. And for a moment Barny wondered if maybe, for the first time in his life, if Fred didn't know what to do any more than he did. It was that thought that scared the hell out of him because Fred always knew what to do, always.

Looking at him, he hoped he would suddenly have the answer to all this like he always did. But what Barny didn't know was that Fred's thoughts were the same as his only different. Fred couldn't stop thinking of it all. Of his life before and he found himself regretting so much. If he could go back to change it all, he would. Fred remembered in that moment every fight Wilma and he had ever had. He remembered all the words, such cruel words, he had said to her, and he hated himself for it. In that moment, all he wanted was to take it all back, and replace them with I love yous. Maybe then they wouldn't even be in this situation. Only now was he realizing just how mean he could be to Wilma sometimes. He wanted to take it all back now and replace those mean words with something else.

Fred wanted to go back and tell Wilma how much he loved her.

"I don't know, Barny. I think we might be stuck…I don't know what to do without Gazoo…we're stuck here," said Fred his words softer than they had ever been before. His eyes fell on Barny then as he released a scream loud enough to make the people around them stare. Suddenly he was up off the bench moving around in circles. Fred knew it was his way of processing it all.

"No, Fred, no. This can't be happening…we have to get home. What about Wilma and Betty…our Wilma and Betty…what will they think if we suddenly just disappear? We have to keep trying," said Barny near tears. He looked down on Fred in that moment his eyes and his voice pleading for a sudden miracle, but Fred had no answers. Fred had not response even as much as he wished he did. He only sat there, for a long time that was what he did, until finally he stood up his voice dying in his throat. He didn't know what to do and he hated to tell it to Barny almost as much as he hated to admit it to himself.

"I don't know anything, Barn. I don't know…Gazoo was our only hope…and he's gone," whispered Fred watching the anger cross Barnies features almost immediately.

"You can't just give up, Fred. If you do…you're not just giving up on us getting home. You're giving up on Wilma. I thought you loved her more than that," snapped Barny turning away from Fred then quickly walking away to someplace he didn't have the idea of yet. But Fred didn't let him. He was right behind him and he didn't let him go far. Fred suddenly grabbed him from behind hitting him square across the jaw. And he didn't stop there. He kept on hitting him finding himself in a sudden rage at his words. Barny couldn't even raise a fist. Fred had him pinned. He just kept hitting him over and over and even when Fred found himself wanting to stop he found he couldn't.

"Don't you even say I don't love Wilma because I do. She means the world to me…but I don't have all the answers. I can't all the time," exclaimed Fred finally letting Barny get a hit in. Suddenly they were both on their feet and still hitting each other. That continued until Barny suddenly plowed into him knocking him to the ground. All while they were fighting they didn't know they were being watched. Gazoo was just above them watching the entire altercation.

"There's nothing you could do either," growled Fred receiving a hit in the head seconds later.

"At least I'm willing to try. I'm not just giving up…like you," said Barny from between gritted teeth. Fred quickly flung him away in that moment and it was then they saw him. It was then that they saw Gazoo hovering like an innocent little fly above them.

"Hello, Dumdums…having fun?" whispered Gazoo giving them one of his tiny smiles. The two men just stared at him for a moment not really believing he was there. After they had looked for him all day and there he was just popping in on them out of nowhere. After processing that only then did they jump to their feet.

"Where the hell have you been?" growled Fred getting into the little alien's face.

"I've been here all along Dumdum. You just couldn't see me," said Gazoo giving him a look as if it really were that simple. But Fred was not in the mood for Gazoo's attitude today. The little green menace was going to take them back to their wives and he was going to do it right now. Before the alien could pop away, Fred grabbed him holding him tight as he stared him down. For a moment, Gazoo looked afraid, but he only let them see it for a moment. He then was right back to acting like the little bastard that he was.

"Take us home, Gazoo. Take us back to our wives right now or I'll hurt you so bad you won't be able to pop nowhere," snapped Fred tightening his grip on the alien. But just as he did so Fred found his hands empty. There was no Gazoo and looking at Barny they started to look for him again. Again, they couldn't find him, but then like before he appeared out of nowhere. This time though he kept his distance.

"Gazoo take us home," snapped Barny reaching for the little green man.

"No, Dumdums. I will not watch you put those two women through hell anymore. You will learn how to be real men here," snapped Gazoo making them both reach for him. As they did the two men considered everything he had said and though they knew he was right they didn't want him to be. They did put their wives through hell.

"If you want to go home you'll have to earn it," said Gazoo making them stop to look at him.

"How the hell do you expect us to do that?" snapped Fred knowing there would be a catch. Gazoo in his usual annoying way only smiled at them as they stared up at him.

"That woman, the one who looks like your wives…she is both melded together. She has bits and pieces of both. If you want to go home to your real wives you must make that woman fall in love with one of you," whispered Gazoo making them both just stare at him.

"We'd be cheating on our wives," exclaimed Barny.

"Not technically," said Gazoo quickly. The two men looked at each other, but then Fred took a breath.

"Alright, Barn, this will be easy. I'll go back, make her fall in love with me, and we'll go home," whispered Fred talking more to himself then Barny, but Barny heard him nonetheless.

"Why you? She's part Betty too, she could fall for me," said Barny. Fred stopped giving him a condescending look.

"Yes, but I want to go home soon. It'll take you forever, but me, being the better catch it'll take me no time at all," said Fred smiling. But then Barny hit him in the back of the head.

"We can both try, Fred, but I guarantee she'll fall in love with me first," snapped Barny. He didn't say anything more. Fred watched him walk away and through he didn't want it to be he knew they were now at war.