Chapter 8 - The Letter
Vinny met with Stewie at the "Employee's Only" section of the store. Stewie had the return pad in hand.
"All right, Stewie," Vinny said. "Whatever you gotta do, do it quick. The other you is in the back changing into a pair of tap shoes, for some reason."
"Excellent," Stewie replied. "Now all I've got to do is set the coordinates to the moment before the accident and I can save Brian, thus undoing the chain of events that occurred since then."
"Oh, yeah," Vinny caught on, "like Quantum Leap and all that."
"Yes, Vinny, Quantum Leap," Stewie repeated. "Well, thanks for your help."
"You bet," Vinny replied.
"You realize," Stewie explained, "if I save Brian, my family won't get another dog, which means we will never have met. I'll probably never see you again."
"Wait."
Two familiar voices got their attention. It was Jenny and Marcus, the younger two of Barbara's litter. They wore angry expressions.
"What are you two doing here?" Vinny asked them.
"That's none of your ******* business, you stupid, good-for-nothing would-be foster father," Marcus harshly replied. "Let Jenny and I save him!"
"Hell, yeah!" Jenny added.
"Wait," Stewie began. "You want to save your father? But why?"
"The person who adopted us is a clueless bimbo," Marcus answered. "She kept babbling on about all this nonsense that we were bored to death about. She even celebrated the wrong holiday! I mean, what part of 'You can't paint eggs on Christmas' doesn't she understand?!"
"But nonetheless, we still tried finding our own plans to get our parents back," Jenny added. "We tried having scientists find ways of getting our parents back from the dead, but no results were found thus far. So, while we were in this shopping mall with our bimbo of an owner, we started to find our own birthday presents in this toy store. And that's when we found you."
"Well," Stewie replied, "Jillian isn't the best person to celebrate a holiday with, but at least she's still a great owner."
"How do you know our owner's name?" Marcus asked, confused, before getting serious again. "Anyway, we need that time machine return pad so we can save our father and undo this horrible chain of events."
"Tough luck, puppies," Vinny retorted. "Sometimes, bad things happen, and there's really nothing you can do about it. And all I've done was try to be a good father to you, and to Briana and Ollie, but you still wouldn't accept me! Going back and setting things right like that...it just ain't right! I would give anything to see Leo again, I really would! But I wouldn't want to save him like that!"
Throughout his lecture, Vinny started to shed tears. Jenny and Marcus did the same.
"Are you saying..." Jenny began, "...that we should let Dad die?"
Vinny turned away without nodding in agreement. "If you two go back," he said, "You'll be hurting not only your family, but this Jillian person you're owned by as well. I know your dad gave you a lot, but did you ever stop to think that I could've given those things, too? Please, just give me a chance," he begged.
Jenny and Marcus shook their heads in disagreement.
"No," Jenny said. "We don't want you."
"We want our mom and dad back," Marcus added. "You, Vinny, are nothing but a fool."
Vinny's feelings started to get hurt.
"Do you think that you'd be there for us?" Jenny retorted. "That you would provide a little security that Mom and Dad gave us? Well, you can't!"
"We're getting our parents back!" Marcus declared.
Stewie began to get emotional.
"But Vinny's been around for me for the past several months."
Vinny took his collar off and looked sadly at his reflection into the tag.
"Didn't those several months mean nothing to you?" he asked as he threw it to the floor.
Jenny and Marcus gave no answer, and took the return pad from Stewie, activating it. They got on before Stewie halted them.
"Wait."
He took out the piece of paper Vinny wrote that night while thinking about Barbara and the puppies. Vinny gasped in realization.
"Hey, that's..."
"I kept it safe with me," Stewie replied. "I was hoping it would be given at a special time."
Vinny sighed. "Very well," he said. "Before we hand it to them, may I add a few more words, and a little something?"
With that, Stewie gave Vinny the paper. Vinny then wrote a few more words, pulled out another piece of paper, smaller, and placed it inside the then-folded paper before giving it to Jenny.
"Here," he continued, to Jenny. "Give this to your dad when you save him."
Jenny opened it, and saw that it was a letter for Brian. Inside the fold was a photo of Vinny.
After Jenny and Marcus read the letter, they raised their heads to Vinny and Stewie, shouting Vinny's name in despair as they vanished with the return pad. They finally understood what he tried to do for them. Their shout echoed as soon as they vanished. Stewie held Vinny's paw sadly.
"There goes my only chance at saving Brian," he wept. "I hope they know what they're doing."
"Yeah," Vinny agreed. "Me, too."
Outside the Griffin house, Brian, hockey net in hand, Stewie and the puppies were all ready for their street hockey game.
"Okay, Brian," Stewie began as they were on their way to the street. "Here's how it's going to work. Briana and Ollie are going to be on your team. Jenny and Marcus are going to be on mine. But remember, I'm just putting this out there, but I'm a baby, and only dicks don't let babies win."
Finally, the six were on the road.
"God," Brian said, taking in the fresh air, "look at this day, huh? You know, it's best to play with my kids while Barbara is inside reading. But usually, I'd be sitting inside writing, you working on one of your machines. But here we all are, enjoying it."
"Yes, it is a nice change of pace," Stewie agreed. Just then, he realized something. "Oh, wait, I gotta go grab my knee pads. I was using them for, for, for this other thing. Anyway, I'll be right back."
With that, Stewie started to go back inside while the puppies watched their dad put together the net. Little did any of them know that the Jenny and Marcus from the future (or "Future Jenny" and "Future Marcus") had appeared in front of Cleveland Brown's old house. As Stewie was about to go back inside, he heard the screeching of tires. A car was caressing toward an unsuspecting Brian. The puppies all feared the worse. The two future puppies knew they had to do something quick; they were running out of time.
"Brian," Stewie called, "look out!"
Inside, Stewie's call got Barbara out of her reading.
Before the car could hit Brian, the two future puppies leaped, pushing their dad out of the way just in time, leaving only the net and hockey sticks to be run over. Stewie and the puppies gasped in surprise, and they all rushed to the now-saved dog.
"Brian, are you okay?" Stewie asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine," Brian replied. "But what...?"
"It's okay, Dad," Future Jenny halted in assurance as Brian raised his head.
"Jenny and I just saved your life," Future Marcus added.
Barbara rushed outside and saw the whole thing. She was relieved that her mate had just been saved.
"J-Jenny? Marcus?" Brian was confused. "What the hell's going on here?"
"Dad," Future Marcus began as Brian got up. "That car killed you."
Brian's eyes widened at this.
"And when it did," Future Jenny added, "a part of Stewie, Mommy and all four of us died, too. We couldn't live without you."
"So, Jenny and I came back to the future to save your life."
That bit made Stewie's eyes widen.
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Brian asked. "Your mother and I saw Stewie destroy his time machine."
"Oh, yeah," Stewie realized. "I forgot to tell you and Barbara that I went forward in time to Christmas so that I couldn't wait all year for the new toys to come out."
"You what?" Brian replied, wide-eyed. "Stewie, how could you do that? You always said 'Never alter the past', but time-travel ahead to the future? People from that time aren't supposed to tell you anything, not even your future self!"
"I'm sorry, Brian," Stewie apologized. "At least I did have fun with the time machine, though."
"Yes," Future Marcus agreed with Stewie. "Well, luckily, we spotted your future self steal the return pad from your backpack so he would race back here to save Dad."
"But before he had a chance to do that," Future Jenny added, "Marcus and I took it from him, so we could do the same. You should send the return pad back to where it came from, Stewie."
Stewie did what Future Jenny told him, and with that last button push, the return pad vanished.
"Wow," Brian said to the two future puppies, smiling. "Thank you two for saving my life. You know, a lot of other families would have just gotten a different dog and moved on. And if it would have helped you two, if in any way you were happy with that other dog, I wouldn't mind. In fact, I would have wanted it."
The two future puppies looked at each other in guilt, sadly. Immediately, Future Jenny pulled out the letter and photo, and gave them to Brian.
"We did, Dad," she said, as she and Future Marcus started to fade away. "We did. But we weren't happy with that other dog. All four of us were very selfish to him."
"That was before we went back in time to save you," Future Marcus added. "I can feel that the timeline where you and Mom died no longer exists."
"Wait," Barbara replied, running to the group. "I died, too?" Future Jenny and Future Marcus nodded sadly. "How?"
"Heart attack," Future Jenny answered. "It happened because of your obesity and negligence to take care of us after Dad and the second litter died."
"Second litter?" Brian repeated. "Wait, you mean...?"
Before Brian could continue, Barbara held Brian's paw and admittedly nodded, holding her tummy. Brian then smiled in understanding; he was going to become a father again.
"But the second litter died due to Mom's poor health," Future Jenny said, getting Brian's attention.
"Not long after Mom died," Future Marcus added, "we were all sold. It was Lois' decision, since we were selfish to the other dog."
Shedding tears of grief, the two accepted their fate.
"Goodbye, Mom and Dad," Future Jenny waved, smiling sadly as Future Marcus did, "and Merry Christmas." And with that, the two faded out of existence.
Stewie, Barbara and the puppies walked toward the house while Brian stayed behind, reading the letter.
Dear Brian,
I wish I could say that I made a difference to your family. When you died, they were all broken, and Barbara agreed not to remarry. A month later, the Griffins came to the pet store and found me. I was broken, too. I had nothing. My heart was afraid to love again. Most of your family changed that for me, Brian.
But Barbara and the puppies wouldn't accept me as a family member, and her second litter died at birth. Not long after that, Barbara, too, died, and she never loved me at all.
And to make things worse, your family sold the puppies away, and they still carried their hatred towards me, even when I tried to be a foster father to them. However, I want you to know that I did everything I could to try and make their lives better. I hope that's good enough.
Thank you for sharing your family with me, Brian.
Vinny
P.S.: Tell Barbara and the puppies that I'm sorry. Maybe one day, I'll have something like that, too. I can only hope.
Brian couldn't stop reading the letter, and every time, he saw a little more character from Vinny. He couldn't help but feel that Barbara and the puppies were selfish and cruel toward him, but there was little that he could do. Brian looked a little closer at Vinny's photo, and for some reason, he looked familiar as if he'd seen him before. But Brian assumed that it was his head talking. Without saying anything, Brian joined the group and smiled at Barbara, hugging her before they all went back inside the house.
Earlier, in the soon-to-be-erased timeline, Stewie and Vinny walked out of the Mall. Vinny drove a Prius he rented, to be like Brian, all the way to the cemetery where Brian and Barbara were buried.
"Soon," Vinny began to Stewie, "Brian and Barbara will be walking around again. But I won't even be here. I'll be back at the pet shop, dreaming, hoping, and praying that a family like yours will come for me."
Stewie noticed that he and Vinny were fading away, along with the world around them.
"I ain't delusional, Stews," Vinny continued. "There's no hope left for me. I know that Jenny and Marcus did what's right for them. But would you still want a dog like me for Christmas?"
Instead of answering, Stewie just hugged Vinny sadly.
After Vinny un-verbally understood, he looked up and breathed deeply, taking in the winter air. "I'm going to make a deal with you," he prayed to God. "You bring Brian and Barbs back, but make sure that I don't forget what happened since my adaption, since the Griffins mean a lot for me." Vinny spread his arms at full length. "If you're there, when this is all over, please, help me find them again. Help me find Brian and Barbara again, so I can tell them what they've done for me, what they've given me." He turned back to Stewie, and hugged him back. "Goodbye, Stewie, and thank you."
No sooner did Vinny breathe those final words, he, Stewie, and the world around them vanished into nothingness.
Author's Note: Next chapter, get ready to say a sad goodbye to some loved ones...
In the meantime, feel free to leave a review, if you'd like.
Most of this chapter is based on part one of The New Idea's Family Guy fanfic, "Man's Best Friend".