A/N: Here is the new chapter. I don't own anything, because otherwise I would be shopping in LA, New York, and Paris! Whoo!
"Lela, are you okay?" Lewis helped her get on her feet.
"Yeah, 'course I'm okay. But how do you know my name? And where am I?" Lela gazed around, confused.
"I don't think she's okay," Lewis whispered to Franny.
Franny rolled her eyes and replied, "What helped you figure that mystery out, Sherlock? Of course she's not okay!"
Lewis growled, "Fine. Just play along." He turned back to Lela.
"You're in 2007 and your time machine crashed. I'm Cornelius and this is Franny. We can help you fix your time machine. Just follow us." Lela nodded and Lewis led the three of them over to the smoking time machine.
"Go find the shield button on the time machine and press it," Lewis whispered to Franny. "My house is just over these two hills. We almost went in a complete circle. If we can get the time machine in the garage, I'm pretty sure I can fix it in a few days."
Franny nodded. "But, Lewis, what happened to Lela?" She glanced over at Lela, whose hair looked now… black.
"I'm not sure. Either it's a slight case of amnesia, or she's forgotten Wilbur too… like the rest of her family," Lewis gulped. "And if she never remembered Wilbur, she would have never come here, met you, or remembered me."
Franny's brown eyes were wide with worry.
"But, hopefully, she'll be fine. Now go find the shield button!"
Franny scurried off.
"Lela, we're gonna go back to my place, okay?" Lewis asked slowly.
Lela blinked and turned to Lewis, "You know, I may not be from this time, but I'm not stupid. You can speak normally."
Lewis was taken aback at this comment. "Fine. I was just trying to be helpful." He stalked off before Lela could get another word in.
Franny had somehow miraculously managed to find the shield, activate it, and push the time machine about forty feet up the first hill.
"Wow, Franny, you've been a huge help!" Lewis cheerfully commented. Franny looked completely exhausted.
"Can I—go keep—Lela—company now?" she huffed, completely winded and out of breath. Lewis nodded and turned to the long dirt path the time machine had made. He found the invisible time machine, and stated to push it more up the hill. They would get to his house… eventually.
Franny approached Lela, who was sitting on the ground Indian-style, drawing in the dirt with a stick.
"Hey, Lela, what's up?" Franny sat down beside her.
"Oh, nothing much, I'm just stranded in a different time period than my own, with people who think I'm too stupid for my own good," Lela laughed sardonically.
"Lewis is just trying to help, you know," Franny said quietly, drawing spirals in the dirt.
"You mean Cornelius?" Lela asked. Franny nodded. Lela exhaled slowly.
"I know he is, but I just got scared, with people I've never met, in a time I've never seen before. Have you ever had that scared feeling… what was your name again?" Lela cocked her head.
"Franny," she replied.
"Franny… Cornelius… those are my parents' names!" Lela exclaimed suddenly. Franny raised her eyebrows. She knew Lewis was her father… but Franny her mother?
"And you look a lot like my mom. Does Cornelius invent stuff?" Lela asked. Franny nodded lazily.
"And- and do you have frogs in an orchestra?" Lela asked again, this time more eager. If it was possible, Franny's eyebrows disappeared in her sleek black hair. She nodded slowly.
Realization dawned on both girls. It couldn't be…
As Lela screeched, "You're my mother?!" at the same time, Franny hysterically screamed, "I'm your mother!?"
And when Lewis heard these two screams, he knew it could only mean one thing for him: TROUBLE.
The two girls stormed up the hill, Lela extremely excited, but Franny… not so much. Her face was red and blotchy and her eyebrows knitted together. Lewis looked around apprehensively for an escape, but found none that would actually work. He braced himself for extreme pain.
"LEWIS! I CAN NOT BELIEVE YOU DID NOT TELL THIS TO ME BEFORE! YOU'RE MY HUSBAND AND SHE, MY DAUGHTER, HAS FORGOTTEN HER OWN BROTHER, MY SON, WHO IS LOST SOMEWHERE IN THE TIME STREAM! HOW DO YOU NOT MENTION THAT TO SOMEONE?" Franny shrieked, absolutely frantic.
Lewis opened and closed his mouth several time to say something, but nothing came out each time. He looked like a very scared fish out of water. Franny waited impatiently, tapping her foot repeatedly on the ground.
She continued on a heated, although quieter note, "When Lela explained to me the condition of your family and what was happening, I thought to myself I would never be able to take it if that was happening to me and that I would never be strong enough to contain all of my sadness. But now you tell me I'm part of your family, and that in the future, I can't remember my own son. My daughter and the rest of my family have forgotten who he is. In the future, my husband has lost all hope and he's accepting the fact that he'll never see his son again. How do you deal with all of that?" Franny whimpered, completely losing her angry voice.
Lewis slowly approached Franny, and comfortingly wrapped his arms around her.
"I don't know… but knowing Wilbur, he'll come back, you've just never met him. Everything will be okay, Franny, everything will be okay," Lewis slowly rocked the quietly crying Franny.
Behind them they heard a gasp, and a cough. They both swiveled around and saw Lela, who had sunk onto the ground, holding her head in her hands.
"Oh God," she whispered, coughing again. "My head…"
"Lewis!" she suddenly panted. "Franny! Oh my God, Wilbur!" Lela was all of a sudden crying. Both Lewis and Franny kneeled down next to Lela, who had somehow remembered her brother.
Lela was crying, coughing, and trying to talk all at the same time.
"Lela, just breathe!" Lewis said soothingly.
After a few minutes of waiting on bated breath, Lela spoke.
"Oh God, I remember everything now. But—but…" she coughed again.
"My head is killing me," she whimpered. Lewis and Franny helped her up. She groaned when she saw her hair.
"Great. Now I really look like my mom," she stopped short when Franny glared at her.
"Oh. Yeah. I meant… Yay?" she tried. Franny rolled her eyes.
Lela continued on. "But that's not what I was trying to tell you. Lewis, I know where Wilbur is."
A/N: Ooooh, new twist to the story! People, please review, it takes like three seconds! Thank you so much!!