A/N: I'm baaack! From not really a long break, but anyways… Here is the next chapter to Number Thirteen, which comes from Meet the Robinsons, which I don't own… which is sad. But on a light note, here is the eighth chapter!
"I feel kind of bad about leaving Mom behind." Lela pushed a few buttons on the dashboard and turned to Lewis, eyes downcast.
Looking up, Lewis replied, "Huh? Oh, don't worry about Franny. For all know, in the future she and I could be waiting for you to make your arrival and punish you. And since you have me, you could be punished even more and if you brought Franny along, you'd probably get punished twice as much." He seemed to be enjoying Lela's fear. Lewis nodded casually as Lela stared at him, fear etched into her eyes.
"You suck," she snapped, and turned back to the wheel.
"Don't talk to your father like that. Anyways, I was just saying," Lewis shrugged and turned his attention away from Lela.
"You're not my father yet! You're thirteen! You don't know how to be a parent! My parents barely know how to be parents!" Lela yelped, but quickly slapped her hand over her mouth.
"What?" Lewis asked quietly. Lela hung her head.
"You- you're still kind, loving, and fun, but you still don't pay attention to me. Sure it's more than before, but even still. Wilbur pays attention to me and even more after you left, before he disappeared."
"But then why did the scars go away?" Lewis asked even more softly.
"Because you were good at first! When I saw how much you believed in me five years ago, I knew how much you really loved me. The older you stopped going on business trips and you were great for the first year. But then you got busier and busier. Still you haven't gone on any more trips, but I only see you rarely. I know you really care and I keep telling myself that, but usually you just… forget. Mom's the same way. She's awesome, but just gets so busy and forgets too."
When Lewis sat there unfazed, Lela sighed miserably.
"You do understand what I'm trying to deal with here, do you? I'm trying to balance my thirteen-year-old parents, my real parents who have forgotten who my brother is because he has gone missing from existence. I am also trying to find and save him because I am the only person in my family is remembers him and is capable of saving him. I don't need any of your little snipes in my ear anymore," Lela said, voice laced with fury and stress. A wave of guilt washed over Lewis.
"Oh. Lela, I'm—I'm sorry, I didn't realize--" Lewis was quickly cut off from his apology.
"No you didn't realize because your head is too inflated with hot air. And you should be sorry," Lela retorted, and that was that.
They flew the rest of the way to the Robinson mansion in silence.
Lela landed softly outside of the garage. She turned to Lewis with a stern face.
"I'm sorry I yelled at you earlier. Sometimes it's just too much for me and—and I have to vent it somehow. But now I've got a plan," her eyes seemed to sparkle with every word.
"I'm listening," Lewis nodded, knowing better than to argue with Lela.
"Okay, so, since Mom probably does remember Wilbur now and is most definitely waiting for me," she grimaced, but continued, "you can't come out. My mother will kill me if another one of her children has destroyed the time stream. I have to figure out where the time hole is located, so we can get Wilbur out.
"So... I'll give you a signal if my mom is there or not. I'll use the pointer. If I extend it all the way, you can come out. If I extend it halfway, stay at least twenty feet behind me. And if I put it back in my pocket, you need to hide as quickly as humanly possible. Got all that?" Lela asked, opening the top of the time machine.
Lewis nodded. Lela took out the pointer and stretched halfway.
"Wish me luck," Lela took off in the direction of her house.
Within thirty seconds, Lewis inched his way behind. There was no telling what would happen next.
"Mom?" Lela called into the empty depths of her huge house. She kept the pointer out at half length and heard Lewis shuffling behind her.
"Dad?" There was still no answer.
'Why is there no response? My family is huge. There has to be at least one person here!' Lela thought. Lela quickly stuffed the pointer away into her pocket. She heard Lewis run out the open double doors behind her. Something was not right here.
She heard a shuffle from the right-hand hallway.
"Grandma? Grandpa?" Lela called again. But right then, something unexpected happened.
A net swung out of no where and pinned Lela to the wall. Cheers of victory came from the hallways and the Robinson family emerged looking extremely pleased with themselves. Franny was at the front of the mob and came up and looked at her young daughter restrained to the wall.
"Mom!" Lela whimpered pathetically, struggling against the net. Franny laughed.
"I don't have any children, you little intruder," Franny grinned almost evilly. "But we'll just have to lock you up until we find out what to do with you."
Lela's facial expression was contorted with confusion, sorrow, regret, anger, and shock. But it had come to her, why her own family was acting this way. With a heavy tug at her heart, she knew: her family had forgotten her too.
Without anymore struggle, Lela allowed herself to be taken away, tears leaking from her eyes. But she did slowly take out the pointer and raised it to halfway.
"Help me," she softly whispered, tears falling faster.
Lewis surely planned to.
Lewis crept behind as Lela was taken away to her "chamber." He saw when they arrived at the "chamber," it was Lela's own room. Lela's eyes were closed and a few tears stained her flushed cheeks. Without any mercy, Franny who was holding Lela's net, threw her in and locked the door.
Lewis heard Lela moan from inside and he felt a surge of pity for the poor girl. Lela had only wanted to get the information from her father to save Wilbur. As soon as the Robinson family had left the hall, Lewis ran towards the door and knocked on it. There was no response from inside.
"Lela?" Lewis called, hoping she wasn't hurt.
"What?" came the pleaded, soft reply.
"Are you okay?" Lewis tried. A very loud scoff was heard.
"My family has turned into barbarians and they locked me in my room trapped in a net, but other than that, yeah I'm just great!" Lela's voice was very sarcastic.
"Sorry, I was just wondering. But if you don't want me here I'll just leave…" Lewis began to walk away, not really planning to leave Lela all alone.
"NO!" she yelped.
"Okay, okay," Lewis chuckled, sitting back down next to the door. "So, how are we gonna get you out? Is there an invention that your dad has, or something I can use…" Lewis trailed off, looking at something glinting silver on the ground.
"No…" Lela's voice sounded very defeated. "Lewis, it's no use. Wilbur's gone, and now I'm gone too. It's over, Lewis, and we ruined everything. I'm sorry," Lela's voice dissolved in quiet sobs.
Lewis's eyes turned stony. If Lela was not going to be any help, then he would have to do it himself. And he already had a plan…
A/N: I know this is not the sort of thing that the Robinson family would do, but it was either this or hitting Lela with a moving train… and that didn't seem like something I wanted to do. So don't flame me if you don't like the way I approached it, because it could have been a lot worse. And I came up with a phrase to describe Lela. She is "easily driven by her emotions!" I felt very good after I discovered that. I know, I'm special :). Anyways, please review this chapter and tell me what you thought!