A/N- Okay, I'm extremely thrilled with a part of this chapter even if no one else turns out to be. I usually don't ever incorporate music into my fanfics...at least I haven't since my Hey Arnold fanfic in the 8th grade :P Anyways, but I guess I'd been listening to waaaaay to much Michael Buble at the time. The two songs that I use in this are Everything and Save The Last Dance For Me. Of course, I shortened them for use in this fanfic. If you have not heard either, than I highly suggest them. You can listen to both free on the home page of Michael Buble's official website. I hope that the dance movements make sense as I was merely describing them as I saw it in my mind's eye. Other than that, I thoroughly enjoy the thought of Carl once being a kid-like robot. Why? Basically because I'd like to hear Harland Williams acting like that...almost in a Jonathan Winters type way (this is the part that makes sense to fellow Mork and Mindy fans :P). For those who haven't ready any of my other current fic, Artificial Romance, I will be unlikely to update for the next two weeks. This week I'm swamped with schoolwork, and now the added stress of something horrible that is happening to my best friend and the week after that I will be away from a computer to update. So, I wish I could say that this chapter is longer to make up for that, but sadly it's not. And it drives me nuts since I know that this is the first chapter where things start getting interesting...atleast I hope so, if not, guess I've failed miserably :P Oh by the way, Jacoby says that last line like that on purpose : )

Save The Last Dance

Dinner had been finished and the tables cleared and moved to make more room and still the kids didn't want to leave their private concert. As another song finished and Tallulah suggested they get ready to go watch the movie they complained and insisted that they weren't ready.

"I haven't downloaded the movie to my system yet anyways," Carl spoke up. "Besides, this might definitely help with releasing some of their energy," he whispered to her.

"Well, it depends on the band," Tallulah said in consideration to the frogs.

"Hey, as long as the crowd is ringin' and the band is swingin' oh Frankie here'll keep on singin'. Hit it boys," Frankie instructed and the band started up again. "You're a falling star. You're the getaway car. You're the line in the sand when I go too far."

"Come on! Let's dance everyone!" Talia exclaimed and grabbed Carl's hands, quite to the confusion of the un-expecting robot. He looked at Tallulah for help but she simply smiled and laughed.

All of the other kids joined in and before she knew what was happening, Buzz was attempting to dance with Tallulah. Now she was the one wanting a little help, but decided dancing for a few moments didn't matter.

"You're the swimming pool, on an August day. And you're the perfect thing to say." Suddenly, the kids got the notion to rotate partners in almost a square-dance style and before they knew what was happening, Tallulah and Carl found themselves dancing together.

At first, it seemed a little awkward for some reason, especially for Carl, but it wasn't long before the music took hold, and with a smile from Tallulah they danced without thinking anymore of it. "And you play it coy, but it's kinda cute. Ah, when you smile at me you know exactly what you do. Baby, don't pretend that you don't know it's true. Cause you can see it when I look at you."

All of the kids stopped dancing and stood back to watch Tallulah and Carl dance together ballroom or 40's jazz lounge style in what seemed like perfect step and rhythm to the song. Only Buzz seemed a little huffy that he had lost his dance partner. As for Tallulah and Carl, they hadn't even noticed the new change of setting. Instead, they were lost in their dance.

"And in this crazy life and through these crazy times, it's you, it's you, you make me sing. You're every line; you're every word; you're everything."

The kids began clapping in rhythm with the music and some were even singing, more like chanting, along, as Carl held up his hand and Tallulah began to twirl around and around. "So, La, La, La, La, La, La, La. So, La, La, La, La, La, La, La."

As Tallulah finished the last twirl which spun her back into Carl's arms, she finally realized what was happening with herself and the kids. Although it was slightly embarrassing, she also realized that they seemed to be enjoying it so she just turned her attention back to Carl, who was still unaware of what was going on, and felt herself caught back up into the music and dance as it built to a crescendo.

"And in this crazy life and through these crazy times it's you, it's you, you make me sing. You're every line; you're every word; you're everything." Suddenly the music slowed and on cue so did Carl and Tallulah's dancing. "You're every song, and I sing along. Cause you're my everything."

Carl spun Tallulah out slowly, back in slowly, and before either knew it Carl twirled Tallulah again and dipped her slowly. Tallulah's eyes fluttered and closed partially as Carl's head hovered just above hers. They seemed frozen in this position, both unaware of the music, the kids, or that the song was coming to a close as Frankie crooned the final La, la la's. Suddenly an escaped squeal of excitement from Talia brought Tallulah's eyes wide open and Carl back to his senses.

They quickly pulled apart as the music finally came to an end the song to its finality. The room seemed so small all of a sudden and both could feel a sense of uneasiness over what had just happened. "Maybe, I should, uh, go download the, you know, the movie," Carl half-whispered.

"Okay," Tallulah could also barely make an audible sound. "I'll just, you know, stay here with the kids."

"Okay," he backed up even more and watched as the kids encircled Tallulah as he did. He could hear them giving her unending praise of how beautiful she was and how beautifully she had danced, each of the girls asking her to teach them and each of the boys asking her to dance with them. Still, through all of this sudden commotion, Carl still felt lost in a haze as his mind literally raced with thoughts of his dancing with Tallulah. He stood against the wall for a moment and tried to steady himself and bring himself back to normal, hoping to just forget what had happened, but the sound of a new song and Tallulah now taking turns dancing with all of the kids didn't help matters any.

"You can dance-every dance with the guy who gives you the eye, let him hold you tight. You can smile every smile for the man who held your hand 'neath the pale moon light," Frankie was crooning again and the way the words seemed to match the mood seemed to bother Carl even more. Finally, he shook his head, composing himself enough, and walked towards the door to go and get the movie ready. However, he stopped and looked back at Tallulah one last time, who was now dancing with Buzz, who was obviously not about to let go. He then noticed that Frankie was staring directly at him, more than just a little suspicious, as he continued singing, "But don't forget who's takin' you home. And in whose arms you're gonna be. So darling save the last dance for me…" the sound grew further and further away as Carl pulled himself away from the room and into clearer air where he hoped he'd be able to clear his head.

--Lewis' Lawn--

"Why didn't you think to check the gage!?" Lewis was trying really hard not to lose his temper entirely as they all stood around the almost completely fuel-less time machine, still in the past.

"Well, to be honest…"

"Yes, honest. I'd prefer that to a lie."

"I was too busy arguing with Camila to notice. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too," Camila felt the need to apologize since she was partially to blame for starting the argument in the first place.

"I really don't know what to think," Lewis rubbed his temples. "Are you sure it won't be enough?"

"I don't know. It should be enough to get us to the future, but definitely not enough to get us all the way to the house. Hate to tell you this, but you didn't make this thing to get the best mileage," Wilbur tried to lighten the mood.

"Not now," Lewis warned.

"This is horrible! My future self is doomed! Doomed!" Carl began running around, waving his hands above his head in a panic.

"Okay, now is one of those times when I'd say that making a robot to grow mentally like a child is not ingenious," Camila said as they watched the robot.

"Actually, he's prone to panic in the future too."

"I wonder why," Camila said, obviously implying that it was because he had to deal with Wilbur all the time.

"Hey! I can't help it if Carl stresses easy!" Wilbur defended.

"Alright, you two, enough! We need to think of what we can do. I'm not so worried about what's going on in the future, I'm more concerned with destroying the future because the two of you being here in the past for too long." Both Wilbur and Camila shrunk back at the unusually harsh tone in Lewis' voice. "I don't mean to be hostile, I'm just worried okay. I'm going to give it some thought so I'd like to have quiet. Why don't the two of you go chase down Carl and reassure him everything will be alright."

"Will it be alright?" Camila eyed them both questioningly.

"Sure, me and Lewis have been in much stickier situations than this. And he is a genius, so he'll think of something, you see," Wilbur said as they left his dad behind them and went to find Carl.

"So, is it weird knowing your dad's younger self?"

"Not as weird as having your dad's younger self as a best friend. But it's cool cause me and my dad are tight because of it now."

"That sounds nice," there was a hint of something in Camila's voice and Wilbur recognized it from the way Lewis used to talk.

"I didn't mean to…" Wilbur stopped for a moment. "I guess I haven't been very sensitive to you and your…condition."

"Condition!?" Wilbur couldn't have chosen a worse word had he tried to deliberately. "What do you mean my condition? You mean my being an orphan? You make it sound like it's a disease."

"Well, I uh…"

"But, no matter how much I'd rather not, I'll cut you a break this time since I know you were at least attempting an apology," Camila interrupted Wilbur's fumbling. "Yeah, it would be nice to have a mom and dad, let alone be close to them, but I don't let it get me down. Actually, your dad has been an inspiration to me ever since Mildred visited one time and told us all about him and some other orphans that had been adopted when she had run the orphanage. That's why being here and seeing how things can change for the better when you least expect it is even more inspiring."

"Well, you know, I helped him. If it weren't for me, he might have never fixed the memory scanner. So I'm kind of like a hero," Wilbur said egotistically.

"Look, there's Carl!" Camila pointed and ran after him.

"You just don't want to admit that I'm right!" Wilbur followed after her until they both reached the robot. "Carl, calm down. Everything will be alright."

"You don't know that."

"I promise, Carl," Wilbur tried again.

"You're just saying that but really you know that it's not true," Carl said stubbornly.

Wilbur huffed. Then a thought came to him and he reached into his backpack and pulled out a small family album, which was just one of the several things that were stuffed in there for no reason at all. But he was glad to have this otherwise useless object today. "Look," he opened it and flipped a few pages. "This is the future you. I want to prove that you are a more than capable robot when it comes to handling any crisis."

All three watched the hologram that was being illuminated from the books pages. It showed Carl running towards a closet in which he then hid in. "I'm hiding in a closet?" Carl looked at him unbelievably. "Well, that just proves so much!"

"Oh, uh, wrong picture," Wilbur flipped a few pages back and then re-showed it to them. This time it was Carl taking care of Wilbur as a four year, helping him reach a jar of cookies that Franny had put in an unreachable spot for him. "See, not only did you help me, you did it because you cared for me and because you knew how to shut a little kid up…and that's really all that counts in a situation like this."

"Bribery?" Carl asked.

"The universal language of all children. Trust me; you have had enough experience with me to manage 44 more using your skills."

"4-4-4-44 more…" Carl stuttered, his eyes staring blankly straight ahead at nothing in particular.

"Well, that was convincing," Camila said, her voice drenched in sarcasm.

"Well, that was convincing," Wilbur mimicked. "Don't mind her, Carl. And don't mind the 44 kids. We already told you you're not alone, remember? As long as Tallulah's there with you, you'll be fine."

"But what if they tied her up or worse ate her?"

"They're kids, not cannibals. Seriously, Carl, what does dad let you watch on T.V.? Let me see if I..." Wilbur thought aloud as he flipped through the pages of his album again. "Oh, they are. On this page you can clearly see Tallulah when she was younger babysitting me. I admit that I eventually gave her the slip but for up until then, she was a wonderful babysitter…much better than Laszlo. And on this next page you'll see that now she is a very capable woman who is into fashion design. And from what I hear, it's a vicious world filled with spoiled brats who act like they've never grown up themselves so you see, she is more than able to help handle this…Carl?"

Carl was still staring at the hologram image of Tallulah putting finishing touches on a dress that was on a mannequin. "She does seem very capable," he finally managed.

"I only met her for a brief moment, but she definitely seemed to have a good head on her shoulders," Camila chimed in.

"Well, then, I suppose that my future self is more than okay."

"See, that's the spirit," Wilbur cheered. As he did so, he slammed the album book shut, breaking Carl's gaze. "Now let's see if Lewis has come up with any plans to get us to the future."

"I sure hope so," Carl said. He suddenly had a desire to meet this Tallulah and thank her for her help and maybe even compliment her on her ability.

--The Lab--

"I don't know what to do, Jacoby," Carl talked to his friend as he downloaded the film the kids had chosen.

"What you do is you just admit that you have feelings for her."

"Feelings for her? Ha!" Frankie interrupted the conversation as he came into the lab. "They're both so far gone their heads have lost sight of their heels."

"Excuse me?" Carl asked in a tone mixed with confusion and annoyance.

"Frankie here saw da whole ting. You's suddenly got sumptin' for the girl and she just might got the same sumptin' for you."

"What are you talking about!? I most definitely don't have 'sumptin' for Tallulah and she can't stop going on and on about Johnny Vantino!" There was hint of hostility that didn't go unnoticed.

"Oh, I see…so that's what this sudden change is about. For da first time there's a man in da picture dat has captured da girl's affection and it's makin' your robotic heart see tings a little differently. Is dat it?"

"I'm not sure what you just said, but based on everything else you said, I'm going to say no."

"You're jealous, flat head. And it's a jealousy stemmin' from your long hidden emotions, capice?"

"Jealous? Are you crazy?"

"I think he's got a point," Jacoby chimed in.

"Yeah, well, I don't. So now if you'll excuse me, the kids are waiting. And it would be rude if I left Tallulah alone with them. I am by no means in a hurry because I want to see her or anything similar in nature. Good-bye, Jacoby. Frankie." Carl left the room at a normal, unhurried, confident pace.

"Dat's da worse case of denial I've seen in a long time," Frankie said once Carl was gone.

"Frankie, boy, you said a moutful."