Wolvie'sBiggestFan, What can I say? The man is crazy... Rhonda Petrie, I don't put anything past Syndrome. He's pretty insane. I'm happy to hear you're enjoying it! Thanks for your support! Samtastic, That is a really great idea. I'll see what I can do! :)

Sixteen

"Mom? Where's Dash? He's been gone a few days now…" Jack-Jack asked before shoving a forkful of mashed potatoes into his mouth.

Helen's eyes shifted and she glanced at Bob. He looked a little irritated that the subject had been brought up, but he didn't say anything. He just continued to eat in silence. Just like she had protected, Bob had been furious that he wasn't told of Dash's plans. He was even mad at Helen for a while because she had let him go, but he eventually got over it. He wasn't too angry now, just a little bitter. "Dash has a very important trip that he had to take and some business to take care of. He should be back in a few days," she said to her son with a small smile on her face.

"You don't look very happy," Jack-Jack pointed out. "Is everything alright?"

"Of course!" Helen said in faux cheerfulness. However, in reality, she was worrying about Dash. She had expected him home already. She was under the impression that Dash had gone to meet up with Kyler, tell her what had happened to her parents and tell her that he forgave her for what she had done, and then come back home. But they were nearing the end of the third day since of absence… She glanced at Bob again, sending him a silent message that they needed to talk later. Bob caught her eye and subtly nodded, letting her know he understood.

Helen and Bob were sitting in the living room on the couch. Jack-Jack had gone out to spend some time with a few of his friends. Bob had his arm around Helen, who had her head resting on his chest. There was slight tension between the two of them, but they ignored it for the sake of their oldest son. They needed to figure out what to do about him bring gone for so long.

"Do you think we should try calling his cellphone?" Helen asked her husband. She was trying so hard to think of something to do, but she was clueless. She didn't even know where he was, or if he was alright.

"There isn't really much else we can do, is there?" Bob replied with a small shrug. He didn't mean to come off sounding as if he didn't care, but he was trying to stay calm and strong for Helen's sake. They couldn't both be nervous wrecks; otherwise, nothing would get done.

"I really don't know, Bob," she said sadly. "I don't want him to think that we're treating him like a child though. Do you think he'll be upset with us if we call to check up on him?"

"I think you're overthinking this," Bob responded honestly. "Dash will understand if you just tell him that you were worried about him. Go ahead and give him a call. It'll be fine."

"I suppose you're right," Helen sighed. "Alright then… I'll call him…" She pulled her cellphone out of her pocket and dialed Dash's number. She put the phone on speaker so that her husband could hear as well. However, his phone rang several times before going to his voicemail. Helen's anxiety only increased from her son's failure to answer his phone. She turned and looked at Bob with wide, uneasy eyes. "Something's not right," she said seriously.

"Helen, you can't just jump to conclusions like that," Bob said, trying to reason with her, but she wasn't listening.

Helen quickly dialed another number into her phone and brought the phone to her ear. She waited just a few seconds before someone answered. "Rick?" she asked. "Hi, Rick, it's Helen Parr. Yes, it's nice to talk to you too. Listen, I have a bit of a problem on my hands, and I really need your help. So, you have talked to Dash recently? How recently? I see… In that case, can you please tell me what plans he arranged with you and where he might be right now? I didn't expect him to be gone this long and I can't reach him. I'm a worried about him." Helen's eyes enlarged as the person on the other end continued to talk. Bob could see her hands start to shake and he shot her a questioning glance, which she ignored. "Thank you so much, Rick. You've been a huge help. Yes, we'll definitely be in touch. Thanks again. Bye."

"What's going on?" Bob asked, noticing how shook up his wife seemed to be.

"That was Rick Dicker on the phone. I asked him about Dash's plans and… He thinks that Dash might be in danger as well if he's not answering the phone."

"Why? What is Dash doing?"

"He took Kyler to meet her father. Syndrome wasn't killed like we thought he was," Helen explained. "He's been in a government mental facility since he recovered from his injury caused by the plane engine, and that's where Dash and Kyler went."

"Well, if it's a government facility, how could they possibly be in trouble? Shouldn't that be the safest place for them?" Bob debated.

"I don't know, Bob!" Helen cried out exasperatedly. "But something just doesn't seem right to me, and I think that we need to get over there to find out what is going on. I don't want something happening to Dash and Kyler."

"Alright… Alright… Calm down," Bob consoled, grabbing her hand and squeezing it gently. "If you're really that worried about them, then we can go over there and make sure that they're alright. I'm sure Rick can set something up for us that will get us over to the hospital."

"We need to leave now," Helen said, swiftly standing up from the couch. "If we want to get there before anything happens, we don't have any time to lose."

"I'm coming with you guys," Jack-Jack said, appearing in the living room.

"Jack-Jack…" Helen said, not expecting to see him.

"I heard everything," the teen explained, crossing his arms across his chest and a serious look spread over his face. "I want to go with you to help Dash. I'm not staying behind."

"J, this doesn't concern you," Bob said, trying to reason with his son. "I'm sure everything is fine and nothing is wrong with Dash. We're just going to check up on him."

"Of course this concerns me!" Jack-Jack argued. "Dash is my brother and I want to make sure he's safe just as much as you do! I'm telling you, there's no way I'm staying behind! If you don't take me with you, I'll find a way to get there myself. I'll have Violet take me or something."

"No!" Helen cried out suddenly. "No… Don't get Violet involved," she said in a much quieter voice. She didn't want Violet to get mixed up in anything that could put her and the unborn baby in danger. The rest of his family still didn't know that she was pregnant, so she didn't want to ruin the surprise, but she couldn't let Jack-Jack bring his sister into the situation. "Just… Just let him come with us, Bob," she said. "If it's no big deal, like you so strongly believe, then there will be no problem if he tags along."

Bob sighed, realizing that he wasn't going to be able to argue with her and Jack-Jack. "Fine," he muttered. "But if something does go wrong, then you better listen to us if we tell you to leave, do you understand me?" Jack-Jack nodded and Bob ran his fingers through his thin gray hair. "Alright... Let's get going then…"

I'm really interested in what you have to say and what you think will happen. Also, suggestions are always welcome! Please, tell me what you think! The more reviews I get, the sooner I'll update. Thanks for reading!

Mew Painappuru