Chapter Two

"Cousin, wakey wakey!" Balki sang as he grabbed Larry underneath his arms and hoisted him up.

"Huh?" Larry mumbled, coming to. "What's goin' on?"

"We are at Bianca's house, Cousin. I cannot wait to see her again!"

"Oh, yeah; now I remember. Balki, you can let go of me now," Larry grunted.

Balki did as he was told and exited the egg first. "Remember last time when we were in this very same garage? Feels a little like cordon bleu."

Larry rubbed the back of his neck and looked around. "If you mean déjà vu, then yes, Balki, it does. At least this time, Bianca isn't standing over us with a baseball bat."

"Speaking of Bianca, where she is?" Balki asked, walking to the garage door that led into the kitchen. Surely she knew he and Cousin Larry were coming!

"Maybe she's inside," Larry suggested. "Bianca, are you in there?" he knocked on the door. When they heard silence, Larry reached for the doorknob and jumped when the door opened effortlessly.

"Bianca, are you and R.O.B. planning a party for us? If so, just let us know and we will be surprised!" Balki called out as he and Larry gingerly walked into the kitchen.

"I don't know about this, Balki; something doesn't feel right. If Bianca sent for us, then why isn't she here now?" Larry whispered.

"Oh, Cousin, don't get your underarm hair in a twist," Balki brushed him off. "I am sure that everything is perfectly A-K.O."

"Balki, you don't think that it's a little strange that no one is here? I don't even hear R.O.B."

Suddenly, R.O.B. whizzed through the kitchen door, his usual blue 'eyes' replaced with red ones. "Intruder alert; intruder alert," it repeated in its robotic voice.

"R.O.B.! It's us! Cousin Larry and Balki!" Balki announced.

Suddenly, the robot's eyes changed back to blue and his red 'lips' smiled. "Good to see you again. I did not know you were coming."

"Frankly, neither did we. Where is Bianca, anyhow?" Larry asked.

"She is on a date with one Max Fagen."

"Oh, there are more than one Max Fagens?" Balki asked.

Larry sighed. "Balki, what he means is she's on a date with a guy named Max Fagen." Suddenly, Larry's eyes grew wide. "Wait a second; if she's on a date, then why are we here? How were we supposed to die this time? Earthquake? Car accident? Murder one?"

"I sensed no danger to your lives nor did I send for you. Bianca did. I am sure she will be back shortly." R.O.B. told them.

Balki turned and saw the little screen on the counter that Bianca had used before to operate the time machine. He remembered his cousin telling him that she used it to bring Balki back from his terrifying encounter with the Ky-Dels on Mypos. While Larry and R.O.B. were not looking, he pressed the button at the bottom part of the device and saw that she had recently activated an emergency button on the machine. "Um, Cousin?"

"Balki, hang on a second. I want to know more from R.O.B. about this Max that Bianca is out with."

"But, Cousin–"

"Balki, I just want to know–"

"Cousin, you should–"

"Balki–"

"But–"

"Balki!" Larry shouted before calming himself. "Whatever it is, I'm sure it can wait until we find out if this man is suitable enough for Bianca, alright?"

Balki suddenly grabbed Larry's hair and jerked his upper torso forward until he was leaning over Bianca's screen. "Look," he demanded, his voice an octave lower.

"Okay, Balki, I see it," Larry replied quickly before Balki let go. "It says Bianca activated an emergency transport about twenty minutes ago. That was approximately the time the machine appeared in our apartment. R.O.B., do you think she's in some kind of trouble?"

"She activated the transport when her date wished to see the garage. She did not wish for him to see her machine," R.O.B. concluded, scanning the data on her device.

"Balki, do you know what that means?" Larry cried.

"Well, of course I do; don't be ridiculous…what were we talking about again?"

"She didn't want this guy Max to see her machine because she obviously doesn't trust him! As soon as Bianca gets home, I'm going to sit her down and tell her that this Max guy is just not good enough for her," Larry stated.

Balki glanced at his cousin from the corner of his eye. While Balki may have been at times what his cousin called "wet behind the ears", he knew what jealousy sounded like. And right now, jealousy sounded a lot like Cousin Larry Appleton.

And here I thought this date would be a disaster, Bianca thought as she rode in the passenger seat of Max's red Fiat. He had been the perfect gentlemen–opening doors for her, pulling back her chair, complimenting her–making it almost seem silly to have gotten so worked up two hours before. Now the first date and the butterflies were over (almost) and he was driving her home.

Suddenly, her foot brushed against something on his floorboard, making a squeaking noise and she jumped. "What was that?" she asked quickly.

Max laughed good-naturedly. "Sorry. I accidentally left one of my cat's toys in the car. Didn't mean to rattle you."

Bianca brushed him off with a casual wave of her hand. "No, it didn't rattle me. I just wasn't expecting it; that's all."

Bianca gulped as he pulled into the driveway of her house. It had been so long since she had been part of the dating game, she wasn't sure what to do. Say goodnight in the car? Let him walk her to the door? Ask him inside for a nightcap and a quick one-player game of Hide the Time Machine? She decided on option number two as soon as Max eliminated the first one by opening her car door.

Slowly, she walked hand-in-hand with him to the front steps, her heart beating fiercely. So much for the disappearing butterflies!

"Well, I hope you had as good of a time tonight as I did," Max told her, looking deep into her blue eyes.

"I had a very good time, thank you," she smiled.

Bianca waited as his face grew closer to hers, his lips slightly parted, eyes closed…

CRASH!

Both she and Max pulled away at the unexpected noise. Now new nerves had taken over: someone–or something–was in her house! "What was that?" she asked slowly.

"Sounded like it was inside. Maybe it was just your robots?" Max guessed.

"No, Wakamaru's battery is dead and R.O.B. should be powered down as well. Max, what are we going to do?"

Max grabbed her arm. "Don't worry. Slowly unlock the door and then get behind me."

Bianca nodded and quietly unlocked her door before scrambling behind her protector. She squealed, however, when she saw him pull a gun from his jacket pocket. "A gun?"

"Just in case we need it," Max whispered before he threw the door open in a flash and expertly pointed the gun, ready to fire.

Suddenly, Bianca heard a familiar voice inside. "Well, it's about time you got home–oh my Lord!"

Bianca pushed past Max and stood there, mouth open at the man standing at the other end of the loaded weapon, eyes wide and hands up. As if on cue, another familiar face walked inside from the kitchen wearing a white apron. "Bianca! So good to see you!" he said, walking towards her to embrace her.

"Stop right there!" Max hollered, stopping him dead in his tracks.

Bianca felt dizzy, but she managed to find her voice. "Larry? Balki? What on Earth on you two doing here?"

"These two friends of yours?" Max asked dryly.

"Yes, they're friends. You can put the gun away," she replied. "Seriously, though; what are you guys doing here?"

"I was just in the kitchen making bang bong binki ninki baklava; a famous Myposian pastry," Balki announced proudly.

"What do you mean what on Earth are we doing here? You invited us, remember?" Larry asked, ignoring Balki.

Now the room really was spinning. Not that she wasn't glad to see them, but how in the world did they manage to travel forward in time when the machine hadn't even been used in almost a week? One thing was for certain: she needed to sit down before her face met the hardwood floor.