Happy 2025, everyone!

And now onto the finale!

Hours and hours had passed. Close to a couple days actually, nearly about the same amount of time as when Tommy left home in the first place.

Finally, the train made it back to the Bay Area.

Lola began moving Tommy around, trying to wake him. "Tommy? Tommy! Wake up!"

Finally, he did, with a stretch and yawn. "Huh? What happened?"

"Tommy, look! We're home!"

Indeed they were.

Tommy got up and saw a huge view of the Bay Area. Everything from the houses, to the parks, to the docks, to the bridge. "Huh, looks like I made it back sooner than I left."

"Well don't just sit there!" Shouted Gus. "Let's get a move on!"

With that, both Gus and Lola escorted their friend back home.

It took them a lot of walking, but they finally made it back to Tommy's house.

"Well, here we are," Lola says.

"Yeah." Tommy looked up at his house. But his fears started coming back and he couldn't move his feet even a step. "Oh man! I'm so nervous! What do I say? What will they say? What if—?!"

Lola placed her hands on the boy's shoulders, trying to calm him down. "Tommy! Relax. Everything will be okay. Just go in there and talk it out."

Tommy looked at her face and decided to trust her. "Okay, I'm going to do it."

With that, both Lola and Gus headed home.

Tommy walked up the steps to the front door. "You coming, Ro?" He asked RobotBoy.

"Tommy go on ahead. RobotBoy have business, take care of."

RobotBoy took off, leaving Tommy at the front door all by himself. The boy was still nervous, but then took a deep breath before turning the knob.

He opened the door very slowly and tiptoed quietly so nobody would hear. Just then, he heard something that sounded devastating, like a woman crying.

He peeked into the living room and saw his parents sitting on the couch. His mother was crying onto her husband's lap, while Dwight tried to comfort her (though with very minimal effort).

"Oh Dwight! I can't believe he's gone! We took him for granted!"

Dwight patted her on the back. "Now honey. I'm sure it's not that bad. I'm sure he's found someone to take care of him."

"It's just not the same! Oh, if only I had him right here now so I could tell him how much I love him. I'd give anything to see his face one more time."

Seeing his mother upset really made Tommy feel heartbroken, as nothing was more hard to watch than seeing a mother cry, especially after losing a child. Tommy knew what he had to do.

He stepped into view and spoke. "Uh, excuse me. Anyone home?"

The two parents looked up and could scarcely believe their eyes.

Debbie was most astonished. "T-T-Tommy?"

"I was just wondering…."

"Tommy!" She immediately got up, ran to the boy and scooped him up in her arms. "Oh Tommy! Where have you been?"

"If you would just let me—."

"I was so worried about you!"

"Listen ma'am….."

Debbie looked surprised and placed the boy on the floor. "Ma'am? Don't you mean 'mom'?"

"No, I don't. I don't think I can call you that."

"What are you talking about? You're our son."

Tommy felt lower than ever. "No I'm not. I don't deserve to be your son anymore. I got angry and ran away because I didn't want anything to do with you. I was so upset with you when you grounded me, I thought you didn't want anything to do with me anymore. So if I can't be your son, the least I can be is a roommate. If that's okay with you, that is."

His mother kneeled down to his eye line. "Tommy, listen. It's not all your fault. We're to blame too, kiddo. I'm to blame. I should've listened to you. You're much more important to me than anything. Can you ever forgive me?"

Tommy gave it some thought, and after a few seconds, he decided…….."Sure. I forgive you, ma'am—I mean mom. And you too, dad."

His dad just smiled as his mom hugged Tommy tighter than ever. "I'm so sorry for not listening to you."

"And I'm sorry for running away. I guess I should be punished, huh?"

"I think what you've been through was punishment enough. What do you think, Dwight?"

"I think you're right. (For a change)"

"I'm just glad you're home. Where's your brother?"

Tommy wasn't sure how to answer. "Um, well……you see…..he's….."

Just then, Donnie came flying through the front door and onto the floor with his hands tied behind him and his mouth duct taped shut.

"Right here."

Tommy looked out the door and saw RobotBoy hovering outside. He gave Tommy a thumbs up before flying off.

"Just to be clear, I didn't tie him up," Tommy said, sheepishly to his parents. "You believe me, right?"

His father was about to speak.

Until Debbie immediately covered his mouth. "That doesn't matter right now," she said. "Your dad and I have something to discuss with your brother."

Tommy watched as his parents took Donnie upstairs. He then followed them up and began listening curiously from behind Donnie's bedroom door.

"So Donnie, what do you have to say for yourself?" Dwight scolded.

"In the face of this incriminating evidence that you are and have always been an evil, lying, troublemaking brute!" Deb held up several pictures of Donnie tormenting Tommy nonstop.

"I'm sorry!" Donnie confessed with tears. "I blame robots!"

"Nice try," Dwight said sarcastically. "What do you take us for? Idiots?"

"Umm……yes?"

His mother growled. "Donnie, you're grounded!"

Donnie looked with shock. Tommy himself was even surprised after hearing that.

"Now honey, don't you think that's a little harsh?" Dwight asked.

But all he received was a sharp nudge in the arm.

"Your mother is right! You should have been kinder to Tommy!"

"You should have been less violent to Tommy!" His mom scolded. "You are going to stay in this house until you make amends to your little brother and treat him with respect!"

Dwight turned to his wife. "Come on, honey. Couldn't we just reduce his sentence?"

"Don't make me start with you too!" She said through clenched teeth.

"I'll clam up."

The parents then left the room with the door open.

Tommy then walked past and stood out of the room in the middle of the doorway.

Donnie wasn't all that happy to see him. "Well?"

"Well what?" Tommy asked confusedly.

"You got what you wanted, dipwad! I'm out of your hair! So go ahead! Gloat all you want! Go on and brag about it!"

Tommy just smiled. "You know what Donnie? I could do that, and as much as I'd like to, I don't think I will. I'm too humble a person to do that. I may not feel like doing anything to you right now, but it doesn't mean I'm not satisfied."

And he walked away.

Donnie scoffed. "Pfft! Whatever!"

Tommy walked down the hallway until he bumped into a pair of legs. He then looked up and saw it was his mom.

This made him a bit nervous. "Oh, hey mom. What brings you here?"

"Oh, I just had a little something to discuss with you."

Tommy gulps. "I'm not in trouble, aren't I?"

"Oh, no. Not at all."

"Oh. Okay, then what is it?"

"You said you wanted to live here as a roommate, didn't you? Well it just so happens that we have an extra bedroom available. See what you think of it."

Deb opened up the door to Tommy's bedroom, which looked more or less the same as it did before he left.

Tommy stepped inside to inspect it. "Hmmm, not bad. It's got potential, right amount of space, and a fitting color scheme. Could use a bit of sprucing up, though."

"Well, you can get to work on that tomorrow," said Deb, "but I'm glad you like it."

Tommy was satisfied, but there was still one thing left he knew he had to do. "Oh, uh….mom? I'm really sorry about your swan."

Deb softened up and knelt down to her son. "Oh, honey. You didn't mean it. Nothing a little glue can't fix. Besides, I realized something else more special to me that's even harder to replace."

"What's that?"

"You."

Tommy couldn't help but smile. With tears in his eyes, he immediately jumped up and hugged her tighter than ever. "I love you, mom."

Deb smiled and hugged him softly back. "I love you too, baby. Oh, and one more thing."

"What?"

"Your grounding is over."

Tommy smiled even more.

The next day at school, Tommy came walking down the hallway when he spotted Lola nearby.

So he ran up to her. "Hey Lola!"

"Oh, hi Tommy. So how'd it go?"

"You were right! As soon as I got in, everything went all better. Turns out mom was pretty devastated without me, and now I'm part of a family again!"

"I knew those two would come to their senses."

That made Tommy smile even more. "Thanks for sticking up for me."

"Who made you think I did?"

"Who else would?"

"Yeah, well I figured they needed to learn a lesson or two about being better parents. But it kinda sucks you have to go back to dealing with Donnie again."

"Eh, I've gotten through it before, I can do it again." Tommy then brought up something else on his mind. "Say, Lola? I know I haven't told you this much, but I'm really glad you're my friend and being there for me when I need it. It really means a lot to me."

Lola smiled. "It really means alot to me too, Tommy. I'm really glad we're friends."

"Yeah. Hey, since I'm not grounded anymore, you wanna go do something this weekend?"

"Well….. I may have to move some appointments around, but what the heck? I accept."

"Cool."

"See you in class, Tommy."

"Bye Lola!"

The two went in opposite directions.

When Tommy was out of sight and earshot, Lola jumped up and heel clicked in excitement.

"Yes!" She whispered to herself.

After school, Deb went into Tommy's bedroom, only to find that not only was it clean, but it looked almost brand new.

"What do you think mom? I managed to spruce it up a little."

"Tommy, this room looks beautiful!" She said with a smile. "But it feels like something's missing."

"Missing? What?"

"Something like this."

Debbie pulled out something behind her back. When Tommy got to see what it was, he was beyond surprised. His eyes welled up with tears and his lips began to tremble.

"RobotBoy?"

"I know how much this doll means to you. I never should have taken him in the first place. So if you want it back, you're welcome to take it."

Tommy didn't say anything, but he was happy enough to take RobotBoy into his hands. After that, he instantly hugged his little buddy.

"Thanks mom."

Deb smiled and patted his head. "You're welcome, sweetie. Now you better get some rest." She got up and headed out the door. "Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

After she left, Tommy activated RobotBoy once more.

"Feels good to be back where we belong," he sighed. "Eh, Ro?"

RobotBoy gave a nod. "RobotBoy happy to be home." Then he started asking something else. "Tommy, we see Loud family again?"

"I don't know, buddy. But I hope they'll never forget us."

Tommy then pulled out something from his back pocket. It was a photo of Lincoln and the Loud sisters he had given him as a going-back-home gift.

The picture made Tommy smile as he turned over to his bedroom window and looked up at the night sky.

The adventure he had was quite an experience.

Sure he didn't think that Donnie (or even his father) were going to change for the better, but to him, that was okay, because Tommy knew that no matter how bad things could get in his life, he would always have friends to help him get through it all (both old friends and new friends).

"Thanks Lincoln."

And that's the end of the main story.

But if you think this is the end of the fanfic, well it's not!

I know it looks like we've concluded, but there's still more! Coming up next is a BONUS CHAPTER!!