For disclaimer on Meet the Robinsons, please refer to chapter one.

Currently looking for Cover Art commissions.

Chapter Eight: Wanted After All

Wilbur laid sideways on his bed with his legs slightly bent. His mother sat on the bed with his head in her lap, stroking his hair tenderly. His eyes were red and puffy, and his eyelashes were still wet and sticky with tears. At the moment, he could care less that he was crying.

His father did not want him.

A knock on the front door echoed throughout the apartment. Franny hesitated the moment the first knock was heard, then got up to answer the door. Wilbur remained on his bed as voices murmured from outside his room.

"Wilbur?" he heard the voice called. He raised his head to see his father standing, surrounded by the white doorframe. Wilbur sat up, saying nothing. His eyes locked on the floor, and dared not to gaze at anywhere else.

His father rushed to his side, pulling him into a tight embrace. Wilbur muscles tensed up, but eventually relaxed, letting himself collapse into his father's arms, sobbing uncontrollably.

"Wilbur," the man said as the boy calmed down. "I never stopped loving you. Or your mother." The thirteen-year-old pulled away to look at his father. "There wasn't a day that went by where I wasn't thinking of you."

Cornelius glanced at Franny, then back at his son. "Wilbur, what would think about living with me?" The young teen stared at his father in disbelief. He looked over at his mother, waiting for her approval. She looked at him sadly, and nodded her head faintly.

Wilbur looked back at his dad. "Will Mom stay with us?" Cornelius sighed, and stared at Franny again.

"That's up to your mother…" He stood up and walked over to Franny.

"Franny, you're welcome to come…" He swallowed the lump in his throat. "I-I would like for you to live with me…"

Franny blinked back some tears as she thought carefully about Cornelius' words for several long moments. "For Wilbur, I will," she answered.

A few weeks later, Wilbur walked up to the enormous Robinson household, with a suitcase in each hand, and his parents by either side of him. He stared up at the house with tears in his eyes. He wished it did not had to end this way, but he was grateful to have his family together again at all.

His father did want him after all.

Continued in If I Never Married You

1 October 2007