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It was just over 24 hours after Charlie Burns's entire reality vanished with the S.S. Phantom Voyager that his body finally gave out on him. His glazed eyes stared at the live feed from the pier, a serene patch of ocean. Though the volume was muted, the endless lapping of the waves at the sides of the Darby Ava and faint beeps and bloops of machines from Doc's floating lab seeped in.
At first, Doc had been glued to his computers, running scans on the data, mumbling to himself. Frankie worried at the belt of her life jacket as her eyes flitted between her father, her best friend's father, and where her best friend should have been. Charlie was unshakeable. They'd be back. They always made it back.
They'd waited on the water for hours. Though Charlie had told Arthur to take the ferry back to the pier, spectators lingered on the shore without someone to set up a perimeter. Even so, over the hours even the most concerned citizens slowly trickled away, leaving Charlie, Doc, and Frankie alone with the empty space that had swallowed up their world. The first orange fingers of dawn clawed at the waterline. Soft sobs joined the chorus of ocean waves. Doc knelt at Frankie's side, put an arm around her, and murmured some comforting words while looking sidelong at Charlie. His old friend's glance — grave, rueful — struck like lightning.
All Charlie could remember after that was Doc driving him home.
A to-do list ran through his mind. Prepare contingency plans for emergency response. Requisition temporary staff and vehicles from the mainland. Call Optimus Prime. Touch base with Doc about the data. Get them home. Get them home. Get them home.
It was not the first time in his life that Charlie Burns wasn't up to his job, but this time, he was without his family. He felt like — well, like a ship lost at sea. Only he had no crew and no way to shore.
His comm rang on the non-emergency line. "Hello?" Charlie answered robotically. His head suddenly felt so heavy.
"Chief."
"Doc." Charlie sat up straighter. "Find anything?"
"Yes. Do you recall the time machine we found beneath my lab?"
The chief's stomach sank, recalling Cody and Frankie's tale of a grim alternate timeline. "Yeah."
"Well, I thought the energy readings from the Phantom seemed familiar, so I ran them against some samples from the time machine." Doc paused. "They were a match."
The monitors began to multiply and swirl together. He lurched in his seat. "What... what does that mean? They went back in time again? Can we replicate the one from before and get them back?"
Doc spoke slowly: "That tech is beyond even me, I'm afraid. I don't know where they've gone, exactly, but I think it's reasonable to assume we won't see the Phantom Voyager for another ten years. Chief — Charlie. I'm so sorry."
A tide of words, questions, apologies rose in Charlie's chest, but when he opened his mouth, they turned to vapor. Ten years ago, Graham had been helping change Cody's diapers. Kade and Dani had arm wrestled to see who'd get to do the first ride along with Dad (Dani, always tough for her age, was still stronger than Kade back then). And he'd been chief, despite it all. Ten years from now, he would still be —
"Chief? Are you still there?"
Chief Burns took a deep breath and raised his eyes to the ceiling. He would persevere, and they'd be back before he knew it. "Still here, Doc. How are you and Frankie holding up?"
A heavy sigh crackled from the comm. "Frankie isn't doing too well. She hasn't left her room all day. Though I suppose I'm one to talk. I've been poring over the data and trying to think of some way to..." As if catching himself about to go off on a tangent, Doc trailed off and cleared his throat. "How about you? Have you slept? Have you eaten? I know how you can get."
The chief waved a hand absently, warding off both his friend's concerns (no and no) and his own swelling dread of the next decade. "Don't worry about me. Frankie needs you to have her back right now."
"And you need someone to have yours," Doc said with uncharacteristic sharpness. The words hung in the air for a moment. "Would you like to have dinner with us? I can come pick you up. Given the gravity of the situation, perhaps it would be better if we all have some company."
"What do you mean by— Really, Doc, I'm fine."
Keys jangled on the other end. "Splendid! Which means you will be ready to go as soon as I arrive. See you soon."
Before the chief could respond, the line clicked off. That Doc was usually so mild, but he could be impossibly stubborn when he wanted to be. But in truth, some company might do him some good. And if anyone could figure out a way to get them back, it was Doc. Maybe they could brainstorm over dinner. Everything would be fine. They'd be back, Chief Burns thought once more as he got up from the bright yellow chair.
And promptly collapsed.
Soon after, Doc had found Charlie sprawled on the floor in front of the monitoring station, pale as a sheet and slick with sweat, weak from exhaustion. He was lucky he hadn't hit his head. A few juice boxes helped revive him for long enough for him to get himself into the car and eat a proper meal. Frankie even emerged from her room to eat, though she was silent the entire evening. They talked til late about Doc's theories about the ship and ways to get them back; in the wee hours of the morning, Doc directed Charlie to the guest bedroom.
"We'll be here if you need anything," Doc said as he shut the door.
As much as he didn't want to admit it, Charlie didn't want to sleep in the firehouse all alone. Even in the hardest times in his life, he could sleep knowing his children were near, that in the morning he'd hear their voices, arguments and all. More recently, he realized, he'd become accustomed to the bots, too, the clangs of metal in the garage as they moved around. In the daytime, he could pretend empty was normal. But at night...
It was a rough start to what became weekly dinners at the Greenes'. It took a few months before the chief stopped sleeping over, just to have one night a week when he could pretend he was still in a bad dream. When the echo of his footsteps in the empty garage didn't twist his insides like a knife. But as their conversations turned away from solutions and toward a yawning, uncertain future without the kids and the bots, Charlie knew he had to keep living. Stay the course, so he'd be there when they got back. And they would be back.
Optimus was crestfallen to hear of the bots' disappearance, and he expressed his sympathies for the kids. They both knew there was little left to be said or done. Neither of them was the type to draw these sorts of things out. They agreed to stay in touch, and that the chief would do what he could to respond to alerts from Optimus without the bots.
For better or worse, emergencies never stopped. In the absence of their robot protectors, Griffin Rock's residents were no less cautious, though Doc Greene was a bit more conservative with his prototypes' capacity for wrecking the town. New hires came from the mainland to help out, and they were consummate professionals who were, for the most part, happy to spend a year or two keeping Griffin Rock safe before rotating out. One of them even made friends with Mrs. Neederlander, a feat the chief himself hadn't thought possible.
In the lull between calls, he spent a lot of time on patrol. Especially in the early days, the chief spent hours a day behind the wheel. He mostly retraced memories he had with the kids: walking around town with Cody, visiting festivals as a family, taking the bots to Blossom Vale. The rumble of the engine helped soothe the thoughts that threatened to drag him under. Were they safe? Were they still together? Would they still be on the ship when it reappeared in 3,641 days? What would he say? What would they say? When he realized his thoughts were going in circles, Charlie would pull over and take a walk. He took a lot of walks.
Weeks turned to months. Several townspeople volunteered to help the chief, either by taking shifts in the monitoring station or bringing him plates of food. Nobody said "mourning" around him, given his insistence that his children would be back, but few people in town believed it. Taylor and Hayley did, and they said as much when they came to visit. The chief appreciated their kindness, regardless of what they may have whispered about him, about his new wrinkles and sunken eyes. Doc and Frankie even came by on Cody's birthday with a small chocolate coconut cake that they shared over coffee and tea.
"Do you think they'll be the same when they come back? Or do you think they'll be ten years older?" Frankie asked, gazing into her cup of rooibos.
Doc mercifully answered before Charlie could. "Considering the ship has always appeared in the exact same condition as the day it disappeared, I hypothesize that it's suspended in time. I don't think they'll have aged a day."
"So everything here will change instead?" It wasn't a question, not really.
The chief voiced what he'd been thinking every waking moment for the past hundred days: "Our love for them won't. We'll be right there on the day it reappears, ready to welcome them back."
Frankie looked to him with something like hope with the bottom punched out of it. "Ten years is forever from now, though. Everything will be... different."
Her father rubbed her arm. "Everything is always changing, my little Curie. The chief is right: ten days or ten years, we will be there to greet them, whoever or whatever we become."
Steam rose from their slowly cooling mugs.
They split the leftover cake between them; Doc and Frankie promised to visit on the chief's birthday. They came by on Kade, Dani, and Graham's birthdays, too, each time with a small treat to share.
On the first anniversary, the three of them geared up and set out for the spot where the Phantom Voyager disappeared. There was really no reason to, since Doc had set up a remote monitoring buoy to track energy fluctuations. If the ship did reappear, they'd get a ping. But humans are not always reasonable creatures.
The chief wondered if it was his imagination, or if Griffin Rock was less dangerous without the bots. Certainly, there were accidents, mishaps, and mayhem. Dr. Morocco had escaped and seemingly left their little island. Some hunter had kidnapped Dr. Baranova, a case which had involved mainland authorities to resolve safely. And there was the whole pirate incident. ... Maybe it really was his imagination.
His mind just wasn't in it these days. He thought instead of introducing Graham to Amy, the new engineer who'd moved to town. He thought of taking Cody to the prehistory exhibit at the natural history museum, of going with everyone to the drive-in theater's Creature Feature. Every day haunted him with thoughts of some beautiful, alternate world where the eight of them were still here and mere memories didn't threaten to drown him.
Tonight, the sea was glassy. They took both the floating lab and the Darby Ava — "just in case we come back to shore with more than we set out with," Doc said with a wink. In case of energy spikes, they also had Taylor on standby on the firehouse helipad; he'd gotten his pilot's license in the intervening year to help cover for Dani, though the chief had told him not to feel obligated. He was a good kid.
Just as twilight melted into dusk, the two crafts anchored. The ocean air was a bit warmer than last year, but nevertheless, Charlie had brought seven extra jackets. Doc's timer ticked the minutes away til the time the Phantom Voyager might appear. Despite his best efforts, Charlie's pace quickened. Thirty minutes. Fifteen. Five. One.
...
The moment came and went. Frankie turned and went inside the lab, her downcast gaze and hunched shoulders doing a poor job of disguising her sobs. From where they stood on their respective vessels, Doc and Charlie shared a look. Nine years to go.
Sometime around 3 o'clock that morning, Charlie Burns finally shed his first tears for his missing children. He cried as he had been taught to: quietly, deeply. Reaching all the way into himself to dredge for everything that had ever wounded him and that he hadn't had time to feel. He wondered if he would ever stop feeling like this. Like a rock tumbled around by a raging sea, worn smooth and then ground to fine sand.
Charlie considered his reflection. Hair: more white than grey, thinner but not balding. Skin: a lot more wrinkles, the beginnings of a wattle at his throat. Eyes greying at the edges of the irises, but his vision was still pretty sharp. Under-eye bags big enough to pack in all of Cody's old stuff, though. Charlie glanced at the family photo taped to his mirror, taken after a charity basketball game just before Voyager incident. Would they still recognize him?
An alarm tinkled: 3 hours to go. The first few groups were probably already setting up on the pier. The chief smoothed out his shirt one more time and headed for the helipad. Doc and Frankie would arrive at any moment.
The ferry was getting too close to the perimeter. The chief radioed Arthur to tell him as such but was interrupted by a sickening purple-white flash. His stomach dropped, and dropped further when Frankie pushed forward on the control column to speed them toward the shadowy bulk of the ship that had stalked his nightmares for a decade. The Phantom Voyager had returned at last.
Frankie pulled up alongside and flashed the floodlight on the ferry, wrecked and sinking, people in the water. For a horrible moment, as the beam swept up the titanium white broadside, Charlie expected to see nothing, and for the ship to vanish once again, taking with it his dreams of finding his family. Then, everything was illuminated.
"I don't believe it." Ten years of envisioning this day. He thought he'd be more prepared. Charlie leaned out of the side of the helicopter. "Kids. It's really you." They probably couldn't hear him over the chopper blades, but he hoped they were thinking the same thing.
A shout from the water broke the spell. Something in him clicked into place, shutting the door on his shock for the moment. "We have to save the reunion for later. That ferry's going down."
The bots and their companions leapt into action, better coordinated than any of the folks from the mainland. Chief Burns pointed out a girl treading water, directing Frankie to hover so he could pull her to safety. It was all over in a few minutes, but all he could think about was how quickly they were burning through what little time they had.
At last, Frankie put the helicopter down on the deck of the Voyager. Charlie leapt out, chucking his helmet into the backseat of the chopper, and ran to Cody, who was already bounding toward him. He'd dreamt of this moment for years, but the dreams couldn't hold a candle to Cody's bear hug. He nearly knocked his father back a step. Charlie looked down at his fine, golden hair. His youngest was still so small, barely up to his chest. It took everything in him not to fall to his knees for the joy of finally finally holding his son again.
"It's been a long ten years." Charlie's breath hitched as he looked up to see Dani walking toward him, her eyes scanning his face from under furrowed brows. Cody stepped aside and went to Frankie.
"Oh, Dad." Dani flung her arms around her father's noticeably smaller shoulders. Charlie heard her sniffle.
"Five more minutes before the ship disappears again," called Doc.
Charlie gave his daughter one mighty squeeze, then let go to hug his older sons. Everything he'd thought to say had evaporated. All he could do was look. They made it back. Four kids, four bots. They made it back to him.
The bots apologized, even though the chief had been the one to order them onto the ship. Dani introduced him to Captain Ambrose — the Captain Ambrose. Doc filled everyone in on the energy readings and his time machine hypothesis. In the back of the chief's mind, the timer ticked down.
Graham's eyes widened. "Time machine..."
"That could be what I saw down in the hold," Boulder offered.
"Somebody must have been transporting one on the Phantom."
Doc's timer beeped again. "One minute left. We need to go."
Charlie turned back to his children and the bots. "Come home." All of a sudden, he felt so small. Reflexively, his hands folded in front of him, something he hadn't done since he was Cody's age, getting scolded for something Woodrow did. "It'll be an adjustment, but at least we'll be together again."
Everything was different. He thought of Taylor and Hayley, of Mrs. Neederlander, of all the people who'd moved on or were no longer around. Optimus Prime and Bumblebee had returned to Cybertron, apparently. Charlie himself had been no spring chicken ten years ago; he probably should've retired already by now. But he was here. They were here, finally.
"Dad." Cody appeared at his side, and Charlie instinctively put a protective hand on his youngest's back. "If a time machine did this, then we can reverse it..." He smiled up at his siblings and the bots.
"And return to where we started," Dani finished. She turned to Captain Ambrose. "Where we all started."
Cody looked at his father. "Let us try, Dad. Please?"
Charlie placed his hand gently on his son's shoulder, meeting his pleading gaze. He really hadn't aged a day. Charlie had lived for ten years with a small flame of hope where his heart had once been. And now, his heart was so close he was touching it. Would he even survive another ten years? He had to, in case they got it wrong. He had to be there when they came home.
And if they got it right, maybe this would all go away.
That was it, then. Charlie screwed his eyes shut and bowed his head in defeat. "All right." He looked over the bots and his three eldest. Though Cody seemed almost excited saying his goodbyes to Frankie, his siblings stared with varying mixtures of grief and fear at their father. Charlie's gaze lingered on Captain Ambrose. Hopefully, Cody was right, and they both found safe shores.
Chief Burns followed Doc to the helicopter, and they lifted off. Below, the kids and bots shrank away, waving forlornly at the three people who'd watched the sun set and rise for ten years waiting for them to come back. A purple-pink dome crackled around the Phantom Voyager, and with a brilliant white flash, they were gone. Again.
Frankie swept the light over the ocean's surface, choppy from the sudden displacement of water. Although he knew there was nothing there, Charlie peered at the water. What if he had insisted they stay? Would they have been able to acclimate to the modern Griffin Rock?
"Frankie, Doc, wanna head back?"
The pair looked over their shoulders in surprise. Charlie had never been the first one to go home. But the expression they saw on his face answered any question they might ask.
It was a quick flight back to the firehouse. They alighted, Frankie shutting down the chopper before shepherding everyone inside. She sat at the kitchen table with the chief while her father put on a kettle.
"Are you okay, Chief Burns?" Frankie ventured. Doc watched them from the corner of his eye while he grabbed tea and coffee from a cabinet.
The chief was quiet for a moment, staring intently at an age spot on one of his hands, folded on the tabletop. "Do you think they can fix it? How will we know if it works?"
"They're Burnses. Of course they can. And I'm sure we'll know from our point in the timeline." She put a hand on his and offered a wan smile. "They really hadn't changed at all, huh?"
A short chuckle escaped the chief, despite himself. "Heh, yeah. Seems like one of those old horror serials."
The kettle shrieked, just as Doc tore open a third teabag.
Frankie laughed. "Yeah,
"I see it!"
Doc jogged to the railing of the floating lab, where his daughter pointed at the hulking outline of the Phantom Voyager. "Another energy spike! The ship has returned!"
From the deck of the Darby, the chief saw it too. He clicked his comm. "Kids, are you there?"
Cody pumped his fists in the air. "We made it!" His family burst into cheers around him.
There was a man in uniform on deck speaking to them. From where he was, the chief couldn't hear anything, but moments later he disappeared into the ship, leaving the Burns family to return to the Darby. The eleven of them watched in awe as the massive cruise ship was enveloped by pink electricity and disappeared in a flash.
"Hey, Frankie," Cody called mildly.
"'Hey, Frankie'?" She threw her hands up. "What happened!?"
"Yeah, we lost track of you for a moment or two. What did you find?" Chief Burns was the definition of staying cool under pressure, but even he had been a bit panicked for a second when the ship blinked out of existence. Images flashed in his mind of staying out here til dawn, and having to go home to the firehouse, made larger for its emptiness. Ten years of waiting for them to come home.
"We found Captain Ambrose," Dani said, watching a wake break on the already-calming water. "And hopefully, we rescued him."
Charlie couldn't help but smile. Burns family, always on the job. He was just glad they made it back safe. They always made it back.