If We Could Go Back (I'd change the world for you)

O1O

"That was so much harder than I thought it would be," Phil whispered, lightly caressing his son's sleeping face. "He... he thought it was a dream."

Techno's face was grim as he gently lifted Tommy and slowly walked to his bedroom. "Yeah, well, it's not that surprising given our history," he said. He slowly placed Tommy in his bed and tucked him in with his new blanket, making sure Clementine and Henry were right next to him. "But we just have to keep moving forward."

"He was so scared to put his test on the fridge," Wilbur whispers. "Worried he'd make Phil angry."

Phil closed his eyes and let his head fall back against the wall, self-loathing flowing through him like a wave. "I don't know what I'm doing," Phil whispered, covering his face with his hands. "What am I doing? How are we supposed to change what we've done?"

"We just have to be better!" Wilbur hissed. "You don't get to give up now! Not when we finally have a chance!"

"I'm not giving up!" Phil replied sharply. "But you can't just expect to fix everything in a day! He... He thought you were going to hit him!" and wasn't that just a punch to the gut. Phil hadn't felt that much grief and nausea since three weeks after the boys had been sent to foster care and Phil got on the family computer for the first time and saw "How can I sleep forever" in the search history.

"I know," Wilbur sighed. "I know. But... But we just need to keep trying."

"And that's going to fix everything?"

Wilbur's voice cracked. "We have to try."

"We're not giving up Wilbur," Techno grunted. "We're just asking you to be a little more realistic."

"Realistic? What? Realistic like traveling ten years back in time?" Wilbur snapped. "Is that realistic?"

"Boys? Again? Really? You're going to wake up Tommy!" Phil said in an exasperated tone. This gave both boys a pause at the ridiculousness of the situation. It was silent for a few seconds as the three of them seemed to realize that.

Finally, Wilbur cracked a smile. "I'm twenty-four, and Phil's telling me to be quiet so I don't wake up my dead brother ten years in the past," he said with a dark chuckle.

"None of this is funny," Techno points out.

"I know," Wilbur nods. He bent his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Okay. We... We need to stop arguing so much. It's not getting us anywhere."

"That's what I've been saying—"

"We also need to come up with a game plan," Wilbur continued, ignoring Phil's splutters. "We need to keep an eye on Tommy and make sure he doesn't... that he doesn't get to... you know."

"Kill himself," Phil said, spitting the words through his lips like venom.

"Right," Wilbur nods, uneasily clearing his throat. "Techno, grab your pills and hide them somewhere—"

"I flushed them down the toilet ten minutes after I realized the date," Techno interrupted, crossing his arms over his chest. "I wasn't risking it."

"Okay, good," Wilbur nodded. "Now we just need to keep an eye on him and get through the rest of the week."

"And what happens at the end of the week?" Phil asked.

Wilbur frowned. "I don't know."