Happy was rudely awoken by a shrill ringing noise. Who the hell would be calling her at - she checked the time on her alarm clock - 3 am?
"What?" She snapped into her phone. She heard heavy breathing through the receiver.
"Happy," a voice gasped out. "Happy I need your help,"
"Toby?" Now she was awake. "Toby, what's wrong?"
"You need to come get me. I'm in an alley somewhere between 3rd and 5th street. Please," Toby sounded hurt, he was gasping for breath. "Hurry," he whispered and the line went dead.
Happy hadn't even bothered getting dressed. She sped through the empty streets in her pajamas, wondering what could have happened to Toby. Her mind was running wild. What if he was mugged? Or shot?
After about a minute of highly illegal speeding, Happy finally arrived at the alley Toby had called from. She raced forward and crouched next to a bleeding man. Toby.
"Happy," he murmured. "Happy, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to do this, I swear."
Happy assessed his injuries and saw he wasn't bleeding too heavily. He had a few bright bruises on his face, and his knuckles were raw. His back seemed to be bleeding from multiple small scrapes.
"Come on, let's get you home.
Toby couldn't believe how naïve he had been. He wasn't supposed to be gambling, especially not as he had tonight: in the big lueges. He knew better. He hadn't, however, known how off his game he would be. After the first few rounds, his opponents seemed to pick up on what he was doing. Cheating.
He glanced at Happy. She looked livid. Her eyes met his, and he glanced away quickly. "We'll talk later about how stupid you were. Let's first get you cleaned up."
Happy cleaned each cut and scrape on his back carefully, afraid to cause him any more pain, before bandaging his back. She rubbed some alcohol over a cut above his eyebrow and tossed him an ibuprofen for the pain. She took one look at his raw knuckles and asked, "What happened?"
"Well, you see. . . I wanted to get that new Super Fun Guy action figure for Sylvester, but I was a bit low on cash. So I decided to win the money. At Miguel's." Toby said the last part softly, half hoping Happy hadn't heard. But she had.
"Miguel's?" she demanded. "Toby, the last time you were there, you barely left with your life. How could you even think that would be a good idea?! And gambling? Really, Toby? There are other, honest ways of getting money. You could have asked me. Let me help you."
Toby decided to cut Happy off, before she really got angry. "I know that now. I was stupid and I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry." Her eyes softened. She gently lifted his hands and brought them to her lips. She kissed each of his aching knuckles and smiled at him.
"I'm glad you're okay. Just please, next time, don't gamble. Ask me, or Walter or anyone else to help you. We are all geniuses too, you know."
"Thank you. For everything. Now if you don't mind, I'd like to sleep for a year to forget this whole experience. Also," Toby added, "There are better ways of saying 'I love you,' Hap."
Happy flushed, nodded and high tailed out of his apartment.