Author's Note: I couldn't decide how to publish this. This is a "moment," per se, between Toby and Happy. However, because it is also based on the season finale "Toby or Not Toby" set to air this Monday, I decided to publish it as a chapter in my story Moments and as an oneshot here. Regardless of where you read it, hope y'all enjoy! Finals for the semester finish for me in two weeks, so hopefully on my short break between spring and summer semesters, I can update/publish a couple more stories. Thanks for your patience, and have a good night!
Toby took a deep breath, to steady his voice and swallow any tears, before he spoke into the phone. "Hey, Hap, how are you?" Trying to joke, he thought and briefly hoped, might lessen the impact of the situation on his girlfriend.
"Toby, Doc, we're coming for you, you know that? Just hold on, we'll be there soon," Happy said.
"Hap," Toby replied, his tone softer, more resigned, "it'll be okay. Know that I love you, and I always will. Knowing you has been the greatest experience of my life, and loving you is something I will always cherish." During this, Happy took several deep breaths, the realization of the situation hitting her hard and deep within her heart and soul. Please, Doc, she thought, please hold on – for the team, for me, for us.
"Toby, baby," she replied, a desperate, tearful edge more evident with each word she spoke. "We're coming. Please hold on. Please, Toby, I…" And before she could utter the words she had been trying for weeks to say, an unwelcome and chilling voice broke into the conversation.
"Time's up," Collins interjected. Happy noted the smug tone of his voice, and it was all she could do not to put the car in reverse to go and get her boyfriend back. However, the team still hadn't pinpointed an exact location of Collins and his hideout, so driving aimlessly around the county with Tim and Paige would be useless.
"Don't say I didn't warn you," stated the mad genius. In the background, Happy heard what sounded like Toby struggling against some sort of gag, if the moans and groans were any indication of the pain and discomfort he was in. Happy's heart broke at the thought of what he had been and was going through at the hands of that bastard.
"Collins, listen to logic," Walter pleaded over the phone, he, Sly, and Cabe desperate to stall Collins while they continued to track the psychiatrist and his captor's whereabouts.
"No," Collins curtly replied. "You listen to the sound your friend makes when I complete this circuit." And within a second, Toby started screaming – horrible, gut-wrenching, blood-curling screams laced with pure agony from the electric shock torture Collins was administering. Happy's heart stopped; with each second, the screams grew louder, indicating the progressive increase of the shocks to Toby. The look of horror on Happy's face mirrored that of Tim and Paige's faces. Over the phone, the three men back at the garage had gasped. Happy could hear sniffling – most likely from Sly – in the background. After a few seconds, Happy snapped out of her state of shock. Her blood now cold and without a single thought to any current or tentative plan, Happy threw the SUV in reverse. Tim and Paige quickly buckled their seatbelts to prevent any injury, and off the mechanic drove, frantic to find her boyfriend and rescue him from that bastard's clutches before it was too late.
As she drove, thankful that there was little highway traffic in this rural part of the county, she prayed to whatever deities or higher powers could hear her. Please, please, let Toby live. I cannot go on without him. I haven't been able to tell him yet…tell him how much he means to me, how much I love him. Please, if you can hear me, God, bring him back to me. As annoying as he is, he is a part of me, and I of him, and I don't know what I would do without him here with me. And with this, the tears she'd struggled to hold back silently started to fall, smearing her makeup as the tears ran down her face and fell onto her jacket and the car's steering wheel.
Though Paige and Tim both noticed what was happening, neither one said anything; they realized that Happy driving was the only distraction she had at the moment. She needed this - to both release and focus her frustration, worry, and anger. But, just because they were silent did not mean either individual wasn't present in the situation. With his SEAL training, Tim planned out tactical strategies to rescue Toby whilst doing what it took to protect the team, whereas Paige silently prayed. All she could pray was for them to make it in time, find Collins and rescue Toby, because she could only fathom what Happy might do if she lost Toby. And honestly, the thought of Happy on a path of revenge scared her even more than the mechanical engineer's driving. Thus, Walt, Sly, and Cabe had better let them know something soon about Toby's whereabouts, or else his screams of pain from the electric shock might be the last, haunting sound they ever would hear from him.