I've done a JK Rowling and written an epilogue already.

CHAPTER 3: The Pollywog

Waking up, Bob was disappointed to see Joyce was already up, the bed long gone cold. It would have been nice to find her sleeping peacefully next to him, all the worry and anxiety gone from her face. He could hear a lot of commotion, the frantic panic of getting two kids ready and off to school. Wanting to be part of this little domestic scene, he dressed quickly. He found Joyce's car keys and took them out to her.

Jonathan did not look happy to see him. "He's staying the night now?" he asked his mother accusingly.

Bob sighed. It was going to take a lot more than a video camera to win Jonathan over. Things were so much easier with Will.

Will reminded Bob of himself at that age. Awkward, shy, an eternal outcast, perfect target for the bullies. Will was even in the AV Club. Jonathan was more like the moody, loner kid. Keep themselves to themselves. Not really part of any group. No patience for idiots and their nonsense. A bit like a young Jim Hopper. Jim as he was now, back in high school Jim had been the life and soul of the party. Bob surpressed the thought that Jonathan would prefer Jim as a stepfather.

As Joyce was running late, Bob drove Will to school in the 'Bobmobile'. Will was clearly troubled, and unlike Joyce who changed the subject or shrugged it off, happy to talk about it. He was having horrible nightmares, a monster coming after him. Bob told him about his own childhood trauma, Mr Baldo. The name still made Bob shudder.

Mr Baldo was a clown at a fairground that scared holy hell out of Bob. For months afterwards he had nightmares about Mr Baldo. He told Will how he finally dealt with it. Instead of running in his dreams, he stood up to the scary clown, told him to go away. He hoped the same thing would work for Will. There was enough to be scared of awake for a kid like Will.

With one problem solved, or so he hoped, Bob turned his attention to another one. Getting Joyce to open up. Knowing she wouldn't have had time to fix herself any lunch with running late, he took her some. They sat outside the store eating and talking.

Bob explained more about his childhood, feeling like an outcast, just like Will. He hoped Joyce would share something of her own childhood. She didn't. Trying to interest her, he talked more about Will, explained about his bashed up camera. She leapt on that, wanting to know more, worried once again about her son. He tried to reassure her that things would be okay, but she didn't seem to listen. Then he dropped the L word.

He didn't actually come out and say he loved her, but he mentioned one of the things he loved about her. He hoped she might say it back, but she didn't. He tried not to be hurt about that, telling himself she was just preoccupied.

Work cheered Bob up a bit, he loved the Radioshack, technology was another of his passions. He loved getting to work with all the hi-tec gadgets, that once would have been dismissed as fantasies. A call from Joyce cheered him up even more. She wanted to know how to play the tape from the video camera, it wouldn't fit in the VCR. He explained the difference between the tapes and talked her through how to connect the camera to the TV. Before he could ask her anything she hung up. She'd sounded pretty worried. He hoped everything was alright.

End of chapter 3

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