It had been about five days since Jimmy had officially named his daughter. He had been doing a good job at keeping her. Every time when he got home from school, he headed straight for his lab and spent the rest of the day acting as her teacher, trying to help her develop her mind. His child needed the teaching quite badly, as her brain seemed underdeveloped in some areas, but better in others. He had a sense of pride, every day that passed seemed to be better than the next. Today, Jimmy was sitting at his supercomputer and looking over security footage of the person who broke in a while back. He couldn't figure out what they had stolen, though so far everything was accounted for.
"The more I try to understand this, the more confusing it gets…" Jimmy muttered to himself, not sure what the person wanted, though currently he had his supercomputer scanning to take account for all files and data to make sure none of that had been taken. Just then, he heard an all too familiar explosion from another room of the lab, followed by laughter. He sighed, getting up and going to see if everything was okay.
"Amber! Honey, are you alright?" Jimmy called out, though mentally questioned himself at what he said. He had been saying odd things to his daughter like that. He assumed it was just how his mind was beginning to act around his child. He saw pieces of Goddard everywhere and a small scorch mark from the explosion. He saw Amber sitting nearby at a desk in a swivel chair, that bright smile on her face.
"I thought I asked you not to tell him to play dead," Jimmy said while Goddard started to reassemble himself. Playing dead was a specialty of the robotic dog. He exploded into a bunch of pieces, only to reform seconds after.
"So…sorry," Amber apologized. Her voice didn't sound too steady. It sounded higher pitched, but also tired. Jimmy smiled, glad she had started understanding him more and more by the day and was getting the hang of talking. So far, though, Jimmy had only focused on working on her English and mathematics. Goddard barked, sitting in place. The genius teenager ran his hand through her hair, reassuring it was fine, though he noticed an open book lying on the desk.
"What are you reading there?" Jimmy inquired, picking up the book.
"It… it's a med-medicine book," Amber answered to the best of her ability. It was quite a thick book and it looked like she barely got even twenty pages through it, like she had been thoroughly reading it, each page from top to bottom. Jimmy recognized the book on medicine though, it described what each disease did individually and how one could diagnose it based on what symptoms to look out for. He used it and a few other medical texts himself when designing the genesiologic replication device.
"I don't know if I'm alright with you reading that…" Jimmy commented. He really had no idea how to feel about this. It was great how she could read now, but this book seemed unfitting for a child, though that statement said just now sort of felt hypocritical to him, all things considered. She was his and Cindy's genetic child when he thought about it, and she thus had the potential to have a great mind, but he knew genetics weren't the main thing to pertain to one's IQ. He was going to raise her not just his own way, but the way he thought Cindy would want her raised. Amber didn't really know what to say in response, seeming saddened from hearing the slight disapproval of the book.
"Don't get upset. If you like it, then I won't stop you from reading it. Just try and not make Goddard play dead anymore," Jimmy stated, seeing his daughter's smile which made him feel great inside. He saw Goddard come up, barking. His daughter pet the mechanical dog, just before they heard a beeping noise, indicating an alert from the supercomputer. He left his daughter to let her continue reading, though Amber looked over at the tons of tools and spare parts lying around which added onto the untidiness of the laboratory. She was having an idea.
"Hey, Jimmy! Open up," he heard, recognizing the voice, seeing his camera's direct feed of outside. Sheen was standing outside, beside him being Libby who looked only half interested to be there.
"Sheen, you sure he's even in there?" Libby had to wonder aloud. Jimmy didn't expect his friends to come at all today, but then he had been avoiding them for the last near week. His parents didn't notice any difference in his behaviour, thankfully.
"Hey, Sheen. Hi, Libby. Is something wrong?" Jimmy asked through the microphone he had available.
"Nah we just wanted to see if you wanted to come with us to the candy bar," Sheen explained what they were here for. The candy bar was a pretty great ice cream and candy shop that was set up in town, they went there often together. He wondered if he really wanted to go, but he thought his daughter would be fine alone for a few short hours.
"I'll be right outside," Jimmy agreed to come along before letting the camera retract. His supercomputer wasn't done scanning its internal files yet. He saw Amber looking around for some spare part. Her father didn't pay much mind to this.
"Amber, I'm going to go out for a while. Will you be alright by yourself?" he asked, offering to stay if she really wanted him to. She shook her head.
"I-I'll be fine, d-dad," Amber said before wrapping her arms around his waist, giving him a goodbye hug. Jimmy loved every moment with his daughter. He couldn't be any happier with her if he tried. He returned her warm embrace for a moment, and after that, he left the laboratory to go with his two friends to the candy bar, but before he got outside, he had one question quirk into his head.
"Did she have one of my super batteries?"