"So Ralph, what did Sage actually do to help you out?" Toby asked Ralph as he slid into the front seat after Sage got out for school.
"There were lots of kids that were not very accepting of a genius, especially one that didn't talk a lot. I just usually ignored them, but I guess one day Sage saw them picking on me and understood why, so she sort of… threatened to shove their heads in a toilet if they didn't quit. Sage was like our size at the time and they were still terrified, it was so funny." Ralph started laughing after remembering the puny first graders shaking in fear. He calmed himself down a little bit before he continued on with his story, "Colby was with her, so he's the one that probably scared them, because he was basically a giant. So everyday when my mom dropped me off at school, Sage and Colby would walk me to and from class, sometimes skipping their own classes to walk me to lunch," Ralph said, intertwining his fingers that were resting in his lap.
"She's a great girl Ralph, a really good friend," Toby said, pulling out into the streets while avoiding the oncoming cars.
"Uncle Toby?" Ralph started, grabbing Toby's attention, "Sage doesn't want to tell you anything because she's scared, just like those first graders. Not only because she doesn't trust you, but because you are the person she trusts the most, besides Colby of course. She doesn't want to tell you something that might risk her losing someone she trusts. I don't know exactly what she's hiding, but if she is the same person I knew two years ago, then whatever she doesn't want to share... it's probably serious," Ralph says, looking over at Toby to catch his reaction.
"What do you mean?" Toby asks, looking at him a second, before turning his attention back to the road.
"She's afraid that if she tells you the truth and gives you what she thinks you want, then you'll just dump her somewhere and not care about her anymore since you already got what you wanted from her. She's afraid that your acting, and she doesn't want to find out if she's right. She'd rather run away than let someone let her down again," Ralph explains.
"How do you know all this?" Toby asks, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Colby told me. I was wondering why she was acting cold and mean sometimes or why she would always leave when I asked her certain questions when I was younger. So I asked Colby what I did wrong and he explained to me that she cared about me and didn't want to loose me. Eventually though, she stopped being so secretive and calmed down a bit. So I think it goes the same for you and the rest of the team," Ralph says.
"I think I understand where you're coming from, but we both know that we won't do that to her, how can we get her to see that?" Toby asks to himself, along with Ralph since he was also in the car.
"We could just give her time. Eventually she started to trust that I was going to stick around, not like I could go anywhere, but still," Ralph said, shrugging his shoulders.
"So how long do you think it will take?" Toby asks.
"I'd say, no more than two weeks," Ralph says with a shrug of his shoulders like it was nothing.
"Two weeks! That's a long time Ralph," Toby says with wide eyes as he pulls up to his school and getting in line behind all the other cars.
"I said, 'no more'...than two weeks" he said, getting out of the car and pulling his backpack on over his shoulders.
"Bye Toby," he called, running towards the school building so he wouldn't miss class.
"Bye. Love ya," he yelled after him, watching him wave bye to him from the school entrance. It was kind of sad. He's always wanted to know what it was like to be a dad, and Ralph is the closest he was ever going to get probably.
***Later, at the garage***
"Your back, took you long enough. Paige wants you to finish some of your reports," Happy says, slamming a case file into his chest and patting it with a smirk before walking away, walking over to her desk to do her own work.
"Aaand another boring day at work," he whines, kicking his feet up on the desk and putting his headphones over his ears. It was time to finish up his reports and maybe cleaning up the other various things scattered across his desk.
Sylvester didn't have much to do that day since he already did all his case reports, unlike someone he knew. He spent most of the day reorganizing his desk, sanitizing his computer screen and keyboard, as well as restocking his supply of clothespins and paperclips. When he finished with the basics, he grabbed his special cube and displayed it front and center at the corner of his desk, just like it was supposed to be. Paige walked over to his desk and picked it up to examine it.
"What's so special about this one?" she asked, setting it down in front of him. She had noticed how he reacted the other day when Sage was messing with it and she was kind of curious of why he reacted the way he did.
"That was Megan's, I gave it to her as a present for her birthday. She played with it in the room at the hospital and that is exactly how I found it when I cleaned out the room and that is exactly how it will stay," he insisted, grabbing it and placing it back on the corner of his desk. He put away all the other Rubik's cubes he had and stood up, heading over to his chalkboard.
"Okay," she said a little sympathetically, patting his back and heading back to her desk.
Toby watched the whole scene from his desk. For once he decided not to open his big mouth and say anything about it.
***At Sage's school***
"So Sage, was that your dad this morning? He's kind of hot," Jenny said with a huge grin on her face, following Sage to her locker. Jenny was Sage's… friend, if you could call her that. Sage had no particular interest in being the girl's friend, but Jenny followed her around anyway.
"Yes, that was my dad," she fibbed, "and no he is not hot," she insisted, opening her locker.
All day everyone questioned Sage about her father. She never mentioned any family, and her parents never showed up to school events, so they were bound to ask questions about the abnormal encounter. Since she was everybody's 'friend', everybody wanted to ask her about her so-called father. She wasn't popular, she was more of the person that's impossible to dislike, she was also willing to do homework for just a bit of cash, so that was also a plus. So everyone likes to talk to her, and spend time with her, even though she has tried her best to distance herself over the years.
"Oh, come on! You have to admit that without the hat, he'd look absolutely beautiful," Jenny replied, with a star struck look on her face as she fanned over him.
"First off, eww. Second, I've seen him in nothing but boxers, and I still don't find him attractive whatsoever," Sage said, slamming her locker.
"Ooh, does he have abs?" she asked excitedly.
"Ugh!"
***At dismissal***
Toby was outside the school waiting for Sage to get out for the day. Paige had asked him to pick up the kids again since he had nothing better to do. Ralph was in the front seat, chatting about some stupid drama that was spreading around his school. He had got out before Sage, so Toby picked him up first so he wouldn't have to wait.
After a while kids started filing out of the school, running towards their designated cars, busses, bikes, or anything else they had arrived on that morning.
"Alright, climb in back kid," Toby told Ralph when he spotted Sage in the distance. He made room for Ralph to squeeze into the backseat.
When Sage spotted the car in line she ran over to the and jumped in fast as fast as she could.
"Hurry. Go, GO!" she yelled, looking frantically out the window. It was too late, she had been spotted, and a loud groan emitted from the back of her throat.
"Sage! I want you to introduce me to your dad!" Jenny called, bouncing over to the car and batting her long eyelashes at Toby, grossing him out a little more than just a bit.
"Sir, I'd just like to say, that your wife is very lucky," she said, smiling and waving at him through the window.
"Uh, thanks?" he said, driving away in a hurry.
Jenny blew a kiss to the retreating vehicle, watching it until she couldn't see it anymore.
"What was that all about?" Toby asked, looking over at Sage with wide eyes.
"She thinks you're hot and she said she wants to kiss your beautiful face," Sage answered, looking over at him with a dead expression, not finding it amusing at all.
"Oh. Well tell her that I have a girlfriend already," he said.
"I told her you were married and she still didn't change her mind" Sage said, giving him a sideways glance then turning her attentions back to whatever was outside her window.
"Okay, let's not speak about this in front of the team," Toby says, looking between Sage and Ralph.
"I was totally planning on telling them and the whole world that my idiot friend wants to make out with who she thinks is my dad," she said sarcastically.
"Ha. Funny," Toby grumbles.
He turns up the radio, and they ride the rest of the way to the garage in silence. They arrive and Paige is there to greet her son at the door.
"Thanks Toby," Paige says, giving him a quick side hug in appreciation.
"No problem" he said with a nod, heading straight for his desk.
Sage sets up her sketchbook and materials at the table in the kitchen and starts on a new drawing. Ralph takes a seat next to her to keep her company while he eats his snack. Watching how she draws the lines in concentration and scrunches up her face in frustration.
While the kids were busy Happy heads over to see Toby and hops up onto his desk, tucking her legs underneath her.
"To what do I owe the pleasure" he smirked, putting down the psych book he was reading and rests a hand on her knee.
"I think we should take Sage shopping," Happy says, playing with his fingers resting on her leg.
"Like, like, with money?" he asks, taken a bit off guard.
"What other type of shopping is there doofus?" Happy laughs.
"Yeah, sure. When?" He asks, sitting himself up in his chair a bit.
"Now. With the whole team. They can each pitch in, buying her clothes and other things she might need in the next couple days," Happy says, looking around at his much more organized desk she had made him clear up that day. It`s still not fully cleaned.
"How do you know she's going to be staying for a long time?" Toby asks.
"If I know anything about fear and trust. I know it takes a while, especially with someone like Sage," she says bluntly.
"Okay fair enough," He stands dramatically before yelling, "We all are going shopping!" He announces to the whole garage.
Happy hits him hard, and he grabs the arm she hit and scrunched up his face in pain.
"We're all going shopping?" Paige asks excitedly.
"Apparently," Toby says, rubbing his sore arm and glaring at Happy.
"Yay," she squeals.