At the end of his sentence, Randall was relieved and anxious at the same time. It seemed to take all day getting released and being unbooked enough. But he wasn't leaving without a monitor on his left hind leg.
He was on probation while being released right now and had to be in restricted areas.
Randall would be staying with Amanda and Rex on house arrest mainly, or so he thought. He couldn't be around weapons of any sort. He couldn't use drugs or anything bad. He never used those anyway.
He would be allowed back at Monsters, Inc as to what Sulley had promised him for a job.
The monitor was snug on his leg, but not so tight it would cut off circulation. He would still be able to bathe and such in it. And he would have to wear it for 15 months. And that seemed much longer. But he was glad he was getting out at last.
Amanda picked him up. Rex was at the daycare at Monsters, Inc right now.
She got him home and helped him to get settled in. But after that, she had to go back to her own job.
"You're welcome to anything you want to eat or drink or watch TV." She said.
"Thanks. It feels so weird being here after being in cells for so long."
"I know, but you'll adjust. At least it wasn't for as long as the probation is."
"You don't have to rub it in."
"Just reminding you. Tomorrow you start your new job."
"I know."
Amanda left after that.
Once she was gone, Randall made himself some warm soup and sat down to watch some TV. He hadn't watched any for a long time and missed it. Eventually, though, from having so many restless nights in prison, he soon fell asleep.
Prison had not exactly let him sleep anytime he wanted to. Sure, before prison he had been used to a hectic, busy schedule, but now he just really wanted some much needed rest. He hoped he would be able to have it now.
Soon, he would be seeing his nephew again for the first time in a long time. But would the boy accept him?
…
Amanda finished her job and then went to pick up her son at the Monsters, Inc daycare program. He would be starting school that fall.
On their way home, she began, "Rex honey, when we get home, there will be someone there waiting to meet you."
"Who is it? Do I know them?"
"He is my younger brother. He hasn't seen you since you were like a year old. So you might not remember him, but he is your Uncle Randall. I know you'll be probably a little uncomfortable around him at first, but he's going to be living with us for awhile."
Rex was beginning to get nervous already. There were some strangers he wasn't always comfortable around.
They soon made it home and the TV was blaring nearby.
"Randall?" Amanda called out. Rex was at her side.
Amanda made her way to the living room and she found Randall asleep on the couch. She made her way over while Rex stayed at the entrance to the room. He saw his mom put a hand on the guest and gently shake his shoulder.
"Randall, wake up."
Randall moaned in his sleep. He finally realized that he wasn't going to be left alone and opened his eyes. "Amanda?"
"Time to wake up, sleepy head." She said. "There's someone you need to meet."
Randall sat up and turned the TV off. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and then looked at his sister, and she gestured toward the doorway, where to him, an orange blur stood.
"Rex, it's alright, come here and meet your Uncle Randall." Amanda said.
Randall sat up some more.
Rex hesitantly came over. He had never seen this unknown purple male lizard before.
Randall started to see him better when he got closer.
Amanda noticed how hard her brother was squinting. He needed to be wearing his glasses.
Rex got there and stood by his mother.
"Hi there, Rex. I know it's been a long time since I saw you last. You've gotten big." Randall said as friendly as he could.
To Rex, this guy might have seen him before, but he just didn't remember him.
"Mommy, I not see this guy before at all." Rex said.
"Yes, you have, you were just too young to remember." Amanda said. "You and Uncle Randall will get used to each other. We are going to make this our family unit."
Randall liked hearing her say that, though he wished for a little bit that it was just him and her again. But he knew he had to make this work. These two were his only other family.
"How about we get cleaned up and get some dinner ready?" Amanda stated.
"Sounds good to me." Randall said.
Rex was allowed to go to his room.
"That didn't go too well, did it?" Randall said.
"He just doesn't remember you. That was so hard on me when you didn't want to see me anymore, Randall."
"And now I know that I regret it. It won't be like anymore, Sis. I promise. And I promise I'll make friends with the little guy. It will just take a little time for him to get used to me."
"He has traits in common with you, like blending and has your eyes. He can be quite a handful and he loves to play some pranks."
"Yep, that sounds like some of the traits in with me."
"After dinner, maybe you could try playing with him in his room. That might be the best way to make friends with him, but I'll be out here if you need me. And you really need to be wearing some glasses, Randall. I see your squinting is really bad."
"I just feel weird wearing them at work."
"We're going to see the eye doctor soon and get you some glasses. Unless you want to wear contacts?"
"I know Wazowski wears one. I might consider having both."
"Yeah, it's good to have backup eye wear. Soon then. And you can choose a grown up pair look other than what you wore in your younger days."
"I'll never wear those again. They would make me look like a kid."
"What helps you see better is what matters more right now, but we'll get it worked out."
Randall and Amanda began helping each other get dinner ready.
"Randall, if you can give me a list of what things you like to eat, I'd be happy to get them for you." She said.
"Thanks. I hope I'll still be allowed to do my own shopping though too."
"I'm sure you can, just keep monitoring what your monitor does, and your activities."
"But if I walk into a store and people see this thing on my leg, I might end up being banned from the store."
"I'll be happy to get things you need."
Randall hated this leg band. Its touch was already annoying him with every step he took on it.
Tonight, with it being Randall's first meal in the home, some of the food was based around his likes, but still, some of it was based on Rex's likes. The young kids could always be real picky eaters.
Randall did enjoy eating with his family instead of in jail. Now he didn't have a time limit on sitting at the table and enjoying friendly company. But Rex was eyeing him warily and his mom had to keep encouraging him to eat.
He knew there would come a point when he would need to step in and act like a parent too to his nephew, but for right now, he was leaving the parenting to Amanda. He wanted to see how she did some things first to pick up some pointers.
Becoming a parent had not really crossed his mind before. He knew it was a lot of responsibility, more so than just taking care of yourself.
After dinner was over, there was still plenty of food left on Rex's plate as he went to his room. Amanda would save it for later. Randall knew it was because of him that Rex hadn't eaten much.
"I'm sorry for making him so uncomfortable that he wouldn't eat much."
"It's okay. This was a shock for him tonight. But he can have a picky appetite too. He doesn't eat all that much. He just likes to be active and playful most of the time. But now that dinner's over, you might try to make friends with him."
Randall went down the hallway where the rooms were and he found his nephew playing with his toys.
"Hey, Rex." Randall said.
The little boy lizard turned around. He was still scared of this stranger.
"Is it okay if I play along too?" He slowly made his way into the room.
Rex had been taught about sharing in the daycare and preschool program. He saw the big purple lizard take a seat a ways from him.
Randall started pushing a blue car toy around. He made some engine sounds and it seemed to make the kid's worries calm down. "This is how the car goes."
"You can play with that toy over there too." Rex said. This adult was trying to play with him and it was relieving some of his stress.
Randall picked up the toy that Rex said he could off the shelf. "This guy looks good and scary. Grrrr!" He gave a mock growl.
It made Rex laugh.
Amanda was impressed with hearing her son laugh. So it might work after all. Her brother still had some big kid in him.
He later helped Amanda put Rex to bed. He needed to learn how to in case Amanda wanted time to herself or something and he would be required to babysit and act like a parent too.
…..
The next day, Randall began his new job at Monsters, Inc as the new canister engineer.
There were plenty of monsters there who were not thrilled to see him back, and then there were some that had remembered him coming back through the door that day and then collapsing on the floor. The scarring on his stomach was evident of some kind of injury. But then, so was some on his head from the shovel.
He was so glad to get down into the quieter place of the canister making room. There would be some other workers down here, but not as many as up where he used to work.
He had walked with his sister and nephew to the daycare area and he was introduced as Rex's uncle so that if needed, he could be able to take Rex home. The teacher was a little hesitant when she did happen to notice a monitor on his leg.
"I promise I help look after Rex like a parent should." Randall said.
"He's trustworthy with my son." Amanda said.
The teacher reluctantly said it was okay for him to come in here when needed. Then the two grown lizards went to do their jobs.
Randall working in the canister department and Amanda was actually working at a grocery store down the street. She was a cashier.
The ones who had seen Randall were glad he wasn't working alongside them. He was glad not to be working with them either. He mostly preferred keeping to himself.
Sulley did go down and see how he was doing. He wanted to make sure his first day was going alright.
"How's it going, Randall?"
"This is such a downgrade to what I used to do. But it's better than having me do clown work."
"Maybe someday you might join them."
"No, I won't. That's just not me."
"This is as close to working with machines as it gets here."
"I know."
Sulley left him alone to do his job. He soon joined Mike.
"So how is Lizard boy doing on his first day back?" Mike asked.
"He's calm if a bit grumpy. I know he wants to do scaring, but that is not going to happen anymore." Sulley said.
"Some of the others were not so pleased to see him back again. They even noticed he looks more different too."
"From what we learned of his injuries when he got back were, those scars changed some of his looks permanently. But he is lucky I gave him this job. He prefers being not being stared at and criticized. He's been hated much of his life, Mike. The can job is the best he's got and there's so many bosses out there that wouldn't consider giving him a job because of his past."
"Yeah, being down there is better for us all. I hope I don't see him in the Laugh recruits anytime soon." Mike said.
"He doesn't plan to."
"Good."
Sulley knew that Mike still had so many grudges against Randall that it would be a miracle if he ever forgave him.
