Fungus arrived the next night. It was after hours at Monsters, Inc. Travis gave Randall a hug goodbye and wished him luck.
"I wish I could meet your family." Travis said.
"I'll be back soon, Kid." Randall said and he followed Fungus back through the door.
Travis couldn't help but be curious and he opened the closet door and it had been deactivated now and it was normal. Randall was gone. Travis wished him well.
….
"I see you had developed a strong bond with that kid." Fungus said.
"Yeah. He had kind of adopted me not just his best friend, but like a second big brother of sorts too, since his real older brother is going to be a new father soon." Randall said.
Randall saw that the door was in a private area of the factory. It felt good to be able to see the images of the factory for the first time again without having to squint.
Fungus noticed he wasn't squinting. "Your eyes seem different, Randall. You aren't squinting so much."
"Jesse fixed my vision. I can see perfect now."
"Oh. That was nice of him." Fungus said.
"Jesse's helped me out in the worst of times in the human world, besides taking me in and sheltering me, he also helped me whenever I've been injured. But enough of that, let's get going. Remember, I'm right here." Randall said and he then disappeared. He knew he couldn't let any cameras see him.
Fungus led the way out of the building to his car. He got in and the other car door opened up and then Randall reappeared. They both buckled up and Fungus drove to the place where Randall's sister said she and her son would meet her brother.
When they got to the address, Randall didn't recognize this building. "This is where they live now. She had moved while you were gone." Fungus said.
"Alright."
They got out and Randall vanished again. He didn't want to take any chances of anyone seeing him. He followed his friend to the apartment.
Fungus knocked on the door and a pinkish female lizard answered it. "Hello, Fungus. So is he here with you?" She asked.
"Yes, he just doesn't want anyone to see him before he gets in."
"Ok. Come in."
Fungus went in and Randall followed. The female closed her door.
"So, where is he?" She asked.
"How's it going, Sis?" Randall appeared with a big smile.
Amanda, his sister, couldn't believe her eyes. He seemed different, but looked nearly the same.
They just instantly embraced. But after that, Amanda pushed away from him. "How could you be involved in all that?!"
"I thought I was helping out my boss and the city. But I know better now. I know human kids aren't that bad." Randall said.
Amanda was still mad at him. "You are going to have to earn back our trust."
"I'll do anything, Amanda. Where's Rex?"
"He's in his room playing." Then she had a more thorough look down Randall's body and she saw the fresh scars on his body.
"What happened to you?" She asked, worried.
"Some human men tortured me. Nearly did me in. But other humans helped me." Randall said simply.
She knew humans were bad to begin with, that they couldn't be trusted. "I'm sorry."
"It's in the past. Let's move forward, Sis. It's time for us to start over." He said.
"Yeah, you're right. Hold on. Rex! Your Uncle Randall is here!" Amanda called out.
Randall didn't know what to expect with his little nephew.
There was a door sound and then footsteps. A little orange lizard appeared from the hallway. He had green eyes and one frond. And the same number of arms and legs.
Randall saw the young lizard boy was nearly half his size now. He had grown.
"Hey there, Rex." Randall greeted nervously, but warmly.
Rex almost didn't know what to make of this strange male in his home. He was familiar with Fungus, who was just there to let them work things out.
"Should I go? Let you guys work this out?" Fungus asked.
"Yeah, I need to catch up with Amanda and Rex." Randall said.
"I'll be back tomorrow." Fungus said and left.
"Thanks for your help." Amanda said.
They turned back to Rex. "Come say hi, Rex." Amanda said.
Rex nervously walked up, but stood by his mother.
"I know it's been a long time, Rex. And I know I wasn't real nice before, but I have changed and am ready to be family again, if you'll let me." Randall said gently and he got down to his nephew's height.
Rex was still a little uneasy. But he saw the sincere look on his face. "Uncle Randy?" He finally said.
"Yeah. That's me." Randall said playfully. He didn't normally like people to call him that, but he would make an exception for Rex.
Rex finally did come forward and hugged his uncle. Randall gladly returned it. He was just happy he was reconnecting with his small family.
"So what were you up to before?" Randall asked.
"I was just playing with my toys in my room. Wanna see?" Rex asked.
"Sure."
Amanda was surprised that her brother was ever curious to want to play with her son. He never had wanted to before.
Randall followed Rex to his room and the little lizard began playing with his monster toys. Randall sat down on the floor and waited for Rex to invite him to play with him. He had done it with Travis.
Amanda watched her brother carefully from the hall. She wasn't going to put up with him giving them crap a second time.
Shortly, Rex did ask his uncle to play with him.
Randall put on a little puppet show for him. He used his tail to hold a toy and would make the little blue toy talk and play and tell jokes. It made Rex laugh so much.
It made Amanda smile too. There was something that had brought on these changes in her brother that she had never seen before, at least not with her son. They certainly had much catching up to do.
Soon, Randall had to call it quits when something in his stomach pulled. "Um, Uncle Randy needs to take a break now. You go on playing." He said.
Amanda saw him holding his stomach. "What's wrong?"
"Oh, just something from the still healing internal injury in here." He said.
"Well, do you want anything to eat?"
"No. I've had my dinner. Thanks though." Randall said.
"You know what? I'm proud of you, for just being able to play with him." Amanda said.
"Let's just say I've been getting to know kids, especially young boys."
"Where are you staying, Randall?"
Randall knew this would be hard to reveal.
Amanda saw her brother was hesitant about something.
"I can't say right now. A secret place. Fungus knows, but I just can't reveal it right now." Randall said.
"If it's some place bad, you could stay here with me if you need to."
"No. Thanks. It's not a bad place. But I'll take you up on it for tonight. I need to go back tomorrow night. And when I visit in the future, but I still have to be careful being in town as the cops are still sure to be after me even after these three years."
"Yeah, I know. Can you tell me the phone number?"
"No. If you want to reach me, you'll need to send the message to Fungus. He'll make sure I get it. But I will let you know if I can come back soon." Randall said.
Amanda didn't like that Randall had to stay in some secret location just because of what he had done. But yes, she too feared him going to jail now that she had seen a new side of him. He wasn't that same old, grouchy male she had known over three years ago. But if he got mad, he would turn back into him, she was sure.
Soon, it was time for bed for Rex and both siblings tucked him into bed. Then they went out and talked some more before deciding to turn in too. Randall was given the couch.
It was nice to be seeing his family again. As he laid there, he couldn't help but wonder if he could handle a family of his own. If he showed this kind of patience tonight and kept it up, he might be able to tolerate kids of his own, but given his past history, what girl would even consider being with him?
Right now, Randall was caught in a warp, needing to choose between living here with his family, or his human friends. But he had promised Travis that he would return. He was going to keep his word. He soon drifted off.
