Trixie frowned as she listened to the phone. "Oh, I'm sorry Artie. No, no I understand. You get your rest hon, we can reschedule. Bye hon."
"What's wrong mom?" Verne asked from the couch he was laying on.
"Artie's sick." She said with a frown. "We were gonna go to the park today, but I guess not."
"Darn." Verne said, sitting up and stretching his arms, yawning a bit. "So are we just gonna hang out here then?"
She blinked. "I'm not sure what you mean by 'hanging out' sweetie, but I do know I still wanna go out."
"All right." He was glad they were doing something. He was desperate for something fun, and they hadn't really done anything recently.
"We can have a picnic." Trixie suggested.
"Sounds good." Verne said, although he would have preferred a cafe or something else. He'd even be fine with the one he was kicked out of when he first got here!
Trixie found an old basket and filled it about halfway with food, then they headed to the park.
They sat down in the grass and opened the basket. Verne took out a cheese sandwich and started to eat it. As he was looking around he saw Emmett reading a book under a tree. He wasn't sure what to feel and looked away, his stomach churning slightly.
Trixie frowned, noticing. "Are you okay hon?"
"Y-yeah I'm fine mom…"
She looked over to where he was looking and spotted Emmett. She smiled and waved. "Hello Emmett!"
Emmett looked up from his book and waved back. Verne nervously stimmed with his fingers and avoided eye contact.
"We're having a picnic, wanna join us?" Trixie asked.
Verne gripped the grass beneath him nervously, hoping he wouldn't.
"Sure. I'm pretty hungry." Emmett said, setting his book down and walking over, plopping himself between the two of them. Verne gripped the grass tighter.
Trixie showed Emmett the open basket and offered him one of the sandwiches. He happily took a cheese one and started to eat it. "So how are you two?"
"We're doing fine." Trixie said.
"Yeah...we're fine…" Verne mumbled, still focused on the ground.
Emmett frowned. "Are you okay Verne?"
"...Yeah…."
Trixie noticed his tenseness and gently put her hand on his shoulder. "Are you sure you're all right Verne?"
"Y-yeah mom, I-I'm okay. My stomach just kinda hurts."
"Oh, sweetie." Trixie frowned. "Maybe you're hungry?"
"Did you know some animals eat grass when they have an upset stomach?" Emmett asked, hoping to lighten the mood.
Verne frowned. "I-I'm not gonna eat grass…"
Emmett chuckled a bit. "I hope not."
There was a few awkward moments of silence before Trixie spoke up again, "So how's the sandwich?"
"It's good, thank you." Emmett replied.
Trixie smiled, "Why don't we take a walk after?"
"Sounds good to me." Emmett replied.
"Sure…" Said Verne, not really paying attention.
"Great!" Trixie said with an even bigger smile. When they finished they walked around the park, Verne gripping his mom's hand tightly. Emmett was talking about the book he was reading Backwards to Britain.
Verne zoned out slightly. He wasn't really interested in the books of his namesake, only things like the movie adaptations. In fact the best one he saw was when he and his family had a time travel trip to 2004 and saw Around The World in 80 Days.
In his distraction, he tripped and fell over. Verne whined and gripped his elbow.
"Are you okay?" Trixie asked worriedly.
"Y-yeah." Verne said, wincing. He pulled up his sleeve showing his slightly bleeding elbow.
Trixie frowned. "Oh dear, we have to get that washed up hon."
"I've been working on a non stinging antibiotic." Emmett chimed in. "Perhaps you'd like me to use it on your abrasion?"
"Um….I-I guess…"
"All right, come with me." Emmett said. He lead them to his small, secret laboratory, albit no bolted doors were present.
Verne looked around, surprised at it's small size.
"Amazing isn't it?" Emmett said, beaming in excitement.
"Err yeah amazing." Verne replied awkwardly. Amazingly small that is….
"Now, sit here." Emmett said, tapping a small, old, wooden chair. Verne sat and swung his legs idly. A few moments later Emmett returned with a small spray bottle and grabbed Verne's arm. "Now hold still."
He sprayed a bit of it onto Verne's elbow. Verne winced, half expecting it to sting, but to his surprise it felt minty cool.
"I told you it wouldn't sting." Emmett grinned. He patted a bandage on Verne's arm gently, reminding him of the summers of cuts and bruises he had and how Doc would always be this gentle, but that was before….. "It looks good now. I was wondering if you two wanted to join me for a walk? I'm gathering dirt samples from all over Hill Valley to compare them and would love the company."
"We'd love to!" Trixie said.
"Sure." Verne said, shrugging slightly, starting to accept he probably wouldn't be able to ever escape Emmett if he stayed in Hill Valley anyway.
It was rather warm today and Verne felt very warm under his heavy 1930s clothes. Besides video games, he missed more than anything from the 90s was T-shirts and shorts being commonplace to wear.
"The park has softer dirt than the dirt around the courthouse." Emmett said to himself as he wrote it down in a small notebook.
Verne started to get bored and kicked the grass with the toe of his shoe. Emmett noticed this and frowned. "You want to help me gather samples?"
"All right." Verne shrugged.
The three headed just outside Peabody's farm. Emmett, Verne, and Trixie knelt down to gather a dirt sample. "This dirt seems rather dry,"
"If it wasn't it would be mud wouldn't it?" Verne snarked.
Emmett laughed. "Not quite."
"But it's wet enough for throwing." Verne grinned.
Before Emmett could ask what he meant, Verne flung dirt at him and laughed. To his surprise however, Emmett laughed too and threw some dirt back at him. Trixie giggled and joined in on the dirt throwing.
Soon all three were covered in dirt, laughing loudly. Verne started to relax and smirked at Emmett playfully, causing him to giggle.
"Hey!" They heard someone yell moments later. They looked over and saw a young farm man, whom Verne assumed was Mr. Peabody.
"I think we should apologize and explain ourselves to him." Emmett whispered.
"I think we should….run!" Verne yelled before bolting off. Trixie and Emmett scrambled to keep up with him as Mr. Peabody yelled and cursed at them.
When they finally got out of sight of the farm, the three of them were panting heavily, before breaking out into laughter.
"That was awesome!" Verne said.
"I ain't had fun like that in a long time!" Trixie added.
"Me neither actually." Emmett said. He playfully ruffled Verne's hair and he laughed.
He started to wonder if Emmett really did take him. Someone this nice couldn't do that...right?