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Work always consumed the majority of Claire's time. Being a career woman and working hard to get herself to the position that she had now was something that she couldn't change in the near future. She had been used to working long hours ever since she had moved to Fair City to better her life with her son, Tobey. A part of her felt remorseful that she couldn't take a time of her day to spend with her son on the weekdays, but she tried to make as much time as she could for him on the weekends. However, those weekends had only been spent when he was grounded for his mischievous behavior and that was an obstacle that didn't allow her to do something fun with him. It was difficult having to rise her son on her own especially when her son was someone who destroyed the city with his robots, but Claire felt that she was doing the best that she could so. At times, she wished that her son was just as angelic as Becky Botsford was. Indeed both Sally and Claire did speak of their children's triumphs, especially when they wanted to set up a playdate with them. However, every child was different and Tobey had been missing a parent in his life for the past eight years. Claire didn't want to put the blame on having Tobet being fatherless, but she knew that was also one of the issues that he suffered from. She couldn't look after Tobey all the time, due to the hurdles of work, and when she did she was pulling him by the ear back home.

Divorce had been a very difficult situation for both her and her husband, but she just couldn't seem to keep up with her husband's aspirations. When they were married, Theodore continued his education in robots and engineering but when he finished and found a job, they always seemed to move wherever Theodore's job was. All of that constant relocation was something that Claire couldn't keep up with and she knew that she had to do something for the better of herself and their unborn child at the time. Two years later, there was still constant relocation and that was the moment that Claire came to the conclusion that she had to do something, which was either remain where they were or leave. A fight had broken out between them when Claire voiced her thoughts to her husband, up to the point where those arguments became constant. She came to the conclusion was for her to let Theodore go on his robotic shenanigans and for herself to find a better life for herself and her son. Moving to Fair City had been difficult for both her and her son but after sometime, she had put all the past behind her that she would forget about her old life and settle in with her new life. Before, there never went a day by where she didn't think about Theodore but after throwing herself into work for so many years, there was just no time to think about anyone else but work.

A fatigued sigh escaped her lips as she looked at the clock on the wall. Eight o'clock and night and she was almost finished with her work. There had been no distractions or calls about her son's mischievous whereabouts so she was able to finish a bit earlier than she had expected.

Dinner at the Botsfords had been quite the whimsical event for Becky and her brother, TJ. Since their parents were celebrating their anniversary, the two swapped stories with one another that Becky had never heard before. She couldn't help but find how romantic it was at how they were high school sweethearts. It was amazing how long a relationship lasted and how happy they were with one another.

After her parents left for their little date night that Tim had planned, Becky had herself cooped up in her bedroom to finish her homework. The one thing she was glad about was that there was no Art homework that she needed to accomplish. She was better at the other subjects but when it came to art, she didn't share the same level of proficiency that Violet had. The current homework that she was working on was science and it was about the planets of the solar system. Becky had been a couple of times outside of Earth's spectrum but settling on a planet and exploring it was something that she had not done before. She took the book that she had checked out of the library earlier and flipped open the pages. It was an easy assignment that involved describing the characteristic of the planets and why were they named the way they were. A little bit of science and history involved in the assignment.

Becky felt the texture of the paper passing by her fingers as her eyes quickly scanned through the words to find the proper details. Suddenly, her eyes stopped at one specific work that stood out to her.

Lexicon.

"Tobey!"

Tobey looked up from his desk when his mother called his name. She was finally home...and it was very late. The young boy jumped off his chair and headed down the stairs to greet his mother, though he felt a bit nervous doing so. How was he to tell her that they had a visitor at their home, and one who claimed to be his father?

The moment of truth he thought as he finally approached his mother and greeted her with a small smile. She looked exhausted through all of those long hours at work and sometimes Tobey didn't understand why she had to be away for so long. Work was important, just like school was to him even though he didn't enjoy being taught at such an elementary level, but this work situation was getting to be too much that he barely even saw his mother.

"Mother," he greeted her with a nod of his head and a slight smile upon his lips.

Just come out with it, she's going to find out eventually and when she does, she'll probably be vexed by it. Tobey debated with himself before he reached into the pocket of his pants and pulled out the slip of paper.

His mother hung her coat on the coat rack and looked over at her son. She was about to approach him for a hug until she noticed the slip of paper in his hands. "What is this?" she asked him as she took it in her hands and looked at it.

"There was a visitor here earlier who wanted to see you," Tobey began to explain the whole event to her before he reached the conclusion, "and he told me that he was my father...and that he wanted to meet with me."

His mother stared at him in astonishment at the whole tale that Tobey revealed to her. The one thing that she couldn't understand was the nerve that Theodore had to show himself after eight long years. The way that Tobey described how this man looked like was evident enough to Claire that it was indeed her ex-husband that had shown up at their doorstep.

"And mother," Tobey spoke again as he looked at her. He knew how difficult this might be for her to do it, but he wanted to get to know this man as much as he could. "I would like to see him again. Meet with him."

Was it a mere coincidence that Claire had been thinking a bit of her past life at work and this had happened earlier to Tobey? Her son had enough deprivation from having a father figure around him and if she were to continue this any longer, it would be all of her fault if Tobey never got the chance to see his father again. She glanced down at the slip of paper in her hands again before looking up at Tobey. Eight years without him were eight years without any disappointments...and Theodore had greatly let her down during the time they were together.

She didn't want for her son to suffer the same but eight years could really change a person and she hoped that her ex-husband had changed. "I have to give this some thought," she finally spoke.

Tobey breathed in through his nose towards his mother's response. A sentence like that was evident enough that the answer would be a 'no.' "I do hope it's possible," he said to her, letting the thoughts that he had earlier haunt him once again. He didn't want to sound stern towards his mother but he just couldn't keep those emotions away. With those last words, he headed up towards his bedroom and shut the door.