Chapter 12: Preparations

That night, Topanga tossed and turned, and eventually gave up on sleep all together. At dawn she sat in the small kitchenette of Stewart's apartment and sipped a hot cup of coffee. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't straighten out her feelings. She felt pity for Minkus, and guilt for all those years that the kids in school, including herself sometimes, had tormented him. If anyone had known what he was going through, the entire mess she now found herself in would have never happened. Sighing, she glanced over at the phone, and realized now more than ever she needed a friend to talk to. Normally she would talk to Shawn or Angela, but she had no idea where in New York they were. So she made a bold decision and dialed.

After only two rings, someone answered. "Hello, I'm single and very available. How may I help you?"

Topanga smiled in spite of herself. "Eric? Is that you?"

"Oh hey Topanga! How are you? I haven't seen you around for a few days. As a matter of fact, I haven't seen Corey or Shawn either. What have you guys been up to?" Eric responded cheerfully. As Topanga had hoped, he did not mind that it was five in the morning, or that his brother's wife was calling him. In fact, he sounded like he didn't know they weren't on campus, which wouldn't surprise her considering how quickly they left.

"I'm not doing so well, and neither is anyone else. You see, we're in New York.."

"You're in the Big Apple?! Seriously! I thought you guys were still here. That would make since, because when I went to your dorm yesterday, no one was in there, and Corey's secret stash of money was gone." Eric interrupted. Then he paused and asked the inevitable question, "Why are you guys in New York?"

"We're here to see Stewart and I's child." Topanga answered bluntly. It was coming naturally to her now. It didn't seem that odd at all that the biggest dork at John Adam's High School fathered her child. Wait, yes it still felt a little weird.

"Oh okay. Who's Stewart? Wait, you had a kid? But…" Eric's voice trailed off, and Topanga knew she had completely lost him.

"Minkus and I had a baby when I was in high school. No one knew about it except for us until yesterday when Minkus came out of nowhere and told everyone." Topanga explained.

"Minkus? The shrimpy little kid in Corey's class? I always wondered what happened to him. Let me guess, he came up with an new computer that is making him a lot of money." Eric laughed.

"Actually he's a high class lawyer, breezed through law school and through college. And yes, he's making a lot of money. I'm in his apartment right now."

"Cool! Does he have a big collection of Star Trek merchandise?" Eric asked excitedly, disregarding Topanga's news about her child.

Topanga paused and looked around the room. Then she spotted a small stack of Star Trek tapes in the corner and then relayed the news to Eric.

"I figured he was a Trekkie. Can I talk to Corey?" Eric said.

"No, he's not with me. I don't know where he is," Topanga admitted.

"That settles it then, I'm coming up there. You can't just go have a dork baby and then loose my brother! This conversation is over." Eric's happy tone switched to a very angry one in a matter of seconds. A click on the other end of the phone line ended Topanga's conversation and left her feeling worried. Eric had no idea where anyone was, much less the means of getting up to New York. He had less money than Corey and Shawn and also less sense.

What Topanga didn't know was that Eric had Jack, who had the money to get them a flight to New York immediately. Before Minkus was even thinking about getting up, both were in route to New York to find Topanga and their brothers. They also had a pager number, which Corey had borrowed from Jack early the day before as a joke. Jack paged Corey before they left and then talked to him on the payphone for a few minutes. Eric then had an address and directions to where Corey and Shawn were staying, and would be in New York by eight o'clock.

Until then, Eric tried to tell Jack about the phone call he got from Topanga. "She sounded like she wanted to talk but I told her that I would not speak with a woman who had a dork father her illegitimate child and then lost my brother in New York city."

Jack shook his head in bewilderment. "Topanga had a baby?"

"Yeah, with Minkus of all people," Eric said, in the same I-don't-believe-it-tone.

"Not Stewart Minkus!" Jack exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

"Yeah, I think that was his first name. It sounds like a dorky first name. Who names their kid Stewart?"

"Well, if he turns out to the best lawyer of all time, then it doesn't matter what his first name is! That man is a certified genius. He finished college at Harvard in a year and law school in eighteen months, after he graduated early from high school. That's one smart illegitimate child!" Jack admitted with a smile.

Eric seemed stumped. "Well, you can bet that Minkus junior is not going to be football captain."

Across the city Corey and Shawn were surfing the web for Stewart's law firm. They scrolled through the findings and wrote down two possible firms where a Stewart Minkus worked. The addresses of both firms meant nothing to them, but they hoped it would for a cab driver. Both buildings were located on the same street, but they probably wasn't saying much for New York City. The streets in the city were practically endless.

"We can visit later on this morning, right now I need a nap," Corey admitted, as he let out a big yawn. Shawn nodded in agreement. He looked around the cyber café, which was just starting to get its first visitors of the morning, sharp businessmen in suits. After walking a few blocks they had discovered the café had computers around sunrise. It took awhile for Corey to get out of the hotel, and then it took awhile to find the café. The computer they had used was the owner's lab top, a high tech model that never Corey or Shawn had ever seen before. They had begged the manager to let them use it, telling them all about their situation. Mr. Johnson the manager of the café was not surprised by the story at all. He treated it like an everyday occurrence, which made both Shawn and Corey wonder if he had lent his computer out before.

It was five thirty when Corey and Shawn drifted off to sleep at the hotel, with the alarm set at ten for their trip to the firms.

Angela arrived at her friend Kelsey's apartment that night at one o'clock in the morning. Kelsey was happy to see her, and wanted all the details of her unexpected trip to New York. Unwilling to share the correct information, Angela made something up about business with an attorney named Stewart Minkus.

"You're hear to see Stewart Minkus? What a small world I used to date him! He's a weird character, charming, and smart, but still odd. His firm isn't far from here, I could take you by on my way to work. I have to get up at six, so we better get some sleep." Kesley explained to her, and then showed her to the guest bedroom and the bathroom. Angela borrowed some pajamas and went straight to bed. She was too exhausted to think of anything other than sleep.

Kesley was shaking her to get up all too soon, and she slowly got ready to leave. All she had were the clothes she wore on the plane, but Kesley loaned her some extra things, after Angela told her that the airport 'lost' her luggage. All too soon they were heading off towards the Minkus firm. Angela spotted in almost immediately, a huge metallic skyscraper that stood taller than any buildings in the area. She imagined that tours ran through it to get to the top level and see a bird's eye view of New York.

"Here it is. I'm running kind of late so I'll have to catch up with you later. Meet me in the café across the street from here for lunch, okay?" Kelsey said, before she jogged off towards a subway enterance. Angela could only nod and make her way for the revolving doors.

The lobby was huge, complete with leather couches and gold rimmed coffee tables. A huge courtsey desk took up the back wall, with many busy secretaries answering phones. Angela cautiously made her way to one of them and requested an appointment with Mr. Minkus.

"He's not in today, but I can give you a private phone number if you would like," the secretary answered after Angela insisted that it was urgent that she see Mr. Minkus. Kelsey's business suit made her seem as high class as he was, and she sent a thousand mental thanks to her for it. With her plane clothes Angela would not have even been allowed to enter the building.

Angela accepted the number and called on her cell phone immediately after leaving the building.

"Hello?" Topanga answered, sounding very hoarse, and very tired.

"Topanga, its Angela. Where are you?" Angela responded, glad she didn't have to go through Minkus.

"I don't really know. He's getting up, I really can't talk long." Topanga said, and Angela could hear the shower going off in the background. "I think we're going to the orphanage this morning at ten o'clock. The name of it is on the post-it note here by the phone. After the appointment, you can meet me outside, we should be done by eleven. Please don't come before that. It's called St. Peter's Home, I don't know the address. I have to go." With that Topanga hung up, and Angela was left with no money, no key to get into to Kelsey's apartment, and a name. She called up information, got directions, and began to walk.

Minkus emerged from the shower not long after Topanga got off the phone. He gave her a towel and a change of clothes, from a lady 'friend' of his. No doubt the rather low cut red dress was from a high class girlfriend of his. It was better than the wrinkled mess she had on, and Topanga quickly showered off and put it on.

When she came back out to the kitchenette Minkus had served her up an omelet with lots of cheddar cheese on top. Her stomach growled and Topanga realized she hadn't eaten for a long time. Slowly she ate it, already feeling the affects of getting no sleep for almost a full day. Twenty four hours ago she still slept soundly next to Corey, without a worry or care on her mind. Now she was being pushed out the door by Minkus, and lead to a cab where they would go meet her son.