"Y-You can't do that!"
"What about our son?"
"I'm sure we can figure something out."
"How can you say that? You're about to...!"
"I wish there was another way, but..."
"Oh don't give me that! We've already explained it to you!"
"Mr. Tabootie, your explanation of 'trusting your son enough on his own' is not going to fly in the court. They will rip that apart. You might end up with a worse sentence if you try to use that as an excuse."
"It's not an excuse! It's the truth!"
Rudy could feel his whole body shuddering, ice shooting through his veins. He didn't want to think that what was happening was real. He didn't want to believe that things were falling apart so fast. He didn't want to think that he had...
But as he listened to the arguing going on, as the conversation between his parents and the doctor continued to move forward, he knew that it was true. And there was nothing that he could do about it. He couldn't make the doctor change his mind. He couldn't say anything to magically wish all of this away. This was reality and there was nothing that he could do about it. This made his heart twist almost to the point of breakage.
He tried to tell himself over and over again that it wasn't his fault. It was this doctor and this officer that he spoke of that were insisting on doing this. They were the ones that couldn't just let this go. They claimed that they could not. But they did have the choice of keeping their mouths shut. They could have just turned a blind eye and let him go home with his parents. Why was that so wrong? Why was that so difficult to do? Why was..."
Rudy gritted his teeth, releasing a low, soft moan. He had gotten tired of crying, tired of shaking so much. He laid closer against his mother. He could feel her large, warm arm against him. Despite feeling a bit hot, he still moved closer to her. It was one of the few things that kept him grounded in reality and kept him from going too crazy.
He could feel his mother's hand moving along the top of his head. She stroked his hair gently, her fingers running through the strands. Rudy relaxed even more, releasing a sigh of contentment. He could feel himself smiling a bit, although he wasn't able to keep smiling for long. There was just too much stress causing him to worry to relax completely.
"I know that this all sounds difficult for you. If there were any other way to deal with this, I would be more than happy to tell you." Dr. Bendor did sound regretful, Rudy noticed. Not that it made him any less upset with him. "You will be given a chance to defend yourselves, of course. You might have a chance to win. But.." His voice trailed off for a moment. He seemed hesitant to continue.
"...you know that we're going to lose, don't you...?" At this point, Mr. Tabootie sounded way too tired to keep on yelling. Indeed, the man had burned up so much emotional energy earlier. It was no wonder why he didn't want to keep going for much longer. He just finally was having enough. "We don't really have much of a chance, do we?"
"...I will give you at least a month to prepare. That's the best that I can offer you." Dr. Bendor said. There was a bit of sound, making Rudy wonder what kind of posture he was taking on. "I think this conversation has gone on long enough. I'll leave you two with your son. Carry on with what you were doing."
Mr. Tabootie let out an exasperated sigh. "That is...much appreciated..."
Mrs. Tabootie joined in, "Th-Thanks for...talking with us first."
"I do wish you the best of luck." Dr. Bendor took some steps back. He was now heading towards the door. "...you'll need it."
Rudy listened as the man went towards the door and exited out of it. His footsteps rapidly vanished. Soon, he could sense that it was just him and his parents. Almost right away, a chunk of his uncomfortableness, the tension, just melted away. But he still felt a little sick, his head spinning. He couldn't stop himself from asking the same question over and over again in his head.
What was going to happen now?
Several moments of silence, if not minutes or even feeling like hours, passed by. Rudy and his parents remained utterly silent. They were all stricken pretty hard by this news. Things were already tense before, what with the doctors predicting a longer healing time for Rudy. But now the legal issues are coming into play. Faster than what Rudy had expected as well...
The idea was bone chilling to him. He wanted to just move on, go back home, return things to normal. But as Dr. Bendor told them, that would be difficult. Because now the police were involved. Now there was nothing that they could do to stop the process. The police were going ot want to take their parents to court. The court was going to want to interrogate his parents and see if they were worthy of even keeping him around as a son.
And Child Services may rear their heads...
Rudy didn't want something like that to happen. He didn't want any of this to happen. He felt horrible that his stupid actions led to this. If he had just done what his parents had asked him to and just waited for their help instead of being a stupid idiot about the whole thing, then none of this would have happened. In the end, it was entirely his fault.
But despite his negative feelings, he did try to at least be a little bit more positive. Like the doctor said, there was a chance that they could pull through this. Even if there was little odds in their favor, there was at least something.
Still, he found himself turning his head in the direction that he heard his parents. A part of him just wanted a bit of reassurance.
"Is it... Is everything going to be okay?" Rudy croaked.
"...yes, Rudy. We'll be fine." His mom said as she embraced him. "Just...fine."
His dad patted his head. "You'll see. It'll all work out in the end."
Rudy wanted to believe them. And a part of him did feel better hearing those words. And yet another part of him knew that being positive wasn't going to be enough. He had to stay on his toes and be prepared. Whatever was about to come...
...they needed to be ready.
sss
Mrs. Sanchez let out a small sigh as she watched the scene unfolding before her. She wanted to say something, but at the moment, she could only just keep her mouth shut. Words were difficult to flow from her mouth, especially with the emotional distress that was ringing out right before her.
She had decided to visit Rudy again, bringing Penny with. The chores were done for the moment and she knew that Penny wanted to see Rudy again. It was little wonder why, considering he was among her closest friends. What happened to Rudy was awful. Ensuring that he was going to be okay was something both she and Penny wanted.
But unlike before, she had remained silent, lost in her own thoughts. She did little more than just watch Penny speaking with Rudy. Things had already begun to go downhill. And here she was, paying witness to it all.
"Oh Rudy..." Penny whispered softly. "There's... There's nothing that could be done about this? You can't just...?"
Rudy shook his head slowly. "Dr. Bendor was fully serious. Within a month's time, my parents will be taken to court and put on trial. We tried to talk him out of it. But he wouldn't listen."
Penny's hand shot towards her mouth. "I'm so sorry that this is happening. And after all that you've been through, too..." Penny placed her hand on Rudy's shoulder. "I'm so sorry that..."
Rudy suddenly jerked himself away from Penny, startling her. He released a low hiss as he stared off in one direction. His teeth became gritted against each other. "Oh spare me the sympathy Penny." His voice was a growl. "You know I'm just as much to blame for this. In fact, this entire thing is my fault!"
"R-Rudy... H-How can you say that..?" Penny whispered softly, sounding as though she was having trouble breathin. "You couldn't have known that..."
"But my parents told me to wait! If I did that, then this wouldn't be happening!" Rudy clutched the sides of his head, digging his fingernails right in. "And if Mr. Wilter didn't assign that stupid diorama in the first place...!"
"Rudy, that's enough." Mrs. Sanchez finally spoke up. It took a lot of force against herself to make her say something. She had spoken so loudly and so suddenly that it made both Rudy and Penny freeze. She let out a small sigh as she moved in closer. "Penny's right. You shouldn't be blaming yourself for this. There was no way that you could have predicted this would have happened."
"B-B-But... If I had just..." Rudy stammered.
Mrs. Sanchez reached over and let her hand slide along the top of Rudy's head. She stroked his hair gently as she continued, trying to speak in a gentle voice. "Shush now. No more of this self blaming. You aren't doing yourself any favors. Sometimes, things just happen. Even if you take the most cautious route, even then, something might happen that you just can't prevent."
Mrs. Sanchez moved her hand down to caress Rudy's cheek. She looked at his face, seeing how, even without visible eyes, Rudy's face was just glowing with emotion. It was enough to cause her to freeze up, almost losing track of what she wanted to say next.
If there was one thing that she wanted to avoid, it's blaming the boy's parents verbally. Mrs. Sanchez was still pissed off at them for not watching Rudy more carefully. But she was already aware of how Rudy reacted when someone, was it Dr. Bendor, accused his parents and 'talked' with him before. He must be feeling really uncomfortable right now, and if she dared to bring it up, she might just make his mental state worse. So as much as she wanted to say something and at least try to help him understand, she refrained from doing so.
Instead, she tried to focus on cheering the boy up. She could tell that he needed something, especially with what happened earlier. Mrs. Sanchez herself might not be able to do anything to stop that trial from happening, but she might know a way to help Rudy feel slightly better.
"I'm certain that, regardless of what happens, things will turn out all right in the end." Mrs. Sanchez said. She kept her voice soft and gentle. "Just...try not to blame yourself, dear. It won't help you or anyone. What happened just...happened. No amount of attacking yourself will change things."
Rudy lowered his head. "I know that. I just...wish that I could have..."
Penny reached out and touched Rudy's arm. "Enough already, Rudy. Please stop kicking yourself." Rudy turned his head as though to look at her through the cloth bandages. "No one is to blame for this. No one did this on purpose. Please try to understand that."
Rudy hissed softly. "Oh sure, if I didn't do anything, then what of my parents? Are they to blame?" Mrs. Sanchez kept her mouth shut at this. "The doctor? The officer or whatever else was involved? Should they get the blame?"
Penny was silent for a few moments before she finally responded. "...no. Not one of them planned this, and you know it."
Rudy simply growled in response. He was obviously in too much of a pessimistic mood to understand the significance of what Penny was saying. Not that it was surprising. He had been through quite a lot. It was little wonder that he was doing this. If anything, it was more surprising at how calm Rudy sounded compared to how he could be acting right now.
Mrs. Sanchez felt uncomfortable with the topic of Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie. She didn't want to be upset with them and she didn't want to say anything to get Rudy to think that she hated them. That wasn't the case. She was just mad at them and it was a little difficult to talk about them. But she didn't think that she could just stay silent; she wanted to expand on what her daughter said.
So, after gathering up the courage to speak, after figuring out what she was going to say, after trying to set aside her own misgivings towards Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie, Mrs. Sanchez addressed Rudy.
"Your parents...didn't mean for this to happen. They didn't realize what would happen by asking you to wait. They couldn't have predicted it." That was a bit difficult to say. She knew it was the truth, though, regardless of how she felt. She continued. "The doctor and the officer involved with the debacle with your parents, they're only doing what they feel is right. This is a legal issue, after all, and I can't blame them for wanting to follow with the law. And as for Mr. Wilter, all he did was assign a diorama project. How could he have had anything planned?"
Rudy didn't seem to have any sort of response to that. He remained silent as he kept his head staring up at Mrs. Sanchez. The two of them stayed like this for several moments, letting them tick by slowly. Mrs. Sanchez wanted to make sure that Rudy got it inside of his head before she said anything else.
"And if you're wondering about youself..."
The young boy appeared to stiffen up at this, as though expecting the worst.
Mrs. Sanchez softened up her expression. "Like we've said before, it wasn't your fault, either. No one planned for this. No one had any agenda on doing something like this. No one had any ill will. Your parents told you to wait. You were just working on your project. The doctor and police officer are just following the law. Your teacher just gave an assignment." She reached out once more and placed her hands on Rudy's shoulders. "So please, stop playing this blame game. Let's focus on just heading forward now. That's what matters the most at this point. It doesn't matter who had the biggest hand in what happened. What matters more now is how it's resolved."
"That's right, Rudy." Came Penny's small voice. "I know it'll be hard. But we've got to stay focused. Instead of asking yourself 'how could this be', instead as 'how do I deal with this'."
Mrs. Sanchez, although she knew that Rudy could not see it, gave a slow nod of her head. "That's right. So please...for us...for your parents.. Can you please stop with the self blame? It wasn't your fault." She leaned in closer and, before she realized what was happening, her arms moved around Rudy's body. She pulled him into a hug. She could hear Rudy starting to cry softly and she whispered, "Shh...it'll be okay.."
Soon Penny joined in. She and her daughter held onto the shaking and whimpering boy. They didn't say anything else. There was nothing left to be said. All they could do was just hold onto him and hope that he managed to settle down soon.
As she held onto him, Mrs. Sanchez could feel he rmind wandering around. She felt a mixture of emotions regarding the whole thing. Despite her stance, she still couldn't really think of how she wanted all of this to end. She didn't know what outcome she preferred nor could she even think of something herself. She was just...drawing a blank at this. Never before had she been so conflicted on something.
She did still hope that something worked out in the end. She did hope that, whatever came of this, that it would be what was best for everyone. She did sinerely hope that, in the event that Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie were found guilty, they wouldn't be given too bad of a punishment. She wanted them to understand what they did and the consequences of it. But she didn't want them to suffer. And despite what it might look like, neither did the neighbors. Nobody was calling for their execution or blood; just them receiving a wake up call.
In the end, she wanted to be confident for a positive outcome. But a small part of her knew that would be pretty complicated and difficult. Either way, something big was going to happen soon. They all could only just hope that it didn't turn out to be the worst possible outcome.
sss
Three weeks had passed since Rudy had been taken to the hospital. Three long weeks... They had felt like ages to those involved, particularly Rudy, who had been looking forward to getting out of there as soon as possible. The days had been marked down. Everyone was a bit too aware of what was going on each day. Perhaps that's why things felt like they were a lot slower.
However, things did not play out entirely how they thought. Before, the doctors had predicted that he would get his eyesight back in at least three weeks. At the earliest, anyway. But that prediction had been changed. Although reluctant to give the news, the doctors informed the Tabooties that Rudy was looking at longer than a single month most likely for his eye sight to return.
The news was understandably devastating to hear. Instead of being freed from the endless darkness, Rudy would have to endure it for longer. His parents tried to plead with the doctors for a better outcome and they tried to get them to try harder. But the doctors couldn't really do anything else. They claimed they had done all that they could. It was up to Rudy's own body to do the rest. The only way out of this mess was if he himself was able to pull out of it.
But such a thing was just wishful thinking. There was no way that Rudy could just will his body to heal faster. If anything, his attempts to try only seemed to slow it down. Day after day, doctors would come in to change the bandages around his eyes and check on their progress. And it was always so slow, particularly on days when he's trying so hard to heal himself.
Rudy tried to be optimistic. He tried to follow the others' lead and hope that everything would be all right. He didn't want to keep worrying them. He didn't want to contribute to the anxiety. But it was getting increasingly difficult to stay positive of the whole thing when he still saw nothing but darkness.
As each day passed, Rudy could feel himself growing more and more pessimistic. It didn't seem to dawn on him that the pain in his eyes were going away. The pain didn't matter to him anymore. How could it, if he wasn't going to be able to see anymore? Why should he care about the pain if he couldn't...
But it wasn't just Rudy who was getting concerned. Mr. and Mrs. Tabootie were growing increasingly anxious as their son continued to not see anything. Penny was getting more and more nervous and her mother kept checking up on Rudy over the phone, not just Rudy's parents. And Snap and the other zoners kept clamoring for Penny for answers, constantly asking when Rudy would return. Even Biclops had shown up regarding the boy's absense.
A part of Penny had wanted to refrain from talking about it too much, as she felt that it was only creating more problems. But at the same time, as she found out a week later, withholding information was even worse. The zoners had started to spread rumors about what happened. Penny felt guilty for this, and she tried to dispell them as best as she could. Particularly the less than pleasant ones.
Dr. Bendor and Officer Lou were not enjoying what was happening either. While they were pushing to have some trial happen within the time frame the parents were stated, it wasn't like they enjoyed it. Indeed, this felt almost 'filthy' to do, but both were still aware of the law. They were worried about Rudy and what condition he might be in if he were permitted to stay with his parents. If his parents put more effort in showing that they cared for their son, that would be one thing. But that unfortunately is not what they heard.
Rudy's attempts to defend his parents, including after the initial interrogation, were only making things worse. There were several attempts to excuse the actions, attempts to make them see them as well-meaning parents, attempts to make them overlook a 'few unfortunate incidents'. But the two were not deterred and were not convinced. They didn't hate Joe or Millie Tabootie, but for Rudy's sake, a change might need to be made.
So far, talk of placing him in a foster home or arrange for someone else to care for him were mostly hushed. No one, not even the officer who was most keen in getting this done, wanted to bring it up so soon. Any discussion of it were kept out of hearing range of Rudy. They were done in private to ensure that Rudy wasn't more stressed out than he needed to be right now.
If there was one thing everyone had in common with the situation, it's that none of them knew how things were going to go from here. There was no telling what direction things would ultimately take. Even the outcome of the trial was not completely certain. Something might still turn up and change everything around. And exactly what would happen if Rudy's parents are convicted was a large unknown.
The boy was so attached to his parents and so determined to stay with them. If forced away, what would that do this psyche? How would he respond in a new environment? How would he be able to having to live in a completely different place against his will? Not being able to see was bad enough. No one wanted to imagine what would happen if he were placed in a foster home on top of that.
But what about his parents? Some were still concerned about that. Sure, they showed remorse right now, but that didn't mean that something wouldn't still happen. The issue was that they didn't see exactly what they did wrong before. They didn't see it wrong as not being instantly relieved that their son fell on the car instead of the ground, resulting in no time in looking worried. They didn't see it as a bad thing to let him wander around the Roman Colloseum alone because they trusted that he knew how to avoid danger. They didn't see why it was upsetting that they let Doctor Von Doktor look at their son when, after all, he had no intention on hurting him.
It was this that was creating a conflict. It didn't seem like either way was inheritantly better than the other. Either Rudy would be potentially hurt mentally, or he could be hurt physically. Taking him to a foster home might provide him with better parenting, but it might lead to him becoming emotionally distraught. Keeping him with his parents might make him happy, but it would just increase the chances of something happing. Considering that the Tabooties had a history of 'entrusting their son in weird situations', the fear that it would still happen regardless of what they were told was still a worry.
Everyone at least tried to be positive and hoped for a good outcome. The doctor and officer wanted everything to run smoothly. The Tabooties just wanted to return to a normal life. The Sanchezes hoped that things didn't get anymore complicated than they already were. Snap and the zoners continued to await the return of their dear friend. Mr. Wilter genuinely wished them all the best.
But a shadow always lurked around the corner. If they let their guard down, something could come up and strike. They all needed to be prepared for what could happen. And hopefully, they could prevent things from getting worse.
