A Brand New Start

by Wheels'Girl

After spending 10 years prison, Wheels is getting on with his life. He befriends some kids he must help, and finally gets himself a girlfriend. Read to find out what will happen to Wheels, the kids, and his girlfriend! Includes characters from D:TNG!

5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"So, did you have a girlfriend in Winnipeg?" Craig asked Ty as they walked down Pape Street the Sunday following Wheels' date with Heather. It was a balmy Saturday afternoon for Toronto in the middle of September.

"I did for awhile, but then we broke up when her family moved back to Minnesota, which is where she's originally from. She was really beautiful! What about you?"

"I dated Ash, slept with Manny, and now I have neither one of them! Need I say more?"

"And I thought I had it bad!" Ty said, laughing. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure!"

"Whaddya think of Emma?"

"Emma? Emma Nelson?" Craig asked as they continued walking. "She's OK, I guess. Why?"

"Just wondering."

"She's nice, and pretty. If you like her, you should ask her out!"

"I don't know. I might, but I'd really like to know her better first before I do anything like that."

He'd now been living in Toronto for two weeks and the place was actually starting to grow on him. Aside from Wheels, he'd made friends with people his own age, too, namely Craig and his friends and Emma and some of her friends. His parents had also made friends with Wheels, when he'd volunteered to help them move their furniture in once it finally arrived from Winnipeg. All in all, Toronto was starting to feel like home.

Ty and Craig turned on to Gerrard Street. They were going back to Ty's apartment to get his bass. Ty was originally supposed to stay home and watch Maddie that night, but when he was invited to practice with Craig and gang, that all changed. He struck up a deal with his mom, who was just so happy that he was making friends that she had to let him be with them. The deal was that if she and his dad would let him go, he'd help them find a suitable babysitter for Maddie, which he did. He asked Emma, who gladly agreed to come over and watch her for the night.

"And this is where I live!" Ty said as he threw open the door to their apartment. There were boxes scattered all around the living room, as they were still in the middle of unpacking. Maddie was sitting on the couch, eating some grapes and watching cartoons.

"It doesn't look like much, but it's better than nothing right now. We might eventually move into a house, but this was the only thing we could find for the time being. My dad's company didn't give him much notice that he was being transferred and that the transfer was almost immediately."

"Ty!" Maddie yelled as she jumped off of the couch and ran over to his legs and hugged them. Ty scooped her up in his arms. "And this is MY little sister, Maddie!" He said to Craig. He'd just met Craig's little sister, Angela, earlier that morning. "Maddie, this is my friend, Craig!"

"Hi Craig!" Maddie said as she ran back to the couch.

"Hey, where's Mom?"

"She's puttin' stuff away in my room." Maddie said, concentrating on her cartoon.

"This way." Ty said as he lead Craig back to Maddie's room.

"Mom?" Ty said as they entered Maddie's room.

"What?" She said. She had her head in a big, tall box labeled "Maddie's toys". She stood back up, her arms full of toys. Maddie sure had a lot of them, Ty thought. She turned to face the two of them.

"This is my friend Craig. Craig, this is my mom."

"Hi, Craig!" LeeAnn, Ty's mom, said as she laid Maddie's toys down on her bed. She had the same blond hair as Ty, only here's was longer and pulled back in a messy ponytail. She extended her hand out to Craig, and they shook hands. "I've heard a lot about you."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you!" Craig said as he shook LeeAnn's hand.

"Ty, what time did Emma say she'd be here?" LeeAnn asked.

"Six, I think. Why?"

"I was just trying to figure out what time I should feed Maddie, that's all."

"Well, we're going to get my bass and then go back to Craig's house."

"OK." LeeAnn said as she picked the toys up off of Maddie's bed. "You boys have fun!""Bye Mom!" Ty said as they left. Craig waved at her.

"It's in here." Ty said as he opened the door to the room next to Maddie's, which was his.

Ty had his room all decked out in posters, mostly of classic rock and retro 80s bands. His favorite poster was actually the vintage Gourmet Scum poster he'd bought at a yard sale from a guy in Winnipeg, because it had been autographed. He loved their music! He was extremely jealous when Wheels told him he'd actually gotten to see them perform a few times as a teenager. There was absolutely no doubt in Ty's mind that if he'd been growing up in Toronto and attending Degrassi when Wheels and his friends went to school there that they would have been best friends because they had such similar interests. Still, it was cool being friends with Wheels now because even though he was an adult, he didn't treat Ty like he was a kid. He could talk and hang out with Wheels just like he did Craig, Marco, Spinner and Jimmy and it wasn't awkward. Still, Wheels did his best to keep him on the straight and narrow. Wheels told him all about how he refused to take responsibility for the things that happened to him that were his own fault when he was just about Ty's age, and he told him the story of how he landed himself in prison for ten years and he made sure that Ty knew if he was ever in any sort of trouble he'd do the best he could to help him, but if it was ever anything really serious he was telling Ty's parents about it. It was plain and simple: Wheels cared enough that he didn't want Ty (Or for that matter, Emma or Craig), to go through the same messes he did. Just being a teenager was hard enough!

Craig admired all of Ty's posters. There really wasn't a bare spot on the wall; the walls were covered! Then he noticed a set of drumsticks in a wooden box sitting on the dresser. He picked them up and started looking at them.

"Hey, be careful with those!" Ty said as he watched Craig out of the corner of his eye.

"Oh my God!" Craig gasped. "You have a set of drumsticks autographed by Rick Allen of Def Leppard? How did you get those? They're one of the greatest bands of all time!"

Ty smiled. "A couple of years ago my friend Chris and I got to go to one of their concerts in Alberta and we got to meet them. Chris's dad works at the arena that they played in and got us free tickets and we actually got to meet them and hang out with them for a little while after the show. It was really cool!"

"I would've KILLED to have been there with you!" Craig exclaimed, still ogling the drumsticks.

"You ready?" Ty said as he pulled out the case containing the bass.

"Yeah, sure!" Craig said as he put the drumsticks back down in the box. "Man, RICK ALLEN!"

***

"Print, and. . .DONE!" Wheels said as he sat back in his chair. He watched the printer sitting next to his MacBook print out several pieces of paper, which were actually the progress reports for the kids in his group that he was required to give to their counselors. He was required to turn in progress reports every couple of weeks showing their attendance, the results of the sobriety tests that were administered every few days by the police (Some of them needed to have the test done every day, and were given assigned times to come to the police station for them. If they failed, they were sent to jail until bond could be posted for them, then they had to start the recovery process all over again. They were given three chances to complete the recovery process, and if they failed a fourth time, they were sentenced to jail for a whole year. Wheels had seen this happen a couple of times.), and any other issues that he felt needed to be addressed and dealt with. So far, the kids were all doing fairly well, but they still had quite a way to go.

He locked his hands together behind his back and leaned back and stretched, letting out a loud yawn. He then reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out his cellphone and decided to call Heather.

They'd gone out together a few more times since their first date, and things were going well. She was the most amazing woman he'd ever met.

He dialed her number and her phone rang six or seven times. She didn't answer.

"She's probably working and put it on vibrate so nobody can hear it." He thought. "No problem, I'll just try again later!"

He reached for the remote for the stereo, which was sitting next to him on the table. Wheels' apartment was big with three bedrooms and one bathroom, but the living room and kitchen were combined. The kitchen was on the back half of the apartment, and to the right of that was a small hallway that led to the three bedrooms and the bathroom. To the left of the kitchen was the sliding glass door that led to the back patio and fire escape where Sheba spent all of her time when she was outside. The kitchen and living room was separated by an oblong bar countertop. The kitchen and bathroom both had the same white tile on the floor, while the rest of the apartment was carpeted in beige carpet.

Sheba jumped up on the desktop next to the MacBook and started meowing. She then lied down and rolled over on her back, exposing her stomach for a belly rub. Wheels rubbed her stomach and she purred loudly.

Wheels had had Sheba for about two years, getting her shortly after he moved in during the winter. She was actually a stray kitten then, and he'd found her one day when he was taking a bag of garbage out to the dumpster behind the apartment building. Actually, what he had found was Sheba's whole family; Mom and about nine brothers and sisters. All of them seemed to be very tame, and the kittens were extremely playful like kittens are. He petted them, but decided to let them be. Sheba wasn't about to let him go so easily, though, and as he was walking back into the building he was stopped by a faint, small meow. He turned around to see a small, skinny black and white kitten sitting there with these two huge, sad looking amber colored eyes. She had a look on her face that pretty much said "Please help me! I'm hungry and cold and I have no one and nowhere to go!" He felt guilty. He knew all too well what it felt like being alone, and he couldn't just leave here there. He carried her back inside to his apartment and put her in an empty box with an old bath towel for some added warmth, gave her a small dish of water and fed her a can of tuna that he'd had in the kitchen. He grabbed another empty box that was just big enough for Mom and the rest of the kittens and went outside and gathered them up in the box. He drove them over to the animal shelter down town, where they were checked by a veterinarian and put up for adoption. Since then, Sheba had gone from being a small, skinny kitten to a big, fat cat who still loved to play and spent every night sleeping at the foot of his bed.

Wheels turned on the radio and turned the station to CRAZ. An ad for Jeremiah Motors was playing.

"I have cars, trucks, vans, SUVs! You want it? I got it! Bad credit? No credit? No problem! Just come see me, Joey Jeremiah, down at Jeremiah Motors and I will get YOU in the car, truck, van or SUV of YOUR choice today!"

Wheels laughed at Joey's ad. He always laughed at Joey's ads because they were essentially your stereotypical ad for a used car dealership. Joey was very good at what he did, though. He was very "people smart" and very convincing, something Joey always had been. Wheels often thought he would've made a very good spokesman for TV ads, because if anyone could convince others that something was great even though it was shit, it'd be Joey Jeremiah.

The CRAZ jingle came on, then the weather, and then, to his surprise, so did Heather!

"OK, so remember how I was asking you guys to e-mail me with your strange but true facts earlier? Well, I received some good ones from Keri out in Ottawa and Brian in Toronto over the break, and these are actually pretty funny! Keri shared these two tidbits of information with me: The dot over the letter "i", like a lowercase "i", is actually called a tittle! A TITTLE!" She said, laughing. "What a funny name for that little tiny dot! She also tells me that men can read smaller print than women, but women can hear better than men! I have another theory, though, and that's that men just purposely like to ignore women! Brian shared this fun little fact with me: The Guinness Book of World Records holds the record for being the book most often stolen from public libraries! How's that for irony? A book about records having a record itself for being the most stolen book!" She laughed again. "Keeps those e-mails comin', I really like hearing from you guys and you don't just have to e-mail me strange facts, you can e-mail me about anything, even you want if you just wanna talk, or maybe even just ask a question about something! Also, don't forget that if there's something you wanna hear to send me a request on or call me on the Crazy Line at 439-2729 and I'll play that song for ya! Right now here's 'Heaven' by Bryan Adams for Sheryl in Toronto on CRAZ FM!"

Wheels reached for his phone again and dialed the number for the Crazy Line, hoping to get through. He had never heard Heather on the radio, but she was really good, and he wanted to make sure she knew that.

The phone on the other end started ringing, then Heather answered.

"Thanks for calling the Crazy Line! What would you like to hear?" She asked."How 'bout 'Are you busy tonight'?" Wheels asked as he leaned back in his chair, smiling at nothing in particular.

"Huh?" Heather said, confused as to what was going on. Then she started to catch on. "Wheels, is that you?"

"Well I'd be a little alarmed if you had other guys calling you and asking if you were busy on a Saturday night! So, are you?"

"My big Saturday night plans were to stay at home and watch TV, but if you can offer something else more worthwhile I might be persuaded!"

"How about coming over to my place and spending a night in with me? We can order a pizza or chinese or something and order a movie off of pay-per-view."

"Maybe." Heather thought for a moment, then made a decision. "OK! Sounds good!" She said. Wheels could tell she was smiling because she just sounded like she was happy.

"I also called to tell you that I've been listening to you on the air and I think you're really good!"

"Thanks! That really means a lot to hear someone say that!"

"Although with that remark you made about guys purposely ignoring women, I don't know. . ." He teased.

"Yeah, yeah! Whatever!" Heather said, teasing him back. "We both know you guys never pay attention to us when we're talking to you! Anyway, I'm just filling in for the girl that does the afternoon show on Saturdays because her son is sick and she had to stay home and take care of him." She looked up at the screen on her computer that told her how long the song she was playing had left. It only had just a little over a minute left. "Hey, I gotta get going soon! So what time should I come over?" She asked. "I'll be out of here at four."

Wheels thought for a moment. He needed a little time a quick shower and shave and a little time to tidy up before she got there. "Six OK?"

"That'd be great!" She said. "I'll see you then!"

"OK, six it is! Bye!" He said as he hung up.

***

"Mom, I'm leaving!" Emma said as she headed toward the front door. She was carrying a bag full of her old toys and games that she used to love to play with when she was little. She was hoping she and Maddie could play with them and they'd keep Maddie busy and out of trouble for the night.

"OK!" Spike yelled from the other room. "Call me if you need anything!"

Emma walked out of the house and down the sidewalk and turned onto the sidewalk of Degrassi Street. She turned onto Gerrard Street and walked to Gerrard Street Commons, the apartment complex that Ty and Wheels lived in. She entered the building the two of them lived in and walked to the elevator on the main floor and pushed the "Up" arrow button. As she was waiting for the elevator to come down, a woman came up from behind her carrying two large bags packed full of groceries.

"Are you going up?" Emma asked the lady.

"Yes." The lady said as the elevator doors opened and they walked in.

"What floor?" Emma asked as the doors closed behind them.

"Three." The woman said as she sat one bag of groceries down on the floor.

Emma pushed the buttons for their respective floors. The elevator stopped at the third floor and the lady started walking out of the elevator, thanking Emma.

"Thank you!" She called to Emma shortly before the elevator doors started to close.

"You're welcome!" Emma called out to her.

"WAIT!!" Someone else called out as she ran toward the closing elevator doors. Another woman came running towards the elevator and Emma wedged herself between the closing doors so the woman could get on.

"Thank you soo much!" The woman said as she boarded the elevator.

"It's no problem." Emma said as she stepped back inside.

"Wait a minute. . ." The woman said as she studied Emma. "Emma? Emma Nelson? Is that you?"

"Yeeaah. . ." Emma said, getting a little creeped out. "How do you know who I am?"

"OH MY GOD!" The strange woman turned out to be none other than Heather. "You really ARE all grown up!"

"And YOU are really scaring me!"

Heather laughed. "You don't remember me, do you? I'm Heather Farrell, I was one of your mom's best friends when we went to Degrassi."

Emma thought for a moment, then she remembered briefly meeting her before her mom's high school reunion and then meeting her again when her mom and Snake got married.

"OK, I think I remember you now!" She said. "Don't you have a twin sister named Erica?"

"Uh huh!"

"I thought you lived in Yellowknife?"

"Not anymore. I got a job here in Toronto as the Program Manager for CRAZ FM, so I moved back. I've only been back for just a couple of weeks! So how are you?"

"Pretty good. I've got a babysitting job here tonight."

"Well I'm here for a date!" Heather beamed.

"Really? Who with?" Emma was becoming interested now.

"Wheels!"

"Wheels?" Emma asked in amazement. "Ya mean he finally managed to find himself a date?"

"I've been seeing him for a couple of weeks, and I really like him." Heather said, her face glowing. "It's been a really long time since I've been this happy!"

The elevator stopped and the two of them got off and walked down the hall together. Heather stopped at Wheels' apartment and Emma stopped at Ty's apartment.

"Good luck!" Emma said before knocking on the door.

"Thanks!" Heather said.

Emma started to knock on the door and then spoke up again.

"You should call my mom sometime!" She said. "I know she'd love to hear from you! Just ask Wheels for the number, he has it!"

"Thanks. I will!" Heather said as she knocked on the door to Wheels' apartment.

Emma knocked on the door and was greeted by Mike, Ty and Maddie's dad.

"You must be Emma!" He said as he opened the door. "Honey, Emma's here!" He called out to LeeAnn. "Come on in! My name is Michael, but you can call me Mike." Mike extended his hand out to Emma and the two of them shook hands.

Emma followed him into the messy apartment full of boxes. LeeAnn walked out into the living room from one of the bedrooms.

"Hi Emma." LeeAnn said as she entered the room. "I've heard a lot about you! I'm LeeAnn." LeeAnn also shook hands with Emma. "Maddie, can you come out here please?" LeeAnn called out to Maddie, who had been playing in her bedroom. Maddie came out of her room.

"Yes, Mommy?" She said to LeeAnn.

"Honey, this is Emma." LeeAnn said to Maddie as she introduced the two of them to each other. "She's gonna watch you tonight while Daddy and I are gone, OK?"

"Hi." Maddie said to Emma.

"Hi Maddie!" Emma said as she knelt down on the floor to be at the same height as Maddie.

"What's in the bag?" Maddie asked as she pointed to the duffle bag Emma had been carrying.

"Stuff for us to do, like games. Do you like playing games?"

"Games are FUN!" Maddie said, yelling the word "fun". Ty had warned her beforehand that Maddie had a lot of energy, and Emma could tell that he was right.

"Well you and me are gonna have a lot of fun tonight, then!" Emma said.

"I wrote our cell numbers down and they're hanging up on the fridge." LeeAnn said to Emma. "And if you get hungry you can help yourself to anything in the fridge. Make sure she's in bed by eight thirty, and she's allowed a small, healthy snack before bed. Maddie's usually a pretty good girl when it comes to picking out her snacks, too."

"OK." Emma replied, making a mental note of Maddie's bedtime snack and what time she went to bed.

"Am I forgetting anything?" LeeAnn asked Mike.

"I don't think so." Mike replied.

"OK." LeeAnn said. "Be a good girl, OK Maddie?" LeeAnn and Mike both took turns hugging and kissing Maddie and telling her they loved her.

"You girls have fun!" Mike said as they left.

"Bye!" Emma called out behind him. After seeing Mike and LeeAnn, it was apparent that Ty got his looks from LeeAnn and Maddie got hers from Mike. Ty had the same blonde hair and green eyes as LeeAnn, and Maddie had Mike's brown hair and eyes.

***

". . .And they lived happily ever after." Emma said quietly as she closed the book Maddie had picked out for her to read to her before she went to sleep. Maddie had asked her if Emma could read to her in the living room instead of her bedroom, and Emma happily obliged. Emma took a seat on the couch and Maddie crawled up on her lap and listened as Emma read the story. Sometime near the end, Maddie curled up and drifted off to sleep, lying her head on Emma's chest. Emma carefully picked her up so as not to disturb her and carried her to her room and put her in her bed. Emma pulled the covers up over her and slowly tiptoed out of the room. Emma and Maddie had had quite a bit of fun that night. Maddie loved playing with Emma's old toys and games, and Emma liked her. If LeeAnn and Mike ever asked her to come back and babysit again, she'd be more than happy to do it.

She went back to the living room and found the remote to the TV and turned it on. It was only nine o'clock, so something good had to be on. Emma pulled up the on-screen guide and scrolled through it. She finally decided to watch some old Bugs Bunny cartoons that were on one of the channels.

***

It was now eleven PM. Emma had fallen asleep on the couch but was woken up by the sound of keys rattling in the door. Mike and LeeAnn were home.

"Hey!" LeeAnn whispered as they walked into the apartment. "How'd it go?"

"Mmm. . ." A groggy Emma said as she wiped her eyes. "She was good. We played and I gave her her snack and then I read her a story and she fell asleep. She's in bed now. We had fun."

"Maddie's a pretty good girl." Mike said. "Sounds like she likes you."

"If you're free next weekend, we'd love to have you come back and babysit again!" LeeAnn said. "We want to go out again!""I'll have to check my schedule, but I think I'm free!" Emma replied.

"I'll call you and let you know sometime next week." LeeAnn said as she reached into her purse to get out a $20 bill for Emma. Emma took the bill from her.

"C'mon, Emma. I'll drive you home." Mike said as got his keys out of his pocket.