You're a Doctor aren't you? – Chapter 4
Sorry it's a bit late, I had such high hopes for this Chapter and I just couldn't get it right, I've rewritten it three times and I'm still not completely sure about it so let me know what you think, enjoy!
Happy's brain didn't work like other people's, so the events came back to her with perfect clarity...
They'd gone back to Toby's apartment with Ralph, hers was definitely not child friendly and they'd feel awkward in Paige's floral, chintzy apartment. Neither of them could face the Garage; seeing Walter's things just how he left them, as if nothing had changed, as if he wasn't lying in a hospital bed. When they'd arrived, Ralph had stationed himself in front of the Doc's rather impressive gaming system and loaded up his favourite racing game, one which Happy particularly enjoyed. After a pizza and a few more hours of games the young genius' eyelids began to droop and Toby picked him up and carried him into his bedroom. "Toby, if I wake up early, can I read one of the books from your shelf?" he sleepily mumbled. Of course the shrink agreed, none of Scorpion could say no to that kid. Out of interest she wandered in to see what books he kept by his bed. Surprise surprise, she snorted to herself, he had a whole wall of bookshelves bursting with thick medical books. Ralph would have a field day. She silently snuck away from the door, leaving Toby to tell the young boy the merits of different books until he fell asleep. He would make a good dad she thought, wait where did that come from? She pulled up short, it didn't mean anything right? It was probably just hormones talking. Happy pushed it to the back of her mind as the Doc walked back into the living area.
"Looks like we'll have to take the sofa bed tonight!" he grinned. Oh, right, he was expecting an answer, something witty, but suitably angry... "Who says I'm staying?" it wasn't great, but it would serve. He looked stumped for a few seconds before the lightbulb moment came "Children under twelve must always be supervised by one responsible adult, and I certainly don't come under that umbrella, so that leaves you, therefore you have to stay. And yes Paige only said it was a few hours, but trust me on this; she is not leaving Walter anytime soon." He looked so cute with his smug yet secretly hopeful face. Happy couldn't deny that she wanted to stay, so she caved in. Butter would so melt in those rich hazel eyes, she may have been called a badass, but she was still a woman. They pulled out the sofa bed and dressed it with blankets and pillows before crashing down it together with a well earned beer. They both knew their limits, they wouldn't drink any more than the one bottle they currently had, Ralph would still be safe, but after the day they'd had, something was needed to take the edge off.
It wasn't too late so she told Toby to put a film on, normally she'd prefer a hi-octane gore fest with car chases and suspense, but that cut a little too close to home, so she expressly told him not to pick anything in that genre. Knowing his feelings for her, she expected something completely implausible yet heart-warming; she knew he had a copy of "Warm Bodies" somewhere, but instead of a rom-zom-com she was introduced to the opening titles of Disney's Aladdin. "Uuuum, did you mess up the disks or...?" she hadn't watched Disney in a very long time, and had never seen Aladdin, it had seemed far to cliché for tough-nut Happy. "I did not" he said in his best imitation of Robin Williams, it wasn't very accurate, but it was downright hilarious. The shrink was crazier than all of them so even though she didn't have him pegged for a Disney fan, it wasn't impossible. "Aladdin was the only video I had as a kid, so it means a lot, but it also reminds me of us. An impoverished young street rat, who happens to be devilishly handsome, stays one step ahead of death at the hands of those he's cheated, then falls in love with a beautiful Princess, but needs a helping hand to win her over. It's basically our life isn't it? Princess?" Oh, mushy sentiments and pet names, normally she would have thrown something at him, maybe a wrench, or if nothing was at hand, she would have punched him, but tonight, after everything that had happened, she would let it slide and just watch the film and pretend not to enjoy snuggling into his chest and having his arm snaked around her back.
And so they sat, in peaceful silence, until a song about flying on carpets and seeing the world came on and Toby began to serenade her. Happy had heard him sing before, mainly "Rock you like a Hurricane" but he sounded so much different when it was Disney that he was imitating, she could almost see a young Toby sat in front of the screen, warbling along loudly, hoping his passive Father would notice him, but also dreaming of a whole new world where he'd have a better life. He looked her dead in the eye and sang, "Tell me, Princess, now when did you last let your heart decide?" Did that warrant an answer? She wasn't sure, but she did know that she'd been denying what her heart told her to do, only really listening to it when she invited him to join her on their babysitting venture. He was still looking at her, humming along to the tune, but Happy couldn't bring herself to say anything, so she smiled and snuggled into his side, purely for warmth of course, and watched the rest of the film. Once it was over they sat together in amicable silence before falling asleep cradled in each other's arms.
She got up before Toby the next morning and went to check on Ralph; unsurprisingly he was awake, reading a heavy leather bound, well thumbed copy of Freud's "The Interpretation of Dreams" He was definitely taking after Uncle Toby. "Hey Kid, how about we go make some breakfast to wake up the narcissist?" she asked, that caught his attention, he was a growing boy and food was always on his mind, just like the shrink was on hers. "Can I try and interpret your dreams Happy?" he asked, he looked up at her with those cute little eyes, and she couldn't deny that kid anything. "I think Toby might be more interesting to analyse, I just dreamt about my motorcycle all night, plus it would really inflate his ego if you chose to purse his field of expertise." Actually, she could guess what the shrink dreamt about, because she had the same kind of dream about the hat wielding wise-ass, and it wasn't suitable for Ralph's ears...
A/N I wasn't sure about the Disney thing but I was watching Aladdin and it just sort of happened, anyway I kind of messed around with Toby's age a bit because I wasn't sure about how old he'd be when Aladdin came out etc but I'd just like to know if you found it acceptable, hopefully the next Chapter should be up sooner! x