"Well in that case, I'll try and keep my options open." Toby grinned. "And this whole philosophy will apply to the rover unit Happy wants to build, right? You are helping Happy with designing it since that idiot design team doesn't want her help?" Toby asked.
Walter nodded quickly.
"She's done some great preliminary work on it. I'd sent her an article about a better solar process for power. I'm in the middle of working out a circuit design for the processors to control it. She'll be all about the hardware of how it moves and samples everything as well as the power system. I'll be designing the brains and controlling software." Walter grinned.
"I'm really glad she has you to help her with this Walter." Toby looked at his watch. "I've got to get going, I've got another case this afternoon." Toby said as he stood up.
Walter stood up with him.
"Yeah, I'm going to look around a bit before walking over to meet Paige when she comes out of class." Walter told him as he raised his hand up. "Thanks for helping me with this."
"You're welcome 197." Toby grinned and winked at him as Walter stared at him for a moment.
Slowly Walter reached out and he shook his hand while nodding after realizing it was going to be his nickname for him.
"Sylvester, it is really good seeing you today." Toby said as Sylvester walked into the small office the school made available for Toby to use.
"Thank you." Sylvester said as he looked about the room.
"Would you care to sit?" Toby gestured to the hard wood chair.
Sylvester nodded as he stepped over and wiped it down with a kleenex. Then he threw it away and sat.
"So how are you?" Toby started before being interrupted.
"Are you the reason I was pulled out of my Uncle's farm?" Sylvester asked quickly.
"Yes I was." Toby told him. "You were being badly abused."
"Thank you." Sylvester told him.
"You're welcome. But that doesn't tell me how you are." Toby pointed out.
"In some ways better but still, I am feeling lost." Sylvester told him. "What did I do to my parents that I ended up with my Uncle's wife? I didn't think I had done anything too bad. I had been stashing away money to run away from them. Now I'm in a group home while things get sorted."
Toby nodded.
"Yes, I've got a hearing to go to tomorrow concerning your Aunt mostly, but also your Uncle and parents. I've not met your parents. Your Uncle seems decent, but he lets your Aunt run all over him and by extension you." Toby told Sylvester as Sylvester nodded.
"Would you want to go back to your parents?" Toby asked.
Sylvester looked up and out the lone window in the small office. Finally he shrugged.
"I don't know what good it would do. They didn't want me before. All I wanted was my Dad not to be gone so much. Especially when my Aunt started coming over more when he was gone. My Mom wouldn't stand up to her. She always said I was sloppy and needed fierce discipline." Sylvester told him.
"Well I'll be meeting with your parents a little later so I can give my recommendations to the court. And I'm allowed to state your desires and feelings if you want." Toby told him softly.
"I miss my Mom and Dad. I'd like to be home with them again. But if they don't want me, I don't want to force it." Sylvester sighed as tears welled up in his eyes.
"Let's talk a bit more about before you went to live with your Aunt and Uncle." Toby told him.
Sylvester just nodded.
"Mr and Mrs Dodd it's nice to meet you." Toby greeted Sylvester's parents in the same office where Sylvester had been just an hour earlier.
"Wait, who is this kid? I thought we were supposed to be meeting with a doctor?" Kenneth looked at his wife.
"I am a doctor Mr Dodd, both of the mind and body. Graduated from Harvard when I was sixteen, got both of my doctorates by eighteen. Dr Tobias Curtis. But you can call me Toby." Toby told him.
"It's colonel Dodd actually, but Kenneth is fine." Kenneth told him.
Toby gestured towards the couch.
"Is it really that important that you not be called Mr? Do you view that as an insult?" Toby asked.
"I worked hard for my position, Mr is just a title bestowed to any man once they reach a certain age." Kenneth told him.
"I see. Well I trust you are fully aware of why we're here." Toby asked.
Mrs Dodd nodded.
"I do now. I was not aware of what was going on at my brother's house. Had I known I'd have kicked both of their asses. Sylvester's my son damn it. We only agreed to this because we thought the constant presence of my brother would help him. Since my job requires me to be gone so much. Sylvester always said he wanted me home more, so it seemed like a logical thing to do. He'd have more stability and maybe could come out of his shell." Kenneth told him.
"Shell? Is that what you think was going on with Sylvester?" Toby asked.
"Of course. What else could it have been?" Kenneth said as he looked from Toby to his wife.
"Kenneth, Sylvester is a genius. You know this right?" Toby asked.
Kenneth frowned as he looked at Toby.
"Well I mean I know he is smart but a genius? And what does that have to do with anything?" Kenneth asked.
"In most cases of genius it doesn't make a lot of difference. But in some cases like Sylvester it has far more effect. For Sylvester he is also emotionally overcharged. I've one genius friend who is emotionally stunted because of his upbringing. Did you know your son taught himself how to read at two years old?" Toby asked him.
"What?" Kenneth laughed. "There is no way."
"I can assure you there is a way. Your son is nine years old, he could test out of college right now on a number of subjects. In fact I only know of one person who could probably keep up with him mathematically." Toby told him. He noticed the tears pooling into Kenneth's eyes.
"He's my son. I love him so damn much. It hurt like hell sending him away. But I thought it was for the best. I thought it would make him happy." Kenneth said as he buried his face into his hands. "And now, finding out what I thought was to help him, has been the biggest mistake of my life. I've done nothing but screw this up. When he needed me most, I failed him." Kenneth sobbed.
Toby reached over and grabbed a box of tissues and reached them out to Mrs Dodd who grabbed several of them and comforted her husband.
"Let's talk about moving forward." Toby said after Kenneth collected himself. "Do you want Sylvester moving back home with you?"
"Yes, definitely." Kenneth said as his wife nodded.
"I've missed my little Sly so much. I've been taking naps in his bed every single day. I can't believe I let that woman push us around. I should have stood up for Sylvester if nothing else. Kenneth didn't fail him, I failed him…his own Mother." Mrs Dodd said as she broke down crying. "Please, you have to help us, you got to help the court see that while we did screw this up. It wasn't malicious, we just thought it would help." She begged.
"Well I have to say I'm encouraged by what I'm hearing and seeing from you both. Just a moment." Toby told them as he stood and walked to the door and left for a moment.
He was gone for maybe five minutes and then returned with Sylvester.
"My baby." Mrs Dodd said with love.
"Sylvester, son." Kenneth said as he choked up. "I'm so sorry, I wish I had known. I never wanted to send you away, I just thought you would be happier with your Uncle around all the time."
Sylvester looked at Toby and saw him nod to him. Sylvester ran into the room and into his parents' arms.
All day Paige had wished there was some way to get an agent assigned to watch Walter but she knew that wouldn't happen. She trusted Walter, but she didn't trust Becky to try something else. Maybe even something dangerous.
Paige smiled not seeing Becky in her last class as she walked in. She sat and got her stuff out just as their professor walked in. She walked over to Paige and bent over.
"I'm sorry Paige but the Dean of women needs to see you." Her professor explained quietly.
Paige frowned but nodded as she collected her things and then left the room. As she walked out of the door to cross campus to go to the administration building she heard her name. She looked and saw Walter running down the sidewalk from the city bus stop.
"Where are you going?" Walter asked.
Paige smiled as they hugged.
"Got called to go see the Dean of Women." Paige shrugged. "You're here a little early."
"Yes, I did a little sightseeing after my session with Toby and I thought instead of going home and waiting a few minutes I could just come here. So I came early. I was going to sit and work on the rover design while I waited for you." Walter told her as they walked.
As they walked into the office of the Deans they saw Becky sitting in one of the chairs and Paige rolled her eyes.
"Why am I not surprised?" Paige shook her head.
Walter swallowed as he saw the girl.
Paige told the receptionist who she was and she was told to have a seat. Paige and Walter walked to the furthest seats from Becky and sat down. Paige saw the receptionist pick up her phone and then talked for a minute before hanging it up.
They talked quietly even as Walter worked on his laptop.
About ten minutes went by and then finally the Dean's door opened and a woman. Probably in her late thirties stepped outside. Becky quickly stood up and said something to the woman and she looked at Paige.
"Ms Dineen, would you and your boyfriend please join us." The woman told her.
Walter stood with Paige and they walked into the office. Walter let Paige sit in the only other chair in the office and stood on her left side, as far from Becky as he could.
"Ms Dineen, while we have to make allowances for your security detail, we're going to have to put our foot down when it comes to your boyfriend. We can't have him disrupting the other students." The Dean told them.
"Wait a minute. My fiancé didn't disrupt anything. Miss Thing here is causing the problems and I resent you just taking her word for whatever happened without at least asking for our side of it." Paige told her hotly.
"That is a reasonable point. But if you weren't there when it happened, how can you explain?" The Dean asked.
"Well first I don't know what she told you, but this didn't start today. This started last Friday. She was rambling on as we left our last class, and wanted me to go with her to try out for cheerleader practice. I told her no. I was meeting my boyfriend and going home. She tried to tell me I should ditch my boyfriend and start hooking up with the hunks around the school. So I told her off. Monday she tried being nasty to me in our class, in front of all of our classmates and so I told her off again. You can ask any of our classmates. Today she sexually assaulted my fiancé after I had gone into my first period class. We were nice and didn't pursue anything else over it. She's the one stirring up problems." Paige explained.
"You weren't there, you don't know what happened. He grabbed my breasts. I was only defending myself." Becky cried.
Paige rolled her eyes.
"Just so you know, beyond a simple handshake Walter has touch sensory issues. Touching people who aren't close to him is nigh impossible for him without being repulsed. Even touching those closest to him, except for me, is difficult and he has to close his eyes most of the time." Paige told the Dean while ignoring Becky.
"If I may." Walter said softly. "I did not touch Becky other than to push her shoulders when she grabbed my crotch. And I can prove it."
"I'll look at your proof." The Dean told him.
Walter pointed at her computer monitor and she turned it so they all could see it. Walter reached down and moved her mouse and clicked on an icon and then another and then started typing commands into the interface. The Dean sat there staring in amazement at what he was doing and how fast he was working. Suddenly a video came up and showed the hallway outside of Paige's classroom. Walter adjusted the time to just before Paige entered her classroom. He clicked play and the video showed him standing there kissing Paige and then she went into her room while he turned and walked away.
With the angle of view they could also see Becky was standing just around the nearby corner of the hall and watching until Walter turned. They watched as she clearly counted with her fingers and then purposely stepped out and ran into Walter.
They watched as Becky tried to put her hand on Walter's chest and watched him step back. She stepped in and this time grabbed his lapel but Walter stepped back again, freeing his jacket from her hand. Becky then stepped up aggressively and grabbed Walter's crotch and Walter reacted instantly as his hands shot out and shoved Becky's shoulders knocking her back away from him. Paige's agent quickly moved in to keep them separated.
"I think we saw all we needed to see." Paige told the Dean with disgust.
The Dean nodded slowly as she saw it play out and then paused the video.
"I have to apologize to you and your fiancé Ms Dineen. I've known Becky for a long time and I let that familiarity influence me. I'm sorry." The Dean told her.
"As for you Becky, your parents and I will be having a long conversation about this. You're suspended for the rest of the week, along with a pending review of the student council on your behavior." The Dean told her.
Paige was about as pissed as she could be but she tried to be a bigger person about it.
"Look, my Dad is a diplomat and he would tell me to be a bigger person. As long as Walter doesn't want to press charges or anything, I really don't want this to go any further. If Becky will give us her word she will just stay as far away as possible from us and not try to engage us in anything moving forward then I think we can let this drop. But I do want this logged into her permanent file so there is a record of it." Paige told the Dean.
"You were sexually assaulted, if you want to press charges." The Dean looked at Walter.
Walter shook his head.
"I just want her to stay away from us. I don't care how she wants to live her life, just don't try to include us in any way or in any of it." Walter told her.
"Becky, you owe them an apology and a thank you for not pressing charges. But I am still suspending you from school the rest of the week. Go home and tell your parents to expect a phone call from me." The Dean told her.
Becky blushed at having been caught in her lie. She nodded.
"Thank you for not pressing charges. I apologize for what I said and did. I won't do anything with or around you guys again." Becky said before she stood and then left.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Railman - hehe Nope, she seems to enjoy screwing up for some reason. Good question...As a think tank of geniuses with all kinds of ideas of research, Scorpion would need a lot of money to cover the cost of a facility and equipment. How much that is, the story hasn't revealed as yet. But having won like $200k in a few weeks and he's talking 2 more years...that's a LOT if he can keep that up. As for Toby being a member, we got a few more chapters before we found that out. hehe
LouBe - Nope, she wasn't leaving it alone. Hope she does now. lol Eww...When I was first writing this, I had wondered that same thing...Drew + Becky would definitely spell trouble for someone. I definitely like Toby and Walter's relationship so far! Let's hope that a break up isn't anywhere near our young couple! I can neither confirm nor deny if Walter will pursue some art and music instructions...stay tuned to find out! lol Well it looks like Sly might be on the path of reconciliation with his parents for now, so only time will tell.
Marie Mac - Yep, Coral Sea does sound rather pleasant and not something to name a class of warships after. Bad enough to be used as a name for 1. I had to carry a piece of paper with all of the wife's medicine allergies on it. Poor girl was allergic to almost all antibiotics. It was nuts. Good on you for keeping them on guard! lol
Susan - Thank you! So glad you enjoyed the car chase! I was worried about gunfire but it seems like the villains in this case were worried about possible collateral damage. No worries about being behind, life comes first! What comes next indeed! I would want his algorithm for gambling too! I'm afraid I wouldn't be smart enough to actually calculate it! LOL Yep, he better be careful or they are going to catch on to him.
To the Adventure! -Tim