"So no Toby tonight?" Veronica asked.
Ralph still kind of grimaced since no one could see his face but Emmett. He liked Toby more than before but he was still very guarded about him when it came to Happy.
"No, he had a court appointed interview to do this evening." Happy sighed.
"What's wrong?" Ralph asked instantly.
"Oh a sad case he got called into at a local school over. A boy about nine was being horribly abused by his Aunt. Well he was around 7 when it started. Toby said he's a genius like Walter and me, but in math and probabilities. Said he might be able to keep up with Walter mathematically." Happy told them.
Walter's eye kind of arched at that.
"That would be something if he was." Walter told her.
"I thought you said you weren't interested in meeting anyone else like you and Happy?" Ralph asked quickly.
"In the context of our plan for Scorpion I have to be somewhat interested. I am just saying it would be something if he could do math and probabilities like I can. In regards to Mark, I'm not interested in meeting him. He clearly wouldn't have the type of mindset for Scorpion." Walter tried to reassure him.
"Where's the boy's parents?" Veronica asked.
"He's back with them right now. That's what the interview is about. He's got to do random spot checks to ensure that he's safe. His Dad didn't know what was going on. From what Toby told me, the boy just wanted his Dad around more. I guess his Dad does some kind of traveling as part of his job and he thought that sending the boy to live with his brother and wife that he'd do better." Happy sighed. "But his Aunt really messed him up."
"That's horrible. Is Toby sure about letting him be back with his parents?" Paige asked.
"Yes, he said the Mother is a little culpable over it. But he said she has a weak will and basically the Aunt rolled over her and her objections. But he's safely confident, his words, that it wasn't malicious on his parent's part and that they only want what is best for him." Happy told them.
"Well I need to go do my studying. I'll see you guys in the morning." Paige told her family as she stood and stepped over and kissed her Mom and Dad along with her baby brother. She paused and kissed Happy's cheek before grabbing Walter's hand and they left.
"Do you really think they are going home for her to study?" Happy said grinning.
Ralph closed his eyes as he tried to pretend he didn't hear that.
Happy just grinned at her Mom as her Mom shook her head at him. Happy got up and kissed them both and went to her room to work.
As she left Agent Charles came in with a folder and Ralph quickly handed Emmett to his wife to take the folder.
"Thank you Charles." Ralph told him.
"Any time sir." Agent Charles told him before leaving the room.
"What's this?" Veronica frowned.
"After we heard about how the rehearsal went last night I asked Charles to get me some information on the boy." Ralph explained as he opened the folder. His eyes opened wide as he instantly took in the cover sheet information. "Twenty three? What is a twenty three year old ballplayer doing in college?" Ralph demanded.
Veronica looked sharply at him for a moment.
"I think you answered your own question. If he is a ballplayer they probably want him to bolster the team he is on." Veronica told him.
"That's all well and good but he shouldn't be in a position to be mixing it up with freshmen." Ralph said grumpily. "Look at these final grades from last year, how can they justify keeping him? They are horrendous. Three D's and two C's. He's been there for five years and doesn't even have eighty total credits. And he's been on a scholarship this whole time? Oh I'm calling the school first thing tomorrow." Ralph swore as he slammed the folder down.
Paige sat down at their small dinette table and Walter handed her the bookbag he had carried in with them. Paige smiled and kissed him before opening the bag and pulled out her books and began working on her homework.
Walter sat next to her with his laptop and began working on the chipset to control the rover for Happy. Instead of using the exact same chipset he opted to use three different ones to help ensure if a single chipset had a flaw in manufacturing they'd have a viable alternative. The code for each would be slightly different but once he had it coded for one of them, updating it to match the others would be a much quicker process. He had already built an interface with his laptop that the chipset could be connected to and would emulate the codes the rover would send to the chipsets to figure out what to do.
"Walter?" Paige asked quietly about an hour later.
"Yes?" Walter looked up.
"Would you mind rubbing my shoulders, please?" Paige asked.
Walter smiled as he shook his head. He saved his work and then stood and stepped behind Paige's chair. Parting her hair and dragging it over her shoulders leaving her shoulders and back exposed.
"Did you want lotion or just a simple massage?" Walter asked.
"Oh, lotion…please." Paige said somewhere on the dreamy side. Her hands came down and grabbed the hem of her blouse and pulled it out of her waist band.
Walter walked to the bedroom to get the lotion. As he came out he found Paige sitting there topless with her blouse and bra lying on the table top. Walter grinned even as he stepped up behind her, he knew this was her way of inviting a more intimate touch without asking. Paige had learned long ago that Walter sometimes was too much in his head and she didn't like to always say she wanted sex. After moving to the US this had become her way of letting Walter know. Walter sat the bottle on the table and then rubbed his hands together. He carefully built up some heat through friction before getting a small amount of lotion and then began working it into the back of Paige's neck.
Paige moaned as she felt the warmth and pressure from his hands as he began rubbing.
As his hands worked her flesh from her neck down to the base and then out to the end of her shoulders Walter bent forward and his lips nuzzled into the side of Paige's neck.
Paige grinned as she felt his lips on the side of her neck. She was already done with her homework and slowly she put her pen down and just felt the sensations. His lips opened and his teeth gently bit into her neck as he continued rubbing.
Walter kept licking and biting on her neck, he was so glad they got the lotion that could be used in this fashion. He'd once made a mistake of licking the old lotion, that did not work out in his best interest. Paige cooed as she felt his hands slide down her arms and then she gasped as his hands came off her arms and cupped her breasts.
"So how long are these visits going to be required?" Kenneth asked Toby as they sat talking.
"It is hard to say for sure Kenneth. The court system has to be sure this isn't a mistake. I'm sure I don't need to recite the statistics on abused children and getting lost in the system. Overworking and underpaying social workers has caused numerous problems, and the court is committed to not making it worse. I'm just glad that Harvard has instituted a program to try and help cut down on that. I might not make as much as I would in private practice but using some of my time for these cases is its own reward." Toby explained.
"How long before Sylvester will be back to himself?" Mrs. Dodd asked.
"Well to be completely honest Mrs. Dodd, I'm not optimistic for the foreseeable future. As we stand now, if nothing interrupts our sessions maybe by the time he's eighteen he might be closer to who he should have been. I've got some friends who are also geniuses, like Sylvester. I'm hoping I might be able to get them to agree to meeting with him. They both had a hard life growing up. Happy is only a couple of years older than him. Her life from two to nine wasn't very good but since her adoption, Happy has really turned around, Walter is still a bit dysfunctional. It might help Sylvester to see that things like this can be overcomed. They might even be able to become his first true friends." Toby explained.
"I-I wanted to ask you about something I noticed yesterday." Kenneth started. "I was bringing him home from school and we passed that new strip mall and I saw him in the rearview mirror. He was completely entranced by one of the storefronts. I'm not sure which, but it was like a starving man looking at a buffet. It was like something there was calling him."
Toby frowned as he tried to remember what he had seen in the mall.
"I'm not sure which one it could be. I hadn't really paid that much attention to it. But if it has that much of a pull on him then we better ask him." Toby told him.
"I think it is called The Wizard's Chest." Mrs. Dodd spoke up. Since getting Sylvester back she'd been trying to assert herself more. She didn't want to lose Sylvester again. "He had a clipping in his backpack when I put his lunch in it yesterday. I asked him about it and he said it is a comic and game shop. He said it started on the west coast in a suburb of Los Angeles and they have had a few stores across the US that they opened. He has a fascination with a comic called Super Fun Guy. And he said there is a game they sell and have groups meet there to play called…" She paused as she tried to remember. "I think it was called Fantasies and Frolics."
Toby slowly nodded.
"It is pretty popular among what people would call geeks in college right now as well." Toby nodded. "It might be something to help him deal with his abuse and he might find some acceptance among the other people playing the game. Typically, those players are a bit more accepting, unless you are female. Some of them are fairly sexist. I'll check into it and if I think it is appropriate I'll talk with the three of you again and I'll take him to observe and maybe he can try to play it."
"You really think it can help?" Kenneth asked.
"Well right now we're trying to rebuild and we might as well build upon what has his attention. Roleplay can also act as a type of therapy. He wouldn't feel as helpless as he has the past two years. I definitely think it would be a good thing if he is interested in it." Toby told them.
Thursday afternoon the 25th:
Paige walked into the auditorium holding hands with Walter. They saw Drew was there rehearsing a scene already. They both smiled a little at the cast on his right hand.
"Ah Paige." The director greeted her as they walked down the aisle. "We'll reset in a moment and we'll start with the beach scene." He told her.
Paige frowned but nodded as she sat down with Walter to watch.
"Why are we restarting? I thought we were doing a fifth of the show each night?" Paige whispered to Walter.
"Maybe Drew is using his relationship with the director to change things?" Walter suggested quietly.
Drew's reading was rather pathetic in Paige's mind. He relied on the script completely.
"This is not going to go well." Paige sighed.
"What's wrong?" Walter whispered.
"He hasn't memorized any of the lines. He's reading everything. So there's very little emotion to what he's saying." Paige whispered back.
They watched as Drew repeated his reading three times, barely making any changes the director called for.
"Alright, let's start at the top with the beach scene. And Drew, remember what we discussed. Keep your lips closed and your tongue in your mouth." The director told him even as Paige stood up.
The first kiss went according to script but after, Drew asked about the position.
"I am wondering if maybe it would work better if we reversed profiles to the audience." Drew asked.
The director considered it for a moment.
"We can try that. No reason we have to match the film's take." The director agreed.
Drew and Paige switched sides of the stage and began again.
"Hey!" Paige nearly screamed as she shoved Drew away. "Keep your hands to yourself.
"Paige?" The director called out.
"This asshole was touching my ass." Paige complained.
"My hand slipped, that's all. What is the problem?" Drew asked.
"Drew, you seem to keep having issues. Keep your hands above the waist. Either touch Paige's arms or her back." The director told him.
"Sheesh, this is almost more trouble than it is worth." Drew whined.
"My thoughts exactly." Paige scowled at him. "But just so we're clear, if you touch any part of me that isn't my arms or above my waist on the back again and I will drop you where you stand. I'm not putting up with this crap."
Walter had stood up but one of the agents put his hand on his shoulder and was talking softly to him. His partner moved up on stage behind the curtains on stage left.
"Let's try and do it right this time." The director said. "Places."
Paige and Drew moved back to the other's beginning marks.
"Action." The director told them.
They both spoke their lines and then their lips met in a kiss. And even as Paige's agent moved out from behind the curtains, Paige's left foot came up off the floor of the stage. She planted her knee straight up into Drew's crotch.
Drew stumbled backwards as he doubled over, screaming out in pain.
Paige's hand doubled up into a fist even as Walter flew out of his seat.
The agent with him had tried to grab him but missed.
Walter's foot landed on the armrest of the chair and he jumped forward.
Paige's left fist flashed out in a round house and caught Drew next to his right eye.
Walter's other foot landed on the railing around the orchestra pit before the stage and he pushed off. He seemed for a moment to be flying through the air.
Drew's head recoiled from Paige's fist as she struck him.
Her agent on stage reached her and his hands grabbed her by the shoulders.
Drew growled and he threw a right cross with his hand in a cast towards Paige's face.
Even as the agent pulled Paige backwards Walter crashed into Drew before his fist got close. Both men went tumbling over the stage floor.
Walter came up swinging as he scrambled up on top of Drew.
Drew tried to hit back at first but the flurry of blows Walter rained down on him forced Drew to cover up and protect himself.
"Walter!" Paige yelled but he didn't respond.
Her second agent reached the two men and he quickly grabbed Walter around his chest and dragged him kicking and screaming away from Drew.
"Drew!" The director yelled out. "That is enough. You are hereby dismissed from the play. Paige, I'm sorry but you are suspended from the play pending a review of the Dean and student council."
"For defending myself?" Paige yelled.
"You're crazy, you know that? I didn't do anything wrong." Drew complained as a couple of students helped him up. "I'm pressing charges against you and your boyfriend."
"Please do." Toby said as he walked out of the side of the wing with Happy. "We've got it all on tape."
"Complete with you grabbing my sister's ass both times you pervert." Happy yelled as she held the camcorder.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Guest - hehe Indeed! So glad you enjoyed it!
Antonia - Well it looks like Drew is no longer part of the play, so...half way there?
Railman - hehe Looks like he hasn't learned yet...nor did he keep his word. I know, who would have guessed? Walter definitely enjoyed the 2nd rehearsal over the 1st. I think he might have enjoyed the 3rd even more. lol Charges against Merrick, yes, as far as time behind bars, probably not. He's already looking at multiple life sentences. Collins was barking up the wrong tree thinking it might help reduce his time by much. Yep, Walter is scary at the casino! lol
Pearliegirl - lol Where there is a will there is a way. lol Glad you loved it, I'm going to assume you loved what happened at the play today as well. lol
Guest #2 (2LawDog?) - Yup, well Jack was his first name. I don't remember his last name. His wife worked with my Mom at the local Pepsi bottler in accounting. Thank you! So glad you enjoyed the choice, it is one of my favorite pieces. hehe If you enjoyed Paige's correction the other night, you had to love it even more this chapter! lol
JerBr - hehe Toby seemed to have a touch of a masochist side in the show. I think they are at around $260k at this point. No, $310k...counting the $50k Richard paid him to read the proposal. hehe Well it hadn't meant too much, his role wouldn't be hindered too much by the cast and could give him a more bad boy persona as Danny. But he's out of the play now. lol
LouBe - Boo! hehe That she is! hehe Well he was early and now he has to be recast! lol Bad pun? Glad you enjoyed them being all cutesy!
To the Adventure! -Tim