A Helping Hand

Sarah saves something precious

A few weeks after Christmas, Sarah arrived to find Howard painting a scale model of the Enterprise A, "Hey, that's pretty nifty. Did you build it yourself or with a kit?"

"Dad got me a 3D printer for Christmas and I did the designs. Did you have a good break?"

"Yeah. It was quiet. You?"

"Same here. Dad says my model needs accurate lights and working phaser beams, so he's down in the lab if you want to say hi."

"Sounds like visiting could be treacherous. No photon torpedos, though?"

"I'm sure he'll get to those next."

She ruffled his hair, "When I get back, tell me all about the Enterprise, OK?"

He nodded, focussing on the lettering on the hull. Sarah dropped her bag by the couch and wandered downstairs. She had only been to the lab once, but it was not hard to find- all she had to do was follow Tony's music.

She watched him from the door as he lowered a little arc reactor into a plastic disk and hooked up something within. He pushed a button and a small blast of light vaporised a paper target set up a few inches away.

He looked up and then glanced at the iPod dock as Warrant's "Cherry Pie" blasted; he turned it down just enough to talk over, "I'm not turning it off. You can tell me it's patently offensive, but this is my lab and my music."

"Why would I tell you to turn it off?"

"Because it's really a horrible song."

Sarah pulled a battered pink iPod mini from her back pocket and flipped through the songs; she went over to the dock, "Switch when it's done?"

"I almost fear what you are about to play."

"Oh, you'll live." When she pushed play, Tony held up one of his hands, miming readiness to fire on the thing if needed. She rolled her eyes.

"Wait, I know this song."

"You'd damn well better."

"You listen to hair metal?"

"Extensively. How could I not dig 'Bad Medicine'?"

"I am so glad I hired you."

"So how was your Christmas?"

"Too quiet. And hard. But did you see the model Howie made? Kid's brilliant. Just like his father. Yours?"

"Also quiet, but not in a bad way."

"How are your rats? He keeps asking about them."

"They're doing fine. I'll tell him when I get back upstairs. You OK down here?"

"Yeah. But I'd love some coffee. And maybe lunch. I forgot about breakfast again."

"I'll get on that. You're coming up to eat, though. No hermitting all day."

"Awww, you steal all my fun."

She took back her iPod and replaced his, "Yep, that I do, boss." As she walked out of the room, she heard him crank up "Kickstart My Heart".

While she did not let him hide through lunch, Tony retreated the rest of the day. He said he was fine and she went home to her own bed. The next morning, she arrived to a very still house and wondered what was going on. Tony was nowhere to be found and Howard was staring at his model. A few slices of toast sat untouched on a plate beside him.

"Howard...what's wrong? You're never this quiet. And you're not at school."

"Nothing important happens the first day back from break."