I do not own Scorpion or any of it's characters
"Come on kid ya need more umpf.", said Cabe to a wound up Sly from the couch.
"Umpf is not a word.", said Walter coming down the stairs.
"My mom used to say it all the time.", replied Cabe annoyed.
"Yeah well Shaggy used to say zoinks all the time, doesn't make it a word.", added Toby from his desk.
"He's trying to say your speech is lame. Just relax and speak from your gut.", said Happy as she tinkered.
"But my presentation to the parks and recreation department is tomorrow morning. How am I supposed to convince them to put recycling bins in the parks if I'm wound tighter than Paige watching Speed?", said Sylvester.
"Hey that movie is nerve wracking. And listen a little distraction might help get your mind off the meeting and relax.", defended Paige.
"You're right, hey maybe I'll wing it. Oh Paige will you play the messages on the machine I'm waiting on a call from city council.", said Sly as he relaxed sinking into the couch.
Paige nodded and got up to hit the little button.
-BEEP-
"Hi this is cruise delights and you've just won a trip to the islands of-"
"Spam.", they said in unison.
"Message marked for deletion. New message. Hello this is Morning Acres calling for a Mister Tobias M. Curtis regarding a patient here that has you listed among their family contacts. We've tried to reach you for a while but it's been difficult. Unfortunately I'm calling to inform you that your mother Millie Curtis passed away a few weeks ago on the eighteenth. We hope this message makes it to you and your family. You can call us with any questions at 212-379-9998, and our address is 4204 180th Ave on Berkers Street- Message marked for deletion, there are no more messages."
-BEEP-
Paiges finger lifted from the machine as she and the others looked nervously at their friend.
His face was unmoved as he sat still, seemingly unaware of his next step. Their worried hearts beat loudly as they waited for him to say or do something.
Toby stood up as he walked toward the door unconciously holding his torso with one arm and his coat clenched in the other. They watched his every movement waiting for him to break.
"Night.", he said as he did at the end of almost every work day, but this time it was 2:00 in the afternoon and his charismatic tone was gone.
They all watched the garage door creak close as they looked at each other.
They knew they were gonna follow him. They had waited a few minutes before piling in the van and tracking him as he drove back roads down the coast. Twenty or so miles later the light was grayish blue and dim. It was early in the afternoon though thick black rain clouds made a dark city seem abandoned.
Rain began to slowly wet the roads and buildings as the waves on their right came in with soft wildness in their stormy dark current.
"He stopped.", said Cabe who sat in the passenger seat watching the red dot on the cellphone map while Happy drove.
Within minutes they slowed to an empty parking lot but for Toby's familiar car.
It was a ferry station by the large black rocks the wharf sat below.
They got out and walked cautiously toward the figure on the bench they knew was their friend. Rain dripped down his white cheeks as he stared at the ground in front of him blankly. A cigarette hung in his loose fingers. A thing he never did unless he needed it, now he needed it.
"None of it matters. Everything I worked for, since I was young. It was for her and I never...I couldn't...", he started in a deep steady tone.
The group stood behind him, looking at each other hoping one of them would know what to say.
"I never saved her...I couldn't. I tried but I was young and I just didn't know how.", he continued.
To their surprise Cabe sat down on the bench next to him. Toby's eyes began to well with his tears held back on the brim of his eyelashes. He bit them back on his bottom lip as he wrung his hands between his knees. Cabe put a hand on Tobys back and pulled him in as Toby let it go. He cried into Cabe's shoulder as he curled his jacket in his fingers with desperation.
-
Weeks later he was back where he'd started, on a bench. Though this one was in Manhattan outside of an old broken down home.
He stared at the fog above the city that looked like ash. Rain beaded down his smooth black suit, his hands folded with his elbows forward on his knees. Rough stubble sat on his drooping face, his hair was darker and thicker somehow with a streak of subtle gray ruffled in.
His eyes were made of stone, never aiming at any destination. Food wasn't something on his mind and it showed in his slender form. His thin bones hung toward the ground making every step seem difficult begging to be back on the couch. His breath left him lazily and his skin was pale and empty.
He grabbed the navy blue puffer jacket next to him zipping it up to his chin. A warm cigarette between his lips contrast to the wintery New York freeze. He shoved his hands deep in his pockets raising his shoulders to help his collar reach his ears.
The others watched him from the window as he walked down the cracked street of black pavement.
Who was Toby now they wondered. The sarcastic doctor that saved so many couldn't save the one he needed to the most. The one he did it for.
