Welcome to the Rainbow Factory

Ch.10: To Love

Wally's words resonated with (Y/n) as they repeated throughout her recovery. She was quiet towards everyone and everything. Wally seemed to give her the distance she needed, yet did not request.

(Y/n) walked down the hallway as staff members of the hospital looked shocked to see her, not because she wasn't injured but because she was still there after everything. Word spread fast through the factory that she still hadn't left, it was expected, completely.

"Dr. Joy?" (Y/n) knocked on his door lightly.

"Come in," He spoke.

She took a breath and entered his office.

"It's good to see you, (Y/n)." He gave her a genuine smile, "Take a seat."

She sat down, holding her hands together, not really sure where to begin.

"It's alright," He could tell. "Take your time."

"I don't know." She finally spoke.

"You don't know what?"

She sighed, "I witnessed humanity in Wally, empathy."

"A man with a sense of empathy." He scoffed, "We all know Wally doesn't have an ounce of it."

"No, he—" The scientist stopped herself, it wasn't anyone's business the intimate experience they shared. "— we spoke."

"What kind of speaking?"

"I won't go into detail, but— he cares about me."

"And it took 10 years for him to tell you that?" Dr. Joy heavily sighed. "Open your eyes, (Y/n) please. I'm begging you. He is a bad person."

"I know."

"No, you don't, let me say it again, he's a bad man." Joy rubbed his temples, "(Y/n)m out of all the workers in this factory, who's at the top of the food chain?"

"Wally, of course." She knew where this was going, "Yes, I know, I'm second in command here, basically, but that's not the point —"

"It is the point, you are what connects the factory and Wally together, he loses that glue, it's done, all of it. Think about all the work you do for him, all of it."

(Y/n) did the majority of the online work. Besides the experiments, she did the dirty work, the write-ups, the payments, all the files, all the security, and all the tough work done by her.

"Tell me this, how much work got done while you were gone?"

"I— don't know, I haven't been to my office. I haven't made a decision yet."

"Does he know you're thinking about leaving?"

She paused, "I haven't told him, but, I think in his head, he thinks I am. I think that's why he came and spoke to me."

Dr. Joy folded his hands on his desk, "I'm going to say this once to you, (Y/n), because I care about you. Wally Darling does not care about you in the way you might think. He knows what you're capable of in the lab and what your value is to this building. He cares about what you can do for him, and nothing more. He will do anything he can to make you stay, even if that means making you think he cares about you."

Her eyes went wide at the blunt information presented to her. Some form of Wally had to care for her, it wasn't all for nothing. It couldn't have been. It wouldn't make sense this way, however, she carried the weight of work on her shoulders.

"I don't say this to scare you, I say this because you still have time to get out. Please, think about it, okay?"

(Y/n) looked down, "Alright, I'll think about it, however, I don't want to do anything as of right now. I think— I need to at least make sure everyone got properly paid."