Tobey's New Father

Tobey's Breakdown

"I wasn't really planning on having this conversation today, Tobey. I--"Tobey interrupted his mother angrily, "You weren't?! When then, Mom?! When were you 'planning' on having this conversation?!" Tobey shouted loudly. Two Brains put his hand on Tobey's shoulder and when Tobey looked up at Two Brains, giving him a disapproving glare and Tobey glared right back, shrugging his hand off.

Claire stuttered and said, "I...I'm s...sorry--" She stopped when she saw Tobey was still glaring at her too. She sighed and looked up at Steve saying, "Steve. I wasn't expecting this at all. Maybe we should cancel tonight." Steve's face fell. Claire didn't want him to leave either. He and Tobey were getting along so well.

Tobey saw the look on the adults faces and felt horrible. He was the reason they were having this dinner, so he could meet his mother's boyfriend and now he was the reason it was stopping. He put on a concerned face and looked up at his mother, "No. We...we don't have to talk about this now. I...I'm sorry." He said, pulling Two Brains through another door, "I'll finish showing Tw--I mean Steve the rest of the house."

Once the boys left, Claire stood there with a confused look, about to cry. She shook it off and went back to cooking. Over the stove she thought about how she had always avoided Tobey's questions about his father. He was almost 15, she'd have to tell him soon. And after this, she knew he wouldn't drop it until she told him something. She felt a hot tear run down her cheek. No! She wouldn't cry! Not with Steve and Tobey in the house! She wasn't going to let a man who had left her life long ago hurt her anymore. That hurt was far gone. At least, Claire hoped it was.

                                                                   ~~*~~

As he was being pulled out of the kitchen, Two Brains looked back at Claire. He wanted to stay and comfort her, but he knew she would try to hide her feelings when there was another person present. "Tobey, I think I should go back to your mom." Two Brains said, pulling away from the young boy. Tobey glared up at him, "Why?" He said, flaring his nostrils. Two Brains sighed, "Well...how do I put this? What you said in there, well...it may have...shaken her up a bit." He finished, running his fingers through his short, white hair. "Shaken her up? What's that supposed to mean?" Tobey asked, unknowingly mocking Two Brains by running fingers through his own hair. Two Brains saw this and raised his eyebrow. Tobey saw what he was doing and immediately stopped. Two Brains continued, eyeing Tobey, "Well...it means...it means, you hit a soft spot." He took his eyes off of Tobey and scrunched up his face and bit his lip. Tobey's face fell. He looked up and asked, "Really?" Two Brains, still biting his lip, nodded. Tobey too bit his lip, thinking. Two Brains saw this and his eyes widened. Tobey looked up and saw Two Brains face. He began to back up, "Fine." He said, and quickly scrambled to the stairs, "I'm going to my room."

Two Brains slowly walked into the kitchen and saw Claire hunched over the stove. He heard her sniffling. Two Brains quietly walked up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped and nearly screamed, "Oh. Steve, don't scare me like that. Where's Tobey?" "Oh, he's up in his room, I think. Are you okay?"Two Brains said, putting his arm around her shoulders. She pulled away from him, heading towards the living room, "I'm fine. I'd better go check on Tobey!" He grabbed her wrist before she could go climb up the stairs, "Claire...you two really care for each other, don't you?"

Claire stopped and gave him a confused look, "Well, yes. We do." She waited a moment for a response, but when he said nothing she left to find Tobey.

                                                                    ~~*~~

Tobey closed the door to his room slowly and made his way to his bed, flopping down lazily. "Arggggg!" Tobey screamed into his pillow. What was he supposed to be feeling? First of all, he wanted to know about his dad. He should have known about him long before now. He was 15. He should have been told about all this first. Not after his mom's boyfriend, and second of all, mom has a boyfriend. His mom's boyfriend is Two Brains. This was so much for him to take in.

Tobey sat up on the bed. He didn't know what to do. He was so angry.

At that moment, Tobey went in a kind of trance that he hadn't been in for years. It was almost like he had blacked-out.

                                                                    ~~*~~

The next thing Tobey remembered was his mother grabbing his wrist saying, "Theodore Tobias McCallister III, we are going straight home right this instance!" But before she could drag him home, Wordgirl pulled him aside, "Tobey, what happened? You haven't done this in ages! What made you so angry?"

Tobey was confused, he still wasn't completely sure what was going on, "I don't know...I-," he looked up with realization.

He remembered why he had gotten so mad, why he had attacked the city with robots again when he had refrained from it for so long.

Tobey remembered that Dr. Two Brains had shown up at his house, he remembered that his mother was dating a villain. He remembered what his mother had told Dr. Two Brains, but hadn't thought to tell him in all the years he had been alive.

Tobey looked back up at Wordgirl, "Actually, I do remember. I remember it clearly." Wordgirl, with wide eyes, asked, "Well, what was it" Tobey shook his head, "No, I'm sorry Wordgirl, but this is between me and my mother."

And with that Tobey climbed into the passenger seat of his mother's car and they drove off.

                                                                     ~~*~~

As they drove home, Tobey's mom went on her rant that he had heard many times before. He zoned it out.

Was he really so mad that he could easily revert back to destroying the city with his robots in an angry rage?

Tobey tuned back into the rant right at the end to hear his punishment, "-you're going to be grounded for a month or until you can honestly tell me why you did this again after being so good this year!"

As Tobey's mother finished lecturing him and pulled into their driveway, Tobey turned to her, "Mom?"

"Yes? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Can you finally tell me about Dad?"

Claire's face fell. She knew this was coming and was slightly ashamed as she finally realized the real reason her son had always attacked the city with his giant robots. "Yes."