Man on the Inside

Man on the Inside - Part 12 [END]

William took part of his lunchtime off for his daily visit with Massaru, who was still recovering from his wounds. The healing was slow, but the Indian doctor took it with great patience and a smile. He seemed to the exception to the rule that doctors made the worse patients. Massaru waved Will in with a grin after a nurse set down his meal tray and the two continued their conversation from the day before. William had a homemade sandwich, not chicken salad, while Massaru had pasta. They switched desserts, sharing a pudding and homemade brownie.

"How long as it been since you've seen your son?" asked William.

"A little more than a year. He would be in his last year of college by now. The memory of him and my wife were one of the few things that kept me going while under Freewill."

"Do you know where he is?"

"With his mother I suppose. Last thing I heard from her was that he was getting serious about a girl."

"How serious?"

"On the edge of asking permission for her hand in marriage from her parents. Old fashioned, yes, but a bit of a tradition amongst us Devis," said Massaru with a smile. "But that was almost six months ago. For all I know he's already married."

"Maybe some small Devis on the way?"

"Maybe. Speaking of relationships... I heard from the nurse about that mug you gave Louis. You know I warned you against that yesterday."

William grinned around his spoonful of pudding. "I know. But seeing the look on his face was priceless."

"You enjoy antagonizing him, looking like a... "idiot fanboy" as he calls it. Why?"

William shrugged. "He's in need of something to trigger that temper of his before it grows too big. Maybe if I can get under that I can reach his sense of humor."

"You think he has one?"

"I've heard him laugh before. He can do it again. And I... you know how in grade school, boys would tug on girl's hair or push them. It was their way of saying "I like you". I think me and Louis are kind of like that, I tease him because I care about him."

Before long William's lunchtime was up. He lingered at the doorway.

"If you want I can look up your family and see where you son is. The databases are massive; if there's any way of finding out what he's doing the Watch can do it."

The doctor smiled. "I would be grateful."

---

Cetz and Rachel were the only other ones in the testing area of the Medical lab. It was a dimmed to half light, and the BT-10 scanner was humming away when Louis entered.

"The lab rat has arrived," he growled. "What kind of torture have you got for me today?"

"Strength testing," replied Rachel indifferently as she checked something off on her clipboard. "And then seeing your reactions with different types of light."

"Great," drawled Louis as he took his shades off, his eyes squinting at the brightness of the lab. He sat on a table and Cetz stood next to him, his voice low.

"You still don't want to tell Will how you really got back to normal?"

"Normal?" Louis stared hard at the florescent lighting and his stature suddenly shrunk to below three inches, making him barely a toy on the table. "You call this normal?"

Having seen Louis shrink dozens of times before, Cetz was not phased. "Don't change the subject. You'll have to tell him someday."

"Yeah... someday, when the information is needed, not before. We still don't know if this is permanent or if it will fade away."

Cetz shrugged and went back to helping Rachel set up her equipment. Louis, alone on the wide plane of the table, felt isolated. He rubbed his eyes.

How long can I keep this from Will?

---Man on the Inside END