Fun Fact: This is the first time I've written anything based from a Prompt so be wary of knowing that...also I wrote it over the course of a couple sleepless nights so if its off character and sucky that is why.
Rabbit Holes & Cuddles
Happy walked into the garage. She had planned on returning back to working on her latest project but she came to a stop in the doorway, when she was greeted with music blasting.
Quickly she made a guess at the possible source of the music. Walter and Paige had been planning to take Ralph to a museum, so it was unlikely them. Sylvester would have had gone home for the night or else he'd risk missing the bus. Plus the fact that Sly wouldn't listen to music as loud as it was ruled him out as well. That left one possible cause of the music. Unless Cabe was suddenly into blasting classic rock at full volume. Which was possible, Happy just didn't find it to be the most likely of answers.
She walked to the back of the garage and wasn't surprised when she found Toby sitting at his desk. The music was blasting from the sound system he had. Clearly since no one else had been there he'd figured it be no problem.
"Hey, you mind turning it down?" Happy asked doing her best to speak over the music.
Toby gave no reaction to having heard her. He continued to look down at his desk. Eyes scanning over and reading whatever he was working on or just entertaining himself with.
She frowned, "hey numbnuts, you're not alone anymore, turn it down!"
Still Toby didn't react. The only thing he did do was turn his attention to his laptop screen.
Happy stood on the other side of his desk watching him carefully. With her hands on her hips she observed Toby. Watching the almost robotic and possessed method he was moving in. Alternating his attention between what was on his desk and his laptop screen. Occasionally he'd flip a page in a book or do something on his laptop by typing something or clicking on the mouse pad. Toby was acting like he was compelled to repeat these actions and had no free will to do otherwise. He never noticed Happy or the fact that his music restarted. Slowly she began to recognize what was going on.
Toby had gone down the rabbit hole.
Happy continued to watch the behaviourist at work. She tried to do a mental estimation of how long he had been like this. There wasn't much around that could give her a possible answer. All the other team members had been long gone, who knows how long Toby had been like this or if they'd even notice. Happy considered calling Walter or Paige. After the consideration popped into her head she dismissed it. Calling them wouldn't help that much, they'd have to get back there and who knows how long that would take them. It'd be best for her to just try and pull Toby out from the rabbit hole herself. She had done it before with Walter so it was likely she could manage it with Toby. Toby appeared to be less down the rabbit hole than Walter had been so that was a plus.
First thing that she had to do before she busted his stereo, Happy went over and turned off his music.
She paused for a second to see if Toby would react at all. He continued to flip his attention from his laptop to what she could now see was a pile of papers spilling out of a file folder on his desk. There were also a couple of textbooks propped open around him as well as a binder sitting on floor by his feet. Happy frowned confused at trying to figure out what exactly Toby was up to. It was mostly simple most of the times, when defining what the mechanical genius was working on herself. It was the other three whose projects were the tricky ones to label. Toby was evidence to that fact at the moment. She stood practically behind him and watched him for a moment longer thinking to herself "ah doc, what'd you do to get yourself sucked down the rabbit hole?"
Toby gave no signs of changing his behaviour. If anything he seemed to get worse in the few minutes she stood behind him.
"Toby" Happy called from behind him. He continued to be focused on his work. He was flipping through a notebook in an aggressive manner as he was searching for something. "Toby!" She called again. Still no change. Happy stepped forward and turned his chair around so he was facing her. "Hey Doc," Happy said looking at him. He had to be difficult and had to be holding one of his notepads and was looking down at it. His eyes scanned the words he'd written on it oblivious to the woman in front of him. Happy sighed in frustration, "numbnuts."
Toby was fixated on whatever he was looking for. He responded by making a waving gesture with his hand as if to shoo Happy off. "Working." He muttered under his breath and went to turn his chair back.
Happy stopped it with her foot. Thankful for her boots that lessened the pain of her foot caught between the wheels of the chair. "Enough work, you need a break Toby." Happy said turning him back in her direction.
Toby continued to look down at the notepad flicking pages back and forth ignoring Happy's comment. He was focused.
Happy realized that she would have to do something to break his focus from whatever he was working on. He was looking down at the notepad in his lap. A possibility crossed into Happy's thoughts and she wanted to dismiss it but she knew it'd prove to be the most efficient.
It was almost easy with Toby sitting down, they were the same height that way, if anything Toby was shorter for once because he was looking down. Before Happy allowed herself time to back out, she reached forward grabbing Toby's face and kissed him.
The kiss didn't last long. As soon as Toby responded Happy pulled away letting go off his face and stepped back. She watched as Toby blinked clearly confused, he even shook his head for a second.
He was dazed but not for the same reason as before. "Did you just…" Toby began to ask her.
Happy cut him off, "you were spiralling down into the rabbit hole, it was the fastest way to get you out." She responded doing her best to come off like she didn't care, despite the great amount of relief she felt inside. "Don't get sentimental doc." Before the subject could go any further she decided they needed a change of topic, "when was the last time you slept? You look like your going to pass out." She commented.
"I've been busy. I do have work of my own," Toby told her. He almost turned back to his desk but Happy stopped him.
Shocking both herself and Toby, she had reached out and grabbed his face again. She held his chin in her hand and stared at him. "No, I did not pull you out just to let you go back in. Get some rest and eat something then return to whatever you're working on." Happy instructed.
Toby stared back at Happy. He was honestly shocked that she cared this much. The fact that she'd done this for Walter previously crossed his mind for a moment, but he preferred to think it was a special thing about him. It was the way she was holding his face that also led him to think like that. He was special to her.
"I will not spoon feed you or wait till you pass out on this desk." Happy told him sternly still holding his chin in her hand.
Toby almost smiled. She cared, as much as she liked to act like she didn't, Happy cared. He nodded or at least he tried to as best as he could with Happy holding on to his chin. She let go of his face and backed away again. Looking around at the floor and the room like she had no idea what to do anymore. It was odd that she didn't walk away right away.
Toby stared at her, "Happy," he said catching her eye contact. "Thank you."
Shaking her head Happy finally took her leave. Walking away from the shrink's desk Happy headed over to the kitchen area in search of something to eat. She wasn't looking for Toby she told herself, as she looked through the fridge finding Paige's new menu of healthier options. Out of the corner of her eye Happy noticed Toby making his way over to the couch. She also noticed the one notepad he was still carrying with him. Damn shrink. Happy grabbed an apple out of the fridge and made her way over to the couch. She wasn't completely sure why it meant so much to her but whatever was pulling Toby down the rabbit hole had to stop.
Toby had sat down on the couch and was looking over a page on his notepad. Happy was tempted to take the pad away from him, instead she stood of to the side staring at him annoyed.
"I know what your going to say," Toby commented not looking away from his notepad. Happy scoffed and shook her head. "Happy, this is important." He stated.
Happy didn't stop herself this time. She stepped forward and took the notepad out of his hands and set it and the apple down on the table near the couch.
"I don't care." Happy said standing in front of Toby. He frowned at her. "I don't care about what's making you lose yourself. You need to rest and eat."
"Since when is it your job to care?" Toby asked, almost snapping at her.
"Since you stopped doing it yourself." Happy shot back sitting herself next to Toby.
Toby continued to frown. He wasn't frowning at her particularly, rather at the whole situation. The one time he had Happy's full attention and his mind was off focused elsewhere. Sighing, Toby knocked off his hat running his hands over his face and through his hair. Glancing in Happy's direction out of the corner of his eye, he found she'd settled herself into the set sitting with her legs crossed as she usually sat on the table. Seeing her at ease sitting near him allowed Toby to relax back into the couch. The two of them sat in a comfortable silence for almost a full minute before Toby broke it. "One of my old patients," he began to say but stopped speaking when he noticed the look Happy was giving him.
Happy looked at him she was curious to what he had to say but the topic made her wonder if he was hinting back at what made him go down the rabbit hole. "I didn't pull you out, just to let you go back into the rabbit hole," Happy stated yet again. Her expression had softened, "but if you need to talk about it, I guess I can listen." She shrugged readjusting how she was sitting on the couch.
Toby almost smiled and nodded in thanks. It was a nice thing to hear being said. "A patient I treated awhile ago, went of the deep end." He stated, "the diagnoses I gave her, didn't appear to work out. I keep looking back trying to figure out where I went wrong." Toby explained the more he spoke guilt seeped into his words and Happy noticed he was beginning to lose himself again. His mind was probably running through all the various tactics he could have used to help his former patient. Happy didn't know exactly what had happened or what "going off the deep end" meant but she assumed it was bad. Seeing how it made Toby react put it into perspective also.
Happy uncrossed her legs and sat awkwardly. She wasn't sure how exactly she should precede an idea was in her head but acting on it. Putting the thought into action was the hard part. There was anything she could think to say to try and help Toby with the situation but she had an idea of a possibility that could help. She picked up his hat that had fallen on to the back of the couch and put it back on his head. Toby was looking at her, not able to read the situation, he stared at her, lost.
"Trying to figure out what you could have done isn't going to change what happened, Toby." Happy told him daring to attempt comfort by words before acting on her thought.
"I'm a genius, Happy, not an amateur." Toby snapped back. It was strange to have the aggressive role reversed. "I should have known."
Happy shook her head. "Putting yourself into this kind of state over it isn't going to help anyone." She told him.
"Then what?"
"You need rest." Happy repeated again. She was getting tired of sounding like a broken record. She was also getting tired of the situation and regretting not just leaving Toby to his work after shutting off his music.
"Well aren't you starting to sound like Paige," Toby commented snidely.
Happy frowned. She was tempted to leave him to deal with himself after that remark. But she also realized that was his normal behaviour. "Shut up."
It was a mixture of annoyance and the feeling of progress when she saw Toby smiling. The feeling was short lived when he yawned stretching his arms the length of the couch.
"Sleep." Happy ordered and was planning on getting up from the couch. She was thankful Toby's body had finally reminded him he needed sleep. It had kept her from attempting the only solution she could think up that'd be effective.
Toby frowned watching as Happy motioned to get up. "Stay." He countered watching her.
Happy froze and felt the relief she'd been feeling disappear. So much for escaping.
Toby took ahold of Happy's hand and tugged at her to move from the couch. She followed where he directed her and frowned at him after he'd finished repositioning her like she was nothing but a stuffed animal. Why Happy didn't resist or fighting against being maneuvered she wasn't completely sure.
"We're both tired, Happy, just relax." Toby instructed.
He had lied down on the couch and had moved Happy so she was no longer sitting in the way. Toby now had her securely lying next to him with one arm wrapped around her holding her close to his side. He felt comfort and a sense of accomplishment with having her so close. He smiled to himself.
"If you don't get your hands off-" Happy began to threaten.
"If I let go off you, you're falling off of this couch." Toby informed her.
"Good."
Toby rolled his eyes and with his free hand took off his hat and placed it on hers. "Just sleep." He instructed.
Happy tried to free herself from Toby as well and shake his hat off from her head. Toby laughed and decided to be nice by taking his hat off and putting it on the arm of the couch. "Alright alright," he gave in and let go of her.
Happy smiled triumphantly despite the fact that slowly she had found the liked the feeling of Toby holding onto her. What she didn't like was how even though they were both lying down she was positioned that she was shorter. She repositioned herself on the couch so she was equally levelled with Toby, of course this meant she was practically draped across him like a blanket but he didn't seem to mind. Happy rested her head on his shoulder but made no comment.
After a few minutes of silence Toby broke it. "I can get used to this." He remarked.
"Shut up." Happy replied with a small twitch of her lips.
Toby grinned to himself and dared to turn his face into her hair pressing a kiss to her head. "Thank you, Happy." He whispered into her hair. Thanking her for more than just dragging him out of the rabbit hole.
Toby could feel her body had completely relaxed and recognized how her breathing pattern had taken on a slow repetitive manner. She drifted off to sleep. He grinned and closed his eyes trying to will himself to join her. Soon enough Toby's own breathing pattern matched Happy's as he too had ventured down to the land of dreams.
That would be how later that morning, Walter and Sylvester found them embraced on the couch sound asleep. Which would lead to one rude awakening, featuring a very pissed off Happy, and one klutzy Toby who'd fallen off the couch after being woken who would then not being able to stop grinning. All in all it would lead to Paige walking into a possible future murder scene, finding Happy trying to kill Toby, and a very flustered Sylvester who had no clue how to defuse the situation. And Walter who'd gone off to his own project knowing that Happy wouldn't actually kill Toby. Toby was safe.
So I hope you liked it and that it wasn't terrible. I wrote it for the Quintis Fanfic Challenge off of Tumblr. Please let me know what you thought of it! Even if you thought it was bad. Thankies :) -H.R