How Topher Brink Lost His Pants
Part 5

This is the final part, but there will be a small epilogue in which I explain exactly how Topher lost his pants. Reviews are appreciated, as always!

Topher had hacked into the security cameras that covered the Freemont College campus, which was no easy feat. Being part of the Rossum Corporation, he had needed to be furtive and quick witted, but he had managed it in only a few minutes. Well, he was a genius after all.

"Oh yes," A grin began to spread across his face and all the awkwardness in the room began to fade. "Yes, yes! Adelle, we have struck gold!" He turned to face her, lifting his hand to her.

Half heartedly, Adelle raised her hand too and met his in a less than enthusiastic high five. Nothing could stop Topher or dampen his spirits though; he was on a roll.

"Watch this." He swung the monitor around so that Adelle could see it too and click the mouse to play the clips he had isolated.

Adelle watched with rapt interested, possibly playing even more attention than when she had watched the footage of herself and Topher. She could help but laugh, and no longer had the energy left to try and stifle it.

"Soft, like a kitty." She mocked, as she and Topher dissolved into giggles. This felt good; this felt right. It felt like when they were together under the influence of the drug without their inhibitions to stifle and restrict them. "Could you imagine if this got out? Dominic would be a laughing stock."

Of course, Adelle would probably be out of a job and may possibly have a lawsuit to deal with, but for a moment it almost seemed worth it.

"Don't you see," Topher was gesturing wildly. "This is our leverage!"

Adelle was nodding now, following Topher's drift and picking up where he left off.

"We find out if he's got the recording of us, and if he does, we offer him an exchange."

"Perhaps we should make a copy of this though, you know, because it is priceless."

Adelle was about to agree, when Laurence Dominic stepped into the office.

"Ma'am," Dominic greeted, stepping into the office with a satisfied smirk on his features. He chose to ignore Topher for now, his primary business was with Adelle even if the business itself concerned the nerdy obnoxious boy.

Adelle stood up, brushing down her skirt in a pretence of being self-conscious. "Mr Dominic," She nodded politely. "I trust you have not suffered any ill effects of the drug."

"No ma'am, I'm quite well now thank you. In fact, I am feeling rather good actually."

"Oh, well, good." Adelle replied, inflecting the usual ice into her tone. "And it's Adelle or Ms DeWitt, not ma'am.'

"Sorry, Adelle." He rolled the word around in his mouth as though he was tasting it for the first time. "We have some business to discuss." He looked at Topher with disgust. "Could you excuse Mr Brink, please."

"Topher can stay." Adelle replied coolly, although she found it odd that she wanted him there. It was easier to face off against Dominic with Topher in the room.

Dominic rolled his eyes. "Of course, it's understandable that you would want your boyfriend near you."

"You've seen the security footage then." Her voice was as crisp and even as always, despite the fact that her heart seemed to be beating at twice its usual rhythm.

"I have," Dominic began twirling the flash drive around his finger again, his smirk was now a smug grin. "And, unless you want the entire Rossum Corporation to see it, there are a few things I'd like you to do."

Adelle's hands were on her slim hips now. "And what would they be?"

Did Dominic hear a note of amusement in her British accent? Surely not. "First, you can fire this young man and make sure he never finds another job like this again, and that Echo Doll."

"And second?"

Dominic grinned now, forgetting the anxiety of a moment ago. "You and I will rent a motel room somewhere until you persuade me to get rid of this." He slapped the flash drive down onto the desk.

"Interesting." Adelle considered, pausing to look at Topher for the first time since Dominic had entered her office. He looked surprisingly sombre. "But there's something Topher and I would like you to see first."

Dominic paled, realising that he had only a dim recollection of what the drug had made him do, apart from making a fool of himself in front of Echo. At least that bimbo was too dumb to remember anything he'd said; or anything at all.

Adelle spun the monitor around so that it was facing Dominic, and clicked a button. The clips of footage Topher had just showed her began to play and Dominic looked less and less well. By the time both clips had played, and Topher had resisted joining in with 'soft, like a kitty', Dominic's complexion had paled considerably and his fists were clenched.

"Topher and I are willing to make you a deal. You hand this over," She pointed to the flash drive. "And we will make sure this disappears."

Dominic pushed the flash drive across the table and it fell to the hardwood floor with a clatter.

"I hope you'll be very happy together." Was Dominic's parting shot as he stormed out of the office. As he walked out of the Dollhouse and began to regain some sense of calm, he was able to smile. The joke was on them really, they didn't know he was a CIA agent and he planned to keep it that way.

In the wake of Dominic storming out of the office, Adelle and Topher could do little more than stare at each other. Now that the mess was cleared up, neither of them knew quite what to do. Topher had retrieved the flash drive from the floor and had handed it to Adelle.

"Perhaps we should dispose of this." He suggested, with something that seemed to really resemble a shy smile. That was how it appeared to Adelle anyway, but she was beginning to doubt her judgement where Topher was concerned.

"Indeed." Adelle agreed and promptly crushed the flash drive under her heel until it shattered into irreparable shards.

"I'll make sure it's deleted from all of the computer systems." Topher pushed himself up from his crouching position.

"Thank you,"

Topher seemed to take this as his cue to leave, but Adelle caught him lightly by the arm.

"We should probably talk about this." Her voice was softer now and Topher felt like he was seeing the 'real' Adelle behind her eyes.

"Over coffee, or dinner and a movie?" He asked, suddenly feeling almost foolishly brave.

"Oh, well, I..." Adelle began, realising that she now knew what flustered felt like. It was certainly an interesting emotion to experience. "Yes, that would be nice."

Feeling as if the whole day had been a dream, Topher gave her a smile and headed back towards his own domain. He was going to make sure the damning evidence against Adelle was deleted from all of the computer systems at the Dollhouse, but first he was going to watch it one last time.