Cancelled (22 page)

The already too small kitchen began to telescope. He was getting tired of playing yo-yo with Alex about the engagement.

“I'm not signing the pre-nup.”

“What?”

“I said, I'm not signing the pre-nup. I'll talk to Simms and find out what I need to do to protect your assets, but I'm not going to agree to pay you $1,000 a month in alimony if our marriage ends in the first two years.” Johnathan noticed the shock on her face. She didn't think he'd read the papers.

“That's a standard clause.”

Now it was Johnathan's turn to laugh in a scoffing manner. “Who the hell do you think you're talking to? I'm not an insipid resident from the local hospital looking to make a power couple.”

“Leave him out of it.”

“Have you seen him since he spent the night here?”

Alex fumbled for an answer. “Why does the matter?”

“You know what, it doesn't. He's your
friend
, right?” Johnathan swerved around Alex to get out of the stifling kitchen. He was through the doorway before she yelled back.

“And she's your
friend
, right?”

Carefully, Johnathan turned around and gave Alex a perfect gentleman's smile. “No. She's the mother of my child.”

Without waiting for a response, he grabbed his bag and keys. Nearly jumping down the three small brick steps to the curb, he unlocked his car door and yanked it open. He cranked up his speakers to public nuisance levels and revved the engine. Today was a drive to work day. No doubt about it.

Johnathan kept trying to call Anna's cell phone all morning. He doubted Alex would change the locks on him, but then again, she had a determination that scared the hell out of him. Hopefully, she was just angrily on her way to New Jersey.

His office door burst open.

“Come on, let's go.” Eric left his mouth slightly open seeing the look on Johnathan's face.

“What?”

“You look like hell. What happened?”

“It's a long story. My Mom stole $25,000 from Jenn's trust fund, and now Jenn isn't my half-sister. She's my real sister.”

Eric shook his head. “What?”

“Yeah, that's where I am, too. Anna won't call me back.”

“Wait, where's Alex? Aren't you two leaving for the weekend?”

“Nope. She's gone. We had a fight this morning.”

“And she uninvited you?”

Johnathan stood up from his desk, annoyed at the insinuation that Alexis called all of the shots. “No, I uninvited myself. There's too much work to do around here...”

“Right, right. Forget about that. Come on.” Eric walked gallantly through the office door, nearly skipping to the Cave. He didn't turn around to see if Johnathan was following, but he was.

A few steps behind Eric, a clash of thunder greeted Johnathan's arrival. The cheesy Halloween CD from their college days spun in the cave's music system.

“Seriously?” Johnathan crossed his arms in front of him.

Eric, wearing a white lab coat, pulled on large, black insulated gloves they used occasionally for working on hot electronics. Mostly, they were only used for this moment. “It's tradition.”

“Fine.” Johnathan grabbed his lab coat from the hook and put it on. He grabbed a set of goggles for the part. Eric hit the lights and Zach hit the strobe light they used to goof around, and for technical measurements with time lapsed photography. Tang and Zach were both holding cell phones at the ready for what was coming.

Very theatrically, Eric pushed the space bar on his laptop. The armature for the Bluebird project hung suspended from a mock-up of the autonomous helicopter. All four humans in the room involuntarily held their breaths until the arm twitched and jerked up. Slowly, the Claw began an almost graceful dance of twisting into the various positions afforded by its design, flexing and contracting the “fingers” at the end into an array of grips.

“IT'S ALLLIIIIIIIVVVVVE!!!” Johnathan and Eric shouted at the same time.

Johnathan clasped his arm around Eric's shoulders, pulling the shorter man into a manly side-hug. He couldn't help but feel the dorky excitement. Now was the moment why he was in this business; turning ideas on paper into moving parts.

“This is so cool.” Zach stepped forward to get a closer look at the arm.

“No! Don't!” Tang yelled, trying to grab Zach before he got too close, but it was too late. The Claw sensed Zach's close proximity and immediately snatched his left shoulder, pulling the young man underneath the faux helicopter frame.

Zach screamed as the robot increased its grip to pull the “package” closer. In a flash of white, Eric ran and pulled the bright yellow power cord by it's plug next to the armature, killing the juice to the Claw. The arm immediately fell limp, releasing Zach's shoulder and arm, though the man kept yelling. Johnathan hit the lights and stopped the music.

“Tang, call the paramedics. Now!” Johnathan barked his order and grabbed the first aid kit from the wall. Tang stood for a minute before running to Eric's office, forgetting about the cell phone in his hands taking video.

Eric had Zach on the ground, trying to get the man's shirt open to see the damage. Zach resisted the attempts, howling in pain at any movement.

“Wait, I don't see blood. He wasn't shocked. Wait for the paramedics.” Johnathan placed a hand on Eric's arm to make him stop before kneeling down to get closer to the injured man. “You're going to be okay, Zach. Calm down.” Johnathan tried to soothe the patient, unsure if he was really in that much pain or just scared from the attack.

Eric stood up and walked away, rubbing the back of his head. He folded his hands behind his head and cursed.

“The ambulance is on its way,” Tang called out before leaving the work area to wait for the emergency personnel by the front door.

“Dammit!” Eric pushed against a metal table that weighed close to 300 pounds. The work bench made a small grinding sound as it moved a millimeter against the concrete floor.

“Eric, chill. You aren't helping.” Johnathan turned back to Zach, who had stopped yelling and instead grimaced in pain.

“I'm–I'm sorry," the young intern apologized.

“Relax. It was an accident.” Johnathan tried to reassure the poor kid now sitting up on the floor next to him. “But what were you thinking getting that close to a testing prototype?”

Zach looked down at his lap, his left arm hanging limply by his side. “It was just so cool. The music was playing, and we were playing around. I didn't think about it.”

“The arm was actively searching for supplies to pick up! You knew the parameters of the test. It thought you were a package to pick up.” Eric accosted the young intern with his harsh words.

“I know, I'm sorry.”

Zach's eyes began to look more glossy to Johnathan. “Can you move your arm at all?” Johnathan watched the young man try to move it and panic when it wouldn't respond. His eye widened in fear. “Don't panic. You probably have a pinched nerve. Does it still hurt?”

Zach nodded.

“Well there, that's good. It can't be paralyzed if it still hurts.” Johnathan smiled to get a laugh out him when Tang opened the doors to let the paramedics in.

Within minutes, the paramedics had Zach stabilized and ready to transport to the hospital. Johnathan followed them in his car, leaving Eric to close up shop and file an incident report with the insurance.

Two X-rays later and no broken bones, Zach was given a sling and a clear discharge for rest and relaxation from a deep-tissue bruise. Before the two left the emergency room full of drunks and early fireworks burn victims, Zach had full movement and feeling in his arm, though it was full of pain as well. Johnathan drove Zach home after stopping to pick up his pain pills, surprised to see he lived about three streets over from Kellie.

“Thanks, man. Sorry for all of the drama. You're never going to hire me now.” Zach used his right hand to open the car door, and then pick up his medicine from the floorboard.

“Tell you what. You don't sue the company, and you'll have a job waiting when you graduate.” Johnathan laughed, remembering the many, many times he or Eric had done something stupid resulting in a shock or worse.

“Really?”

Johnathan nodded and smiled at the eager administrative assistant. “Finish the degree first. You have real potential, but did you learn something today?”

Zach nodded. “Pull the plug.”

“Exactly.”

After Zach made it safely inside, Johnathan pulled out his cell phone. It was almost six, and he was in the neighborhood. He dialed Kellie's cell phone number.

“Another phone call. Is anything wrong?” her voice answered the phone.

“Isn't that my line when you call me?”

“Yeah. What's up?”

“I'm sitting about three streets away from your house. A robot tried to eat our intern today and I drove him home from the hospital.”

“Is he okay?”

“Yeah, the robot's fine.” Johnathan laughed in his parked car.

“You know who I meant.”

“Bruised ego and shoulder. Official diagnosis.” He could hear Kellie laugh on the other side of the phone. “Anyway, I know it's last minute, but I didn't plan on a trip to the hospital. Any chance you want to grab some food and maybe do that registry thing your Mom was talking about.”

She didn't even hesitate before saying she'd wait for him outside. Johnathan underestimated her desire to shop. They grabbed fast food at her request before heading to the nearest baby superstore.

“Can a car seat even fit in this car?” Kellie asked, as she inspected the shelf of a back seat. He chuckled during the short walk to the mega baby store entrance. Expectant mother parking spaces were a perk of their situation.

“Funny you should ask that. Anna asked me the same thing, if I needed to trade in my Dad's car. I never would; I would buy another vehicle before it came to that.” He held the store door open for her before following her in. “I found a car seat online just for my car, and it even rear faces.”

She mouthed an “Ooooh,” pretending she was impressed.

Johnathan stopped a few steps into the store. How could a baby need this much? A loud speaker blathered on about a furniture sale as he gaped at the racks and racks of baby clothes before him. To his right were aisles of strollers, breast feeding accessories, swings, diapers, soothers, car seats, and other baby paraphernalia. Toys took up the entire left side of the store.

Kelli grabbed his hand and led him to the registry section. Armed with two scanning guns, Kelli suggested they start in the furniture section.

“Convertible cribs seem to be the best investment, but I don't like the drop-side ones.” Johnathan frowned at the drop side crib in front of him that wouldn't stay up. The front side clattered down no matter how hard he yanked it up to lock it in place. Kellie giggled at his frustration.

“That's the floor model, of course it's in awful condition. I'm only 5'3", I won't be able to reach the baby without one!” Kelli's hands naturally rubbed her growing belly in protection.

“His and hers then.” Johnathan flashed her a smile as they scanned different cribs before moving on to bedding. They compromised on two sets of the same purple daisy pattern in hopes the baby would feel each bed is familiar. Agreement came easily on mattresses, changing pads, and other room accessories. The young one would have near identical rooms in both homes which Johnathan strongly advocated for early on. Kellie didn't have any experience with living in two different homes, but Johnathan did.

Things changed when they entered the feeding section. “I'm fairly confident I don't need a breast pump.” Johnathan teased the mother of his child as she started scanning a number of bottles and accessories.

“But you will need bottles at your house. I did read an article in Dr. Harper's reading room that there have been cases of men breastfeeding in remote places when the mother died in childbirth. You could give it a try...” She smirked as she raised his gun to scan the same package of newborn bottles she chose.

“Where are the cans of formula? Better safe than sorry.” He dashed to the next area and scanned a handful before realizing he had racked up a couple hundred dollars in formula!

“Have you seen how expensive these are?” he called to her on the other aisle. She waddled over and nodded.

“We sell it at the drug store for five dollars more per can. It's why I really want to make breastfeeding work. I'm meeting with the hospital's lactation consultant next week to learn about how I can change my diet these last few months to make sure my milk comes in easily.”

Johnathan had never seen a baby breastfed. Nancy had used WIC to get formula for Jenny, Nathaniel, and Ava.

“Come on, let's find the fun stuff.” His eyes brightened as he pretended he'd run off without her. “Toys!”

Both soon to be parents scratched their heads at the toy section. Everything was electronic, made noises, and moved on its own accord.

“Seriously, a ball that rolls around on its own to encourage the baby to crawl and 'be visually stimulated.'” Johnathan rolled his eyes at the overpriced orb and set it back on the shelf.

“There's a few rattles over here.” Kelli walked a little past the infant toys and found the new generation of mobiles: electronic fish tanks that fastened to the crib rails. “What do you think about this?” She held up the box for his inspection.

“I like it.” Another beep put it on his registry. The list would be his guide to buy everything online and have it delivered. Kelli scanned the mobile, too. Her list was for her baby shower and anything left over would be covered by Johnathan.

“Do you think we should talk about names?” Kellie asked Johnathan as they returned the scanning guns. Johnathan handed both scanners to the worker on duty in a purple smock before dutifully holding the store door open again for Kellie.

“Well, I'd like her to have my last name. I know we aren't married, but she is my daughter and that's the convention.” Johnathan pulled his keys out of his pocket and twirled them in his hand one rotation, letting them smack into his palm with a jingle.

“You think I would give my kid the last name Szachowski over Michaels?”