Chapter Eight

"Rollie, um, I know that you and Dingo haven’t gotten along all that well since…since, you know." Mira stuttered.

Rollie chuckled, "I guess Kieran is right.  I have everyone all in a tizzy.  I can’t mention her name or anything about her so neither does anyone else, huh?"

"Rollie, that’s natural.  You miss her; everyone grieves in their own way.  We can’t tell you which way is wrong and which way is right.  You have to find your own way."

"That’s wrong, Mira.  Not mentioning her name, not talking about the accident, c’mon he is acting as if it never happened…"

"Francis, that is the LAST thing that I am doing.  I know it happened; God, she is dea…she isn’t here.  I know this.  I was there, remember?"

With a deep sigh, Frank just continues to stare at his friend before continuing, "You can’t even say the word dead.  Rollie, what did you mean that you don’t want to see your father?  I mean when he came here you were all excited about it."

"Francis, a lot has happened since then.  First thing off is that he brought me two cousins that I didn’t even know that I had.  Then he takes off, leaves them here.  That is so typical of him."
 

Settling on the couch in the lounge, Rollie faces the two police officers.  He sees the worry in their faces.  "So, what do I do?  Is there anything the two of you know that will make this pass?"

"Rollie, the only thing that I know that might help is time.  If you give yourself some time, you will adjust to this.  In time, you will understand that the pain will lessen." Mira comforted her friend.  She could tell by his face that he must have heard that speech before and he didn’t like it.  Mira felt helpless; her job was to protect the people of the City of New York.  She was supposed to make them feel safe and secure.  Her job meant taking ‘bad guys’ off the street before they do any damage, but in Angie’s case the ‘bad guys’ beat the police and the FBI before they knew what happened.
 

Six months earlier…

Rollie was sitting at his workstation just staring at the screen.  He was supposed to be going over the schematics that Angie and he designed the other day for the new movie they were shooting this week.  But in the last two hours he  accomplished nothing. "Yip, yip" came from across the room.  Rollie looked
up to see what Blue was barking at.  "Oh, sorry.  I didn’t mean to knock over the tea cup.  I’ll clean it up later."  "Yip, yip"  "I mean it; I will clean it later.  Stop looking at me like that.  I said it was an accident.  Oh, ok. I’ll do it now.  There, are you happy now?" he asked his metallic dog.  "Yip" and the dog went along its merry way.  "Easy for you to say."

‘How can I sit here and work when Angie is out there with Elena Serrano trying to show FBI agents about pyrotechnics!?’ he mulled over.  "I thought they were taught that stuff during their training? Government agents and they come to movie people for help, go figure Blue."  "Yip" came from his favorite creation
"See, I knew that I liked you for a reason.  You think the way I do."

"That’s because you programmed him, boss." was the  sarcastic reply from the door.  Angie was taking her coat off and walking over to the kitchen to make herself a cup of tea.  "Rol, you want a cup?"

"Um…sure.  Why not?   So, how did it go?" He tried to sound casual but it came out as forced as he made it.   He hated to sound like a nosy busybody but when it came to Angie, he had no control.  It wasn’t as if he tried to run her life, like she complained.  He just wanted to make sure that she was alive and well; he needed to be sure that she was not harmed in any way.  He got nervous if she was late for an appointment or when she had to some of the F/X by herself.  The thought of Angela being hurt or worse was something that his mind would not comprehend….he wouldn’t let it.

Laughing out loud, Angie wandered over to Rollie and gave him his tea.  "Blue, could you please move?  I have work I have to do." With that, the little robotic dog moved on but with a slight gait to his walk as if his feelings were hurt.

"I can’t believe you did that!!  You made him feel sad!!  Rol, that’s cruel. Now, I feel bad!!!" She started to go get the dog but stopped.  "Now, I know I have been around you too long when *I* start thinking of Blue as being real."

"Hey, he is real…at least to me he is.  Never mind her Blue, she doesn’t love you but I do."  "YIP!" and he went on his merry little way.  "See?  He knows his daddy loves him."

"Rollie Tyler, you are a sick man in need of some serious help.  So, are you curious about how it went with Elena and Company? Or are you going to play like it isn’t killing you to know?"

"HA HA.  You are funny tonight.  I *was* going to ask you again, but with that comment I won’t"

"OK.  I got work to do.  I’ll see you later.  Buh Bye" and then she took her tea and went to her workstation.

Rollie sat there as if it didn’t bother him. But inside he couldn’t believe that she wasn’t going to tell him. "Well, if she doesn’t want me to know that I am not going to ask.  I don’t need to know; I don’t care what she does.  Doesn’t bother me.  Nope, not at all." he pouted to himself.  Two minutes later, he was out of his chair and flying up the stairs to Angie’s workstation.

When he got there, she was just sitting in her chair looking at her watch. With a raised eyebrow at Rollie, she jotted something down in a book. She turned her chair to her computer and began to work.  Rollie just stood there waiting for her to pay him some attention and when it didn’t work he did the next best thing: he yelled at her. "Hey…what was that all about?" he demanded. He pointed at her watch and the book.

"Oh this?  It’s nothing.  Just a running a joke I have going with myself about you."  Seeing Rollie was all set to start in, she quickly added, "It isn’t bad or anything like that. It’s a book that shows me how quickly your inquisitorial nature gets to you.  In other words, I want to see how nosy you can be.  This time it is a minute and fifty-eight seconds.  Fast but not the record." She turned back to the computer.

"Not the record?  What do you mean ‘not the record’?  There has been a faster time?  I seriously doubt that, Angela.  I am *NOT* nosy!" he defended himself.

"HA!  OK, you want to know the record.  My prom from high school and that was one minute and twenty-three seconds.  I expected my dad to be waiting for me but not you.  I mean you didn’t even let me take off my shoes before you started in on me.  You got to me before he did!! That is something, Tyler."

"Your father was tired from waiting for you all night.  He was worried; he asked me to come over and sit with him. OK?"

"Yeah, riiiight.  I can just see my dad calling you up on a Friday night to come over and help him wait up for me.  Like the two of you had nothing better to do than wait for me.  It wasn’t like you were interested in my date…"

"Your date was a jerk!!  A 'Class A' eejit! Your father didn’t like him; I didn’t like him…trust me, there was enough not to like.  THAT is why he called me to come over.  He didn’t trust, what’s his name?"

"David."

"Yeah, David.  He didn’t trust David.  Manny wanted me there in case David was being a jerk."

"Oh yeah?  Why would my father want you there in case David was a jerk?  He was there."

"To prevent Manny from killing the little bastard.  I can’t believe you even went out with him; he was so sleazy.  Ugh.  Your poor father had nightmares from the moment you told him right up till the moment you walked thru the door. So, there."

"Rollie, you didn’t let me get a kiss goodnight from him!!!  You turned on the porch light, opened the door and told me to come in because it was too cold to stay outside without my winter coat!  He told everyone at school.  Do you know how embarrassed I was?  Now do you remember why I stopped talking to both of you for a week?"

"And if I remember right, didn’t he leave and then go out with someone else that night? I also remember someone calling me a few days later in tears, crying about how big of a jerk David" Rollie scrunches his face on the name, "was and how could I have let you gone out with him.  You also asked me *not*
to tell your dad.  Or maybe that didn’t happen?" he asked her with his eyebrow raised.

"Yeah well….that’s not the point.  The point is that at times you can be very nosy.  And I guess at times, it does come in handy." Noticing the smug look on his face, she quickly added, "That doesn’t mean I like it!! Just don’t keep doing it, especially to my dates, ok?"

"Deal, as long as you don’t do it to mine." He smiled; he looked like the cat that ate the canary. He was very pleased with himself but for some reason he couldn’t figure out why.

"Rollie, most of your dates can’t put two sentences together.  Maybe that’s because they are all actresses and need cueing."  She retorted and very proud of herself when she saw his face fall.  "So, do you want to know what happened or not?"

"Ok…what happened?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?  Angela, you were gone for almost the entire day and you want me to believe that nothing happened!?  I am crazy but I am not stupid!!"

"Trust me, I wish something did happen.  I felt like I wasted my whole day. Elena kept apologizing. She felt just awful that she was keeping me away from all of this work that you needed me to do." By now Angie was teasing Rollie in the way only Angie could.  Rollie was smiling; it was a game the two of them
played. They teased each other about their social lives…or lack of.  "She told me to tell you that she was sorry and that she would call you and make it up to you." Angie gave him a knowing look.

"What? I didn’t do a thing!  I haven’t talked to her in months; not since that time in London.  So, what do you want me to do?  Ignore her?  I mean after all, that would be so rude of me to ignore your new ‘boss’ and after her going thru that much trouble to wait for you…it’s the least I could do." He mimicked her and Elena’s conversation, rather lecture, that they had with Rollie a few days earlier.

Both Rollie and Angie laughed for a few minutes; he looked at her and then gave her a hug. "It’s been a some time since we had a good laugh like that. Sorry about the last couple of days, ok?  You know I don’t mean to hurt you."

"I know.  I guess I should be used to you and your ways now, huh?  I’m sorry too; I shouldn’t have walked out on you that day.  I never meant for Francis to get hurt in that building.  I love Frank and Sarah.  I would never forgive myself if something did happen because of me."  She was still in Rollie’s hug; it was one of the few places in this world where she felt safe.  Angie didn’t want to leave it, and was hoping that Rollie didn’t want to either.

"I know that.  I shouldn’t have said those things to you.  Forgiven?"  Feeling the nod of her head on his chest, he smiled and gave her one last squeeze.  "I don’t feel much like working.  How about we grab some pizza and then watch some movies?  Maybe later we can get some work done, how’s that sound?"

"Sounds good.  Just let me finish up here and then I’ll meet you downstairs, ok?"

"Ok.  Just don’t take too long; I’m starving."  With a quick peck on her forehead, he let her go and went downstairs to finish up his own work."

Watching him go, she sighed and with a shake of her head muttered, "Rollie, for someone who is so brilliant, there are times when you are so dumb!! What’s it going to take for you to realize it?"