"Dad!" Don, along with Linda,ran to help his father.
"Alan!" Abby blamed herself for not being more careful. Thankfully, the only injury was a bruised ego, as Alan fell on dirt and grass rather than concrete. Alan got up again with Abby, Charlie, Linda and Don's help.
"This is a bit more tricky than rollar skating." Alan commented.
"Let's take dad to the bench" Don ordered, as he took charge of the situation. He asked Alan "Are you sure you're not hurt?"
"I'm fine!" Alan gingerly sat on it . Everyone sighed with relief.
"Could you two have been any more careless?" Don glared at Abby and Charlie. The sight of Alan on the ground had unnerved him.
"It's not their fault, Don." Alan tried to calm his eldest. "Accidents happen" .
"Charlie, get me dad's shoes." Don ordered. "We need to get him to the doctor"
"I'm fine!"
"We need to make sure!" Don insisted.
"I'm not going to the doctor!" Alan put his foot down.
"Nothing hurts when you move it?" Abby asked with concern.
"Not really"
"Good thing I got you the gear" Abby said.
Don sighed. He interpreted Alans' going rollarblading as a way to seem youthful to Abby. Why else would he do it?
"You're not twenty years old, dad!" the agent told his father. "You should go to the doctor."
Not liking the tone Don was taking with him, Alan retorted."And you're not five!"
"Alan, one. Don, zero" Abby thought to herself.
It took some time for Alan to convince Don that he was not injured. After that, the agent had to go.
"Talk about a type A" Abby muttered under her breathas she sat next to Alan.
"Ever since his mother died, he's taken it upon himself to take care of me." Alan explained, though he was still annoyed with his older son. "Let's continue with the lesson"
After some more practice, Abby had an idea."Let's take an ice cream break!"
"Okay!" Alan agreed if only to rest. Since he was still a beginner, everyone took off the gear, put on their regular shoes beforefindinga place, where the ice cream was made in house. When it came time to pay for the ice cream, Abby and Alan argued over it.
"Alan!" she protested when he reached for his pocket to get his wallet.
"You're my guest!" After some more arguing, Alan won.
"Mmmm!I love chocolate" Abby cooed while she ate her ice cream. "Especially..."
"If its in a bowl!" Alan finished for her while Charlie chuckled.
"That's not what I was gonna say!" Abby protested. "I meant to ..."
"We don't wanna hear it!" Alan got annoyed.
"Fine!" Abby shrugged and continued her ice cream.
Afterwards, the lesson continued. Then, it was time for lunch.
"Where would you like to go, Abby?" Alan asked when they had put away their gear in the trunk and were in the car.
"I feel like Thai" she told him.
"I know a good place" Alan said. So they went.
Soon, they gave the waiter their orders and he walked away. Alan noticed Abby looking at the waiter's behind..
"Got a good view , Abby?" he thought to himself.
"That waiter is kinda cute!" Abby said.
"Little young for you isn't he?" Alan commented without thinking and figuring at at most, said waiter was in his late teens.
"So you think age is a big deal?"
"I think the age of consent laws are a big deal" Alan said wryly.
"What if both people are older than the age of consent?" Abby asked.
"Age matters." he told her.
"I disagree" Abby said, and didn't like what she heard. "For me age is just a number."
Charlie tried not to remember what Larry had said. He was grateful, when the waiter returned.
"Are you ready to order?"
"I think that I'll get the pad thai." Abby told him with a flirtatious smile.
"I'll have the red curry" Charlie said.
" I think I'll have the same thing." Alan said. When the waiter left, he continued. "Age does matter. How could you, for example, relate to a twenty year old, given your intelligence, and life experiance?"
"I could think of a few ways" Abby replied with her mischevious smile.
"That's not quite what I meant" Alan sighed, and wondered why they were getting so argumentative.
"So, likewise,you would not find the chick at the register to be 'suitable'?" Abby asked.
"Not for me, but maybe for Don or Charlie"
"But what if she and you had more in common and could connect better?"
"That would be impossible" Alan countered."There would be too much of a gap in terms of experiance, worldview..."
"I still think age is just a number" Abby interupted him.
They were interupted when Charlie's cell phone rang. It was Don.
"How's dad?" the agent asked.
"Fine. He and Abby are arguing about age differences."
"Really?" This peaked Don's interested.
"Abby says that age is just a number, but Dad disagrees."
"Oh..." this did not sit well with the agent.
"Let me talk to your brother!" Alan got the cell phone from Charlie, then went to the other side of the restaurant. As soon as he was out of Charlie and Abby's hearing range, the scolding began. "Is this the way your mother and I raised you?"
Don's behavior towards Abby at the bowling Alley and in Santa Monica had really bothered Alan.
"If you mean to take care of family, then it is" Don told him simply.
"You treated her like a criminal!"Alan's protective side came out.
"It's just that I've seen too many cases involving internet pen pals..." Don tried to explain.
"That doesn't give you the right to interogate her!" Alan snapped. He noticed Abby and Charlie looking at him. His facial gestures had made his annoyance obvious. "We'll talk about this later. Bye." With that he hung up.
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"What would you like to do next?" Alan asked as they all ate their meals.
"I figured that we could hang out at your place after dinner" Abby said.
"Sounds like a plan" Alan said.
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A while after, they returned to the house, Charlie, in the dining room, corrected tests, that he had promised to return the next day. Abby and Alan sat in the living room, drank some wine, and talked.
"Did you argue with Don?" Abby asked
"I took him to task for the way he treated you." Alan told her.
"I don't want to cause problems between you guys" Abby said. While she thought Don was a jerk, Abby realized that he and Charlie meant the world to Alan.
"Don't worry about it." Alan shrugged. He sat in his easy chair, while Abby lay down o the couch and kicked off her shoes.
"So all the woman you've dated have been around your age?"
"The woman with the two ducks was in her late forties." Alan said as he drank some more wine. "My rule is not to date anyone more than fifteen years younger."
"I dated a professor in college and he was sixty five"
"Really?" Alan was shocked. That was a few years older than himself. Plus he remembered how seriously Charlie took the rules against student/professor involvment. Then,Alan started to think that maybehe shouldn't be too shocked. This was a woman who had sex in closets and with ice cream involved.
"He was divorced and had the same attitude you did about age differences" she said."
."I remember having a crush on my English literature professor in College" Alan revealed. "She had just gotten her PhD when I had her class, and had a wonderful sense of humor. I'd go to her office hours, on the pretext of asking questions about the lecture, or the readings.
"I so used to do that!" Abby said. "Did you ever try the 'I'm stuck on the essay trick'?"
"More times than even Charlie could calculate" Alan chuckled and sipped the wine. Right after he said that, Charlie came into the living room to get one of his books, and noticed thatAbby lay on the couch.
"Fill'er up!" Abby held out her glass. She felt too lazy to sit up.
"Uh...sure"
"Abby, you need to be sober enough to drive home." Alan warned.
"And Charlie doesn't have a license" Abby remembered with a sigh.
"Let's watch T.V" Alan suggested.
Abby grabbed the remote and turned on the T.V.After some channel surfing,she squealed "Oh my God! I love this movie!" Duck Soup, a Marx brothers film, was playing.
"So do I!" Alan said. Thankfully, it had only started a couple of minutes ago.
"Groucho gets the best lines!" Abby said after a bit.
"He had insulting down to an art" Alan agreed as he laughed at what Groucho's character said in the movie.
"This moviei s also a very brilliant satire on politics" Abby said.
"Yeah ." Alan agreed.
After the movie, Abby returned to her hotel.
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Parasol in hand, Abby joined Charlie and Alan for breakfast. When Abby got into the dining room,she sang
"Hail! Hail! Freedonia! Long live Freedonia..."
"and Rufus T. Firefly!" Alan quipped with a laugh. They were exchanging references from the movie they saw last night.
"I was thinking, maybe we could go to Universal Studios?"
"Sure!" Alan agreed. he hadn't gone since the boys were young, but wanted to be a good host.
And so they went.
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At the ticket booth, they argued about who would pay for the tickets. Alan won.
At first, they walked around, then Abby saw a place, where one could take pictures that were in black and white and one wear clothes from the 1800s.
"Let's do it!" she suggested.Abby did some pictures of herself. Of course, one of them was ofher in a black dress. "Why don't you do one?"
"It's okay..." Alan shook his head. The idea of posing with uncomfortable,old fashioned clothes did not appeal to him.
"Come on! She picked out a suit "This woud look great on you!"
"We've got a long day ahead of us" Alan said. "Let's get going."
"You're no fun!" she pouted. Once they got out, Abby handed him a picture. Alan took it, so as not to be rude, and made a mental note to hide it well, especially if Edna was coming to the house. However he found himself looking at it for more than a second.
Soon, they were in the famous Backlot tour.
"What a lame choke!" Abby blurted at one point.
"Abby!"
Afterwards, they lined up to go on a Back to the Future themed simulator ride.
When they had gotten in pretty much most of the rides and attractions, Abby went to buy some souvenirs for herself and her friends.
"Gibbs is gonna love this!" Abby told Alan as she picked up a large coffee thermos that had 'Universal Studios 'Universal Studios Hollywood' on it.
Just as they were about to leave, Abby saw a store that piqued her interest.
"This shirt is sooo you!" she held it up. The desighn consisted of a couple of skulls.
"Maybe in one of Larry's alternate dimensions."
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Sometime later, they left the park and had dinner.
"You seem quiet Alan" Abby commented as they waited for a table.
"It's just that uh...I remember taking Margaret and the boys here once for her birthday." he said quietly.
"Really?" she knew when it was better to listen.
"That was like uh a few years ago. Don was living in Albuquerque, but came down for the weekend." He explained. "She spent her next birthday in the operating room." The pain and anguish came back to him in droves.
"You still miss her, don't you?" she asked him softly. and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Every day." he whispered.
At that moment, a waiter led them to their table.
"I'm sorry" Alan felt embarassed. "I didn't mean to..."
"You were married for a long time, Alan. It's only natural" Abby said. Alan ordered wine when their waiter returned, as did Abby.
"Look at them" Alan wistfully started and pointed to an elderly couple after two glasses of wine. "They're getting to spend their golden years with each other."
"For all you know, they could each be married to other people." Abby said. "Things aren't always what they seem."
Alan?" Phil, a friend of Alan's asked as he approached their table. He was the host of the book club Alan went to and the two men were friends.
Remembering Art's reaction,Alan nervously greeted him."Phil! How are ya? Did you come with Lily?" She was Phil's wife. They had three children: two daughters and a son.
"Actually, Greg is here with me. He's at our table" Phil thought that the goth and Alan looked like they were cozy. Little did he know that Alan had been talking about Margaret to Abby just seconds before. Greg was an older brother of Phil's, who had retired to Miami a few years ago and had decided to come out to California to visit.
"Phil, I'd like you to meet, Abby." Alan made the proper introductions."She's a friend I met on a scrabble website. Abby, this is Phil"
"Hi!" Abby shook the man's hand.
"Why don't you come join us?" Alan offered.
"Sure!" Phil agreed. He wanted to know what the situation with Abby was. "We've only gotten water so far. Let me get Greg"
Soon, the two brothersdraggeda smalltable for two close to where Alan and Abby sat.
"Greg, you know Alan" Phil made his own introductions. "And this is Abby, an online friend of Alan's. They met at a scrabble site."
"Hi!" Abby said.
"So how's Edna?" Phil asked.He wanted to make a point. Abby didn't like what Phil seemed to be implying.
"Her sister's is still sick" Alan said.
"So...how do you like L.A so far?" Greg asked the goth.
"It's great. Alan's been a wonderful host"
Given what he had seen, Phil could not help but wonder,what Abby meant by the term 'wondeful host'.
"How long are you planning on staying?" Phil turned to Abby.
" A few days" Abby said.
"What all have you two done?" Greg wondered how a man Alan's age and a much younger goth girl could relate.
"We've gone to a golf course, to Universal Studios, to a movie, andto a tour of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory." She added the last part to pull Phil's leg.
"You mean the one on Wilshire?" Phil decided to hide his annoyance by playing along. Then thought "I've got wine that is older than this woman!"
"That's where the warehouse is" Abby said in a fake voice of exasperation.
"The Factory itself is in the Valley" Alan continued, tongue in cheek. "On Lankershim."
A few minutes later, a waiter came and took their orders.
TBC
Author's Chapter Notes:
In this crossover with Numb3rs, Alan and Abby form an online friendship.
Part 6(aka chapters 18-24)The rollarblading mishap continues, and the two friends take a trip.
Part 6(aka chapters 18-24)The rollarblading mishap continues, and the two friends take a trip.
Chapter End Notes:
I've got lots of chapters in this story, so I'll put a bunch at a time together.