It's Definitely Not All Mary Poppins

Will Forgive It, Can't Forget It (2)

"Are you hearing yourself? Matt's our friend!"

"Are you hearing yourself? I'm not saying we abandon him. I'm saying we...move him along."

"Whether he likes it or not? Healing takes time."

"But does he want that time?" she asked. "Matt's desperate to get out, but also wants to stay. Who's to say he's the one delaying fixing his Nazi deathtrap to try and fix everything here?"

"He wouldn't – " Toby caught himself. "What the fuck happened to you, advocating for the both of them like you're on some goddamned court case. I don't bet, a year ago, you would've drawn a line in the sand so deep you'd made a new fucking Grand Canyon. You hated the guy up until it happened."

"This isn't a court case," she said. "Court cases have you trying to convince people you're the one in the right."

"Matt is."

"I don't think anyone is, though."

"Matt is."

"They both fucked up, Toby," she said. "I'm not saying one's better than the other, but they've made this...cumulative mess they're both in."

"Matt is."

"Then tell me 'why' without saying, 'I'm his friend'."

"Assault is wrong. Yang didn't apolog – " Again, Toby caught himself. "He, he purposefully...no. No. You don't get to get inside my head like that and try to convince me everyone's wrong. Matt's not wrong. Matt has to get out of here."

Liza made a face, nose wrinkled and lips crooked as she glared at him. She huffed, glancing at the empty space over the living room. "So he leaves. Lloyd gets rebuilt, he drives off, and Matt has guilt for the rest of his life over Yang's kids."

"And if he stays, he's trapping himself in a job where his employer abused him. And he'd feel guilty for not doing what he always wanted to do – be a teacher."

She crossed her arms, eyes softening. "So...we talked in circles. What should he actually do?" She groaned. "Maybe a happy middle ground? He stays in contact with the kids while going off to liberate sad small people?"

"You sound like him."

"Thinking about something with no answer makes for exhaustion, dumbass."

Toby pursed his lips and cleared his throat. "...what happens if he decides to stay?"

Liza said nothing, shivering as a draft of cool air brushed around their ankles. She squeezed herself a little tighter, glancing into an empty corner of the room, frowning. She grunted, baring her teeth as she wracked her brain for an answer.

He would've said something more, anything to place a definitive end to the conversation and come out as victor, but Toby glanced over Liza's shoulder to see the side door opened, a rectangle of light cast on the concrete floor. He started moving to close it, but Matthew, sweaty and scratched in places, erupted from the kitchen with several screwdrivers in hand, a hard look in his eyes and gaze distant.

"Matt?" he asked.

Liza turned, watching him beeline for the bedroom wing. She cooed in curiosity and followed after.

A door swung open, slamming against the wall. Matthew kneeled in the doorway to Yang's office, unscrewing the lowest hinge.

The older man inside fumbled off a call, his slippers slapping the floor as he approached the nanny. "What are you doing?" he asked.