Helen tells him about the thing with Casper and the utility bill and Joan's refusal to explain herself. Joan throws up her hands in exasperation. Will says he knows she's had a hard time making friends. Joan: "Dad, I didn't do it because I need a friend. I did it because she's all alone. She's homeless, okay? She lives in a really creepy shelter." Helen: "She's homeless?" Joan explains that her dad isn't around, so she could be taken away from him. Will asks where the father is. Joan says he's upstate (again with the "upstate") looking for work: "She shouldn't have to lose her dad because their luck sucks. I mean, the reason I jumped -- I had to connect with her. Which I did, because of her eyes, you know?" Helen and Will have no idea what she's on about. Joan hollers, "She trusts me now! I can't turn her in!" Will says he knows the head of Child Protective Services: "They can find her a good home until her dad gets back and they can sort things out." Helen says she has a friend who runs a jobs program: "You should've talked to us, honey. We're on your side...most of the time." Joan: "Well, you're also a teacher...and you're a cop. My life would be a lot easier if you were just...normal loser parents." They smile weakly. Will: "You said she trusts you. Talk to her first thing tomorrow. Get her to call me." Joan, barely audible: "Thanks, Dad." He starts up the stairs and Joan pursues him, asking, "Hey...what are you going to do about Brain Boy?" Will wonders, "Don't I even get a minute to enjoy my good deed?" Joan says that all Luke wanted was to spend time with him: "The way Kevin always did...or even me, when you'd make me kick that stupid soccer ball until my foot fell off." Will thought she liked that. Joan: "Well. Now you know." He heads upstairs, and Helen says, "Glynis." Will stops and Helen adds, "His girlfriend's name."

Luke's in his room, typing away at his laptop. He's got an awesome lamp, with a spherical metal shade in sort of that classic shape of atomic orbitals. Or something like that. I barely know what I'm talking about, here. I was asking Frink over the phone about how to describe this thing and before the stupid cell phone cut off, I got an explanation about Niels Bohr and orbitals that I mostly followed but couldn't quite recount if my life depended on it. Anyway. Will comes in very silently. Luke's not the only one with a naturally quiet tread. Luke ignores his father. Will begins, "I'm sorry about today. It's just that...you're so smart and self-sufficient. I don't know what I have to offer you." Luke: "You taught Kevin stuff, and he's smart. Basically." Heh. Will: "Kevin likes sports. I understand sports." He's picked up one of the many science-y tchotchkes in Luke's room, one of those vector flexor things. He fiddles with it, continuing, "You like physics." Luke: "Teach me how to throw a curve ball. That's physics." Will: "You really want me to?" Luke: "No, Dad, I hate sports, but...today...I could've stayed with you. And watched how you solved that case." Will says he was embarrassed: "What I'm going through at work...the first time you see what I do...I -- I didn't want you to see me as a paper pusher." Luke snorts softly and says, "You've got the world's largest blind spot, you know that? One minute, you discern an oblique pattern that's invisible to mere mortals; the next, you can't even see a conclusive certainty that's staring you in the face." Will: "I have no idea what you just said."