Ralph's Babysitter
Summary: When the team goes out on a case, Ralph is left behind with his favorite trouble-making babysitter, Megan. Mostly Melvester, with a hint of Quintis and a dash of Quieen friendship. Oneshot, complete.
Author's Note: I've been thinking about this idea for a while, ever since someone on Tumblr pointed out that we don't get to see Ralph and Megan interact very much on the show. Grad school has essentially taken over my life (in fact this only got polished because I'm posting it as part of an assignment – hi Professor Larson!), but I finally had time to finish it up recently! I haven't written for this fandom before on here, but I have written a Quintis drabble about Toby's hat that's posted on Tumblr (perfectpurls) so go check that out if you want. I've got some ideas for a few other Scorpion fics, so look out for those during this hiatus. Other than that, happy reading!
Disclaimer: I do not own Scorpion. Or a rubber band ball :)
"Let's go, let's go, let's go!" Cabe called loudly from the door. Ralph watched as the team rushed around the garage, grabbing their supplies. Cabe counted them off like school children on a class trip as they walked past him. Paige stopped suddenly, causing Toby to almost run into her back.
"Let's keep moving," he chided as he skirted around her.
"I can't go," she announced. The rest of the team froze, just as she had. "I don't have anyone to watch Ralph, and there's no way he's coming with us. Not happening," she insisted, turning in time to see his hopeful face drop dejectedly.
"I may have a solution for that," Happy realized. She reached into Toby's jacket pocket.
"Excuse me," Toby began to exclaim, stopping when he felt her hand removed. "Was that really necessary?" he finished.
"Not really, just fun," Happy smirked, typing his password into his phone. Seconds later, she discovered the information she needed and held the phone up to her ear. "Hey Megan, how would you like to look after Ralph for the afternoon?"
"Thanks for getting a ride over here at such short notice," Paige expressed once Megan was comfortably situated on the couch. "He's got a lunch in the fridge, and there are snacks in the cabinet. He hasn't done his homework yet, so he needs to do that before he can work on any of his other projects. We should be in cell range if you need anything, but if we're not, call Cabe's office and they should be able to reach us."
"Essentially, it should be just like Walter all over again," Happy joked, grabbing Paige's light jacket and pulling her away.
"Be good, Ralph!" Paige called over her shoulder as she turned to follow Happy out to Cabe's car. Sylvester kissed Megan's cheek before following the pair and closing the door behind them, leaving Megan and Ralph alone in the garage.
"You feel like doing your homework?" Megan asked hopefully. Ralph shook his head. "Yeah, Walter never felt like doing his either. So what do you want to do instead?"
"What was Walter like when he was my age?" Ralph asked. Megan smiled, remembering the pranks she and Walter had pulled on each other – and their parents – before she had gotten sick.
"Let me tell you a story."
Two snacks and a half-dozen stories later, Megan circled them back to Paige's instructions. "Homework time," she decided, pushing herself up to a standing position and walking away from the couch where they had been sitting. Ralph ran around her and blocked her path.
"But I don't want to do my homework," Ralph complained. "I want to work on my project." Megan laughed at the way he stood, arms crossed across his chest. She could see why Happy had compared her task for the afternoon to looking after Walter; the younger boy had picked up some of her brother's mannerisms, including his stubbornness. She realized that this probably meant he had acquired traits from other members of the team as well, and an idea began to form.
"What do you say to a little wager?" Megan inquired. Ralph smiled, catching the mischievous twinkle in her eye. "If I win, you go do your homework, but if you win, you get to work on your project for a little bit, and then you do your homework later." Ralph thought over her offer for a moment before agreeing.
"What are we playing?" he asked as he followed Megan to the refrigerator.
"You'll see," she shrugged. "While I set up, why don't you eat your lunch," she suggested. Ralph grabbed the sandwich and snacks his mom had packed and sat with them at the table, clearing Happy's mess of cogs and bolts away from an area so he could eat.
Meanwhile, Megan rifled through the team's recycling bin for the materials she would need, tossing empty soda cans onto the couch as she retrieved them. Once she had enough, she sat on the floor beside the couch to construct a pair of pyramids in front of the coffee table. She pressed herself to a standing position once again, this time on a quest to borrow the rubber band ball Sylvester kept in his desk drawer. She paused at his desk, her eyes falling on a framed picture of the two of them. She recognized the photo from their Valentine's Day dinner a few months earlier, when he had surprised her with a fancy dinner reservation. She had learned later from Toby that the reservation was initially supposed to be for Walter and Paige, and had taken the opportunity to both scold and thank her brother for giving it up. She wasn't sure that he had fully understood her growing feelings for Sylvester, but he could tell that they made each other happy, and that had always meant more to him than the details.
"Ready?" Ralph asked, interrupting her thoughts. The ball fell from her hand in surprise. "I got it," he volunteered instantly, crawling under Sylvester's desk to retrieve it. She led them both back toward the pyramids she had set up.
"The goal is to knock down all the cans without the ball hitting the coffee table," Megan explained. She held her hand out for the ball. "Like so," she demonstrated, rolling the ball gently. The first pyramid of cans toppled over. Ralph watched as the ball stopped just short of the table.
"What if mine doesn't hit the table either?" he asked.
"Then we reset the cans and go again," Megan answered. Ralph nodded and rolled the ball just as Megan had, watching his pyramid collapse as well. He ran to the table to reset the cans and then back to Megan's side again. The cycle repeated until, his energy waning from a dozen trips to reset the cans, Ralph conceded and agreed to do his homework. He dragged his feet back to the table, where his backpack sat on an unoccupied chair.
"You know how Walter used to do his homework?" Megan introduced. Ralph perked up at the sound of his favorite team member's name. "I used to time him to see how fast he could do it and still get everything right. You know, I bet you could beat his record," she baited. Ralph quickly pulled out all of his homework sheets and a pair of freshly-sharpened pencils. "Ready?" Megan asked, setting her phone up as a stopwatch. Ralph nodded. "Go!" Ralph worked furiously, jotting down answers and flipping pages with intense speed and focus. As he finished the last page, he slammed his pencil down on the table triumphantly and looked at Megan hopefully, who quickly punched some calculations in on her phone's calculator. "14.2 seconds a sheet, that's a new record!" she exclaimed in surprise. Ralph cheered.
The sound of a car pulling up to the door interrupted their celebration. Megan's eyes passed from the door to the pile of cans, which still lay on the ground, to Ralph. They heard the doors of the team's van slam shut, followed by the clamor of recognizable voices approaching the door. Ralph shoved his papers back into his folder, which he tossed into his backpack as the door opened. Happy and Toby walked in first, stopping suddenly when they saw the cans on the floor. Sylvester, still caught up in a discussion he and Walter had been having about one of his favorite theorems, continued walking until Toby held out a hand and held him back. Walter looked instantly to his sister, who smiled innocently.
"My homework's done!" Ralph announced. "Does that mean that I can go help Walter with the rocket?" he asked as Paige noticed the mess they had made.
"Sure," Paige agreed. "As soon as you clean these up."
"It was Megan's idea," Ralph snitched. The team laughed at the scandalized look on Megan's face. Paige shook her head and insisted that Ralph clean up anyway. The team dispersed to their usual stations, giving Sylvester a moment alone with Megan at the table. He helped her out of her chair.
"Did you have fun with Ralph?" he checked.
"We had a good time," she assured him. "Oh, and by the way, sorry about your rubber band ball." She grabbed her crutches and began to walk toward Paige, laughing when he called out after her.
"Wait, what happened to my rubber band ball?"
Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed – drop a review and let me know what you thought!