I do not own Scorpion or any of its affiliates

A/N: So this is my first Scorpion story! I hope you all enjoy and feel free to send me your feedback! Constructive criticism is always appreciated!

"Happy New Year's Eve Day!" Paige exclaimed gleefully as Ralph entered the kitchen.

New Year's Eve was Paige's favourite time of the year. She saw it as a fresh start and it gave her the opportunity to make new goals. Usually, her and Ralph would watch the ball drop on TV before heading to bed. The moment the ball dropped, Paige would close her eyes and make a wish.

This year however, Paige couldn't think of anything else she needed, or wanted for that matter. She had a good job with Scorpion and had made friends. Her and her son had connected more than she ever imagined possible and Ralph was growing close to Walter. Paige couldn't help but wonder whether Drew's recent reappearance in their lives would strain their relationship with the genius. She hoped it wouldn't, as she had too grown fond of Walter.

Past attempts at getting Ralph excited about New Years had failed, but she was confident that this year would be different.

Everything about the year so far had been different. Ever since the guy setting up the wireless Internet where she used to waitress had come into their lives, Paige knew that everything was changing. For the first time in her son's life, she was seeing him connect and interact with not only the Scorpion team, but also with her.

"15 hours and 28 minutes." Ralph stated matter-of-factly as he sat down at the kitchen table.

Paige quickly retrieved her phone and opened the program Walter had installed. "15 hours, 28 minutes and 19 seconds." She stated, smiling when she saw her son's reaction.

"18 seconds now." He said with a grin plastered on his face.

"That's right! Now eat your cereal we have to leave in ten minutes." She stated as she set a bowl of cereal down in front of Ralph.

"Hello! We're here!" Paige yelled as her and Ralph entered the Scorpion base.

"Good Morning!" Sylvester said as he stopped his calculation, turned away from his chalk board and nodded at the pair. Paige smiled at the way he greeted them. He smiled back then immediately returned to his calculations.

"Hi." Happy absentmindedly replied as she intently worked on some sort of metal rod.

"Don't mind her," Toby said with humour as he entered the room wearing the hat Happy had gotten him for Christmas, "she's busy. And how are you Ralph?"

Ralph looked up at Toby with a smile. "Good."

"Do you want to see something really cool?" He asked the ten year old. Ralph nodded and the two headed towards the garage as Paige stood in the middle of the room.

"Where are Walter and Cabe?"

Before anyone had a chance to respond, Walter began to descend the stairs.

"Right here." Once he got to the bottom of the stairwell, "and Cabe is spending New Years at his old house, he goes there every year."

"Where's Ralph?" He asked as he looked around.

"Toby took him to look at something, I'll go see what there up to." As the words left her lips, the present members of the team focused their attention on her.

"No." Happy said with zero wavering in her tone.

"That's not a good idea." Sylvester pleaded with her. Paige noticed the twitch in his hand, he was clearly nervous about something.

"What they're trying to say," Walter glared at the two team members before looking back to Paige, "is that today is you're favourite time of the year and we want you to enjoy yourself."

"Okay?" Paige questioned, as Walter motioned for her to sit down. "Why the sudden expression of your EQ?" She asked with a giggle.

"There is a higher likelihood that you will enjoy yourself if you are sitting. Taking into account the fact that you worked on your feet all day waitressing before we met, and you spend most of your time walking around with us," Walter stopped speaking when he heard footsteps approaching. Toby walked in with Ralph and decided to finish Walter's thought.

"You subconsciously associate being on your feet with work. Today is not a day for work, so it will be much more efficient for you to achieve maximum relaxation sitting down."

"Well thank you." Paige said as she relaxed deeply into the chair.

Walter began to speak once again.

"Not to mention you're a single mother so you should get to sit down and relax once in a while." Walter looked at Paige then turned to face Toby.

Paige noticed them having a silent conversation but couldn't focus on it as she tried to convince herself that Walter's most recent words were merely factual, rather than him making a stab at Drew. She got nervous when she started to see a softer side to Walter; it gave her hope. Paige shook the thought from her head… she couldn't get hurt again.

"Mom," Ralph called as he walked towards his mother, "can we go to the Tournament of Roses Parade today?"

Paige was very confused. Of course she wanted to take Ralph to the parade, but he had denied wanting to go for years.

"Sure honey. Why the sudden interest in parades?"

"I want to calculate the percent error in the band members formation. At least one will be out of position, giving me a good chance of variability in the data."

Paige nodded her head, feeling suspicious but overly pleased that she was going to the parade with her son.

"Are you guys ready?" Paige asked as she looked at the rest of Team Scorpion.

"I meant just us." Ralph said as he took her hand.

At this point, Paige knew something was up. She looked around and saw a nervous Sylvester, Happy keeping busy to prevent herself from looking up and Walter. His smile was steady and that caused her to question her son's motive for wanting to go to the parade.

"Have fun." Walter smiled and Paige stared at him for several moments.

"Come on, we don't want to be late." Ralph said as he led his mom to the car.

"How was the parade?" Sylvester asked as Ralph and Paige walked in.

"Good." Paige replied, "Ralph, go show Sylvester the numbers you calculated."

"Okay." Ralph said with a huge smile.

"What have you guys been up to today?"

"Nothing really," Happy said as she walked towards Paige, "just the usual."

Paige nodded, knowing how they could get wrapped up in their work.

It was nearing midnight and Paige was getting very excited. Ralph was yawning, but he insisted on staying up.

"It's time." Walter said as he nodded at Ralph, Toby, Sylvester and Happy.

"No, we still have 15 minutes!" Paige called out as she walked towards the group of people. As she got closer, she sensed that something was off; they were all looking at her strangely.

"Come." Walter said as he put out a hand for Paige. She looked at his hand and took it, without thinking about what it could mean. He guided her to the seating area and insisted she sit down.

"Thank you." She said.

"Your welcome." Walter was half way turned around when he felt his hand being tugged on by Paige. He hadn't realized she was still holding his hand.

"Thank you for everything. With Ralph and you helping out with him and Drew. It means a lot."

He nodded as they gazed into each other's eyes for a couple seconds longer than usual.

Breaking the silence was the sound of a heavy rolling object.

"What is that?" She asked with laughter at the sheer size of the object. It was very tall and looked very heavy.

"It's for you mom." Ralph walked over to her and sat on her lap.

"We've worked all day on this." Toby stated.

Paige looked at her son and realized that was why he was so insistent on going to the parade… to keep her away from their project.

Happy counted to three then pulled off the white sheet that was hiding the object.

Paige drew a quick breath as she realized what she was looking at.

In front of her was a miniature version of the ball that her and Ralph watch on TV every New Years Eve. As she walked closer, she noticed that the ball was plastered with photos of not only her and Ralph, but also them with the geniuses. She covered her mouth as she took in the beauty of the object; the detail was incredible.

"You didn't have-" She felt a tear fall down her cheek as she quickly wiped it away.

"We wanted to." Walter said as he plugged in the massive object.

Once it was plugged into the wall, the entire object lit up.

"It's going to drop." Ralph said .

"This is incredible." Paige said towards the team. They smiled at her and expressed their pride over their creation.

"Okay, one minute to go!" Sylvester stated as he stared at his watch.

Paige was fixated on the ball that gradually moved down. It was perfectly synced with the time as it reached the bottom.

"3….2..."

Paige closed her eyes, as she did every year at this time. Shortly after, she opened them, realizing that she didn't have anything to wish for… she has everything.

"…1… Happy New Year!"

As the ball hit the bottom, confetti shot into the air. She looked around to see Happy and Toby nudging each other and Sylvester doing some sort of calculation about the trajectory of the confetti with Ralph. Her eyes then settled on Walter. He was walking towards her as her heart raced.

Paige could feel herself blushing as the heat approached her face. She didn't know why, but she was anxious and excited about what was about to happen.

Before Walter made it to her, the attention of all the room's occupants were drawn to the front door as it opened.

Paige was surprised, but not as surprised as Walter was. Drew was there.

He waved at his son, then smiled as Paige approached him. She could feel Walter's eyes piercing into her back.

"What are you doing here?" She asked.

"The tryout ended early so I caught the soonest flight."

There was a short awkward silence between the two. She momentarily glanced back and smiled at Walter who grinned back at her.

"I have great news." Drew stated with enthusiasm. Paige didn't reply, she only nodded.

"The tryout ended early because they picked me to join the minor league team!"

Paige's heart almost sunk right then and there; not for herself but for her son. She had no idea how Ralph would react to his dad leaving again.

"And I want you and Ralph to move to Portland with me."

Paige drew in a deep breath. She was not expecting this.

A/N 2: I am not sure whether this should be a one-shot or whether I should continue it! Let me know your thoughts!

Thanks for Reading/Reviewing!