Disclaimer: I do not own Scorpion, CBS does.
"I've told you multiple times already, Toby, I would appreciate it if you'd stop meddling in my personal business." Walter said with a monotonous voice. He didn't like people constantly giving him advice. Experience had taught him it was both more efficient and rewarding when he solved his own problems.
"Walter, listen. I'm just trying to help, that doesn't mean you have to go through with everything I say." Toby sounded honest, but Walter knew all the shrink's tricks. He knew that if Toby sounded honest, he had to be lying.
"No Toby, I'm not going to listen to your whining anymore. I'm done! Cut the crap!" Walter shouted loudly, his face bright-red in anger.
He didn't really understand his feelings towards Toby right now. The frustration he was experiencing didn't feel natural. He had never felt something like this before.
Overcome with emotion, Walter darted for the stairs and ran up in Bolt-like fashion. He reached for the handle, yanked open the door, hurried inside, and loudly slammed the door shut after him.
He turned around and looked around his room without registering what he was seeing. "Breathe," He whispered to himself. Powerlessness clouded his mind; he didn't like not being in control. It was a situation he wasn't accustomed to and he didn't think he would ever be.
It had been a long, sleepless night and he hoped that was the cause for his absurd behavior. Walter walked towards his bed, passing clothes and broken gadgets scattered on the bedroom floor. Slightly distracted by the thought of imminent sleep, Walter stubbed his toe on the nightstand, causing him to fly into another fit. To release his anger, he slammed his fist into the wall above his headrest. It went right through.
A numbing pain shot through Walter's hand and he quickly retracted it. His entire hand was soaked in blood and small pieces of stone were still embedded in his skin. Not trying to think about the consequences, Walter crashed onto bed and started crying. It was the first time Walter O'Brien had ever done so.
"Why is this happening to me?" He muttered, his face burrowed in his pillow.
Toby was standing in the garage, mouth agape, when the rest of the team finally arrived from the latest case. A solution was found relatively easily. They short-circuited a hacker's network, after which they were able to strengthen the firewall of the attacked network. Just one small issue arose when they short-circuited the router. Walter got electrocuted and was out for several minutes. Toby had headed back earlier to do a more thorough check-up on Walter's condition.
"Toby!" Paige waved her hand in front of Toby's face. "Deep in thought?" She questioned him with a smile.
"No," Toby took a few steps towards his desk and started going through some case files. "It's just Walter, he's acting a bit… odd."
"What do you mean? Walter always acts odd." Toby looked up from the case files and directly at her. "Everyone here always acts odd." Paige muttered more to herself than to Toby.
"That hurts." Toby grimaced and put both of his hands over his hearts. "But I understand what you're saying and I'm afraid it's not exactly like that. Let's just say he's acting abnormal compared to his usual behavior."
"Okay…" Paige sighed. "What's so weird about it then?" She was curious as to what was going on with Walter.
"Well, I asked him if he was all right in the car, he said he was fine, even though he clearly wasn't. I told him I could see there was something wrong and he started flipping out. When we got back he hurried upstairs and I haven't seen him since." Toby explained. "Oh… and I heard quite a lot of racket upstairs, I think he might have thrown something too."
Paige was flustered at the news. It wasn't that Walter had never shown emotional behavior, in fact, she felt like his EQ had never been this high, although it was still nowhere near normal human levels. It was the lack of motivation behind this show of emotion that flustered her most.
"Maybe you should go check on him." Toby asked her as he sat down in his ergonomic chair and scowled. Even after all this time, Toby still despised her for replacing his old one. "I'd do it myself, but I'm afraid I'd be bombarded with mugs."
"Ohh…" Paige was getting a bit worried now. "So you think I'd make a better target than you? Thanks a lot!"
"No, Paige. Walter wouldn't even hurt you to save his own life, you know." Paige frowned. "You don't know? Never mind then, good luck!" Toby smiled shyly and put on his headphones.
Realizing that their conversation was over, Paige decided to go check up on Walter. She took a small detour past the kitchen to get some coffee for the both of them and snuck up the stairs.
"Great, get him some more mugs to throw!" Toby yelled unnecessarily loud, although the pair of headphones was to blame.
"Shh!" She hushed him as she carefully opened the door, not trying to startle Walter.
Walter was lying face-down in his bed. The wall behind him had a huge, gaping hole in it. Even more upsetting, Walter seemed to be crying. Surely something was wrong with her ears. Walter O'Brien never cried, never ever.
"Walter?" She tried with a small voice, doing her best to hide her anxiety. "Walter, are you okay?"
When he heard her speak, he burrowed his face even deeper in his pillow in a futile attempt to muffle his crying. She found it difficult to imagine what could have caused the stoic Walter O'Brien to act like this.
She sidestepped several objects strewn across his bedroom floor and made her way to his bed. After putting the mugs she was holding on his bedside table, she plopped down next to him. "Walter?" She tried again, as she lightly stroked his shoulder. This time he did respond, though not the way she had imagined him to.
He turned around and looked her right in the eyes. "Help me please." His lips trembled when he uttered the words. Dried tears stained his face and his right hand looked like it had been stuck in a barbwire fence. "Walter, what happened?"
"I don't know." He shut his eyes. "I feel miserable."
"I can see that." A small chuckle escaped her lips. "What happened to your hand?"
"I hit the wall." Paige frowned at his statement. "There was nothing to throw." He made it sound like it was the most normal thing in the world to punch holes in your walls.
"Walter could you try and sit on the side of the bed, then I'll go and get some bandages and antiseptics, I'll be right back." Paige proposed as she got up to leave.
"Okay." Walter reminded her a bit of Ralph after being bullied at school. She had not expected to ever see him in this state. Being fragile was something that just didn't fit her view of Walter O'Brien.
She watched Walter scoot over to the edge of his bed and then went to get the first aid kit downstairs. All three geniuses were standing near the bottom of the stairs and were looking at her like she was an attraction in an amusement park.
"Do I have something on my face?" She asked, although she knew that wasn't the case. "If you want to know what's going on with Walter, you'll have to go and check yourselves. I'm not going to tell you anything just yet."
Toby, Happy and Sly quickly retreated to their own desks and continued their work. This kind of behavior frustrated her sometimes, though she knew there was nothing she could do about it.
After finding the first aid kit in one of the kitchen cabinets, she headed back towards the stairs.
"Is he hurt? Maybe I should go and help him if he's hurt." Toby asked when he saw her carrying it.
"It's just a bruise, he'll be fine." She evaded him and went back upstairs.
When she entered his bedroom, he was still sitting on the edge of his bed, gazing straight ahead, as if there was something interesting happening there.
Paige walked over to Walter and sat down next to him. His hand had started swelling while she had been away, if it didn't stop they'd have to go to a hospital for some better treatment. If it was fractured he'd need more professional help than hers.
He extended his hand while she rummaged through the bag, looking for the antiseptics. The spray must have hurt Walter, because his hand contracted when the cold drops first hit.
"Why'd you hit the wall, Walter?" She questioned once again as she used a pincer to remove most of the pieces of stone still embedded in his bruised hand.
"I don't know. I just got mad and I had to do something." Tears were starting to form again, Walter looked so fragile. To her surprise she was starting to find this behavior kind of cute.
She wiped the new tears on his face away with her thumb and smiled. "Now tell me. When did Walter O'Brien start crying?"
"I'm sorry." Walter uttered. His apology confused Paige, what was he apologizing for?
"No need to be sorry for anything." A forced smile appeared on her face, desperately trying to comfort Walter so he would open up to her and tell her what was going on.
"I know. I just felt the need to." Walter suddenly looked at his bedroom door as if he had spotted something or someone there.
"Walter." His eyes locked onto hers once again. "Listen, when I'm done bandaging your hand, sleep a bit, you look like you haven't done so in quite a while."
"Okay." He nodded his head.
She applied the bandage to his hand and noticed he started to zone out again.
"Okay. I think that should be good for now. I suggest you rest a bit." He just nodded and put his head on his pillow. He seemed very tired.
Paige was glad he was finally calm, although she still had a lot of questions. What had caused Walter's state? He sure as hell wasn't acting normal and she was bound to find out about it sometime.
She got up and carefully walked towards the door, trying not to make more noise than necessary. When she reached it she looked back at Walter and muttered to herself. "O'Brien… What have you gotten yourself into now."
Closing the door behind her, she walked downstairs and vowed she would stay in the garage until Walter was sane again.