Anticipation
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the canon characters in this story; they belong to CBS and any other respective owners, including their real-life counterpoints. I am writing this with limited knowledge of the next episode, so of course once it airs, all of this might be incorrect. However, I am still believing this as my headcanon until proven otherwise. Please see the author's note at the end for further notes. Enjoy the story!
Today should be one of the best days in Happy Quinn's- now Happy Curtis'- life. However, the day is instead fraught with peril, exhaustion, and a nagging feeling that something terrible is going to change her future forever, and not in the way that she would have wanted. It's her first married Valentine's Day with Toby, and she really wanted to make their first married day as each other's valentines to be truly special, complete with dinner for two in a candlelit restaurant, no worries, no impending world doom, and no one trying to crack the perfect world the two of them share together in harmony and bliss. Yet, their new case was meant to take most of the day, and of course, their fertility specialist had chosen today of all days to say he could perform the necessary tests and get back the results as to why Happy was not pregnant with a genius bun in her oven as Toby so loved to phrase it. Between all of the added stress, today is not shaping up quite how Happy had imagined it. She isn't a sappy person or a hopeless romantic like Toby so famously is, but the mechanical prodigy did want to spend a romantic night out with her husband with just the two of them enjoying the other's company, especially after Cabe and Allie- along with a solar storm and two endangered teenagers- had to ruin their special romantic getaway at the lighthouse for the weekend.
Happy lets out an audible sigh as she leans against her workbench, fingers clamped tightly around one of her monkey wrenches, her mind racing a million miles a minute as she tries to comprehend the situation ahead of her. She truly wants to believe Toby that nothing is wrong with either of them, least of all her, and that Nature is just preparing the world enough where the child of two geniuses can be born into and grow up in a world filled with love and not all the strife, war, and natural disasters that Scorpion has had to deal with over the past four years since Cabe Gallo walked back into Walter O'Brien's life and made the team of geniuses Homeland contractors.
"Happy?" Paige asks in a concerned tone, coming downstairs from where she was packing up a few of the older case files in cardboard boxes kept on one side of Walter's spare room above the main floor. "Is something wrong?" the once waitress, now Scorpion's liaison inquires, coming to a stop in front of Happy's workbench, a sneeze coming from Paige as soon as she smells the motor oil that stains one corner of the work space the genius mechanic operates on.
At first, Happy does not answer, and she merely continues to pound out a sheet of metal that has already been nearly perfectly straightened in Paige's opinion. And then, the raven-haired mechanic takes in a deep breath and then proceeds to talk with the only other female member of team Scorpion.
"Toby and I are supposed to get the results of our fertility tests today," Happy manages to mumble out, her dark brown eyes staring down at her workstation with a slightly perturbed look on her face.
"And, does that make you nervous or upset, Happy?" Paige continues to delve, resting her hands against the table, watching as Happy lowers the hammer onto the hard surface of the worktable before wiping a little bit of motor oil off her hands that had been caked on the handle of the hammer. "I noticed you called Toby by his name, and generally when you're talking to others about him, you typically only say his real name when you're angry, worried, or feeling a bit of Happy's signature sarcasm coming on," she teases, and a slight quirk comes to Happy's lips.
"Don't tell me Doc's got you learning how to be a shrink, Dineen."
"Happy, come on. I've been working with you guys for four years now; I think I've picked up on all four of you guys' habits. Besides, I've been genius wrangler for almost fourteen years now, you know."
"True," Happy admits with a smirk, thinking of how much Ralph and Walter keep Paige on her toes. "Yeah, I guess you can say I'm nervous. I've always wanted a family with kids I could love and give a better life than the one I had, bouncing back and forth from foster home to foster home," she continues, her voice cracking and her eyes threatening to hold tears at any second. "And, once I married Toby, especially after our false positive from my cadmium poisoning, I knew he was the only man I wanted as the father of my children."
And here Happy stops, taking a moment to collect both her breath and her emotions, feeling the crushing guilt and emptiness that has been gnawing at her ever since she found out she wasn't pregnant and that her solar panels had done more damage than they ever should have.
"Then, once I got back the false positive, I beat myself up mentally over the fact that my stupidity and lack of caution led to me thinking I could have had a chance at that family. Toby, he, he makes me whole. He makes my home. And, I just want to give him a family more than anything. I want the two of us to raise super genius baby scorplings like he likes to affectionately name any child we may have together. I want to have the chance for him to suggest Meriwether as a middle name for our child and then for me to veto it, because it's high past time for that Curtis tradition to kick the bucket already. I want to have the chance to come home one day from a case and see Toby cuddling our baby in his arms, swaying back in forth in either the living room or nursey, singing a lullaby or simply telling him or her about everyone at Scorpion and how much everyone will love our kid. I want all of that, but it doesn't seem like it will be happening any time soon," Happy explains her desire to have a child with Toby, and a few unexpected and uncontrolled tears come streaming down her face.
"I understand, Happy," Paige comforts, laying a soft hand on Happy's shoulder, doing her best to comfort one of her dearest friends. "Look, I know it's scary and confusing now, but I promise you, when it's meant to be, you and Toby will be amazing parents to some pretty stellar and breathtaking children. You will get to see Toby dancing around the living room with your baby, you'll get to read him or her bedtime stories as you say goodnight, you'll get a little pair of arms wrapped around your neck squeezing your body and heart so tight you'll forget how to breathe and won't know why you were so overly blessed to receive a miracle so innocent, tender, loving, and special. You will have a child with Toby, Happy. And I know you've probably heard the same thing from Toby close to a hundred times by now, but these things have a special time frame," the light-haired woman continues, and Happy perks up a little at the statement.
"Wow. Great pep talk, Dineen," Happy grins, and she gently hugs Paige before detaching herself and then clearing her throat before backing up about four paces. "Sorry, I don't know why I did that," she remarks, scratching the back of her neck awkwardly.
An idea dawns on Paige, and she goes upstairs to rummage around in one of her bags she leaves at the garage in case she ever has to quickly go out of the country on a mission with the gang or send Ralph over to a sitter's house that isn't a member of Scorpion. (All of the team has stashed clothes, a toothbrush, and any other odds and ends for Ralph over at their house in case an emergency babysitting or sleepover arises. Paige actually finds it very sweet and relishes in all the positive attention Ralph receives from the four other geniuses and Cabe.)
"What are you up to?" Happy calls up the stairs, taking them two at a time in order to catch up with the ex-waitress as she continues to rifle through a suitcase.
"Ah-ha!" Paige calls triumphantly, pulling out a small box from the suitcase before presenting it to Happy.
"A pregnancy test, Paige? Really?" Happy questions, wrinkling her forehead in confusion, not understanding why Paige has suddenly pulled one out. "Do you and Walt need to tell us something and you're unsure how? A second genius baby for Mama Dineen?" she smiles, and Paige can't help but laugh and lightly smack Happy in the shoulder.
"No," Paige laughs, handing the box off to Happy. "I'm assuming you and Toby…."
"Oh. Um, yeah, actually."
"I bought them when you both announced your S.T.O.R.K. plan to everyone," Paige reveals, and Happy can't help but feel slightly embarrassed by it.
After all, when they all thought she was pregnant the first time, everyone had taken great lengths to make sure she was comfortable and would want for nothing during what they all had assumed would be her first pregnancy. Now they were all already starting to rebuild the support beams in which they would ride the entire journey with Happy and Toby without any complaints. Okay, maybe mild complaints from Walter about the compromise between efficiency and a baby, but he would quickly get over that and become equally as excited and supported about their baby.
"So, I think you should take one. Or two. Or all three I have with me, Happy," Paige continues to explain. "You started to get really emotional when we were talking about your desire for a baby with Toby, and while I know that could just be your troubled past catching up with your current dilemma, it can't just be a coincidence. You also sorta crossed your arms over your stomach without realizing it, the body's natural defense for protecting an unborn child," she gives more reasons for Happy to take the test, and all the while Happy is starting to think how much Toby and Paige's close friendship has turned the once-waitress into the starting of a medical textbook or dictionary, whereas Toby was the collector's or professor's edition of said textbook or dictionary.
It just goes to show how well all of their relationships amongst the team so effectively exchange skills and an outlet for emotions, be they platonic, familial, or romantic relationships.
Happy takes the test from Paige's hands, the mechanic's own hands trembling as she retrieves three tiny, plastic sticks from their respective boxes.
"Toby's out getting everyone bagels and doughnuts to fuel up for the mission, not to mention probably chocolates and flowers for my Valentine's gift. Walt and Ralph are coming over from where they were launching rockets on the beach this morning at sunrise, and Cabe's coming to the garage after he and Allie finish Valentine's Day breakfast and he picks up Sly," Happy reminds, and Paige is now the one furrowing her brow. "What I mean to point out is that they're all gone now, but they won't be once these sticks are done reacting."
"Right. Well….." Paige trails off, an almost devious smile plastered on her face. "What if I were to tell you that I have a plan for how you can avoid all of that?" she suggests.
"I'm listening," the genius mechanic says with a cock of her head and eyebrow simultaneously.
Paige walks over and whispers the plan in Happy's ear, despite there being no one else at the garage to hear them.
"Oh, that'll work. I love it," Happy says with her own slightly devious grin. "Dineen, you may be more of a grifter than you realize," she jokes before heading off into the upstairs bathroom, pregnancy tests in tow.
She heaves out a sigh as Paige watches from afar, setting a silent timer on her phone and making sure she is keeping an eye out on the front door of the garage where Happy's tests won't be neither seen nor interrupted by their rather boisterous adopted family.
Hours upon hours pass, and Happy has talked to Toby throughout the day about how anxious she was to receive the test results from their fertility specialist. She refuses to tell him about the pregnancy tests she had taken once Paige had offered them to the raven-haired genius otherwise known as Happy Quinn Curtis. Happy has, however, become more snappy as the day continues, letting loose a string of "not good"s followed by quiet curses under her breath when she thinks no one is listening. When Toby tries to hug and kiss her as they run off to complete part of Walter's crazy scheme together, she occasionally shrugs him off or straight up denies him, walking or sprinting away in order to put some distance between herself and the man she loves. Happy truly does not mean to treat her husband in such a way, but between the case, the ruined Valentine's Day, waiting for the results from the fertility doctor, and the whole charade Paige is putting on back at the garage to cover for her, Happy is wiped out, both mentally and physically. Part of Paige's master plan was to act sick, as she has been sneezing the past few days anyway as a result of the weather shifting from hot to cold and back again amongst all of their missions across the entire world. So, in addition to her sneezing, Paige has pretended to be nauseous all day and even rigged the thermometer like Ralph did shortly after they met Walter and the rest of Scorpion at the diner that fateful day. Happy feels guilty about making Paige lie about feeling sick, but the ex-waitress and single mom had all but insisted, stating she would stay behind at the garage and check the pregnancy tests when no one was looking and make sure no one happened to stumble in on them unsuspectingly.
When they return to the garage that night, it's around 5:30 P.M. and Happy and Toby still have heard no word from the fertility specialist. Toby tries to convince Happy that is perfectly normal, that the doctor must still be reviewing their data to ensure maximum accuracy and that he must have a lot of patients to look through the cases of, because surely, a lot of other couples in Los Angeles were having the same problem and wanted to get checked out on Valentine's Day as well since that was the doctor's first open schedule in months of Toby and Happy trying to get an appointment. The world class behaviorist then began to convince his wife that whatever was to happen that she would still be perfect and he would be by her side through thick and thin, no matter what the results were.
"How are you feeling, Paige?" Walter inquires, walking up the stairs to check on his sick valentine, hoping the chocolate and roses would be enjoyable to her after she got over the flu Toby and Sylvester had both diagnosed their EQ handler and, effectively, their Team Mom as well, to suffer from.
"I feel better, Walter. Thank you," Paige smiles, moving to press her lips to Walter's, and he does not shy away from the physical contact like he might have four years ago or like Sylvester would be prone to do even in current day if he were to know about the germs. "Ralph's been taking very good care of me while you guys have been away, haven't you, buddy?" Paige looks over at her son who is engrossed reading the latest issue of National Geographic.
"I had to pay you back somehow for all the years you took care of me and kept me safe through thick and thin when we had relatively nothing, Mom," Ralph's voice comes as he looks up, catching his mother's smile and sending her one in return. "Besides, I like helping you. It makes me feel needed and resourceful," the young genius continues, and Walter reaches over and ruffles the teenage boy's hair, with Ralph beaming all the while.
He thinks this is what married life for his mom and Walter might be like. At least, he hopes this would one day be how their lives could play out. Ralph would love to have Walter be his father, especially after all the heartbreak every other man has seemed to bring to his mom. Walter and Paige are made for each other, and Ralph knows that. They just need a little nudging like Grandma Veronica suggested to him in one of their coded emails back and forth to one another as she made a new life for herself in wherever it was she had ended up. Ralph never asked for specifics, because he did not want any harm coming to his Grandma if he could help it.
"Ralph, sweetie?" Paige's voice calls, and Ralph snaps out of the musings of his own head and looks up at his mother, a sympathetic look on his face as he notices how truly tired her eyes are. "Can you please go and get Happy for me? I have something to discuss with her," Paige whispers, and the slight urgency in her voice tells Walter he should probably go downstairs and wait with Toby as the doctor eagerly and somewhat apprehensively awaited the results from the fertility specialist.
Ralph nods his head before discarding the National Geographic on the edge of the bed and then bounds down the stairs to alert Happy that Paige wanted to speak with her.
Happy climbs the stairs with her head held low, not quite knowing what to expect from Paige, but knowing that it must not be very good news. After all, the fertility specialist she and Toby went to see at six A.M. this morning had not called them back yet, and it had been nearly twelve hours since their tests and still they had heard nada. She could tell Toby had begun to get nervous, because he had begun to pun like he did when Walter went down into the tar pits, a sure sign of his nervous energy fettering to the surface.
"Paige," Happy breathes in through her nose, not realizing she is holding her breath until a large exhale escapes her lips. "What did…..?" she trails off, and Paige makes sure no one is looking before she gets up and beacons for Happy to follow her into the bathroom.
At the same time that Happy enters the upstairs bathroom, Toby's phone loudly rings and he nearly springs into the air out of a combination of alarm, fear, and hope.
"Hello, Dr. Tobias M. Curtis speaking," Toby answers in a frantic voice, just wanting to hear what whoever on the other end has to say.
A few hurried minutes later, Toby vaults up the stairs, surprisingly able to take three at a time without falling flat on his face, a truly spectacular feat for Tobias Curtis the not so graceful.
"HAPPY!" Toby yells, screeching to a halt as his turtledove comes out of the bathroom, her black hair tussled and her eyes looking big and puffy as she comes over to rest her forehead against her lover's, pressing her chest against his and enjoying the sensation of being enveloped in her warmth.
"Hey, Doc," she meekly says, burrowing closer to his chest and tracing circles on his bicep as Toby presses a kiss, long and slow, onto the crown of her head. "What's all the hullabaloo for?" Happy inquires, wondering why Toby vaulted up the stairs like gunrunners were after him.
"I just got off the phone with the fertility specialist!" Toby announces, his voice loud and his words rambling together as he struggles with a way on how to break the news to his wife on why they did not seem to be having any luck with a child. "And he said the reason why we can't seem to conceive a child is because….."
"We're already pregnant!" Toby and Happy blurt out in sync, Happy pulling out the three pregnancy tests which all read positive in big, bold letters and a positive sign on one end.
Happy begins to sob into Toby's shirt, getting tears all over the fabric but finding herself not caring as he wraps his arms around his wife and true love, murmuring words of excitement and acknowledgement into her hair while pressing quick kisses in succession to her head, cheeks, and finally her lips, an action which Happy reciprocates, positively draining the air from both their lungs.
"I can't tell you how happy I am, Happy," Toby grins down at her, their eyes meeting for the first time since the dual announcement, and both of them look at each other with so much love and devotion showing on their faces as well as tears of joy flowing down their faces.
It had taken nearly a year, but a genius baby was going to be born to the proud parents otherwise known as Happy and Toby.
"I can't tell you either, Doc. I am so glad you get to be the father of my child, but I must admit that I was a bit scared we were never going to have kids together because it took so long to get to this point," Happy admits, her eyes turning slightly red as tears streak her face.
Toby wipes one stray tear from her cheek before leaning in and whispering in her ear.
"I told you we were gonna have a family one day, and you should know by now, Mrs. Curtis that I am no liar," he grins, and Happy smacks his chest playfully as she laughs breathlessly. "Now, how about we go and get some celebratory milkshakes from Kovelsky's, give our little genius his or her first taste of delectables found only at Mommy and Daddy's favorite diner where they also happened to tie the knot? My treat," Toby continues to grin like an idiot, wrapping his arms around Happy's shoulders before leading her down the stairs to tell the rest of their friends the amazing news that Happy is finally pregnant with their first child.
Walter comes up the stairs, having heard the tail end of the conversation as he had started to make his way up the stairs after Toby.
"For a minute, I thought you were going to tell Happy that you were pregnant and ask her the best way to tell me," Walter laughs, pulling Paige against his side and pressing a light kiss to the side of her forehead while holding her in his strong arms.
"We'll just have to wait and see, won't we, genius boy?" Paige smirks, detaching herself from his embrace and walking down the stairs to help congratulate Happy and Toby.
"Paige, wait! I don't quite know how to process that!" Walter shouts down the stairs after his girlfriend.
Author's Note: And there it is! My fourth contribution to the Scorpion fandom! I LOVE SCORPION SO MUCH! It is literally one of my favorite TV shows of all times, and I now proudly own all three seasons on DVD, which I am still re-watching to get inspiration. After the promos for this week's episode, I just knew I just had to write about Happy and Toby before it aired. I truly hope this is how the episode goes tomorrow night. So, I hope everyone enjoyed, and all reviews would be completely welcome and appreciated! Also, if you have any ideas for more Scorpion stories from me, drop your suggestions in the comment box or in a PM! Thanks so much for your support, guys and girls, and I hope to hear from you soon! Have a great morning, afternoon, or night!
P.S. Special shout-out to WonderPickle and ScorplinginTraining who have both done an absolutely amazing job at welcoming me to the fandom! I greatly appreciate your support and hope to hear more from all of you lovely readers and writers soon! Shockingly, it only took me a few hours to write this, because the words flew out with such ease. Also, if there are any mistakes, it's because I tried to post this before I went to bed and didn't have time to proofread.