Firstly, hello everyone! This is my first Scorpion fanfiction, so please be kind! I decided to do this so that I can try not to be too depressed about the season 2 finale, aha! Anyway, my name is Louise and I really hope you enjoy my first Scorpion fanfiction!
A/N: Go and check out my Alternate Universe Twilight fanfiction, We Are Family, and my other completed Scorpion fanfiction, The Runaway
A Necessary Case
Chapter 1
Happy POV
I woke up this morning with an extreme sense of happiness, which was most unlike me. I turned over in bed and realised why I was feeling so happy. Toby. Toby was lying on his right side, his curly, uncombed hair covering part of his forehead. About nine months ago, after the dangerous ordeal with Collins, I had finally puckered up the courage to admit to Toby that I loved him and that I would marry him. After Toby was nearly killed, I had decided to present him with my feelings, just in case I never got the chance to tell him. Of course, we had to deal with the issue that I married Walter so that he would be granted American citizenship, but Toby and I managed to get through it together and eventually Walter was granted his citizenship.
I leant up and kissed the end of his nose lightly. He stirred and reached up to shield his eyes from the strong beam of light that was coming in through the bedroom window. I had begun living at Toby's apartment about a fortnight ago. We decided that we may as well move in together as I had been staying at his apartment for the month prior to me moving in anyway.
"Hi." Toby mumbled, his voice still dull after the long sleep we had.
"Hi, good morning." I said, lifting myself up and resting on my elbow. I leant over and he reached me halfway to give me a chaste kiss before we got up.
"What time does Walt want us in today?" He asked groggily.
"Uh, I think he wants us there for half eight or nine, just in case Cabe comes in with a case. Besides, We might be a bit more lenient if Paige doesn't want us in until later." I said, grinning at Toby.
"Yeah, that's true." Toby said, kissing me once again before getting out of bed and heading into the bathroom.
About the same time Toby and I got engaged, Walter had followed Paige and Tim to Tahoe. Because of Walter's low EQ, it took a while for him to admit his true feelings for Paige, but he managed to spit it out eventually. He also had a little help from us, thanks to the intercom system that is still, of course, working brilliantly and to our full advantage.
I was snapped from my daydream when Toby's phone started to ring on the bedside table. I pressed accept and held the cell phone to my ear.
"Hello?" I asked.
"Happy? Where's Toby?" Asked a confused Sylvester on the other end of the phone.
"Um, he's in the shower and we're getting ready to come in, why what's up?" I asked him, slightly worried at the overly anxious tone in his voice.
"Um, well, uh…" Sly mumbled.
"Come on Sly, spit it out…" I trailed off, getting slightly impatient.
"Well, Drew showed up this morning demanding to see Paige and his son, they aren't here yet but you can imagine how Walter is, Cabe is on his way. I was hoping you'd come help." Sylvester said quickly.
"Okay Sly, chill out a little, we'll be there in twenty minutes, try to stall Paige and make sure Walter isn't arrested for physical harm." I said before ending the call.
"Toby!" I shouted, getting up off the bed and entering the closet.
"What?" He shouted back, I heard the water from the shower turn off.
"We need to go! Quickly there's a situation!" I shouted back at him, pulling a long sleeved black tee shirt over my head and black skinny jeans on.
"What kind of situation?" Toby asked as he walked from the bathroom, black jeans hanging from his hips and a grey tee shirt over his shoulder.
"Drew." I muttered, pulling my hair onto the top of my head and securing it in a messy bun.
"Okay, let's go, we can get coffee from Klovelsky's on the way in."
We walked through the apartment and out the front door, before locking the door behind us and making our way down to Toby's car. Toby's car had to be scrapped last week so we decided to purchase a car together as we had already moved in together. We both climbed into the dark blue Chevy Malibu and Toby put the key into the ignition.
•••
Fifteen minutes and a short stop at Klovelsky's later, we were pulling through the garage door at the side of the garage. We both got out of the car and we walked towards the front of the garage where Drew was sitting on the red sofa, with blood drying around his nose. We walked over to where Walter and Sly were sitting near Sly's desk.
"So, who hit him?" Toby wondered aloud, his voice thick with anticipation.
"Actually, Cabe did. Drew made a highly insulting remark about Paige and Cabe punched him, telling Drew that Paige was like a daughter to him and that he was to respect her unless he wanted a black eye." Walter informed us, crossing his arms across his chest.
"Where is Cabe?" I wondered.
"He went to collect Paige and Ralph and take them for breakfast whilst we figure out what to do, they will be here in like five minutes' guys." Sylvester told us, reaching over to dose his hands in sanitising solution.
"What are we going to do about Drew?" Sylvester asked.
"Throw him out." Toby replied.
"You could always punch him Happy, I won't object." Walter replied in a monotone, his eyes meeting mine for a brief period of time before he looked away.
"Did you ask him what he wants?" Toby asked logically.
"He just said that he's not leaving until he speaks to Paige and Ralph." Walter mumbled. His headed bowed.
"Walt? What's wrong?" Toby asked, his shrink instincts setting in.
"What if he takes them away from me, I love them too much to lose them." Walter murmured and every head in the room, except for Drew's, snapped in his direction. Of course, everyone knew Walter's true feelings for Paige and Ralph, this was just the first time he had admitted it.
I rested my hand on Walter's shoulder lightly, knowing that his tolerance for physical contact had increased in the past months.
"Walt, she won't go anywhere, neither of them will. None of us want her to go, we're a family here, remember?" I said, tapping his shoulder before following Toby in the direction of Drew.
"Doc." I called.
"Hmm…" He trailed off, not taking his eyes from Drew.
"They'll be here soon, what do we do." I asked as he tore his eyes from Drew and hooked his arm around my waist.
"Just leave it, we will help Paige deal with it if she wants to when they get here." Toby replied, taking a step towards the stairs, pulling me along with him.
Our attention was snapped away from each other when we heard an SUV pull up outside.
"That Cabe?" Walter asked, coming down from the loft in a clean shirt.
"Yep, they're coming through now." Sylvester informed us, getting up from his desk and walking towards the monitors in the centre of the garage.
We waited a few moments before the door to the garage squeaked open and Paige walked in, holding the door open for Cabe who had Ralph on his back. Despite the situation, it was difficult to stifle a laugh at the sight of Cabe.
Paige walked into the centre of the room to us, closely followed by Cabe and Ralph, before she turned on her heel to face Drew, her face consorted with anger.
"What the hell are you doing here? You think that you have the right to show up here now, you haven't see my son for seven months, Drew, seven months!" She shouted.
Drew stood up from his seat on the red sofa and marched over to Paige, grabbing his forearm and tugging her towards him.
"Mom!" Ralph shouted from where he was standing besides Cabe. He ran towards Walter who picked him up from the ground and held him closely.
"What are you doing!"
"Let her go now!"
"Drew, you're hurting her!"
Everyone was shouting at Drew all at once. Drew wasn't even paying the slightest attention to them, he was far too invested in the fact that he had Paige trapped within his midst. Finally, the bottle broke and I walked over to my workshop and picked up a piece of floorboard from the floor. I walked back to where Drew was holding Paige and hit him squarely in the back of the head with it. Paige fell out of Drew's grasp and into Cabe who caught her easily.
I looked up from Drew's unconscious form to everyone's shocked expressions.
"Why didn't we think of that in the first place? We could have saved ourselves so many problems!" Toby exclaimed as he walked in my direction and pulled me to him tightly.
Walter POV
"See, I told you I wouldn't object to it." I said to Happy when she and Toby let go of each other.
"Ralph!" Paige shouted before she darted out of Cabe's side-way-hug and over to where Ralph was still attached to me.
"Ralph?" Paige said again quietly. Ralph just shook his head from where it was resting on my shoulder.
"Ralph, hey, look at me buddy." I said and he lifted his head to face me.
"He won't hurt you any more Ralph and I promise, he will never get anywhere near you or your mum again, do you understand me?" I murmured softly.
Ralph nodded his head and I opened my other arm go that Paige could join us. She entered our embrace, her arm wrapping around my middle and her other hand combing through Ralph's hair reassuringly.
"I won't let him hurt you again, I promise." I whispered in her ear.
"I know you won't, you'll always protect us." She replied, wiping away the remaining tears before turning to face the rest of the team.
"What are we doing with him?" Happy asked from where she was tucked beneath Toby's arm. I had decided to accept their relationship a while back when Paige and I admitted our feelings for each other, otherwise I would just be branded a hypocrite.
"Get him done for assault, if that's what you want Paige?" Cabe asked, everyone looked towards Paige who was looking down at the bruises forming on her arms.
"Yes, Cabe can you use your influence to get an order, I don't want him anywhere near me or my son. Wait, but what if he tried to get Happy in trouble for hitting him?" Paige voiced her worries aloud.
"To answer your first question, yes I can get a restraining order to keep him away. And to answer your second question, there is no way they can prove that he was hit over the head by any one of us, it's his word against ours and there are six of us against his word."
"Seven, I don't want him hurting my mum again." Ralph stated confidently, lifting his head from my shoulder.
"He won't buddy, let's go and play some Proton Arnold, we can try to beat Walter's high score." Sylvester suggested. I put Ralph down on the ground and ruffled his hair before he ran off after Sly.
We all separated in different directions, leaving Drew unconscious on the floor. Toby and Happy vanished into Happy's workshop, Cabe went into the kitchen to make coffee and Paige and I went over to my desk.
"What are we doing with him?" Paige asked as she rubbed lotion on her arms to reduce the redness caused by Drew.
"Nothing, let Cabe take care of him, or Happy could hit him again, your choice." I said as she pulled my chair back and settled on my lap.
"Just leave him, we don't have a case yet so Cabe can take care of him when he comes through here." She replied, resting her head on my shoulder.
Toby POV
Happy and I were sitting talking in her workshop, meaning as we didn't have a case and Drew was yet to be taken care of. We were talking about going searching for a house closer to the garage this weekend when our focus was placed on Drew.
Drew lay on the floor, still on his side where he landed when Happy hit him. He was stirring from his forced sleep state. Drew had been stirring for some time, he groaned in pain when Sylvester walked past, which of course caused Sly to jump out of his skin, but then he fell back into his sleeping state. Now however, Happy lifted herself up off my lap as Drew sat up and rubbed his forehead. The team assembled a loose semi-circle around newly conscious Drew as he shakily got to his feet. He looked around the group and finally his gaze fell upon Happy.
"What was that! How dare you!" He yelled, taking a step towards her.
"You were hurting her, what did you expect me to do?" Happy stated, taking a step away from Drew.
When Drew went to take another step forward, he was pulled backwards as Cabe pulled his arms behind his back and secured them in handcuffs.
"What are you doing? You cannot arrest me; I haven't done anything!" Drew demanded.
"You assaulted Miss Dineen, and there are seven peoples' words against yours, you will have a restraint put against you so you can't hurt her and her son anymore." Cabe replied casually, pushing Drew towards the door.
"Our son." Drew ground out angrily.
"My son, Drew." Paige disagreed with him.
Drew looked around the group until finally his gaze landed on Ralph, who was currently clinging onto Walter and Paige for dear life.
"Ralph." Drew begged.
"Bye, dad." Ralph muttered the last words before he was pulled backwards by Cabe, out the door and into the back of the SUV. We heard the engine start and the screech of the tires before the sound of engine disappeared, heading for Homeland.
Everyone scattered in their separate direction, but we all came back to the monitors when the phone rang twenty minutes later, Paige left Walter's side to answer it.
"Cabe? Everything okay?" Paige asked, worried.
"Yes, everything's okay, I just got down to Homeland with Drew and found out that Cooper needs to see us, do you want to come down here or shall we come back up there?" He wondered.
Paige looked around the group for an answer, when everyone nodded their affirmation Paige told Cabe we would come down to Homeland.
"Okay, let me just call a sitter and we can go, can she come here to watch him?" Paige directed her question at Walter.
"Yes, of course, there are still some algorithms that he was working on with Sylvester that you can do can't you buddy?" Walter asked, jostling the boy around in his arms before placing him on his feet.
You had to admit it, over the last few months Paige had managed to break down some of Walt's emotional barriers, just like I had been doing with Happy. But, with Happy it was different, with her it wasn't just her lack of EQ, it was how she was bought up. I was the only person who she let her barriers down fully for, and it's because she knows that she can trust me unconditionally, it's because she knows that I will always love her and never leave her.
•••
Fifteen minutes later Ralph's sitter arrived and we were leaving the garage. We decided to take Walter's car as it would be easier to get all five of us down to Homeland, rather than take two cars.
"So, what does Cooper want to see us for?" Paige wondered.
"I don't know, I didn't see her, it was one of the guys on main reception who told me." Cabe replied nonchalantly, as soon as we had driven away from the garage, Walter had called Cabe to get as much information about the case as possible.
A while later we arrived at the Homeland main gate and Walter opened his window to tell security that Cabe Gallo and Katherine Cooper were expecting us so they would open the gate.
We got out of that car, Cabe was there waiting for us. We walked inside and headed for the elevator up to Cooper's office, Cabe leading the way and Sly bringing up the rear. We all got into the elevator and Cabe pressed number twelve.
Cooper was waiting for us when we stepped out of the elevator.
"Ah, team. Would you care to follow me please?" Cooper asked, not waiting for an answer before she walked off in the direction of her office.
We all followed her down the corridor and into her office, that had been arranged into a boardroom, complete with a circle table and chairs. Cooper directed us all take seats around the table, with her at the head of it.
"Now team, this mission is OTR so anybody who thinks they can't keep their mouths shut needs to leave now." Cooper spoke loudly and clearly, looking pointedly at me.
"My lips are sealed." I replied, emphasising my point by zipping my lips with my fingers and throwing the key away.
"Okay then, let's get started. After your success at obtaining that awful MI6 agent a while back, you have been asked for your assistance once more, this time by The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom." Cooper replied, looking proud of her team.
"The Prime Minister asked for us?" Paige asked, disbelief evident in her tone.
"Yes, as odd as it may seem, this team has an outstanding reputation for getting the job done quickly and quietly, most of the time." Cooper added the last part with a sigh.
"When?" Walter wondered, always intrigued by the task at hand.
Cooper stood from her chair and walked in the direction of her desk. She picked up a pile of brown mission specifications from her desk before walking back, handing a specification to each of us.
"Enclosed you will find a full description of the mission as well as plane tickets, wages and information about hotel accommodations and transport." Cooper informed us.
Mission Specification: 1581B
Homeland Authenticity: Agent Cooper, Badge 6706
Contractor Name: Team Scorpion, Los Angeles
Contractor Number: 4014
Mission Location: London, England
Mission is to obtain the location of a civilian spy base located in Suburban London.
Location Details:
Transport will be provided for the contractor team in question, contractor team will enter the country as tourists to remain inconspicuous, plane tickets enclosed. Contractor Team required for 4 days, to arrive in London, England by 8AM local time on the 8th December 2016. Contractor team hotel base, The Dorchester Central London Hotel.
Jet Transfer: LAX 12:38AM local time, 11th December 2016, car will arrive promptly for collection at 11:50PM local time.
"Never thought we'd get a nice hotel room." Sly stated as he finished memorising his specification.
"1AM? That's just fabulous." Happy mumbled to herself.
"You are to locate the base of a civilian spy team that has formed in Central London. The reason you were called in is because these civilians are extremely tech savvy, they have been causing havoc for the government, and leaking information and spy identities for 48 hours, they are yet to make any demands. Are we all clear?"
Everyone nodded, still re-reading their specification to check nothing was missed.
"You all need to go, there is cash in each specification folder, you're going to England in December, you'll need to wrap up warm." She warned before she dismissed us and suggested we sleep before the flight tonight.
•••
Everyone arrived back at the garage four hours later, their arms laden with bags full of jeans and jumpers. We had decided to go to the Marina Beach Plaza on the way back from Homeland so we didn't have to go out again.
"Okay guys, separate and be back by seven thirty, we can get food before the escort driver gets here, clear?" Cabe asked, walking through the garage to the coffee machine.
•••
Twenty to eight soon arrived and Happy and I walked through the door to the garage.
"I said seven thirty-you two!" Cabe shouted from where he was preparing food with Walter in the kitchen.
"Sorry, got distracted." Happy said and I burst out in laughter at the sight of Walter's face.
"Guys, we were looking at a house." I told them, enjoying their discomfort a little too much.
"Thought we were going out?" I wondered.
"We decided to grill instead on the roof, easier and more cost effective." Walter told us, continuing to prepare the salad that Paige normally made.
"Where's Paige?" Happy asked before I did.
"She took Ralph over to her brothers, he agreed to let him stay there whilst we're all on this case. Did you get everything done?" Walter replied.
"Yeah, we got everything packed and sorted and we sorted out our passports." I replied, taking a knife off the side and cutting the lettuce that Paige had left out on the counter for us.
"So then, everyone is ready to go, once Paige gets back we can eat and then hit the road." Cabe said, walking out of the kitchen and in the direction of the stairs leading to the roof.
•••
Paige arrived back at the garage twenty minutes later and we all headed onto the roof to eat. The bliss ended all too soon as the cars to take us to the airport arrived. Everyone hauled their bags to the cars, Walter and Paige last as he needed to lock up the garage. Sly came in the black SUV with Happy and I and Cabe travelled with Walt and Paige in the grey SUV. The cars sped out of the lot at high speed and before we knew it we were pulling up at the main terminal at LAX. Everyone got out of the cars, retrieved their luggage from the trunk and congregated in front of the automatic doors that lead to the check in desks.
"Okay team, we need to remember that we are acting as tourists until we reach the assigned hotel location, which is the whole reason we're flying commercial not private or government. Capiche gang?" Cabe resided in a hushed tone.
Everyone nodded and put their comms in before scattering. Paige and Walter left together, as did Happy and I, we were pretending that we were going away together as a couple. Walter's reasoning ran through my mind.
'Everyone will ask less questions, all they need to know is that we look like we're in love and they will start having thoughts about their love life and their loved ones, therefore making sure they ask less questions'
Although I had to agree with him, everyone that we had spoken to had said nothing but smile us, and using my behavioural knowledge, I begrudgingly had to admit that Walter was right, yet again.
"Everyone good?" Paige's voice came through comms.
"Sitting in the business lounge, it's much more sanitary." Sly said, you could practically hear the grimace on his face.
"We're good, Happy and I are currently in a Starbucks drinking cappuccino." I replied for both of us, Happy was too busy drinking her coffee.
"Yeah, sitting in a bar drinking a beer." Cabe replied.
"Drinking on the job are we Mr Federal Agent Gallo, tut tut." I disapproved mockingly.
"Shut up, Doc, we aren't on the clock until 8AM when we arrive in London."
"Alright, calm down and get another drink down you, what are you and Paige up to Walt?" I wondered.
"We are eating food at the restaurant across from where you are sitting." Happy and I looked up from where we were sitting in the direction of Walter and Paige. They were indeed sitting at a twin table eating a meal together.
"Oh yeah, a combined IQ of over 300 and we didn't even notice." I laughed along with Happy.
"Everyone remember what we're doing with comms when we go through security?" Happy asked, twisting the engagement ring on her finger around.
It took so much time for us to get to that moment. The whole ordeal with Collins and the fact that Happy was married already. But we sorted through our issues, we sorted out Happy's fraudulent marriage to Walter and now Happy was happy. When Walter finally received his citizenship, Happy and I went up to the roof and I asked her again, but this time she said yes. That was nine months ago and I will never forget that day in my life.
Happy snapped me out of my thoughts.
"Time to go, Doc. We still need to get through security and get on the plane within the next thirty minutes." Happy said, standing up and picking up her carry-on case.
•••
"How is it just now that you're picking up that we have first class tickets, you're usually much more observant." Happy joked, taking my trademark hat from my head and placing it on her own.
"No idea, I just expected Homeland to be cheap as normal and get us crap tickets." I said, trying to take my hat from her head, but she dodged me easily and walked towards the gate, dragging me behind her.
We walked through the plane doors and up the stairs to the first-class cabin. The attendant directed us to our seats and we put our luggage in the overhead lockers before sitting down.
Sly was sitting in the single chair opposite me and Happy. We all knew he was extremely nervous so it would be easier for him to be close to one of us as possible during the flight whilst still maintaining our cover. Cabe was sitting across the cabin behind us sipping at a martini and reading a magazine about London culture.
"Very James Bond, Cabe, I like it." We heard Paige say over comms as she and Walter entered the cabin. They were sat in the middle of the cabin, closer to the cockpit than the rest of us.
Cabe smiled from where he was sitting in his seat but didn't turn around to look at Paige and Walt entering the compartment.
'A very good morning to everyone about this 12:38AM flight to London Heathrow. I am delighted to inform you that we are making progress and we will be taking off shortly. Refreshments will be bought around to all compartments throughout the duration of the flight. Thank you for choosing to fly with British Airways, enjoy your flight'
"Doesn't matter, we're actually behind schedule, they haven't started the engines yet and they require at least sixteen minutes warm up time before the plane can move." Happy said, her mechanical prodigy mind kicking into gear.
•••
Six hours later we were flying over the Atlantic, hitting rough turbulence. The passengers were warned of the possible turbulent winds when the seatbelt sign lit and the pilot spoke over the intercom system.
"What you up to, Robot?" I asked Happy, who was still wearing my hat on her head.
"I'm going through the schematics of British firearms, but meaning as handguns and most firearms are illegal in the United Kingdom, there isn't much to read up on." Happy resided, locking the tablet and resting her head on my shoulder.
"You should sleep, baby, I'll wake you up when it's time." I told her before kissing her head.
"Okay, love you."
"Love you, too." I replied, resting my chin on her head and falling asleep.
Walter POV
"What are you doing?" I asked Paige.
"I am finishing up on the last mission report, someone has to do it and I don't see Toby suggesting himself anytime soon." She replied.
"Rude, you know I'd do them if you ever asked." We heard through our comms, I looked in the direction of Toby whose eyes were closed, resting his head against Happy's.
"Yeah, sorry Toby." Paige apologised.
"No problem." Toby said, brushing off Paige's apology.
"You know, you should probably be resting, we have a big case ahead of us and I don't want you getting tired." I mumbled, brushing my lips against her forehead and my hand against her slightly protruding bump. Her hand covered mine.
"I won't, Walter I'm only fourteen weeks, and we haven't even told the team yet, we do need to tell them sooner or later." Paige replied, pulling the comms out of my ear and putting it in her shirt pocket.
"Well, I guess we'll be busy during the daytime for the majority of the trip, but we are here for four days, whether we get the mission done in four days or one day. So, here's what I'm suggesting. We get this done as quickly as possible and then we fly Ralph over here and tell everyone together?" I suggested.
"Yeah I like that idea, like getting the family together to tell them the big news." Paige replied happily.
I looked up to find Toby and Happy looking in our direction. Toby lifted his hand and signalled towards his ear.
"Oh, comms." I said and Paige reached into her pocket and took out the earpieces before handing one of them to me and putting the other one in her ear.
"Sorry guys, we were just talking." I apologised quickly.
"No matter, Cabe what is it you want to tell us?" Sylvester asked, not taking his eyes from the book he held up to his face.
"15 minutes guys, once we step off the place we separate and rendezvous at the car that will be waiting for us in the parking lot. Look for a black 4X4 with tinted windows, most likely a Range Rover as we are in the UK, get there quickly and quietly." Cabe finished before removing his earpiece and replacing them with headphones.
Noticing that we were starting our decent, I decided it was time to pack up everything. I retrieved my overhead case and put in Paige's laptop as well as the mission summaries that she had been working on.
Paige looked around the Cabin and when she noticed that every member the team had no communications in their ears she spoke.
"Walter?" She asked.
"Hmm?" I replied, closing the overhead bin before taking my seat beside her.
"I want to ask you something." She mumbled, her eyes not meeting mine.
"You can ask me anything, you know that." I assured her, putting my free arm around her shoulders and pulling her to me.
"If we have a girl, can we… can we name her after your sister?" She wondered.
For a moment, I was frozen and unsure of what to say. She wanted to name our daughter after Megan? I know that Paige was close to Megan but…
"You want to name her Megan?" I wondered.
"Yes, if that's okay, I think it would be a nice way to honour her." She replied, smiling at me at the end.
I smiled at her with all of the power I could muster. She was the kindest person that I had ever met, and I was very much in love with her.
"I think it's an amazing idea, it would be a great way to honour her, her first name or her middle name?" I asked.
"What was her middle name?" She replied.
"Louise."
"Well we could use either of them or both, we can decide when she's born, if she's a girl." Paige told me, looking down at her hands at the end of the statement.
"Paige, what's wrong?" I asked, immediately worried that there was something wrong.
Paige just shook her head.
"Paige, please tell me what is wrong." I practically begged.
"Nothing's wrong, Walter." She reassured me, lifting her eyes to mine.
"Then what is it, why are you worried? Wait, do you already know?" I asked, my smile growing when she nodded.
"Well? What do you know? And how did you know?" I asked, confused at this admission.
"Well, to answer your second question first, when you were worried that I looked further along than I was at the weekend, I decided it would be best to check it out. So, when you and Toby were helping Cabe at the weekend, I asked Sly and Happy to watch Ralph for an hour and I popped to the medical office." She replied, taking out her comms as she realised that Toby and Happy were packing up, preparing to land. I followed suit and removed mine.
"And, what did they say?" I replied, needing to know.
"Well, you were right as per usual and I do look further along than I am, I'm bigger because we're having one of each." She told me, grinning.
"What, how…" I trailed off.
"Come on, one-ninety-seven, one of each?" Paige replied, raising her eyebrows to emphasise her point.
Realisation hit me like a ton of bricks. One I had been prepared for, but two?
"Twins?" I gasped.
She nodded and grinned wider, and soon her lips were attached to mine, celebrating the newest additions to our little cyclone.
The sensation of the tyres hitting the tarmac broke us away from each other and we sat back in our seats, her hand and mine still locked together.
Toby POV
"Happy, time to wake up, we're about to land." Happy shook her head lightly before lifting it away from my shoulder. She yawned quietly before nestling back into my side.
"What are they so happy about?" Happy asked, looking towards Walter and Paige who were grinning at each other like idiots.
"Hey, one-ninety-seven?" I said to Walter through comms.
"Walter?" I tried again.
"He must not have his comms in, they must be having a private conversation." Happy resided, resting her head back on my shoulder.
"Yeah but what about? "I asked, intrigued.
"Bet you fifty dollars she's pregnant." Happy said, taking the fifty dollars from her pocket.
"No, that can't be it, they've only been seeing each other for nine months." I said, shocked that Happy would suggest that.
"Well, on Sunday when you and Walt were out with Cabe, Sly and I had Ralph because Paige went out to get some groceries even though she came back with nothing but a grin on her face, I'm telling you, she's pregnant." Happy told me, and I went along with it, knowing she was always right.
"Okay, I'll put fifty dollars on she isn't pregnant, we'll see what happens after the mission." I said as the plane wheels hit the tarmac in London.
Everyone left the plane in an organised fashion, the best kind or order. The 16 people in the first-class cabin got to leave the plane first due to our priority seating.
Happy and I made our way through Duty Free and Nothing to Declare towards the baggage collection area. We collected our luggage and headed out the automatic doors in the direction Cabe pointed us in.
We soon found the car that Cabe was describing and we opened the back door to find Cabe sitting in the front seat and Sylvester riding shotgun.
"Finally, you two, now we just need at wait for Walt and Paige." Cabe said, passing over two Starbucks coffee cups to Happy and I.
"For the drive, it's early and we won't have time to sleep until tonight." Cabe said, taking a sip of the vanilla latte he was drinking.
"Thanks Cabe!" We both replied as we sat down in the middle seats of the car.
"Walt, Paige where are you guys? It's 7:51 and we need to be there by eight, I'm going to have to drive like hell through London to get there by eight." Cabe asked over comms.
"We're right behind the car, were about to open the trunk to put the bags inside." Paige told us.
As Paige was finishing her sentence the trunk opened, startling Sylvester who was still sitting in the passenger seat drinking from a bottle of water he bought from LA, refusing to drink from the coffee because it wasn't 100% sanitary and safe to use.
"Okay, let's go." Walter said as he clicked the seatbelt buckle into place.
"7:53, there's no way we're getting there in time." I whispered to Happy who chuckled and bought her legs up onto the seat in a folded position.
•••
At 7:58 Cabe sped through the hotel car park gates and swung the car into a space in the lot.
"I stand corrected." I laughed as I opened the door and got out, Happy doing the same.
Once we had all collected our luggage from the trunk and Cabe locked the car, we headed through the main doors that lead to reception. We walked over to the reception desk and Cabe handed over the information that Cooper got for us about the rooms. The woman smiled before typing on the computer and retrieving two keys from the drawer and handing them to Cabe. We thanked the woman before heading for the elevators.
"What floor Cabe?" Paige asked once we had entered the elevator.
"Second from top, floor 5."
"What! I can just about deal with a plane trip here but based on the schematics and height of this building we are 984 feet off the ground." Sylvester moaned.
"Sly, I wouldn't worry about it, we'll only be in there to sleep and by the end of the day you'll be tired enough to sleep on the balcony let alone the bed." Walter told him, trying to be comforting and failing miserably.
Sylvester nodded, breathing through his nose deeply as the elevator kept on rising to the 5th floor.
"Sly, you might want to be careful, you'll pass out if you keep doing that." I warned and he stopped.
The doors opened and Walter lead the way down the corridor, looking for room 200.
"Wait? Why do we only have one room?" Paige wondered as we stopped in front of the suite door.
"All shall be revealed." Cabe replied whimsically before be inserted the key card into the door and pushed it open.
Paige POV
"The last time we were in a room as nice as this, we were at the Crimson." Toby said as he walked over to the bar that was in the suite.
Everyone shot daggers in his direction as nobody really wanted to relive those few days.
We were in an executive suite; it was large enough to fit all of us but small enough not to blow our cover. The room had four adjoining bedrooms, two each side of the room. There was a large open seated area with various desks and armchairs situated around the room. The bar in the corner of the room was massive, and already being raided by Toby who claimed he 'needed' something stuff to drink before they started a case that could 'potentially be very tiring'.
"So, what are we starting with?" Happy wondered.
"There's an agent that will be here soon, he's going to brief us and give us some specialist equipment before leaving us to do the job." Cabe said, coming out of a door on the right hand which I assumed was his chosen bedroom.
"How are we doing the bedrooms?" I asked.
"Well, Cabe has already picked one, Sylvester can have the one next to Cabe's so that there aren't any windows and the rest of us can have the two rooms on the other side." I addressed the situation, and everyone agreed with my answer.
Everyone was interrupted from their individual tasks when the door knocked. Cabe got up to answer the door, picking up his badge from the table as he passed.
"State your name and badge number." Cabe asked through the door.
"Agent Sean Hood, badge number 5692." The British agent confirmed.
Cabe put his badge in his pocket and unlocked the door revealing a light skinned, blue eyed man in a black suit.
"Agent Gallo, Homeland Security." Cabe introduced himself as the agent walked through the door, his shoulders straight and his nose upturned slightly.
"Snob." Happy sneered over comms and Cabe flashed her a warning look before taking a box from the agent.
"Contractor team, you are here to retrieve the location of a civilian spy team that has been causing a mess for the British government, as well as MI6." The agent told us what we already knew already.
"I am well aware that you have been fully briefed before your departure, I am here to supply with your equipment you needed and your wage for completing the job." The agent stated, pulling a pile of brown envelopes from his jacket pocket and handing them to Cabe.
"Your equipment, to use and to take home with you, as a thank you from us to you." The agent told us, gesturing to the box on the floor.
"How kind of you." I said, stating our gratitude.
"If that is all, I will take my leave." The agent said before turning on his heel and exiting the room.
"Okay, let's get set up." Cabe said, opening the box and taking out a black metal box.
"They gave you a gun? I thought they were illegal here?" I asked.
"They are. It is 'only to be used when necessary'" Cabe said, using quotation marks.
"Okay, guys gather around." Walter asked once he had gotten all of the equipment out of the box and connected his tablet to the television.
"So, task at hand, track down these guys as fast as we can. Sylvester, I need you to try to trace the IP address of the threats that are coming from, Happy, Toby take Cabe and go to the address that was provided to us, search it and bring back anything important, laptops would help, and Paige, you and I stay here and help Sly get a location on that address." Walter addressed the group and everyone left to do their task.
Happy POV
Toby, Cabe and I went down the elevator and into the car park, where the black SUV was waiting for us.
"Walter said 189 Constantin Avenue." I said, getting in the back seat beside Toby.
"Okay, let's go." Cabe replied, putting the key into the ignition and driving the car out of the car park.
•••
Thirty minutes later we arrived at, what looked like, a derelict house.
"Stay low, stay together and be careful." Cabe whispered as I picked the lock.
The wooden door creaked as I pushed it open. The room that we walked into was large, but filthy. There was dust everywhere, paint peeling from the walls and half of the floorboards missing. I immediately headed in the direction of the door that was on the wall where there were no floor boards to get there.
"Baby, be careful." Toby warned as I stepped onto the first beam to get to the door.
"I will." I said, not turning around to look at him, worried to lose my balance.
"Toby stay here and watch Happy, I'll go and search upstairs, if you find anything call." Cabe said whilst taking his gun from his pants and holding it at his side.
I reached the end of the beams on the floor and had to jump up to reach the wooden beams on the ceiling. I used the beams to climb the last few metres to the door. I jumped down and landed on the single floorboard in front of the door.
"You okay?" Toby wondered from the other side of the room.
"Yeah, I'm fine, keep close." I said before I pushed the door to the room open, with extreme caution.
I pushed open the door and entered the small room. There was a small safe in the corner with a briefcase on top of it.
"Toby." I muttered and I heard him begin to make his way across the floorboards.
Toby jumped into the room thirty seconds later, just before a gun clicked in the corner. There was a sensory gun in the corner, triggered by a pressure sensor.
"Don't move." Toby whispered.
"Cabe, we have an issue." I whispered into comms, careful not to move my lips too much.
"What's up?" Cabe asked, I could hear him rushing down the stairs.
"Pressure alarms, sensor gun in the corner of the room ready to kill me and Toby." I whispered back hastily.
"I'll be there in thirty seconds." Cabe reassured us.
Soon enough Cabe was standing in the doorway to the room, far enough away that he does not trigger the pressure alarm or the motion sensors.
"Okay, I need to take out the gun before time runs out and you two are as good as dead." Cabe said, moving along the wall slowly.
"Way to calm the nerves, Cabe." Toby muttered to himself.
"Why is it we are always in these sticky situations?" Toby mused to himself.
"What do we do?" I asked, worried not only for my safety, but the safety of Cabe and my fiancé.
"I could shoot at it?" Cabe questioned.
"Try it, Toby prepare yourself to move." I warned.
Cabe lowered his hand slowly into the back of his jacket and pulled it back out with his gun in his hand. He raised his right hand steadily and aimed the weapon at the gun in the corner.
An alarm sounded through the room and neither of us had time to duck or hide before the gun went off.
•••
We all stood up off the floor a few minutes later when we were sure that the firing had stopped. We were covered in multiple colours of paint, from head to toe.
"All of this for a paintball gun." I muttered, pissed that we had wasted so much time.
"These guys are crazy amateurs." Toby said, standing up and walking in the direction of the case and safe in the corner of the room.
"Walt, we've got a safe and a laptop from the briefcase. The safe is only two by three so we'll be able to get it over there easily." I told the rest of the team through comms.
"Okay, head back over." Walter said, Cabe and Toby picked up the safe and carried it to the car waiting outside, I followed behind them with the laptop and case.
We all got back into the car and Cabe sped through rush hour London traffic back to the hotel.
We pulled into the hotel car park and met Sly at the service entrance of the hotel so that we didn't have to walk through the hotel lobby looking like idiots.
"What happened to you guys?" Paige asked when we walked through the door.
"Amateur idiots trying to be funny." I muttered as I walked into the bathroom and turned on the shower.
Walter POV
"Anything on the laptop?" Toby asked as he came from his and Happy's bedroom in clean clothes.
I had managed to get through laptop security half an hour ago, using software that Sly and I created back home. Truth be told, it was easy to do and only took three minutes, it was almost too easy.
"There are only meet up locations on there that we've passed on to the liaison agent, other than that there's just a surprising amount of desktop backgrounds and a very colourful search history." I said, disappointed that we hadn't found more. Maybe this would take longer than we thought.
"Happy, the safe? Can you crack it?" I asked as she walked out of the bedroom.
"Walt, don't insult my abilities." She flashed a smirk in my direction before heading towards the kitchen area and filling a glass with water. Happy walked over to the safe, that was still sitting on the coffee table, and placed the water on the top.
"Everyone, silence!" She exclaimed before she knelt in front of the safe and started working combinations.
"Got it." She said a minute later. Happy stood from where she was kneeling and twisted the dial around before pulling the safe door open.
Inside the safe was a tablet as well as stacks of money and spyware gear.
"Where do people even buy this stuff from, there is no way this was purchased legally." Toby stated, taking a bag of small metal listening devices from the safe.
"Right, Paige can you call the liaison, we need to get this safe secure and the money gone." I asked and she nodded, taking the phone we had been given from the table.
"Now what?" Cabe wondered aloud.
"We need to crack the security on the tablet, it was kept in a safe for a reason." I suggested.
•••
Two hours later the safe and its contents had been collected by the liaison agent. Toby and I had cracked the tablet security, it was harder than the first one and we assumed it was because there was something to hide on this device. Our assumptions were correct. This tablet held booking confirmations for a plane out of London to Dubai today, as well as countless amounts of money laundering and fraud.
"Manchester airport, we have three hours and twenty-three minutes to get there, Sly?" I stated.
"Based on the current traffic on the M6 motorway and the possibility of an accident occurring I'd say that we have a 96% chance of success." Sly informed us, packing his laptop into his bag, the rest of the team following suit.
"Cabe, you need to inform special forces and they need to ground that flight if we don't get there on time." Cabe pulled his phone from his suit jacket pocket and dialling before he held it to his ear.
Everyone walked out of the room and into the elevator. We walked through the lobby and into the lot where Cabe had parked the car.
"Cabe you need do drive like hell." I said as we got into the car, I got out my laptop and hooked it up to the hotspot in the car.
Cabe was driving, of course. Sly rode shotgun, as per usual. Paige and I were in the middle and Toby and Happy were in the back seats.
"Has anyone thought about what we were planning on doing once we get there?" Toby wondered from where he was sitting with his arm around Happy.
"Well, we need to track him down and then the big guys can arrest him, right?" Sylvester suggested from the front seat.
"Yeah, I just got off the phone with Cooper, the British government will have both US and British agents on site, they will be arriving by chopper on site." Cabe said, merging lanes and causing havoc behind him.
•••
Three hours later we sped into the airport car park and we all got out of the car, heading for the automatic doors that lead to the main check in desks.
"Okay, Sly how many flights are there to Dubai today?" I asked, turning on my heel to face Sly.
"Only two, one late tonight and the gate is gate 119 and one at two forty at gate 64, we first need to check if he has already checked in so that we know where to search, if he has we intercept him before he boards the plane in half an hours' time." Sylvester said.
"Cabe?" I asked, turning to look at him.
"Walter?" Cabe relayed
back to me.
"You have the badge; you'll need to check in with airport staff and security to see if he's checked in and you need to do it quickly, it's quicker then Sly and I hacking their airport system." Cabe nodded, before walking away in the direction of the airport security and help desk.
"Okay, everyone got comms in?" Paige asked, handing the last earbud to Toby.
Everyone nodded, giving Paige her answer.
"Walter?" Cabe asked over comms.
"Yep, we're here." I said, looking around the terminal for Cabe.
"He's already checked in, you need to get over to security so that you can be clarified before going through security." Cabe informed us and we all headed in the general direction of the security desk.
We were all soon checked, we had even had to walk through metal detectors so they could check for weaponry or dangerous substances and materials. A security guard walked us through check in and through the security checks that were normally required of passengers.
"Guys, go in pairs. Cabe and Sly go to the left-hand side of the departure lounge, Paige and I will take the right and the first-class lounges. Happy and Toby can you take the Duty-Free section?" Everyone nodded and headed off to search their quadrant.
"Nothing in our section, there are only ten people here and none of them are our suspect." Cabe reported back.
On our way over here, using the hotspot in the car, we had been able to hack into the US FSG server and use the fingerprint and facial recognition servers to find our suspect. We were looking for a twenty-eight-year-old male who went by the name of Steven Alton. He went off the grid after he lost his job as a government agent three years ago, which also lead to the loss of his wife who left after he lost his job. The man was going after his old colleagues by releasing their identities whilst they were undercover, hoping they would be killed or gravely injured.
"Yeah, we've got nothing either." Paige stated over comms.
"Guys, we got him." We heard Toby say over comms.
"Where are you?" Both Cabe and I asked at the same time.
"We're in some drugstore in the departure lounge, you can see it from where you guys are sitting." Happy said and everyone looked around, looking for Happy and Toby.
"There they are." Paige exclaimed quietly, pointing in the direction where she could see Toby and Happy crouched behind a row of shelves.
"Brilliant, guys you get back over here and make sure he doesn't see you." I asked them, wanting them to reach the rest of us safely.
"Cabe call that in, and we can leave." I asked, turning and looking at Cabe who nodded and took his phone from his jacket pocket.
We all sat down in the departure lounge, acting as tourists who were waiting to board their plane. Soon enough, the criminal left the Duty-Free zone and headed for his gate when his flight was called over the intercom. As the man reached the check in desk, he handed over his ticket to the attendant before he was intercepted by the agents that were waiting for us to track him down. Once the man was lead out in handcuffs, our liaison agent approached us, a professional look plastered onto his face.
"We thank you Team Scorpion, we owe you a great deal. Please enjoy the rest of your visit here." He stated bluntly. The agent shook hands with Cabe before he walked away.
"Always short but sweet." Toby murmured.
Everyone laughed at Toby's joke before we walked back to the car together, laughing all the way back, happy that we sorted the case quickly and quietly.
"So what are we going to do for the next three days?" Toby asked when we were all comfortable in the car and on our way, back to the hotel.
"We're going to get Ralph over here, make use of the vacation time we have before we go back to work." Paige said, smiling in my direction because of what we had planned for when he arrived.
"Sounds fun, we'll have to hit up that theme park I saw on the TV this morning." Toby said, absentmindedly running his fingers through Happy's hair.
"We have three days before our flight back home, Happy how would you feel about some shopping with our paycheque?" Paige asked from the back seat.
"Yeah okay." She mumbled, half asleep.
"Just not too much, remember we are looking to buy a house." Toby reminded Happy who tapped his chest slightly to let him know that she'd heard him.
Everyone, except for Cabe and Sylvester who were still talking in the front, had fallen asleep by the time Cabe pulled the car into the hotel parking lot. Everyone woke up after Cabe honked the horn to wake everyone up, despite Sylvester's protests. Everyone groggily made their way through the empty hotel lobby and into the elevator. Finally, the elevator doors opened and everyone walked the short distance from the elevator to our shared room.
"Night, guys." Toby said as he closed the bedroom door, Happy half asleep, leaning against his side.
"I'll be up a while, so just get some sleep we've had a long day." Cabe said, sitting on one of the couches and reaching for the remote control.
"Nope, I'm hitting the sack." Sylvester declared as he walked towards his bedroom. He shot a smile in my direction before he closed his door fully.
"Okay, night Cabe." I said as I opened the bedroom door. Paige mumbled goodnight before I closed the door fully.
Paige took off her boots and blouse before she collapsed on the bed, pulling the covers up to keep herself warm.
"What time is it in LA?" Paige wondered.
"It's eight minutes past three in the afternoon, Ralph would just be getting back to the garage from school, do you want to call him now?" I asked.
"Yeah, let's do it now." Paige said, reaching over to the bedside table and picking up her phone, soon you could hear the FaceTime tone sounding through the room.
"Hi mom, hey Walter." Ralph said as he accepted the call.
"Hi honey, how's everything going over there?" Paige asked, concerned for her son's wellbeing.
"Everything's going fine, I've been staying at the garage, I hope that's okay?" Ralph asked, looking towards me for his answer.
"That's fine, buddy. Now, your mum and I want to ask you something." I said and Ralph's expression changed to one of expectancy.
"Do you want to come over here for a few days, we finished the case a few hours ago and we'll be here for a little while, we can spend time as a quiet cyclone for a change." I joked.
"Yeah! That sounds great!" Ralph cheered, a genuine smile that I hadn't seen in days appeared on his face.
"Okay, sweetie, are you okay packing or do you want me to call and get my brother to help?" Paige asked.
"I'll be okay, he can take me to the airport though, do you think it will be tonight or tomorrow morning?" Ralph wondered, looking towards me rather than his mother.
"Whatever you prefer buddy." I replied, looking up from the laptop that I was using to book tickets for Ralph.
"Tonight, that way I can get there faster and I can spend more time with you guys, it's more logical." He said, knowing full well that I couldn't argue with the logical answer he'd given me.
"Okay, Ralph that's done, I will call your uncle and explain it to him and fax the tickets and information to the machine in the office. Your flight is in three hours so you may want to pack and get there quickly, okay buddy?" I said to him.
"Yeah, you don't need to call I'll explain everything to him, I'm sure you're both shattered after the mission today, will you pick me up at the airport when I get there?" Ralph asked us.
"Of course we will, call us when you get off the plane and we will see you there, see you tomorrow, honey, I love you." Paige said before she turned over and left me to end the conversation with Ralph.
"See you tomorrow, okay buddy? Have a good flight and call if there are any problems, no matter what time it is." I requested of him before he nodded and ended the call.
I put Paige's phone back on charge and turned over to face her.
"I'm so excited to tell him and the others." She said, a wide grin crossing her face.
"Yeah me too, we've definitely waited long enough." I said and we both laughed together quietly.
"Yeah we have, night Walter." Paige muttered sleepily, her eyelids drooping.
"Night, Paige." I said, kissing her forehead before turning off the beside lamp. I turned over and wrapped my arm around Paige's waist, fanning my hand over her showing bump.