Valentine's Day
"Walter? What's this?"
Paige was looking at him with confusion. He had just handed her a sealed envelope.
"Open it!"
Before she got a chance to open the envelope Cabe entered with a new case. She placed it somewhere safe to open later.
The case took a couple of days to complete. The whole team was tired and thankfully they could take the next few days off as long as there wasn't another important case. They only had time to shower quickly before they had to go to Ralph's school and see him take part in the Science debate. Walter and Paige were both really proud of him for signing up for the competition, public speaking wasn't his strong suit but he wanted to challenge himself and he knew he probably wouldn't win not because his Science wasn't good but conveying his explanations to others not as gifted as him was difficult but he was getting better. Toby helped him out but he refused to practice with both Walter and Paige. Over the past two or three weeks however one or both of his parents may have overheard practicing with his little sister, Daniella, she was a year old and absolutely adored her big brother.
The whole team turned out, Happy, Toby and their twins, Sylvester, Megan and their son and Cabe. They were in the third row as this was the optimum distance to best see the debate, first row was too close and any further back you wouldn't be able to see Ralph clearly, or more to the point he wouldn't see them. They all waited with anticipation, only Toby knew the topic of Ralph's debate even though they caught snippets here and there.
They had to sit through three other debates before it was Ralph's turn. He came out on stage and looked for his family and when he saw them he smiled and it calmed him. He was out of his comfort zone but he liked the challenge. He listened as his opponent spoke about nature vs nurture when she had finished he began to argue his case for nurture vs nature. He spoke about the fact that his biological father was a baseball player but he didn't inherit any of the 'sport's' gene from him, in fact he didn't follow either of his parents but he knew his mom loved him completely and that was never in any doubt. Then he began to talk about Walter and the amazing things that he and the rest of team Scorpion have helped him. He included case studies to back up his theory that nurture was more important. The debate went back and forth for a few minutes each competitor making their case. Then Ralph concluded his speech.
"In conclusion, I am very lucky to have two dads, one that helped make me and the other who loves me and understands me and is always making me think and as a result feel things as do the rest of my family. Without them nurturing me I wouldn't be standing up here talking to you! Thank you."
There was stunned silence then the Scorpion group stood up, kids and all, and started clapping which caused Ralph to blush.
Ralph ran up to his family holding his envelope with the third place prize inside which was a book token. Ralph knew exactly what book he wanted to buy. Paige hugged him so tightly then Walter took his turn after he passed Daniella to Paige. Daniella didn't want to be left out so Ralph had to carry her back to the car, she didn't want anyone but her big brother.
"I'm so proud of you honey!"
"Toby helped me a lot. I was scared and he told me to think of something good if I ever became nervous."
"That's great advice, what did you think about?" Cabe asked
"When Walter married mom and I officially became his son! And I thought of the whole family as well."
Walter ruffled his hair. They went back to the loft and ordered take out to celebrate Ralph's accomplishment.
"So would you enter the competition again?"
"Well if it is based on Science and or Math then yes however if it is something else I think I'd pass."
"How did you feel when you were on stage?" Toby asked
"I was really nervous but then I looked out and I could see all of you and that helped me."
It took Paige a couple of days to finally open the envelope and when she did she was shocked. There was a flash drive in it so she got her laptop and inserted it to see what was on it. She opened it to find a slide show; she was in tears within the first minute. It was various photos of her and Ralph growing up. The first had her, Drew and Ralph as a baby, the caption read
"I love Ralph he is my son but he wouldn't be here without Drew so I am glad you two conceived him (I'm even happier he was too stupid to keep you!)"
Paige laughed at that. Each set of slides was accompanied with a song; Paige assumed it was the most popular one of that specific year. There were so many photos she had no idea how Walter found all these photos and the songs that were chosen were great, she assumed Megan had a lot to do with that. There were a lot of photos with just Ralph and her, then came the ones with the team, with the 'team' song in the background, then ones with the three of them, Walter, Ralph and her when their relationship changed into something romantic. The photos that followed were of their wedding, Happy and Megan pregnant then her pregnant and the penultimate one was of the four of them, Walter, Ralph holding his little sister and her. The last one was of the whole family together including Cabe who was the unofficial grandfather to the next generation.
Paige left her laptop to go and find Walter, he was working on his latest project and he seemed really focussed, she stood by his side in his line of vision and waited until he finished his current thought process. When he noticed her he was surprised to see tears running down her cheeks, before he could ask her what was wrong, she grabbed his hand and kissed his cheek. This was the only pda he accepted, he didn't like anything more involved she remembered.
Paige walked up to Walter, after he and the team returned from an out of town job that she couldn't go to because Ralph was sick, Walter texted her every hour to see how Ralph was doing and she was just so happy to see him she kissed him thoroughly, her hands were in his hair and she wanted to untie his tie and unbutton his shirt when she remembered where she was and the fact that they weren't alone. Paige realised they were being watched and she quickly said hi to everyone before running up to the loft leaving Walter standing there with his messy hair.
Walter walked in about five minutes later with his untidy hair.
"Um Paige what was that?"
"I was really happy to see you and I couldn't stop myself!"
"Can you please try next time? It was really uncomfortable."
Paige was disheartened and her eyes teared up. Walter noticed this and tried to think why she was about to cry, he thought about what he said and realised that she could have misunderstood him.
"Paige, I didn't mean that I didn't like the kiss I did but it literally made me uncomfortable."
The tears slid down her cheeks.
"I'm sorry Walter; I'll try and not kiss you in front of anyone again."
"NO! That's not what I mean, well it is but not because I don't like it. When you kissed me all I wanted to do was be intimate with you right there and then but I'm a hundred percent sure that you wouldn't want that in front of our family, I know I don't. When I say it was uncomfortable I meant physically, I was aroused but I couldn't do anything about it because everyone was here so it wasn't the most comfortable situation to be in."
"Oh, OH! I'm sorry I didn't even think of that I just thought you meant you didn't want me to kiss you like that because you didn't like it."
"I liked it a lot!"
"So what would you be okay with me doing in front of everyone else? I don't want you to feel awkward."
"Well I like it when you hold my hand and when you kiss my cheek. I think that would be an appropriate way to display our affection for each other in front of others and I would do the same if that is okay?"
"Walter that is more than okay. What do you mean was?"
"I don't understand the question."
"You said 'everyone was here' what do you mean by that?"
"Well after you ran up here I told everyone to leave."
"WALTER!"
"What is was the most efficient thing to do. They wanted to see Ralph but I told them they could see him tomorrow. I wouldn't be able to concentrate on work after that kiss so it was inefficient to keep the rest of the team here so I sent them home. Where is Ralph?"
"He's asleep finally; hopefully he's on the mend though. So we have the rest of the night to ourselves."
"I'm just going to have a quick look then I'll be back."
"What was that for? Why are you crying?" Walter asked
"That was for my present. I just opened it. I loved it, thank you! But what brought this on?"
"Well it was supposed to be your Valentine's Day gift but I didn't have enough time to finish it with the cases…" Walter said as he scratched his head
"But you don't like to celebrate Valentine's Day!"
"Yes but you do. You made heart shaped pancakes for our breakfast and you baked heart shaped cookies for everyone to show that you care about them and you wrote each of us a card. I wanted you to know that I love you as well. I know I didn't do the whole romantic dinner or a dozen red roses but…"
"Walter, those things don't mean anything to me. I didn't expect anything because I know you don't want to celebrate, not because you don't love me but because you show me in so many different ways all the time but I absolutely love the slide show. So thank you again!"
A couple of weeks later Paige organised a family dinner with the whole team. The team were banished from the loft until it was time to eat; only, Cabe, Megan and Ralph were allowed to help. The team tried to get information out of Ralph but he kept quiet but smiled a lot. The time came for dinner; they all walked upstairs and were shocked to see the decorations for 'World Pi Day'. Everyone had a present by their seats; they opened them to find t-shirts.
"Paige what's all this?"
"Well, I know you don't really like celebrating any of the other holidays but I thought you would really like this one and even I know how important Pi is so…"
Walter walked up to her and kissed her cheek and held her hand.
"Thank you, this is amazing!"
"I love you Walter never forget that."
"I love you too, you, Ralph and Daniella."