Willa burst in less than an hour later, breathless and excited. "I've got it," she exclaimed.

Pausing for a moment, she looked around the bar. Leo was there, along with some of the usual customers, but there was no sign of Walter.

"Where is he?" she asked Leo.

"He went to take a nap. But he said that if you 'found the thing' you should get him."

Willa shrugged. "Whatever."


She knocked on the door before entering the room.

"Walter, I found the thing, as you called it," she said loudly, rolling her eyes.

There was a noise from inside.

"I'm taking that as a 'yes, come in Willa' noise," she told him, pushing open the door cautiously. "God I hope you're dressed," she muttered.

Walter's head poked up from the pillows, his hair in a state of disarray.

"You found the thing?" he asked.

"Yup."

She plopped down on the bed next to him, the headboard digging into her back uncomfortably. He pushed himself up a bit, but had the luxury of pillow to cushion his head.

She ignored the unfairness and opened the laptop.

"So I went snooping around the kid's Facebook page like you told me to."

"No, like you offered to, because I didn't think it was worth looking in to," Walter corrected.

"Whatever. So I found out a bunch of things I didn't need to know, the dude seriously needs to change his privacy setting, I didn't even have to hack anything-"

"Willa," Walter interjected.

"Right, so I found out that he's dating someone, has been for a while, but it's been rocky, passive aggressive messages on each others wall, status updates that are totally about the other person, without mentioning any names."

"And what does this have to do with the case?"

She glared at him. "Hang on, I'm getting there. So a few days ago, the messages change. They're totally in love again. So he posts a new profile picture..."

She turned the screen towards Walter, grinning. "And look what his girlfriend is wearing."

Walter grinned. "The necklace. Guess I was wrong. Doesn't happen too often..." he trailed off.

"No, which is why I have to rub it in when it does happen," Willa replied, closing the screen of her computer. "Are you and Leo going to talk to the grandma?"

Walter didn't say anything.

Willa looked over at him. "Walter?" He was staring off into space, which he sometimes did when he was thinking, but he never had such a blank look in his eyes.

"Walter?" Willa repeated, waving a hand in front of his face. Sometimes that worked to get his attention, other times not.

This was one of the not times.

Willa sighed, standing up and tucking the laptop under an arm. "Right. Come talk to me when you're done doing the Walter thinking thing."

She'd just turned her back when Walter made a noise.

She rolled her eyes, but turned back to face him.

"Honestly-"

She stopped when she saw him. He'd stiffened, his head pushed up against the headboard and his left arm dangling off the bed.

"Walter?" she whispered.

His body relaxed, but there was no reprieve for Willa, as he started jerking and spasming, his muscles unable to make up their mind what they wanted to do.

"Leo!" she shrieked.

Leo came barrelling through the door, always ready to protect Willa, Isabel, or even Walter from harm when necessary.

He spotted Walter on the bed, still shaking and twitching, and immediately went to his side.

"Call an ambulance," he ordered Willa, sliding Walter down the bed so his head rested on the pillow again.

Willa nodded and ran off to grab the phone.

After Willa got off the phone with the dispatcher, she called Isabel.

It went to voice mail.

"Isabel, it's Willa," she said, trying to keep her voice steady, and failing miserably. "Something's wrong with Walter. He's going to the hospital. I thought you'd want to be there..." she trailed off, remembering the last time Walter was in the hospital. She hung up, not knowing how to finish the message, or even if she could.

The paramedics arrived shortly after that, and went where Willa pointed them. She didn't follow, not sure if Walter was still like that, not knowing if she could watch it again. She'd seen a lot of things in her life, hell, she'd done a lot of things in her life, but that was easily one of the worst.


When they came out with Walter on a stretcher, he wasn't moving any more, his face covered with a mask.

"Willa, can you watch the bar? I'm going to go in the ambulance with Walter," Leo said.

She yanked the honour jar from behind the counter and slapped it down.

"I'm coming too," she told Leo. "I'll take the car."

"You can't drive yourself to the hospital," Leo protested. He looked at the paramedic.

He shrugged. "Sorry, there's only room for one ride-along."

Leo examined Willa. "You go in the ambulance with him, I'll drive."

Willa nodded.

"Take care of him," he said softly, so the paramedics couldn't hear.

She nodded, blinking away tears at the edge of her vision.

Who said she could become so attached to such a strange, crazy man.


She climbed into the ambulance after Walter had been loaded, and sat where the paramedic told her to.

She held Walter's hand for the ride, thinking he might be scared if he woke up and found that he was strapped down in a moving vehicle.


He didn't wake up though, and when they arrived in the ER, she was told to wait outside the room.

Leo arrived moments later and put a hand on her shoulder comfortingly.