-Paige is shocked by the revelation and Walter doesn't exactly help the situation, but things are about to get even more complicated.-

Thank you to everyone who read the first chapter of this story. I know the mention of Tim's name might have put some people off reading, but I hope those who gave it a chance are enjoying it and I promise he won't actually appear at all! All comments and feedback are very welcome, thank you kindly.

CHAPTER 2.

A stunned silence descended. Everyone had heard Marnie's announcement, of course, but no one knew what to say.

Finally it was Paige who spoke. "I think there's been a mistake," she said, her voice a little shaky. "Tim would have told me if he had a daughter. He doesn't have any kids."

"He doesn't know about me," explained Marnie. "Mom said they only dated for a few months. It was when he was stationed at the naval base in West Palm Beach. Mom said all the guys from there dated local girls. She said the other girls were jealous because my dad was the best looking." She took another bite of her apple.

"OK, show's over people, I think Marnie needs some sleep," said Toby, shooing Cabe off the sofa.

"But what about my dad?" asked Marnie as she leant back on the cushions Paige had arranged for her. "How can I contact him? I need to talk to him."

"I can try Skyping Tim," replied Paige, with a noticeable lack of enthusiasm. "But it's not always easy to get a message through."

"We should probably contact your mother," said Cabe. "I'm guessing she doesn't know you're here," he added.

"She doesn't know what day it is half the time," replied Marnie with a sigh. "She's sick, you see. She gets confused about what's real. She's having a really bad time right now, with the delusions, I mean. It's hard being with her when she's like this, she gets angry… then depressed… but she'll come through it, she always does."

"Sounds like a complex diagnosis," noted Toby, his voice tinged with sadness. He knew more than anyone how hard it was to have a parent battling with mental illness.

"I needed to get away, so I figured why not come here and see my dad?" continued Marnie. "Mom doesn't mean to hurt people, but..." she trailed off sadly and Toby gave her a nod of understanding.

"She must find it difficult to take care of you," said Paige sympathetically.

"I don't live with her, not all the time," explained Marnie. "Haven't done since I was nine. I'm back in the group home right now. Please don't tell them I'm here, Agent Gallo. I'm not going back there, they treat me like a kid."

"Scorpion doesn't take in waifs and strays," said Walter. He realised his comment had sounded harsh when he noticed the disappointed looks he was getting from Paige and Cabe. "The proper protocol would be to contact Child Services," he pointed out, attempting to justify his comment.

"Walter, two minutes of your time," said Toby, glaring at him.

Without saying a word Walter walked over to the coffee machine and started fiddling with the settings. "I was just stating facts," he said when Toby joined him.

"Tim is gone, thanks to you, so you need to get over this petty jealousy," said Toby in a low voice. He glanced back at the sofa to make sure they weren't being overheard.

"Petty jealousy?" repeated Walker, incredulously. "It would be inefficient for me to waste my time on such emotions. Besides, I am not, nor have I ever been, jealous of Timothy."

Toby rolled his eyes. "Right," he replied, "and I'm not wearing a hat."

"Yes you are, you always wear that ridiculous hat," answered Walter, momentarily confused. "Oh, I see, that was sarcasm. Well, in this case your analysis is incorrect. I admit I was uncomfortable with Tim working with Scorpion, but jealously has nothing to do with it. What has this got to do with Marnie anyway?"

"That's BS and you know it," said Toby. "Despite your best efforts Tim is still with Paige and now you're taking it out on a kid we've never met before just because she may or may not be Tim's daughter."

Walter shook his head. Then he sighed and looked a little sheepish. "I probably was a little short with her just now," he admitted. "It's not her fault if Timothy was irresponsible in his younger days." He just couldn't resist another dig at Tim. He took a deep breath and walked back to join the others.

"Marnie can stay with me until we sort this out," said Happy as they re-joined the rest of the team. Then she turned to Marnie. "I grew up in the system, I won't let you go back to that place, I promise," she said earnestly.

Walter understood why Happy was so determined after her own bad experiences in care and something inside him made him agree with her. With as much empathy as he could muster he spoke again.

"Marnie, I… I promise we'll help you find out who your father is," he began, squatting down so he was level with her as she relaxed on the sofa. Being so close he could see how pale she had become in the short time since she'd arrived. "Now try to sleep," he ordered. "We're here if you need anything."

"Thanks," she whispered, barely able to keep her eyes open. "But… but you don't have to do anything for me, I can take care of myself."

Walter smiled, he couldn't help but admire her fiercely independent streak. He could see she was exhausted so he said nothing further.

Happy was the last to leave Marnie's side before the team congregated back in the kitchen. The remains of their now-cold meal were still on the table and they all stared at it, no one really knowing what to say.

Ralph was the first to speak. "Do you think Tim really is Marnie's dad?" he asked.

He wasn't sure what he thought about the revelation. Although it had been a few weeks since Tim had left, he and Paige were still together - albeit via a long distance relationship - so the prospect of Tim becoming his new Dad was a very real one in Ralph's mind, even though it was the last thing he wanted.

"It's possible," replied Walter. "Young servicemen have a particular reputation," he added with a sneer.

"Which does not need discussing now," said Paige with a frown. "Besides, you're making a huge assumption, Walter. We have no idea of the circumstances of any relationship which may or may not have happened between Tim and Marnie's mom."

"I'll start researching Navy records," said Sylvester. "If we can at least confirm Tim was stationed at West Palm Beach within the right timeframe that would be a start."

"A simple paternity test would remove any doubt," Walter pointed out. "Paige, do you have anything in your possession containing Timothy's DNA?"

"Like a lock of his hair?" responded Paige, sarcastically. "Sure, I carry it in my purse… Of course I haven't!"

She really wished Walter would get over his jealousy. He'd had his chance at being with Paige, but he'd rejected her advances two years ago so she'd moved on with Tim and she felt it was about time Walter got used to the idea.

"I was thinking more along the lines of a toothbrush," replied Walter.

"You just want to know if Tim kept a toothbrush at my place!" exclaimed Paige, her face flushing with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.

Walter couldn't deny it. Paige had always refused to discuss the details of her relationship with Tim and the truth was it bugged the heck out of Walter. He knew it was none of his business – he also knew it would hurt like crazy to hear Paige admit she and Tim had been intimate – but he was desperate to find out anyway. Part of him thought it might help him to move on if he knew Paige and Tim were in a fully developed relationship, but he couldn't be certain about that, it might make him feel ten times worse. Now was not the right time to find out, he realised.

"Sylvester, I'd appreciate it if you could start on that research," continued Paige. "At least that would be something to go on."

Sylvester nodded and scurried off towards his desk.

"I'll make some discreet enquiries with Social Services, see what I can find out about Marnie's mom," said Happy. "I know the right people to talk to without giving anything away." She headed towards her desk to make some phone calls.

Paige couldn't imagine Happy being discreet about anything, but she knew her history and trusted her judgement.

"I'll pull Tim's full service record," said Cabe. "That should help Sly."

"Already got it!" called Sylvester from across the garage and Cabe rolled his eyes. He forgot sometimes just how quickly a genius could hack into top secret military records.

"I think I'll continue working on my gas particle algorithm," stated Walter. "Tell me if you find anything."

"Aren't you even going to help?" asked Toby as Walter headed for the stairs.

"Sylvester, Cabe and Happy are doing the only things that can be done at the moment besides a paternity test," replied Walter. "There's little point in doubling up on the work when I could be using my intelligence for other things."

"OK, pal," replied Toby with a shrug. "You're just lucky Marnie's sleeping right now. All that bravado? Trying to play it cool, like she doesn't really care? It's a front, Walter. She's travelled across the country to meet her father and now her hopes are crushed."

"I'm not heartless, Toby, despite what some people think," replied Walter, glaring at Paige. "I promised her the services of Scorpion so we will provide her with whatever information she needs regarding her parentage and of course we'll ensure she has safe passage home and our protection until then."

"I'm glad to hear it, One Ninety-Seven," replied Toby.

"Ralph, I could use another set of eyes," said Walter and Ralph eagerly ran up the stairs with his mentor.

Paige started to clear away the uneaten food in silence. Toby watched her for a moment, she was clearly lost in her thoughts. "You OK?" he asked her after a couple of minutes.

"Me?" Paige seemed surprised that he was even still there. "Yes, at least I think so. It's just... well, I guess this whole thing with Marnie is kind of a surprise, that's all."

"If she really is Tim's daughter, how would that make you feel?" asked Toby.

Paige smiled at him. "Is this free therapy?" she asked.

Toby shook his head. "Just a friendly chat," he replied.

Paige took a deep breath before answering his question. "I guess I'd have no good reason to feel any different," she said eventually. "It's not like he knew about her, it's not like he's been lying to me."

Toby narrowed his eyes and studied her as she spoke. "You and Tim..." he began, but Paige interrupted him.

"Yes, you're right," she said with a sigh. "Things between us aren't great right now. There's just no privacy when you're around is there!"

"Hey, I can't help being a genius behaviourist," grinned Toby. Then his grin faded. "If it means anything, I'm sorry it ended this way."

"It's not over yet," replied Paige with determination. "We're working on it. Long distance relationships aren't easy, it turns out."

Paige sighed sadly. Before Tim had taken the job in the Middle East - and Paige was still figuring out exactly what Walter's involvement in that decision had been – things had been going from strength to strength with Tim. He and Ralph had even started getting along and the rest of the team had finally begun to accept him, apart from Walter of course. When he left, Paige thought her heart would be broken, but she had slowly come to realise that maybe she didn't miss Tim quite as much as she'd expected she would after all.

She glanced towards the stairs where Walter had ascended to the loft a few minutes earlier, knowing he played a huge part in the way she felt.

The gesture didn't go unnoticed, of course, but to his credit Toby didn't make a comment. Instead he simply said, "If you ever need that free therapy you know where to find me."

"Thanks," smiled Paige.

She really appreciated his friendship, it was good to know there was someone she could talk too about all the craziness in her life. She returned to clearing the table, but Sylvester's urgent voice stopped her.

"Guys, is anyone doing anything to our server?" he called out.

They were used to hearing panic in his voice, but even Paige realised this was a whole new level.

"Nope," replied Happy, crossing to his desk, with Paige and Toby following close behind.

"I don't even know what a server is," admitted Cabe.

Sylvester hit the intercom. "Walter!" he began, but Walter was already half way down the stairs carrying his laptop.

"I see it," said Walter, his brow furrows in deep concern. "I hoped you were running a deep level diagnostic."

"I'm not doing anything!" replied Sylvester, his voice getting higher each time he spoke.

Walter sat himself down at his desk and began furiously tapping keys on his computer. Sylvester was already doing the same and Ralph quickly joined them with his tablet.

"What the hell's going on?" asked Paige.

"Not sure yet, Mom," replied Ralph, not taking his eyes of his screen.

"We've been hacked," announced Walter suddenly, the colour draining from his face as he spoke.

"Correction," added Sylvester. "We're still being hacked!"

Sweat had starting to drip off his brow, but he didn't dare to take his fingers from the keyboard to wipe it away.

"What?" exclaimed Cabe. "I thought Scorpion has the most secure computer system in the world?"

"We do!" replied Sylvester. "Everyone, turn off your devices! Hurry! Cells, tablets, everything on our network server."

Toby, Happy and Paige quickly followed his instruction.

Cabe brought out his phone and stared at the screen. "Turn it off?" he said with a puzzled frown. "I don't think I've ever turned this new phone off... hmmm, no that's not it..."

Happy snatched his phone out of his hand, tore the back casing off and ripped out the battery. "There, it's off," she announced to the slightly startled older man.

"And that's why I love you," Toby smiled at her as he switched off the computer on his desk.

"Walter? You getting anywhere? I can't get a handle on it!" Sylvester's fingers were flying across they keyboard, each keystroke a little harder than the one before.

"It keeps bypassing everything I try," admitted Walter. "I've never seen anything like it."

"It cut through our firewall like a knife through butter!" exclaimed Sylvester.

"I'm... I'm…" began Walter, but he trailed off as he needed his full concentration for a moment. "I'm re-coding everything on the fly, but it's… it's too fast for me," he continued eventually. "Ralph? Anything?" he asked, desperation evident in his voice.

"I thought I had it just now, but it beat me," replied Ralph. "This shouldn't be happening!" he cried.

"Just focus on stopping it, pal," urged Toby, trying to keep him calm, but otherwise feeling a little helpless. "We'll figure out all the whys and wherefores later."

He glanced round to see Happy had hardwired her tablet into the server unit, but she was obviously fighting a losing battle.

"There's something transmitting from really close by, maybe even from inside the garage!" she called out. "It's piggy-backed onto our system. I can't get the server to respond to any direct commands either."

"Can't you just pull the plug?" asked Cabe. "Like you did with my cell?"

Happy's expression quickly made Cabe realise his suggestion was ludicrous, although he had no idea why.

"There's a kill switch!" yelled Ralph suddenly. He typed as fast as he could, not quite daring to hope that he could actually stop this thing. "I'm in! I've got it ring-fenced!" he announced.

"Good work, Ralph," grinned Walter, lifting his gaze momentarily to watch his young protégé at work. "Happy, do you have direct control yet?"

"Yes! Shutting it down now," replied Happy, breathing a huge sigh of relief as the server powered down.

Walter, Sylvester and Ralph sat back in their seats and looking completely exhausted. They simultaneously let out huge sighs of relief. Walter glanced proudly at Ralph knowing they might never have been able to stop the attack without the youngest member of the team.

"OK, does anybody want to tell me what the hell that was all about?" asked Cabe.

"You should call Homeland" answered Walter. "Our system was completely vulnerable for over three minutes..."

"Three minutes and twelve seconds," Sylvester confirmed.

"Whoever it was could have gained access to highly sensitive data," continued Walter. "Your tech people will need to implement their emergency security protocols."

"Still don't have a clue what you're talking about," admitted Cabe. "But OK." He glanced at his phone which lay in pieces on Happy's desk.

"Use the landline," suggested Toby. "I guess we shouldn't reconnect any of our devices until we know what that thing was and how it got in."

"Happy, you said something was transmitting the virus from inside the garage," said Paige. "I don't understand, was it one of our devices?"

"It wasn't a virus, it was a… never mind… but no, not us," replied Happy. "It was still transmitting after we all switched off our phones and tablets."

"What about her?" said Ralph, getting to his feet and pointing to Marnie who had slept through all the excitement. "She must have a cell, maybe a tablet too?"

Walter leapt out of his seat. "Of course!" he exclaimed. "How could we have been so stupid? We know nothing about this girl. She's been sent to infiltrate us and we fell for her ridiculous story about Tim."

"No, Walter," said Toby, shaking his head. "She's telling the truth. She's a kid looking for her dad, not a superspy."

"Appearances can be deceiving, Doc," Cabe pointed out.

"Not to a world class behaviourist!" exclaimed Toby, indignantly.

"You can't honestly believe her arrival here and what's just happened are unrelated," said Walter, incredulously.

"Oh and I'm sure you'd still be blaming the exhausted teenager even if she didn't believe she was Tim's daughter," sneered Toby.

"Can we please stop using the T-Word in front of Walter?" begged Sylvester. "I can't take any more awkwardness right now!"

Walter stared at him. "The T-Word?" he repeated.

"Yes, you know," insisted Sylvester. "Whenever anyone says..."

"Tim," Toby said it for him.

"Yes, thank you, Toby," nodded Sylvester. "Whenever anyone says that name you go all, well, weird."

"I do not!" exclaimed Walter. "That's ridiculous. Can we concentrate on the serious security breach we've just experienced, please?" he added with authority. "All this nonsense about Timothy is detracting from finding the source. Happy, can you locate the signal?"

"I'm trying to filter out the interference now," responded Happy. "It's a sophisticated transmitter, whoever is responsible knows what they're doing."

"Keep trying," ordered Walter. "We need to search Marnie's bag."

"I'll do that," replied Cabe.

"I'm very uncomfortable with this," stated Sylvester. "Not that it'll make any difference, I know that, I just wanted it noted."

"Duly noted," replied Walter.

"She has a cellphone and laptop in here," said Cabe, laying Marnie's belongings out on the table.

"Sylvester, check it out," snapped Walter, handing the laptop to the younger genius who took it over to his desk.

"Got it!" announced Happy, suddenly. "And I hate to say it, Walt, but you might have been right about Marnie," she added with a sigh. "Everyone move away from the couch, just to be sure."

Walter, Paige, Ralph, Cabe and Toby all backed away to join Sylvester at his desk and waited for confirmation from Happy. "Still broadcasting from here somewhere," said Happy.

"I knew it," snapped Walter angrily.

"We cannot assume she's some kind of master criminal," said Paige. "Not until we've at least talked to her and located the source of the signal."

"Wake her up," said Walter.

"She doesn't look like a spy," noted Paige.

She couldn't help but feel sympathy for the teenager's situation. If anything that Marnie had told them so far had been true her life hadn't been easy and she'd undertaken an exhausting journey across the country to look for her father which had proven fruitless.

Walter walked back to join Happy. "She must have a device secreted about her person," he said. "Happy, search her."

"What?" exclaimed Paige. "You can't do that!"

"This has gone far enough," said Cabe. "We'll wake her up and talk to her. Maybe she knows what this is all about."

But before they had chance to do anything else Marnie opened her eyes. She blinked hard and tried to sit up. Then she realised everyone was staring at her. "What's going on?" she asked in a croaky voice.

"We've had a serious breach of security and we believe you're the culprit," replied Walter, bluntly.

"I… I don't understand?" replied Marnie.

"It's OK, ignore Mr Sensitivity, we don't know what happened yet," replied Toby.

"Sylvester, anything?" asked Walter.

Sylvester shook his head and closed the lid of the laptop. "It's clean," he said. "I'll check her cell."

"That's not my phone!" exclaimed Marnie, staring at the device in his hand. "Mine's in my pocket."

Happy quickly extracted the phone from Marnie's jacket and tossed it to Walter who hacked into it in seconds. "This one's clean," he confirmed. He crossed to Sylvester's desk and picked up the phone they'd found in Marnie's bag.

Happy looked at the screen of the small portable scanner she was carrying and nodded. "That's our source," she confirmed. "And it's still transmitting."

"Cabe, do you have a Taser?" asked Walter.

"Great idea, Walt, let's Taser the kid!" exclaimed Toby sarcastically, throwing his arms in the air.

"Just hold on a minute, son," added Cabe, reaching out an authoritative hand towards Walter.

"Is that really what you guys think of me?" asked Walter, looking genuinely hurt. "I don't want to Taser anyone. I just need something to fry the device."

Suddenly, before anyone realised what was happening, Marnie got to her feet and ducked past Happy to make a break for the door. She stumbled as she ran and Cabe and Paige reacted, but neither could reach her. Walter, however, had a clear run and darted towards her. He reached out to grab her by the arm and got a touch with his left hand, but instead of a firm grasp it only served to knock the already unsteady girl completely off her feet and before Walter could prevent it she came crashing to the ground, striking her head on the corner of a table as she fell.

To be continued...