Chapter 2

Walter made his way down the stairs, his gun at the ready. When the main garage came into view, he dropped it to the side, seeing just three geniuses surrounding a set of computer screens. He tucked it into his pants, and ran down the stairs.

"This happened ten minutes ago," Toby said. Walter came over to the screen, and noticed Happy biting her knuckles. He decided not to mention anything. He reached down, and played the video. Paige and Derek were walking outside the train station, and he pushed her inside.

"Is that it?" Walter asked.

"Yes," Happy said, "there's no security cameras inside that train station,"

"Damn it," Walter said, turning his back to the screens. Then they heard a car. Walter pulled the gun from the back of his pants, and moved towards the door. Toby ran to the door, and unlocked everything. Walter nodded, and Toby threw the door open, stepping aside. Walter moved forward, pointing the gun out the door. It was just Cabe and Ralph.

"What the hell, Walter?" Cabe scolded, pushing Ralph through the door.

"Sorry. We just didn't know," Walter said, tucking the gun back in his pants. Sylvester quickly ran to the door, and bolted it shut again. The apology he gave was meaningless, and there was no one there to notice it. For Toby, it was just normal Walter to not show emotion, which made him very hard to read. Toby would never admit it, but it gnawed away at him everyday. He was able to tell everything about a person's current mood just by looking at them, Walter was the one person in the world he wasn't able to read. He could read everyone in the room. Cabe was concerned that he would lose to Walter in this fight, Sylvester was nervous that a group of gunmen was going to burst down the door any minute, Happy was missing something, there was a void left there by Paige that needed to be filled. Toby wanted to be the one to fill it.

Then Toby glanced to Ralph. The young genius was listening to Walter, who was speaking quietly. No emotion showed on either of their faces. It was then that Toby knew, that Ralph would be just as difficult to read as Walter, maybe even harder. Toby studied them more, and he noticed the smallest bit of emotion in Walter's features. He was biting his knuckles, and constantly wiping his forehead.

"Happy, check this out," Toby whispered, "Walter O'Brien is showing emotion,"

I don't see any," Happy said.

"Really?" Toby asked, shocked. He thought it was clear as day that Walter was showing signs of nervousness, "I am that good?"

"Sure you are,"

"Hey, I know you're an above average mechanic, and you know I'm an above average behaviorist, and we keep it at that,"

"Yeah, in my mind," she walked away. Toby gave her a weird look, but then knew exactly what she meant. She thinks that he wants to be 'more than friends'. Toby would've laughed if it weren't true, but it was true. Happy was the only girl to ever accept him for who he was. He made great first impressions, but then his instincts took over, and he told them everything about themselves, the good and the bad. That's always been where he lost them, not Happy though. She heard him out because she had been in his position before, she had been isolated because of what she could do. It was hard on all of them, but she still had a pretty low EQ, along with Toby, so it didn't affect them much.

Toby had thought about trying to pursue a romantic relationship with Paige, but then he saw how much Walter connected with Ralph, and how much of a connect she had with him. It didn't go both ways though, Walter felt nothing. Toby decided to back off Paige after seeing their connection, in hopes that maybe she could wake up an emotional side in Walter. Then Toby would be able to read him.

"Are you trying to read me, Toby?" Walter asked. Toby snapped out of his thoughts, and back to reality.

"Psshh. No," Toby scoffed.

"Really? Because you've been staring at me for ten minutes,"

"It's been that long?" Toby asked.

"So did you find anything interesting?"

"No. You're the same emotionless robot you always are," Toby said. That was one thing Walter's analytical brain made him hate about himself. The fact that he couldn't connect with people killed him. He always picked apart everything he did wrong in every situation he was in. Ninety percent of the time it was because he couldn't relate with people. That is why he messed up; that is why he wasn't perfect. That was why he was different.

"Ok, so we know that Derek took Paige into the train station at 1:30 this afternoon," Walter said, breaking away from Toby, "someone find out where all trains were going in between then and two this afternoon,"

Ralph walked over to Walter with a piece of paper in his hand. He handed it to Walter. Walter, looking confused, took the paper.

"Well it looks like Ralph is one step ahead of us," Walter smiled his fake smile at the boy. He handed the list to Sylvester, "find out the most probable places they could've gone,"

Sylvester nodded, and went over to his chalkboard. Walter bit his knuckles while Sylvester quickly wrote down numbers.

"Ok there is a 3% chance they are in Cleveland, a 7% chance they are in Seattle, a 12% chance they are in Dallas, and a 78% chance they are in Las Vegas,"

Toby perked up to the name of the city he had gained...and lost, so much in.

"Alright. Ok," Walter turned, biting his knuckles, "Ok. We're going to split up, Sylvester you..."

"I call Las Vegas," Toby said, smiling, and stepping towards Walter.

"No, you are not going to Vegas," Walter said.

"Why not?" Toby whined.

"Remember what happened the last time you were in Vegas?" Walter asked. Toby shut up, "Sylvester you and Happy will go to Cleveland, Toby, you'll go to Seattle, Cabe you'll go to Dallas, and Ralph and I will go to Las Vegas,"

"Aw come on!" Toby said, "the nine year old gets to go to Vegas?!"

"It's the most likely place his mom is, and he can't gamble," Walter said, "Happy and Sylvester, take a train, leave now, so you can make it by morning. Cabe, you leave as well. Toby, you can wait til later tonight before you leave,"

"Walter," Cabe called. Walter turned and faced him. Cabe held out a black case to him, "be careful,"

Cabe turned and left. Happy and Sylvester said their goodbyes before leaving the garage. Walter opened the black leather case. Inside was a homeland security badge.

"Woah. Cabe gave you a badge!" Toby said, shocked.

"Well, I have a gun. Like Cabe said, I can't go wondering civilized streets with a gun, and without a badge. Now, I have a badge," Walter walked away. Cabe sighed, and looked over at Ralph, who was watching Walter go up the stairs. That's when he realized, Ralph had a better connection with Walter, than he ever would with his mother.

The sun was setting, and Walter was sitting on the edge of the roof, with his feet dangling over. He was thinking of when he barbecued up there with Paige, who was now gone because he wasn't two seconds faster, if he wasn't concerned about accidentally hitting Paige with a bullet, being more sure of himself. Then he heard the door open. He swung his legs back over, and took the gun out. He pointed it at the door. Toby immediately put his hands up.

"Sorry, Toby," Walter said, "I didn't know if it was you,"

"It's fine," Toby replied, letting the door shut.

"Where's Ralph?" Walter asked.

"Downstairs," Toby replied, "I printed him out some calculus homework. He should be there a while,"

"By that you mean ten minutes?"

"Yeah,"

"You know, the other night, I was up here with Paige," Walter said, "we were sitting right over there," he pointed to where he had just been sitting, "we were talking about Ralph, and how far he had come since he met us, how much more open he was to trying new things. Then we started talking about his safety, and everyone else's safety, getting involved with the government like this, how it could easily become a risk if we met the wrong person. She wanted to knock on wood. I told her not to; said that it was pointless, now I think I should've let her,"

"Is Walter O'Brien actually giving into superstitions?" Toby asked, surprised.

"No. Just, maybe it would've made her feel better. We were sitting on the edge of the roof. Either of us could've die, but neither of us did. We both decided to stay here, to continue on with this risk. Then it became too much of a risk, and now Paige is missing,"

"Walter..."

"Don't waste your breath on comforting words. We've already been over this, they don't work with me,"

"Do you want me to just leave?"

"Yes please. Give Ralph more calculus, it'll keep his mind off things,"

"Ok," Toby turned away.

"Oh, and Toby," Walter said, "you should leave soon,"

"Yes sir," Toby gave a small salute, and went back inside, pondering whether or not he should leave Walter alone with Ralph. But he didn't really have a choice, if they wanted to get Paige back quicker. He sighed and went downstairs. He printed Ralph out some more calculus, grabbed his hat, and left the garage. To the train station, and sadly, not to Vegas.

AN: Alright so I promised myself if this got over 10 followers(it did), I'd post another chapter before Sunday. It's 11:30 EST, not Sunday. Anyway, may not be able to update as often as this, and any new elements that are thrown into the show, I will definitely throw into the mix here. Enjoy, guys!