A/N Alright here's chapter 2! I hope you all enjoy :)


Review Response: bd: Thank you! I'm glad you like it so far! I'm so sorry to hear about your parents. I cried like no other when I was writing it. Cancer affects everyone whether you are diagnosed with it or someone you love. I just lost my grandpa to a two year battle with cancer. Hardest time in my life was watching him fight through it.


Chapter 2

Paige didn't know how long she sat next to her dad's bedside, holding his hand. At one point she must have fallen asleep, because she woke up to feeling someone's hand on her head. She opened her eyes, forgetting for a moment where she was but once she saw the room the last 24 hours started coming back to her.

Paige's head was laying on her dad's hospital bed and when she lifted her head she looked over to see that her father was wake. Once Paige made eye contact with him, a smile spread across his face.

"Paige," Her father chocked out. "Hi baby."

"Hi daddy," Paige whispered, she leaned up and kissed his cheek. Paige felt more tears coming to her eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Jake asked his daughter.

"Mattie came and found me in LA," Paige told him. "I needed to come see you."

"Oh Paige," Jake began to cry. "I'm so sorry, baby. Maybe if I wasn't so…so…"

"Dad, stop. It's okay." Paige whispered. "It's in the past, let's not dig up the past, okay?"

Jake nodded. "It's so good to see you."

"It's good to see you too," Paige forced a smile. "I think you need to get some rest, I'll be right here when you wake up. I promise."

"That's a good idea," Jake said smiling. "I love you baby girl."

"I love you too dad," Paige leaned back up and kissed his cheek. Paige sat back down and brushed the tears from her face. God, this was so hard.

Paige let go of her father's hand, after he had fallen asleep, and headed for the bathroom. When she walked out she was met by her mother, Matt and a women that Paige assumed was Matt's girlfriend.

"Hey Paige," Matt was the first to speak when he saw his sister. He walked over and hugged her.

"Hey Mattie," Paige said forcing a smile.

After they pulled away from the hug, Paige looked over to her mother, who had been watching the siblings rather carefully.

"Hi mom," Paige addressed her mother for the first time.

"Paige," her mother said coolly.

Paige knew that was probably the only thing she was getting out of her mother so she turned her attention back to her brother.

"Oh Paige, this is my girlfriend Kelly," Matt gestured to the women behind him.

"Hi, nice to meet you." Paige said with the same forced smile.

"Nice to meet you as well." Kelly said sending Paige a smile as well.

No one really talked for the next 20 minutes when Paige decided she should probably call Walter.

"Excuse me, I need to go make a call." Paige stood up. Her mother was still basically ignoring Paige and Matt just nodded.

Paige walked out into the hall far enough that she would disturbed anyone in her father's room but close enough that if something happened she would know.

Paige dialed Walter's number and put her phone up to her ear. The phone rang once and then was answered immediately.

"Paige?" Walter's voice came over the phone.

"Hey, sorry I didn't call last night when we got in. It was really late." Paige explained.

"It's fine, how's your father?"

"He's…he's a lot worse than I thought." Paige answered honestly. It was taking every part of her to not ask Walter to head to Cincinnati to be with her. She knew he would know what to say or to just simply hold her to make her feel better. But Walter had to run Scorpion and she couldn't ask him to come all the way out there.

"Say the word Paige and I'm on the next flight." Walter reminded her.

"Oh God I really want you here, Walter, but you have Scorpion and I need you to watch Ralph." Paige said against her hearts wishes.

"Toby or Cabe can watch Ralph, and the team will be just fine without me for a few days. Paige if you need me I'm coming." Walter informed her.

"Walter, please you don't have to." Paige really wished she would stop saying that.

"Paige, I'm coming." Walter said. "I'll be on the next flight out."

"Thank you Walter," Paige sighed.

"I'll call you when I land."

Paige hung up the phone and walked back into her dad's room.

"Hey, Kelly and I are going to head back to my apartment. Are you okay here?" Matt asked.

"Yeah," Paige nodded. "When you come back, can you bring my bag?"

"Of course," Matt hugged his sister and then walked out of the room.

Paige walked back over to the seat she had sat in last night. She avoided her mother's gaze as much as possible. She really didn't want any drama with her.

Paige and her mother never really got along. Paige had always been a daddy's girl so her relationship with Martha Dineen was never very strong. It was always Paige's dream to go to a musical arts school but her mother wouldn't allow it. Martha hated Paige's dream to be a singer. Paige went to college to just do her generals until she figured out what she wanted to do with her life. What really drove Martha over the edge was when she found out that Paige was pregnant with a baseball player's kid nonetheless. Martha's first instinct was to have an abortion and she made sure Paige knew that was her 'only' option and to Paige's horror her father agreed with her mother. Paige couldn't imagen getting an abortion. And that's what she told her parents. Paige expected her mother to through her out but that part didn't come from Martha, it came from Jake. Nothing hurt Paige more than to know that her father had turned his back on her. She knew that Martha could and would do something like that, so Paige didn't really hold it against her mother, but when it was her father that changed things. She had a great relationship with her dad and for him to do that, in Paige's 19 year old mind, was unforgivable.

Paige never wanted her mother or father to meet Ralph. She felt like he was just to special for them to be allowed to meet. They wanted her to get rid of him and that was so far beyond wrong in Paige's mind. She knew that she had to have Ralph and that was a choice Paige was grateful that she made every day. Ralph was Paige's world and he always would be.

"So, are you still seeing that baseball player?" Martha asked bring Paige out of her train of thought.

"What?" Paige asked before she full understood her mother's question. "Umm no I'm not."

"Are you married?"

"No, I'm dating someone though."

"Hm." Was the only response Paige got.

"He's flying in this afternoon." Paige informed her mother.

"Is he now?" Martha said not making eye contact with her daughter. "And what is his name?"

"Walter, Walter O'Brien."

"How long have you been seeing Walter?" Martha asked putting a weird emphasize on Walter.

"Over a year and a half."

"And does he know about your child?"

"What the hell kind of question is that?" Paige couldn't help but think to herself.

"I've been dating him for over a year, obviously."

"And he's okay with fathering another man's child?"

" .God. could you please stop judging me for like two seconds?" Paige blurted out. "I mean holy hell will I never be enough in your eyes?"

"I don't know what you are talking about." Martha said finally looking at her daughter.

"You're doing the same damn thing you've done my entire life." Paige responded feeling like she needed to smash something. "God, you were just waiting for me to do something bad enough in your eyes so you could get rid of me. How the hell you convinced dad to kick me out I'll never know."

Martha acted as if Paige had just offended her. "I loved you, you were the one that left."

"Oh bullshit," Paige laughed humorlessly. "You kicked me out. Just because Matt bought into your story of me leaving doesn't mean I'm going to. But I guess if it helps you sleep at night."

"You are so full of yourself," Martha spat. "You wanted to run around like a child. You weren't ready to raise a child when you acted like one yourself. Your father and I tried to tell you that but like usual you decided that you had to have what mom and dad said you couldn't. You were being selfish and that poor child has probably suffered for it."

That threw Paige over the edge. Paige stood up and was about to walk over to her mother and slap her, but she decided not to stoop that low.

"How dear you…" Paige almost couldn't believe her mother had said that. "I can't even believe you just said that."

Paige walked over to the door but before leaving she turned back to look at her mother one last time.

"I'll have you know that I have a better relationship with my son then you and I have ever had. Maybe if you knew half the things I went through, because I was thrown out on my own, you could understand how much I love my son. Don't ever talk about my parenting style." With that Paige walked out.


Paige spent the next couple of hours out in the waiting room. She didn't trust herself to go back in that room with her…with Martha. So she waited until she got a call from Walter telling her he had landed and asked for the address of the hospital. She couldn't wait until he got to the hospital. All she needed was to feel his embrace.

About twenty minutes after Paige received the call Walter with an unexpected companion walked down the hall to where Paige was.

"Hey…"Paige stopped the second she saw Ralph. "Oh my God, what are you doing here? Walter, what is he doing here?"

"I figured he might make you feel a bit better." Walter said. "Are you mad?"

"No…No of course not." Paige said hugging her son. "I'm glad you're hear baby." Paige smiled at him. She then turned her attention back to Walter. She wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Thank you," Paige said kissing him.

Once Paige and Walter pulled apart, Paige looked over the two most important people in her life.

"Should we go see your father?" Walter asked.

Paige really wanted to say no because she knew her mom was in there but agreed anyway.

When they walked in Martha shot Paige a glare but quickly changed the look on her face when she noticed Walter and Ralph.

To Paige's surprise her dad was awake.

"Hey daddy," Paige smiled at him.

"Hi little one." Jake smiled at his daughter. "And who might these two gentlemen be?"

"Dad, this is Walter my boyfriend." Paige gestured to Walter, then to Ralph," and this is my son, Ralph."

"Well, it's very nice to meet you."

"How are you feeling dad?"

"Oh right as rain. Maybe you can convince my doctors to let me go home." Her dad said hopefully.

"Not going to happen, dad."

"Well, you can't blame an old fool for trying."

Walter was curious as to why Paige was ignoring the women on the other side of the hospital room. He assumed that she was Paige's mother. He didn't know much about Paige's relationship with her parents other than from the look her mother gave her when they first walked in said that there was a lot of tension between the two women. Walter just hoped he would be able to support Paige through this.


Paige, Walter, and Ralph spent the next two days in the hospital or their hotel room. Paige didn't really talk about her past but Walter didn't mind.

Walter could tell that Jake Dineen was going to pass away any day now, in fact he was surprised that Jake was still holding on.

On their third night in Cincinnati Paige finally told Walter about her falling out with her parents. She told him about how her mother reacted to finding out she was pregnant and the options that she gave Paige. Paige also told Walter about being kicked out at 19 and how she really had no other option then to drop out of college and go with Drew. The more Paige told Walter about her parents the more surprised he became about how well she turned out.

Paige and Walter went to bed at about 2am after that tear filled conversation. Paige had slept for about an hour and a half when her phone started to ring. Paige really wanted to ignore it but when she saw that it was Matt, she knew something was wrong.

"Matt?" Paige asked sleepily.

"Mom just called me, we need to head to the hospital, right now." Paige could tell Matt was worried.

"Matt, what happened? Is dad okay?" Paige knew that that was a stupid question considering it wat 3am and she was needed at the hospital.

"I don't know, mom didn't give me details." Matt answered.

"Okay, I'll be on the road in 5." Paige hung up and turned to Walter.

"Everything okay?" Walter asked.

"I need to get to the hospital." Paige said. "I guess my mom called Matt and told him something was going on and he knew she wouldn't call me. Stay here. I'll take the rental and call you with information."

"No Paige, I can't have you driving if you're emotional." Walter said. Paige was about to argue that she wasn't emotional when she brushed her face and found new tears.

"Fine." Paige said. "I'll go get Ralph."

They pulled up to the hospital about fifteen minutes after the call and rushed in. Walter told Paige that he would wait with Ralph in the waiting room so that she could have sometime alone with her family.

Paige walked in to see Matt and her mother. Martha had tears running down her face.

Paige walked up and put her hand on Matt's shoulder. He looked over at her and put his arm around her, giving her a brief hug.

"We should give Paige some time alone with dad." Matt said to Martha.

"Fine." Was all the women said. Paige didn't really care what her mother's problem was now. She had a feeling this might be the last time she got to talk to her father and she was going to take full advantage of it.

Once everyone had left Paige walked over to sit next to Jake.

"Hey pumpkin." Jake said with a smile. Paige could tell that there was definitely something different about him this time then earlier the day before.

"Hey, what's going on daddy?" Paige asked trying to hold back the tears.

"Oh you know, just the crackpot doctors trying to put me on a time limit."

"And how much time have these 'crackpot doctors' give you?" Paige's eyes began to sting.

"A couple of days."

Paige didn't believe him. "Is that the truth?"

"No, they have to do a surgery today, they don't think I'll live through it."

"Well, they obviously don't know Jake Dineen very well." Paige responded, forcing a laugh. That caused her father to laugh as well.

"Nope, this don't know how much of damn fool I am." Jake said suddenly getting serious. "Paige, you have to know I love you. I need you to know how sorry I am for what happened twelve years ago. You have to know baby. I'm so sorry. Please know that."

Paige couldn't hold back the tears any longer. She grabbed her father's hand and squeezed.

"Daddy, I know…I promise I know." Paige cried. "I love you so much daddy."

"Paige, promise me something." Her father had tears streaming down his face.

"Anything."

"Forgive your mother," her dad requested. "Please just forgive her. Forgive her, then head back to LA. I'm not asking you to move back, I'm asking for you to be the bigger person."

"Okay daddy," Paige nodded her head. "Okay, I will."

"That's my girl," Jake placed his hand on Paige's face. "I wish I could have seen you grow into this incredible women."


The rest of the day, despite how hard Martha made it, Paige tried to be civil. Paige knew that forgiveness wasn't just going to happen like that, it was going to take some work, and even though it seemed impossible at the time Paige was willing to try.

Everyone was in the waiting room: waiting, hoping, and praying that Jake would put up a good fight. The group remained quiet for most of the time they waited except for the occasional coffee run or someone asking just a random question.

The awkwardness and the anticipation was killing Paige, she needed to do something, anything before she exploded. Paige was about to go for a walk when her father's oncologist walked up to the family. Paige didn't know it was possible for the room to get even quieter, but it dd.

"Mrs. Dineen, Matthew," the doctor made his greetings. "Hello," He looked towards Paige, Walter and Ralph. "I'm sorry to say that the surgery didn't go as well as we hoped it would. Jake put up a good fight but I'm not sure it was enough. He's in the ICU right now, but we might be able to move him out into a normal room soon."

"Is he going to make it?" Matt was the first to speak.

"To be honest, Jake's going to have to put up the fight of his life. It's going to take a lot and I'm not sure he still has it in him." The doctor reported. "Only time and test will tell us. I'm sorry I wish I had better answers for you all."

"Can we see him?" Paige asked.

"At this point I'll allow you to go in one at a time, with the exception of your son. He can go in with one of you if you would like." The doctor reported. "However, as much as I'd like to let you, I can't allow anyone to stay in the room with him for more than five minutes."

The five minutes Paige got to spend in his room were some of the longest, yet shortest five minutes of her life. Somehow Jake, the man that had always been so strong, seemed to have gotten worse. He was now a lot paler, he looked almost green, but Paige tried to attribute that to the lights. He looked so much older then he really was.

He was asleep the whole time she was in there, which didn't bother Paige. Paige grew up religious but after leaving home she grew away from her religion as well, but the whole time she was in the ICU she was praying, something she hadn't honestly done in over twelve years.

Paige knew that her father wasn't going to pull through. She could tell by just looking at him, that his body was giving up, his spirit might not be, but his body was.

"Daddy, I know it's unfair to ask you to hold on, so I'm not going to." Paige found herself saying. "I just need you to know how much I love you, I need you to know how sorry I am for the way we ended things, but to be honest I wouldn't change anything about our falling out. Because of that I got my incredible family. Don't get me wrong, I would have definitely shown back up a lot sooner. But because I was sort of thrown out on my own, I became who I am today, and I work with some truly amazing people.

"I love you dad, I know that I can't ask you to hold on, you've been doing that far too long, I'm asking you to let go." Paige's words shocked herself. Did what she just say make her a horrible person? Did that make her selfish? Paige honestly didn't understand why she said what she said, but before she could further understand what she had said the nurse came to tell her it was time to leave.

Paige was so confused. Why had she said that?


Jake's condition worsened with every hour. At one point Paige, Matt and Martha were brought into his room to sit with him until he went. (Paige didn't really want Ralph to see or experience this so Walter offered to stay behind.) The emotions were running high in the room and nobody spoke. They all just watched Jake. They all cried at different points, sometimes all together, but that was about the most interaction that they ever had.

After being in the room for about two hours, everyone could tell his time was nearing. Jake's breathing began to become very sharp and uneven, as well as it being less frequent. Paige just wanted to get up and run, but she knew that she couldn't, she wouldn't be able to forgive herself if she left.

About five minutes after his breathing got worse, came the familiar and heart shattering flat line tone. The room burst with emotion. Martha kissed her husband's face, then to Paige's surprise, turned around and wrapped Paige in a hug. It took Paige a second to recover but when she did she instantly hugged her mother back. How long they stood there neither really knew, but Paige was convinced that was the longest time that they had ever spent together without fighting.


As painful as it was to say goodbye, all three of the Dineen's could say that they were glad Jake was no longer suffering.

Paige, with Walter assuring her it was okay, decided to stay for the memorial service. But she sent Walter and Ralph back home. Walter couldn't be away from the team for another three days and Ralph had school.

During the time before the memorial, Paige stayed at her childhood home with her mother. As strained as their relationship was, they surprisingly got along. They definitely weren't close but they were civil with each other and that was enough for Paige.

The memorial came and went. Paige was supposed to be on a plain to LA the day after, she knew that she was running out of time to talk to her mother. She had to talk to Martha before she left. So that night after everyone left the Dineen's house Paige made her way into the family study where her mother had spent most of her time.

"Hey," Paige greeted with a smile.

"Hello," Martha said just briefly looking up from the book she was reading. Paige sat down on the couch that was directly in front of the one her mother was on, and she too pulled out a book. The two women sat in silence for what seemed life forever. Paige couldn't help but laugh at herself, she had faced Mexican drug lords, a deadly disease, hanging God only knows how many feet off the ground from a metal ball, she'd even driven just feet under a freaking plain, yet she was too scared to talk to the women that gave birth to her, how screwed up was that?

"Mom, can we talk?" the words slipped out before Paige even knew they were coming.

"What is it Paige?" Martha asked without looking up.

"Mom we have to talk about where we go from here." That caught Martha's attention.

"Whatever do you mean?"

"We need to figure out our relationship, mom…" Martha interrupted Paige.

"Paige, you're going to go back to LA and work for your boyfriend's company, while your brother and I are going to stay here and go on as we have the last twelve years. Nothing has changed."

"Mom, I'm trying here, can't you put in a little effort?" Paige didn't know why she was getting so irritated.

"You and I both know that if we were meant to have a good relationship it would have happened by now."

"I'm here, I'm trying!" Paige was now standing and she had her mother's full attention. "But I can't do it alone. Can't we just try for once to get along and perhaps forgive each other for the stupid mistakes we've made?"

Martha just laughed.

"I'm so sick of this, it's like my childhood all over again!" Paige shouted. "I could never do anything right in your eyes, I was a major screw up and Matt was just so perfect and couldn't do anything wrong, when he did it wasn't 'Matt you shouldn't have done that' it was 'Paige why'd you let him do that'. You never tried to establish a relationship with me, so why the hell am I trying now?" Paige stood up and walked out of the room before her mother could respond, she was done trying. Paige knew that she had promised her dad that she would try but if Martha was going to make it impossible then what was the point?


The next morning Paige had Matt take her to the airport so she could fly back to LA. She didn't bother to say goodbye to her mother, in her opinion everything that needed to be said had been said the night before. It was now up to Martha to decide what happens, and Paige was perfectly fine with that.

"Hey, be careful over there." Matt said as he pulled her bag out of his car. "And stay in touch. Don't make me wait twelve more years to talk to you."

"I won't," Paige smiled at her little brother. "Matt, thank you for coming to LA to get me. But I think you were wrong about one thing."

"Oh yeah, what would that be?" Matt watched his sister skeptically.

"I don't think it was dad that needed to see me, I think I was the one that needed to see him."

That caused Matt to smile. "You know when I saw you again for the first time in twelve years, I thought you had changed so much that I didn't know you anymore. Thanks for proving me wrong."

Paige and Matt hugged one last time, made stupid jokes at each other, and promised that they would keep in touch.

Paige couldn't help but smile at herself as she got on her plain. Maybe her relationship with her mom was a bust, but at least she got Mattie back.