A/N: Hey all. I'm glad to see that people are enjoying so far. I forgot how gratifying it was to post on here and get so much love. I expect there will be plenty more feelings after this chapter, as I start to tug at your heartstrings a little more.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: CBS owns Scorpion.

Chapter 3: Saying it Out Loud

"Ladies and gentlemen, we are beginning our descent into Los Angeles…"

Walter pulled himself back to consciousness, looking around. Realizing that his laptop was still open on the tray table, he quickly shut it and moved it out of the way so that everything could be properly stowed.

Florence was still asleep on his shoulder. "Florence?" He gently shook her leg.

"Mm?"

"We're landing."

She woke up slowly, in the same fashion that Walter himself probably had. Lifting off his shoulder, her head laboriously climbed until it was back in its proper position above her neck. "Alright."

Once his laptop was back in his bag, he turned to look at her. "Did you sleep well?"

"Apparently. This felt like a very short flight."

A soreness in his shoulder suggested just how long the flight had been, but he ignored it. "That's good."

"What about you?"

Walter was surprised that he had slept at all. He didn't typically sleep on flights. While the vast majority of his plane trips were uneventful, he had enough experience with less fortunate flights by now that he remained alert for any notable discrepancies, or at the very least found work to do on his laptop during which he could keep an ear out.

However, the bed in their low-budget hotel in Newark had been less than conducive to a good night's sleep, a factor that had probably contributed significantly to his falling asleep now.

"Fine," he replied. The plane hit a tiny bit of turbulence, and he briefly tightened his grip on Florence's leg.

"Ow."

"Sorry."

As the plane landed without further issue, he looked forlornly at the nineteen rows of passengers in front of them. His least favorite part of flights was always the waiting to get off the plane after they were already at the gate. It always felt like a huge waste of his time. While it certainly wasn't economically efficient for airlines to widen the aisles in their planes, it would be much more convenient for the passengers.

He mentally chastised himself for rejecting efficiency in favor of personal convenience. It was an utterly unnecessary bit of emotion. And somewhere in the back of his mind, Paige's voice was also chastising him for thinking that his time might be more valuable than the time of those seated in front of him. Even though it probably was.

"Dammit, the Dodgers lost again," said the man who was seated next to Cabe, a few rows further back. Walter laughed internally at the idea of immediately checking a baseball score as soon as he was able to access the internet again.

And Paige's voice chastised him again.

He checked his email. He already knew that he had missed an email from Richard Elia while he had been in New Jersey, and hoped that he hadn't lost the opportunity for a potential job. He should call Elia as soon as possible, but that would probably have to wait until they were out of the airport, as there was too much background noise.

As he waited impatiently for everyone in front of him to disembark, Florence leaned up and pecked his cheek. "Relax," she whispered. She knew exactly what was going through his head. Even though she was far more patient than he was, she had the same superiority complex that he did when it came to average people.

He gave her a small smile, then leaned back in his seat and pushed aside his impatience.

Once they were off the plane and free of the crowd, they quickened their pace, then stopped in their tracks after leaving the terminal. There, standing amidst the waiting family and friends, was Sylvester, holding a sign that read 'Team Scorpion.'

Cabe was the first to break free of his shock, and he walked over. "Sylvester, what are you doing here?"

Sylvester hesitated, his confidence falling apart when it came time to speak. "I… I came to give you a ride back to the garage. But… first I need to apologize… to all of you." He looked at Walter, and then at Florence. Then he gestured towards an empty bench that was out of the way of the crowds. "Can we talk?"

Walter wanted to call Elia, but that could wait. "Sure."

They sat down on the bench, and Sylvester leaned forward, looking down at the ground. It took him a few seconds to speak again. "Florence, I'm incredibly sorry for what I said that day. It was completely irrational for me to assume that Walter had done anything to force your feelings for him, or even to suggest that you weren't unilaterally responsible for developing your own feelings."

Florence digested his words for a moment, and then started to respond, but he continued.

"I got so angry. I've been…" He paused again to sort out his words. "I have gone through various emotional phases since Megan died, but after I met you, I thought for the first time that I might be able to date someone else without disrespecting her memory. And because of that notion, I think I fixated on you a little too much. I was a boy with a crush again, for the first time in a long time. And like all of my other crushes, except for Megan, the girl ultimately chose someone who was more handsome than I was."

"I'm not more handsome than you are," Walter said immediately. He knew that it wasn't true according to the societal norms regarding attractiveness, but he felt that it was what Sylvester needed to hear. It was a white lie.

"Not that it matters," Florence added. Walter knew that wasn't a lie.

"And it felt like I had been rejected again, even though I never actually told you how I felt. And so I got angry… and irrational."

"I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you."

"I know. And I've realized by now that my feelings for you were just another fruitless crush, one among many. And I don't need to date someone else. Megan was my soulmate. I accepted that even after she was gone. When I wanted to ask you out, I had that old line about finding happiness with someone else echoing in my head. But I don't need my happiness to depend on someone else. I can remember her and not be lonely. And if I ever am lonely, I still have my family." His gaze shifted to Walter.

He didn't sound like he had fully convinced himself just yet, but he was clearly trying.

Walter appreciated his old friend's last point, but thought about the rest of the confession. He knew how lonely a person could be when he wasn't able to be with the person he loved, and he didn't think that trying to find happiness with someone else was unhealthy.

On at least some level, this was almost certainly an extension of Sylvester's renewed fear of rejection.

Florence clearly thought the same. "Sylvester, I'm not sure you should completely give up on finding happiness with someone else. Just because I didn't—"

"Florence, I appreciate the thought, but please don't finish that sentence."

Florence closed her mouth and glanced at Walter. But that was a conversation for another time. "We accept your apology," he said.

"Good." Sylvester perked up. "Now I'll drive you back to the garage."

"Paige doesn't know you're here, does she?" Cabe asked as they stood.

"Uh… no. That's another thing. Walter, Richard Elia emailed."

"I know."

"When you didn't respond, he emailed me. Another security glitch with his banking app. Paige thinks I'm at his office right now."

"Did you take the job?"

"I quickly programmed a hotfix and sent it to him. It fortified the app until you can get over there."

Walter looked at his friend. "Thank you."

"It didn't seem fair to take work from Elia. He's your connection."

"What are you going to tell Paige when the payment doesn't come in?" Cabe asked.

Sylvester hesitated again. "Maybe she won't notice. There have been plenty of paydays lately."

"She'll notice," Walter and Cabe said in unison.

"I know. I'll figure something out when the time comes."

"There's a lot of deception here, Sly," Cabe pointed out. "That's not your style."

"Believe me, I know. You know I'm not comfortable with it. But Paige is… she isn't ready for…"

"I know," said Walter. "Happy said the same thing the other day." He caught an expression that briefly flit across Florence's face. Apprehension?

"We're going to come clean to her, and I hope it will be soon, but in the meantime…" Sylvester gave a small shrug. "This feels like the right thing to do."

"I appreciate that."

As they left the airport, Sylvester decided to change the subject. "So, how was New Jersey?"

Walter hadn't thought that Richard Elia could surprise him anymore. He was wrong. "You have a poster of a baseball player in your office."

"I lost a bet with Russell."

"Um… okay. How is he? And Zoe?"

Elia sighed. "Behaving like teenagers. But, Zoe got into Berkley, so I guess I can't complain."

"Give her my congratulations. You must be proud."

"I am." Elia stared off into space. "Obviously, I knew she would eventually reach the age where she would be going off to college, but… I liked it much better when that age was further off."

Walter wasn't entirely comfortable with this conversation. "Well, children grow up."

"The code is done?"

Walter realized that Elia had picked up on his discomfort, and he appreciated the quick change of topic. "Yes. The app should be totally un-hackable."

"At least until the hackers find a new way. Eventually, they always do. But, I've got you around for when that happens."

"Technically, I wasn't around this time."

"Well, that's true, but Sylvester did you a solid. It was very nice of him to help you out."

"Yes, it was." Walter wondered exactly what Sylvester had told Elia about the current… circumstances.

Elia was silent for a few seconds. Then he leaned forward. "Walter, I consider us friends, and I hope you agree with that. In that spirit, I hope you don't mind if I speak frankly for a moment."

Walter frowned, not sure what was coming. "Go ahead."

"I did my research before contacting you. I had heard about the team splitting up, and I wanted to get a sense of how much work you had been getting since it happened. I wanted to know whether Scorpion 2.0, as you're calling it, was able to survive on its own. And, honestly, Walter, I don't think it can."

"You were able to deduce that from an internet search?"

"That isn't the only kind of research. I have sources."

"Well, with all due respect, I disagree with your assessment." Walter fidgeted with his bag. "I should probably get going."

"Walter, do you really disagree? The situation you're in right now is untenable."

"Richard, I appreciate the concern, but we'll get by. Scorpion always does."

"But this isn't Scorpion anymore. You're a half a team."

Walter stood, pulling his bag over his shoulder.

"Walter, the reason I did the research is because I'm offering to buy Scorpion 2.0."

Walter froze. "What?"

"You would have full access to my marketing team, which would give you a virtual monopoly on the west coast. Paige is good, but she's just one person. My team would give you the kind of outreach that you have never had before."

That would mean a lot more jobs. Walter couldn't believe he was actually considering this. Elia had tried multiple times before to hire him, but he had never before tried to permanently hire the entire team as a unit.

"And you would have access to my team of engineers. None of them are Happy Quinn, but as a group, they can certainly work faster than Happy can alone."

Walter had managed to keep Scorpion independent for over four years. But things were getting worse.

And Elia was right. It wasn't Scorpion anymore.

"I'll think about it."

"Good." Elia leaned back again. "Why don't you stop by a lunch conference I'm hosting next week? Then we'll chat about it."

Walter nodded stiffly. "Sounds good."

Elia stood. "I'll walk you out."

"Are you alright?" Cabe asked as soon as Walter entered the garage. Was it that obvious?

"Yeah." Walter walked over to his desk and set his bag down. "Where's Florence?"

"At her place. She's doing some experiment that she said would be too smelly to do in the garage."

Walter wrinkled his nose, knowing exactly what experiment he was referring to. "Did anything come in while I was gone?"

"Nope. All quiet on the home front."

Of course. Walter sat down heavily, Elia's words circling through his mind over and again.

"What's bothering you, Walter?"

Walter took a breath before replying. "Elia's offering to buy Scorpion 2.0."

Cabe said nothing. He looked away, staring off into space for several seconds. "Did you tell him no?"

"I said I would think about it."

"Are you actually?"

Walter hesitated. "Maybe."

"My god." Cabe looked away again, then stood and took a few steps away from his chair, placing his hands in his pockets. Walter thought he was about to start yelling, but the yelling never came. "How long is he giving you to think about it?"

"He wants me to attend a conference he's hosting next week. We're going to talk afterwards."

Cabe turned and took two steps back towards his chair, then stopped. He remained still for a moment, then sighed. "Maybe it's time."

That was not the response that Walter was expecting.

Cabe covered the rest of the distance to his chair and sat down. "Look, Walt, we're not doing well right now. And Elia's certainly got the resources to turn that around."

Walter realized that he had been hoping Cabe would be against the idea. He needed someone other than him to voice the reasons why he shouldn't agree.

"I'll say this: This will certainly give Carson the excuse he wants to terminate our contract entirely. Homeland's not about to start giving classified information to a company as large as Elia's. Far too much potential for security breaches. Not that Homeland's been giving us much of anything lately, anyway."

"But you work for Homeland. That would mean you could no longer work with us." Walter finally had the reason he needed to turn down the offer. He couldn't lose Cabe.

"Are you kidding? You think I wouldn't be coming with you? Wherever this team goes, I go. I've been thinking it's about time for me to retire from government work, anyway."

Now Walter was truly stunned. "After all the trouble we went through last year to get you reinstated? You're so passionate about your job."

"That's true. I love serving my country. But I have other loves in my life now." He paused for a moment, looking down. "Allie wants to set a date."

"A date?" They had lots of dates, didn't they?

"A wedding date."

That made sense. After couples got engaged, they then got married. But Cabe didn't look happy. "Is that bad?"

Cabe took a moment before replying. "I can't afford to give her the life she deserves, Walt."

It took a few seconds for the full weight of the sentence to set in. Walter often thought about how the business was strained for money, but individually, he, Cabe, and Florence all lived pretty simply. He and Florence both focused the majority of their expenses on their projects, but he never gave much thought to how Cabe handled his income. Or whether he might ever be strained for cash.

But he knew the proper response to give. "I don't think Allie cares if your income is too low." He had heard Paige say something similar once.

"Not directly. But she has dreams, and as things stand right now, I can't help her fulfill them. With Elia's money…" He trailed off. "Not that that's the only issue, but it would certainly be a step in the right direction."

"What are the other issues?"

Cabe gave him a forlorn expression, and Walter wondered whether he shouldn't have asked the question. "She wants a family."

"You mean… children?" Walter couldn't envision Cabe with new children.

"Yeah. And she should have them. She's still young, she deserves to be a mother."

"Actually, she's well past the optimal child-bearing age." Walter knew as soon as he saw Cabe's reaction that that wasn't the appropriate response. "I mean…" He searched for something else to say, but nothing came to mind.

Cabe waited for a moment, then looked away. "I can't go through that again, Walter."

Now Walter absolutely had no idea what to say. Cabe was an excellent father-figure, but he had only briefly been a real father. Walter realized that Allie's desire for children must have been causing Cabe to relive his experiences with Amanda, including her death.

Cabe stood again, turning and fully hiding his face. Walter stood as well, because it felt like the right thing to do.

"I'm gonna… excuse me." Cabe abruptly walked into the kitchen, disappearing from view. Walter briefly considered going after him, but decided against it. The only reason Cabe would have gone in there was to be alone.

Walter watched the clock. He waited until he was sure that Sylvester would be home, but not a second longer, and picked up his phone.

"Hello?"

"Did you know that Elia was going to offer to buy Scorpion 2.0?"

"What?" The surprise sounded genuine.

"Elia offered to buy Scorpion 2.0."

There was a moment of silence on the other end. "You told him no, right?"

"Not yet."

There was more silence, until Walter heard Sylvester breathe heavily into the phone.

"Sylvester, what exactly was said when you sent him the hotfix?"

"He… I…"

"Did he ask you if Scorpion 2.0 was getting enough work?"

"No…"

Walter waited, an old anger beginning to rise anew.

"I may have hinted that you weren't very busy, and… suggested that any work he could give you would be helpful. But I swear, I had no idea that he was going to offer to buy your team."

Walter shut his eyes, doing his best to suppress his emotions. Sylvester had only been trying to help.

"Walter?"

"What?" The word came out sounding harsher than Walter intended it to.

"You're going to turn him down, right?"

Now it was Walter's turn to sigh into the phone. "Well, like you said, we need the work."

"Please turn him down."

"Why?" Sylvester wasn't a member of Scorpion anymore. Why did he care?

"Because if you don't, then we can't…" Sylvester trailed off. "There's only one way to make everyone happy. Well, except Elia, apparently, but he's gotten over your rejections before."

"What are you talking about, Sly?"

Sylvester took an audible breath before responding. "We have to reunite Scorpion."