*Updated
Walter fidgeted nervously in the diner booth and felt Paige put her hand on his thigh, squeezing gently to stop it's incessant bouncing. "Relax Walter, it's going to be OK."
He clasped his hands together on the table and nodded, giving her a tight smile. He would have preferred to have had this meeting in private at the garage or even Toby and Happy's apartment, but Toby wanted neutral ground. Public neutral ground. As if it wasn't going to be hard enough, he would now have an audience, circumspect Toby was not.
"Well would you look at this, mom and dad are back together, ain't it sweet." Toby's acerbic tone filled the air as he slid into the opposite side of the booth. "Walter. Paige."
"Toby." They said in unison.
"So…here I am." He spread his arms wide. "Ready and waiting, on the edge of my seat, both literally and figuratively, so let's hear it. Spill." Walter looked at Paige and reached beneath the table for her hand, seeking support. "Interesting." Toby murmured, he missed nothing. Walter ignored him, it was now or never. All he had to do was bare his soul, tell his deepest, darkest fears in this very public place and everything would be OK. He swallowed.
"I've had a lot of time to think these last couple of weeks…"
"I bet you have." Toby muttered.
"Toby!" Paige glared at him until he held up his hands in mock surrender.
"My apologies, Walter, please continue."
Walter cleared his throat and looked to Paige again for encouragement. "I should have listened to you Toby. You were right." They sat in silence for a moment.
"And?" Toby said sharply. "Seriously. That's it? You drag me down here to "talk" and that's all I get? Geez! I know I was right, genius behaviourist right here. The question is, do you know why you were wrong?" Toby waited, watching every tick.
Walter opened his mouth and closed it again, there was just so much he wanted to say. Coming to a decision, he reached into his jacket and retrieved the folded bundle of yellow pages he'd brought, just in case, and slid them across the table to Toby "Yes." He said softly and drew back his hand.
"What is this? You offering us a bigger slice of the pie? Cos I gotta tell ya, that ship has sailed my friend." Toby unfolded the paper and began to read. He looked at Walter. He read some more. He went back to the beginning and read it all again. When he'd finally finished, he carefully folded the pages again and handed them back. "I'm impressed Walter. That right there, that is some seriously jaw dropping self-analysis. I knew you had it in you, just maybe not for another decade or two." He looked at Paige. "Have you read it?" he asked curiously, Paige shook her head. He looked at Walter's bowed head as he nervously waited judgement. "Walter, I'm proud of you pal, that took real guts." Toby said quietly.
Walter nodded in silent acknowledgement and squeezed Paige's hand. It was going to be OK.
"I should have tried harder, cut you off at the pass so to speak. Before…kaboom. I fully acknowledge that we have all behaved like spiteful, rebellious kids, and for my part I'm sorry." He smiled, genuinely at Walter. "But I gotta say, it may have been a blessing in disguise. For you I mean, not us. For us it was, like, man, complete carnage."
"Toby!" Paige kicked him under the table.
"Ow! What? Too soon?" He rubbed his leg. "Happy, get your butt in here." He pointed to his ear. "She's been on comms the whole time." He shrugged apologetically. "And here she is now, my little glowering ray of sunshine."
"Can it, jackass. Walt, Paige." Happy nodded at them and slid in next to Toby. "So, you guys are good now?"
"We are. We're trying to be." He and Happy stared at one another.
"Try hard Walt, Paige is good for you, and that's good for all of us."
"Understood." Walter let out a sigh of relief.
"So…what happens next?" Happy looked from Walter to Paige. "What happens to Centipede?"
"That's up to you, I will respect whatever decision you make but…I would like it very much if you came back to Scorpion."
"Things would have to change Walt, we'd need more of a say, and Sylvester would have to agree too."
Walter nodded, he'd already given this quite a bit of thought "If you're prepared to consider it, coming back, I found an attorney who can help us sort through the profit sharing and intellectual property stuff. We'd do it all properly."
Happy and Toby looked at each other in silent conversation, Toby raised an eyebrow giving Happy the final decision.
"OK then. Let's order, I'm starving." She looked down at the menu. "And Walt? I'm sorry too."
She glanced up briefly and Walter smiled wide; it really was going to be OK. He put his arm around Paige and kissed her. "Do they have fermented fish here?"