This chapter is wayyy longer than the others, but I did promise a long chapter. I hope you guys like it all the same!
I included a bit of a Waige moment too for all of the Waige fans (I myself and one of them, so I understand the struggle of wanting more)
Disclaimer: I do not own Scorpion. I do not own it's characters, either. I simply interpret them.
Chapter 4
The next day Paige dropped Ralph of for school and headed straight upstairs when she reached the garage, eager to check on Walter. She was instantly disappointed when she saw his talking to himself still, chalk gliding across the black board. His clothes had changed and the familiar scent of his soap wafted to Paige's nose. It was good that he had showered. Happy had explained to her before that Walter is the kind of genius that can't stand being dirty, even when he's down the rabbit hole, so he would still shower and change his clothes daily. Though he was clean, dark bruises under his eyes hinted at a sleepless night.
"Oh, Walter." she sighed. "You've got to snap out of it."
Walter didn't acknowledge her. Paige wasn't even surprised. She sighed and headed down the stairs.
"Good morning!" Toby called as he shut the fridge door and poured a glass of milk for himself. "How is our all-powerful leader?"
Paige rolled her eyes at Toby's sarcasm. "That's hardly appropriate, Toby. Should I be giving him food or something?"
"Food he'll refuse, but he's got to be thirsty. You could probably force some water into him."
Paige smiled. "Thanks." she grabbed a glass and thrust it underneath the tap. "Any tips on pulling him out?"
Toby sighed. "With Walter, usually it's impossible to help him. He has to get to a place where he can accept help and get out. This is a Mark Collins Trip down the rabbit hole. He's down deep, and he has no intention of coming up for air any time soon."
"Great. So there's nothing I can do?"
"He needs to eat eventually. He needs to sleep. He needs his water," Toby gestured to the water in Paige's hand. "He needs support constantly because eventually he's going to be looking for a way to save himself, and he can't do it on his own." Toby grabbed his milk and left.
Paige thought about Toby's words, leaning against the fridge. Was that what happened yesterday when Walter asked her about Ralph? Paige had thought he was becoming more responsive when he spoke to her, completely uninitiated. It was Paige's job to help him out, and she hadn't done that. She'd let him slip further down, and the window of opportunity had long passed.
Paige scolded herself mentally as she trudged up the stairs. Toby had said it would be easier to pull Walter out yesterday, since he had just disappeared down the rabbit hole. Today there would probably be no opportunity to help Walter. He had burrowed himself deeper into his mind.
Paige walked up to the black board. "I brought you some water." the genius didn't reply, but he did mutter to himself. "Walter."
Paige rubbed her temples. She was one day in with Walter's ignorance and already she felt like she was at the end of her rope. "Walter!" she grabbed his hand and pulled the chalk out of it, hurling it at the floor. Walter watched as it burst into hundreds of white shards that scattered into different directions. His muttering stopped.
Paige placed the cup of water into his hand. He moved towards the table, ready to put it down, but Paige wasn't going to let him. She beat him to the table and sat on it.
Walter froze, frowning. It was strange to watch him, because Paige knew he was in his own strange world that was tucked away in his head, yet he could react to what was happening in reality. His eyes peered right through her as he processed her stubbornness.
"You can go back to your work once you drink all the water." Paige said, sounding like she was directing her own son and not her boss.
Walters frown deepened so that creases formed across his forehead. Paige crossed her arms. He turned around and started to walk to another table on the other side of the room, but Paige sprinted over and flipped the empty table upside down. She turned to face Walter, who had frozen again.
"Just drink the water." Paige pleaded.
Walter's eyes finally met hers, and Paige's heart skipped a beat. Had she finally gotten through to him? But he looked away, and bent over to set the water onto the ground, then returned to the black board without glancing behind him.
Paige grabbed the glass and stomped up to him. She pushed the black board away from him and put herself between the two. "Hey!" she yelled. "Do you think I'm doing this for me? No! It's for you! I didn't do anything to warrant you ignoring me. What's drinking a glass of water going to do, huh? Will it kill you to drink it?" Walter made a move to walk around Paige, but she just stepped right in front of him again. "I am talking to you! You're not getting back to your stupid black board until this glass is empty!"
Walter tried a few more times to walk around Paige, then finally he placed the glass to his lips and chugged the whole thing. Paige smiled. Clearly he was thirsty. He put the glass into her hands and returned to his board.
Paige felt spent but satisfied. She returned downstairs where everyone in the team was working quietly in separate parts of the garage. Except for Happy, of course, who was hammering something loudly.
"Do you think Cabe will come in today?" She asked Happy.
"Maybe." She began to beat whatever she was hammering again.
"Did you guys have any luck on the case?" Paige asked, hopefully.
"It's Mark Collins. We've already been beat. The only person who could give us any hope of being able to find him is upstairs in his own little coma." Happy said roughly. She returned to pounding the metal, clearly using it as an anger outlet.
"We are trying though." Toby said, waltzing over. "Mark escaped from prison to send Walter down the rabbit hole. My guess is that he's headed over here."
"Here?" Paige asked uncertainly.
Toby nodded. "He wanted the world to go up in flames right in front of Walter's eyes without him being able to do a single thing about it. But Collins had a weak point last time; he made the code to his tower of terror too easy. He's got another plan this time, a more flawless plan. One that will end Walter for good without having to rely on hack-able technology or crack-able pass codes."
"You think he's going to try to kill Walter?"
"I have no doubt about it. The matter is how. Mark sent Walter down the hole to subdue him, so he could go about his plan without being caught. He's exposed his weakness, but that's not enough. Collins with want more, and he's going to come here to get it."
"He wouldn't come here. He knows we're onto him, it would be like walking into a trap. He'll just find another reactor to blow up." Happy argued.
"No, Collins doesn't just want to kill Walter. He wants to torture him. He wants to find all his weak spots and exploit them ruthlessly, and him and Walter have the same weakness; the rabbit hole. Walter used it to get Collins committed, but now Collins is coming back. He's going to wake Walter up so that he's coherent enough to see his mistakes and understand what he did wrong, knowing there was nothing he could do to stop it. That's when Collins will finally feel he's gotten even. So he's got to come here." Toby had been mainly focussed on Happy during his entire explanation, which wasn't unusual since was almost always focussed on Happy. But when he looked at Paige, he frowned deeply.
"Are you alright?" Toby asked. Paige's face had wilted like a dying rose through the whole discussion as she once again imagined Collins creeping up behind an unsuspecting Walter, wielding a gun or a knife, or even a bat... The blood had rushed out of her cheeks and her hands, which trembled.
"You're going into shock," Toby said, putting his hand on her back and guiding her to the couch. He grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around her.
"I'm going to call Cabe." Happy called out as she jogged to the land line phone.
"What? Why? She's just going into shock, it's nothing Cabe needs to worry about."
Happy glared at him as she pressed the phone to her ear. "Not about Paige, genius. If your little theory is right, everyone in the garage is in jeopardy, especially Walter. We need Cabe here, now."
"She's right." Paige softly stammered. "What if he comes here while all of us are sleeping and Walter's just upstairs working, he'll never see it coming."
Toby firmly grabbed both of Paige's shoulders. "That's not going to happen, Paige. Cabe will get security, and we'll either track Collins down or be ready for when he comes."
/WEAKNESSES\
Paige calmed down quickly enough. When Cabe arrived, the rest of the team filled him in. "If you guys are right, we're going to need security. Is there some high tech lock we could put on the door?"
"Nothing Collins couldn't break." Happy said.
"Then we'll hire a guard." Cabe said. "Get someone to have a twenty four hour post on the doors. In the meantime, our goal needs to be pulling Walter out of that rabbit hole."
"Where are we going to get the money for a guard?" Sylvester asked anxiously. He had been ringing his hands nervously since he heard Toby's unpleasant theory. Some colour had drained from the geniuses face, and Paige was worried he would follow her lead and go into shock.
"I'll bring this to Homeland. If I can prove that an escaped convict is targeting Walter, a guard will definitely be supplied." Cabe said. "He's upstairs?" Cabe asked.
"Yep." Toby said.
"And what have you been doing to try to get him out?"
"Paige goes up there and makes him drink, eat and sleep, with semi-success."
"Paige?" Cabe asked. "What about you guys?"
"We can't go up there." Sly explained. "He's written stuff everywhere, and if we see it we could go down the rabbit hole too. Paige is normal, though, so she's fine."
"I'm going to give it a try." Cabe said.
"You should pull your gun on him. Maybe giving him a scare will force him into surfacing." Toby chuckled. Cabe glowered at him. "I'm completely serious." Cabe ignored him and headed upstairs.
While Cabe dealt with Walter, Paige approached Happy again. "I know you had to help Walter on your own last time, so I was wondering if you could give me any tips on getting him to sleep."
"You have to force him into it. I used to tape the lights down and lock the door and keep him in there until he passed out on the floor." Happy shrugged.
"One time we mixed Nyquil into his water and he passed out while he was doing his work." Sylvester added. "But Walter doesn't know that. So don't go telling him."
"One time I tried to hit him over the head with a bat. I figured unconsciousness was close enough to sleep." Toby quipped.
"I caught him before he did that, though. That's a secret, too, so don't go saying that around Walt." Happy said.
"So, the options are imprisonment, drugging and violence." Paige deadpanned. "I don't know however I'll decide!"
"Drugging is the best. It's quick." Happy said, either oblivious or ignorant to Paige's sarcasm.
"Maybe it's quick, but I actually have a conscience, while you guys apparently do not!" Paige exclaimed. Were they actually seriously suggesting that she drug her boss? Was she even going to consider that?
"The rabbit hole isn't fun. But if you want Walter to sleep, you're going to have to get your hands dirty." Happy said.
"Great." Paige sighed. When she was growing up, she had wanted to be a doctor. Now she was babysitting her boss in a garage who, as Happy said before, was walking around in his own little coma. Never in a million years had she expected her career to become this.
Cabe came down the stairs a few minutes later with a larger frown than usual. "No luck?" Paige asked.
Cabe shook his head. "I've seen him down the rabbit hole before. It wasn't this bad, though. He responded occasionally. Whatever Collins did was thorough." Cabe grabbed his sunglasses off of the table. "I'm going to go see what I can do about that guard."
"I should probably try to get Walter to eat." Paige sighed. "He ate nothing yesterday."
"He needs water more than he needs food. He can last three weeks without eating, but only one day without water." Toby called out.
"He drank yesterday. I can bring up some water later." Paige said as she made Walter a sandwich.
He was still working when Paige came up the stairs. Paige handed Walter the sandwich. He tried returning it to her, but when that proved futile he placed it on the coffee table.
Paige sighed, remembering her struggle with Walter and the glass of water from the previous day. She placed the sandwich in his hand and sat down on the table before he could place it there.
Walter walked around and sat down on the couch, shifting down it until he was away from Paige. She jumped onto the couch as he placed the sandwich onto the table, pressing one knee firmly on his legs to keep him seated.
Paige shoved the table away and stood directly in front of Walter. She handed him the sandwich and he rested it on the empty space on the couch beside him. "No!" Paige exclaimed, exasperated. She put her other knee there, holding her weight off of Walter. He then placed the sandwich on the other side. Paige groaned as she slid her other knee off of Walter and put it there.
Paige grinned as she noticed she had Walter trapped. She handed him the sandwich again and clung the back of the couch so he couldn't hand it back to her. Walter remained motionless.
Was he finally going to eat? Paige prayed. But he remained unmoving, a strange expression coming over his face. Paige was terrible at reading Walter's facial expressions. His eyes were wide and his lips were slightly parted. The small wrinkles that he usually wore on his face due to how serious he often looked had melted away. His eyes had actually focussed onto Paige's. He looked a bit shocked and awed at the same time, and…. Was that embarrassment Paige was detecting?
It took Paige only a second to realize why. "Oh my god." Paige whispered. She had been so involved in forcing Walter to eat, she hadn't noticed the position she was.
Paige's face was mere inches from Walter. She was straddling his hips, on top of that. The shock on Walter's face was suddenly understandable. Paige flushed a deep red and climbed off of him quickly.
"Oh, god." Paige said, mostly to herself. Walter was still sitting motionless, eyes staring blankly ahead. "That was not appropriate."
Walter sat still for another minute, sandwich in his hand. Paige became increasingly worried, wondering if her stupidity had pushed him deeper into the rabbit hole. "Walter?" She asked.
Suddenly, his hand lifted to bring the sandwich to his mouth, and he started to eat. Paige broke into a wide grin as he quickly ate the whole thing. But she found it a bit strange that all she had to do was sit on Walter's lap and he did as she asked. Did she really have that much power over him? Paige decided to remember that for future instances. She was not going to straddle Walter again, but maybe she could think of something involving a bit of physical contact that might pry him out of the rabbit hole.
Her smile stayed with her as she strutted down the stairs victoriously. She cleaned up everything she had pulled out to make the sandwich. Maybe Walter wasn't out of the rabbit hole just yet, but at least she could get through to him a little bit. That would have to be enough progress for her.
"Someone looks cheery." Toby noted, walking up to Paige.
"I got him to eat." Paige beamed.
"Really? You were up there for like, three minutes." Toby marvelled. "Whenever I tried to get him to eat, way back when he fell down the hole last time, it took me at least twenty minutes. Same for Sylvester."
"You got him to eat?" Happy asked, wandering towards Toby and Paige. Paige nodded. "That was pretty fast."
"Faster than you." Toby said. He looked at Paige with a newfound curiosity. It made Paige's face flush like she had when she caught herself straddling Walter. "Why are you blushing?"
"Why are you looking at me like that?" Paige asked quickly.
"That was awfully defensive." Toby pointed out.
"I don't want to be psycho analyzed, Toby." Paige grumbled.
"But that's the only thing he's good at." Happy said sarcastically, earning a glare from Toby. "Poor kid."
Toby turned to Happy. "Kid? I'm older than you!"
"Didn't I catch you screaming at Proton Arnold last night?" Happy said. "Not even Ralph does that, and he's ten."
"I didn't know you were watching me play Proton Arnold." Toby smiled, raising his eyebrows.
Happy rolled her eyebrows. "The only person who could've ignored your screaming was Walter."
"Alright, whatever you say." Toby said with an even bigger smile. Happy rolled her eyes again and sauntered away. Toby watched her walked away with the goofy grin still on his face.
"Could you be any more obvious?" Paige asked when Happy was out of ear range.
"Yes." Toby said, still watching Happy as she returned to her work. "But I'm saving that for when I get really desperate."
Paige smiled at the shrink's shenanigans. His affection for Happy was adorable in Paige's eyes, and she hoped Happy would give up her façade soon. But she smiled even wider when she thought about what had just happened. Toby was about to pry the embarrassing truth out of Paige when Happy came to her rescue and refocused Toby's attention onto her. Happy had helped her. Paige guessed that was her way of thanking her for helping out Walter.
I told you guys that was long! Phew... it took a while for me to write that.
So I was wondering how long you guys think Walter is going to be/should be in the rabbit hole. I already know, but judging on your opinion I may tweak the story a bit. Please review! :)
Thanks for reading!