-It's a long night for everyone as Toby and Happy get a brief taste of parenthood. The next morning Walter and Sylvester reveal what they've discovered.-

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CHAPTER 4.

"Mmmm, wish we could do this every night, Sugarplum."

Toby spooned against Happy and pulled up the covers. He kissed the back of her neck, knowing it would send those feelings surging through her body.

"When we're married." Happy smiled to herself as Toby's hand wandered across her abdomen. "I told you, Doc, I wanna do this properly. We're not cohabiting until there's a band of gold on my finger."

Toby caressed her thigh with his fingertips. "Did I ever tell you how sexy I find your foibles?" he breathed.

Happy pushed his hand away and flipped around to face him. "My what?" she asked, glaring at him. "What kind of dumb anatomically-correct word is that?"

"Foibles?" queried Toby with a chuckle. "It's not a medical term."

"Oh, right," said Happy, as she realised what he'd said. "Yeah, well, you might call it a foible, but you know damn well why I made that rule."

"Because your childhood sucked," replied Toby, sympathetically. He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand and pushed a few stray hairs over her ear. "So you want to do things the traditional way."

"Something like that," she agreed.

"I won't mention the pre-marital sex and you refusing to take my name after the big day."

"I'm not refusing," insisted Happy. "I'm still contemplating Quinn-Curtis, remember? And we can stop pre-marital sex any time if you're gonna be a jerk about it."

Toby whimpered, but a smile crossed Happy's face and she leaned in to kiss him. Then she rolled back over and encouraged Toby to spoon again. Not that he needed any encouragement.

"We should check on Marnie every couple hours," said Toby as he remembered they had a guest in the spare room.

"Because of her head?"

"Yeah, that," he agreed. "And because she could be a flight risk."

"Do you really think she'll try running again?" asked Happy. "I mean, she tried that earlier and it didn't exactly work out, thanks to O'Brien."

"I'm not sure," admitted Toby. "She's scared and she's got a fiercely independent streak. She took a huge risk coming all the way to L.A. to resolve her daddy issues and it didn't pay off, so she might decide to cut her losses before whoever planted that device in her bag comes looking for her."

"Poor kid," sighed Happy. She could tell how disappointed Marnie was that she hadn't been able to meet the man she believed was her father today. "I waited years to meet my dad," she added quietly. "But all that time I guess knowing he knew I existed kinda made it… I don't know, I guess I always knew I could try to find him whenever I wanted and if I chose to walk back into his life one day it would be on my terms. Marnie doesn't have that luxury."

"True," agreed Toby. "She knows she could be facing crushing rejection and she's prepared herself as much as she can, but it's gonna be tough on her whatever Timbo decides. Right now the only outcome I can see involves Marnie getting hurt."

Toby had talked to Marnie for a while before bedtime. He'd used a few concentration and memory techniques to help her recall some of the tiniest details of her long journey across the country and also about the truck driver who had supposedly got lost. Happy had immediately called Cabe with the information so he could pass it onto Homeland.

Toby had tried to reassure her girl that she wasn't in any kind of trouble, but despite her attempts to shrug it off it was obvious that Marnie had been really shaken by the whole experience. He couldn't blame her for that, it had been a weird day, even for Scorpion.

He'd reminded her that Walter had promised he would help her figure out one way or the other who her father was. At least if it wasn't Tim she would have some closure, he'd explained and she'd seemed to understand.

Marnie had also talked a little about her mother. Toby had been able to get her to open up a little about how her mother's mental health conditions had affected her and, from personal experience, he was also able to give her some good advice on how to cope.

"Maybe I'll go check on her now?" suggested Happy.

Toby sighed as Happy slipped out of bed. "Don't be too long, Lovebug," he called after her. "Missing you already!"

"Dork."

The only person – other than Toby - who had ever stayed over with Happy before was Cabe. He'd moved back to his own place a few months ago now though and the spare bed had quickly become covered in tools and motorcycle parts again. She hadn't really thought through the practicalities of having a teenager to stay when she'd made the offer to Marnie and Happy had had to clear everything off the bed so the girl had somewhere to sleep, but Homeland had agreed to the arrangement so here she was.

Happy opened the door to find Marnie sitting up in bed. She heard a sharp intake of breath as the girl realised she was there.

"Sorry, didn't meant to scare you," said Happy. "You should be asleep anyway."

"I know," came the meek reply.

Happy took two steps into the room. "You feeling OK?"

"I guess. Can't sleep, that's all."

Happy nodded. She knew she should say something else, but she also knew that displaying empathy really wasn't her strong suit.

"Um, so, can I get you anything?" she asked eventually.

"No, I'm OK."

Happy sighed and walked over to the bed. "Listen, I know this whole thing sucks," she began. "But we're all in the dark about Tim right now and about whoever hacked us, so my advice is… is… um…" She desperately searched for more words, but nothing came.

"Tell me about Tim," asked Marnie.

"Um, OK, so he's good in the field, he helped us out on a bunch of pretty dangerous cases," replied Happy, not quite sure what else she could say. "You should ask Paige if you want to know more, she's the one dating him."

"Paige is dating my dad? I didn't realise…. but I thought he left?"

"He did," nodded Happy. "But I guess he's coming back eventually. They didn't break up or anything."

Marnie stretched out on the bed and let out a sigh. "I'm so tired," she said.

"Y'know, when I was living in group homes, I don't think I ever slept properly," said Happy.

Marnie nodded. "You never know what's gonna happen do you," she agreed. "There's always something going on. I try to just ignore it, but… but it's tough."

Happy desperately wanted to tell her that everything was going to be OK, but she knew she couldn't make that promise.

"So, Toby taught me this breathing thing," she said eventually. "Helps me to relax. I'll show you."

Happy demonstrated the breathing technique and left Marnie to – hopefully – get some sleep.

"She was still awake," she began as she walked back into the bedroom. "She was asking about T... oh..."

Happy went quiet and smiled to herself when she saw Toby curled up in the foetal position and realised he was asleep. She climbed back into bed as carefully as possible. He'd been right earlier, it would be wonderful when they could do this every night... although preferably without having to babysit a teenager.

She was soon asleep herself and she didn't even hear Toby's alarm buzzing a couple of hours later. Toby was able to check on Marnie - who was asleep herself this time - and sneak back into bed without disturbing his wife-to-be.

The next alarm was Happy's and she immediately wished she'd left checking on Marnie to Toby - he was the doctor after all. She headed towards the other room, but before she opened the door she could hear a noise and realised Marnie was awake again. She pushed open the door to find Marnie sitting up in bed clutching her knees to her chest. She was breathing erratically and in the shadows of her bedside light Happy could see the tears running down her cheeks.

"Hey, you OK?" asked Happy immediately realising it was a stupid question - of course she wasn't OK. "I heard a noise," she added, as if that somehow validated the question.

"I... I... I had a nightmare," answered Marnie without looking up at her. "It was… scary."

"Not good," replied Happy. "Do you wanna talk about it? To me, I mean?" she asked, awkwardly. She really wished that she'd woken Toby now.

Marnie shrugged, but then, to Happy's relief, Toby appeared at the doorway.

"What's going on?" he asked, rubbing his eyes and stifling a yawn.

"Marnie had a nightmare," Happy explained. "This is your department," she added, raising her eyebrows.

"OK," nodded Toby. Then his face fell into a frown as he noticed just how upset Marnie was. "I guess this nightmare of yours wasn't about Santa arriving in a pick-up and stealing all your clothes."

Happy looked at him in disbelief.

"You mean that was just me?" asked Toby, innocently.

"You had a messed up childhood," noted Happy, dryly.

Toby nodded in agreement before returning his full attention to Marnie. "OK," he said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. "The nightmare was your brain's way of trying to process everything," he explained. "What do you remember about it?"

"The guy… the truck driver…" began Marnie. "The one who planted that fake phone in my bag. He… he was trying to hurt me."

"OK," said Toby in a gentle, reassuring tone. "Now, take a deep breath, let it out slowly and we'll talk through this dream. Start with a few basic details, whatever you can remember."

Marnie inhaled deeply and exhaled as slowly as she could as she tried to recall the dream. "Um, OK, well I guess I was in the truck," she began. "But inside it was huge, like a room and… and Walter was there and my mom and the lights were so bright. I wanted to get out, I was scared, but the door wouldn't open and I tried to tell my mom that the guy was coming to hurt me, but she didn't believe me. It doesn't make any sense."

"It does to me," smiled Toby. "I think there might be some information in there that could help us, but I need a little more from you, is that OK?"

"I guess," replied Marnie. "But that's pretty much all I can remember."

Toby shook his head. "It's OK, you don't have to remember any more about the dream. We're going to play a little word association game."

"Oh," replied Marnie, a little surprised.

"So I want you to relax, close your eyes and just give me the first word that comes into your mind," Toby explained. He gave her a few seconds to get herself comfortable on the bed. "OK, let's start with tree."

"Apple," replied Marnie.

Happy stood back and watched her fiancé at work. As far as she could tell he was just exchanging random words with Marnie, but she knew there was a reason behind what he was doing so she thought it best to let him get on with it.

After a while Happy stifled a yawn and Toby glanced up at her. "OK, Marnie, I think we're done," he said with a smile. "I don't think you'll have any more nightmares tonight," Toby tried to reassure her.

"Why was Mom in my dream?" she asked.

"Did you tell her you were planning to look for your dad?" asked Toby.

"I did, but she's going through a really bad time right now," replied Marnie. "That's why I figured I'd just do it, come to L.A. I mean. It's easier if I'm not there when she gets really sick… y'know, when she starts saying bad stuff," said Marnie.

"It can be hard to hear those things," Toby acknowledged.

Marnie shrugged. "I don't really care what she says," she replied, dismissively. "It's not like she even knows what she's saying."

Toby studied her for a moment. It was quite clear that she did care. "It's OK to be upset by what she says when she's sick," he said, gently.

Happy realised Toby was talking from personal experience and she could see the sadness in his eyes as he remembered how his own mother's illness had affected him when he was Marnie's age.

"What was the word association all about?" asked Happy as she and Toby walked back to her bedroom.

"That, my sweetness, was young Marnie giving me a whole pile of clues," replied Toby as they climbed back into bed. "Her senses were taking in a lot of information while she was travelling here, she just didn't realise it at the time."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxX

"You're here at last. Gather round, team briefing."

"And a good morning to you too, One Ninety Seven," replied Toby with a shake of his head as he and Happy walked over towards the monitor tree where the team had gathered. "Marnie's fine, thanks for asking," he added. "It's not like she had a nightmare or anything... oh wait, yes she did."

Walter frowned. "We can exchange small talk later, Toby," he said.

Paige turned to Marnie and smiled. "Why don't you go help yourself to something from the kitchen?" she suggested. "We have bagels and I think Ralph's making a smoothie."

As Marnie reluctantly headed towards the kitchen without saying a word, Paige leaned over and spoke quietly to Toby.

"Something's up with Ralph," she said. "He's been quiet since yesterday. I asked Walter to talk to him this morning, but they just talked about quantum mechanics which was no help at all."

"I'll see what I can do," replied Toby. "He's probably just worried about the cyber-attack."

"Maybe," agreed Paige.

"Poor kid," noted Cabe, once Marnie was out of earshot. "I guess she doesn't know what to make of any of this."

"Cabe, I understand your concern for the girl," began Walter. "But right now you all need to hear what Sylvester and I discovered last night."

"Where is the Sly Dog anyway?" asked Toby, looking around the garage. Then he spotted his younger friend slumped over his desk.

Despite Walter's protestations, Toby wandered over to Sylvester. "Wakey-wakey!" he shouted, shaking Sylvester by the shoulder.

"Let him sleep," urged Paige.

"You heard the boss," replied Toby with a wicked twinkle in his eye. "It's progress report time."

He picked up the talking Super Fun Guy figure from Sylvester's desk and pressed the small button on the base.

A familiar cry of - My whoopee cushion of doom will blast you to atoms! - filled the air and Sylvester almost jumped out of his skin.

Toby collapsed into laughter. "I'm sorry, pal," he said, not sounding in the least bit sorry as he passed Sylvester his glasses. "You can go back to bye-byes later. Walt wants an update."

Sylvester blinked a few times as the world came back into focus. He glared at Toby and got to his feet before storming across the garage. He opened his mouth to speak, but instead let out an enormous yawn.

"You look like hell," noted Happy. "How much coffee did you drink last night?"

"Caffeine gives me indigestion, as you know," replied Sylvester. "So I couldn't drink as much as Walter. I think I flaked at around four fifteen."

"Sylvester, your report!" prompted Walter.

"My report," Sylvester replied. "Is that we're dealing with a highly sophisticated device."

"Even I already figured that much out," snapped Cabe.

The tension was getting to all of them and even those members of the team who'd had the luxury of spending the night in bed hadn't slept well as the worry of what had happened the day before intruded into their thoughts.

"Manufactured in China," continued Sylvester, ignoring Cabe's gruff demeanour.

"Isn't everything these days?" quipped Toby.

"It was designed to transmit on a specific frequency to cause maximum disruption to our security protocols," Sylvester went on. "Then, in our moment of vulnerability, it uploaded the code which began transmitting our data in packets. We're working on a trace program now, but it's taking time."

"So far we've only been able to trace a small number of the destinations," added Walter.

"Packets?" queried Cabe.

"Yeah, like chips," said Toby, with as serious a face as he could muster.

Walter frowned at him. "What's got into you today?" he asked. "You're being even more irritating than usual."

"I do my best," grinned Toby as if it was a compliment.

"Data packets," Sylvester clarified. "The data is broken down into small, encrypted chunks and bounced around from server to server then reassembled at the final location. It makes it almost impossible to trace."

"Impossible for some people," noted Walter with a smug smile.

"So you know who hacked us?" asked Paige in surprise. She would never cease to be amazed at the skills of her genius friends.

"Not exactly," replied Sylvester. "Well, possibly... that is, I hope we're wrong."

"Why?" asked Happy. "As a general rule we don't like to be wrong."

Sylvester exchanged a glance with Walter and Toby sat up straighter, recognising the concern etched across both of their faces.

"Because from what we can tell, we were hacked by... by the US military," explained Walter. "US Navy, to be more precise."

"What?" exclaimed Cabe. "You sure? I mean, I don't normally doubt you guys, but... are you absolutely sure?"

Sylvester nodded seriously. "We double and triple checked the results."

"Details are still sketchy," continued Walter. "But the... the data tags we managed to trace were unmistakable."

"What does it mean?" asked Happy. "I thought we were on the same side? If the Navy want intel on us surely they could just go straight to Homeland?"

"We don't know what it means yet," replied Walter, curtly. He hated not having all the answers. He was exhausted, but he knew even if he went to bed he'd never be able to get to sleep because his genius mind was racing through all the possible scenarios.

"So where do we go now?" asked Happy, shifting her weight from one foot to the other impatiently.

Walter glanced sideways at Paige and cleared his throat before answering. "The obvious place to start our investigation is... is Tim Armstrong."

"What?" exclaimed Paige. "You think Tim hacked us? Come on, Walter, this attitude of yours is getting ridiculous! You can't blame Tim for this!"

"I'm not suggesting for a moment that Tim was the one who hacked us," Walter tried to explain. "But... but he has connections with the Navy and a sophisticated hacker may have been able to access his codes and..."

"He's ex-military and ex-Homeland, Walter!" exclaimed Paige, throwing her hands in the air. "He's not an idiot. I've heard enough. I'm taking Ralph to school."

Walter reached out his hand and opened his mouth to speak as she stormed off - to try to defend himself - but nothing came out.

Toby shook his head. "You really know how to dig a hole for yourself don't you, One Ninety Seven," he said.

"T…T...Tim is just one line of enquiry I'm suggesting we pursue," Walter tried to explain.

"Oh well in that case I'm sure Paige'll completely understand why you randomly decided to accuse her boyfriend," retorted Toby sarcastically.

"Please, can we stop arguing about Tim all the time!" begged Sylvester.

Walter nodded sadly. He'd upset Paige again and he hated himself for it. He glanced up as Paige marched Ralph across the garage and then left without saying goodbye. He closed his eyes and tried desperately to understand why this kept happening, but he didn't have any answers. He couldn't process this now, it would have to wait.

"What did Homeland have to say about the breach?" Walter asked Cabe, forcing all thoughts of Paige from his mind.

"I spoke to some tech guy," replied Cabe. "He doesn't believe any sensitive data was compromised at their end."

"Homeland security protection is better than ours then," noted Toby.

"That's... humiliating," acknowledged Walter.

"Don't be so hard on yourself," said Cabe. "This was a direct attack on Scorpion, from what I understand we really didn't stand a chance."

"We didn't," nodded Sylvester sadly.

"The important thing is you were able to stop it before anything too serious happened," said Cabe.

"Yes, thanks to Ralph," replied Walter proudly.

"Cabe, did you call Marnie's mom's friend?" asked Happy.

"Lydia? Yes, I called her last night," Cabe confirmed. "Apparently this isn't the first time the kid's tried something like this so she wasn't too worried about her."

"A teenager goes missing for eight days and she wasn't worried?" exclaimed Toby. "Interesting."

"Oh Lydia was worried," explained Cabe. "Just not too worried. She figured Marnie would come back sooner or later like she has before."

"Still, not a very responsible attitude," noted Sylvester.

"Anyway, I told her Marnie was a potential witness in a federal case and she was under the protection of Homeland for the next day or so," added Cabe.

"I believe Paige spoke to… to Tim last night," said Walter, awkwardly. He didn't think Paige would want everyone to know all the details of the call. "He is sending us a DNA sample. It should be here in the next forty eight hours."

Toby narrowed his eyes. It was obvious that there was far more to the phone call than Walter was letting on.

"Toby," hissed Sylvester, who had realised it too and he leaned over and glared at the Doc. "Don't. Please don't."

Toby gave him an innocent look, but they both knew he wouldn't be able to let it go.

To be continued...