NO EYE IN CYCLONE
AN: The special guest in this chapter is dedicated to Earnie who looked for him at the Kovelsky's reunion.
Happy weekend everyone!
oxoxoxoxoxo
It wasn't like anyone called 'same seats' as the team once again clambered into Cabe's Suburban, but the silent troop claimed their previous spots as if someone had.
Paige didn't know how to feel. She was completely at sea.
Seeing all those people Scorpion helped had been both gratifying and at the same time shaming. Since they'd disbanded, the two separate companies had only competed for meaningless, if lucrative, corporate jobs. They could accomplish so much more than that… Be so much better. Together. In the face of all the good they'd done, it was difficult to justify the trivial reasons behind their split any longer.
If she was having this much trouble, she could only imagine the depth of Walter's struggle to process. Compassion and empathy were rapidly overpowering the anger and resentment she'd been nurturing protectively these past weeks.
It felt so natural, so right, to slip her hand into his. Walter grasped it like a lifeline and automatically threaded his fingers through hers. She was sitting close enough she could feel the tension leave his body.
He was staring at their entwined hands, stroking her thumb with his. It occurred to her the two of them had held hands like this, like a couple, for the very first time on Zuma beach when they'd launched the rocket sending his sister into the stars.
"Are you okay? Are you still worried about Ralph?" He whispered after a while, unwilling to disturb the heavy hush in the air of the SUV.
Paige rested her head briefly on Walter's shoulder and whispered back, "I'm mostly fine. I'm pretty sure he's okay."
A half smile tugged at one corner of his mouth. "Something tells me he may not be once you catch up to him."
She huffed a quiet laugh. "Oh, he's in big trouble alright. But I can't be too mad at him. He's made a few really excellent points. Some definitely more tough to take than others. Don't worry, his motives will factor into his punishment. Plus, the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced he isn't working alone."
Walter sat up straighter, instantly rigid again. His eyes flitting to meet hers, he stammered, "I-I didn't… It isn't… I wouldn't…"
"Relax. I don't think it's you. I just know a twelve year-old kid would have a tough time putting all this together. Even if that twelve year-old happens to be a genius. Besides, I can tell when you're trying to be sneaky. You aren't very good at it."
He gave her a semi-offended look and raised an eyebrow in askance.
"Don't forget part of the reason we're in this mess is because you aren't very good at deception. I could tell something was going on with you for weeks."
Before Walter could say anything in return, the vehicle glided to a stop in a parking space in the beach's lot and the team began climbing out, keen to find and solve the next part of the riddle.
Walter didn't even notice, let alone react negatively about, the way Sylvester grasped Florence's waist to help her out of the car or the gooey looks the pair exchanged as he held onto her for a few extra seconds after her feet were firmly on the ground. Or that shy, flirty, coy 'thank you' the chemist threw at Sly.
With perfect clarity, Paige suddenly recalled Walter's jealousy each and every time Drew or Tim would pay attention to her. All those contemptuous little glares, his expressive mouth curling in disgust. And all the immature ways he'd shown his displeasure. Wow. For the first time, she could plainly see it. He had absolutely no romantic interest in Florence. Like, at all. Here was Sly, right up in his face, canoodling with Flo and he couldn't care less. Huh.
Paige felt like such a moron. Who was the jealous idiot this time?
She plopped down on a nearby bench and began to remove her shoes and socks. With all those realizations swarming around in her head, she almost didn't see Walter momentarily hesitate before sitting down at her side.
As he took his own shoes off, he emitted a nervous laugh. "Don't worry. I won't bore you with oceanography facts today. I'll restrict my remarks to relevant information about Ralph's whereabouts, okay?"
Paige was immediately suffocating under a crushing weight of guilt. Of all the unnecessarily cruel things she said to him, those words were the ones she regretted the most. All of his life people he cared about rejected him because of his brain, because he was different. She'd simply been the next one in a long line of others. Even after he'd shared his fear of her ultimately getting bored with him.
"Walter, stop." She laid a gentle hand on his arm, momentarily halting his fumbling with his shoe strings. "I'm really sorry I said that to you. It wasn't even true. All I can tell you is, I was angry and hurt and I wanted to make you mad and hurt you back. I was only retaliating. I'm glad you're smart. I've always admired that. And I like that you're different. Most of the time. If I ever expected you to be something you aren't, I was the one who was wrong. I was never bored. Okay?"
Paige hated herself for the uncertainty in his eyes when he shrugged and nodded. "Sure. Okay."
"What's the hold up, you two?" Happy snapped. "We need to wrap this up soon. I'm starving!"
"You'd better hoof it. My wife's picture is beside the word 'hangry' in the Urban Dictionary," Toby smirked as she punched him in the arm thereby illustrating his point.
Sylvester, Florence and Cabe were already plodding through the soft sand toward… Wait, was that a 'California snowman'? Yes. It was identical to the one Paige and Ralph had built one long ago Christmas Eve, down to the flower wreath around its neck and the floppy straw hat on its perfectly-shaped round, sandy head. She also thought it was on the exact same spot, as if wind and weather hadn't knocked down the original years ago.
Florence plucked the hat off the head, turned it over and examined it closely. Whatever comments she made about it were blown away by the ocean breeze before they could get to Paige.
When he reached Flo and the others, Toby wasted no time pulling off the head. He gave it a quick once over, then crushed it between his palms. When Cabe demanded what he thought he was doing, he answered indifferently, "What can I say? I'm a head shrinker."
After that, it didn't take long for the group to dismantle and investigate every grain of sand on that 'snowman', but nobody found anything useful.
Paige looked around at her circle of friends, noting their reactions ranged from baffled to supremely annoyed. "What now?' She asked, her own tone sounding frustrated in her ears.
Before anyone could offer a suggestion, Paige heard the distant rumble of an engine. Someone was swiftly approaching them across the beach on a quad bike.
As the rider got closer, she recognized him. Scotty! Oh, it was wonderful to see him again. Out of all the people they'd met on various missions, he was one of her favorites. They'd all grown close to the good-natured pilot on that island. Paige had been mildly disappointed she hadn't seen him among the crowd at Kovelsky's.
He braked hard, grinning as he lightly sprayed his Scorpion compadres with loose sand.
"Hey, man!" "Scotty!" "Great to see you!" "How've you been?" Everyone, with the exception of Florence whom he'd never met, greeted him enthusiastically and all at once until he held up his hands for quiet.
"It's great to see you guys again. Sorry I couldn't make it to the gathering at Kovelsky's a while ago. I heard it was quite the party. It's not that I'm not thankful for Scorpion's help back in the day, but I heard you guys were in some kind of trouble and I offered to help. This is my assignment. Seems like we're always meeting up on beaches somewhere, doesn't it?" He snickered at that, before continuing, "Listen, I know we're overdue for catching up, but I can't stay or I might be 'talked into helping you'. That's a direct quote." At the collective groans and arguments, he pointed toward the parking lot and quickly added, "My wife and baby girl are waiting for me in the car. We'll get together soon when we have more time. Hopefully somewhere a little less sandy? Right now you have another problem to solve and the clock's ticking. I don't want to be a distraction."
With that, he dismounted the four-wheeler and started walking away.
"But what is it? What's the clue?" Happy called after him.
He pointed at the bike and smirked. Then he waved heartily and strode off across the sand, throwing, "Have fun!" over his shoulder.
The focus instantly turned to the ATV. Well, all the geniuses' focus at any rate. Paige was still watching Scotty. His was yet another life Scorpion had saved by working together. They'd given a husband back to his wife, and a father back to his daughter. Of course, he'd risked himself to save Ralph too. And here he was, helping her son again. He wasn't the only grateful one on the beach that day.
Cabe grabbed the key, about to switch the motor off, when Happy yelled, "Stop! Don't do that, old man."
The Homeland agent slowly drew back his arm, looking puzzled as the mechanic patted the area over her heart in relief. "What is it?" He asked.
"There's a flash drive wedged in the middle of the engine. If we cut it off, it'll fall onto the manifold and melt. Check the fuel gauge."
"We have less than a sixteenth of a tank left," Walter estimated, "I'm guessing we have about an hour if the engine is idling."
"We could go get more gas from a store nearby," Sylvester suggested.
"Nope. If it stays running any longer than an hour, the drive will melt and warp anyway." Happy nodded. "Someone go get my gloves and tools out of the SUV. We're gonna hafta disassemble this puppy while it's still running. And we have less than an hour to do it or we lose the next clue."
"How are we supposed to do that?" asked Cabe.
"Very carefully. That's my guess," Toby replied unhelpfully.
