A/N: Hey all. Here's the end of part two. This is a much, much lighter chapter than the previous one, and I think we can all agree that is necessary. I promise that part three doesn't get as dark as part two did.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: CBS owns Scorpion.

Chapter 11: Restoration

"So, why did I imagine the rocket?"

Toby shrugged. "My professional theory would be that your subconscious retreated to the place where you were isolated with imaginary Paige. You knew that she was what you needed, and so you went back to the place where only she could talk to you."

"But we've been alone lots of times since, and those times she… well, she was actually there."

"Yeah, I think you needed imaginary Paige at that moment. Not the real thing."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Considering the circumstances, you were afraid to truly face her. You needed her, but… not her."

Walter considered the words. "Alright."

"Did you sleep okay last night?"

"Would you expect me to?"

"No. We just went through one hell of a week, and the last couple days were an entirely different experience for you than they were for the rest of us."

Walter nodded. "I didn't sleep well." He had thought not just about Mark, but also about Anna. She had appeared in a nightmare, standing over the dead bodies of Paige and Ralph.

Toby nodded, then leaned forward. "Listen, Walter. As we were leaving the hospital yesterday, you pulled away again. Emotionally, I mean. Like you used to. You didn't want people to touch you or anything. And that's a completely expected relapse. You lost control of your emotions, and you did something because of that, something that you will never be able to forget about. You saw just how scary your emotions can be. But don't be afraid of emotions. Don't start with that again."

Walter tried to digest that, but… "I can't think about that right now."

"I understand. Just know, I'm going to be keeping my eye on you, O'Brien. I'm not letting you hide from your own heart again the way that you used to. And we're going to have plenty more conversations like this."

Walter nodded. "Alright."

"Good." Toby stood. "Let's see if the others are here yet." They left the little library and went back into the living room, where Happy and Maria had now been joined by Paige and Sylvester. "Still no Cabe?"

"He's finishing up the paperwork for his reinstatement," said Paige.

"He should be old hat at that by now. What's this, his third time?" Toby plopped down onto the couch beside his wife and daughter.

"At least," Paige replied.

"Speaking of paperwork, how was your morning, boss?"

She gave a small laugh. "Considering what the last several mornings were like, I suppose I can't complain. At least I got to wake up in my own bed again."

Walter sat down beside Sylvester on the other couch, watching her. He thought about what she had looked like in that hospital bed, and how deeply he had dreaded what might have happened.

"What time did Drew leave your place last night?" Toby asked. Drew had left the headquarters with Paige and Ralph, but Walter had been too caught up with other thoughts to think too much about it.

"He, um, didn't." She quickly held up her hand as everyone started to react. "He slept on the couch. Ralph needed him there."

That made sense. After everything that had happened, Ralph would want to be with both of his parents.

"Alright," said Toby.

Maria pointed at Walter. "Wala."

Walter gave her a smile.

"I think you might be her favorite uncle," said Toby. "But only because she doesn't want to even attempt Sylvester's name."

"I take no offense to that," said Sylvester.

Maria pointed at Paige. "Pij."

"Yes, hello there." Paige leaned over towards the baby, kissing her forehead. "Aunt Paige loves you."

Maria smiled. "Pij."

Walter couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. Then he recalled his nightmare, and the smile fell just as quickly as it had emerged.

There was a knock on the door. "Come in," Happy called.

Cabe entered, and Maria immediately pointed towards him. "Gab."

"Hi there."

"On the road to reinstatement once again, Agent Gallo?"

"Yes indeed. God, I've missed hearing that title." Cabe walked over and gently tickled Maria. She squealed. Then Cabe turned to Walter. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," Walter replied, adding a small shrug. Toby gave him a glance, and he cleared his throat. "I mean, well, I will be okay. Thank you… Thank you for your help."

"You're welcome." Cabe walked over and joined him and Sylvester on the other couch. "This is a nice place you've got here," he said to Toby and Happy.

"Yeah, it's nice," said Happy. "It's not LA, though."

"You miss home?"

"Every day." Happy glanced at Toby, who nodded in agreement.

"So, come home," said Walter. "We're leaving Elia's company, and Cabe is getting reinstated." He was done hedging his bets on this. "Scorpion is reforming."

Toby and Happy looked at the others.

"I already put up a listing for a subtenant for my apartment this morning," said Sylvester. He had clearly anticipated this conversation. "It shouldn't take long to find someone to cover the remainder of my lease. And I sent emails to Dyfrost and to Tom Jenkins, who took over my post as Alderman."

"Wow, you've clearly been planning this out," said Happy. "Are you going to try to get your post on the council back?"

Sylvester shrugged. "No, I think Tom's been doing a fine job." He looked at Paige, and everyone else did the same.

Paige looked around at all of them. "Well, I'm sure Ralph will be happy to transfer back to Caltech, but he does have to finish the semester here first."

Walter's insides grew a little heavier. That would mean a couple months before Paige could return to LA.

"Paige, I know you don't want to hear this," Toby said quietly, "but Drew's been doing a half-decent job in the father department lately. A few months with him might not be the worst thing in the world for Ralph, and vice versa. And Ralph's old enough now that he can fill in the blanks for any of Drew's lingering failings."

"Are you suggesting that I spend a few months on the far side of the country from my son?"

"He's at that age. Mentally, at least."

Paige sighed. Walter knew her well enough to know that it wasn't so much concern for Ralph that was primarily driving her reluctance. She had raised him single-handedly, and had never been away from him for any prolonged period of time. She needed him as much as he had always needed her.

"Paige, he's going to be fine," said Sylvester. "And you can book a flight for him for the moment his last final ends. Well, I calculate that he'll need at least 2.4 hours to get back to Drew's, pack, and get to the airport in time to make his flight, but, close enough."

Happy reached out and took Paige's hand. "Guys, you're asking a mother to leave her child behind for a few months. Give her some time to breathe."

Everyone shifted their stares to Happy. Maria looked around and giggled.

Paige was silent for several seconds. Then she looked at Walter. "Walter, can I talk to you?"

He nodded and stood, and led her to back to the library where he had just been talking to Toby. After she entered, he shut the door.

"Walter, if this is going to work, we all need to be completely honest with each other. No more secrets."

"I know."

"And another thing: It can't be… We can't… Getting Scorpion back together doesn't mean you and I…"

"I completely agree." A flash of the nightmare passed through his mind again. "You and I should just be friends."

She slumped a little as he said the words, even though she had been trying to say them herself. "Yeah."

"Paige, this is all going to work out fine. After everything that we've been through, we should be perfectly capable of just being friends. It's been a lot more painful for everyone when we've been… otherwise."

She grimaced, but nodded.

"And Ralph will be fine, too. He is an extremely intelligent boy. And he'll manage to stay busy enough that these few months will pass by very quickly."

"For him, at least."

"Well, we'll just have to stay busy as well, then. And as a full team again, I'm sure we'll be able to."

She thought about it for another moment, then gave a small smile. "Alright, Walter. I'll come back."

As Walter sat with Cabe at the gate in the airport, he thought about all of the new cases that the restored Team Scorpion might encounter. The possibilities were endless.

"Walter?" He looked up, seeing Florence. She was standing beside her mother.

"Florence. Hi." Walter stood. "Are you also returning to LA now?"

"Um, no, we're…" She briefly glanced at her mother. "We're going to see William in Palo Alto."

"Oh. I'm sure your brother will be happy to see you both."

She gave a small smile. "Um, can we… Can we talk?"

Walter glanced at the clock. He had plenty of time. "Sure."

Florence glanced at her mother again. "I'll wait for you at the gate," said Miss Wallace, leaving and walking further down the terminal.

They took a pair of secluded seats at a gate that was currently unused. "Listen," said Walter. "I'm really sorry about what happened at—"

"Please don't talk about that. That's not what I want to talk about."

"Okay." Walter waited.

"I wanted to tell you…" She trailed off. "Perhaps I should start at the beginning. Last year, on Valentine's Day, when Paige had the flu, I brought her some medicine. And we had a… strange conversation."

Walter frowned. He couldn't recall Paige telling him about any conversation with Florence on Valentine's Day last year.

"We talked about you, and I told her… I told her that you and I could never be together, because we were too similar. But, after that conversation, I realized that maybe being with someone who was too similar to me was the safest way to go."

"Safest?"

"I spent my twenties staring at men who were… wildly different from us. Men who I could never realistically have a prolonged relationship with. I was like a schoolgirl dreaming about the quarterback of the football team, and it took me a long time to grow out of that phase. In the process, I got my heart broken more than a few times.

"Being with you, I always felt like I was safe. We understood each other so well, without effort, and I always felt that if things were going to end between us, I would see it coming from a mile away. And, in truth, I did.

"It was so easy to be with you, Walter, but part of the reason for that was the knowledge that I was always second in your heart. That's not to say that I didn't truly come to love you, because I did. But Scorpion was always going to come first for you, and as long as we could both devote ourselves to being part of the team, we didn't have to devote so much to each other. But that meant that when one of those two things went, the other would have to go as well. We both knew that all along. And we knew which one was going to happen first."

She was right, of course. The primary matter had never been their romantic relationship, but always her presence on the team. Their relationship had begun and proceeded because of it. Scorpion had always come first, whether it was Scorpion 2.0 or Elia's Scorpion Solutions.

"And now, after what happened, I can't be part of the team anymore. I can never put that behind me. I… What I did…" She shut her eyes, taking a deep breath. "I know I saved Cabe's life, but… I can never do something like that again. Never."

Mark's face flashed before his eyes again as he listened to her words, and he quickly shook it away.

"I'm never going to be able to forget about it, Walter. The face, the blood." She quickly shook away her own imagery. "And I can't be a part of Scorpion if there's any chance that something like that could ever happen again. I need to… I need to go back to being boring."

Walter nodded. "I understand."

"Good. Because it also means, of course, that you and I can't be together anymore. It turns out being with you was not the safest way to go after all. And, it hurts, but… The love that grew between us was never… that love, you know?"

"I know. I did come to love you, but… it was a product of being with you, not the other way around."

"Exactly. It wasn't… naturally occurring. And love is supposed to be natural. It's supposed to be…" She shrugged. "Chemistry."

He chuckled a little at her use of the word.

"I'm… I'm glad you agree. And… I hope you have a wonderful life, Walter. I hope that you bring Scorpion back together, and do as many great things as you did before. I'll be looking for your name in the news. And most of all, I hope that you'll be happy."

He smiled. "Likewise."

She returned his smile, then stood. "Have a safe flight."

"You too." He watched as she walked away, then glanced out the window. That had been… easy… painless, like every other part of their relationship. She had always been easy to be with, and balancing their work and their relationship had never felt like much of a burden. Like she said, Scorpion had always come first, and as it went, so would their relationship go.

And now that the real Scorpion was being restored, their relationship would have had to end, anyway. It could never have worked while she was still around.

He would have to sublease their apartment, of course. It was too big for just him, and the rent was far higher than he felt the need to pay for just his own needs. He could find a studio in which to wait out the remainder of the sublease on the garage, as long as Scorpion was going to be able to find a suitable operations center elsewhere in the city. That shouldn't be too difficult.

He looked at the clock at the gate. They would start boarding soon. Getting up, he returned to Cabe.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, I am. It was… fairly painless."

"That's not unexpected. With you two it was never… you know."

"Yeah, I know."

The boarding announcement was made over the intercom, and Cabe stood. "Come on, let's go home."

A few days later, Walter and Cabe once again stood at LAX, where they were joined by, of all people, Dyfrost. "Greetings, Sir Magnus." Dyfrost clutched his fist to his chest and bowed towards Cabe.

"Dyfrost, how the hell are you?"

"I am quite well, good sir." Dyfrost gestured to the woman beside him. "May I present my cousin, Lady Susan of the Wintry Bay."

She looked at least fifteen years younger than he was, and smiled giddily as she imitated his salute at Cabe. "I am deeply honored, Sir Magnus. I have heard tales of your magnificent quests."

Walter and Cabe exchanged a glance. "Are you also here to meet Sly?" Cabe asked.

"Indeed," Dyfrost replied. "Sylvester informed me that his winged steed would arrive at this hour. My cousin is also newly arrived in these lands, and I had the notion that they should meet."

"I see. Welcome to the City of Angels, my lady."

"I thank you, kind sir."

Cabe turned back to Walter, chuckling under his breath. Walter did his best to conceal his own amusement, for Dyfrost's benefit.

Minutes later, he was stunned to see not only Sylvester, but also Paige emerge from the terminal. Sylvester saw them and waved, and then saluted Dyfrost.

"Welcome home," said Cabe.

As Sylvester was introduced to Dyfrost's cousin, Walter turned to Paige. "I thought you would be staying a little while longer with Ralph."

"Yeah, I did too, but… it would have just made things more painful." She gave a small shrug. "It's only a couple of months." He knew she was probably telling herself that once an hour, at a minimum.

"Well, welcome home."

She nodded. "Thank you."

They both turned and watched the awkward meeting between Sylvester and Lady Susan. Lady Susan was flustered, and Sylvester looked more amused by Dyfrost's notion than interested in it.

"He really goes everywhere in costume, doesn't he?" said Paige.

"I think she's in costume, too," Walter replied. "Unless she's Amish."

"Could be both."

He chuckled, then turned back to her. "I've been looking for new office space for us. I haven't found anything yet that's fully suitable."

"That's already taken care of. The attorney that we subleased our space to has already given up on his private practice. He never managed to become competitive. So, it's ours again, if we want it. Would you be okay with that?"

"That would be great." He had only been at that office once while it had belonged to Team Centipede, and the location would hardly hold a negative association for him.

"Good. We should be able to fit two more desks without issue. It is just two, right?" She gave him a scrutinizing gaze.

"Of course. Although, in the spirit of full disclosure, I did run into her at the airport on the way out of Washington. We talked."

"Oh?"

"We both accepted the fact that she could no longer be part of Scorpion. And, because of that, we could no longer be together romantically. The romantic relationship had always been an extension of the professional one."

"Well, I'm sorry."

"It's okay. It was painless, really."

"Breakups are never completely painless, Walter."

"Well, then, relatively speaking, it was."

She nodded, and looked back over at the others. He did the same.

Since she hadn't found a new apartment in LA yet, she would be staying at Sylvester's new place for the time being. Walter and Cabe helped them settle in, and Paige opened her laptop and logged onto skype before they were even finished. She called Ralph immediately.

"Hi, Mom."

"Hi. I just… I wanted to make sure everything was alright back there."

"It's fine. I promise.

"Good. And, um, is Drew making dinner? Or attempting to, I should say."

"He's getting takeout."

Paige sighed. "Of course he is."

"Are the others there?"

Walter stuck his head in the camera's line of vision and waved. "Hi, Ralph."

Ralph smiled. "Hi, Walter. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks." Cabe and Sylvester also moved so Ralph could see them.

"Hi, everyone."

"Hey, kid," said Cabe. "Los Angeles misses you."

"I'll be back there soon. Keep telling my mom that."

"We will," said Sylvester.

"Good." Ralph glanced over his shoulder. "Dad's back with dinner. I'll talk to you all soon."

"Oh. Alright," said Paige. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Mom. Bye, everyone."

Everyone else waved, and Ralph hung up.

Paige closed her laptop. "Takeout? He's going to be diabetic by the time he gets here."

"That's extremely unlikely," said Sylvester.

The next surprise came a couple of weeks later, after Toby and Happy had arrived and everyone had settled into the new office. The team was informed that Carson would no longer be running operations at the LA field office. He was being replaced by one Agent Candace Johnson from Washington.

Cabe immediately called Agent Johnson, putting her on speaker phone.

"Johnson."

"Candace, how come you didn't mention you were moving out to LA?"

"It was a spur-of-the-moment thing. I called in a favor with some friends at the White House, and it was agreed that the director out there should be someone who handled outside contracts better than Carson did."

Everyone smiled at this. "Well, we couldn't agree more," said Cabe.

"Good. I'll be seeing you soon, Gallo."

"I look forward to it."

She hung up, and Toby raised his eyebrows at Cabe.

"What?"

"You really are looking forward to it."

"Well of course. She's going to be a hell of a lot better than Carson was."

"That's not what I mean. The indicators are all over your face, old man."

"Knock it off, Toby." Paige's phone rang. "That better be a new case."

"Oh. Oh crap." Paige clung tightly to the balcony railing, which she was on the wrong side of.

"Paige, let go. I will catch you," said Sylvester, who was standing with Cabe on the balcony below.

Walter and Toby were on the street below. "She's panicking too much," said Toby.

Walter had a brief flash of Anna standing over Paige's body in what had become a recurring nightmare, but he shook it away. "Paige, listen to me. Sylvester is going to catch you. You just have to let go."

"And what if he doesn't?" Paige replied.

"He will. Do you trust me?"

"Always."

"Good. Then let go."

Paige did so, and fell into Sylvester's waiting arms. Cabe quickly pulled them both back from the railing of that balcony.

"Oh, how I missed being part of Scorpion," Paige muttered, breathing heavily into the comm.

Walter took only a moment to let the relief wash over him. "Happy?"

"We're good here," Happy replied over the comm. "Well, by that I mean that the building's not about to explode. There's still the matter of…"

"The drugs," Cabe finished for her. "My turn."

Silence fell over the comms, until gunshots were heard. Several gunshots were followed by the sound of physical fighting, and Cabe breathing heavily.

Then he spoke again. "Alright, I've got three knocked-out criminals and a few million dollars' worth of drugs that aren't going to hit the streets."

"Nicely done, gramps," said Happy.

"Really?" Cabe muttered, breathing heavily.

Walter took his comm out. "Toby, can I talk to you for a moment?"

Toby glanced at him and also took his comm out. "Sure, Walt."

"I've been, um, having a recurring nightmare. It's of Anna… killing everyone."

"Anna? She's going to be in prison for a very long time, Walter. If she doesn't wind up institutionalized."

"Mark always found ways to escape."

"Anna isn't Mark, as much as she would have liked to be. She's not getting out, Walt."

Walter nodded. "We, um… We talked in Washington, when she was in custody. She said she was going to destroy my life, and take away everyone I cared about."

"Well, she's a psychopath, but she can't do it." Toby placed his hand on Walter's shoulder, and Walter fought the instinct to pull away from it. "And don't you try to use that as an excuse to avoid caring about people. Lord knows we've made enemies, but no one is going to take everyone away from you. No one except yourself, that is."

"Alright." Walter looked up as Paige and Sylvester emerged from the building.

Finally, as the spring warmed its way towards summer, the entire team found its way back to LAX. Paige practically ran to the terminal, even though they were early.

"You know, you moving faster isn't going to make that plane land faster," said Toby.

"Oh, shut up."

She bounced on the balls of her feet as they waited. Finally, Ralph appeared, and she threw open her arms.

He walked over and hugged her. "Hi, Mom."

"Hi, baby." She hugged him tightly and kissed his cheek.

"Um, can we tone it down a bit?" He looked around self-consciously at the crowd.

"Oh? You're afraid to be embarrassed in front of perfect strangers?"

"I missed you, but we are in the middle of an airport."

"Fine. Let's get your things and go to the car."

Ralph turned to the others. "Hi, everyone."

"Hey, kiddo," said Happy, who was holding Maria.

Ralph looked at Maria. "Do you remember me?" He reached out and put his finger against her palm.

Maria grabbed the finger, but didn't say anything. Then she looked at Paige. "Pij?"

Paige smiled a little. "Give her some time, Ralph. She'll recognize you."

Ralph turned to Walter. "Oh, Walter, did you bring the code?"

"Oh, crap." Ralph had sent Walter a code for them to work with when he arrived. Walter had placed it on a USB key, but then left the key at the office. "I left it at the office. I'll run back and get it, and then meet you all at Paige's."

He quickly left the airport and drove back to the office, trying to avoid thinking about how disappointed Ralph must have been.

When he arrived, he turned on the light, ran over to his desk, and grabbed the key. Then he returned to the door and turned off the light.

"Walter?"

He froze. "Megan?" He quickly turned the light back on and looked around. The room was empty.

He shook his head. He must have been hearing things. Turning the light off again, he shut and locked the door and ran back to his car.