Walter greeted Cabe as he rolled back out of the kitchen and wheeled on over to his desk to continue going over Ralph's work with him when his desk phone rang. "Scorpion Computer services, Walter O'Brien speaking." Walter answered the phone.
Sylvester's head came up as he looked at Walter, with a tear in his eye at the change in the company name.
He stood up and walked into the kitchen and saw Cabe kiss Paige's cheek, "Smells good kid, what are you making?"
"Beef Braciole for us, Italian vegan stuffed peppers for Allie." Paige answered with a smile.
"Uh, Paige," Sylvester looked at her with a tinge of pain on his face.
Paige looked up and frowned, "What's wrong Sly, don't you like my Braciole?"
"Oh no, I like it a lot, it's," Sylvester looked at Walter on the phone, "Scorpion Computer Services?"
Cabe smiled, "I think someone has some guilt." Cabe clapped his hand on Sylvester shoulder as he walked out to Walter's desk.
Paige nodded, "Walter decided to give you guys what you wanted and turned Scorpion into just a computer services company. He decided if you guys want to be the big problem solvers he's just gong to let you."
Sylvester swallowed hard, "But I was hoping maybe we could reconcile our issues and maybe regroup as Scorpion."
Paige shook her head as she continued preparing dinner, "Doubtful, you have no idea how hard it was to get him to not cancel dinner on you. You guys hurt him far more than you think when you left and then to open a competing company to expressly put Scorpion out of business. I was fortunate enough that Walter's love for me allowed him to look past my involvement in Centipede. Which I was really upset about when the truth came out that you guys weren't 'trying to help' Walter but actively trying to destroy his life's dream since he came to this country. And to be honest with you, if Walter actually had other friends besides you, I never would have encouraged him to try and be friends again."
Sylvester looked at her, pain on his face, "But, you helped set the company up and helped us secure our first jobs. Why are you getting a pass?"
Paige looked up, "Sly, you guys knew how distraught I was over what happened, I kept telling you I wasn't ready for any of that but you kept pressuring me, preying on my vulnerability, I had more than enough money saved back that Ralph and I would have been fine until I could get my head on straight. Then you guys conned that $10,000 out of me to start CP. And Toby hypnotized us. Part of me could accept it in the view that it would be to help Walter, but the whole time it was a lie, you didn't even tell me what your endgame was with CP and that was before he hypnotized us. But when it became clear that helping Walter wasn't what you guys really wanted and that you all were relishing in his pain and the destruction of Scorpion that is when I was finally able to break Toby's control. I'm sorry if you think that it is some kind of double standard but it isn't the same thing at all. Walter may say I didn't do anything he needed to forgive but I did by not being strong enough to resist the manipulations of Flo and you guys."
"Maybe I should just go then, this might have been a bad idea." Sylvester looked up at the ceiling.
"Sly, you are welcomed to be here, you can leave if you want. But if you want any chance at being Walter's friend again then I suggest you stay and deal with any feelings you're having. Walter won't likely extend another invitation if you walk out, again." Paige told him.
Walter wheeled back into the kitchen, "No, you didn't do anything that you needed my forgiveness for love. You thought you were doing something to help me; it's not your fault that you were being manipulated. Now maybe if you had known the truth and kept working with them then we'd have to talk about forgiveness, or at least a spanking." Walter smiled as he stopped next to her and reached over and pulled her back into his lap and kissed her.
Paige grinned with just a little wickedness on her lips, "Promises, promises. Who was on the phone baby?" Paige asked as she kissed him.
"You should have an email shortly for a job bid. Funny how as soon as your back people seem to want my help again." Walter smiled.
Paige nodded as she got up from his lap. "Personally I think it's all the free advertising we've gotten from the news running that video of you over and over. Sara called yesterday to ask if they were ever going to stop."
Walter smiled, "Well you can believe that if you want, I still think it's because you are back, where I want you forever."
Paige smiled and bent over and kissed him, "No other place I would rather be."
Walter turned around, "Sylvester, I just don't understand. I get that you felt hurt at what you believed to have been a slight on my part, but you know what Paige means to me. No one else means as much to me as Paige does, just like a few months ago no one meant as much to you as my sister did. So why you would think I could ever want anything to do with Flo is beyond my understanding. It would be like me accusing you of loving someone else while my sister was alive. And then to actively want to start a company to destroy mine, to ignoring how Paige was feeling and not only pressure her into helping you guys, you conceal the truth of what you really wanted to do just to increase your chances of getting her onboard to help accomplish it. What did I ever do to you to deserve being treated in such a manner? What did Paige ever do to you to deserve to be manipulated into helping you? She's always been there to support you. As I said in my hospital room, if it wasn't for the way you treated her I could forgive you, but I can't look past that. It's going to take time and proof that I can trust you again. If you want to try and demonstrate that then I'm willing to work with you to try and salvage our friendship."
Sylvester nodded, "I'm not sure I can adequately explain, I'm not sure I even understand it myself. But I really am sorry for my role in hurting you and manipulating Paige. I'm also going to see to it that Paige gets her money back, the money that we used to set up CP with, I'm just waiting on our first client to pay for the work we did. But I am willing to do whatever I can to prove to you both that I am sorry and I want to prove you can trust me again."
Walter looked back at Paige and she smiled, and Walter nodded and reached out his hand, "To new beginnings."
Sylvester smiled and took his hand, "To new beginnings."
"I can't believe this, Collins really screwed me over. I still can't believe what I did on his behalf, or what we did willing." Toby told Happy as they sat down with their take out.
Happy nodded, "I know we had some issues with Walt, but why did we just walk out on him Fungus?"
"I'm guessing because we just let things build up instead of trying to talk to him in a constructive manner, and because he wasn't listening to our advise about Paige." Toby told her as he took a bite of his sandwich.
"Yea, but Walt's always been this way and he seldom takes advice from anyone. Why was this time different?" Happy asked before taking a drink of her shake.
Toby shrugged, "My head hurts too much to try and figure that out. Did we really start our own problem solving company?" Toby asked.
"Yep, Centipede Partners, Sly finished our first job, we got two more programming jobs already lined up, we got several jobs waiting to hear back if they accepted our bids." Happy told him.
"You think we can really do this? Without Walt or Paige I mean?" Toby asked.
Happy shrugged, "Not sure it matters if we can or not, it's what we have now. Pretty sure Walt isn't going to welcome us back to Scorpion with open arms anytime soon. I'm not even sure why I was so mad at him today. First time I'd seen him since that night we walked out. And after Dr Anning help us through the hypnosis I can't even blame it on what Collins did to you. Sly might have a chance of becoming friends again with him since he got them to invite him to dinner tonight. Obviously Paige succeeded in being forgiven."
"Maybe I should call him and see if he would be willing to meet up, maybe at Kovelsky's for some of that nasty fermented fish he likes so much." Toby suggested.
"Hey Paige, this might not be a good time to tell you but time is short on it so I need to ask. Did you still want to go to Freddie's funeral?" Cabe asked as he walked back into the kitchen as he put up his cell phone.
Walter's head whipped around, "Freddie's funeral, what?"
"Oh Walter, I'm so sorry, with everything else, we forgot to tell you baby. Freddie died from the gunshot wound." Paige told him as she wrapped her arms around him.
"Freddie was shot?" Sylvester asked.
Cabe nodded, "When Collins kidnapped Florence. He tried to stop him and Collins shot him. My buddy at the VA just called and said they finally got all the forms back from his family so they can give him a proper burial now. They're going to do it at 10 AM tomorrow. I can swing by and pick you up if you still want to go."
Walter nodded his head, "I'd like to attend, Freddie was a good man."
Paige nodded, "Yes he was. This whole area feels so different without him. He helped to keep it a little safer."
Their time together and dinner had been a little more subdued after finding out about Freddie; Walter had grown to really care about the man. He wasn't surprised to learn that he had been a military man; he'd always had that bearing of discipline. He was quiet, unassuming, grateful, and strong; he tended to always take those who were new to the streets under his wing. He'd help them find a relatively safe spot to sleep, show them around to the places that provided food or clothes or even a shower and machines to wash their clothes.
He lay awake in bed all night with Paige curled up along his left side, he couldn't believe the last time he saw Freddie was applying pressure to his stomach trying to stem the flow of his blood. He couldn't even remember if he washed it off or not but then he seemed to remember Ted asking him about it and he replied that it belonged to Freddie and himself. So much happened that day, and Cabe had been running interference for him keeping the news crews away from him since he woke up, but they kept running that video of him leading them through the warehouse of traps.
Paige's hand resting just over his bladder finally forced him to slip out from under her and he sat up at the side of the bed to use the urinal and used the baby wipes to clean up after and lay back down. Paige was quick to resume her position half atop of him and Walter just smiled and he hugged her to him. Paige had worn an old tank top to bed and the side of it revealed a generous portion of the side of her left breast and Walter wasn't immune to that and he smiled as his fingers found their way down to gently caress her exposed skin. As Paige's body began to respond to those soft caresses there was a soft knock on their door and Walter closed his eyes and shook his head. He pulled their blanket up and made sure Paige was covered. "Come in," he said softly.
Ralph walked in, "I had a really bad dream, you were in the hospital still and your body wasn't responding to the antibiotics and your organs were shutting down." Walter smiled and held his hand out and Ralph walked over and took it in his.
"I'm sorry you had that dream buddy, but I'm doing better every day." Walter smiled at him.
Ralph nodded, "Would it be okay if I just lay next to you for a bit?"
Walter looked, "There isn't a lot of room without waking your Mom."
"I can lie on my side, please?" Ralph asked.
Walter nodded as he flipped the cover back and Ralph climbed in with his back up against Walter's side and his head on Walter's arm.
Paige opened her eyes and gave Walter a soft kiss, as Walter looked at her he saw her mouth, "Thank you." Walter smiled and nodded as he hugged her tighter.
Walter sat beside Paige in the cemetery Cabe was on her other side, Cabe's friend and then Sylvester sat next to him with Happy and Toby sat next to him and Ted and Florence next to them as the Navy chaplain gave a short eulogy listing a good number of achievements of Freddie from his time in the Coast Guard and then Cabe's buddy from the VA got up and gave a short eulogy of Freddie after he left the service and concluded with a special outreach that was being sponsored by a local philanthropist to help homeless vets in the LA area in honor of Freddie.
Six former service men in full military dress from the local VFW stepped up along the casket and ceremonially lifted the Flag off of the casket and solemnly folded it sharply. Finally it was passed to another who turned and stepped formally over to Walter and held it out to him. Walter sat there with tears in his eyes as the man knelt down and waited for him to take it. Paige leaned over with tears running down her face, "It's your honor to accept this final token of a grateful nation to this fallen hero."
Walter looked over as his lip quivered, and he nodded as he reached out and accepted the Flag as the man put it into his bandaged hands and then he stood and saluted Walter and the Flag as everyone else stood, and the service concluded with a 21 gun salute as his casket was slowly lowered into the grave while taps was played by the bugler. As taps came to an end the man slowly lowered his arm.
Cabe's buddy stepped over with a special triangular wood display case and opened it and Walter looked through eyes of tears and Paige leaned down, "Its okay baby, the case is for the Flag." Walter nodded and reached out and with shaking hands inserted the Flag into the case and the man closed the case and locked it and gave it to Walter.
As typical for such events the weather was overcast and with the ground being a little soft they experienced some difficulty getting Walter and Ted's chairs back out of the ground until the guys who folded the Flag came back and they bodily picked Walter up in his chair and carried him out of the soft ground and out to the asphalt of the small road that ran through the cemetery and sat him back down. They walked back in and did the same for Ted and as they sat Ted down by Walter, Walter told them, "Thank you guys so much, if you guys have time I'd like to at least buy you lunch for your service both in the military and for what you did here today for Freddie." Walter told them.
They all smiled and thanked him but they had other things they had to do. Walter nodded but gave them each his business card, "Whenever you aren't busy, call me, I'd like to thank you."
"Hey, I wouldn't mind a lunch. I wanted to talk with you anyway," Toby spoke up as Cabe started to push him towards his SUV.
Walter looked up at Paige and she just kind of shrugged, Walter looked up at Cabe, "Do you have time to do lunch with us?"
Cabe nodded.
"Fine, we'll meet you at Kovelsky's." Walter said as Paige opened the back door for Walter.
Paige looked over and saw Florence starting to push Ted over to her car, "Ted and you are invited too Florence."
Florence looked back at Paige, shocked and she turned to look at Ted and he just nodded. "Thank you Paige, we appreciate that," Florence told her.
Lunch had started off a little slow, almost nothing but quiet whispers between partners when Florence seemed to take the first step, "Paige, that's a beautiful ring, is it new?"
Paige smiled as she nodded, "Walter proposed to me. I don't know why to be honest, all he had to do was tell me yes."
Walter looked at Paige puzzled as Cabe broke out laughing. Walter looked back at him almost offended. Cabe wiped tears from his eyes as he continued to laugh, "Lord, I almost forgot about that. That night as we got to visit with you fresh out of surgery Paige proposed to you laying there completely out of it. Said if you wanted, all you had to do was wake up and say yes."
Walter looked back at Paige, "Really?"
Paige nodded, "But, I'm keeping the ring."
Greetings dear readers, I hope you have enjoyed this telling! It looks like the votes for Uncivil War story line was slightly more than the Knight story line so I'll look at continuing it next. To the Adventure! -Tim