The story has finally eased up a little in the pace and this chapter ends up skipping about 24 hours, I'm getting the feeling it might skip a little more time in the next couple of chapters but nothing is certain until the chapter is done. To the Adventure! -Tim
Allie came down the stairs and found Paige curled up on the couch, "Paige, are you okay?"
Paige looked up and nodded; sadness clearly on her face. "Ralph and I got into it a little after I told him to call his Dad, well Drew. At one time he really wanted Drew back in his life but since he came back he's been an almost constant disappointment to Ralph. I probably shouldn't push him to stay in touch but part of me says he needs to. You know?" She asked.
Allie nodded, "I can see that point from both sides. I think you are right though, if Drew really isn't trying then Ralph shouldn't be chasing after him. It sets a bad precedent. Are you up to giving me a hand with lunch?"
Paige smiled and got up and followed her into the kitchen.
Ralph heard a simple knock on the door, "Come in," he said sullenly.
Cabe walked in and Ralph smiled a little. "Hey kid, what's with the door slamming?"
Ralph frowned, "I'm sorry, Mom and I got into it over Dad and Drew and she told me I could spend the rest of the day up here."
Cabe chuckled as he sat down on the edge of the bed. "You want to talk about it?"
Ralph shrugged, "Not really a lot to talk about, she couldn't defend her position on not talking to Dad so she changed the subject to wanting me to call Drew. It's always I have to call him, he never calls me and of course if he has something else going on then I have to call back later. And don't even get me started on how many times our plans have to change because something came up last minute with his schedule so I can't go see him. I wish he had just stayed gone."
Cabe nodded as he put his arm around his shoulders. "I get that and I don't blame you. If you want we can both talk to your Mom about the Drew situation, hopefully we can come to an agreement on that. Now what did you to get into it about over Walter?"
"Well, first it was because she said you and I both asked him and he refused to come over and be safe and I tried to make her understand that maybe he needed her to ask him and then it was about her not telling him about Centipede Partners, what a stupid name." Ralph pretended to gag as he shoved his finger into the back of his throat.
Cabe laughed, "Yea I can agree with you on that."
Paige was use to making stuff peppers but this was the first time making them using no meat. She wondered how Ralph would deal with the difference.
"Wow, something smells good in here," Ted said with a smile on his face as he walked into the kitchen.
Paige and Allie both smiled, Ted asked, "Have you guys seen Cabe? I need to ask him about something."
"He told me he was going to talk with Ralph," Allie told him.
Ted nodded, "Umm, where's Ralph?"
Both ladies laughed, "He's supposed to be upstairs in the other bedroom." Paige told him.
Ted smiled and walked up the stairs and knocked gently on the first door, Cabe opened it and gestured for Ted to enter while asking, "What's up?"
"I was thinking of going back to Homeland and seeing if I can't pry a little money out of Carlson to get a couple of agents to watch over Allie, Paige and Ralph during the week at least during normal hours so he can go to school and Paige can go to work. I can have Florence come with me unless there is something at Scorpion for her to work on and I guess either you or I could be with her there." Ted explained.
Cabe nodded, "Well that would be a good idea, but I doubt that Carlson is going to authorize it. Allie would be safe at work they have pretty heavy security so she wouldn't need someone watching over her."
Ted smiled, "When I called Homeland for that phone trace, I had them record the conversation; I got a copy right here. That should show clear and present danger."
Cabe grinned, "Well it might work better if we go to Katharine, Carlson could still say no. He's definitely proving himself to be unreliable. And I got the perfect agents to watch Paige and Ralph too if she does."
"Hey guys, lunch time," Allie yelled up the stairs.
After lunch Ralph walked up to Paige, "Mom, can we talk for a moment please?"
Paige looked surprised but put her book down and patted the cushion next to her on the couch.
Ralph sat down and half turned towards her, "I wanted to tell you I was sorry for getting upset earlier and saying what I did. I'm just feeling so much frustration over all of this and sometimes it just comes out before I can stop it." Ralph explained. "I'm trying to understand your point of view and it's just so hard. Add in the hormones that I am experiencing and it just really amplifies the frustration. I know you are trying your best and I am not faulting you. I'm just worried, you seem like you really want things to change back between you and Dad but I keep hearing what Toby is saying knowing its hogwash and I believe Grandpa when he says if you don't tell Dad about this company you guys are forming it's going to backfire and make things between you both so much worse. And I don't want it getting worse; I want to go back to how we were. Anyway that's what I really needed to say."
Paige smiled, "Thank you Ralph, I hear what you are saying and I wish I could explain it to you, I'm not sure I can explain it to myself and what is it that Einstein said, 'If you can't explain it to a five year old then you don't understand it yourself?'"
Ralph nodded, "I think he said six years old, but basically yes."
Paige laughed lightly, "Oh Ralphy, I love you so much." She told him as she hugged him tightly.
Ralph looked thoughtful for a moment, "Is there something else on your mind sweetie?" Paige asked.
Ralph nodded, "I'm tired of always having to be the one reaching out to Drew, I know you think its important that I have a relationship with him but he hasn't been interested in me much since he got that coaching job and I just don't want to deal with him anymore."
Paige nodded and hugged him tightly, "If that's how you really feel than you don't have too. I just don't want you to regret your decision. You think about it some more until next weekend and we can discuss it some more if you don't want to continue then we'll call Drew together and tell him so, fair?"
Ralph smiled and hugged his Mom, "I love you Mom".
Cabe called Homeland asking for Katharine Cooper to call him back ASAP. It was about fifteen minutes later she called him back, "Katharine, thanks for calling back, my apologizes for disturbing you on the weekend." Cabe told her.
"No worries Cabe, what's up?" Katharine told him.
"I'm here with Ted Markus and we want you to listen to a recorded phone conversation between Collins and Walter and see if you can authorize some agents to help watch over Paige and Ralph during the day next week." Cabe told her. He gestured and Ted hit play on his phone and played the conversation for her.
After the call ended, "So Walter's convinced that Collins intends to harm them?" Katharine asked.
"I'm not sure convinced is the right word but he is concerned over his saying he wanted Walter to feel the betrayal he felt." Cabe told her.
"Okay Cabe, I will authorize two agents, that is the best I can do with Carlson being the way he is. I'll have a couple of agents assigned." Katharine promised.
"Katharine, if it isn't too much to ask, I have a couple of agents in mind. I can reach out to them and I'm sure they'd be happy to help." Cabe told her.
"That's fine, have them check in with Ted and he can submit it to me Monday." Katharine told him.
"Thanks Katharine, have a great rest of your weekend." Cabe said as they hung up. "That was easier then I thought it would be." Cabe said looking at Ted.
Cabe hit his contacts and pressed dial, "Hey Nick, hold on a second," he hit hold and then pulled up another contact and hit dial, "Hey Simone, hang on a second." He hit conference, "Okay, Nick, Simone, we got permission for you both to help protect a couple of people. If you don't mind coming to my house tomorrow afternoon, we can introduce you guys to whom you'll be protecting. Yea, 2 PM sounds good, see you both then."
Cabe broke out a lot of the games he'd kept from when his daughter was alive, games that brought tears to his eyes. He hadn't had them out since he moved into this place. Allie saw his eyes were teary but saw the smile on his face as he brought them out and into the kitchen. "I thought maybe if everyone wanted, we could socialize a little together and play a game or two."
They all came out to the kitchen and examined all the games, Scrabble was quickly sidelined, no one liked to play a game like that with a genius and they all finally settled on Sorry.
Sunday afternoon a few minutes before 2 PM Cabe saw a car pull up in back of his house and Simone and Nick exited and then he saw another man get out and he just smiled. He quickly walked into the kitchen and turned off the alarm and opened the door grinning from ear to ear. He exclaimed, "Rusty, you old horse trader!" Rusty laughed and stepped up and gave his old friend a hug. "Cabe I swear you get uglier every time I see you." Rusty teased him.
Cabe laughed, "Simone," he greeted her as they embraced. "Nick, are you able to shave yet?" Cabe teased him.
"Better than you old man," Nick shot back as they hugged.
"Come on in guys," Cabe said closing the backdoor and resetting the alarm.
Cabe pointed to Ted, "Have you guys met before? This is agent Ted Markus, he's been a friend since I joined Homeland and he's been on point for what has been happening around my son. Ted these are my oldest friends from the Corps, Rusty was our commanding officer, Simone was our munitions expert and Nick was the baby we picked up in some field one day."
Rusty and Simone laughed and even Nick laughed, "That wasn't bad Cabe, maybe you do still have a few brain cells left."
Cabe laughed.
"Good to meet you Ted, don't mind me, I just came over to touch bases with this dinosaur behind me." Rusty shook his hand.
"Let's go meet Paige and Ralph and we can discuss this some more privately." Cabe told them.
They walked into the living room and found Paige and Ralph waiting expectantly. "Paige, Ralph, these are some of my oldest friends, not counting Nick here, he's barely out of diapers." Cabe told them as Nick shot him a grin. "This is Rusty and Simone. Simone is going to be taking you to school and bringing you back here every day Ralph. She'll be outside your classroom all day, you know what Collins is capable of and if anything happens you get to her first and she will safeguard you, understand?"
Ralph nodded as he reached out a hand and Simone smiled and shook his hand.
"Paige this young puppy is young but he knows what he is doing, he'll take you to and from your office or wherever you have to go. He'll afford you all the privacy he can but he won't put up with any nonsense so make sure you tell Toby to mind his P's & Q's or Nick might just put him through a wall, on second thought, don't tell him and just get me some pictures from when he does." Cabe told her with a smile.
"It's nice to meet you Nick," Paige extended her hand with a smile.
Nick returned the smile and shook her hand, "It's my pleasure."
Cabe smacked him on the back of his head, "Down boy, haven't you gotten him house broken yet Simone?"
Simone and Rusty laughed.
"Ted and I are going to brief them for a short bit and then you guys can talk with each other and get to know each other a bit, protectees and their protectors need to have a good understanding of each other. One thing to understand guys since neither of you have ever had to experience this, what you do or say is kept in the strictest confidence. Their job isn't to report back what you do or say, it's to keep you safe and I want you to understand I'd trust them with my soul so you can trust them too." Cabe finished and to have some privacy from Paige and Ralph, Cabe led them back outside so they could talk without being overheard.
Paige saw Ralph standing at the window on the other side of the living room looking out back. "Ralphy, what are you doing?" She asked him.
Without turning his head, "Lip reading what they are saying."
"Ralphy," Paige exclaimed, "Get away from that window this minute, that's very rude."
Allie and Florence were smiling at Ralph's cleverness.
"Don't you want to know what they were saying?" Ralph asked her.
"No, yes, no, get away from there." Paige was flustered.
Ted opened a file folder he brought out of the house with them. "This is the scumbag in question, Mark Collins; I've got images in here with out the beard, without glasses, different color hair so on and so forth."
They each took turns looking the photos over, even taking pictures with their phones to reference later. "Ralph's school has been notified about what is going on and that you would be on premise. They didn't like the fact that you would be armed Simone but I told them that was just tough." Cabe told her.
Simone just grinned.
"One thing to remember guys, Collins is a high order genius, arguably the seventh highest in the world today. He's cleaver, devious and his plots have plots as the people who know him would put it." Ted told them.
"I was only half kidding about you putting Toby through a wall Nick, there is something seriously off about him but we just can't figure it out yet." Cabe told him.
"Speaking of that," Ted interjected, "If you can, try and record any conversations he has with the others. I'd love to hear exactly what he is saying especially if it's a conflict. I don't care what the others say so much, but yesterday when they were here whenever one of the others would disagree with him his voice would drop to where I couldn't hear it, he'd say something and they would just agree to whatever he was saying."
"Copy that, scumbag Dr into a wall and try to record any disagreements." Nick said.
"Now, what are you really doing here Rusty?" Cabe asked.
Rusty smiled, "Well after Simone told me you wanted them on this detail I was a little hurt you didn't ask me."
Cabe laughed, "Well I would have asked you too but Carlson is giving us all kinds of grief and I was only able to get Katharine to authorize two agents so I don't have the funds to cover you."
Rusty shrugged, "I've got personal and vacation days I can take. What do you need?"
Cabe smiled, "Well if you really are interested you could escort Florence to and from Scorpion HQ and watch out over Walter and her during the day."
"Sounds good to me, whose Florence and Walter?" Rusty asked.
Cabe laughed, "We can introduce you to Florence now and Walter is at Scorpion now."
Rusty's brow lifted, "Why's he there unprotected now?"
"Long story short, Paige dumped him and walked out on him. He believes if he had come here to be protected as well she would refuse to be here so he's just staying there." Cabe told him.
Rusty rolled his eyes, "Oh great, and imbecile, I hate protecting imbeciles."
Cabe laughed, "Actually my son's a genius, fifth highest IQ ever measured after my grandson in there."