Happy woke up and found Toby's side empty again and she frowned. Just as she started to call out to him she heard the distinct sound of him crunching on cereal. She shook her head. 'When is he going to learn to chew with his mouth closed?' She thought before she got up and put her robe on. She stepped out of their bedroom and walked down the short hall to the living room and saw him sitting on the sofa munching away happily while flipping through the cable line up.

She shook her head and after he placed his spoon back into the bowl she slapped the back of his head playfully. Toby ducked and glanced back and saw Happy smiling at him. "You're having cereal again huh? Do you have an aversion to fixing a real breakfast?"

Toby grinned. "Well now that you mention it, there are certainly less dishes to clean up after by eating cereal."

Happy rolled her eyes as she walked back down the hall to the bathroom.

When Happy came out of their bedroom dressed she saw Toby at the kitchen counter looking at the paper. She walked over and saw it was the stock market pages. "You're lucky, if that had been the betting forms I was going to make you throw up your breakfast."

Toby grinned. "No, I only look at those when you aren't around."

Happy glared at him and he smirked and wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Come on my sweet Asian roll. You know I put that behind me. I'm just checking our investments."

Happy nodded. "Hey, I know we didn't really talk a lot about our problem conceiving and we pretty much want to pursue adoption."

Toby's smile changed to concern as he looked up and nodded. "Have you decided that you don't want to adopt now?"

Happy shrugged. "I think I still want too but maybe hold off for a couple of years. Would that bother you?"

Toby shook his head. "If you are happy, I'll be happy. It is just a bit of a departure for you, what with how much you really wanted a child. Or do you want to try IVF again?"

Happy shook her head and her eyes opened wide. "Oh shoot. I promised Paige they could use the baby crib I bought."

Toby shrugged. "That was a good thing to do. Someone should be using it."

Happy shook her head. "No, I like that one and don't want to buy another one. They're expensive. I guess we can stop at the store this weekend and buy a different one for them."

Toby frowned. "Why waste all that money, just let them use the one we got."

Happy let out a disgruntled breath. "So then were would we keep our baby?"

Toby frowned. "Insane engineer said what now?"

Happy grinned as she raised her hand up holding a pregnancy test stick. Toby looked at it and saw it clearly read "Pregnant." His eyes went wide. "Are you playing a prank on me?"

Happy shook her head and then grunted a little as Toby swept off his stool and embraced her quickly.

As they parted Happy looked at Toby with a scowl. "Do NOT tell anyone."

Toby's eyes opened wide and he nodded quickly.

"What did you think about what Cabe told us concerning Drew?" Happy asked as she put on her jacket.

Toby grabbed his hat and jacket and put them on. "Troubled, Drew deserves much worse than the 12 years he'll most likely serve."

Happy walked out the front door nodding. "Is there anything we can do about it? Some way maybe you can get him locked into the Looney bin? Or maybe make his case worse so he has to stay in prison longer?"

Toby tested the door and made sure it was locked and turned. "Not that I can think of. Unless they decide to go to trial and his attorney tries for some kind of mental illness defense, then maybe I could be called by the prosecution to interview and then testify about his mental health."

They walked down to Happy's truck and climbed in.

Happy stopped on their way and got breakfast to take with her to the Garage.

Toby looked over at her. "And you complain about what I'm eating?"

Happy looked at him for a second with an upraised eyebrow. "Do you really want to comment on what I'm going to eat?"

Toby's jaw opened but he keep his lips tight together and shook his head.

"Smart man." Happy said as she pulled out onto the street.


Cabe arrived at the Garage early since it was his week to bring Walter down in the mornings. He walked up and unlocked the door and stepped in and turned off the alarm. He smiled as he smelled cooked food and he looked up towards the Loft and barely saw Walter's head above the railing. "Good morning Scorpion." Cabe called out as he walked over to the stairs.

"Good morning Cabe." Paige and Walter answered.

"You're just in time for some breakfast Cabe." Walter told him as he got up and moved over and poured a cup of coffee for him.

Cabe stepped over and took the coffee. "This is fine son, Allie had to be up early and we already ate."

Walter nodded as he gestured to the chair to his right and they both sat down.

Paige looked at Cabe's face. "You look like you have a black cloud over your head Cabe. What's wrong?"

Cabe kind of chuckled as he shook his head. "You'd make a great interrogator sweetheart. You know that?"

Paige smiled. "Thank you, but that doesn't answer the question."

Cabe snorted. "Now you sound just like this guy. But you are right. The prosecutor called last night. He's finalizing the plea deal today. It looks like Drew will get twelve years, out in eight for good behavior."

Paige stared at Cabe in disbelief. "Is that all Walter is worth to them?" She said angrily.

Walter reached over and put his hand on hers. "My love, its okay, eight years is a long time to be behind bars. Plus he'll be a relatively low man and he'll have to constantly prove himself, unlike a federal prison, state prisons have a lot more interactions between convicts. He'll be challenged a lot."

Cabe nodded. "That is true."

Paige sighed. "Somehow I am not reassured by that. What will be our options when he is released?"

"Well that depends. If he gets out early he'd have to be here in the state somewhere to serve his parole. Homeland will probably push for him to be made to live as far away in the state as possible. I doubt Maine would want him back there to put a burden on their justice system. But we might have the ability to keep him from getting paroled" Cabe told her while sipping his coffee.

Paige shook her head. "It doesn't seem right."

Walter looked at his watch and raised his voice. "Ralph, you better hurry up buddy, your breakfast is getting cold."

Cabe grinned. "It is so nice to know that I'm not the only one that has a hard time getting Ralph to get up in the mornings."

Paige laughed. "Not by a long shot."

Ralph came running out of his bedroom with his backpack. "Sorry Dad, I forgot to upload my Caltech assignment last night."

Walter smiled. "That's okay buddy. Oh, speaking of that. Is Happy taking you to Caltech this evening?"

Ralph nodded as he sat down. He scooped out some scrambled eggs and grabbed some bacon. "Unless there is an emergency and then I'm to ride with Sarah and Allie will pick me up when she gets off work."

The three adults chuckled. "That sounds like a Happy comment if I ever heard one." Paige said as she reached over and brushed the hair out of his eyes.


They heard the door followed by Toby. "Scorpion, ho!"

All four of them shook their heads. "Good morning Toby." Walter answered finally.

Toby bounded up the steps quickly and smiled. "See, I told you they'd still be eating and you could have eaten with them."

Happy rolled her eyes as she smacked the back of his head. "Hey guys."

"Good morning Happy." They all answered.

Happy moved over and sat down next to Ralph and set her breakfast burritos on the table along with her coke.

Happy looked at Ralph. "Did you get everything done so you are ready for school today?"

Ralph rocked his hand back and forth. "Everything is done but I'm not ready to go to school, but I don't think Mom will let me stay home."

Paige smiled and touched the back of his head fondly. "I'll make you a deal, when you graduate from college you can stay home the next day."

Everyone including Ralph laughed. "Thanks Mom."

Toby looked at Cabe. "Okay, so what is the latest?"

Cabe laughed and told him what was going to happen.

Happy slammed her fist on the table. "What a load of crap. We go from that lunatic in jail for at least twelve and now he's down to eight for good behavior?"

Everyone looked at her for a moment.

Toby nodded as he looked at Walter. "Are you okay with that, or do you want to talk about it?"

Walter shrugged. "As long as when he gets out we can keep him away from us I'm okay with it."

Toby nodded as he looked at Paige. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Paige shook her head. "I'm with Happy and I am not happy about it but I don't think I have any conflict to it. I'd love it though if Cabe could sneak me in with a baseball bat so I can talk to Drew."

Everyone but Ralph laughed.


The door opened and Sylvester walked inside. He could hear them talking upstairs and he smiled. "Good morning guys."

"Morning Sly, we'll be down in a minute." Walter yelled back as he stood up and walked to the wheelchair.

Happy looked to Ralph. "I think that is our cue to leave."

Ralph nodded as he pushed back and kissed his Mom and gave both of his parents a hug before walking by Toby and he fake punched him in the stomach and Toby bent over reflexively.

Happy laughed. "Nice one Ralph." She gave Ralph a high five as everyone but Toby laughed.

"You see what I got to put up with?" Toby complained.

Happy eyed him as Walter smiled. "You wanted to marry her."

Toby grinned. "I did and I'm still glad I did."

"Nice recovery Doc. Let's go Ralph." Happy kissed Toby and headed downstairs as Toby turned to follow along with them.

Cabe wheeled Walter down to the Garage while Paige stayed upstairs.

Toby walked out and climbed into the truck with Happy and Ralph. Happy looked at him funny. Toby smiled at Ralph as he closed the door. "I noticed how quiet you were about what Drew is going to get for what he did. Are you okay with it, or do you think he should get more? Maybe you don't want him to get any?"

Happy shrugged and started her truck.

Ralph looked at Toby and shrugged. "I definitely think he should get more. I was kind of on the fence about it but after thinking about it yesterday I definitely think what he did deserves a stiffer sentence. Plus I don't understand why the federal prosecutor kicked it down to the state. As a contractor to Homeland, an attack against any of you should be considered a federal crime."

Toby nodded. "I can understand that and I think it is a valid point." Toby asked a few more questions and Ralph answered but something was gnawing at Toby.

Happy looked at Toby as they waved goodbye to Ralph as they pulled away. "What's going on?"

Toby looked over at her. "I'm not sure. Ralph was being strangely closed off."

Happy shrugged. "He seemed fine to me."

Toby smiled. "But you aren't a Harvard trained behaviorist my little Asian flower."

Happy shook her head. "Must you bring up Harvard all the time?"

Toby grinned. "But something else is going on with Ralph. He was really focused on not letting his body language say anything, which of course is telling on its own. He may be having more trouble with this then any of us thought. I should probably see if Paige and Walter will let me sit down with him this evening for awhile."

Happy shook her head. "You can't. He's got classes at Caltech tonight."

Toby nodded. "I forgot about that. I really hate to let this drag on for a couple of days but I guess there is no help for it."


Paige finally came down about 10 a.m. when her nausea had finally passed.

Cabe's phone rang and he pulled it out and frowned. "It's the prosecutor." Everyone looked up as Cabe answered. Cabe spoke with him for several minutes and finally hung up.

"Cabe?" Walter asked.

Cabe shook his head. "The prosecutor said it was a done deal. Drew signed the documents and they are moving him to San Quentin state prison in the morning."

Happy looked at him. "So is he still in Homeland's lock up?"

Cabe shook his head. "No, they moved him yesterday around four to the county lock up."

Happy smiled. "That means there is still time so you can get me and Paige in to see him with baseball bats!"

Cabe laughed as he shook his head.

They all sat around the kitchen table finishing lunch from Kovelsky's when Paige looked through the bag and frowned. She looked up at Toby. "Where's the receipt so I can reimburse you?"

Toby smiled and shook his head. "It is my treat today."

Happy glared at him.

Toby's eyes went wide. "What? They are always buying for us. Can't I return the favor once?"

Cabe laughed. "You got to admit it is suspicious Doc, over four years and you bought one time."

Happy kicked Toby hard under the table.

Toby cried out and grabbed his shin.

Paige looked at them both. "Okay, what is going on? You're hiding something."

Happy kicked Toby hard again.

"Will you stop kicking me?!" Toby asked in a demanding tone as he scooted back from the table so she couldn't reach him.

"Come on now, out with it. Something is obviously going on with you two, spill already." Paige asked since her curiosity was a blazing inferno at this point.

"Jackass, I told you I didn't want to say anything yet." Happy said as she continued to glare at Toby.

Paige's hand came up to her mouth as a smile erupted on her face. "Are you saying you are pregnant?"

Happy sighed as she nodded. "According to the home test I am. I've got an appointment with the Doctor tomorrow to get confirmation."


Happy VD! Originally I'd planned to be offline today but then I remembered today should be a story update and since it was already done I figured I would post it anyway. Who guessed who said Jackass and who it was said about from the chapter name? lol

Railman - I would agree, Ralph is definitely more devious than Walter ever could be. Well I can think of 2 situations where he could definitely go pretty dark. In a situation like you describe, here in the US for the most part the driver of the car who's brakes had been cut would not be held liable for prosecution, unless they cut the brakes. But their insurance could still be sued to pay damages and the insurance would have to either try and seek compensation from the guilty party, if known, or just eat the cost. I've seen some cases while not exactly that but like someone took someone's car without permission and their insurance had to pay for damage they did.

Lucy - Maybe next chapter we'll find out. hehe But yes, if Walter finds out...Ralph might experience his first paddling! lol Probably not.

Susan - Thank you! Trying to stay warm for sure. I guess this coming week is even going to be worse. Plus I guess the model shows 5-8 inches of snow starting sometime this evening into Tuesday. Texas looks to be in trouble!

Margaret - Yaa for a tax return! Yep, Ralph better watch his p's and q's!

Franxine - Aww...thank you!

Mtrizee - hehe Me thinks the good Doctor might have an inkling something isn't right with the youngest member!

To the Adventure! -Tim