Callan Ireland

Sean put on the the fire in the Lounge. With the rain beating so ferociously outside it'd gotten quite cold. He frowned as he heard a loud banging on the front door. "Who is it at this time of night?" He questioned Louise. "Probably the neighbours" she replied. "I'll go and check".

Opening the door she was suprised to see her only Son Walter standing outside soaked to the bone. Though he was wet all over from the rain it'd be obvious that he'd been crying. She felt her heart break for him. "Do you mind if I stay here a while?" He sniffed. Louise gripped her Son in a tight hug. "Of course it is Son" she replied pulling him inside. "Sean look who it is" Louise called out "Our boy has come home"

Sean frowned to himself. 'The boy must've run his company to the ground and came looking for a handout-well he isn't getting it' he thought to himself. When they entered the room however Sean took one look at him and felt guilty. The boy looked so...broken.

"Come sit by the fire and warm yourself up there's a good boy" Louise urged. Sean knelt in front of his boy. The lad had his head down and was shaking from the effort of trying to hold back tears.

Sean had never seen his Son so emotional. Even when he was beaten by bullies as a child Walter had just seemed to take it- and accepted it as a consequence of being different.

When Megan had passed they'd not seen him react this way either - they knew he had cried for her though. Slyvester had told them of how long it'd taken him to process the loss and of his breakdown following it. They'd been proud of Walter for giving up his chance to be a multi millionaire in order to honour his sister with the rocket launch to the stars. Everyone knew of her love for them.

"Let it out Son" Sean urged. Walter broke down crying. "Sh-sh-she left me" he sobbed "I love her s-so much and she left me. Sh-she took my boy and my staff. I-I know I was a hard boss and I st-st-struggled as a partner bu-but I was a good Dad and I l-loved them ... I still love them all s-so much"

Walter recounted to them how they'd met Florence and how he struggled to accept her into the group. Every little detail from the dream and its cause, the presentation Paige hadn't want to attend and right up to finding out Florence was in love with him and that Slyvester was in love with her and the breakdown of his Cyclone from that moment.

"Then I found out they'd started their o-own company to compete against me on private jobs. I still work with Homeland and I do still get a fair amount of private work but its not the same without her.. without them.. I found myself in a dark place considering... I-I don't want to be... I saved Slyvester from those thoughts. I don't want to...I-I thought it w-would be best to come home. It-it is OK isn't it?" He asked shyly.

"Of course it is lad" Sean replied standing up and squeezing Walter's shoulder comfortly before continuing "how about I make us a nice cuppa tea yeah?" Walter gave him a watery smile "Thank you" he replied.

"Oh my baby!" Louise cried out hugging Walter tight to her as Sean left the room. Hearing them both sobbing together from the other room Sean's fists clenched. He'd be having words with Slyvester- he may not have been totally to blame for everything but he had a lot to answer for.

He'd been lying to the family for a while now about Walter, making out like everything was perfect- If they'd known it wasn't they would've been able to be there for their Son. If Slyvester had just admitted his feelings regarding Florence to her or even to Walter none of this would've happened. Or even if he'd just thought logically he'd know that Walter had zero interest in the woman. Paige may have left Walter but it was Slyvester's reaction to Florence's declaration that was ultimately the catalyst to the team's destruction. What the hell even is a Cranial affair anyway?

He took out his phone as he boiled the kettle, his face red with anger. He had a email to send the man he'd once considered a second Son.

Centipede partners- one week before

The new business was a disaster. They may have won some bids off Walter but they struggled every time to complete them, and never managed to do so with the perfection that Walter would've completed them.

They'd come to realise that the "logical dictatorship" Walter had commanded of the company was in fact the reason Scorpion worked so well. Toby thought back to the time Walter had tried the "conch method" and how it nearly ended up in disaster until their boss had snapped like a twig and taken over. Voting on everything just didn't work- and often cost precious time that they didn't have to waste. Especially now that they didn't have the biggest asset in the team anymore. The team just didn't work without Walter.

Happy was distant and more closed off then she'd ever been even to him, he'd constantly been on the edge of his old habits again, Slyvester was angry all the time and Paige... poor Paige was always hidden away in her office crying her eyes out. Between the horrible guilt of how she'd treated Walter and the heartbreak she felt but was too ashamed to try and fix to the utter devastation of her son's regression.

Poor Ralph had been hit the hardest- they'd given him all the information and he'd come to the same conclusion straight away that Toby eventually had. It was all a big mistake.

They'd destroyed the man that had cared for them so much because of simple miscommunication- something they knew Walter struggled with. They'd exspected Walter to be perfect (something he'd readily admitted he wasn't) and had held him to impossible standards.

Ralph had cut himself away from all of them. Shutting himself down almost completely. The only time they saw any positive emotion from him was when he recieved and replied to his evening emails from Walter.

Paige was angry at first- blaming Walter for her Son's change of attitude towards her. Only for Ralph to overhear her ranting to the others- he'd smashed up her office in retaliation. Today he just left a copy of Walter's last email on her desk...

"My Dear Son,

I'm so sorry to hear of the hard time you are having. I wish I could hug you and tell you in person that everything will be alright. I miss you so much too. Please don't be upset with your Mother, I know I wasn't the partner I shouldve been. I see that now.

I'm glad to hear that the team have stayed together and that the cyclone is still mostly intact. I might not appreciate them competing directly against me but I'm glad that they are not struggling to make ends meet. Remember I still have Homeland so I will be ok.

I am so proud to hear of how well you are doing in class. Remember if you need any help I am always here to support you, as are the others. I've got to go now. I've got a flight to catch. Please take care of your Mother for me.

Never forget that I love you

Your Dad, Walter

P.s I've put some money in your account. I wanted to be sure your future is taken care of. You're going to do great things Son."

Paige broke as she finished the email. The guilt washed over her again as she realised she had no one to blame for Ralph's regression but herself. She'd accused Walter of being emotionally 15/16 at most but here he was penning this emotional letter to her Son asking him to forgive her and still continuing to care for Ralph as if he was biologically his.

She tried to be angry that Walter was still claiming Ralph as his own, but that just made her heart hurt more. In truth Ralph had been his since the moment they'd met. Nobody connected with Ralph like Walter and without him in their lives Ralph was lost. It was like a part of Ralph was missing and only she was to blame.

With shaking hands she logged into Ralph's bank account to see what Walter had sent him. She was exspecting to see maybe a couple of grand seeing as it was to support him in his future. She damn near passed out when she saw the fifty million pounds in her son's account. Just where had Walter got the money from?

Googling Walter's net worth she was shocked to see how much money he'd made in the short time since separating from the team and according to Scorpion's new website Walter required a minimum of 10 thousand dollars for a job to be considered. She'd known him in the past to take many jobs for free. She was glad to know that he now knew his own worth- even if she hadn't when they were together.

This did make things harder however- many times she'd considered crawling back to him with her tail inbetween her legs begging him for another chance. Now she was concerned that if she did now he'd think she was just after his money. She buried her face in her hands. She'd lost her son, her job and the man she loved and for what?

She hated her life now, She hated her current relationship with her son, She hated Centipede and she hated being without the love of her life. It was all her fault! Why did she have be so jealous? She knew Walter didn't have any feelings for Florence!

Feeling a moment of bravery, but not enough to contact Walter himself, she ran a quick message off to Cabe asking how Walter was. A few minutes later she recieved a reply that made her blood run cold.

'Missing'

A/N Please let me know what you think :)Back to writing Permission :D