Christmas X 4
Authors note:
No big case this time - just a bit of christmas - though we start a bit earlier than that.
So far I have only the first chapter written - there will be at least one more chapter of course - but I can't tell yet if there will be more than one chapter.
I hope you enjoy this story, even though - as already said - there will be no case to solve this time.
This story takes place after a possible Scorpion reunion after Season 4's horrible end. In that timeline over a year has passed since the team has reunited and this is a possible future they could have.
Chapter 1 - Thanksgiving
"I hate this!" Paige pouted as she sat down in the wheelchair Walter held steady for her. "We haven't invited your parents for Thanksgiving and Christmas so your mother and Allie do all the cooking!"
"My mother doesn't mind." Walter reminded her as he turned her around and pushed her towards the ramp.
"She has actually been very ecstatic about it, Paige!" Sylvester offered from Walter's kitchen counter where he was fussing over a casserole with an to Paige unidentifiable typically Irish dish - the smell made her mouth water.
The O'Brien's had arrived a week ago. But Louise's grocery list had arrived a full two weeks prior.
From the moment Louise and Allie had learned that they were in charge of Thanksgiving dinner, the two women had gotten together online on a weekly basis to plan out the perfect Thanksgiving dinner for Team Scorpion & family.
They did not take that task lightly.
Cabe had fled Allie and his home when she had started her preparations the day before, suggesting not so subtly that while she loved him dearly, she would prefer to not have him stand in her way while she worked.
The older agent knew when it was better not to argue and had vacated their home without a fight and instead came by the garage to pick up Sean to help him, Ralph and Happy with their own special project, leaving the rest of the gang to help Louise.
Unlike Allie, Louise didn't want to have the kitchen all to herself. Everyone who didn't get out of her sight on time was assigned a task.
"Oh don't worry dear!" Louise suddenly appeared behind them, bustled over to Sylvester and picked up the casserole in front of him. "Allie and I got this covered. It's been so long since I could spoil my children." She shifted the casserole to one had as she passed Walter.
Before Walter could move out of her reach, she patted his cheek affectionately, ignoring his scowl, before she bent down to Paige to lovingly stroke the younger woman's extremely swollen belly. "You just concentrate on those sweet babies!"
She straightened up and continued her way towards the stairs. "Sylvester, please bring the dinner rolls. Walter, you need to be careful on the ramp, you are bringing the most precious cargo!"
Walter rolled his eyes, but refrained from commenting. He had made that mistake on the day of his parent's arrival and it had ended with a ten minute lecture on how important it was that he took special care of Paige and her needs during this stressful time for her. He was not keen on a repeat experience.
Paige smiled to herself. As much as she was glad when she would finally give birth to and meet her babies, it did feel good to be pampered and spoiled by a motherly figure. Of course Walter had been spoiling her for the past weeks as well, but it felt good coming from Walter's mother, as her own Mom was absent. And not the typical motherly figure to begin with.
Normally it was always Paige who took care of the others. She loved doing that, but it did feel good to be on the receiving end for a change. Especially as this pregnancy had not been easy so far.
xxxXXXxxx
"Walter! How can you be so calm about this!?" Paige didn't scream, but her voice pitched high with stress as they sat on the bench outside her OB/GYN's office.
Paige had been able to hold it together while still inside, but once they had left the building, her calm exterior had crumbled.
And Walter? The Walter who had initially made the impression of a fish out of water when she had first told him about the positive pregnancy test, had the audacity to be completely calm about what they had just been told.
"Paige, we have discussed this. We were expecting a baby - so now we get more than one…" Walter was still infuriatingly calm.
He wasn't the one who had to not only carry them to term and eventually give birth to them…
"Quadruplets, Walter. I am pregnant with quadruplets!" Paige's voice rose, but she didn't care about people turning to stare at them. "I am going to be four times the size I was with Ralph and I will have to give birth four times. FOUR." She held up four fingers in front of Walter's face accusingly.
"Quadruplets, way to go, waitress!" Happy's voice rang out to their left. The engineer sounded impressed.
"Seeing that you will have in abundance what we ourselves desire, how about you share and let us have one of your little bundles of joy?"
Toby stood behind his wife, his huge smirk not wavering under the twin glares of Walter and Paige.
"Aw, you're cute when you synchronize-scowl." Toby still grinned.
"You didn't think that through, Numbnuts." Happy jumped in. "We'd be raising Walter Junior. Even watered down with Paige's DNA, we'd still have to deal with the O'Brien stubbornness. You've met his father, it runs in the family line. So I'll take a pass and rather be 'aunt Happy' who can teach them annoying things, stuff them full of sugar and then hand them back."
"They could always turn out like Megan." Toby pointed out.
"Do you see me laughing, Toby?" Paige continued to glare while Walter had moved on to rolling his eyes at their friends. She turned back to Walter.
"Why can't you do anything the normal way? Wouldn't have one at a time been enough?"
Toby immediately sobered up. It was never a good idea to tick off Paige - ticking off Paige while pregnancy hormones were involved was an even worse idea. And he could not let Paige's inaccurate statement stand.
"You can't blame that one on 197, Paige." Toby stood slightly behind his wife, his hands in his pockets as he rocked back and forth on his feet.
Paige didn't like the look of scientific interest on his face.
"Multiple simultaneous births happen when either one fertilised egg splits into two or more - or when a woman releases more than one ova at once and they are all fertilised. Anyway, the chance of giving birth to quadruplets is very low - only one woman in 52 millions gives birth to quadruplets. So congratulations are in order!"
If looks could kill, Toby would have dropped dead on the spot.
"Toby, I don't care about the odds or the how and why - I can't carry four babies in me for nine months and give birth to them!" Paige started to hyperventilate.
"Paige, please!" She suddenly found herself in Walter's arms. "You can and you will." He said softly. "And while I can't do it for you, I will be with you every step of the way and do everything I can to support you!"
Paige looked up to him as she slowly got her breathing back under control.
"I know." She said, then a bit calmer. "I know. This is just such a shock. The thought of… Walter, I just panicked! For a second I felt as helpless as I felt when I found out I was alone in the world with a toddler."
"You are not alone," Walter frowned, a slightly hurt impression on is face. "I'll be there for you and our children as long as you let me."
A small smile reappeared on Paige's face. "I know, Walter, I know!" She hugged him.
She enjoyed the comfort of his hug a moment longer before they stepped apart. She was thankful Walter allowed this much display of affection in public, she didn't want to make him uncomfortable.
Toby spoke up again.
"I promise you, other women have gone through this and while it is a rare occurrence and you will probably be considered an at risk pregnancy, you are also in perfect health and shape, so you have the best preposition to successfully carry quadruplets to term. Also, one thing you should not forget, you have a Harvard trained doctor to supervise your health constantly during your pregnancy."
"You have my permission to hurt him if he gets too annoying about it." Happy promised. "I draw the line at maiming, though. I need that idiot in one piece."
"I'll take you up on that!" Paige awarded Toby with a withering glare.
He was still way too enthusiastic about the whole situation for Paige's liking.
She wasn't happy about her situation to begin with, she was not thrilled to be the source of Toby's entertainment for the next months.
xxxXXXxxx
The others had taken the news just as Paige expected.
Sylvester had treated her to a more detailed version of the probability of getting pregnant with quadruplets - Happy had quickly shut him down when he had started in on the probability of successfully carrying all four children to term. And just in time as the sudden sorrow in his face singled he was about to go into the probability of the complications that could occur.
He quickly sobered up and congratulated them.
When Paige wanted to tell Florence later that day she discovered that Sylvester had not been able to keep the news to himself and had already told his girlfriend the news.
Cabe had first stared at them in disbelieve, then barked out a laugh before he had congratulated them.
Ralph had taken the news in his usual calm way, but then started to separate himself from the others for the rest of the day.
In the end it had been Walter who had sought out the teenager
.
She did't know what Walter had said to her son, but afterwards he had approached her, given her a hug and told her he was happy for them and would support her when she needed him.
Two hours later he had reappeared in front of his mother's desk, equipped with the whiteboard and held a presentation how the garage's loft was the better place to live with four additional babies as opposed to her condo, which had the perfect size for one child, but not five.
Paige had had to bite back her laughter. Of course Walter had made the same points a few hours earlier on the car ride to the garage.
She didn't bring it over herself to stop Ralph, though. He enjoyed giving presentations and she refrained to tell him they had already discussed it earlier. She did fully agree, though she hated the thought of giving up her lovely condo. It was beautiful and she had enjoyed living there. But of course her two men were right - it was too small for a family of seven.
The garage's loft on the other hand had more than enough space. It covered more than half of the garage's space and even though Walter's working space looked cluttered, he had not used up the full loft space. It had been more efficient to have everything close by and with his bigger projects being kept downstairs, he had simply not managed to clutter up the whole floor yet.
Of course Walter's parents had been ecstatic about the news, though Louise had been sympathetic about Paige's worries of not only carrying four children to term, but also about taking care of four babies at once.
She had also proven that fast thinking ran in the family and was not solely a trait Walter owed to his high IQ. Before the call had ended, Louise and Paige had already made plans that the O'Brien's would travel to Los Angeles for Thanksgiving and stay until Paige had given birth.
xxxXXXxxx
"Walter, my boy, would you please be so kind and get your father, Cabe and Ralph?" Louise asked with a smile, her eyes on the table, satisfied hat everything was set up to her liking.
Walter nodded, though he only reluctantly left Paige's side.
Paige smiled as she watched the father of the children growing in her womb walk away from the huge table they had set up on the ground floor of the garage.
Once he was out of sight, Paige allowed Happy and Allie to help her into a comfortable chair.
Paige hated the wheelchair. She could walk on even ground, but manoeuvring from one floor to the other was tricky. Her belly was so swollen now, the shifted center of gravity kept throwing her off balance and caused her to have difficulties whenever the she had to move up and down stairs or ramps.
That had led to Toby highly recommending a wheel chair for those occasions. Paige had initially not been thrilled and had flat out refused - until she had lost her balance on the ramp and only Walter's and Happy's quick reflexes at kept her from crashing to the ground and harming the babies.
That she accepted the wheelchair to move between levels and for longer distances now, didn't mean she enjoyed sitting in it. And she was not going to spend Thanksgiving in a wheelchair. It was bad enough she still had about a month to go.
"Sean is really throwing himself into the rebuilding of the loft." Paige smiled at Louise. "I feel a bit guilty. We have not invited you here so you work for us all the time."
"Oh Paige, Sean really needs this project!" Louise gently placed her hand on Paige's arm. "He has been moping around at home since he had to retire in summer. He can do some lighter work. He has taken over my kitchen garden, but it's not the same. He loved being a farmer and it kills him that he can't do that anymore. That he can only watch his nephews work the land that has been his for so many decades is making it worse. So coming here and being able to do this project for you and our grandchildren is just the change of scenery he needed. I haven't seen him this content in months."
Paige felt relief. She had felt like she was taking advantage of Walter's parents.
"That's good to hear, thank you Louise."
xxxXXXxxx
Upstairs, Walter walked into his former and future bedroom. Currently his bedroom furniture was moved to the living room area, so the young genius, Happy and the two older normals could turn it from the loft's sleeping area to an actual bedroom with walls around them.
While his wife had been busy making Thanksgiving dinner plans with Allie, Sean had made his own plans together with Cabe, Happy and Ralph. All four agreed that the four babies as well as Ralph needed their own rooms and Walter and Paige needed their bedroom to have walls for privacy, too.
Once they had arrived at the garage, the quartet had made their plans for his bedroom known and given Walter short notice to pack up the things he wanted to take to Paige's condo until their bedroom was finished and pack up the rest before the building team started their work.
The whole team had helped clear the area for the baby rooms and Ralph's teenager rooms a few days before already.
They had been at it for four days so far, but they were working at amazing speed, thanks to the help of the SEAL team Scorpion had worked with in Bosnia when they had recovered the technology and pilot of a crashed military plane.
The team was in the U.S. on leave over Thanksgiving and upon hearing that Walter and Paige where expecting quadruplets had invested some of their free time to help them with the project.
Louise had been thrilled about the extra help and against Paige's protests had taken it upon herself to make sure all helpers were well fed each day.
"Happy can start the wiring tomorrow." Ralph greeted Walter with a proud tone in his voice.
He enjoyed working with Sean a lot and was excited about the project he shared with the three adults.
"The kid's amazing!" Sean praised enthusiastically. "He's not only smart, but he has a hand for manual work as well. The floor plans for his and the baby's rooms are very good."
Ralph beamed with pride.
Walter returned Ralph's grin, then looked at the others.
"Mom says dinner is ready." Walter informed them.
"Great, I'm starving!" Ralph said and jogged out of the room. Cabe and Happy followed right behind him.
Walter turned to leave the room as well, but Sean grabbed his arm and held him back.
"I've got something for you, boy." Sean whispered although the others were already on their way downstairs.
xxxXXXxxx
Under the table, Walter nervously toyed with the small box his father had given him a few minutes ago.
Everyone had already said what they were thankful for in the past year and now everyone was looking at him expectantly.
He nervously cleared his throat.
"Uhhhm… Last year I told you how grateful I am that we overcame our differences and the breakup of Scorpion as well as Paige and me and managed to mend Scorpion as well as our cyclone. I am still grateful for that. But this year I am especially grateful for Paige still putting up with me and I am also grateful for the four babies growing inside of the wonderful woman by my side." Walter's voice quivered slightly and Paige frowned as Walter stood up from his chair.
Her breath caught in her throat as Walter suddenly got down on one knee next to her chair and smiled up at her.
"I am grateful for what you have given me so far and I will be grateful for everything you will give me in the future. You are so amazing. You have put up with me since the day we met and I do know I am not an easy person to be have changed my life so much and helped me grow like I never though possible. You also brought Ralph into my life and showed me the value of having a family. But not only that, you are giving me a family of my own, with Ralph and with our babies. Our breakup was the worst thing that happened to me and I can't stand the thought of having to spend the rest of my life without you. I want to be with you and our children," he glanced at Ralph and winked. "all five of them, for the rest of my life and because of that, I am asking you if you will marry me?"
Tears had appeared in Paige's eyes the moment Walter had knelt down next to her and she had been impatiently waiting for him to come to the end of his little speech and ask the question she hadn't thought she was so eager to hear until Walter had gotten down on one knee.
For a long moment Paige only breathed heavily, then she nodded jerkily before she whispered. "Come here!"
Walter frowned, but rose and came within her reach.
Paige quickly grabbed his face and pulled him towards her before crashing her lips to his.
"Yes! Yes I want to marry you!" Paige gasped out once their lips parted.