Five hours earlier:
"Hey Ralph, where are you son? Ralph?" Cabe called out as he walked towards the waterfall from the cabin. He stopped as he heard sniffling ahead. Concern shone on his face before he took several more steps until he exited the path that ran back to the falls. He saw Ralph sitting down on a rock not far from the path's exit from the trees. His knees up and his arms wrapped around his legs, clearly he was crying. Cabe stepped over and sat down next to him and put his arm around his shoulders. "I know, son."
"But you don't Grandpa, no one but me knows and that's the problem." Ralph told him quickly.
"You'd be surprised what I know. Like I know you want Walter back in your life." Cabe said softly, hugging him tightly into his side.
"It isn't that simple Grandpa." Ralph told him sniffling.
Cabe reached into his back pocket and pulled out a hanky and handed it to Ralph. Ralph nodded even as he wiped his eyes and then blew his nose.
"Layla is introducing Mom to Terry's boss today. What if she really likes him? I have a world changing secret and it is screaming to come out. But I'm afraid of what it might do to everyone. How do you tell something that is life changing to the people you love, Grandpa?" Ralph asked quietly.
"Wait, she's doing what? Nevermind, that isn't important right now. Let's take a stab at your question first. I suppose it depends on who the person or persons are and what it is that is going to change their lives. I'd probably talk to a few people, I'd ask Allie and probably your Mom what they thought was the best method of telling them if I could. What's going on son? What aren't you telling me?" Cabe nudged him gently.
Ralph sat there for a moment just thinking.
"Grandpa, I know Mom and Dad have been lying to me all my life and I don't understand why." Ralph sighed.
"That's a pretty big accusation, son. What has Paige and Drew been lying about?" Cabe asked gently.
"Not Drew Grandpa, Dad. Drew isn't my Father." Ralph told him as he looked up at Cabe's face.
"Ralph, I know you have a lot of reservations about Drew, and he hasn't been there for you all these years, but you shouldn't say he isn't your Father." Cabe admonished him gently.
"No Grandpa, I mean he isn't my Dad, not even biologically." Ralph sniffled again.
"Wait, what are you saying son? If Drew isn't your Dad, then who is? Do you know? And how do you know?" Cabe asked quickly.
Ralph sighed as he nodded.
"Yeah, I know who it is, you do too. I've known for over four months. I discovered it by accident. I was supposed to run a genetics test on my parents and me for a genetics paper. But I didn't want to run it on Drew. So I ran it on the one I wanted to be my Dad. I was just going to explain that he was my Stepdad. I was completely shocked. I had my paper already written up and I had to completely redo it. I was so happy but sad and mad at the same time." Ralph said quietly.
"Good Lord, are you telling me that Walter is your biological Dad?" Cabe asked. "That kind of explains why you have been calling me Grandpa more."
"Well I've always thought of you as a Grandpa. It just made it easier to do so. But yes, Dad really is my Dad. My Mom is only about 25% Irish, last I talked to Drew, he had no Irish roots. And yet my DNA has over 60% Irish roots. But if you examine the correlations between my DNA and Dad's there is only one conclusion, I am Walter O'Brien's son. Somehow Dad met Mom shortly after she moved in with Drew and they had an affair and I was conceived because of it." Ralph explained before he pulled his tablet over and pulled up the saved email with the test results and handed it to Cabe.
Cabe slowly took it as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that Walter and Paige knew each other and yet they had acted completely like they never saw each other before that day in the diner.
"Well then why did they always act like they didn't know each other? This makes no sense." Cabe's eyes fell to the readout and saw it listed the percentage of nationalities and then parental chance and Walter was about as close to 100% as it could possibly be. "Damn it son, Paige. You owe us an explanation. Come on Ralph, we're going to put a stop to this cookout date and get some answers." Cabe stormed.
Ralph had to run to keep up with Cabe as he was quite literally storming through the woods.
"Allie!" Cabe bellowed as they came out into the clearing of the cabin.
Allie jumped and ran for the door and pulled it open worried something happened to Ralph. She nearly gasped seeing the anger on Cabe's face and Ralph running quickly behind him.
"Cabe? Whatever is wrong?" Allie asked.
"Have you started putting things away yet?" Cabe slowed to ask. He took a few breaths to try and calm down.
"No, I hadn't even unpacked the boxes yet." Allie told him.
"Good, we can just load it all up again and head back to town." Cabe told her.
"What? But we just got here." Allie complained.
"I know and I'm sorry, something very important was just brought to my attention by Ralph. Humor me and help get this put up. I'll explain on the road back. And if you want, after we get this settled, I'll spring for a room at that hotel you like so much for the rest of the weekend to make it up to you." Cabe told her softly before they kissed.
"Now how could a girl say no to running hot water, a hot tub and room service?" Allie grinned.
Cabe laughed as they all got busy putting it all back in his SUV.
Happy's truck was gone so they assumed that meant that Sylvester and Toby were gone.
"Well they better be gone." Layla said even as Paige looked at her.
"Your friends. If either of those two guys are here, I'm going to give Terry a beating he ain't going to forget." Layla said fiercely as she moved on up to the front door while Paige waited for Walter.
"We could jump in either of our cars and take off before Layla knows it if you want." Walter told her with a smile after they shared a tender kiss.
Paige laughed and shook her head.
"She'd be so mad at us if we did that. Let's go up there lover." Paige jerked her head towards the house.
They got about halfway to the house when the door opened and Happy walked out. She stood staring at the couple walking with an arm around the other towards her and she waited about three seconds before she ran on out and into Walter's arms and hugged him for over a minute.
"Don't ever break us up again." Happy said as she stepped back and wiped at her eyes.
"I promised to do my best Happy." Walter told her even as she slipped to his side and with Paige they both put an arm around Walter's back as he stretched his arms around them and they finished walking up to the house together.
They sat there at the dinner table eating when suddenly Walter looked to his shoulder and frowned.
"What in the world?" Walter said as his finger came up and wiped at the yellow substance on his shirt. He looked at it and then looked up at the ceiling and Terry frowned.
"Sorry Walt, Toby was sitting there and he accidentally or perhaps stupidly would be a better word. Anyway he flung his fork and some potato salad hit the ceiling. We hadn't gotten it cleaned up when Layla called and told me to run him out." Terry explained to a chorus of laughter.
Suddenly there was a loud knocking on the front door. "Paige, Paige, someone open this damn door before I break it down."
Terry jumped up first and was already moving out of the kitchen.
"Was that Cabe's voice? Oh gawd, Ralphie?" Paige said panicking and she turned as she stood and moved towards the front room.
"I'm sure Cabe would have called if something was wrong, Paige." Walter said as he slowly stood up.
"Can I help you?" Terry demanded as he opened the door.
Cabe tried to push in with his badge out. But was stopped by Terry's hand as he pushed against him forcing him back away from the door.
"You want me to arrest you for assaulting a federal officer, son?" Cabe demanded.
"I don't care who you are, you aren't barging into my home without a warrant." Terry told him.
"Grandpa, it's Terry, Terry's a good guy." Ralph told him from behind him.
"Ralph? What are you doing here?" Terry asked as he dropped his hand and Cabe stepped back.
"We've come to stop Mom from making a big mistake." Ralph said.
"Ralph? Are you okay?" Paige yelled as she ran into the front room.
"Mom!" Ralph exclaimed and ran past Terry and they hugged. "Forget the loser, they are trying to fix you up with Mom, I've got important news to tell you."
"Ralph, that isn't any way of speaking about someone. You might actually like him." Paige chastised him.
"Well, while I disagree with his word for your date, Ralph's right kid, you need to hear him out." Cabe told her as he stepped in at Terry's gesture.
Cabe saw the collection of shoes and Paige and Terry without shoes and he stopped to take his off even as Terry let Allie in the door and closed it.
"Hey Squirt, Cabe." Happy walked into the front room smiling.
Paige looked into the dining room and held out her hand smiling at Walter. Walter nodded and began walking towards her with Layla.
Tears started running down Ralph's face as Walter stepped into the room.
"Dad!" Ralph exclaimed and ran full bore and plowed into Walter, nearly knocking him down as he grabbed him tightly into a fierce hug and began crying. "I'm so sorry Dad. I never apologized for the things I said earlier in the year. I didn't mean the things I said to you. I was so mad and frustrated. Please forgive me."
Walter struggled to get his emotions under control even as he wrapped his arms around Ralph and hugged him tightly back into him.
"Ralph, of course I forgive you. It is I who needs your forgiveness. I hurt you and your Mother so much, without meaning to." Walter told him with tears falling.
Paige gave them a moment and then stepped up and as she put her arms around them Walter moved an arm around to hug her as well.
Happy stood there grinning along with Cabe and Allie. Layla and Terry were grinning too but had moved into each other's arms.
"What are you guys doing here? You are supposed to be camping?" Paige finally said as she let go of her men and wiped at her eyes.
"Well Ralph finally confessed a truth to me and we had to come back to stop your date, which is apparently with the right person, so he could tell you we knew the truth." Cabe told her.
"Let's go into the dining room and sit down. Ralph can tell you what this truth is in there." Layla said as Paige smiled and nodded. "There is plenty of food left if you guys are hungry. Though if I remember you don't eat meat. There are a lot of veggies and some non meat dishes. I'm Layla and this is my husband Terry, Allie, isn't it?" Layla asked.
"Thank you, that is very gracious of you." Allie nodded.
Ralph sat next to his Mom with Walter on her other side as everyone else filled a plate of food.
"Well, what is this truth you had to rush back from the mountains to tell us about?" Paige asked finally.
Ralph swallowed hard as he pulled his tablet out.
"Well this started last January. And I'm a bit upset with you and Dad and why you didn't tell me the truth. You've had plenty of time to tell me." Ralph started.
"Ralph, you are getting off track. Tell them the truth, they can tell us their reason for lying about this after they know we know the truth." Cabe told him.
Paige and Walter frowned looking at each other and then looked from Cabe to Ralph.
"I really don't know what you are talking about guys. What do you think I, or that we rather, are lying about?" Paige asked.
"There isn't any thinking about it Mom. DNA doesn't lie. Drew isn't my Father." Ralph told her as he handed his tablet to her.
Paige gasped in shock at his words. Happy's eyes went wide. "Not good."
"That's the email results from the DNA test I had to do for my genetics class in January." Ralph went on.
Paige frowned as she looked at them and while not understanding some of the numbers she did understand the result.
"But Ralph, it says here, nearly 100% you are Drew's son. What are you on about?" Paige asked, confused.
"Mom, when was the last time I went to see Drew?" Ralph asked softly.
Paige frowned as she thought.
"Just over a year ago." Paige finally said, nodding her head.
"Mom, I got this assignment in January. How did I get Drew's DNA to use?" Ralph asked just as softly.
Happy's mind had already made the logical connection and her eyes went wide.
"Oh snap, you used the DNA of the man you wanted to be your Father. You used Walter's!" Happy exclaimed.
Ralph nodded.
"I had already written up my report to say how Walter was my Stepdad to explain the discrepancy. But then I get the email confirming my DNA had so much Irish DNA, more than double of yours Mom and Drew doesn't have Irish roots. And then I saw the DNA match for Dad and I knew, somehow after you had started living with Drew the two of you met and you had an affair with Dad and I was conceived. I just don't know why you wouldn't tell me. I was so mad at both of you for lying, for acting like you didn't know each other. You even kept pressing me to keep in contact with Drew when you knew he didn't really want anything to do with me. And then before I worked past my anger, Dad made you mad and you broke up with him and quit and I was mad at him for having hurt you. I've been a huge mess Mom. And then Grandpa found me at the waterfall earlier crying and he made me tell him what was going on." Ralph told them quickly.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! You know, at one time I posted everyone could just consider that in my stories, Ralph is going to always be Walter's son. So should I quit writing it into new stories if the story hasn't revealed it? Is it getting boring to read it over and over?
RiseOfDespair - So glad you are enjoying it!
Railman - Thank you! Hopefully you enjoyed this chapter too. As I told you in private I hadn't heard the term of Agony Aunt before so thank you again for giving me something to read about! lol Seems like Happy didn't have to apologize, they were both just willing to forgive, at least as long as Walter doesn't screw up again. lol
Dean - LOL Well, glad you like it enough to read it. As for giving you more, sadly, not going to happen. Almost 2.5 years ago I started writing Scorpion fanfiction and at the time because I was wanting to try doing the November writing challenge I picked my poison of trying to write, edit and post at least 2500 words a day. The writing challenge only requires about 1700 words a day but this was when I was taking care of my sick wife and didn't know from day to day how things would work and 2500 would give me a buffer. And I just continued it...taking a few days off here and there in between stories until Covid when I slowed down and then went back up after a couple of months and then of course losing my wife and I stopped all together. I would like to go back to writing and posting every day but it is just too much, so writing 1.5-2 chapters every day and posting every other day, no, not happening. I don't think you'll find anyone else to give you what I do. Best case would be to contact commission writers and see how much they would charge you to produce stories at that pace. I doubt you would find 1 person willing to write 7.5k-10k of stories every 2 days at any price. Even back at the height of Scorpion fanfiction I think most of the older (writing time wise not age, I'm sure I beat them all in age lol) writers at best posted once a week, some once every few weeks or longer.
Margaret - Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it all!
Beryl - You're very welcome! Sadly we as fans don't know everything the writers/producers know or think, we can only guess from what we see and hear. So I could be wrong, there is always that possibility. But that is where I write from. Please feel free to ask questions, here or privately. I'm happy to discuss most things!
Fares - Thank you! Glad you like my writings! Always happy to see readers comment! Well I obviously can't speak for every writer of fanfiction or the writers of the show. I haven't read every fic out there that deals with what happened in 4x22 and while I am sure that at least in some of mine I've probably mentioned the white lie, it never really figured much to me. But I'd imagine someone has written a fanfic where it did factor in strongly. But one possibility for this is, fanfic writers seem to be in two camps, Waige or Quintis. Waige writers want to bring them back together and Quintis writers don't really care...if they write something for Waige it is minimal, just as the reverse is true. But one problem for the white lie is, the white lie was telling her the lecture was cancelled. Taking Florence wasn't a white lie. In truth their relationship didn't even measure up to a "platonic" friendship. A colleague is about the best you could described her for Walter. But taking Florence, as innocent as it was, was a betrayal of their relationship. Now to me, had my wife done that, I wouldn't have been crazy about it, but I wouldn't have gone off the deep end like Paige did. That was what this story is really about...it is exploring a reason as to why Paige went off the deep end. Some fans believe that it was all for show, that it was a ploy to try and catch Collins. I've never bought into that theory myself because there were things that happened that told there were problems in the relationship that Collins wouldn't have any knowledge of. Such as when Paige told Toby at the faire about the problems she was having with Walter. Had she done that where there were cell towers and cameras and stuff that Collins could have hacked, well then maybe I'd buy it a little more. In my story "Secrets" I tried to explore it in a different way that made the Collins theory more plausible for me. But all that aside, Walter did do something wrong, being hetero, he took a person of the opposite sex, someone he had a dream of to this event and never told Paige. So Paige had a right to wonder what else is going on here. And in my view Walter should apologize for it. And I know the dream is a whole other kettle of fish, so he dreamed they were married, she didn't save him, he had to get Paige to save him. That should have been what was learned from the dream but the writers chose to let her fixate on the marriage part. He was dying but he didn't trust his "wife", he trusted Paige to save him. So anyway that is the long and short of it. I hope it helps but as far as seeing me write a story where the white lie becomes this line in the sand that Walter won't budge from, won't happen. The other thing is, Walter at the end of the show finally realizes just how bad he screwed up. He loves Paige, no doubt, no hesitation. He's going to apologize for it in my view and I feel he always should.
To the Adventure! -Tim