Paige walked shakily into the courtroom with Ralph and Sylvester. Happy had wanted to go but because she spent all afternoon the day before driving to talk to Walter and then staying there helping him finish the job he had. She was quite behind so she went on to CP.
Toby spent the time trying to find out what happened, where she went that afternoon but Happy refused to enlighten him.
Paige's phone rang as she sat down in the gallery.
"Hello?" Paige said barely over a whisper. She was hoping the call would be done before the judge walked in.
"Paige, it is Carol from Scorpion Inc. I've got good news for you. I heard from Mr O'Brien and he says he has a position for you. When can you start?" Carol asked.
"Oh Carol, you don't know what this will mean for me. Is it okay to start tomorrow?" Paige asked.
"That should be fine. I know you have your court case about to start but I couldn't resist calling to let you know. I just knew you'd want to know as soon as possible. We'll talk more later. Welcome back to Scorpion." Carol said happily.
"Thank you so much Carol." Paige said as tears ran down her face.
"I told you Dad wouldn't turn you away." Ralph hugged his Mom.
Sylvester smiled at her as they broke their hug.
"I'm so happy for you Paige. While we don't know what we're going to do without you we understand you need something far easier to get well." Sylvester told her as they hugged.
"I'm so grateful to you guys for giving me this out." Paige told him.
Paige's case had just been called to order when the door opened and an older woman walked into the courtroom. She walked in a very calm, confident and powerfully intimidating manor and stopped at the separation of the gallery and litigants.
"Your honor, my apologies for interrupting your proceedings. I was just engaged by an interested third party. I have my notice of appearance here." The woman said as she held out a form.
"It is good seeing you Ms Teague. Though I am surprised you are here for this type of third party case." The judge motioned and the bailiff walked over and got the forms and walked it to the judge.
"It's still family law, your honor and I am a sucker for warm fuzzies." Ms Teague smiled. "As stated in my letter of Appearance. My client doesn't care if Mr Baker is or isn't Ralph Dineen's Father. As far as he is concerned he himself is and he's ready to assume any and all responsibility a Father should. He's willing to help Ms Dineen in any way she needs. He's already secured the full financial amount that the plaintiff is seeking into my care. He's also given me what he has estimated to be Ms Dineen's costs of taking care of Ralph to date that the child support never covered provided she's agreeable to him being listed as Ralph's Father. Once the court's DNA test confirms Mr Baker isn't the Father I will write the check to pay the plaintiff. Once she agrees to my client being Ralph's Father I will write another that will reimburse Ms Dineen."
Her words caused a slight stir. Paige and Ralph both were looking around trying to see if Walter was there in the gallery watching what was happening. But no one in the gallery even looked remotely like Walter.
The judge nodded as he looked over the forms and then his watch.
"Mr Grimes, does your client have a problem with this?" The judge asked.
"No your honor, my client is eager to get this over with. And if this third party can expedite the payment we're more than willing to allow it." Mr Grimes said as he stood.
"Mr Dodd, is it possible the plaintiff isn't the Father?" The judge asked him. "I don't need any specifics, just be honest if there is a chance."
Sylvester stood as he nodded.
"There was one incident where in a fit of emotional distress my client had become intoxicated with alcohol. It happened in March of 2005 and she doesn't have much of a memory of the event. And while admitting to this one event around the time of the child's conception, she in no way meant to defraud the plaintiff. And as long as the plaintiff is willing to put all of the hostility aside we're agreeable to this settlement, DNA test pending. But if he is the Father, because of his lack of parental support for Ralph, Ralph is asking that he be made to give up any rights as his Father." Sylvester explained.
"Further, my client isn't comfortable blindly giving Ms Teague's client the status as Ralph's Father without knowing who he is or if he is Ralph's Father. If DNA can prove it, or if he turns out to be who she thinks he is, she won't oppose him being added as Ralph's Father. In addition both of my clients want to know what made Mr Baker question this now." Sylvester answered.
"Well I for one would welcome that. I'm pretty tired of all the fighting nonsense." The judge nodded. "How does the plaintiff respond?" The judge asked the whispering pair.
"Your honor." The attorney turned and stood. He buttoned his jacket. "My client is willing to forgo anything further provided the conditions stated by counsel prove accurate. And he has no problem relinquishing any parental rights and responsibilities if he is Ralph's Father and that is what Ralph truly wants. As for why he questioned it. His fiance is a geneticist and she had mentioned that she didn't think Ralph was his son the one time she met him. The next time Ralph came to visit him my client obtained and sent a sample of his and Ralph's DNA to one of those over the counter paternity test companies. The results came back a few days before we filed."
"Very well, I hereby order DNA testing immediately. Ms Teague we should have the results in three days at the most. Is your client going to be okay with Ms Dineen's condition to declare him Ralph's Father?" The judge finished.
"My client said he expected that condition from Ms Dineen and he is fine with it. He plans to discuss this matter with Ms Dineen later today. He and I are looking forward to the results, your honor. As I said my client has already secured the payments with me. I can write a check for them as soon as you order it." Ms Teague told him.
"I'm hereby ordering all three men and Ms Dineen to Quest diagnostics to give a DNA sample by the end of the day and we'll reconvene in three days to settle this matter." The judge nodded and gavelled.
Ralph jumped over to Danielle and hugged her.
"When you get to see him, give that to Walter." Ralph whispered to her.
Danielle smiled.
"Well thank you. I could but if you'd like to give it to him yourself he's out in the foyer." Danielle whispered while pointing to the main door.
Ralph's eyes went wide and while ignoring Drew he turned and ran out of the courtroom pushing past people and out the door. His eyes scanned the hallway and he saw Walter standing across the hall.
Walter was nearly overwhelmed seeing the smile spread across Ralph's face and then Ralph ran full bore and they crashed together.
"Dad." Ralph cried.
"It's okay Ralph. I've got you. I'm always going to be in your corner." Walter told him as he embraced him to give him comfort.
Paige ignored Drew as well and hurried out after Ralph. She witnessed the pair and she cried as she heard their words. Sylvester stepped up next to her and Paige turned and hugged him as she cried.
"What have I done?" Paige sobbed.
"What have we done, that would be more accurate." Sylvester said as he choked up.
"My client wanted to know if you had a problem with him taking you and Ralph to lunch and then Ralph back to school?" Danielle asked as she stepped up to them.
Paige stared at her.
"Are you serious? I don't know why, but I can't believe Walter is your client. Of course I'm okay with it." Paige told her.
"I don't mind an occasional joke, but not this time." Danielle told her before walking over to the two geniuses.
Danielle whispered to Walter and he looked up at Paige completely surprised by her acceptance. He'd only calculated a thirty one point two percent chance of her accepting his offer.
Paige saw the tears in his eyes.
"Thank you." Walter mouthed even as Paige made her way slowly towards them.
"No, thank you." Paige whispered back as she stepped up to him.
"Would you like to go to lunch with me Ralph?" Walter asked quietly.
"Absolutely Dad." Ralph grinned. He looked and saw his Mom there with them. "Thanks Mom." Ralph said whole heartedly and then an idea struck. "Are you coming with us?" Ralph asked with hope mixed with a bit of fear.
"Your Dad included me, so if it is okay with you, yes. Oh wait, I have to take Sylvester to CP first." Paige told them.
Ralph grinned at her for calling Walter his Dad and he hugged her tightly.
"Cabe can take him in your car and then drive it to the Garage." Walter told her softly.
Paige smiled and nodded as they began walking out of the other side of the courthouse.
Ralph saw a helicopter on a landing pad not far away and then he was able to make out "Scorpion Inc" on the side.
"You're taking us in the helicopter?" Ralph grinned.
"Well you wanted to experience it." Walter smiled.
Sylvester and Danielle followed along behind them.
"Grandpa!" Ralph called out as he took off running to Cabe who was standing by the helicopter waiting.
"How are you doing kid?" Cabe asked with his gruff voice.
"A hell of a lot better now." Ralph grinned and hugged the older man.
Paige looked at Walter as they continued walking towards them.
"About Ralph, and the job." Paige started.
"We can discuss the more serious subjects when we're at the Garage after we drop Ralph off at school." Walter told her gently but with a serious tone.
"How am I going to fix this?" Paige whispered as Walter stepped up and shook Cabe's hand to explain what he needed him to do.
Paige gave Cabe the keys to her car after hugging him. She climbed into the back allowing Ralph to sit in the co-pilot seat.
"Where are we going to eat? Your choice." Walter told them as he began his preflight checks.
"Kovelsky's?" Ralph asked quickly.
Walter laughed.
"I give you a blank check and you want to go to Kovelsky's?" Walter said unable to believe he would want their food over anything else.
"If it is okay with you and Mom, yes. I haven't been there since before…well you know what happened." Ralph told him.
Walter looked back at Paige and she gave him a slight nod while still smiling.
"Alright, we'll have to go to the Garage and get in the car. Their lot isn't big enough to land without taking up too much space." Walter told them even as the blades began spinning.
Cabe stood there with Sylvester and waved as they began lifting off. Cabe turned and began walking towards where Paige said she had parked.
"H-How have you been Cabe?" Sylvester asked nervously as he followed along behind him.
Cabe rolled his eyes and kept walking. At about twenty feet Cabe hit the remote button unlocking the car. After getting in and Cabe starting the car, Sylvester looked at him.
"I know you are mad at me, but I was hoping we could make amends." Sylvester told him quietly.
"Now why do I need to make amends? Did I physically attack the person who was like your son? Accused him of nonsense? Did I walk out of his life and forget about him and you? Did I help start a company and select a name that I knew would offend him? Did I treat him like crap the next time I saw him?" Cabe asked even as he drove away.
"No, I didn't mean it like that Cabe." Sylvester told him weakly.
Cabe rolled his eyes as he huffed and kept driving.
2 Hours before Paige's hearing at Centipede's offices:
"I'm just saying as my wife you should explain where you went yesterday." Toby said as they entered the building to start their work day.
Happy glared at him as she turned off the security system.
"Look, I'm tired of this and I told you before, there is a price for Happy land and this is part of it. You don't need to know where I was. It in no way impacts you or my love and support of you." Happy told him.
"Of course it does. We're married now, you can't just go off without explaining things to me. How do I know you weren't cheating on me?" Toby told her as they walked into her work area.
"Accuse me once more of cheating on you, I dare you." Happy told him as she picked up her ball peen hammer.
"I never accused you, I just asked how do I know? You are hiding this from me. How did you like it when I stayed behind to help my ex?" Toby said and then instantly regretted it.
"Look, if my telling you it has no impact or bearing on us or you then you should be able to accept it." Happy told him even as she put the hammer down and grabbed her wrenches to get started on the Cooperative job.
"Happy, I already know you went to see Walter. The question is, why are you hiding it?" Toby asked.
"Are you spying on me now?" Happy demanded.
"Not exactly, but when I saw you had left the laptop up and I saw you had hacked into Cabe's cell phone service to locate him, I had a pretty good idea. You went out into the desert to talk to Walter to help a friend. Why not just tell me?" Toby asked, clearly hurt.
"Because, it makes me weak and vulnerable. And I hate being weak and vulnerable. I don't go asking no one for nothing." Happy told him quietly.
"Did you at least have a good heart to heart with him? Did you both apologize?" Toby asked.
Happy exhaled slowly but nodded.
"It wasn't what I went there for, but after everything, after finding out he was going to take care of Paige. I gave in and we discussed the things that happened." Happy sighed.
Toby started to speak when they heard the front door chime. Toby held up his finger and walked into the hallway.
"Well, this is a surprise. Ms Givens, what brings you to our neck of the woods?" Toby asked.
Happy quickly put down her wrenches and moved out into the hallway.
"Dr Curtis, it is good seeing you again. You too Ms Quinn. I'm here on behalf of Mr O'Brien as it pertains to you going out and forcing a conversation between you." Christine told them.
"Look, legality be damned. We needed Walter's help and you not letting us talk is bull poop. So go ahead and sue me." Happy growled.
Christine smiled.
"Do you have someplace we can talk?" Christine asked.
Toby nodded and pointed to the room on the other side of the hallway across from the door to Happy's work area.
"We just got here and haven't made any coffee yet, would you like some?" Toby asked as he walked the other way down the hall.
"Thank you but no. I'll go get set up while you get yourselves some." Christine told them even while smiling at Happy. She walked down and turned into the conference room and took a seat.
Happy walked in and sat two chairs away from Christine.
"So what exactly is this about?" Happy asked.
"Well it isn't about suing you. But wouldn't you rather wait for your husband?" Christine asked. She pulled out some paperwork and set it out.
Happy rolled her eyes but nodded.
Christine pulled out a check and handed it to Happy.
"Mr O'Brien said this was for you helping him last night. He said he knows you didn't ask for it, but he appreciated what you did." Christine told her.
Happy took the check and saw it was made out to her for five grand. Happy shook her head but folded the check and put it in her pocket. She knew arguing with the woman would be futile.
"Now that you are with us. Our client is proposing a change to your agreement with him. Simply put, he expects Paige will be working for him after today and he knows that is going to hurt you guys. So he is proposing that you guys sign this new agreement that will transform Centipede Partners into a subsidiary of Scorpion Inc. You guys will still be independent and he will still be a silent partner. The conditions won't change, fifty percent of the fee charged will be given to him." Christine told them even as she passed the papers out to them both along with a third copy for Sylvester.
She held up her hand to stop Toby's complaint.
"The difference will be that he will select a new person to be your liaison with clients and to handle all the responsibilities that Paige used to do." Christine told them.
"That really doesn't change things and I'm not sure we want to be under Walter again." Toby charged on with his objection.
"That isn't the end Dr Curtis. The other change is, this new manager will be paid by Mr O'Brien. So what Ms Dineen was making will now be split between the three of you." Christine smiled seeing the look on Happy's face. "It technically also means that as employees of Scorpion Inc, you will be able to make use of the various perks Mr O'Brien extends to his employees. Such as the gym and exercise room, spa, sauna, jacuzzi and relaxation chamber. And there is his profit sharing plan." Christine told them even as they both were looking over the paperwork.
"Damn." Toby said in shock.
"Part of me just wants to say hell yes, but I think we need to wait until Sylvester can go over these first." Happy finally said as she looked up from the papers.
"That's fine. Mr O'Brien did put a time limit on the offer. You have one week to say yes. After that the agreement you already signed will stay in effect." Christine told them before she put her few things away and stood. "Have a great day." Christine said with a smile and then left.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Supergirl - Yep, she does need help and it looks she's really wondering how she'll be able to make amends too.
Guest 1 - Thank you!
Guest 2 - Well the only answer I can give is because that is how the show ended. I don't think anyone understands why the 3 stoogies got so upset and quit. But other than rewriting how the show officially ended any story that continues has to deal with them walking out. I know a big part of the fandom does blame Walter for Paige breaking up and walking away. And I know quite a few of them also feel the others were somehow justified in doing it. Because Walter is usually "My way or the highway type, and as much as I disagree that he had done something to justify it, I do believe everyone has a right to call a relationship over whenever they want. Whether it makes sense to me or not. Hope that helps?
Railman - I will say that the last 2 days I haven't run into this story not being found. So, hope it is over. Yeah, I felt bad the story was going this way. "Firing blanks" lol Love it! Well as you know now, he had help figuring it out. I doubt he'd have questioned it.
2LawDog - Aww...thank you! Hope it continues to entertain you guys!
Beryl - Well thank you! Much appreciated! If I'm blessed I'll be writing Scorpion's until the final days!
Margaret - Well thank you! Yes, Paige has definitely had her eyes opened in this story so far. lol I was rather proud of Happy and the guys going along with her to try and help Paige.
Marie Mac - Thank you! I definitely wanted a story where Walter grew out of the experience and used everything he had learned to finally break through.
To the Adventure! -Tim