Part 4

Five minutes later when he walked in the door, he was surprised to see Walter there. He had come over to the condo a few times since they got back together, but Ralph always liked it when he was there.

"Hey buddy, how was the swim party?"

"It was fun, I won the contest for highest splash. I calculated the best angle of trajectory and optimum splash."

"Sweetie, did Billy like the present you got him?"

"He loved it. We got him the new Super-Soaker 2500. It holds almost a gallon of water, and it shoots 75 feet. And it worked perfect. We even sneak attacked his little sister. It was super funny."

Paige loved to see Ralph in a mood like this. It wasn't too often that he got this way.

"I have some other news for you, that might be on the funny side."

"Oh yeah, what is it."

"Maybe I should let Walter, or should I say Dr. Boom tell you about that." Paige said with a laugh.

"Oh Boy." Walter said as he flopped back in the couch. "I'm never going to live this down am I."

"How do you know Walter is Dr. Boom?" Ralph asked her, much to both of their surprise.

"Wait, did you already know about this?" Paige asked as Walter was thinking the same thing.

Ralph ran to his room and brought back his laptop. He pulled up YouTube and typed in Dr. Boom experiment. There were several dozen videos. Some with over a million views.

"Kids love these videos. This one is my favorite."

He proceeded to play a video where Walter purposely let himself get covered in rainbow colored slime as it exploded out of the volcano he was standing directly over. He was explaining to the kids how eruptions can happen at any time, and you always had to take extra precaution and never get to close. And in the middle of his speech, he had the volcano erupt all over him to fits of laughter and high-pitched screams from the room full of children.

Ralph said he laughed every time he watched it, which was close to 100 times by now.

"Oh boy." Walter exclaimed.

"Mom, I was actually going to ask you to take me there for one of the experiments. Walter does them at that small museum you took me too when I was four. We had just gotten to Los Angeles."

"You remember that?"

"Yeah, it was the first time we ever got to go somewhere like that. I know I didn't probably ever thank you for taking me there, but it was fun. So can we go watch Walter the next time he does an experiment?"

They told Ralph what happened and how the museum was going to have to be torn down. Ralph was upset. They told him about how they rescued everyone, and no one was severely injured. They asked him if he wanted to go with them to the hospital to check on some of the kids who were injured. He liked the idea. He even told Walter he should get his crazy hair wig and surprise them. Paige loved that idea. She made sure to remember to get some pictures and video of it on her phone.

After they made a pit stop at the garage to grab the crazy hair wig, Paige would not let Walter get out of wearing it, they stopped for some pizza. There were about twenty kids that wound up having to go to the hospital for precautionary reasons. Only four of them sustained broken arms or legs. They were lucky to have so few injuries. They were all thrilled to have Dr. Boom visit them in the hospital. It was a big hit. So was the pizza they got for the kids. Paige got several minutes of priceless video and over one hundred pictures. She wasn't sure if they would be used for blackmail at some point in the future or just to have for a special memory. Probably some of both, she determined.

For a day that started out the way it did, with so much uncertainty and fear, it had a much happier ending. Not to mention the time Walter and Paige had to themselves. Paige dropped Walter off at the garage and he invited them in for a few minutes before they were going to go home for the night. Ralph went over to play Proton Arnold.

"Walter. Thank you for today."

"You're welcome. Which part are you referring to?"

"All of it. But specifically, for being so kind to me. Telling the press about me."

"I meant every word. You were amazing."

"Walter, I was a wreck. I was lost out there. I couldn't even get the chief to listen to me at first, until I demanded he let us help."

"See, most people would have backed down from him. You didn't. You stood your ground."

"Thank you for saying nice things about Centipede too. I know we haven't really talked about them. We need to, not tonight, but we should soon."

"I still consider them friends. Not like they used to be. But I don't really have many friends."

That statement made Paige feel horrible.

"Well thank you for being nice about them. I'm sure they appreciated it."

"I don't know if it matters to them or not. Today is the first time any of them have had any contact with me since I saw you guys at Mr. Gettleman's. After we started talking again, I sent each of them a few texts and emails. None of them ever responded."

"Walter, I didn't know. They haven't said anything to me. I need to talk with them about this."

"No, it's okay. They obviously don't feel the same that I do. I've come to terms with it. I'm just very happy I was able to get you back in my life. That was what really mattered to me. You and Ralph."

"Well, you're not getting rid of us again. Got it?"

"I like the sound of that."

They talked for about thirty more minutes, before Paige said it was time to get Ralph home for bed.

"Wrap it up Ralph, we have to get going."

"Thank you again for coming with me to the hospital to see the kids. They are great kids. I have something I want to show you next time we see each other." Walter told her.

"Oh, okay. Well, I have a few things I need to get done tomorrow for work, mostly paperwork. And some babysitting, of course. But we don't have anything to do Friday. Would it be okay if me and Ralph come over Friday? We could all get lunch and then hang out here."

"That will work for me too. I have a programming job to finish up and I should be done tomorrow. Would it be okay to see if Cabe wants to join us Friday?"

"Yes, don't tell Ralph though, let's surprise him. He will be happy to see Cabe."

"Cabe will be happy to see him too."

"Hey, and thank you for this afternoon." Paige said with a playful smile and raised eyebrows. "Momma needed that."

"I think I should be the uh one thanking you for that." Walter responded.

Paige glanced over to make sure Ralph wasn't heading over yet.

"It's good to know you make house calls, Dr. Boom Boom." She whispered to him, emphasizing both booms.

"Uhm, don't you mean Boom Boom Boom." Walter whispered back while lightly smacking her behind. Thinking he finally had the upper hand with her.

"Watch it mister, you're ah playing with fire, nerd." She shot back, making Walter's knees buckle.

"You win." He said with a kiss.

"Ralph, come on. Let's go." Paige said in her Ralph wrangling voice. As she kissed Walter a second time. "See you Friday."

Friday July 27, 2018

They were glad they kept it a secret. Ralph hadn't seen Cabe in a few months. He was excited to see him again and catch up on some of the things he was doing over the summer. He talked to him about Dr. Boom and how he was an internet sensation. Cabe laughed for a while over that.

"Did you see the one when he let a lobster pinch his finger?" Cabe asked.

"Yeah, he sounded like my mom when he screamed." Ralph said laughing.

"Ralph, can you pull that up for me to watch when we get back to the garage?" Paige asked.

As Cabe and Ralph spent time playing, Walter and Paige talked. Paige talked a lot about how Centipede Partners started. When they first started talking again, they briefly talked about Centipede. They both agreed for the time being to not get into work matters and focus on their personal issues. They also agreed that spending work hours apart may make the time they did get to spend together more meaningful. And as they looked back on it, it did. And now that their personal issues had mostly been resolved, they started talking about their work situation.

"Paige the most important thing to me is your happiness. All that we've talked about and how I feel about Happy, Sly, and Toby doesn't matter. Your happiness matters."

"Thank you. I'm not as happy as when I was here, other than the very end that is. But I am happy. It's just different. Walter you were my best friend, and you still are; you always will be. I have never had a friend that was as special to me as you are. And working with you and for you was the best thing that ever happened to me, with the exception of having Ralph. I do miss sharing ideas about Scorpion with you. And honestly, if you asked me to, I would want to come back and work here again. I just don't know if it would hurt our personal relationship. And I don't know if you would even want me back working here anyway."

"Of course I would. But I do agree with you. The last few months have made me value the time we are alone with each other even more. I never took you for granted before, but I think I got too comfortable being around you all the time and it made me not try as hard as I should have. I really was a lousy boyfriend. I'm sorry about that."

"Walter you never were a lousy boyfriend. You're right, we got complacent with each other. The spark was always there. We just stopped working on us as hard as we should've. Both of us, it was not just you."

They talked more about their arrangement, and it made sense to keep it this way for now. Paige was still not telling CP about them being back together. And the two of them agreed to be professional at any bid or pitch they ran into each other at. Paige at CP and Walter at Scorpion.

After Ralph and Cabe got back to the table they said goodbye to Cabe and headed back to the garage. Cabe was heading out of town for the weekend with Allie but told them he expected to see them more often in the future.

The three of them spent some time together when they first got to the garage. But after a while Ralph got bored and wanted to play some video games. Walter brought him to a spot in the back of the garage that he had turned into a video game command center. He had asked Paige a few weeks ago if it would be okay to do, so when Ralph came over, he would have a place to hang out. She thought it was a sweet and kind gesture. So, she said okay to it, as long as she could have final say on the games. And she wanted a say in some of the decorating. It wouldn't be girly, she promised. All the latest gaming systems were there, and there were six televisions that were each 48" screens, lined up like a professional gamer would have. Ralph couldn't believe it. He even asked if they could have a sleep over. Walter told him he was always welcome to come over any time he wanted to. He had cleared it with the boss, I mean Paige, before he made the offer.

"Well, I guess I'll be back tomorrow, if we can't sleep here tonight." Ralph told them.

Paige smiled while she was holding on to Walter's waist. Walter smiled seeing how happy Ralph was. He gave Paige a kiss on the top of her head. He also knew that probably meant they would be spending more time together at the loft.

"Well, I think that may have ruined Christmas for us." Paige said with a pretend frown.

"Think of it as Christmas in July."

"He did look happy, didn't he?"

"He did, and I saw the smile on your face too." Walter said, while giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Hey, you had the same smile."

They told Ralph they would be in the kitchen talking. They weren't sure if he heard them or not, or if he even knew they were still there.

"The other day you said you had something you wanted to show me."

"I did. And I do. Give me a minute to grab it." Walter said as he went off to retrieve it.

"Hey, you want some coffee? I can start a pot."

"Sure, thanks."

She still knew where everything was. She had organized it all years ago. And by the time Walter was back, she was sitting down again waiting for him and their coffee.

"You have to promise me, you won't laugh at this."

"Walter, why would I laugh?"

"Just promise me. This is not anything I've tried before, and it may not be very good."

"Walter, if this is something that is important to you, something new you are willing to try, I would never laugh at it or at you."

Walter handed her the box filled with papers. Some had a few lines of scribbles on them, and others looked to be neatly written and in some sort of order.

"What is this, Walter? Are you helping someone write a book?"

"Um no, I am writing a book, or at least trying to write one."

Paige looked at Walter with a loving smile.

"When did you start writing a book? You never mentioned anything to me about this when we, um."

"I didn't start writing it until after I started volunteering at the museum with Cabe. I seemed to have a um lot of free time on my hands when everyone left."

"Walter I'm sorry."

"No. It's ok, everything is better again now. Better than ever. The book was an idea I had to write and read to the kids at one of the um experiments I was doing for them."

"Well that was a kind gesture. And a very good idea. How far along are you?"

"I don't know. Like I said, I've never tried anything like this before. And other than the few books I read to Ralph when we first met…"

Walter was a little taken aback at the memory of first meeting the Dineen's and the amazing impact they have had on him and his life. His eyes glossed over as he tried to compose himself. Paige saw the emotion in his eyes and felt herself falling in love a little more with Walter O'Brien as her eyes became filled with tears as well.