A/N Me and science/technology don't do so well. Sorry for any outlandish or crazy attempt at sounding smart about either of them. Just let your imagination get you to overlook it. Thank you for the reviews. I'm glad to see so many people are still reading Scorpion stories! Enjoy!

Part V

WALTER

I NEED WALTER

Paige knew she had to call him now, she couldn't do this without him anymore. The last two days had started to remind her of what Walter meant to her and to Ralph. And now in her time of need she again realized who would always and forever be there for her.

She reached in her pocket and grabbed her phone. The number she had been so hesitant to call the past two weeks. How many times would she bring his info up on screen only to close it back out without hitting call. How many text messages did she write out only to erase before hitting send? She knew now the only person she needed to call was him. Please pick up Walter, she thought to herself, please pick up. And before the phone could even ring a second time, she heard the voice she needed to hear. The voice she had grown so accustomed to hearing every night before she went to bed and every morning as she woke up. And now after she walked out on him a little over two and a half weeks ago, she needed to hear his voice more than ever before.

"Paige, hello, are you ok?", he inquisitively asked not expecting to hear from her so soon.

"WALTER, Walter", she was screaming hysterically.

Walter didn't even wait for her to say another word. He was in his car and on his way in what couldn't have been more than ten seconds.

"WALTER, we, I, I can't find Ralph." She got it out somehow, but she didn't know what else she was going to be able to say until he was there.

"Paige, where are you? I'm on my way."

Walter was racing down the streets heading towards her condo before she could even get the words completely out. "Paige, I will be there in five minutes, stay on the line with me so I can make sure you're ok."

"Walter, what have I done? Please, I need you to be here to help me." She pieced together for him.

"Paige, listen to me, I'm going to ask you some questions and I need you to answer them the best you can ok, where do you think he is?, when was the last time you saw him?, who is the last person you know that saw him?, was he upset about anything?, what was he wearing? and Paige listen to me, I don't want to scare you any more than you already are, but do you think Mark Collins or Drew may have taken him?"

Paige dropped her phone and watched it shatter as it hit the ground. It went dead. All of her went dead.

"Paige, PAIGE", he got no response, and the call was dropped. He would be there in 2 minutes; he would do anything and everything in his power to help her.

About the time Walter came flying into the parking lot, Toby and Happy were getting out of their truck. Walter swung his door open and jumped out of his still running car. Ran right through Toby almost knocking him off his feet and over to where Paige was on the ground next to Sly who was trying his best to comfort her.

Paige knew how Walter's mind worked and she knew he had questions he needed answers to in order to develop the plan he needed to help her. She tried to think of everything he asked her just minutes ago, right before she dropped her phone. Last time I saw him? Last night. Last person to see him? Happy and Toby. Upset? He seemed to be fine. Wearing? He packed his own clothes. Did Collins or Drew take him? The idea of Collins coming after him had never even crossed her mind. They had been so careful in the planning of going after him there was no way he could have been tipped off to it. Drew, they hadn't talked about Drew in years, she knew Walter was a genius, but how would he know to throw Drew's name out there. Unless Sly told him, that must be it. Or had she seen him at The Lounge Café when he darted out the door. She didn't know if any of the info she had was going to help. Paige looked up at all the commotion going on in front of her and didn't know what to do. She felt light-headed and very confused. And then she was able to distinguish his calming voice and presence.

"Paige, are you ok? Please tell me you are ok." He so calmly asked her.

"Walter, I can't find Ralph, where is he, please find him, please help me find him." She begged him.

"Paige, look at me, you need to focus, I need you to look right at me."

He was so calm, although his heart was racing just as fast as hers. He couldn't bear to think that he had anything to do with Ralph going missing. What if all those times he followed her home and was trying to look after her, what if he was followed and it's because of him Ralph isn't here. What if Ralph had had enough of the fighting and just decided to run away. He hadn't even thought of that until just now. He had to be strong for her. For Ralph. For himself.

"Paige, look at me. I promise you I am going to find Ralph. We are going to find Ralph. Look at me. I do not have any doubt in my mind we will have him back where he belongs tonight, ok? Look at me Paige, look in my eyes, I am giving you my word that he will be back with you safely, tonight. Do you believe me? Paige, I would not make a promise to you I couldn't keep you know that don't you? Paige, do you believe me?"

He spoke with such conviction and so calmly. It was exactly what she needed to hear right then. He knew it and she knew it as well.

"Walter, yes, I believe you. Please bring OUR son home." Paige said back to him before bursting into tears again.

She said our son. Mine and hers. Walter almost broke down himself when she said it. She may not have meant to say it that way or she may have been meaning the whole teams' son. They all loved Ralph and were parental figures to him. She may have meant to say my son, but our son came out of her lips. It didn't matter to Walter, because she said our son, and he was their son. Hers and his. Paige's son by birth. Walter's son through love. He loved him more than anyone could imagine. He saw so much of himself in Ralph. So much potential in him that made him brim with excitement that he got to help mentor him along.

"Paige, look at me again, I promise you it's going to be ok. Trust me now more than ever, it will be ok."

"I trust you, Walter."

"Before your phone went out, I was asking you some questions, do you remember that?"

"Yes, I remember Walter."

She went through the first couple of questions and before long Walter was starting to hand out jobs.

"Sly, I need you to hack into the condo security system and get control of the cameras. Happy, I need you to fill me in on anything Ralph talked with you about yesterday, what he was wearing today, the mood he was in, anything important. Toby, I need you to care for Paige right now and make sure she is ok. I asked her about Collins and Drew and if either one could be involved. Very carefully ask her about that, ok?"

They all got right on their individual tasks. While Toby tended to Paige and Happy filled him in with everything he asked for, Sly had started to try and take over control of the camera system.

"Sly fill me in on how you got here so quickly before anyone else and start going through the footage starting at 4:00. Happy, I'm gonna need you to call Cabe and fill him in on what's going on. Tell him to involve anyone he needs to at this point."

Walter didn't miss anything. Sly doesn't drive. How was he there so quickly?

Sly walked over towards Paige to make sure she was ok with him telling Walter what was going on while Toby had run to grab some ice for Paige to apply to her neck to keep her calmed down. Paige nodded it was ok for him to say whatever he needed to.

"Sly, what's going on, I need to get all the info I can NOW." Walter started to bark.

Walter could sense something was being withheld from him and he was not about to hold back from saying anything right now since it concerned Ralph.

"SLY, damnit tell me what's going on." he continued.

"Walter, stop yelling at him, it's not his fault." Paige interjected

"I am not going to lose Ralph because someone is withholding information from me, what is going on?" He screamed out.

Sly was starting to shake. His nervous energy getting the better of him. He wasn't able to get the words to come out to tell Walter what he desperately wanted to tell him.

Paige looked at Sly as to let him know it was ok, and then turned to Walter and began to tell him what he needed to hear.

"Walter, a few days ago Drew showed up unannounced and told me I would be hearing from his attorney. A couple of days later I got a phone call and the attorney said that Drew wanted to get partial custody of Ralph. Sylvester came over after I asked for his help in understanding the court papers. This morning I went to the court with him and Sly got the case dropped. I had Toby and Happy watch Ralph last night and they dropped him off around 4:30 this afternoon, but we didn't get back till around 6:00."

Walter's head was processing the information so rapidly, but he also looked like he was extremely upset. He was also smart enough to know he couldn't raise his voice with Paige or Sly anymore. He needed to put away any feelings he had about his own ego right now and help Paige.

After pacing back and forth for a few seconds he was ready with what they were going to do. Toby and Happy were filled in on the missing info and Cabe had been told of the situation as well. Walter was still able to dissect through all the mess going on around him and told Cabe to hold off on doing anything that could jeopardize the situation and to just sit still for a minute. It was now Paige's turn to lose her shit.

"WALTER, did you just tell Cabe to hold off on something pertaining to saving Ralph? You BASTARD!" she said as she slapped him hard, right across his face. The incident was pure reaction to hearing what Walter had just told Cabe. Tears were bursting out of her eyes.

At the same time she slapped him...

"Got it," Sly yelled out.

"Why would you tell Cabe not to help save Ralph?", Paige was still screaming as she heard Sly and turned towards his laptop.

"RALPH," Paige screamed out again, "Where is he, I need to see him."

There it was right on the surveillance camera. Drew calmly walking out of the condo breezeway with Ralph right next to his side. Toby watched intently and quickly pointed out it didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary. Ralph seemed to willingly be walking next to him. This may have been one huge understanding.

But, why all the lying and manipulation from Drew? The attorneys and court. Something didn't seem right to Walter. He was always a step or two ahead of everyone else. He knew having Cabe involve Homeland was not the best solution yet, because he realized Drew had Ralph and wasn't going to intentionally hurt him. He just had it figured out before any of them could see the footage.

"Walter, oh my God, I am so sorry I said that to you and that I slapped you. I didn't understand what you were doing, and it scared me. Please forgive me." Paige needed to let him know right away how sorry she was for the way she reacted.

"Paige, I forgive you; you were protecting your son. But this isn't over yet." Walter said back.

The suddenly dejected look on Paige's face made her start to think she may have just pushed Walter away, again, and maybe for the last time. Oh no, all the progress they made the last couple of days, thrown out the window again with her reaction to something she perceived Walter to have said or done.

"Walter, please forgive me for what I just did, I didn't mean it, I was upset that you told Cabe to stop, I need you to please forgive me." She said again as she was really starting to worry.

"I did forgive you Paige."

"But you're still so mad at me, and you said it wasn't over."

"Paige, I forgive you. I think you misunderstood what I was saying. I think Ralph may not have known why Drew was there and that's why he went with him. I think he may still be in some trouble."

"Walter, no, I can't take anything else happening today" she said beginning to lose it again.

"Where is your phone?" Walter asked

"It shattered when I dropped it, it's not working anymore."

"I can plug it in to my phone and download the info in there to this phone, clone it, and then we can call Drew. If I just call from my phone he won't pick up, if I clone yours, maybe he will answer. There got it." Walter was saying as he was working.

"Sly, I need you to hack into every cell tower near by and pinpoint any incoming calls at precisely 6:25 and 23 seconds. Now."

"Got it," Sly said.

"Hopefully Drew answers and tells us Ralph is safe and with him and then we can all relax a little bit." Walter said, hoping he was wrong this time but deep down knowing that wasn't going to be the case, but said it anyway to ease Paige's mind a little.

"There were 572 different calls going on at that precise time, over a 50-mile radius of us.", Sly dejectedly said

"DAMNIT." Walter screamed.

"Walter, you promised me, you promised me he would be in my arms tonight." She was crying and pounding her fists against his chest.

He didn't object to her reaction one bit. He gently closed his arms around her and held her close to him for the first time in what seemed an eternity. Hugging her and consoling her. He slowly moved her hair out of her face and so gently and delicately told her, "I have no intention of not keeping that promise Paige, do you still believe me and trust me?"

She was still crying but she was no longer hitting Walter, she had put her arms around him as well and looked at him and for the second time said, "Yes Walter, I believe you and trust you to bring OUR son home."

Just then he remembered back to a few weeks ago and the last time he and Ralph were messing around with some stuff in the garage. They had somehow discovered a way to make certain frequencies come through their servers while using common household utensils. And they were able to pinpoint how exact sounds could be made. They both had the same favorite one. So they linked it up with a memory that made them both smile.

Walter needed to get to a server near by right away. He had Happy pick the lock on the leasing office at the condos and they had the server in their control within a matter minutes.

"One of the last things me and Ralph were doing at the garage was messing around with household items and getting servers to pick up on certain frequencies of sound and then we would distort them with light to change it into a sound we found more pleasant. It seems as if everyone enjoys music, and all servers keep records of sounds that run through their hard drives. So, if you can break down the most minute sound and isolate it you can actually unlock the stored memory in the hard drive. Then once you know the frequency of the sound bouncing back and reroute it, you are left with only the noise you want to hear. If we can take the server here and shut off all the other sounds and noises the programs are running, I think I can pinpoint where the noise is coming from." Walter said while giving them a play-by-play account of what he was doing.

They were all looking at him almost dumbfounded. A look not seen very often on the faces of geniuses.

"That's brilliant, Walter!" gushed Sly, "all the different things you could unlock with that, that could be endless."

"We know, that's why we thought it best to put up firewalls and encryptions all around it so no one else would ever be able to use it to hack into governments or banks or do any bad with it. But that doesn't mean we didn't keep a few back rooms open for us to have a little fun with it!"

"That's great and all Walt," snickered Toby, " but how is that helpful to us right now?"

Walter didn't even stop to answer his condescending question.

"Paige, do you know if Ralph would have any gadgets or household items in his backpack? Anything at all? If he's on the same page as me, I think he might try to let us know where he is using this."

"Yes, the one thing I know he always carries with him is the keychain you gave him when he first started coming to the garage with me."

Paige flashed back to when Walter gave Ralph the keychain, and remembered him telling Ralph he would always be welcome at the garage and the key attached could be used anytime he ever wanted to or needed to come over. She always remembered that smile on his face when he felt he was a part of Scorpion for the first time.

"Perfect, that's all I needed to know. He kept that all this time?"

"It meant so much to him, because you gave it to him Walter, he takes it everywhere he goes." Paige told him with her eyes full of tears that had not yet run down her face.

"Sly, get me the density differential on a piece of metal that weighs 11.3 grams and the precise angle we would need to reflect 77 percent of it with a laser pointer through a usb port window."

…. A few seconds passed

"61.345 at an 18 percent angle."

"Exact?"

"Yes, Walter, exact, I did the calculations twice."

"Great now all we need is a laser pointer and we're set." Toby sarcastically said.

"Don't all of you carry a laser pointer with you?" said Walter

"And why on earth would you have a laser pointer with you at all times Walter?" Toby reiterated.

"Ralph gave it to me." He said as he shrugged his head and smiled and heard

Paige's heart melted when she realized truly how much Walter meant to her and Ralph.

"HERE I AM – ROCK YOU LIKE A HURRICANE"

"Sly find where that sound is coming from, Happy, Toby grab our cars."

"Crestmont hotel, 4th floor"

They were out the door.