The gang stood staring at Sean and Louise as they looked up at the Loft where Ralph disappeared. Sean's hand reached across Louise's shoulders and pulled her up against his side.
Cabe stepped over to them quietly.
"Don't give up hope." Cabe said softly. "Would either of you like some coffee? We might have some cake or donuts if you'd like." Cabe asked gently.
"Aye, some coffee might be a good thing. Thank you." Sean said as Louise nodded. They turned and walked with Cabe back into the kitchen area.
"You okay Ralph?" Paige asked as she walked towards him from the living area. She'd stood up from the couch with Walter hearing the ending of his conversation with his Grandparents.
"I'm fine Mom. I'm sorry Dad, I just, I don't feel good trying to be friendly with them when I know how they have hurt you." Ralph told him.
Walter shook his head.
"No, I should have known this would bother you too much. I shouldn't have put that pressure of interacting with them on you and your Mom. I should have met with them myself. I'm sorry." Walter said as he walked over to Paige and Ralph.
"What are you going to do?" Paige asked.
Walter sighed.
"I'm going to have to go talk with them." Walter gave her a brief smile before he lightly slapped her butt and moved for the stairs.
"Walter!" Paige jumped but laughed before following after him.
"I didn't want to see that." Ralph said quietly with his eyes closed which caused his parents both to laugh. Ralph turned and walked after his parents.
Walter saw Sylvester and Florence over by his desk and Happy and Toby were by her workbench. He didn't see his parents or Cabe but as he walked slowly down the stairs he could hear them in the kitchen. Walter drew in a deep breath as he reached the bottom of the steps.
Toby had been moving over upon seeing him on the stairs.
"Hey Walt, may I recommend you don't do this right now? I'm concerned neurologically with you and what this might do." Toby explained quietly.
"I need to settle this with my parents. For Paige and Ralph's sake. But I thank you for your concern." Walter told him before he turned into the small area that led into the kitchen. Toby moved in behind the small family as they entered.
"Walter." Louise said softly as she stood up.
Sean looked up and immediately stood up as well.
Cabe looked over his shoulder and stood.
"Mother, Father." Walter started. "It is good to see you both." Walter said as sincerely as he could.
"We didn't know if we would get the chance to see you after the talking-down we got from Paige and our Grand." Sean told him.
Toby stepped over and stood by the fridge and just watched.
"I'm quite sure their words would have been close to the ones I would have used if I'd taken care of my responsibility. It was my place to speak to you, whether it was words of familial ties or just my mind with you. Instead I hid away and thrust them out before me, to face you. Even if it was my hope that it might foster a better relationship for you four. Because I am quite convinced we will never be like the family most are." Walter told them as he stopped beside Cabe.
"We're not here for a fight with you son. We came because we do care, because we do love you. We're just sorry we never expressed it in ways that it would help bond us better. And I'm not complaining about the words that were said to us. We failed as your parents, we know that. But we want to make things right. We want to be a proper family with you again." Sean told him.
Walter's brain stopped on the word 'again' and he wanted to scream, 'Again? When were we ever?'. But Walter managed to hold it in.
"I think we would all like that." Walter said as amenable as he could while he gestured to the table.
Sean and Louise sat down even as Walter pulled out a chair and held his hand out to Paige.
Paige smiled but stepped up and while taking his hand she sat down in the chair. Cabe moved over and Walter sat in the chair Cabe had been in so he was next to Paige.
For nearly two hours Walter and Paige sat with his parents. Paige rarely interjected anything; she mostly sat there holding Walter's hand trying to give him whatever strength she could. Ralph stood the entire time behind his Father. Happy had moved in after a short time and stood with Toby. Even Sylvester and Florence had moved into the area to show support and to try and understand things a bit better.
Paige had been impressed with Walter throughout the exchange between him and his parents. He demonstrated his feelings better than ever before but he was definitely keeping his feelings on a short leash. At the end Walter and his parents finally reconciled their relationship enough that they could try to move forward. The five of them came together in a group hug.
Earlier Toby had bent over and whispered something into Happy's ear which caused her eyes to open wide but she nodded. The whole time, Toby's eyes were constantly on Walter as he measured and gauged everything from him. And then it happened, what he had been worried about. Even as his hand hit the handle on the fridge Happy reacted to that signal and moved quickly across the floor and she thrust her hands out before her as Walter began convulsing.
"Walter!" Paige and Louise yelled.
"Dad!" Ralph yelled.
They all moved but Happy was already in place as Walter fell backwards into her arms. Paige being right there was able to help first and then Ralph as they got him on the floor and his body continued thrashing.
Toby moved over quickly even as he was preparing the shot. As Happy and Paige held Walter's arms Cabe was trying to control his legs. Sean moved over to assist him. Louise got down and was holding Walter's head up a little so it wouldn't strike the concrete floor.
"Ralph, pull up his sleeve." Toby said since he was already on the floor by him.
Toby dropped next to Happy and reached across Walter and swabbed the IV port, as Paige and now Ralph struggled to control his arm, with a prep pad. Carefully he inserted the needle into the IV port in Walter's arm. They all watched as he pushed the plunger, injecting the medicine slowly.
"What are you giving him?" Paige asked.
"Lorazepam." Toby told her.
The seconds ticked by slowly as his body continued to spasm. And about two minutes later the movements grew slower, less force was generated by his muscles or was needed to restrain his limbs. And then they stopped completely.
"Toby?" Paige asked near panicking.
"I was a little worried about this. When Ralph told us his parents were coming I ordered the medicine. It made sense to have some on hand just in case anyway. Basically what is going on is a conflict within his brain, between his IQ and EQ with this very emotional event. Coupled with what the drugs have done to him. But I have hopes that these seizures will diminish as time goes by and he begins to use his brain more and more." Toby told them.
"Sly grab the backboard, and let's take Walter upstairs before he wakes up." Toby told them.
"Why?" Paige asked even as Sylvester moved to grab the board.
"Because Walter won't like that he lost control of his bladder during the event." Toby told her softly.
Everyone looked and saw his pants had a large wet stain.
"I'll get the mop." Happy said as she moved off.
Paige nodded.
"I'll go get a change of clothes and get set up to clean him up then. You are staying with him right?" Paige asked him as she jumped up.
"Of course I will, boss." Toby smiled and nodded.
Paige smiled with gratitude and moved quickly upstairs.
"Oh, what happened." Walter said even as he grabbed his head with one hand. "I've got a horrible headache."
"It's okay love." Paige said as she moved over from the chair she would work from when Walter was kept sedated. "You had a seizure downstairs. Toby had anticipated it might happen and had kept Lorezapam on hand to handle it. Afterwards Toby, Sly, Sean and Cabe brought you up to your bed. Do you remember talking with your parents? That all three of you promised to work hard to make things right with each other?"
Paige sat down on the side of the bed and took his free hand.
"I do, I think I remember the five of us hugging?" Walter said.
Paige smiled and nodded.
"It was right after that, you had a seizure. Toby said he was worried about that and why he didn't really want you talking to them yet. But he believes they won't happen often as you heal and they will decrease as you exercise your brain more." Paige told him.
Walter smiled.
"I had thought maybe we could go out as a family for dinner before the seizure, and now I am really starving." Walter told her.
"I think we would like that. It is a little past dinner time now. What would you like?" Paige asked.
"What about that steakhouse, Edwin's, you really liked it that time we went." Walter told her.
"I think that would be an excellent choice." Paige told him as she kissed him.
Walter sat with Paige on one side and Ralph on the other as they all dined at Edwin's. Happy suddenly chuckled and everyone looked at her. She pointed towards a couple being shown to a table.
"Vadat Talai, from the Vor Collective." Happy said.
"Oh that reminds me." Walter said as he pushed back from the table.
"Walter?" Paige asked.
"I'll be right back, I promise." Walter smiled and kissed her cheek.
"He's such a changed man." Louise said softly. "And was it all the drugs he had been subjected to that has caused this change?"
Toby nodded even as he tilted his hand back and forth.
"Mostly, but he was slowly coming around. Maybe if I hadn't always antagonized him, maybe I could have actually helped him more. But really, it was Paige who did the most good for him. And that is my professional opinion." Toby told them.
"Someone, call an ambulance, he didn't say Harvard." Cabe gasped.
Everyone started laughing.
"Mr. Talai." Walter said as he stepped up closer to the table Vadat and his date had been seated at.
"Walter O'Brien. How unfortunate to meet you again. I trust I don't have to worry about the ice cubes here?" Vadat said with a lot of snark.
Walter flashed a brief smile.
"No, at least not as far as I am concerned. I had just wanted to step over for a moment to truly apologize for my thoughtless act which had such repercussions on the entire Collective." Walter told him sincerely.
"That sounded an awful lot like a real apology." Vadat said even as his eyes narrowed trying to figure out what he was after. "But it won't do you any good, we still won't reconsider your membership."
Walter nodded.
"It wasn't about a reconsideration of my membership. In fact I plan to formally withdraw it, you should receive my letter in a few days. But I know I was wrong in how I approached our discourse and I know I caused the members of the Collective discomfort at least, if not outright pain and embarrassment. Inconvenience and monetary loss however slight either from loss time at work or even medical care. There is nothing that I can say or do that can mitigate any of that. All I can do is offer my heartfelt apology." Walter explained.
"Oh." Vadat said. He was confused by the sincerity and emotion in Walter's voice. "Thank you, I appreciate you saying that."
"Of course, I do hope you both have a wonderful evening." Walter told them and walked off back to his table.
"Whoa, I can't believe Walter is coming back without at least a glass of water thrown in his face." Happy said to everyone.
Toby and Sylvester both just nodded in their shocked agreement.
"Walter?" Paige said as he sat back down.
"I had to go over and apologize for what I had done to the Collective. I told him I would also be sending a formal withdrawal of my application to join the Collective." Walter told her.
"Walt, that's been your dream for years now…to get them to reconsider and vote you in." Sylvester said shocked.
"I wouldn't have called it a dream Sly, it was more of an obsessive need to be in yet another place and be the person with the highest IQ there. I never truly cared to be in their group. I had the people around me I needed. I had the people I counted on. The ones I thought would always…" Walter paused as he realized where his thought was going and he choked up as his eyes teared.
"Uh…" Walter said before he coughed trying to clear his throat of the emotion he felt choking him. "I forgot what I was saying. Anyway, how is everyone's dinner?" Walter asked as he squeezed Paige's hand.
"Walt, it's really okay with us. We know we were wrong in what we did, how we responded. And while we've all apologized and accepted the apologies offered, these feelings for you will come up. Don't be afraid of them. They might hurt when given a voice, but it is what we agreed to, when we decided to ask for forgiveness. If you need to say it, say it." Happy said as she held out her hand.
Walter looked at her hand for a moment before he reached out past Ralph and grabbed her hand for a moment.
"Thank you for saying that, but it isn't that I don't want to say or feel things, it is just the nature of what is happening to me. And I'd rather not cause any harm to anyone else again. The world of emotions seems to be growing and while at times they are enjoyable." Walter reached around Paige and Ralph and hugged them into his sides. "They are also not enjoyable. But hopefully, with us moving forward together, I'll get a better handle on them and I'll be able to more accurately display and interpret them. Paige has told me she wants me back at the helm of Scorpion. But as I told her, I'm honestly not sure that is a good thing. I am not who I was and I'm not sure I should be in a leadership position until I am."
"Walt, I can speak for us three, you are simply amazing and we want you to come back and resume leadership of Scorpion." Happy told him.
"I suppose then in a month we can disregard Master Yoda's words and try a soft trial with me back at the helm." Walter smiled at Sylvester.
Greetings! I Hope this finds you all well! Well one more chapter left until this storyline speaks again. Despite the health issues I've had this week I had a good day writing wise yesterday and wrote chapter 63 of Callan. Felt really good.
RiseOfDespair - LOL Savage indeed!
JerBr23 - They both deserved one! Thank you! Looks like you called it on Walter. hehe GMTA
Railman - They both did a great job and you are right, Walter wouldn't have been able to contain himself if his Father had raised his voice in the Garage like he did at the airport. I'm glad you guys have enjoyed or at least hung in there with me for it. Yes, I'd don't care for darker stories but, sometimes they have to happen. I'm still trying to get over Sly's death. As of this morning I am feeling a lot better, unfortunately my Doc is out of the office/no appointments for the next week and her nurse doesn't want me waiting so wants me to go to the ER. So I got to decide if I am going to do that or not. I should, just not sure if I will today, I might wait until tomorrow depending on how today progresses, but thank you!
Margaret - So sorry to hear you got a bad cold! And I certainly understand being behind...with this funk that has been on me I am way behind on reading JerBr's story and I think 3 chapters on Railman's and I haven't really looked at TJ's new story yet...*sigh* Sounds like you are all caught up on mine though!
Susan - I do love angst. LOL Ralph did a great job and it looks like all the words from both Paige and Ralph had a proper effect on Mr & Mrs O'Brien.
Guest - Thank you! Yes, it always is sad to come to the end even when I am looking forward to the posting of the new story...question is, do you guys want the next installment of Knight's Tale or do you want the new 3 chapter story Circles?
Lucy - Yes Ma'am, they did! LOL
Let me know which story you want me to post next, Circles (a divergence story at the end of Sharknerdo) or A Knight In Harris!
To the Adventure! -Tim