"Okay," Walter said, reappearing in the living room and making sure to stand exactly where he had been, "Ms. Dog is hidden somewhere in the house. You can uncover your eyes now."

Amber removed her hands and giggled, wiggling off the couch and immediately going to look under it.

"Nope," Walter said. "Very cold. Ice cold."

Amber got up, heading toward the hallway down to the bedrooms.

"Getting warmer. Thawing out."

Amber put her hand on the first door. Ralph's bedroom, when he was around. "It's cold in there," Walter said.

Amber abandoned the door and headed across the hall, pushing the bathroom door open. "Ms. Dog, Ms. Dog…"

"Slightly warmer," Walter said, "but not warm enough."

Amber checked the lower cupboards and shower before leaving the bathroom and heading to the next door down the hallway, her room.

"Oh, oh," Walter said. "Be careful. You could scald yourself in there."

Amber stopped, looking at him in alarm.

"Warmer," Walter said quickly. "You're getting warmer. Ohhhhh even warmer," he added when she headed toward her bed. "Colder," he amended when she dropped to her knees and peered underneath. Amber turned toward her nightstand. "It's warmer that way."

Amber gasped in surprise and delight when she opened the bottom drawer of the nightstand and pulled a worn stuffed animal. "Ms. Dog! I found you!"

"You found her!" Walter said, throwing up his hands in celebration. "Smart girl."

Amber grinned. "Play again?"

Walter was about to say yes, then he heard a sound coming from the front door. "Why don't you go into the kitchen?" He said, mussing her hair. "There's a surprise about to arrive."

Father and daughter got back into the living area just seconds after the door opened, giving the arrival just enough time to set her bags down before the little girl zipped across the room.

"Mama! Mama!" Amber ran to Paige, bouncing in excitement. "You're home!"

"I am, sweet girl," Paige said, bending and lifting the toddler into her arms. "Oh, I missed you so much, my love."

"I missed you, Mama," Amber said, her arms around Paige's neck.

"Oh, I love these hugs," Paige murmured, almost to herself. She readjusted Amber so she could look at her face. "Were you a good girl for Daddy?"

"Yes. Not good for Uncle Toby."

Paige gave her an incredulous look, then a little laugh escaped her. "What do you mean you weren't good for Uncle Toby?"

Amber shrugged. "I was a brat."

"Did he tell you that?"

"Yes. But I knowed it already."

"Hmmm. We may have to talk about that later. But for now I'm just so so happy to see your face. Give me a kiss? Thank you," she said when Amber bumped her lips briefly against her mother's. "I'm gonna put you down now and say hi to Daddy, okay?"

"Okay."

Paige turned to Walter, who grinned as he wrapped his arms tightly around her. "Hey, Love," he said. "Good to see you. How was your flight?"

"So bumpy I would have almost rather driven if it wouldn't have been a massive time suck."

"Road trip from New Jersey to California?" Walter said. "Some would find that a lot of fun."

"Yeah, well I am neither a childless twenty something nor do I have a travel themed Instagram," Paige said. "I'll take the flying, turbulent as it may be. Hey Amber." She hunkered down. "Guess how many people threw up on my flight?"

"Eleventy twelve?"

"No." Paige raised a hand, lifting each finger as she counted. "One, two, three, four. Four people on the plane."

"Eeeew!" Amber said, wrinkling her nose and giggling. "Did you throw up?"

"Nope," Paige said. "Not even a teeny weenie little bit."

"Good," Amber said. "Throwing up is gross."

"That it is." Paige straightened up. "Can you put on a movie for her?"

"Would you like to watch a movie while Mom and I go to our room?" Walter asked.

"Frozen 3!" Amber said, running toward the living area. "Frozen 3!"

"She has watched that movie at least twice a day since you left," Walter said under his breath. "If I have to see Oleg's tap dancing showmen babies one more time…"

"It's Olaf," Paige said, "and you aren't watching it. You're coming with me. Anything to keep her occupied."

"Fair. They're making a fourth one, though. They're never going to stop, Paige."

"Let's worry about that another time, huh?"

"Mmmm." Paige smiled, picking up her bags, and Walter headed over to the television set. "Okay Amber, are you ready? Sit on the couch with Ms. Dog, and be sure to sing along, okay?"

By the time he got the movie playing and made sure that Amber was well occupied with it, Paige had already unpacked her suitcase and was laying flat on her back on her side of the bed. Walter shut the door and crossed the room to his side, settling on the mattress on his side. "You usually leave everything packed until you've had some sleep."

"Yeah. But there's a lot to do tomorrow and I know I'm going to want to hit snooze like seventy times in the morning."

"How's your mother?"

"She's doing okay. Adapting to life with only one real hip. I still worry about her some, alone in that house. But she's managed to convince me that she's managing just fine. And she does have a neighbor that checks in on her once a day."

"That's good. That's good."

"I also managed to talk to Mr. Yates," Paige said. "In person."

"Oh." Walter raised his eyebrows. "I was under the impression that it was just going to be a call."

"As was I. But his plane got rerouted to Newark with the weather out there, and he offered to meet me in the middle. Highlands are only about an hour from that airport, so I agreed."

"And how did it go?"

"Well, I think. He'd heard of Scorpion before – largely the rescue of Owen at the beach and our work at Chernobyl. But I told him about some of our other jobs – he was particularly fascinated by the womb we used on that premature deer, by the way – and he said that the more he learns about Scorpion, the more he thinks we could change the world with proper funding. And if I may say so, I think we're changing the world without it, so…having that money would be life changing for so many more people."

"We certainly could do a lot with it," Walter said. "Would we have full control over the funds?"

"As long as they were for bettering science, technology, and the standard of living, yes," Paige said, rolling from her back to her side, facing him. "He wants to meet more of us."

"When? And where?"

"In D.C., and he's going to get back to me on when. He is off on a trip to Egypt for at least a month."

"To meet with a competitor?"

"Oh, no," Paige said. "His daughter is getting married, and she chose Luxor because her twin lives there and is due to have twins of her own shortly after the wedding."

"Ah." Walter nodded. "Well, we will keep in touch."

"Yes. I feel good about it."

"Few are more persuasive than you."

"Hmm. How were things here? You always said they were good on the phone, but…"

"Things were good. No major cases came up. Happy and Florence were more than capable of handling that business in Burbank by themselves."

"I mean with Amber."

"Things were…fine." Walter nodded slowly. "She's still getting frustrated with the alphabet and remembering new words, but…"

"But she's two. We have to be patient with her."

"I know. It's just the way she gets frustrated. It's like she's convinced that I'm telling her the wrong thing. She tried to rearrange the alphabet letters in the order of A, K, S, Y, D, P, B, R, N…"

"You remember that order?"

"Eidetic memory, remember?"

"Of course." Paige nodded. "Did she put them in that order more than once?"

"Once she switched the S and the K," Walter said, "but she was absolutely convinced I was doing it wrong when I put them back."

"She's still a baby, Walter. It'll be okay. Ralph's father and I thought he was learning too slowly, and well, we were totally wrong about him."

"Two year olds can sing their ABCs. I'm not expecting her to be advanced."

"I'm not trying to invalidate your concerns," Paige said. "I'm only saying give her time. She walked and talked right with the average. Let's not get too caught up in her being confused about the alphabet. Okay?"

"Okay. You're right." He smiled. "I missed you. Don't go away for that long again."

She rolled her eyes, but she could tell she wasn't actually annoyed. "Walter, it was just a few days."

"I know. But…" He reached out and took her hand. "You know."

She tightened her fingers around his. "Yeah, I know. Me too."