"So?" Toby, sitting cross legged on the bed, bounced in place as his wife entered the room and threw off her coat. "What sort of dirt did you dig up at guest social without me?"

"No dirt," Happy said, sliding under the covers. "And you were free to come with me, you know. Everyone basically just exchanged pleasantries, grabbed some cookies, and made some small talk before going back to their rooms. I just got some information on what specifically people are doing. I think we have a decent shot at this."

"Well, tell me something I don't know!" He joked.

Happy rolled her eyes. "Marcie Lucas is working on several projects, but the one everyone is talking about is her concept of drones that can take out meteors that would hit the earth and cause another mass extinction. How practical is that overall?" Happy shifted on the mattress.

"I suppose you could argue that while used less frequently, when it is utilized it would save every human being on the planet. Which of course, none of us can match with any of our work examples."

"That's certainly an extreme example of the Greater Good."

Toby nodded. "Tell me about it. We could probably construct a model that shows probability of an event that each of our work could help occurring as well as the amount of good that is projected to come from it."

"That would have been a nice thing for you to do while I was out trying to be a social butterfly."

"Oh, I've already done it for all of Scorpion's projects. But now that we know more about the others…"

Happy raised her eyebrows.

"I'll get on it in a minute."

"You mean, you'll text Sylvester asking him to do it?"

"Fine. Sylvester's been running the numbers. But I still say our project is the best one we have."

"I agree," Happy said. "But we have to present as a united front tomorrow. I'm a bit worried that Florence or my competitive streak will come out and we will, well…"

"Be you guys?" Toby asked.

"Well. Yeah." Happy played with her wedding ring. "I'm also worried that someone might hit a nerve with Paige and she'll make a petty remark. I'm also worried you'll make a comment that someone finds inappropriate, and I'm worried that Sylvester will get flustered or that Walter will be insulting…I'm just worried."

"I get that." Toby leaned over and patted the covers over her leg. "But we always come through when it's absolutely critical."

"Yeah. But the odds say eventually we won't. And we've never done anything quite like this before."

"That's true. Though we've been so successful at so many crazy things over the years, and how many of our craziest things have we ever done twice? We're getting the shot at that this time. We've had time and a relaxed environment to perfect things we already have done well. We're going to blow them away. I'm confident."


"So you used this to save a premature deer because your friend wanted to get laid?"

"I told you we didn't need to give them a play by play of the entire day," Happy said to Toby through clenched teeth. They stood behind the small table used to display the pseudo – womb. On one side was a computer playing video and a poster containing the abstract for a paper Thomas Beek's student had authored. On their other side was Chana Wolowitz, speaking earnestly to two men who were just as well dressed as Dr. James Ewart, the advisor to the benefactor that stood in front of the Quintis table. The benefactor had required all teams be split up and scattered across various rooms in the hotel, so that the advisors would remember the accomplishments and examples, not a display that happened to be the flashiest.

"Our reasoning and motivations for making the decision to save the deer is not really relevant to the effectiveness of the womb," Toby said. "We succeeded in protecting this animal that would have died otherwise, and we've updated it to be able to accommodate human newborns as well. If you combine it with the oxygen supplier through the blood, which we have already demonstrated the effectiveness of in our famed rescue of the boy at the Zuma Beach – which I'm sure you heard about more when you spoke to my colleagues the O'Briens – it could be a huge and fairly cost – effective alternative to standard NICU practices."

"NICU, sure," said Dr. Ewart. "But the benefactor is hoping to give money to a team that can provide assistance on a more personal level. I'm sure you know that Thomas Beek's integrated pest management practices are practical for the average poor farming family."

"Oftentimes," Happy said, "technology that was once only available to the rich, or to institutions, become fairly affordable and commonplace over time. We have eliminated the very first step of that by creating something that most hospitals and trauma centers will be able to afford. It is one step closer to it being available in every ambulance in the country."

"Cell phones and computers were once unthinkable as household devices," Toby said.

"And many families still cannot afford them," Ewart pointed out.

"No, that is true," he said. "But one thing that I think is important to consider is nothing anyone has brought here has been proven in practice, at least not on a large scale. Thomas Beek's ideas are fairly derivative of what the agriculture industry in the Midwest has been doing since the 1980s."

Dr. Ewart raised his eyebrows. "Resorting to talking down the others' work, rather than having anything additional to say about yours. Interesting."

"I don't mean – "

"No need to get defensive," he said. "I'm here to make observations and ask questions. I assume you were informed of that before you came."

Toby cleared his throat. "Yes, sir."

"Thank you for the information and the demonstration," Ewart said. "I'm sure my colleagues will find this fascinating." He turned, a smile coming over his face when he made eye contact with Beek's student. "Lydia Dirks. How lovely to see you again."

"That could have gone better," Toby said.

"Still so confident that we got this?" Happy asked.

"I'm sure they are questioning all the others just as strictly," Happy said. "They don't want to give the money to just anyone."

"We're not just anyone."

"And that's why at the end of the day, we could very well still be their top choice. We wouldn't be on the short list if we hadn't already been extensively vetted."

Toby smiled. "And suddenly, you're the one convincing me that I shouldn't be so unsure."

She bumped her hip against his. "We're married. We're supposed to pick up each other's slack."


Paige was extremely impressed with how Walter was handling the questions they'd been hit with over the past several hours. James Ewart had been a real hard ass. He'd been the first of the benefactor's advisors to approach them – although she suspected all of the 'general public' that was attending this event were also somehow connected to the person that would make the final decision. Florence had texted Walter with a warning about the type of questions Séverine Metharom would be asking, and Paige thought she and Walter had navigated their little interrogation perfectly. But then Happy had texted them saying that Metharom had made a comment to them that had implied that the advisor hadn't liked them much after all.

They'd all known this would be difficult, but Paige was starting to realize that as prepared as they might have thought themselves, they might actually be on more of a level playing field with their competitors than they'd thought.

Chana Wolowitz had approached their table minutes ago, and Walter was currently smiling and nodding at something she was saying. Paige narrowed her eyes. Florence said that Wolowitz wasn't someone who would play dirty. But Paige knew she wasn't immune to her old trust issues and suspicious tendencies popping back up again. Be careful what you tell her, Walter. The fact that Chana had – apparently for years, according to Florence – been suggesting that Scorpion try to make money off of some of the very accomplishments they were highlighting made Paige all the more suspicious.

"Mrs. O'Brien?"

It was Rocky Vogel. He was reportedly their CEO benefactor's right hand man, although some believed that he was an alias for the benefactor himself. "I see what they're doing," Allie had muttered when she'd been shown photographs of the advisors and of the CEO. "Very Westing Game."

"Mrs. O'Brien is my mother – in – law," she said, because she knew Vogel's type would chuckle at that remark. "You may call me Paige."

"Paige is a lovely name. I have to say, I prefer it over Mrs. O'Brien."

He wasn't flirting. But she made sure the hand she lifted to tuck hair behind her ear was the one with her ring on it. "What can I do for you, Mr. Vogel?"

"If we could step into the meeting room for a moment? I've been speaking with the PR leaders for each group we're considering, and from everything I've read, that person is you."

"Sure."

She sat across a card table from him, Vogel's hands flying over his laptop's keyboard while she answered his questions. They started easily enough – he asked her to talk about Scorpion, and she knew her passion for the company came through whenever she discussed it – and slowly intensified until she almost wasn't prepared for the questions he was asking. Classic tactic. Putting the frog in water and slowly heating it up. This was the EQ part of the job, and it was supposed to be her wheelhouse. Breathe, Paige.

"In addition to our hopes that the money will create improvements for humanity in general," Vogel said, "we are also concerned with the likelihood that the team that receives the money remains a cohesive unit, to assure that none of the money will be used for purposes other than which it is intended."

"Well," Paige said, "Scorpion is a family. We are extremely cohesive."

"Your team has had a rocky past," said Vogel. "Steven Royce's law office have all been working together for going on twenty years. Your team has gained and lost members in that time."

"When you say that their team hasn't changed in that long," Paige said, "I hear that they potentially aren't open to new people or new ideas, even though both may add value to their ventures. Scorpion has had multiple people who are no longer with us for a variety of reasons…"

"Including Mark Collins, who was something of a domestic terrorist."

"Also Cabe Gallo, who still works with us in a reduced capacity due to his retirement. I also joined the team later than the others, and Florence Tipton arrived three years after I did. We allow ourselves to grow and evolve and utilize the new ideas that new people have brought."

"You also had a very famous fracture with the current members that, directly or indirectly, resulted in the deaths of multiple people and near death for your husband and Mr. Dodd."

"That was back in 2018. We're a family. We had a rift. It is ancient history."

"I understand. And your record since has been very impressive. Strangely, I see that your son has been very absent from the team's roster since your daughter was born."

Paige set her jaw. "Ralph is an adult. He is under no obligation to continue working for the company and that hardly has anything to do with our unity."

"We have been led to understand that his absence has to do with a situation where an ex – girlfriend of his extorted the team for a considerable sum of money."

"It was money we had earned that did not have conditions attached to it. We wouldn't spend what is essentially grant money on personal matters."

"Of course not. But it does raise questions about judgement, and we'd hate to give all this money to a team that might misinterpret the best ways to help people."

"Any venture has the possibility to fail," Paige said. "That doesn't mean we are any more high risk than anyone else."

"That is a good point to make," Vogel said. "Though if your own son doesn't want to be a part of the team, that raises into question Scorpion's viability for long term survival."

Paige could feel herself getting defensive. They're questioning everyone just as thoroughly. Don't take this personally. But they were questioning her son. How was she not supposed to take that personally? Don't. Don't let them get to you. "Oftentimes, family businesses can find themselves in muddled gray areas due to family loyalty and family politics. We are like family, but we don't require blood relatives as some sort of way to pass the business on. We can stay a relevant company without any of us having children poised to take it over. When Walter started the company, he didn't think he would ever have offspring. He built it by finding people who needed him and building the company around their strengths. We're the only ones here that have operated that way and I view that as a positive, not a negative. Our successes have been largely due to how different we are from most other companies."


"You're awfully quiet," Walter commented.

Paige looked up from her pasta. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize when you suggested we get food you were expecting engaging conversation."

Walter put his fork down.

Paige sighed. "Sorry."

"Something is bothering you, Love. I thought you were just stressed from the day, and that dinner together would relax you. But it seems you're somewhere else."

"I miss Amber. We're away from her so much."

"I miss her, too. It's only been the last few months that we've really been extensively traveling without her. Soon she will be old enough to come with us sometimes."

"I just..." she twirled the pasta around her fork. "Growing up...when Ralph was growing up, rather, he was always with me. I saw him every day after work. Sometimes I took him with me to work. We were each other's person. And now...now I haven't seen him in six months."

"He loves you more than anything in the world, Paige," Walter said. "He's just spreading his wings."

"I just never imagined that when he left that May after Amber was born that he wouldn't come back."

"Did someone say something to you today that brought up these feelings?"

"Yeah. Rocky Vogel. He made a comment about how we must not be a cohesive, viable unit because I couldn't even manage to keep my own son around."

"He said that?"

"Not exactly. But you know how it is when people say things but mean something else."

"Hmmph." Water tapped the edge of his plate. "So you're worried that spending less time with Amber at this age will result in a less meaningful relationship with her when she's an adult."

"Yeah."

"That's possible."

"What-"

"I'm sorry, that was blunt. But what I mean is, sure, it might, or she might grow up to be a total mama's girl and we'll be eighty years old still screaming at her to move out and find her own place."

"Or a daddy's girl."

"Or both."

"Both is good."

"Yeah." Walter slid his foot forward to touch hers under the table. "You did nothing wrong with Ralph. Please tell me that you know that."

She blinked, and he saw tears in her eyes. "I miss him, Walter. I miss him so, so much."

"I know. I do too."

"And I just want these next few days to be over so I can go home and hold our daughter. She's just a baby. She's too young to leave."

Walter wasn't the best at reading people, even Paige, even now, after all this time. He would probably never be good at that. Likewise, he thought, Paige would probably never shake her abandonment issues.

Happy and Toby always talked about how married couples picked up each other's slack. The two of them were brilliant at it. Walter thought that he and Paige did well too, at least most of the time.

But this. He didn't know how to help her with this.