A/N I appologise for the delay. I fell sick after Christmas then my youngest fell sick and then I ended up spending a lot of my time afterwards prepping for my son's Internationals.

St. Luke's General Hospital

His head is pounding when he attempts to open his eyes. He squints- his eyes hurting from the light in the room, barely making out the blurry outline of the person sat beside him gripping his hand in a way that's almost painful. He closed his eyes tightly then. Between the bright light and pain he feels he doesn't want to be awake at all. But it's too late, the person beside him has noticed he's conscious.
Conner wishes he'd never woken up.

Aqua Mekong Luxery Suite

'It's all gone' Walter read and re-read the message from his Mother. His 197 working at full speed trying to make sense of the message she'd sent while he'd been sleeping.
He tried to call but her mobile went to voicemail, as did Cabes and his father's and the house line appeared to be cut off. Most annoying of all Conners rang off- this frustrated Walter the most as he felt like he was being ignored. He wondered if Conner was in a mood with him now that he'd gotten engaged to Paige. It wouldn't suprise him.

It was Ralph that got the answer in the end- his phone showing a few recent news stories as he opened Google. "Genius Walter O'Brien's Family home ablaze" as Ralph read the article Walter's face became more and more pale. He barely noticed as he fell to the ground gagging with the need to vomit.
Paige kneeled down beside him and rubbed his back as Walter trembled with the stress. His eyes became glassy with unshed tears as he imagined the worst case scenarios. There was no mention of whether his family were alive or dead and nobody was answering their phones.
He hated his IQ for a moment as from the second Ralph mentioned the fire he knew it was no accident. He knew who had started it, and he knew that it was all his fault.
The world swirled around Walter's vision for a minute. Struggling to focus for a second he fell against Paige. The floodgates had opened and for the first time since he'd grieved his sister's death Walter bawled his eyes out. He struggled to breathe through the sobs and the snot, grateful that Paige wasn't upset for the wetness and filth he was getting all over her dress. She whispered words of love and support and stroked his hair with one hand and his back with the other as tears fell silently from her eyes.

Ralph stood in shock watching the scene in front of him. He didn't know how to react to his Mentor's breakdown. He felt guilty for telling him about the article and wished he'd kept it from him to spare Walter the pain he was feeling.
Ralph knew he should feel something- he had potentially lost all 3 of his grandparents and Conner from his life- ripped away in the most vicious way he could think of, but he just felt numb. He began to worry if there was something wrong with him. Was he some kind of cold unfeeling monster? Did he spend so much time around Tim that he'd become him?
He couldn't afford to dwell on such matters however, after all his family needed him. He may feel nothing but he knew from extensive talks from his mother how to comfort those that were in need of such things. Lowering himself to the floor he wrapped his arms around his parents. He wondered if he'd done the wrong thing as Walters sobs initially got louder for a moment before settling down to watery hiccups. He could at least offer his parents comfort.
It was then Walter's phone rang

Flight to Ireland

The flight was unbearable. Walter was very nearly refused entry due to his shakey and sickly appearance. He knew at least his family were safe but the dark cloud of guilt and the fear of what could've been gripped and suffocated him making him shake in and cry out in a emotional pain he was unused to experiencing.
His distress brought on many panic attacks on the way until the crew made the decision to sedate him. A choice that Paige had agreed with.
As the drugs kicked in Walter swore the ghost of his sister. Her hands were upon her hips and a disapproving glare he'd never seen before upon her otherwise beautiful face making Walter's stomach roll with sickness. It was then he fell into a fitful drug induced sleep.

A/N I hope you are enjoying the story so far. Big thank you to all my readers x
So so so much love. Please continue to review- let me know your thoughts, feelings and predictions. Your comments mean so much to me. so much love