"Walter." Ralph said as he ran into the hospital room. He froze seeing Walter lying unconscious. His left arm and chest were in some kind of immobilizing cast. A large bandage wrapping around his head. Ralph saw his Mom sitting in a chair beside him slumped over the side of the bed clinging to his good right hand.
Cabe and Allie came running into the room right behind him. They'd left the cabin within minutes of getting Paige's frantic phone call that morning.
"Son." Cabe said softly as he moved on over to stand by the left side of Walter's bed looking down at him.
Ralph moved over to stand next to his Mom.
"Mom?" Ralph said weakly.
Paige stirred and slowly looked up and smiled seeing Ralph. She sat up and pulled him into a tight hug.
"Oh Ralph. I'm so happy to see you." Paige said as she kissed his head.
"Where is everyone? What happened kid?" Cabe asked weakly even as Allie stepped up and took his arm in hers.
"Happy and Sly are still investigating what happened. I'm not sure where Toby is. Walter and I made up on Friday night. And Saturday he went with me to our job site at Nabisco treats. As the system came online something went wrong. And Walter warned us to shut it down but of course Sly and Toby wouldn't listen. So Walter did what Walter does, he put himself in harm's way to save others." Paige told him.
"And we're damn lucky he did too." Happy said as she stood there listening. Happy had been sitting in the waiting room thinking over everything that had been going on when she saw Ralph run down the hall followed by Cabe and Allie.
"Kid?" Cabe asked as he looked back at her.
"Did you know there are seven thousand, nine hundred and fifty three securing bolts for that conveyor line? Did you know they were all supposed to be grade 5 bolts? And one wrong grade 2 bolt somehow got placed in the assembly package. Based on what we were told how the system was designed, the initial vibrational feedback we calculated was fine. But it was almost double what that bolt could handle. I'm guessing Walter heard it shear apart. But whatever alerted him I'm thankful for, because if he hadn't acted when he did we'd be in so much trouble. For starters three workers would have been killed as the system was torn apart overhead." Happy walked in and flopped into a chair.
"It took Sly a good while to complete all the probabilities. The drive chain that hit Walter, if the four of us had been in the same place, according to Sly. He'd have died on impact. Paige might have survived, depending on her reaction time. I'd have lost use of my left arm and Toby would have a hard time talking from that point on." Happy told them. "This stupid piece of metal Walter picked up and shoved in there, shouldn't have held, it should have been ripped apart and killed Walter. As it was, it absorbed most of the kinetic force and spared him and us."
Ralph frowned and walked over and Happy let him take the rod. He turned it over and over examining it. Looking at all the stress marks and metal fatigue.
"Titanium." Ralph finally said as he pointed at a discoloration. "Whoever smelted the metal to make this, inadvertently included titanium with it. That gave it just enough strength to protect all of you. Walter was lucky."
"That's exactly right Ralph. A freak mixing accident saved us." Happy nodded approvingly.
"Or more likely blessed." Cabe said since he was the only one besides Paige who had any religious beliefs.
"I suppose, there is no way to measure either way." Ralph said as he handed the rod back to Happy and stepped back up to his Mom.
"Any change?" Sylvester asked as he came into the room a short bit later.
"Not yet." Paige said as she wiped Walter's brow with one of the wet wipes from the package she had bought while waiting on Walter to be situated in his room.
"If I hadn't been so mad at Walter or if I had just listened to Walter instead of wanting to prove myself. That I was just as capable as he is. I was too fixated about the information on the screen. I didn't stop to consider if there was anything else to pay attention to." Sylvester sighed. "I could have hit the abort and everyone would have been okay."
"Oh, that reminds me. Cabe, do you know what Walter's job statuses are?" Paige asked as she looked up.
Cabe shook his head.
"He's talked about a few from time to time but honestly, no, I have no clue." Cabe told her.
"When you feel up to it, would you go get me his laptop? I want to check on his jobs and talk to his clients to let them know what is going on." Paige told him.
Cabe slowly nodded.
"I can pick it up on the way home tonight and bring it to you tomorrow." Cabe told her.
"Thank you." Paige nodded. "Bring it here as I'm staying here." Paige told him.
"Since next week is school spring break can I stay too?" Ralph asked.
"I suppose you can tonight. We'll see going forward." Paige smiled at him.
"Not that I miss him but where's the Doc?" Cabe asked finally.
"He's too busy feeling guilty and eating crow by himself." Happy told him.
"Has he been conscious yet?" Sylvester asked.
Paige shook her head.
"His Dr is a little concerned about it too. He's going to take new images of his head in the morning if he hasn't regained consciousness before then." Paige told him.
"I better go and leave a message for Katherine, Homeland is without its biggest asset right now." Cabe said as he slowly stood up from the chair he was sitting on with Allie.
Allie waited until Cabe stepped out of the room and then looked at Paige.
"Just so you know, Cabe's a little upset you waited so long to call us." Allie told her quietly.
"I'm sorry Allie. I wasn't in any frame of mind. Happy asked me this morning if I had called to let you guys know. If it hadn't been for that I probably still wouldn't have thought about it. If I hadn't asked him to go with me, he'd be okay right now. This is all my fault." Paige said.
"No it isn't, it was just an accident. And accidents can happen even when everyone has done their best. There is a certain degree of chaos in everything. If you really want I can explain chaos theory to you Mom." Ralph told her standing there next to her.
Paige smiled and shook her head.
"That's okay baby, thank you though." Paige squeezed his hand that was holding Walter's.
"Uh, oh, wha-what happened?" Walter uttered as he struggled against the drugs, pain and discomfort.
"Walter?" Everyone said together.
Walter's eyes went wide open at the sound of his name and he looked at each person in his room with fear in his eyes.
"Who are you? Where is my sister?" Walter demanded as bravely as he could.
"Walter, it's me, Paige and Ralph. You remember us, right? And this is your oldest friend Happy, and Sylvester. And that's Allie, Cabe's girlfriend." Paige explained puzzled.
Walter shook his head.
"What have you done to me? I don't know any of you Americans. Where's my Mom? Where's my sister Megan? Megan!" Walter called out.
"Walter, try and relax a little please. Like Mom said, I'm Ralph. What's the last thing you remember?" Ralph asked.
Walter's eyes darted back and forth for a moment.
"Doc Johnson had just shut my sister's door when he went to examine her." Walter finally answered.
"Umm, Walter, how old are you?" Ralph asked.
"That's an odd question to ask. I just turned thirteen and a half." Walter told him.
"Oh boy." Sylvester said.
"Not good." Happy nodded.
"Hey, who's yelling for Megan?" Cabe said as he walked back in. He smiled seeing Walter looking at him. "Hey kid, it is good seeing you awake."
"What are you doing here Cabe? And why do you look so old?" Walter asked.
"Old?" Cabe said, puzzled as he looked around at everyone.
"Walter thinks he's thirteen." Allie said quietly.
"I don't think I know I'm thirteen. Cabe, what is going on? Where are my sister and parents?" Walter demanded.
"You think you can get his parents on your laptop?" Happy asked Sylvester quietly.
"I can try." Sylvester told her as he pulled up his laptop and opened it.
Cabe stepped up and sat down on the edge of a chair close to Walter. He slowly reached out and took Walter's hand in his. Walter had tried to pull his hand back but the cast didn't allow any movement. Walter could see his eyes were red.
"Why is my arm in this cast?" Walter demanded.
"You were hurt saving our lives." Happy told him.
Walter looked at Happy and then back to Cabe as he started speaking.
"Walter, son, I don't know why you aren't remembering everything right now. But, it has been twenty years since you were thirteen." Cabe told him softly.
Walter shook his head.
"No, it couldn't be. How could I forget twenty years of my life?" Walter asked as he looked from him to Paige. Walter froze as he looked into Paige's tear filled eyes for the first time. Walter's head twisted a little on his neck as his eyes grew puzzled looking at her.
"There is something about you, I'd say there is something about you that is mathematically perfect. It's very calming and reassuring. Do I know you?" Walter asked.
Paige grinned and nodded.
"Yes Walter, you have been my boyfriend for the last year, not counting the few weeks we broke up. But we had just got back together the other day." Paige smiled at him as she squeezed his hand.
Walter frowned.
"How could I get someone as beautiful as you as a girlfriend? Besides, I'm only thirteen. You're much too old for me." Walter said as his eyes kept staring into hers. "But, there's something, something about you that makes me want to trust and believe in you."
Paige smiled at his words.
Walter looked at Ralph standing next to her.
"You look familiar to me and there is something about the two of you. Are you two related?" Walter asked.
Paige and Ralph nodded while smiling.
"This is my son Ralph, you and I met when he was nine. At the time I had been told he had all these medical conditions but you cut through the nonsense, you told me my son was a genius. And then you proved it by helping him figure out how to express himself so he could interact with the world." Paige told him before kissing Walter's hand.
Ralph looked at him closely.
"Queen knight's pawn to B3." Ralph told him.
"Queen bishop's pawn to C6." Walter countered.
"Sylvester, it is so good seeing you son." Louise said over the laptop connection.
"Mom? Mom, is that you? Mom, where are you? Please come get me and take me home. I promise, I'll be good." Walter said suddenly.
"Walter? Son, where are you?" Louise asked even as Sylvester turned the laptop around so they could see each other.
"Saints preserve me, Walter, what happened to you?" Louise cried.
"I don't know Mom and I'm surrounded by all these Americans I don't know except for Cabe. Please come get me." Walter nearly begged.
"He was injured in an accident yesterday, Mrs. O'Brien. He saved a number of people's lives and apparently he's got some form of amnesia. He believes he is thirteen." Paige told her.
"Walter, you are thirty three now. You are living in America. You moved there when you were sixteen, you went so you could help your sister as she was getting treatment for her illness." Louise told him.
Walter was shaking his head.
"No Mom, I'm thirteen, please I don't know what I did to make you mad at me, please help me. I want to be home with Megan, you and Dad." Walter begged.
"Walter Patrick O'Brien, you listen to me son. I know we've had problems connecting but I have never lied or tried to make things hard on you so you got to try and remember and believe what I'm telling you now is the truth. You are thirty three. You've been living in America since after you turned sixteen. It was what you wanted more than anything. So we let you go with your sister to help her as she got treatment for her MS. You have since made a life with these people around you. I even keep waiting to hear you've asked Paige to marry you." Louise told him while causing Paige to blush.
"I don't understand, please, help me." Walter begged.
Paige swallowed as she looked at everyone.
"Guys, give Walter and me a few minutes in private." Paige told them.
"Mom?" Walter called out as Sylvester began walking out with the laptop.
"Walter, my little boy. Listen to me sweetie. I'm not lying to you. I understand things are confusing and scary right now. But even if I wanted to, I couldn't get to you for several days. You're in California, USA and I'm in Callan, Ireland. Paige there loves you so much and you love her, even if you don't remember it right now. Listen to her, for me, Walter and not just with your ears, but use your heart. Like Megan told you, you are your heart." Louise said softly before Sylvester moved out of the room and Happy closed the door.
Paige opened her purse and pulled out her compact mirror. She opened it and smiled at Walter.
"This is my travel mirror Walter, perhaps if you can see your face it'll help you." Paige told him while holding it out to him.
Walter frowned but slowly reached out and took it in his hand.
"Well my hand certainly looks different." Walter said as he slowly brought the mirror up and looked at his reflection.
"I-I, I really look old. I don't understand. Why do I have this on my head?" Walter asked while pointing to the bandages.
"Yesterday, we were bringing a new conveyor system online. You'd come with me so we could talk. Suddenly you said something about the system, that we needed to shut it down. Sylvester and Toby refused to listen to you and so you grabbed a piece of metal and shoved it into the system just as the drive chain snapped. If you hadn't done that, that chain would have mostly likely killed Sylvester and me and would have maimed Happy and Toby. As it was it cut through your skin, just above your navel and up across your ribs stopping right about here. But with the muscle damage they had to immobilize your left arm so you didn't hurt it trying to use it." Paige told him.
"You were thrown back a good twenty feet and your head hit the concrete pretty hard, that is why you have bandages on your head." Paige explained even as she rested her hand on his exposed chest on the right side.
"I feel like you are telling me the truth, but it is so confusing. I don't know why but I want to believe you. You really calm my thoughts, have you always calmed my thoughts?" Walter asked.
"From what you've explained to me, yes." Paige told him with a smile.
"You say I've known you since Ralph, your son was 9? But we've been dating for a year? So by my estimation there is about three or four years between those events?" Walter asked.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Railman - Indeed he is. lol Poor Toby. Sometimes I really want a good story for him, to put him in a better light. But so far this story isn't going to be that. LOL And like so many times, poor Walter has to suffer some more pain before everything can become butterflies and rainbows again. Waking up and finding out you don't remember the last 20 years of your life...ouch.
Momentum - Thank you! So glad to hear from you and how much you are enjoying stories! I will continue to do my best with the stories!
Skunkee - Thank you! That would be a hard thing to deal with, especially on long stories! A few chapters in wouldn't be bad to reread but, man, like when I had to take a hiatus during my "Secrets" story and came back to it 3 months after, catching up on all those chapters would be a task!
Margaret - Happy has her hands full with Toby no doubt! lol
Susan - Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it! hehe Yep, that was where I left it and look at this, it isn't much better here. lol I would never willingly make you wait too long. hehe
To the Adventure! -Tim
