Walter smiled seeing the flowers on a table.
"Thank you for the flowers." Walter looked to Paige.
Paige chuckled.
"Actually those are from Mr. Blimmons at Nabisco. For acting so swiftly. You saved several of his workers' lives as well as limited the damage to the equipment." Paige told him.
"Oh, that was nice of him." Walter smiled.
"Thank you for that by the way." Happy said.
Walter looked over at her.
"I don't remember it, but you're welcome." Walter told her.
"W-W, Would you like to see?" Sylvester asked nervously.
Walter frowned as he looked at Paige.
"It is up to you. It is pretty violent." Paige warned him as she stroked his cheek.
Walter looked back at Sylvester and nodded.
Sylvester brought his laptop over and sat it on Walter's lap and hit play.
Walter grimaced as he watched the recoil of the drive chain strike him and sent him flying back over the four adults in his room and then he crashed into the floor. Walter's hand released Paige's and he reached up to hold his head.
"That was pretty violent." Walter nodded.
What part of the machine failed?" Walter asked.
Happy pulled out a snapped bolt and held it out so he could see it.
"It was only a grade 2 bolt, should have been a grade 5. They've issued a warning on all the conveyor kits they've sold starting with two previous lots to this one. So every bolt can be checked to be sure it is correct." Happy told him.
"Yep, their attorneys are going nuts at this time. They keep trying to get in to see you and get you to sign some papers limiting their liability. I've been running interference for you. At least until you can decide if you want to get a different attorney. I wouldn't blame you if you did Walter. I have to admit, I wasn't the best of friends. Wasn't even a good brother to you. I'm sorry." Sylvester told him.
"You're a licensed attorney?" Walter asked softly.
Sylvester nodded and pulled out his state bar id card and showed it to him.
Walter looked it over for a moment.
"What is your rate?" Walter asked.
"I wouldn't charge you anything Walter. Whatever you need, I'll be more than happy to help. Just my way of apologizing and saying how sorry I am for my bad deeds." Sylvester choked.
Walter lay there looking at him for several moments.
"You can handle it for me." Walter finally said.
Paige smiled and rubbed her hand up and down his arm.
"But I need you to do something else too." Walter smiled at Paige.
"Sure, what is it?" Sylvester asked.
"I need to petition the court to update my son's birth certificate with my name as his Father." Walter and Paige just smiled looking into each other's eyes.
"I've actually been putting together some information on what to do for that, while they were waiting on the results." Sylvester told him.
Happy tried again and took his left hand back in hers.
"Walt, we've always been able to settle things between us so we were still friends. Can't we do that now?" Happy asked.
Walter stared at her for several minutes and more memories flashed through his mind. He tucked his head down for most of that time as he grimaced.
"I'm not giving you any more, if you can't really be my friend, you know where the door is. But why do you want to settle things now? You were more than happy to leave me without trying to settle it and then form a company to put me out of business. What's changed?" Walter demanded as he recovered.
"Missing you, having you there to bounce ideas off of. And listening to the pain in your voice over what you just said about us. Knowing it is true, knowing that despite what we did you still care about us." Happy explained.
"But I don't care." Walter told her.
"Walt, Paige had us go by the Garage to get your laptop when Cabe forgot to do that. She wanted to go through your records to see what jobs you had and what needed to be done to satisfy the contracts." Happy explained.
Walter shrugged as if that was supposed to mean something.
"We saw you had updated your will. You still had us listed in it. You don't do that if you don't care, you would have taken us out." Toby told him even as he tried hard to swallow the lump in his throat.
"That was before everything became clear to me." Walter told him before looking over to Paige who just sat there smiling at him.
"It is okay to admit it Walter." Paige told him. "No matter what else, Ralph and I are here with you, forever." Paige told him while nodding.
"Walt, look." Toby said before pulling a chair over and sitting beside Happy. "There is no doubt we screwed up, and royally so. I've held onto anger and feelings of resentment towards you for three years now. Those things have helped guide my crappy attitude towards you and made things harder for you. I'm sorry. I should have been more appreciative of the things you have done for me, let alone all of us, all this time. All of your memory problems have had me going back through these years looking back over what happened, how I responded. And while yes, you did some inappropriate things, you were still trying to do good for us. And we shouldn't have gotten involved in what was going on with you and Paige, other than trying to calm things down. All I can say is, I'm sorry for it all."
Walter sighed as he continued to look into Paige's eyes.
"They are your emotions Walter, you can make the decision on how to express them. You can decide how to move forward from this point. But, if what you are asking me is if I think they are being open and honest with you, then I believe they are." Paige smiled as she squeezed his hand.
"I suppose it wouldn't hurt too much to try again, but I'm not going to put up with the nonsense anymore." Walter said as he looked at the couple on his left. He looked back at Paige. "So how does my job statuses look?"
Paige grinned.
"Well thanks to your son, you are still on track. He's finished your most pressing job and he's close to finishing the next one." Paige smiled at Ralph.
"Thanks Ralph." Walter told him. "I guess I need to get your name entered into my books as a real employee now." Walter grinned.
"Sounds good to me Dad." Ralph grinned.
Paige helped Walter out of Cabe's SUV after they pulled up in front of the Garage. It had now been three and a half weeks since Walter was last inside the building. The imagining they did finally showed his muscles didn't need the cast any longer. They removed it but he was still on limitations. He wasn't to lift anything more than ten pounds. And he had to use the ramp rather than the stairs so it would be less jarring.
Walter closed his eyes as he inhaled the air outside of the Garage and then smiled. His eyes opened and his grin got bigger as he was looking at Paige watching him. He leaned in and they shared a tender kiss and Cabe just chuckled as he walked by and opened the door for them.
"Oh man, I'm going to have to go clean out the fridges. There's bound to be some experiments trying to take root in them after three weeks." Walter said as he stepped inside.
"Not a problem. Allie, Ralph and I came over last week and took care of all of that. Then Ralph and I went by the market last night and bought your normal supplies since we expected you to be back today." Cabe told him.
Walter smiled as he reached out with his left hand and squeezed his hand. He had to remember to use his left arm and hand more to help with therapy.
"Thanks Cabe, that means a lot." Walter told him.
"Yeah, Ralph was a little upset I didn't let him stay home today." Paige nodded.
"Well we got this weekend not to mention our whole lives ahead of us now. As long as he wants me in his, I'll be here." Walter told her as they hugged tenderly.
"Welcome home!" The three other geniuses and Dr Rizzuto said as they stepped out of the kitchen.
Walter yanked his hand back from where he had placed it on Paige's butt.
Paige just giggled.
"Thank you." Walter said dryly as he turned and walked on over to his desk and sat down.
Paige looked at the job board that she had the guys bring over from the previous Centipede Partners offices and looked at the jobs listed on it and their times. She remembered all the frantic calls she had when the news broke over the Nabisco disaster with CP. She helped field some of the calls trying to put out the fires as people wanted to back out of their job contracts. Even with Mr Blimmons providing a letter stating that the accident was in no way related to what CP had done it hadn't helped to calm the customers.
Walter finally drafted a letter advising those people that Scorpion was taking leadership over CP's current contracts and would ensure they were carried out professionally. That had finally given Paige a break and now CP was no more and there was just Scorpion. Walter also brought in Dr Rizzuto for sessions between Paige and him and then between all of them. Things were going better between them. Walter still didn't have all of his memories. Or at least he wasn't sure. Every once in a while someone would bring up something that he couldn't recall being part of at first.
"So, how's he really doing?" Happy said quietly standing next to Paige at the job board.
"What do you mean?" Paige frowned as she looked at her.
"Walter, is he fully back to himself?" Happy asked.
Paige sighed.
"If you mean his memory loss, he's mostly himself. He still has some hiccups. But the doctors say it is all normal and to give it more time. Sometimes new information takes a bit longer to get switched to long term memory. He had to read your last report twice. He'd asked me last night why you hadn't gotten it to him and so I pulled it out and he started reading it. About a fourth of the way through apologized as he realized he had read it. He still went ahead and finished it again to be sure." Paige explained.
"Man, that has to be frustrating." Happy sighed.
"How about Collins?" Toby asked quietly as he stepped up to Paige's other side.
"He's getting a little better over it. He's still sensitive to it. I think in some ways he's minimizing just how rotten Collins was since he died while Walter tried to save him." Paige told him.
"That's messed up, I would have thought he'd exaggerate it, make it worse to alleviate any guilty feelings for not being able to save a horrible person." Toby said before looking over his shoulder at Walter who was talking quietly with Dr Rizzuto.
"Well he shouldn't feel bad over it. Collins did it to himself. He played a game against the wrong person." Happy said.
"Happy! You make it sound like it is what Walter wanted to happen to him." Paige complained.
"Not at all. I just mean if Collins had been smart he would have just taken off once he knew Walter was on to him. But just like an over confident bully, he pushed the envelope. Did you hear they found six other bombs down there? Walter either saw them or luckily passed by them." Happy told them.
"I heard that and I asked Walter. He said he didn't remember it. Said he wasn't really sure what happened down there. Just a vague feeling he was trying to get Collins out. Oh, but we do know some of what happened down there." Paige looked at them.
"What? How? When did you find out?" Toby asked.
"Last night. Ralph was working on that job for Walter and the laptop dinged." Paige stopped and looked at Walter and he looked really engrossed with Dr Rizzuto so she jerked her head towards the kitchen and they both followed her in there and found Cabe pouring a cup of coffee.
"Okay, we haven't decided when to share this with Walter yet since he doesn't really remember. But while we were outside the library Ralph saw something blink on Sylvester's laptop. It said a trojan had been deployed and wanted to know if it should activate so he clicked yes. Between the hospital and the library Walter wrote a trojan that he infected Collins' computer with. It had captured video from all of the cameras. The one that was detecting movement at the time it blanked its feed out, and ran a loop when ready. It made the camera move in a way that Walter knew it was active so he performed a specific action and it was recorded and then looped. All while Collins was busy talking to us outside. We found out later that the monitor that displayed the outside was separate from the one displaying the internals." Paige told them.
"The trojan had redirected all the video streams to the Garage server. After three weeks without accessing it, the system sent an alert to remind Walter that the video was there. So while Collins thought he saw Walter open that door and die. He was already moving for where Collins was hidden. When Collins advised Walter not to open the door the trojan detected the words and triggered a small surge to that camera which triggered the explosive. According to Ralph, Collins immediately did a kill command on his computer and that is what ended the recording." Paige told them.
"Make sure you get a copy of the video to go in the Homeland report over this." Cabe told her.
Paige nodded.
"So did it show anything about the other explosives?" Toby asked.
Paige nodded.
"Walter had stopped at four of them and found them before proceeding on until the camera made him aware the trojan was active." Paige told him.
"So what is next now?" Happy asked.
"Well for the next month business as usual. My lease on the condo is up then so we're taking that week off so we can move into the Loft with Walter." Paige told them.
"Good deal, when did you decide this?" Cabe asked before taking a sip of his coffee.
"Last night." Paige laughed. "The week after that we have a mediation appointment with Drew over Ralph and what little he's paid in child support. We're going to take that week off too and do some things as a family. Walter just wants to pay it back and be done with it, but part of me wants to pay it back like he paid it to start with."
"Naw, just pay it back if you got it, get the bum out of all of our lives." Cabe smiled.
"Yeah, we probably will." Paige nodded.
"What's Rizzuto think about how Walter is doing?" Happy asked.
"Well I expressed my concerns privately with him. I'm really happy Walter is more attentive and expressive but at the same time it worries me. Is he really Walter? Is he acting a part? Dr. Rizzuto assured me that he is Walter. In his opinion Walter's memories of his youth are more prevalent now and he is operating a bit more as he observed things back then. More teenager type things, but it is such a nice change. As long as he really loves me." Paige told her.
"Well this kind of thing isn't the Quack's specialty but I would have to say I agree. It is possible in the weeks or months to come he could become more like he used to be, but I have a pretty strong hunch that Walter is going to see how this change pleases you and he'll find a way to incorporate it into himself. He loves you so much. He might not fully realize it or understand why, but he accepts that feeling unconditionally which is a huge improvement for him." Toby told her.
"So what about marriage?" Happy asked with a grin.
"I don't know Happy. I get the feeling he really wants too, and I'm not giving up or leaving him, I just want to be sure he is himself before we marry. Regardless of how Dr Rizzuto or Toby feels, I don't want him to wake up a week after and have everything back and decide he doesn't want to be married." Paige sighed.
Suddenly they heard the strumming of a guitar.
"I want us to be a family of three."
"I've spent enough time alone."
"I no longer want to feel free."
"No longer independent, never again will you feel alone."
"The truth is I'm not my best without thee"
They all looked and saw Walter slowly walking towards them playing his guitar.
"When I'm with you, it soothes my mind."
"And I feel fine, I feel refined."
"When you're with me, my mind can rest."
"With you my thoughts can nest, my thoughts feel blessed."
"You're the calm, I'm able to hold in my arms."
"You're the peace that I need, you so disarm."
"When you're with me, my mind can rest."
"With you my thoughts can nest, my thoughts feel blessed."
Walter stepped past Toby.
"I want us to be a family of three."
"I've spent enough time alone."
"I no longer want to feel free."
"No longer independent, never again will you feel alone."
"The truth is I'm not my best without thee"
Walter stepped past Happy.
"My first instinct, is to always pull you near."
"With you I never know any fear, I just need you my dear."
"You have disarmed my need, to run from you."
"With you my thoughts can nest, my thoughts feel blessed."
Walter stepped past Cabe.
"Whether we have a week, or a lifetime."
"No one else can compare, for you are my Alpha and Omega."
"You changed me, and I need to run to you."
"With you my thoughts can nest, my thoughts feel blessed."
Walter stopped in front of Paige.
"I want us to be a family of three."
"I've spent enough time alone."
"I no longer want to feel free."
"No longer independent, never again will you feel alone."
"The truth is I'm not my best without thee"
Walter removed the guitar and got down on a knee as he held out a small diamond engagement ring.
Paige stared unbelieving at him at first and then cried as she nodded.
"Yes!" Paige said loudly and proudly as everyone else clapped.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! I tell you as much as I am wanting to get back to Callan, I might delay that slightly. I want to get the next 3 stories of "I Only State Facts" storyline out of the way first, I think. lol So, "Ralph" in Knight's Tale is next, if I've got Lady Knight finished that will be next, if not I'll post those 3 stories, only 6 chapters altogether, then Lady Knight and then Callan.
Railman - Looks like he was prepared too, but I guess enough memories and their expressions of remorse won out. hehe Thanks for being here for the journey!
Margaret - Oh I'm always sad at the end of a story regardless to the outcome. Sometimes I'm anxious and want it over to move on but I still am sad it is over. It is always so much fun writing and then sharing them. Just don't want to end it.
Susan - Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it! Seemed fitting that it end with a song...and a yes. LOL
To the Adventure! -Tim
