after walter fainted, cabe immediately checked his pulse, it was normal, he was breathing fine so he transfered him onto the couch as calling 911 and telling them that he fainted after holding his breath didn't exactly sound logical, nor did he think they would bother to come, what's important was that walter was breathing normally now,
he was asleep.
he then dragged a chair to sit on it, he was devestated by what happened, his kids fought with each other, it wasn't the first time, but they always made up afterwards,
how could they betray him like this ?!
why would walter lie to paige ?!
he knew walter wasn't the kind to cheat on paige at all, he was madly in love with her, so that lecture must've been innocent.
and what was wrong with sylvester ?!, he knows walter couldn't seduce someone if his life or millions of others depended in it, he actually LAID HANDS on walter, his brother for god's sake!, walter wouldn't hurt a hair on his head in a million years.
and toby and happy, it didn't even have anything to do with them, he insulted them once, so what ?, does he even need to talk about how much they insult him and he doesn't do anything to them.
they all left him,
the one that cared for them more than anybody,
the one that looked after them.
they broke his heart.
and they went after the only thing he had left,
scorpion.
they destroyed walter.
to the point where he'd hold his breath for that long, he'd never seen a man more broken.
was he even going to trust anyone again ?
was he even going to trust him ?
even he hurt him once, badly and he trusted him.
but after this, he just didn't know anything anymore.
he waited for walter to wake up, he felt a mosquito sting on his neck, were there mosquitos in here ?, he hit the area, it was probably nothing,
after a short while,
he felt tired, he closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
walter was sleeping comfortably on the couch, he slowly opened his eyes, he saw someone dressed in white, he blinked a couple times.
"the sleeping beauty is finally awake" said a familiar voice
he knew this was coming.
he knew it was a matter of time before collins would go after him.
he already escaped prison, he even left the tie for cabe in garage before his trial
he already broke into their home once, he could do it again.
wait, did he have the place mic'ed ?
he was so busy from cabe's trial to toby and happy's fertility treatments, missions and his relationship with paige, that he didn't consider it.
did he come to kidnap him like he did with toby ?
ask him to work with him again ?
or did he just come to laugh at him ?
he didn't know so he just decided to ask him those questions.
he supported his body and sat upright on the couch, he put his elbows on his knees and let his arms down.
"hello mark" said walter
"hello walter, did you have a good nap ?" said collins
he was sitting on a chair in reverse, he was grabbing the back with his hands.
"not my best" replied walter
wait, WHERE'S CABE ?!?!?!
did collins do something to him ?!
he was worried sick, but he remained calm, panic would do him no good and he couldn't let him see he got to him.
"where's cabe" asked walter calmly
"oh, the fed ?, he's sleeping nicely on your bed, this government stuff is quite effective" said collins while looking at a syringe in his hands
he was relieved.
a syringe, that must be a sedative,
government stuff ?, why would he get it from the goverment ?
and he was wearing a white suit ?, his hair was longer as well, and his size was a bit bigger, he had a lot of questions but he decided to ask the first three.
"so did you come to kidnap me ?" asked walter
"or are you trying to get me to work with you again ?"
"or just to laugh at me and say i told you so"
"all of which cases i couldn't care less" he finished
"i told you so" said collins then giggled
he then stood up and started walking around a bit
"you had the place mic'ed i assume" said walter
"you know me too well" said collins sounding pleased
"cameras ?" said walter
"of course" replied collins
"was it when you left the tie ?" asked walter
"no, when i sent you to that island" replied collins
wait WHAT ?!?!
he could understand him knowing about it but sending them there ?!
they fell there on their own after they were offered the job.
"what do you mean ?" asked walter skeptically
"wow" replied collins looking surprised
"you didn't even notice" he continued
"notice what ?" asked walter
"you're not the walter i know, sentiment has blinded you my friend" replied collins while raising his eyebrows, tilting his head a bit sideways and nodding
"i could understand you knowing about it but we fell there on our own" said walter
"tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk tsk" said collins while nodding his head sideways and walking around
"this is just .. sad" he said while turning his head to walter with a grin on his face
he walked closer towards walter "did you even think about it logically for a bit" he said
he then sat on the chair in reverse
"didn't you find it suspicious that an easy job with a free honeymoon came in as soon as the doc and his wife said their i do's" he asked
"did you actually think that a government would make a mistake as stupid as putting ship equipment on a plane ?, did you even ask your self where it came from ?"
"and on top of that a sea road in the pacific with a single island with an iron core and old WW2 bunkers scattered all over it"
"had to do a lot of research and travelling to find that one"
"i even put mic's and cameras in all the bunkers"
"man i loved watching sylvester lose his mind, he even once thought of eating cabe"
"with how fat he's gotten now he might as well have" said collins while giggling
walter opened his eyes in surprise as the realization hit him
"yeeeeessss, that look of surprise, oh i love it" he said with a wide smile on his face
"if you weren't so blinded by your sentiment towards the waitress you would've explored your surroundings and thought of the solution within the first few days, i even left smaller parts of iron in different parts of the island and you didn't even find them, you couldn't even keep the idiots at reign"
"i waited a long time for you to find the solution, i even sent a plane to pick you up and if it wasn't for the kid"
"you would've died"
"i gotta say i was very disappointed in you"
"what made up for my disappointment was the kid" he said then dragged the chair closer to walter while he was sitting on it
"you never told me you were raising a prodigy" he said in a low voice
ralph was his pride, but he felt sad when remembering him, he sent him several emails over the past 2 weeks apologizing for hurting his mom and expressing his guilt and regret, and promising to do better, but he didn't reply at all,
walter thought he must've given up on him too.
not knowing that the reason he wasn't replying was because his mom forbid him from doing so.
"oh don't be sad, i mean the closest you got to raising someone was the fat germophobe and he still turned out to be a failure but him"
"i gotta say, i'm impressed"
he then slowly clapped a couple of times
"i mean of course you were trying to repair your youth through him but still you did a good job, really you did"
"but you got rusty walter, you're no longer my equal, you were too busy with the waitress, cabe's kangaroo court, toby and happy's bambino and having kissy dreams about your neighbours to notice anything"
"kangaroo court ?" said walter
collins took in a sharp breath with a wide grin on his face and his voice was shaking
"oh god you're so clueless"
he then exhaled loudy and put his face an the palm of his right hand with his eyes closed and the grin still on his face
"ohhhh god i just love this"
"i mean come on, the judge gets changed at the last minute, a closed trial even though no homeland evidence came up ?, a judge that thinks these cuffs aren't cruel punishment after experiencing them himself ?!, and yet thinks a floating iceberg is a raft ?! , even the prosecutor got ahold of the 50 grand transaction the minute it happened"
"cabe really should've picked a better lawyer, you would've done well, your memory certainly isn't as good as his but you're a bit more logical and less sentimental"
"i mean he went on about this rousing speech of cruel punishment, saving the world and doing the right thing when he could've just proved that me and cabe had no contact together, he was the one that put me in prison twice"
"the charge wasn't letting me go it was instigating an escape, he could've just proved that he didn't plan anything"
"i even gave him a ticket to victory and he didn't use it"
"what, you mean the 50k transaction" said walter
"what else could there be ?" replied collins
"i mean can we just pretend that if a genius with a 190 IQ and a federal agent conspired together they wouldn't make such a dumb mistake as a transfer from and to their private accounts that are watched by the government"
walter put his right thumb and middle finger on his nose bridge, closed his eyes and sighed in disappointment at himself as the realization hit him
"because if you conspired together you would make the payment in cash as your location was unknown, which means you did it to set him up ,you had no business double crossing him as you could've used him again when you needed him, and there's no chance cabe could decieve us so by assuming that you two conspired, the next logical assumption would be that we were in on it too, which would mean that you would be making us your enemies too, the only group of people that have a chance at catching you, therefore logical proof that cabe did not .. instigate an escape" finished walter and sighed at the end
collins was clapping
"excellent! , well done!" he said with enthusiasm
"now you're starting to shake off the rust,"
"you'd think that a genius lawyer with 180 IQ would think of that but noooooo, you wanna know why"
"because he cares more about friends and feelings and sentiment .. than about a logical course of action" said collins while tapping the side of his head with his index finger
"i mean you should've seen him at the recess, he was on the verge of tears." said collins while giggling at the end
"so i decided to let him win, cabe added a little bit of fun to the game, and i kinda like the guy, he's a bit gutsy, and he cares about sentiment too"
"and so do you"
"that's why i'm so disappointed in you walter, you're not the man i worked with before, you were the only one i considered an equal, *were* being the operative word"
"now you're just as feeble as them, making love with the waitress must've done a number on your Brain"
"you couldn't even see the obvious, i told you the answer a year ago and you didn't believe me, i told you the outcome"
walter's heart clutched at that sentence, for once he had to admit it
collins was right.
they were too different, it's just because of what is.
"awww don't look so sad" said collins while looking amused
"and i told you loooong ago that you didn't need those three and you didn't believe me, now look at what those parasites did to you"
walter felt a pang of defense of them
"don't call them that" he said
"oh come on, you still care about them ?" replied collins
"they do fit the description" he continued
"just think about it, you found them in the cold and mud, you took them in, you put a roof over their heads, you put food in their mouths, and i don't think you noticed but you were basically their dad, especially since theirs didn't want them"
"what do you mean by a dad ?" asked walter
"oh come on, who did sylvester call out for whenever there was anything wrong, even in his 20's, i'm surprised how long one could keep acting like a child, but you didn't think of him as a child did you? , even when he was a child that you took under your wings, even after you found him in that motel and let him live with you until he could afford an apartment next to toby"
"how do you know about that ?!?" asked walter quickly, he was sure he didn't tell anyone, and sylvester only told megan as she taked about it to him on the beach
"oh come on, it was kind of obvious, i did a bit of research on each of those 3 when i met them as well as you too, you're not the only one with that habit" replied collins
"as i was saying, you didn't think of him as a child even though you were practically raising him"
"you even gave him child support before scorpion" said collins while giggling
"i was paying him to do calculations for me, he was working for me" said walter
"you could've done it on your own" replied collins
"it was more efficient that way" said walter
"oh come on walter, you're not fooling anyone, you just wanted an excuse to keep him by your side, always making him feel appreciated, that must've been a grueling task, supporting him as he had nowhere to go, keeping him out of his head, he must've been a walking hazard" said collins
"tell me, who flushed millions down the toilet for that screwup with the hat ?, who fished his ass out every time ?, huh ?"
"and happy playing the role of the mean little girl too"
"who would they lunge at for a solution about anything ?, even in their own fields of expertiece ?"
"isn't it obvious ?"
"scorpion wasn't a company walter"
"it was a playhouse"
"you were playing the role .. of a single dad .. with three kids"
walter was silent now
"and you were missing someone to play the role of the mom, and the waitress was perfect for the job, that's why you hired her"
"i hired her to translate the world for us" said walter in an attempt to refute him
"oh come on anyone could do THAT" replied collins
"nah nah nah, didn't you feel your chest getting lighter when you saw her for the first time, when you saw how she treated her genius boy"
he did.
"didn't you lose interest in any other girl you've dated, even happy the one you were married to didn't pique your interest"
he did, and she didn't.
"why ?"
"simple, because none of them were fit to play the role of the mom in your playhouse"
"but deep down you knew SHE was"
"so you hired her"
"i fell in love with her" said walter weakly
he wasn't sure collins was wrong.
he wasn't sure of anything.
"well yeah, the dad IS supposed to love the mom" said collins
"but that's not all of it, scorpion worked well because they all needed it, that's why you made it, none of them had an actual family so you pretended to be one, but now"
he then got up, he walked up close to walter, then he crouched until his face was level with walter's
"now, that the waitress knows how to raise her son"
"now, that the kid from the motel room is the big law man"
"now, that the screw up and the little girl are starting their own family"
"now, that they can stand on their own without your help"
"none of them wanted to play any more"
"they didn't need you anymore"
"they got what they needed to live .. and then left when they were done"
"just like parasites"
"oh what a noble endeavor it was"
"now i'm gonna ask you a question and i sincerely hope that you give me the same answer as before"
"ready ?"
"here goes."
he took a deep breath and then looked at walter with a wide sincere smile and sincereity in his eyes
"Were They Worth It ?"