"Damn that hurts!" Paige's eyes had gone wide as Toby put in the chest tube. Despite his warning of how bad it was going to feel she had thought he was just over selling it. She quickly gasped out as she realized that maybe he could have been stronger in his caution of the pain.
Toby chuckled lightly.
"Sorry, yes it is one of the worst ones to have done while conscious." Toby told her as he continued to stabilize her before he'd let Sylvester raise her up off of the platform so they could get her out to the helicopter.
He looked up as he heard the distinct sound of a descending helicopter.
"Sounds like your chariot got here right on time." Toby said as he looked at his watch.
"Okay Sly, I've done all I can for Paige here in the field, hoist her up and over." Toby said as he looked over and gave him a thumb's up.
Sylvester very nervously began working the control but thankfully with as slow as the winch system was it wasn't able to jerk much. Even still as the backboard passed over the edge of the platform it hadn't completely cleared and as he began lowering it Toby and the paramedics shouted to stop but it still hit the platform causing it to have a ripple effect on the board and sent pain shooting through Paige's body.
"Oh gawd that hurt!" Paige cried out.
Walter's eyes blinked several times as he heard her cry of pain. His eyes opened wide as he began looking around for Paige.
"Paige?" He shoved Cabe away as he stood. "Paige, where are you?" He heard a whimper and he looked up and his eyes went wide seeing the backboard being lowered and he felt his anxiety spike as he pushed past Happy and the agents and on through to the scaffolding and began climbing quickly.
"Walter, get back down here." Cabe and Happy both yelled.
Walter ignored them as he swung around the scaffolding to avoid the backboard from striking him and then his head came up enough so he could see Paige.
"Paige, love, are you okay?" Walter asked desperately as he tried to move back around to get closer to her even as the slowly moving winch lowered her.
Paige smiled through the pain and nodded.
"I am now, knowing that you are okay." Paige told him as her fingers closed around his hand as he reached out to her.
"What happened? I don't understand." Walter asked tenderly as he slowly moved down as the winch continued to lower her.
"Happy tried to get off of that hook and the rope binding her hands caught the point and flipped her upside down. She was falling towards that goop. I leaped at her and grabbed hold of the rope and I hurt myself landing on that platform." Paige smiled at him as she reached over and ran her hand down the side of his face.
"How are you? Are you okay? Toby said you were almost catatonic." Paige asked with concern across her face.
Walter nodded.
"I suppose, listening to Toby as he said the things he did to Amy really hit me hard. I couldn't stay in the moment. I could taste nasty metal in my mouth and my heart rate ramped up so high. Are you sure you are okay?" Walter asked as he saw the chest tube and IV bag and he could still see blood coming up in her mouth.
Paige nodded.
"I'll be fine in a few days." Paige smiled as Walter reached over and wiped the blood from her lips.
"It will be more like a few weeks there Xena." Toby called down to her as he started down.
"I don't get the reference." Walter said as several agents grabbed hold of the backboard and set it down on the gurney before releasing it from the hook.
"I swear Walt. You really need to watch more TV or something. Xena was a fictional bad ass female character on TV who went about the world of old saving people from monsters and bad guys. Paige was able to keep Happy from falling into that goop for quite some time. She was risking her own life as Happy tried to tell Paige that her weight and the swinging momentum would pull her off the platform if she didn't let go." Toby said as he continued climbing down.
"Paige?" Walter asked as he moved around her making sure they hadn't missed any other injuries.
Paige rolled her eyes.
"Toby, why do you have to complicate matters?" Paige said even as she grimaced as they began moving the gurney.
"Hey, I just think we need to start being honest with each other about everything. No more repackaging or withholding anything." Toby told her as he hugged Happy and then ran to catch up with her.
"You okay now big brain?" Toby stopped and began examining Walter while they were getting Paige into the helicopter.
"I think so. What happened to me?" Walter asked seriously.
Toby saw Sylvester not too far away.
"I think it might be better to discuss this later when it is just us." He whispered quietly.
Walter frowned at the hypocrisy of his words but nodded before he climbed into the helicopter.
"Oh, someone drive my car back to the Garage for us please." Walter said as he tossed his keys to Toby who tossed them to Happy before he climbed into the helicopter after Walter.
As Happy pulled up in front of the Garage her phone rang and she frowned before pulling it out. Her frowned deepened as she saw it was Dr. Rizzuto's office calling.
"Hello." Happy answered after clicking the answer icon.
"Good morning, Ms. Quinn?" The voice of Dr. Rizzuto's receptionist came over the speaker.
"Speaking." Happy replied curtly.
"I'm so relieved to have reached you Ms. Quinn, Dr. Rizzuto was very concerned that you missed your appointment this morning without calling and wanted me to reach out right away to be sure you were okay." She explained.
Happy had jumped out of Paige's car and locked and shut the door.
"Yes, I'm fine now. We missed the appointment because I had been kidnapped by my husband's ex-fiancé and almost killed. But I don't have time to talk now. We're on our way to the hospital to check on Paige. She was injured saving me and had to be medivac to the hospital." Happy told her.
"Oh goodness, of course I fully understand. I'll let Dr. Rizzuto know and see what he wants to do about the missed appointment." She told Happy.
"Good, thanks for checking." Happy hung up quickly.
Happy stood there for about ten minutes before Cabe pulled up. She quickly climbed in the back and smiled at Ralph.
"Hey squirt." Happy told him as she buckled her belt.
"Hey." Ralph greeted her solemnly.
Sylvester half turned in the front seat so he could see both Cabe and Happy.
"Okay, so what is going on? What happened to Walter that he is having flashbacks?" He looked from Cabe to Happy.
"Dad had a flashback? Was it because Mom got hurt?" Ralph looked over from Happy to Cabe quickly.
Cabe looked at Ralph in the rearview mirror and shook his head.
"Sly, it is really complicated. And if we tell you, you are really going to wish you didn't know. Can you just trust me that I wouldn't let something important that you need to know slip past you?" Cabe asked as he drove.
Sylvester grimaced even as he turned to look back out the front window. His innate curiosity was killing him but Cabe knew him well and if he felt that the knowledge was going to bother him that much maybe he'd just rather stay in the dark.
Toby watched Walter pacing around the surgery waiting room since they got there. He'd gone back already to get information to calm Walter down. As Walter came around again he got up and started walking with him.
"You want to talk about it?" Toby finally asked as they made their second loop around the room.
"I can't lose her Toby." Walter said as calmly as possible.
Toby smiled.
"I know that Walter. But I do good work. You aren't losing her over this." Toby calmly explained.
Walter looked almost panicked at him.
"I didn't mean to imply you didn't Toby. I'm talking about them." Walter said as he turned and grabbed Toby's arm.
"Relax pal. I didn't think you were. I was just being reassuring. I wouldn't have let her be transported without knowing her odds for anything bad going on were very remote." Toby told him as he looked at Walter's hands.
Walter let out his breath as he let go of Toby's arm.
"You want to tell me what brought on your episode at the warehouse?" Toby asked gently. 'It wouldn't be hard for me to guess.' Toby thought to himself.
Walter swallowed hard.
"It was what you said to Amy about what I had done, about what you wanted to do to me." Walter finally admitted.
Toby nodded.
"You do realize I wasn't serious right? I honestly do not blame you over what happened." Toby stopped Walter this time.
Walter slowly nodded.
"I think so Toby. I'm just still so ashamed over it all though. It doesn't take much to push me over that edge these days." Walter told him as he saw the elevator open and Ralph flew out of the elevator first. Cabe moved out with Happy and Sylvester after.
"Ralph, Cabe and Happy are here with Sylvester." Walter told him as he stood waiting for his son.
Toby sighed as he watched him grab Ralph up in a big hug and then he felt like he'd been tackled as Happy grabbed him up in a rough hug of her own.
"Hello there my nearly pickled Asian flower." Toby teased her as they hugged.
"Are you okay Dad? Grandpa said you had a flashback earlier. How is Mom doing? Did you get to talk to her?" Ralph asked him quietly.
"I will be buddy. Your Mom will be too, Toby did a good job stabilizing her after she saved Happy. We talked as much as she was able with her injury on the way over here and then before they prepped her for surgery." Walter told him gently.
Ralph nodded.
"I think we need to talk." Happy said quietly and mostly into Toby's chest as he turned around to hug her back.
"There is an observation deck we can go check out. The surgery is most likely going to last a couple of hours anyway." Toby told her.
Happy nodded.
"Just let me tell Walter first." Toby walked over to where Cabe was talking to Walter.
"Hey big brain, Happy and I are going to go have a talk on the observation deck. Are you going to be okay while I'm gone?" Toby asked.
Walter nodded as Cabe looked at Toby.
"Be nice to her." Cabe told him pointedly.
"Hey, no worries, I still remember your invitation to go out to the desert." Toby grinned. He turned to walk over and put his arm around Happy. They walked out of the waiting room and caught the next elevator to the roof.
As they stepped out they saw the section of the roof designated for the medivac helicopter but from their point they couldn't reach it. Instead they followed the walkway out to the platform that looked off in the general direction of the cliffs Walter had crashed over twice now.
"So what did you want to talk about?" Toby asked as he hugged Happy from behind as they looked out. It had already been about ten minutes and she hadn't said anything.
"How is it that you didn't know the woman you slept with was your ex?" Happy finally voiced.
Toby nodded against her shoulder before he nuzzled her hair and kissed the nape of her neck.
"That is an excellent question, one I've been asking myself since relinquishing my authority over Paige to the hospital staff." Toby told her as he hugged her a bit tighter.
"And did you come up with any ideas?" Happy asked a bit testily.
"Well the only thing that makes sense is after being up all night playing poker and reading all of my opponents all night. I was just too tired and still too ticked off to realize it or even care. I just wanted something to feel different over since gambling hadn't really made things better." Toby told her.
"Are you okay about that?" Toby finally asked.
Happy slowly nodded.
"It isn't like I have a lot of room to complain though, right?" She asked with a bit of sorrow in her voice.
Toby shrugged.
"Doesn't mean you can't express yourself, after all I was pretty stupid too." Toby kissed the side of her neck.
"Is what happened to Walter today my fault?" Happy asked in a small voice.
"Technically what happened was my fault. Using the language I did without realizing he had come out of that room and heard me. I was just trying to distract her. But yes, because of what you and Paige did initially with Walter set it in motion." Toby told her as she turned around to look at him.
"Dr. Rizzuto's receptionist called me to see why we didn't call or show up today." Happy pressed her cheek in tight against his chest.
"That's understandable, after what I did after I got home last weekend. He is being very careful. I'm really fortunate we went to him for help. I'm sure anyone else who didn't know us as well would have called the police for what I did to you." Toby kissed the top of her head.
"I'm really sorry Fungus. I'm so grateful you are giving me another chance. But if another one of your ex-girlfriends show up I'm kicking your ass." Happy bit his chest.
Toby laughed.
"Deal, how did Sylvester take the news?" Toby continued to laugh.
"Cabe told him it was really complicated and it was something he would be very uncomfortable with knowing. So he chose not to inquire further." Happy said.
"Cabe's really good at ending things." Toby said gently.
"You both okay?" Cabe asked as he walked up behind them.
They both laughed.
"Leave it to you to walk up on us." Toby looked over his shoulder.
Cabe nodded.
"Well after I made sure Walter was okay I thought I better come check on you two. Is everything okay?" Cabe asked again.
"Yeah, Happy just had a few questions." Toby turned as Happy let go of their hug.
"How is Walter doing?" Cabe hugged Happy as she stepped up to him.
"Not too bad really, but I am concerned about Scorpion projects. Paige is liable to be here for at least a week. That is a long time for us to be rudderless. What happened today will have an effect on Walter until she's back at the Garage. We'll have to get Sylvester on any coding jobs. Maybe even bring Ralph in to help." Toby told him honestly.
Greetings! Hope everyone is doing well! Finished chapter 20 of Caber yesterday and it came together so well! Can't wait for you guys to read it. hehe
Railman - I think he'd be very proud of her words. She's part of the Cyclone after all and as such it is hers just as much as the rest of them. Well as for the baby *censored*
Margaret - I had a feeling it was you but not wishing to offend anyone it was just as easy to address it as guest. hehe
Lucy - Thank you! Yep, I would not want to have been Paige in these 2 chapters. Yes, Walter is a right mess and this is not going to help things at all.
To the Adventure! -Tim
