Paige was slowly regaining consciousness following her surgery.

"Mom, can you hear me?" Ralph said softly.

Paige's eyes flickered opened even as her head turned towards his voice.

"Ralph?" Paige asked confused.

Ralph let out a slow breath of relief.

"I've really been so worried about you Mom." Ralph told her as he squeezed her hand.

Paige smiled.

"I'm sorry baby, I had to do what I could, I couldn't let Happy die." Paige said as she tried to focus her eyes.

Ralph nodded.

"I know Mom, but that isn't what I mean. I've just been so concerned, not only is this the first time you've had a medical problem but your surgery took an extra two hours." Ralph told her.

Paige frowned.

"Where is your Dad?" Paige asked as she tried to look around.

"He's out in the waiting room still. I hacked the hospital's computer system and calculated the blind spots so I could sneak back here to see you." Ralph told her as he grabbed the small wet cloth lying on the table beside her bed and wiped her forehead for her.

"You did?" Paige asked puzzled.

Ralph nodded.

"Technically I'm not supposed to be back here yet, there was still about forty five minutes left when I snuck back here. But I had to Mom, I needed to see you. I've never been in a position like this with you and it was driving me crazy." Ralph told her honestly.

Paige smiled as she reached out and ran her hand down the side of his face.

"I know sweetheart. Its okay, I'm not mad at you. It is so good seeing you, my handsome young man." Paige continued smiling.

Ralph kind of nodded.

"It was all I could do to leave Dad out there. If Grandpa wasn't with him I wouldn't have been able too. He's really lost and messed up at the moment." Ralph told her.

"I know sweetheart, but he'll be okay baby, when he sees me again, and when he knows I'm alright, he'll be his old self." Paige told him with a smile.

Ralph forced a smile even as harsh thoughts screamed inside of his mind. 'No Mom, he isn't going to be okay when he sees you. He'll put on a face and he may act it, but he'll be light years from okay. You've got to know that Dad's in serious trouble because of what you and Happy did to him.' Ralph was barely able to hold back screaming his thoughts at her, while trying to bite back his anger from his face.

Paige shook her head trying to clear the fog from her brain.

"Are you upset about something Ralph? Your face seems a bit, I don't know, dark maybe."

Ralph was barely able to force his anger further down and he adopted a grin.

"No, I've just been so worried about you, that's all." Ralph held her hand.


"I understand Mr. O'Brien. But you don't have to worry. Ms. Dineen has you listed as her medical proxy. You don't have to be married to her yet to see her and make decisions if she isn't able too. She's right down here in recovery." Ralph and Paige heard a woman telling Walter out in the hallway.

"You think Dad's going to be mad at me Mom?" Ralph asked a bit apprehensively.

Paige smiled and shook her head.

"It might be best if you step behind that door until the nurse leaves though, just in case the hospital has rules about age." Paige tugged on his hand before he stepped over and waited.

Walter pushed through the curtain at the door a few moments later and saw Paige lying there smiling towards him. She saw relief on his face as he hurried to her side.

"You're awake already?" Walter asked as he took her hand.

Paige nodded and smiled as Walter leaned in and kissed her.

"They told me you probably wouldn't be awake for another twenty to thirty minutes. I'm sorry. I'm not sure where Ralph got off too. But the guys know to tell him to speak with the desk and they'll bring him back as soon as he gets back." Walter told her as they broke their kiss.

"It's okay Walter. Ralph's already here." Paige told him as she continued to smile at him.

"I'm right here Dad." Ralph spoke as he came out from behind the door.

Walter looked over at Ralph puzzled at first and then slowly nodded.

"You calculated the blind spots and snuck back here didn't you?" Walter asked without being accusatory or really needing confirmation to his probabilities.

Ralph nodded as he moved on around and up to stand next to his Dad.

"Sorry Dad, I was really worried about Mom. I'm kind of use to you being in the hospital now, after all the times you've been injured. But this was the first time for Mom." Ralph told him even as Walter put his other arm around his shoulders.

"That's okay Ralph. I wish you had told me so I hadn't of worried though. I completely understand about needing to see your Mom." Walter squeezed his shoulders.

"This is my life, my family." Paige said happily as she looked at Ralph standing beside his Dad. Walter's arm around Ralph's shoulders while she squeezed Walter's hand and pressed her other hand into her abdomen.

Walter smiled at Paige.

"Well the Dr. said everything went well in your surgery, it was a little more complicated so that is why it took a bit longer than he originally told us. He said he's keeping you until next Monday to ensure everything is fine. After that you can come home and be pampered." Walter told her with love in his eyes.

Paige smiled as she pulled his hand over and kissed it.

"Wait, your appointment is this Thursday. I have to be there for that." Paige told him as she frowned.

Walter shook his head.

"No, your health is too important. And Ralph and I as well as this little one need you to be okay." Walter told her.

Paige smiled as she squeezed Walter's hand.

"How I love hearing you say that Walter. I'm just so sorry for what I did to you. I'm not sure I can ever forgive myself." Paige told him as tears slipped over the edge of her eyelids.

Walter's eyes opened wide before he glanced at Ralph.

"Uh, Paige, we're not alone." Walter cautioned her.

"It's okay Dad, I figured out how it affected you already." Ralph told him trying to be supportive.

Walter's eyes closed as he felt another wave of shame wash over him.

Paige squeezed his hand tighter and pulled against it as she saw his cheeks redden before he hung his head.

"My heart, take strength from me and listen well. You have nothing to be ashamed about. I'm the one that screwed up and any shame in this is on me. How I wish I could go back and redo all I did." Paige told him honestly.

Ralph smiled.

"I'm so glad to hear your say that Mom. I've been so upset with you and Happy since I figured out how what you did to Dad is affecting him. I want you to stay away from Happy in that way too. Dad needs his space from her. And her coming around for anything besides work would be detrimental in his recovery." Ralph told her as he explained his thoughts from all his reading of Toby's textbooks.

Paige gave Ralph a half heart smiled.

"I had already told your Dad that was over for now. I want him to heal and be heathy again. Maybe after that we can discuss it." Paige explained.

Walter had felt more shame as he listened to Ralph discussing his thoughts and theories about what happened. He tried to summon up more strength before he opened his eyes and looked at Paige.

"Back to what we were talking about, you won't be moving much from that bed for at least the next five days."

"Bet me." Paige demanded as she got mad from being told what she could do. She tried to push herself up and she grimaced quickly as she relaxed the arm she had tried to push up with. "That was really stupid."

Walter nodded with a grin.

"I'll call and reschedule the appointment for after you get out of here." Walter told her.

Paige frowned as she shook her head.

"No, you talk to Toby, he can go with you. If I can't be there I want someone I trust medically to be with you to ensure this person is qualified to help you." Paige told him.

She tried to lick her lips and frowned.

"Is there something to drink? My mouth is really dry." Paige complained.

Ralph moved around and brought the small cup with melted ice chips in it over to her and Paige gratefully accepted the cool water.

A young man pushed through the curtain as he entered the room. He smiled at the young family.

"Ms. Dineen, I'm Brent, they have a room ready for you so they sent me to take you up there." Brent told them.

Paige smiled.

"My family can come right?" Paige asked as Walter tried to collect himself from the emotions he had felt.

"Of course they can. You'll be in B456. When we get there the nurses might ask them to step down to the waiting room while they get you all situated and do some vitals and stuff like that. It will probably take them about thirty to sixty minutes so it might be a good time for your family to grab a late lunch. If they are anything like me, when my husband had to have emergency surgery I couldn't eat for hours." Brent told her as he began unhooking wires and turning machines off before moving her IV bags over to the pole built into the bed for transport.

Ralph patted his Mom's hand that was still holding Walter's hand.

"I'm going to go update Grandpa and then we'll meet you at the waiting room Dad. Then you and I can go to the cafeteria and have lunch. And I'm not taking no for an answer either." Ralph told him while sounding quite sure of himself.

Paige smiled as Walter just nodded his head in acceptance.


Thirty minutes earlier, a couple of hours after Toby and Cabe had joined up with Walter, Happy, Ralph and Sylvester in the surgery waiting room. Happy finally pulled Toby out of the room to the small area where she'd talked with Ralph. She hugged him tightly for a moment.

"Ralph is really upset with me. He's figured out how all of this has affected Walter. He was struggling to keep from exploding on me. Fungus how do I fix this?" Happy pleaded into his chest.

"I wish I knew something you could do to just help the situation, let along fix it. But unfortunately there isn't anything you can do. Unless you can figure out a way to send a message to your past self and warn her about what you did." Toby told her as he hugged her just as tightly.

"But I'll have a talk with Ralph. I know he is upset but he shouldn't be trying to deal with you over this. He needs to just sit back and let us deal with it." Toby told her.

Happy shook her head.

"Don't, this has messed up his family, he's got a right to be upset and voice it. Just like you did. I actually kind of like him standing up for his Dad. At least his Dad is here where he can stand up for him." Happy said weakly as she thought of her own Dad in prison. She was still so mad at the prosecutor over his case. Most harden criminals who turned over evidence got sweetheart deals. But her Dad who hadn't really done anything that bad had been forced to give evidence against some very bad criminals and then go to prison and then he will have to go into witness protection. She'd barely got him back into her life and then he was ripped from her and was going to be sent away to possibly never hear from him again.

Toby frowned as he heard a soft sob from her.

"Happy? Are you okay?" Toby asked with concern.

Happy nodded.

"I was just thinking about the rotten deal my Dad got while cooperating with the prosecutor and how I may never see him again once they put him in witness protection." Happy explained.

"Uh, excuse me guys. I didn't mean to interrupt. But have either of you seen Ralph? They said the two of us can go back and see Paige now." Walter asked standing at the open doorway looking at them.

Toby looked over at him and shook his head.

"Sorry buddy, I didn't see him leave." Toby told him.

Happy just shook her head as she wiped at the tears on her face.

"Would you like us to go look around for him?" Toby asked.

Walter shook his head.

"Just let him know to check in with the receptionist and she'll bring him back. He probably just went to get something to drink." Walter looked at his watch.

"I should have taken him him to get something to eat. He needs to eat." Walter said distantly.

Toby nodded.

"That's good advice Walt. You should get something to eat soon yourself. Maybe after they get Paige transferred to a room." Toby told him.

Walter nodded absently as he turned to go with the young woman behind him who was going to take him to see Paige.


Walter was already in the little waiting room when Ralph and the guys arrived on the floor where Paige would be staying. Ralph ran over to him.

"Come on Dad, let's get something to eat. You heard Brent, it'll be at least thirty minutes before we can go see Mom." Ralph told him.

Walter shook his head.

"I'm not really hungry Ralph." Walter told him.

"I told you that I'm not taking no for an answer Dad. Now get up and come with me." Ralph told him even as he pulled on his hands and Walter obediently stood up.

Cabe watched as Walter gave in to what Ralph wanted with little resistance and his thoughts returned to the conversation he had with Toby and he realized Toby was right. Walter was not in a good head space right now. They couldn't let him make any important decisions or be left alone where someone could manipulate him.

"I'm coming with you two. I'm pretty hungry myself." Cabe finally said. He trusted Ralph, but he worried about someone else trying to mess with Walter. He was very happy Collins was locked up in ADX Florence right then. Walter would succumb to his mental manipulations so easily right now.

"Hey, I could go for lunch." Sylvester said as he turned to join them.

Walter just nodded.

"I can get lunch for us." Walter told them as he continued to be led by Ralph.

"No you won't Walt. I'll take care of lunch." Cabe told him.

Walter looked shocked but just nodded to his demand.

Cabe looked back at Toby with a frown and saw Toby nod before he stepped up and whispered to him.

"This is what I was telling you about. Walter is very susceptible right now. We've got to be on guard for him." Toby followed along with them while holding Happy's hand.


Greetings! Hope this finds you all well! Forgot to tell you Thursday there would be no update yesterday because of appointments. Monday I have more so I don't know if there will be one then either.

2LawDog - You are so right about all of that...Just one big mess to unravel...what did I get myself into? lol

Railman - Indeed, I'm a "late" Boomer. Barely in that "generation" of people. Most of my thoughts and feelings do not mix well with the vocal part of that generation. And it is shocking that still today the stigma of rape is so pervasive. And the way more law enforcement deals with the victims doesn't surprise me more people don't come forward. Hopefully one day our species will get this stuff figured out and quit hurting each other. Yep, you are right, neither Happy or Paige should be there at those sessions with Walter. Maybe in time Paige could, maybe.

Guest - Thank you! I don't think they are going to let themselves off too easily. lol

Lucy - That boy is too shocking. And I don't know why it is, but here is like 12-14 years old and I constantly see him as I write as that 9 year old boy at the lunch counter. Every time in any of these fix its I'm writing they hug him and I see them picking him up in the air like a young boy and then I'm like, stop it, he's a teen dang it. lol He certainly could replace I think, well, he might need some more actual experience first. Not sure I would want him repairing my aorta...but if he is the only one there, okay. lol

Susan - You certainly were behind! hehe So glad you are enjoying it though. I agree, Paige went above and beyond for Happy (and Toby). So far both babies are doing well in their respective Mom! And Paige said to tell you to cut Walter some slack! lol I think Momma Bear Dineen came out there for a moment. hehe

Margaret - Thank you! I know the reason for this story isn't one you approve but I am glad you are enjoying the rest of the story. Ralph said he's okay with it, it is actually helping him to figure out what he wants to do with his (extraordinary) life. I said extraordinary, he was too modest to think that.

To the Adventure! -Tim