"Walter, this number is rising again." Paige told him as she watched the monitor for him.
"Damn it, I thought we'd have enough time to fix this, but we're out of time." Walter looked over and swore again as he slapped the emergency evacuation button and they heard a claxon alarm began sounding over the intercom.
"Happy, we don't have a choice. You've got to open that relief valve. They hydrostatic pressure is reaching critical levels." Walter called through the coms.
"Walter, if I open that valve at these pressure levels, there is no doubt that the pressure that will go through it, is going to rip that valve completely out of the pipes. People will get hurt." Happy warned him.
"Happy, do you think I don't know that? But right now if it goes much higher the system is going to explode, people will lose their lives as well as there will be millions of dollars worth of damages to the facility. There isn't any other choice we can make. Do it." Walter barked.
As she grabbed the emergency remote wheel for the relief valve and began turning it, Happy swore.
Almost instantly they could hear a low rumbling from down below them and then the screaming sound of sheering metal.
True to Happy's predicted, the valve and its associated system couldn't deal with the pressure as it was forced through it.
Paige kind of ducked while grabbing Ralph and pulling him close to her.
"Walter, are we safe in here?" Paige asked, her worried tone matching the faint lines of stress on her forehead.
"We're safe here in the control room. So is Happy and Toby." Walter said even as he nodded. He looked from Paige to Sylvester. Sylvester stood rooted to the spot, as he looked nervously about the room.
Walter looked back at the monitors even as his brilliant mind kept track of several dozen variables. Walter refocused on the current event as he simply said. "Now." They watched as the door, to the room the valve was in, blew out from the pressure. More than fifty thousand gallons of water rushed out into the next room in a tsunami-like force.
"Sly, I'm calculating a 3.3 second safety window for the workers." Walter told him continuing to watch the monitor.
"I've got it at 3.6 seconds Walter." Sylvester told him.
"I hope your number is correct then. I'll take every tick possible, anything to give all of them the time they will need to get to safety. I should have listened to Happy and issued an evacuation to begin with." Walter told him as he looked over to the other monitor to see the workers scrambling to get to safety. Most everyone was making a mad dash for themselves but some few selfless workers were trying to help anyone who was struggling get to safety.
"Don't do that Walter. Don't start second guessing yourself. You made a logical call, they've got the time." Sylvester told him.
The door of the control room flew up even as Cabe ran inside along with the facility's manager.
"Walter, what happened?" Cabe asked.
Walter didn't take his eyes off the monitors.
"We didn't have a choice. The pressure was rising to critical levels too fast and we had to open the relief valve. Unfortunately Happy was correct about the valve's system. It was substandard. It gave way under the tremendous pressure and blew out. We've got a small window for the workers to get to safety." Walter told him.
"Now." Walter said just before the door of the room filling up exploded outwards and they watched as the water began flooding the final room before it would break out and swamp the work areas.
"You were supposed to prevent this! I'll see to it that you are held fully responsible for this." The manager yelled and turned to run out of the room. There was a solid thud as his face ran into Happy's fist as she was racing through the door with Toby right behind her.
Cabe grabbed him and shoved him into the wall before he started putting his cuffs on him.
"Like hell you will. You created this problem by using substandard components and incompetent help designing the system. And I'm hereby placing you under arrest including the charge of assaulting a Federal contractor." Cabe told him even as he looked at Happy. "You okay kid?"
Happy smiled and nodded.
"Look Dad, the last workers are making it up the escape ladders." Ralph said pointing at the monitor.
Seconds later, the final door gave way and the water began rushing down into the area.
Walter looked at Happy.
"You were right. We should have evacuated those workers to start with. I'm sorry I didn't listen to you." Walter told her.
Happy smiled.
"Hey, one of these days you'll remember in some things I'm smarter than you are." Happy reached over and tapped his arm with her fist.
"Well the important thing is the workers got to safety. The facility can be repaired, right Walter?" Paige asked as she looked over at him.
Walter smiled at her and nodded.
"I'd estimate three months to clean everything up. Another two months to repair the damage and replace all the substandard parts. If we can get the contract it will probably take Sylvester and I at least six months to rewrite all the code for this place from scratch. I wouldn't trust what is already done. Too many places there could be mistakes and backdoors for people to exploit. Unless Happy thinks there are any improvements that can be made to the system. Then it might take even longer." Walter told her.
"Well I'd like to go over all the original drawings and evaluate them. That is unless they want to go with the lowest bidder again and get more of the same." Happy told them.
"Katherine won't be happy that this happened but she is going to be very happy she pulled you guys in on this one. I'm sure she'll use whatever authority she has to persuade the oversight committee for this project to go with whatever you guys feel is right." Cabe told them.
Walter nodded. After Cabe took the manager out Walter turned to look at Toby.
"Was this my fault? Did my condition cause me to second guess Happy? Did I try to force myself as the only one who could make the right decision, to prove myself?" Walter asked him.
"Walter, no my heart, you didn't. You did what you have always done. You weighed the evidence and came up with a plan." Paige told him even as she adjusted her position in the wheel chair.
Walter smiled.
"Thank you my love, but I need to hear Toby's assessment." Walter reached out and took her hand.
"Well as some might say if you have to ask the question you already know the answer." Toby smiled at Walter before he reached out and smacked Walter's arm with his hand.
"That said, I agree with Paige. You acted as you have always acted. Whenever there has been a conflict between your own thoughts and the thoughts of others you always went with your thoughts. And normally you are always right or right enough. This, this could have gone better, but even following Happy's plan that would have only gotten the workers out of there before the need to open that relief valve."
"We came into a powder keg of a disaster. You wanted to do what we could to possibly save all the jobs this place employs. You didn't want so many people to be out of work while this place is brought up to code. Your plan gave us that chance, to shut down the system without damage, but too many things went wrong."
"That valve was going to have to be opened and from what Happy said it was going to be a borderline event even back then if it would stand up to the pressure. So the damage was most likely going to happen regardless to which plan we followed. And in conclusion, cut yourself some slack, you did good Walt." Toby told him.
Walter smiled.
"Thanks Toby. Well I guess there isn't much left to do now. We can head back to the helicopter and go home." Walter told them looking at his watch. "We could hit Kovelsky's for a very late dinner when we get there, my treat." Walter looked at the gang.
Everyone smiled and nodded tiredly. They all turned and began filing out of the control room.
Paige looked back over her shoulder at Walter pushing the wheel chair.
"Given how late it is going to be, we might have to keep Ralph out of school tomorrow. He's a bear to get up in the morning when he goes to sleep normally." Paige smiled.
Walter grinned and nodded at her.
"I'm happy to defer to your judgment on that. Plus it will be nice to have him around the Garage tomorrow." Walter told her as he bent over and kissed the top of her head.
Cabe gestured to Toby as they came out of the facility.
"Hey I'll catch up with you guys in a moment. It looks like one of the workers was injured. I just want to take a moment to ensure he's okay." Toby told them.
"I'll go with ya Doc." Cabe told him.
Cabe looked back to see how far they were from the rest of the team.
"So how did he perform? Is he functioning fully like himself?" Toby interrupted Cabe.
Cabe laughed.
"Yeah, I'm about as transparent as it comes when it comes to my kids." Cabe admitted.
"He did really well Cabe. To misuse the vernacular, he handled the clap back everyone gave him well. At least from what I heard when Toby was around him. According to my discussions with Toby, he handled it a bit different than he normally does. But even if he hadn't gone through all that he has, I believe it was well within an acceptable range." Sarah's voice came over the speaker in Toby's phone.
Toby smiled at Cabe's facial expression.
"Cabe didn't realize I had you listening to everything on my phone Sarah." Toby told her.
"Oh, I'm sorry Cabe. Would you like to give him your take on how he did Toby?" Sarah asked.
"I think you were right on the money Sarah. And I'll get you a copy of the coms chatter after Happy and I left him so you can finish dissecting everything. It probably won't be before tomorrow. I'll have to get Sly to get me a copy of it. Walter's protocols are too secure for me to hack into the Garage server but I think Sly has the password. If not, then I'll get Paige to get them for me." Toby told her.
"What about the dreams? Has he had anymore? He tells me no, but I'm not positive he's being honest about that." Sarah asked.
"Jury is still out on that here. Neither Walter nor Paige has said anything to me. Did they say anything to you Cabe?" Toby asked him.
Cabe shook his head.
"No, as far as that goes, they both have acted like things have been fine. Oh, but Paige did tell me she's putting her condo on the market and they are moving into the Loft permanently. If that is something you are interested in." Cabe volunteered.
"Good. From everything I've been told that is the best move at this point. I'd almost rather that they weren't living together but there is a serious codependency that Walter has on Paige. I want to get Paige in to see if it is something she's created or if it came with Walter as part of his baggage." Sarah told them.
"Oh, I can answer it. Walter brought that in on his own once Paige helped him connect more with his emotions. He's been starved for emotional acceptance since childhood and she's the first to give it to him, besides his sister." Toby told her.
Cabe looked around.
"How secure is this connection Doc?" Cabe asked.
"Well, not very actually, that is probably a good point. We should probably try and meet up and talk about all of this." Toby conceded.
"Alright, I'd say come in with Paige comes in for her first session with me but I am sure Walter is going to be with her. If you don't mind Toby, your next session, bring Cabe with you so the three of us can discuss this a little." Sarah told Toby.
"I don't have a problem with Cabe coming with me for that. Though Happy's first appointment is right after mine so she might want to sit in on this as well." Toby told her.
"That's fine with me if you are okay with it. We'll try to finish it quickly so you can still have some time for yourself before her appointment then. Cabe, you can let Katharine know I am removing Walter from restricted duty. She should have my paperwork in about a week." Sarah told Cabe.
"That's great news Sarah, thank you for all you are doing for us." Cabe told her.
"You're welcome Cabe. Have a good night guys." Sarah said before she hung up.
As they stepped over to where the injured worker sat on the ground holding his leg Cabe looked at Toby.
"Were you straight with Sarah and me Doc?" Cabe asked softly.
Toby smirked as he looked back up at Cabe and snapped on a pair of non-latex gloves from his back pocket of his pants.
"You think I would jeopardize all of this after all the trouble I've gone through? Not to mention all the money I'm spending?" Toby asked with a grin that told Cabe he was teasing about that.
"No, I was straight in what I said Cabe. Walt still has some miles to go on this road to recovery, but as long as we don't have anymore hiccups along the way, I believe he will continue to get better." Toby finished saying before he looked at the man's leg.
"Good, I always worried about you kids before. I really didn't need anything else to worry over." Cabe told him as he gently placed his hand on his shoulder.
Toby grinned up at him as he took off his gloves and threw them in a trash can.
"You know Cabe there is something you could tell me to help me understand something though." Toby told him as he stood back up.
Toby looked back at the injured worker.
"You've just got a sprain so you're good to go. Use some Epson salt and take a couple of over the counter pain relievers when you get home. You'll be okay. Or you could try that Voltaren gel, the cost is comparable to over the counter pain relievers and you don't have to put it into your body. So it can't mess with your liver." Toby told him before he turned away.
As they began to walk towards the helicopter, Cabe frowned. "I'm a little confused to be honest, Doc. What do you want me to tell you about?" Cabe asked.
"Oh you aren't confused Cabe. You know exactly what I'm talking about. It is why your blood pressure shot up ten points, your cheeks flushed and you've been breathing faster since I said it. You keep talking about us being your kids, so why haven't you told us you asked Allie to marry you." Toby asked him.
Greetings! Hope everyone is well! I am thinking there will only be 1 more chapter to this, maybe 2, depending on how it talks. Everything isn't fixed, there are a lot of feelings and work to go through and be done. But I might leave the majority of that in the background and then possibly revisit the story later, I can't believe I've got another wedding to write in the future for this story. *blah* LOL
Lucy - Thank you! Yep, Walter's getting back on track in most things thankfully. Only time will tell for sure.
2LawDog - She seems to be a borderline genius herself! lol
Railman - Very good points! But thankfully as far as the job went, it was fairly smooth if not a bit dramatic and only mildly apocalyptic for a Scorpion story. lol
Margaret - Well the couples counseling they are going to with Dr. Rizzuto. Sarah will only be seeing them individually in regards to their roles and the effects of them on each individual. She's not ready to green light Paige coming to one of Walter's sessions. She's also got some concerns with codependency issues Walter has with Paige. Walter whether he realizes it or not has been keeping distance between him and Happy. It was also part of what made him think about taking Ralph with them. Almost like a safety in numbers kind of thing. And of course Happy had to be elsewhere in the facility which helped. And I think they'd all would rather that weekend hadn't have happened now without a doubt but they aren't trying to pretend it didn't, but they are trying to be "friends". Walter and Toby are almost like two sides of the same coin. Walter is more recoiling and Toby, at least inside, is still really upset. Yes, it has been very difficult to write, there have been several times I have just been like, why did I post either of these two stories? I could have just left them sitting in a dust bin on my computer's hard drive. lol
To the Adventure! -Tim
