The Rabbit Hole
Disclaimer: Scorpion and all its characters belong to someone else. Any similarities to other stories are unintentional.
Chapter One- Intent
' Paige, wait!'
The words resonated through his head time and time again. The last time he saw them... saw her! The door had closed behind them, and they were gone. He'd picked up the 'phone several times after that but wasn't strong enough... no let's be truthful here... brave enough... to go through with the calls. He was a coward! He could jump onto careering out of control trains, leap from moving vehicles, but couldn't bring himself to speak to her... to tell her he was wrong. To tell her he loved her, wanted her, needed her...
~OooO~
Walter was standing in his new favourite position by the wall on the roof of the garage, where he'd taken to going when he needed to clear his head, especially to free his thoughts of them, once again recalling the last time he'd seen them.'Paige, wait!' He sighed. He was fine, he thought- just needed a bit of time to get over this emotional... nonsense and get back to being a genius, with Scorpion 2.0. That was the most important thing. For the greater good. He stared out into the darkness.
'Yeah, the stupid greater good.' he mumbled angrily, kicking a loose stone. He picked it up, feeling its weight in his hand. Morbid thoughts unintentionally filled his head. 'Now, the age old question... if I throw this stone, then jump which one of us would hit the ground first...' he said out loud.
He looked over the edge. He knew the answer, of course- he had a 197 IQ , but the temptation to try it, and end this misery, this loneliness... it was a temptation.
'So which one would hit first?' Cabe's voice asked from behind him.
'How did you know I was up here?' Walter asked without even turning around.
'Florence said she saw you coming up.' Cabe replied, walking up to Walter, and peering over the edge for a second.
Walter scoffed, tossing up the stone in his left hand and catching it again. 'At a given location on the earth and in the absence of air resistance, all objects fall with the same uniform acceleration. Thus, two objects of different mass, dropped from the same height, will hit the ground at the same time.' he said, turning to face Cabe, but looking down as if afraid to show his emotion.
'That so?' Cabe said, moving closer to Walter. 'Were you thinking of trying it out?'
'Course not.' Walter answered. 'It was just a simple maths conundrum.'
'You sure about that, son?' Cabe said softly, moving nearer to Walter. 'Florence said you come up here a lot. She said although you accepted her apologies for her unfortunate outburst and taken her on the team, you've distanced yourself from her... from everything.'
'I er...' Walter looked up for the first time, and when he looked straight into the older man's eyes, seeing the love and concern for him, his resolve broke. As hard as he tried to lower his EQ, he couldn't stop the tears.
For the second time in his life, the first being after his sister had died, Walter O'Brien cried openly. Sobs racked his body and he cried as if he'd never stop.
Cabe pulled him close, and Walter didn't resist. They stood together on the roof as father and son until Walter's sobs lessened and he swiped at his face, trying to remove the tears.
'I'm sorry.' he managed to say, his voice thick with emotion he didn't know he possessed. 'I miss them. I miss all of them. They're my family.'
'I know, son. I know!' Cabe soothed. 'They'll come round. Maybe not for a while, but it'll happen, you'll see.'
'Hopefully it won't take 16 years like you and me.' Walter sighed. He took a deep breath and let the stone fall back on the roof floor. Walter scrubbed at his face again. 'So unprofessional. Sorry. I'm fine.'
'Come on son, you look like you need a good meal. I'll treat you to a burger!'
'Yeah, OK. I'm starving!' Walter agreed, suddenly realising he hadn't eaten in days.
'I'll send Florence out to Kovelsky's. You go have a quick shower, and I'll lay the table.'
Walter slowly followed Cabe to the door of the garage, looking wistfully back at the roof. He sighed and resolutely set his shoulders. He couldn't be weak now. He had work to do. For the greater good...
~OooO~
Florence was in Kovelsky's, buying some supplies for the garage, whilst waiting for their burgers and fries. At the back of the shop, in the large freezer she saw some yogurts she thought would be nice to get for the guys, and stretched her hand inside, intent on procuring her prize. As she grabbed the last item she wanted, another hand grasped it at the same time. Startled, they both pulled out their hands, both still clutching the yogurt pot.
'Hey! That's the last one!' the person next to her cried in anguish.
'Well, Sir, I believe I had it first!' Florence exclaimed pulling the yogurt towards her.
'No... I did! It's the last Boysenberry Blast left! It's so smooth and delicious. Full of strawberries- and it's discontinued! This may be the last one... ever!'
The two people stopped in mid argument. They looked at each other properly for the first time.
'Florence!' Sylvester cried.
'Oh. Er. Hello' she replied, going slightly red and dropping her hand from the yogurt as if she'd been burnt.
'I... er... Florence! You can er... have the yogurt. Although it is the last Boysenberry Blast left and I see you have the another three in your basket...' Sly said wistfully. 'No, it's alright. Ladies first.'
'Oh, thank you.' Florence said, unsure what to say, 'Do you know what- we can each take two. Half each. That's fair.'
'Really? Well, thank you!' Sylvester said, 'Er... so how have you been?'
'I'm alright, thank you. You?'
Sylvester felt a bit silly and embarrassed with the polite small talk. He really wanted to say 'are you with Walter?' but he was too scared to hear the answer. He really wanted to ask her how Walter was, but he was too self- conscious about their last conversation when he quit.
Florence interrupted his thoughts though when she said 'Well, I guess I'd better be off, then, the burgers...'
'Oh, yes. I guess so. It was really nice seeing you again.'
'You too.' Florence turned to leave, then seemed to think better of it. 'You know, maybe you'd like to meet for coffee, sometime? Since Walter turned me down, I've been so lonely, and you and I always got on... oh, sorry. I'm being presumptuous. You left the team because of me... you obviously won't...'
She turned to go once again, but Sylvester, thrilled to hear Florence and Walter weren't together, interrupted, saying 'I'd like that! I'd like that very much. I'll call you, if I may?'
'Yes, yes, that would be great.'
They looked at each other, feeling a bit embarrassed and shy. Florence finally left to collect her food, leaving Sly feeling elated and excited.
'Yes!' he whispered under his breath, punching the air in victory. He continued smiling all the way out into the parking lot where Happy was tinkering with the car whilst waiting for him. His smile faded.
'All set?' Happy asked.
'Er, yes.' he replied, settling down in the passenger seat. Oh dear. It was his fault the team had disbanded, because of his fancy for Florence. He blushed, hoping Happy couldn't see his bright red cheeks in the darkness of the car.
The things he'd said to Walter! He'd even been prepared to fight him! He realised that although he was big and not strong, he could have really hurt Walter who wasn't particularly blessed in the fight department. After all, Walter had concentrated on research, not sports!
He'd quit the team, starting a chain reaction, where everyone had walked out on Walter, and now- he was going on a date with the cause of all the angst.
A date! He smiled wryly. He knew it was somehow wrong, but he was both thrilled and excited. He really liked Florence...
To Be Continued...