Chapter Eleven- Reunion

Florence ordered donuts and coffee for everyone. They were sitting together at Nemos' diner, and Paige sighed as she realised that not only did she work there all day, but she also spent a fair part of her free time there too! How she missed hanging out at the warehouse with all the guys!

'Thank you, Florence.' she said politely. Although it was nice of the girl to buy them coffee, Paige couldn't help feeling a little resentful towards her. First she caused a huge upset within Scorpion, and now she was Sly's girlfriend and seemed to spend an awful lot of time with the former members of Centipede.

'Well, I have a bit of a... er... confession to make.' Florence said. She was very wary of Paige, having been the recipient of her anger at one time. She thought they'd got past that and had become friends- until she'd admitted to having feelings for Walter, that is. 'I just may have made things worse. I told Walter that Centipede disbanded. He now thinks you want to talk to him because you need a job!'

'Not good!' Toby and Happy said at the same time, earning Toby a 'look' from Happy.

'Was he mad?' Sylvester asked worriedly. He was already stressing about seeing Walter again. He so badly wanted to make up with him and put it all behind them, but he knew how stubborn Walter was.

'Not exactly. When I told him we were seeing each other, he was concerned I was 'spying' for you guys. That's why I told him you wanted to meet. Then he didn't want to talk about it, and just switched off. He's working himself into the ground- he needs someone who can help him confront his feelings, but he won't see Mr Rizzuto. Cabe says...'

'What does Cabe say?' a deep gravelly voice said from the doorway.

'Cabe!' they all cried. Happy almost knocked him off of his feet when she rushed at him, and fell into his arms. 'I've missed you, roomie!'

'I've missed you too. I've missed all of you. I didn't cut you off, you know. I just didn't feel the time was right, or know if I'd be welcome...'

'You'd always be welcome, Cabe! You know that. We understand why you haven't been in touch.' Paige said, rubbing Cabe's shoulder. 'We felt the same.'

'You look a little banged up. Are you OK?' Toby asked, concerned for his friend.

'Oh yeah. You know me- tough as old boots.' Cabe laughed his injuries off.

'And... Walter?'

Cabe and Florence looked at each other. They realised the others were interested in their friend, and weren't spying, but they didn't want to be disloyal to Walter. It was all very difficult and Cabe just wished they'd all sort out this seemingly never ending mess. He looked at Paige, who looked pale and miserable. Happy and Toby looked concerned, but also eager for news of Walter. Sylvester looked down at his hands, twirling his wedding band around his finger.

'This is ridiculous!' he finally stated. 'It's obvious you're all missing Walter and Scorpion. It was your family and home! Walter misses you all too...' Cabe said pointedly looking at Paige, who at least had the grace to turn a little pink in the face. 'If you want some kind of resolution, you need to go to him- you know he's not capable of coming to you, don't you?'

'We know. We just don't know how to...' Sylvester said quietly. 'Even Paige can't help us...'

'It's just... difficult.' Paige said sadly. 'I said some pretty cruel things to him. I wish now I hadn't, but I did. I'm not sure he can ever forgive me, or will be able to understand it was just said in the heat of the moment. I didn't really mean any of it. I was just angry...'

'And a teensy bit jealous?' Toby added.

Paige chose to ignore him. 'I just don't know, Cabe. At first I thought he was lying to me so that he and Florence could get together. They connect in a more... intellectual level than I ever could. Then I remembered how frustrated I got when his IQ took over and he turned everything into a lecture, or explanation of how things work, or should work, with no thought to how I felt. Just... too many boyfriend lessons, I guess. Sometimes though, conversely, it felt like he was trying too hard to please me and not being his true self. I think... I think I just expected too much from him, I should just have accepted him as he was. The Walter I fell in love with.'

'Just tell him how you feel. He always thinks about things, takes a moment to digest them and then does the right thing. Look at the time he shared equity with you all... we were all pretty mad about that- even me! It took some time and a baseball game, but he began to understand and came around.'

'Yes, but I have Ralph to consider. If Walter and I sort things out, we can't do this again. It's too hard on Ralph!'

'There's another problem in the way, though.' Cabe said. 'Walter's becoming more distant than ever.' They looked at Florence for confirmation. She nodded as Cabe continued. 'He's talking to that Collins guy again, muttering facts and figures. If it weren't for a mechanic called Grace, I don't think he'd come up for air anymore.'

'The rabbit hole!' Toby stated.

'Grace?' Paige said. She caught herself. She didn't even know this woman and already she was making assumptions. She was such a fool, she berated herself.

'Yes, he speaks to her online. She's a mechanic. That's how Scorpion can function. Never met her. She's good for him. Helps him when he needs it!' Florence said.

Toby looked at Happy. 'You OK with that?' he whispered. Happy just nodded. 'Well, she won't be as good as my love bug 'cos you're Happy freakin' Quinn- well Curtis!' Happy swiped Toby around the head, ignoring his whelp and saying no more.

'If he's going down that 'rabbit hole', I think we'd better speak to him soon, no matter how hard it's gonna be. Make your mind up now guys- like Paige said, there won't be any going back!' Toby told the group.

'It was all just stupid on everyone's part.' Sylvester agreed. 'Families often argue and drift apart, but they come together again because they're linked by what they've been through together in the past. We've been through a lot together! If Walter's really going down that rabbit hole, we've got to do something to stop it. I for one am in, no matter how hard it's going to be.'

'Well, I once pulled Walt from that dark place. Told him I'd never do it again...' Happy ignored Toby's look and continued slowly 'but... I'm in too, even if I have to force feed that stubborn mule again!'

One by one the others agreed, until it was Paige's turn. 'Come on, Paige. It's the moment of truth. We can continue without you if you don't want this.'

'No... I do. Of course I do. We'll speak to him tomorrow. It's my day off, yeah?'

'Agreed.' they all decided. 'Come on gang, let's have a therapeutic game of Constructo-Battle. Cabe was sort of good at it! It'll help us relax.' Happy said.

They all settled down to a loud and boisterous game to ease their tension. Tomorrow was going to be a tough day, maybe tougher than they imagined...

To be continued...