Disclaimer: Scorpion and all its characters belong to someone else. Any similarities to other stories are unintentional.

Chapter Thirteen- Intervention

'Are you sure Walter will be OK, Toby?' Paige asked worriedly as they went downstairs. She glanced back as if she wanted to stay with him at his bedside, but Toby pulled her by the arm.

'Yeah, don't worry Paige. He's just exhausted, and a little malnourished. Fortunately he's been eating a little, although not nearly as much or as nutritious as it should have been, and he's been drinking water too. He knows how much will keep him functioning.' Toby explained. 'It's the pull Collins has on him I'm worried about. We have to break Walter away from his influence and the rabbit hole, before it's too late. The main thing is to let him sleep and then try to get past the brain washing Collins has exercised on him and make him see the truth. The way he responded to Happy- or 'Grace' makes me think he's not too far gone as yet.'

'I just... I just keep thinking if we hadn't come when we did...'

'Well we did, so it's no good to ponder on it too much. Drive yourself crazy that way!'

Paige allowed herself to be steered downstairs where they gathered together talking about how they would help Walter once he'd slept off his exhaustion. The priority was to let him rest and then make sure they got healthy and nutritious food into him. They could work on getting him away from Collins later. Just the thought of that man sent Paige into a blind rage! She knew that after what she'd said to Walter, it wasn't up to her to decide what he did with his life, but she still cared for him and couldn't stand seeing him being taken advantage of.

'Well, I'm not leaving here until he wakes up!' she declared.

'We'll all stay' Cabe agreed.

'Yeah, and I'd like to keep an eye on him, just in case...' Toby said, leaving the rest of his sentence unsaid.

'OK, that's settled, then.' Cabe stated, settling down in a chair with his newspaper, prepared for a long wait...

~OooO~

Walter finally awoke and staggered to his feet. He felt very groggy and shook his head, trying to clear it, and went over to the sink in the bathroom. He splashed icy water over his face, enjoying the alertness it afforded him. That was better. He stared at his reflection in the mirror, hands clutching the sink as memory began to flood back. It was the team! They were here? He was confused, and turned to go down to the garage to find out what was happening.

He felt a little odd and a bit dazed and his head hurt him badly. The research! He suddenly remembered. He had to get to work! He'd go down and see if the others were actually there, or if he'd dreamt it and then get straight back to it. He'd been having a lot of strange images in his head lately, all to do with numbers and equations with Collins and Paige's faces popping up in the mix. He rubbed his eyes- it was too bright here. He really wanted to get back to the darkness where he could think clearly, and carry on with his work!

He stood at the bottom of the stairs, pondering over the scene that greeted him. All the team were there, except Ralph, seemingly cooking a meal together. The smell of the food made his mouth water... but he could eat later... he had to research...

Cabe suddenly looked up. 'There he is! Hey, Walter let me help you, you're still unsteady.'

Cabe went to meet Walter and took his arm. 'Erm... what's going on? Have I been ill?' Walter asked, looking at Cabe's hand on his arm.

'Not exactly.' Cabe answered. 'You've just been working too hard. Here, come and sit down and have some food.'

Walter looked around at the others. 'Why are you here?' he asked 'You left, didn't you? I'm confused. Did it happen? Sly- you shoved me and quit, didn't you, or was it all a dream?'

The others exchanged a look. Walter was in a bad way. That rabbit hole and Collins had a huge pull on him. This must have been what happened to Collins and sent him over the edge of sanity. They prayed they'd got to Walter in time.

Paige went over to Walter and held his hand. 'Walter, we all had a bit of a fight, do you remember?'

'Yes? Er... I think so.' Walter said but still looked confused.

'Here... eat this, you'll feel better.' Happy announced, putting a plate in front of him, and offering him a mouthful on a fork.

'Oh, wait! You're Grace! I remember.' In his sudden animation, Walter threw his hands around, and the fork and its contents went flying. 'Why? Why did you help me? Why did you pretend to be Grace?'

'Well, take a mouthful of food and I'll tell you.' Happy said calmly, giving Walter a new mouthful. 'Good. Now another. You know, I told you before that I wouldn't force feed you again, yet here we are!'

Walter suddenly discovered that the food tasted like nectar. He hadn't eaten anything other than energy bars and water to keep functioning. His eyes opened wide. 'Sorry.' he muttered.

'Here, waitress, you take over. I've some explaining to do.' Paige was sitting quietly beside Walter, still holding his hand. She took the fork from Happy whilst Walter sat looking at them, a frown creasing his brow. 'It's simple, really.' she started.

Toby watched her carefully. Happy had explained it to him earlier, and he wished he'd thought of helping Walter like she had. She'd been a good friend, whereas he'd been a bit of a jerk!

'I didn't like it when we left Scorpion. Simple as. I wanted to come back, but thought that Walt needed some space for a while. You know I was bounced from orphanage to orphanage when I was a child. Scorpion became my home, and all you guys, including Walter have become my family. I didn't want to lose that. Walter sucks, but I had to help him make Scorpion work. There's no way he could do it on his own- no offence Cabe, Florence.'

Cabe nodded to her understandingly whilst Florence smiled and gazed up at Sylvester. 'None taken.' she replied softly.

'So I used my mother's name and helped him build a winch and upgrade Birdroni. That's all.' Happy continued.

Walter stopped chewing and rejected Paige's next offer of food. ' You've been a great friend over the years. I... I don't know what to say except thank you.'

'Just eat dufus. If you really want to thank me, break away from Collins. He's no good!'

Cabe looked at Walter. ' Why are you helping Collins?' he queried.

'He's doing superlative work - a time machine.' Walter replied, becoming more animated as he ate and spoke to his friends.

Toby stared, and he and Sylvester looked at each other in amazement. 'Say what, now? And how's that working out for you?'

'We're nearly done.'

'And why a time machine? What's his plan?' Toby said.

'It's for Megan! He's gonna cure Megan. We're gonna cure Megan!'

'How are you going to do that, son?' Cabe asked softly.

'He's gonna help me build the brain transfer...'

'Has he done that yet?'

'Well no. He said after the time machine... he wanted us to work on the machine first...'

'And you believe he's going to help you save Megan? Get the cure and go back in time to save her? Is that it? Walter, when has that guy done anything for anyone except himself? He's a total megalomaniac. Why on earth did you think he wanted to help you?' Toby asked.

'He's my friend. I know you guys don't like him but he said if I helped him with the time machine and BBI...'

'Walter, you putz! That SOB tried to kill me for your work on BBI! He wants it for himself!' Toby cried, furious with Collins.

Walter rubbed his face' No... no... he's going to help... I'm getting Megan back! Sly... you want her back don't you? It's all for Megan- I miss her so much!' Walter grabbed Sylvester's hands in his. 'I can do this!'

Walter looked groggily around at the others. They were standing nearby looking saddened and worried- then he noticed Florence holding onto Sylvester's vest. 'You- you don't want her back! You've moved on with Florence, haven't you! Well, I don't care what you think. What any of you think. I don't need you. Collins and I are going to make this happen!'

'Walter! Come on, son. You're not thinking clearly.' Cabe cried.

'It's you who's not thinking clearly. Remember they all left me, then they come waltzing in here, thinking they can come back and everything will be fine and the same as it was before. Well this time- it's not fine!'

Walter stood up abruptly, an action which made the room spin violently. He shook Cabe off of him, and released Sylvester's hands. 'I'd like you all to leave now. Thank you for the food, but I have research to do. I'm getting my sister back!'

The team looked at each other, relaying a silent message from one to the other. No way were they going to leave Walter again, especially not in this state- so near to disappearing down the rabbit hole, maybe forever with a final push from Collins. They had to act quickly to save Walter...

To be continued...