Author's note: A little bit more drama then on to some lighter fare. I live for the angst but sometimes it gets to be too much, especially when the other story I'm working on is getting so dark and angsty I'm starting to worry myself.
I borrowed some scenarios and dialogue from "This is the Pits" (3x10) toward the end of this chapter but once again twisted them to suit my evil purposes.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Walter and Paige stared at each other, the silence broken by the sound of a woman's voice calling out. "Hello? Hello? Are you still there?"
Walter picked the phone up off the floor and held it to his ear. "Don't let her leave. We'll be right there." He hung up then handed the cell back to Paige, who appeared to be lost in thought. "We need to go," he said as he nudged her hand with her phone.
"It's impossible," Paige murmured. "It can't be his grandmother. She's. . ." With a shake of her head, she came back from wherever her mind had drifted. "We need to go," she said, repeating his words.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Toby jumped out of his chair as they reached the bottom of the ramp and rounded the corner toward the door. "Where are you going? You just got back. . ." The shrink halted in his tracks. "You're not in labor, are you?"
"No," Walter said. "It's Ralph. We gotta go. . ."
A sob escaped Paige as he led her to the door. "Wait!" Walter huffed impatiently as Cabe came toward them. "What the hell is going on?"
Walter answered as it became clear the liaison couldn't. "Paige said a woman threatened her at the courthouse." He then informed the agent of the phone call from the school.
"And you think this could be the same woman?"
He nodded. "If Ralph's in danger. . ." He took Paige's hand again and stepped forward.
The older man blocked the way. "Neither of you are in any condition to drive anywhere. You're coming with me. Capisce?" Walter knew it would be imprudent to argue. He was exhausted and Paige was on the verge of collapse.
Once they were loaded into his SUV, Cabe tore out of the alley and onto the street, as he communicated with the agents assigned to the boy genius's school. "I thought they were supposed to monitor for suspicious activity," Walter said accusingly.
"Yeah, but it's a middle school, son," the older man said with a chuckle. "The whole damn place is full of suspicious activity."
Not understanding why that would be amusing, Walter glanced over at Paige, who was staring out the window. Reaching over and taking her hand, he gave it a squeeze. "We have to believe he'll be okay."
He wasn't sure if she even heard him but then she pressed his fingers with hers. "I tried so hard for years to keep him safe. . .even when. . .even when our world was falling apart," she said as she absently stroked her stomach with her free hand. "If something happens to him now. . ." A sob choked off the rest of her thought.
"We won't let it," he said, kissing her forehead, wishing he was as confident as he sounded. Once again, the belief he was the person she needed protection from the most entered his mind. It was because of him she and Ralph were constantly in danger. They would be much safer if they'd never met. . .
He took a breath. It was too late for regrets. Besides being a inefficient waste of time, he could no more abandon her now than he could stop loving her.
His self-deprecating thoughts were interrupted when the SUV came to a screeching halt as they arrived at the school. He immediately climbed out of the vehicle, then helped Paige disembark.
As they entered the building, the first inkling middle school was different than elementary school was the locked door leading into the main body of the school. "May I help you?" A man's voice came from the left side of the tiny vestibule in which they were standing.
Walter glanced over at Paige, who opened her mouth then closed it before inhaling. "I got a phone call," she said in a rush. "There's a woman threatening my son. . ."
"And you are?" the man asked calmly. He was wearing a dark blue uniform and Walter spotted the holster on his hip.
"Paige Dineen." She grasped Walter's arm. "Please. . ."
"Who's this?" The guard pointed at Walter. He realized he hadn't changed and was still wearing his rumpled and dirty clothes from the day before.
She threw him a glance, one full of fear and uncertainty, then addressed the other man, "He's. . . He's the dad" as the same time he said, "Walter O'Brien."
Her words threw him a little. He was the father of the child she was carrying, that was true. But he wasn't Ralph's father. He was curious why she'd said it. Just so he'd be allowed inside?
The man looked confused for a moment as he flipped through the papers on his clipboard. "Oh, yeah. She's in Principal Price's office." He gave them directions before electronically unlocking the door.
"It's like a prison," Paige commented, echoing Walter's thoughts.
A receptionist escorted them to the office, knocking on the door before leaving them standing in the hallway. A burst of laughter emitted from the room. Walter turned to Paige, seeing she was just as mystified as he was as the door was opened.
"Come in," said a man who had to be the principal. A woman with reddish blonde hair sat with her back to them, shifted in her chair to face them.
"Hello, Paige," she said with a cheery smile.
Walter felt all the anxiety drain out of Paige, only to be replaced by something he couldn't name. But nothing could have prepared him for her next words.
"Hello. . . Mom."
ooooo
"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant again?" Veronica Dineen was sitting in the front seat of Cabe's SUV as they drove away from the school.
"Maybe because I haven't spoken to you for over ten years," snapped Paige. God, the woman was clueless. "When I remember telling you to never contact me again."
"And I didn't."
Paige glanced over at Walter, who looked so lost and confused she almost giggled. Almost. She let out an exasperated sigh. "Then what do you call this, Mom? Seems like contact to me."
"But I wasn't contacting you. I was contacting Ralph. You didn't tell me I couldn't contact him. I just wanted to see my grandson." The older woman sniffed as if she were holding back tears.
Paige knew better though. Her mother was a master at manipulation, twisting circumstances so she appeared to be the victim and everyone else were to blame for her problems.
"So, do you know if this one is a boy or girl? A little girl is so much fun to dress up," Veronica nattered on, oblivious to her daughter's growing irritation. "And is this the baby daddy?" she asked, assessing Walter in a way which made Paige's stomach turn. "He's a hot hunk of man, honey," she added in a loud conspiratorial whisper. "If I were 20 years younger. . ." She made a little growl.
Cabe, who so far had been silent, lapsed into a violent 'coughing' fit as he turned into the alley. Oh, God. Paige knew without looking Walter was mortified by her mother's statement. He'd tensed so quickly she worried he would shatter.
She didn't know why they were taking her back to the garage. It had been Walter's suggestion, so they could deal with her mother in private instead of the principal's office of her son's school. Where all the administrative staff and a few students could see her dirty linen get aired in public.
"This is where you work?" Veronica asked as she stepped out of the vehicle. She didn't sound impressed and Paige bristled. Walter had worked hard to get Scorpion where it was today and if. . .
"It's not what's on the outside, but what's on the inside that counts," Cabe stated, interrupting her mental indignation. Paige had to stop herself from smiling. The Homeland agent had her mom's number.
But she wasn't so sure about Walter. She narrowed her eyes as she watched him escort the older woman into the building, asking her how long she'd been in town and if she had a place to stay.
ooooo
"Are you still mad at me?" Walter asked as they walked toward his car a few hours later.
He'd thought they'd settled everything after they'd come back to the garage with her mother in tow. He'd profusely apologized - again - for keeping a copy of the surveillance feed. She'd finally confessed about the Braxton Hicks contractions she'd been having, telling him she should have ignored Toby's advice not to say anything to him.
But she still seemed upset with him. And he thought it could possibly have to do with Veronica. He had suggested she could camp out in the mini Winnie until she could find a more permanent place to stay. And that she could keep an eye on Ralph while he and Paige attended their first childbirth class that evening.
Paige spun around to glare at him. "Why did you say my mom could stay here? It's not a good idea."
"That's what you said about Ray when I. . ."
"Ray is saint compared to her," she hissed. "And what gives you the right to make decisions about my son?"
The bottom fell out of his stomach as he didn't have an answer. He wasn't Ralph's father or even his guardian. In the public's eye, he was just the guy who'd knocked up the boy's mother. And he didn't know what to do about it.
"I'm sorry I overstepped my bounds. But Sylvester's not available and she is Ralph's grandmother," he pointed out. "I don't understand. . ."
"I know," she said huffing out a breath. "It's just. . .she's not the most trustworthy person in the world, okay?."
"Is that why you cleaned out the petty cash box and told her all the electronics were rigged to explode if anyone other than me unplugged them?"
"Dammit, you weren't supposed hear that." She opened the passenger side door and got in.
"Paige," he said as he slid into the driver's side. "She's your mother. . ."
"Yeah, so?" Snapping her seat belt in place, she glared at him. "You're not exactly on the best of terms with your parents."
"I know. And I regret it." He ran his hand over his face. "They did the best they could and I didn't always make it easy for them either. Things have improved since. . .since Megan. . .but. . ." Things had really improved since they found out they were going to be grandparents. His mother was especially 'over the moon,' as she put it.
"I know, sweetie. I know you're trying," she said, smoothing her hand over his shoulder. "But Veronica Dineen has her own wing in the Bad Parenting Hall of Fame. She didn't give a damn about me unless she needed me to do something for her. When she. . .she left for the last time, it killed my father. He loved her so much and she broke his heart."
"I'm sorry," he said. Three years ago, he would have said dying of a broken heart was a preposterous notion. But that was before he'd met Paige. Now he knew it was entirely possible, because if he ever lost Paige. . . "I'll ask her to leave tomorrow."
Paige let out a sigh. "No, she might as well stay. It will be easier to keep an eye on her if I know where she is."
He was surprised by her rather cynical attitude toward her mother. She'd rarely talked about either of her parents. He and the other geniuses had all had difficult childhoods. But he'd always thought Paige's had been of the typical 'normal' variety. She was such a good mother to Ralph, it was hard to believe hers had been as messed up as any of the rest of them.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see her rubbing her hand over the swell of her belly. His breath caught in his throat, his heart starting beating a little faster. A certain part of his anatomy began to stir inappropriately. Which led to his other concern. . . .
Childbirth class.
He'd tried to get out of going. Argued he'd read enough books on the subject, including some disturbing medical texts of Toby's. He'd even watched a YouTube video. All to no avail. Paige had refused to listen, telling him that books and videos were fine and good, but would never be better than hands on experience.
So far his. . .perversion. . .centered around Paige. He'd seen other pregnant women and they didn't effect him the way she did. One glance at her touching her swollen stomach usually did it for him, his libido going up in flames. But the other women had been viewed from a distance and he'd never tried to test his hypothesis whether it was just Paige or if it was proximity which. . .excited him. And now he was on his way to a place when he'd be surrounded by pregnant women. . .
Oh, boy.
ooooo
"What are these?" Veronica asked, pointing to the boxes piled on the table in front of Ralph.
"Forestry Brave Cookies," he said with a sigh. "I have to sell fifty boxes, so I can get my business badge. We have to buy the cookies ourselves, then recoup our investment."
"How much are you selling them for?
"Five dollars."
"And how much did you pay per box?"
Ralph screwed up his face. "Five dollars."
"What kind of business are they teaching you?" she asked in an outraged tone. He had to agree with her. The whole point of business was to make a profit. This cookie selling plan taught them nothing.
She was tapping her finger against her lips as if she were deep in thought. "Remember when you wrote to Grandma in prison about wanting to spend some quality time together?" she said after a few moments.
"Shh. . ." Glancing around the room, Ralph was relieved to see everyone else had left the garage for the day. "Mom doesn't know I've been writing to you and I'd like to. . ."
"Keep it our secret. I know." She then picked up a box of the cookies. "But how about you spend some of that time with Grandma helping you really earn that business badge?"
"Mom won't go for it," he said. "She doesn't like you very much."
"Don't I know it." His grandmother flashed him a grin. "But I'm really glad you reached out to me, Ralph. I want to make it up to her. . .and you." She smiled at him again. "Is there any ice cream around here?"
He nodded. "There's some left over from Sly's birthday party last week. It's just plain vanilla though."
"Vanilla. That's perfect." She spun the box of cookies into the air then caught it. "Where does Walter keep his spices?"
"Not sure he has any," he answered honestly. "He's not much of a cook. Why would we need spices anyway?"
"Because I can hear an opportunity knocking, and we're both gonna open that door," she replied cryptically as she tousled his hair.