Author's note: Borrowed some dialogue from "Plight at the Museum" (3x05) for Toby and Happy's scene.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

That same morning at an apartment complex several miles away

Inhaling through his nose, Toby knocked on the door to Happy's apartment. Footsteps padded inside, growing louder as they came closer. A chain rattled and a dead bolt clicked and the door opened to reveal one pissed off mechanic who looked like she'd just tossed her cookies.

"What do you want?" She crossed her arms over her chest, covering up damp spots and the faded yellow letters of his Harvard tee shirt.

"To apologize," he announced. "I shouldn't have said the things I said. I shouldn't have walked out. And I shouldn't have waited this long to come beg you for forgiveness."

She sighed, moving aside as she opened the door wider. "Come in."

He didn't have to be asked twice. Walking inside, he came to a halt in the middle of her living room. She followed him, stopping about two feet away, staring at him expectantly.

"Well?" she said after several moments of silence had passed.

"Well, what?" Toby volleyed back. "Aren't you gonna say anything?"

The mechanic huffed out an impatient breath. "I thought you were going to apologize."

"I did."

"When?"

"Just now."

"No, you said you wanted to apologize and that you wanted to grovel for my forgiveness." She gestured toward the floor. "Get groveling."

"No, I said beg for your forgive. . ." His words trailed off and he was once again glad looks alone could not kill. Taking off his hat, he knelt down before her. "Happy, I"m sor. . ."

"Get up, you idiot." She rolled her eyes at him as he stood back up.

"I thought you wanted me to grovel?"

"I didn't think you'd actually do it." Shaking her head, the mechanic plopped down on the couch. Giving her a quick visual examination, he noted the dark circles under her puffy eyes, her green-around-the gills appearance, her unkempt hair. . . That she was scowling at him was the only thing about her that seemed normal.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

"You're the doctor, you tell me," Happy replied, wrapping her arms around herself even more defensively. Recognizing a trap when he saw one, he stayed quiet. He knew better than to flaunt his medical knowledge.

"Yeah, I've been peachy," she said, breaking the impasse. "Puking my guts out every morning is the freaking highlight of my day." She ran a hand through her hair. "I've never been pregnant before but I hear this is pretty typical."

"It is," he conceded. "Have you scheduled an appointment with an obstetrician yet? I can recommend. . ."

"Yeah I did. It's next Tuesday at one o'clock. Uh. . . You're welcome to come. . .if you want to that is." She glanced up at him, giving away her desire for him say yes.

"I do want to." He gestured to the unoccupied couch cushion beside her and sat down when she nodded. "So you and Walt, huh?" He knew he was treading into dangerous territory, figuring the odds were 50-50 she'd kick his ass.

"There was never a 'me and Walt'," she said, surprising him with her calm reaction. "Not in any romantic sense and sexually. . . Ugh." Her face contorted with disgust and he didn't need to be a world class psychiatrist to know she was telling the truth. "I never had a sibling growing up, not a real one anyway." She paused to take a breath. "But he was the first person I ever considered to be family. He and Sly are the brothers I never had."

"Did you ever feel any brotherly love for me?" he asked, not sure if he really wanted to know the answer.

She chuckled. "You. . . You've been a thorn in my side since the day we met."

Toby grinned, recognizing the affection behind her words. "I'm sorry I freaked out about you and Walt. . . I still can't wrap my head around it. But I know why you did it and I'd be a real jerk if I let it ruin what we have together. Can you forgive me for being such a putz?"

"It's one of your more endearing qualities," she said and he caught her fleeting smirk before her face grew serious. "If the situation were reversed, if somehow you and the waitress were secretly married. . . I'd probably show far less restraint than you did. They'd be finding bits of both of you all over the city."

"Probably all over the state." He decided to change the topic once again as she shot him another dirty look. "So, what happens now? Will Walter really get deported if you two get divorced? Could you go to jail?"

"It's a possibility." She filled him in on all the details he'd missed in his absence at the garage, Cabe's intervention, Sly's political ambitions, the fact a divorce would take at least six months to go through. "I think we're supposed to get a visit from an INS agent sometime next week," she finished.

"I'm guessing it's not feasible to just tell them the marriage didn't work out," Toby stated. "Irreconcilable differences or whatever."

"Yeah, I doubt it." Happy absently rubbed her still flat belly. Something inside him did a little flip as concerns about the child she carried flooded his brain.

"When was the last time you ate? Are you taking pre-natal vitamins? Did you know your emesis gravidarum could be ameliorated if you'd just eat more foods high in iron and pro. . .?"

"Whoa, slow down, Doc." She looked like she was about to punch him. "One question at a time. And this morning. Yes. And what the hell is emesis gravid. . .gravi-dum-dum?

"Gravidarum. Medical term for morning sickness." Toby tentatively moved his hand toward her stomach, and when it appeared she wasn't going to bite it, he placed it on her abdomen. "Sorry. I just want to be a good dad," he said.

"You will be," she said, and he glanced at her to see if she was kidding. She wasn't.

"How do you know that?" he asked seriously. "My own parents were lousy role models. Hell, I'm a lousy role model."

"At least you had role models," she stated. "I worry I won't know how to be a mother, let alone a good one."

Toby gathered her into his arms and she compliantly laid her head on his shoulder. "You're going to be a great mom. And we're lucky, because I just realized, we do have role models now. Paige and Cabe. Hell, even Walter. . .just look at him with Ralph." He squeezed her a little tighter. "I think we're going to be awesome parents."

"I just want our child to be born into a complete fully functioning legally bound family." Happy glanced up at him and he could see tears shimmering in her eyes. "But I'm not willing to throw Walter under the bus to make that wish come true."

"Hopefully we won't have to," Toby said with a confidence he didn't feel as she snuggled closer and he kissed her forehead. Green card marriages were illegal, and if it could be proven that's what she and 197 had done six years ago. . . Someone was going to be in very deep caca.

ooooo

"Here, let me help you with that," Walter said as he walked into the small laundry room off the kitchen later that evening. Paige had one hand braced on her back as the other flailed at the inside of the dryer, her enlarged belly impeding her range of motion

"Thanks." She straightened up, rubbing the area above her hips. "I don't remember having this much trouble when I was pregnant with Ralph."

"Is your back bothering you?" he asked as he transferred the clothes from the dryer to the basket in front of the appliance.

"A little."

"It's normal," he said. "Your center of gravity has shifted, putting more pressure on the sacroiliac joint, where your pelvis meets your spine, and your body also makes a hormone which relaxes your pelvic. . ."

"Walter, I don't need a science lecture. I've been pregnant before, you know," Paige replied, her tone heavy with exasperation.

He glanced down at the wash cloth he held in his hand. "Uh, sorry. I, uh, I didn't mean to ramble. . ."

"I've noticed you usually ramble whenever you're nervous," she commented. "What's wrong?"

"I am. Nervous, that is. And, uh, scared."

"Scared? What about?"

"About y-you. . .and, and the b-baby." He finished emptying the dryer then placed the basket on the small counter between the two appliances. "There are so many things that could go wrong. . . I read some of Toby's obstetrics textbooks and. . ."

Paige let out a weary sigh as she started folding a wash cloth. "I'm gonna have to have another talk with Dr Curtis," she muttered, confirming his assumption she'd been in communication with the shrink during the last four days. "If it's any consolation," she said, "I'm nervous and scared too."

He let the sock he'd just picked up fall back into the basket. "But. . .but you've done this before."

"Exactly," Paige pointed out, smoothing her hand across a towel. "I was in labor with Ralph for 30 hours. I'm certainly not looking forward to doing that again. At least this time I won't be by myself."

Thirty hours. That was nearly a day and a half. "By yourself?" he asked, wondering where the hell Drew had been.

"Yeah, by myself. My dad was. . ." She paused to take a breath. "Gone. My mom was in prison and Drew. . ." She sighed wearily. "He was supposedly at a teammate's wedding. . ."

"Supposedly?" He knew he sounded like a parrot, but what she was saying. . .

"Yeah. I found out later he was with one of his bimbos," she explained. "Didn't show up until two days later. I was so pissed at him. It's the reason why Ralph's last name is Dineen instead of Baker." Her lips twitched into a mischievous smile. " I did make sure all the bills were in his name though."

Walter chewed on his lip as he listened to talk about her ex. It still boggled his mind how Drew could have cheated on an incredible woman like Paige and then walked out on both her and her amazing son. Her words only reinforced what he'd thought all along. The man was an idiot.

"I'm not Drew," he stated, continuing his thought aloud.

Her mirth left her face and she glared at him, furrowing her brow. "I never said you were."

"I intend to be by your side for as long as you want me to be there," he vowed.

"Oh, God, Walter." Paige dropped the undershirt she'd been holding and threw her arms around his neck. She kissed him softly on the mouth before laying her head against his chest.

"Uh, and there's another. . . Another reason I'm scare. . .scared." Caressing her back, he confessed, "What if. . .what if the baby's normal and I can't connect to. . .him." He placed his hand on her belly. "Like my father couldn't connect with me. I'm afraid. . ."

"Walter," she said, running soothing fingers over his shoulders. "I've seen you interact with children. Not just Ralph. Kids like Owen and Olivia. They weren't geniuses and you connected with them just fine. You're going to be great with. . ." She patted her hand her stomach. "We really need to come up with a name for this poor kid. We just can't keep calling him 'he' or 'the baby.'"

"It shouldn't be so difficult to pick out a name," he said, sticking his hand into the basket and pulling out a sock. "Thousands of people do it every day."

"No, it shouldn't." She shrugged. "I always knew if I had a son I was going to name him after my dad. I didn't know last time if I was having a boy or girl though, so I had names picked out for both."

"What name did you have for a girl?"

"Emma. I've always like that name." It had become quite popular though and she wouldn't have wanted her daughter to be part of a horde of girls with the same name, remembering all the Jennifers and Jessicas she'd gone to school with.

"That's a nice name," he said. "Reminds me of. . . Have I ever mentioned Emmy Noether?"

"No. Who is she?" Irrational jealousy coursed through her veins. She knew he loved her and she was his first, but still. . . She didn't like to think of the women who came before her, just as he didn't want to know about the men she'd been with before him.

"She was a German mathematician who made important contributions to abstract algebra and theoretical physics."

Oh. "I've never heard of her."

"No," he said with a wry twist to his lips. "You probably wouldn't have."

Indignation he'd so blatantly insult her intelligence raged through her and she pulled out of his embrace. "Why? Because I'm the dumb waitress?"

"No, of course not. I didn't mean to. . ." He ran his hand over his face as his eyes widened with fear. I. . .I don't think of you. . .that way," he said. "No, she had a hard time gaining acceptance in fields dominated by men and more often than not, others took credit for her work."

"That's just. . . That's just terrible." Her earlier outrage shifted from her feelings of inadequacy to anger that a woman who was smarter than most men had been treated with such disregard.

"They did name a theorem after her. . ." Walter said quickly, "explaining the connection between symmetry and conservation. . ."

Paige stopped him before he swung into full science lecture mode. "It's too bad we're not having a girl," she stated. "Because I'd name her after Emmy Noether." She took a deep breath, which was becoming harder to do as things were getting crowded inside her. "That doesn't help us come up with a name for this little guy though, doesn't it?"

"We could call him Emile. Or Noether." He was grinning the mischievous boyish grin of his which always made her heart beat a little faster and her legs a little wobbly.

"I don't think so, Bub," she said, throwing a pair of his boxers at him. Two could play this game, she thought with a chuckle. "I've been thinking Walter Sean Dineen has a nice ring to it, don't you?"

"No. I-I. . ." He looked like a deer in the headlights for a moment. "I'm sorry. . . I didn't. . ."

"It's okay, I know you're just teasing. I am, too." Exhaling, she said, "I love that you're comfortable enough to show me your silly side." Leaning over, she kissed his cheek. "I love you."

"Good." Before she could bristle at his arrogance, he wrapped his arms around her (no easy task considering she felt as big as a house) and added, "Because I love you too."