Chapter Five - Surprise, jackass.(Quote S1 E11)

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

Thank you so much to all those who read my story, and an especial thanks to those that reviewed. It's so kind of you! I hope you like this chapter!

It had been a few days, and team Centipede plus Cabe and Allie had all been taking turns to sit with Walter in the hospital. Paige hadn't allowed Ralph to come to see Walter as she was hoping it would spur Walter on and help them all reunite once he was feeling better. The others helped look after Ralph when Paige sat with Walter, and that was a blessing to her as she really wanted to spend as much time with him that she could.

Walter was still unconscious, but seemed to be recovering slowly. She hoped he could hear their voices, and subconsciously realise they were with him. The fight that had caused their split had just been a heated family argument, Paige told herself, but she knew in her heart that if this latest incident hadn't happened, they still wouldn't be speaking to each other. Who'd have thought Collins would be the one to bring them all back together!

Cabe had dozed off, and was snoring softly. Paige reached over and stroked Walter's cheek. She bent closer, whispering 'I really care about you, Walter!' and gave him a soft kiss on his forehead, but there was still no response from him. Just as she gave his lovely curly hair one last stroke, Cabe stirred and awoke.

'What's up?' he said, still woozy with sleep. 'Is he awake?'

'Sorry, Cabe. No- I was just plumping up his pillows a bit to make him more comfortable.' Paige stammered, going a bit red.

Cabe looked sadly at Paige, but didn't say anything about what he'd just seen. 'He'll be OK, kid. Just give it some time.'

Paige nodded and settled down again. One thought kept intruding into her thoughts. Would Walter want to get back with her again when he was well? Paige wasn't sure if he was strong enough to trust her again- or at least believe she meant it when she said she loved him. She sat upright as she finally admitted what she'd known all along. Oh my God! She thought. I do. I really do love him, faults, boring facts and all! She'd happily go with him to all those awful lectures, if he'd just take her back. She couldn't bear to lose him again, she really couldn't.

Suddenly a nurse came into the room. Paige was relieved to see it was the nurse they'd seen a few times. It had been difficult at every shift changeover to explain to the nurses that the doctors had told them to stay with Walter. Paige smiled to herself, she'd been with Happy at one point when the nurse on duty had tried to make them leave. Happy had all but threatened to throw the nurse out instead, and she had scuttled away, totally intimidated. Paige half thought she'd return with security but nothing happened, luckily.

'Walter?' the nurse said quietly, talking to him even though he was still unconscious. 'It's time for your meds. I'm just going to inject it straight into the cannula. It won't hurt.'

Paige gritted her teeth as the nurse bustled about fussing over Walter, seeming to Paige that she took longer than necessary to sooth his brow, and tuck in his sheets and she felt herself getting a little angry. She sighed- she really must have a private talk with Toby... she'd never, ever in her life been jealous until she met Walter, she thought, trying to ignore Cabe's knowing look at her red cheeks.

She'd blamed him for being petty and jealous over Tim, but she was now beginning to realise that she was just as bad! She really must resolve that if she was going to get back with him! Maybe Cecil Rizutto would be a better option as she sometimes found Toby too flippant and too embarrassing to open up to.

'Hmmm' Walter murmured.

'Walter!' Paige cried.

Walter looked up, blinking his eyes, trying to clear his sight from the fog that surrounded the woman beside his bed.

'M... Megan?' He stammered, his voice muffled from the bandages around his face, head and jaw. 'Is... is that you? Am... am I dead then? P... Paige said there was a Heaven, and you'd gone there. I've m... missed you so...'

His voice petered away as his eyes closed again. Cabe and Paige looked at each other in dismay as the door swung open and Sylvester walker in.

'Any news?' Sly asked.

'Er... no. Nothing important. He awoke for a second, but he's asleep again now.' Paige lied, not wanting Sylvester to know what Walter had muttered.

'Toby's on his way, so you two get off to get some food and rest.' Sly said. 'He looks awful. I thought Collins was his friend but he's not-a-nice-person!'

'Thanks, kid.' Cabe said 'I'm gonna hit the Epsom salts. These chairs really do a number on your back!'

Paige smiled at Sly as he settled down in the chairs with his favourite comic book, waiting for Toby to join him. A short while after they'd left Walter started to mutter. Sly couldn't make the words out, but he went over to the bed. 'It's OK, Walter!' he said, I'm here with you now. Talk to me, are you OK?'

Walter's eyes flickered open. He blinked a couple of times, and then as his eyes cleared and began to focus, he saw Sylvester at his bedside and they widened in surprise.

'S... Sly? You're here?'

'Yes, Walter. We've all been taking turns to sit with you. How are you feeling?'

'Why... why are you here? You left...' Walter's forehead furrowed as he tried to remember.

'Don't worry about that now, just concentrate on getting better. It's going to be fine.'

'Collins!' Walter suddenly cried, as well as he could through the pain in his jaw and the bandages around his face. 'No, look out!'

'It's OK, he's gone.' Sly began. 'Wha...?' Sylvester half turned, then slumped to the ground with a 'mmph!' as Collins struck him, and he fell back on the chair unconscious.

'Well, Walter. We meet again.' Collins said with a maniacal smile, pulling Sly up into a sitting position in the chair in case anyone looked through the door. 'I'm so glad Ten-Ton did what I told him and shot exactly where I pinpointed to him, so you'd just have superficial injuries- if still somewhat painful... I hope you'll forgive me for that? You see- I needed you as a lure for Toby, but you people made it so difficult! Arguing and walking out on each other. You see, Walter, EQ isn't good for you. I told you it would lead to nothing but heartache! Then, of course Ten needed to prove he was still worthy of his gang's trust, so we worked out the perfect plan. A win- win situation. Well for us, not so much you and Toby. Now I'm just going to stay here by the door and wait for our friend...'

Just then, Walter saw Toby coming towards the door of his hospital room through the glass windows, coffee cup in hand.

'No... no!' he tried to cry through clenched teeth. His jaw hurt so bad, and the bandages stopped Toby from hearing him through the door. 'Toby! Toby! No! Get away. It's Collins!'

Walter tried to warn Toby, his eyes frantically swivelling from Toby to where Collins was partially hidden behind the door, but Toby didn't pick up on the warning, as the pain showing in Walter's face masked any other markers that Toby would normally have picked up on.

'Hey, bud!' Toby said as he entered. 'You're awake! Bet you didn't expect to see me...?'

Collins jumped out from his hiding place and grabbed Toby. 'Surprise, jackass!' he whispered in Toby's ear. Toby dropped his coffee, and screamed a high pitched scream as he grappled with Collins. Collins was behind Toby, and had a vice- like grip on him as he drove a hypodermic needle into Toby's neck. Toby immediately slumped in Collin's arms.

'Getting to be a better fighter, Toby.' Collins remarked, panting, to the unconscious Toby as Walter struggled to get up from his bed. Just then, Sylvester woke up, his eyes widening as he grasped the scene in front of him.

Collins held the needle to Toby's throat as he said 'Sylvester, get up and help Walter up. That's right, steady now, take the IV out. Put him in that wheelchair by the wall there. Good. Now here's some tape. Tape his hands to the chair- do it properly! Just do what I say and you'll be fine.'

Sylvester was terrified. He looked from Collins to Walter to Toby, and thought he'd best go along with Collins for now until he could think of something. Collins pushed Toby onto Walter's now vacated spot in the bed, and covered him with the sheets. He put duct tape over Toby's mouth.

'There! Now he won't be able to open that know-it-all mouth.' he laughed.

He bandaged Toby's face as hard as he could, covering the duct tape and his face like Walter's had been, and tying his hands to the bed using the restraints they had beside the beds for difficult patients, hiding them under the covers. He threw Toby's hat under the bed, kicking it out of sight.

'The alarm would have gone off when the drip came out.' Sly said 'The nurse will be here any minute.'

'Nice of you to worry, Sylvester.' Collins smiled 'The nurse on duty is the one our dear Happy frightened off the other day. She won't come near this room. I heard her ask the other nurse to do her checks for her. She so kindly said she would after she'd done her own. We've just about got time. You see, Sylvester, I've been watching everything!'

'Now I'll just inject this little concoction I made especially for Toby into Walter's saline IV drip so that when our nurse comes in and sees the drip out, she'll replace it. Poor Toby unfortunately will never wake up. Revenge complete! Come on now, Sylvester. Put on this white coat I have for you and push Walter out of the door. Move!'

'You really are crazy!' Sylvester said under his breath, but did as he was told.

Walter sat helplessly in the wheelchair as Sylvester pushed him out of the room and down the corridor. Collins turned around just in time to see the nurse enter the room they had just vacated. He turned back and continued walking along the corridor, a crazed smile plastered to his face...

To Be Continued...