Don't know if anyone is going to read, much less review this, but oh well.

Not going to lie, love Scorpion and the characters. They all have their charms and flaws (which, to be honest, adds to their charms)… but sometimes they piss me off beyond belief. I guess the writers should get the blame, but some scenarios would have pissed me off regardless.

Season 4 was a mess, and I can understand why many were so upset about the finale (especially considering it was also series finale) for different reasons: Character interaction, the major cliffhanger we were left with, etc.

Have to admit though, that the finale and the clusterfuck episode that was "Kenny and the Jet" didn't nearly piss me off as much as the following outtake… not to mention the slaughtering that was Ralph's character. They could have used him so much more, especially since he was now older with more experience and a body better allowing him to keep up, at least some of the way.

Instead, they shoved him to a side and slaughtered him. The frustration over that and my ire over the following outtake gave birth to this, something I never thought I would write, a form of fix-it-fic drabble, another one-shot (will be written shortly) and a one-shot that maybe others can and will use as a steppingstone to give Ralph the justice he deserves.

Paige: "What were you thinking?"

Ralph: "That those girls were cruel and they did a bad thing."

Paige: "And now you have done a bad thing. You can't respond to bullying with more bullying."

Ralph: "Why not? In physics, two negatives often equal a positive."

Paige: "This isn't physics, and don't try to outsmart the situation. Stupid behavior plus stupid behavior just leads to more stupidity."

Ralph: "But, Mom."

Paige: "Quiet. Let me ask you a question. Do you think those girls will be nicer to Patty now? Or do you think they'll dislike her more? Did you help the problem or exacerbate it? Over 200 IQ and you need me to figure it out for you."

Ralph: "I'm sorry."

Paige: "You're gonna pay for any damage that may have happened to those bikes. You are gonna apologize to those girls, and you're gonna take whatever punishment the principal thinks is right."

Sylvester: "In Ralph's defense, the principal is a tool."

Paige: "Eavesdropper. Ralph, you are a good kid. Your heart was in the right place."

Ralph: "Thanks."

Paige: "But… your head was up your butt."

Scorpion, 4x19, Gator Done.

Disclaimer: I don't own Scorpion or any of its rights.

Be warned: Characters may seem, and most likely will be, OOC. Plus, an author's rant in the end.

"But… you head was up your butt."

Ralph reeled back as if Paige had slapped him, utterly in shock. However, as his mind processed what his mother had just said, about his head being up his butt, and what she had said before that, something within him changed. Ever seen a storm approaching? The white clouds building in the distance, beautiful to look at as they dance and drift. But as they grow closer, they change color, and before you know it, the air grows dense and heavy, the sun is blocked out and then the lightning and thunder strikes. The shame and regret he had felt during his mother's tongue-lashing quickly gave way to something else: Anger. Anger at his mother for the unfair he felt he had been given, anger at the girls bullying Patty, anger at every bully out there and anger at every adult who had forgotten what it was like to be a kid and be bullied, who had bullied others or had stood passively by.

Eyes darkening and narrowing, and knowing full that he may end up receiving a much worse punishment, the genius steeled his nerves as he prepared to do something he had never, at least for real, done before: Argued with his mother. Nerves steeled, and ready for battle, he spoke a single word.

"No."

Paige raised an incredulous eye-brow. "No? What do you mean no?"

"I mean that my head wasn't up my butt… and I'm definitely not going to apologize to those girls. I will pay any damage, if any, done to their bikes, and I will take whatever that, as Sly put it, tool of a principal think is a fitting punishment… but I will not apologize to those girls."

The team mom of team Scorpion narrowed her gaze dangerously. "Yes, Ralph, you will. What you did was no better than what they did to Patty."

"And did they apologize to Patty?" Ralph challenged, cocking an eyebrow, anger coursing through his veins. "If they did, I will apologize to them… but I doubt it. I will apologize to them when they do."

Paige nosed drills flared and she leaned towards Ralph, towering over him. "You will apologize, Ralph, because it is the right thing to do. Responding to bullying with more bullying; it solves nothing. I ask you again: Do you think those girls will like or dislike Patty more now?"

Ralph, still feeling his anger, and maybe a bit of teenage reckless, held his ground. "Apologizing may be the right thing to, if it is done of own free will, not by force. In which case, those girls should start. But mom, your statements and arguments are mostly false and invalid."

His mother's eyes widened, in shock and anger. "What did I say about you-"

Ralph, knowing he had to speak now before his mother got going, interrupted calmly. "You say responding to bullying with more bullying won't stop it. That is false. How did Walter solve his issues with his childhood bullies? By responding in a language they understood, with his fists. He had help from Tim and his mother scolded them enough to make them stop, but they found common ground through one of the lowest forms of languages, by fighting fire with fire."

Paige closed her mouth, giving him a startled look. "How did you-"

The genius boy resisted the urge to sigh. He thought he had mentioned it multiple times by now. "Secrets and information in this garage, at least when it comes to internal ones, don't stay that way. People talk."

His mother glowered and muttered under her breath, but how much of it was directed at him and the team, he couldn't say. Allowing his mom to get her bearings, he waited patiently, already having formed his own arguments. Finally, Paige spoke. "That was different, Ralph. It was adults, and it had been brewing for years. It doesn't-"

Ralph nodded, cutting her off again. "Pertain to what happened? Mom, it does. Walter and those guys are adults, and they failed to solve it with diplomacy until they had up on each other. Tim acknowledged he was a bully, and he only stopped bullying after he got his ass kicked. So yes, responding in kind to bullying does solve it." Seeing her open her mouth again, he forged on, catching steam to go on. "Sly said he wanted to solve it with diplomacy… he failed. Why? Because you don't solve bullying among kids with diplomacy. It doesn't work kid to kid, and it doesn't work, at least not effectively, with adult to kid, especially not teacher to kid. Diplomacy implies that compromises have to be made, meaning that the bully, in this case those girls, have some degree of control to what they think is fair for punishment. And if compromises have to be made, then the teacher no longer has any edge to possibly quell the ongoing bullying, much less should it resume at a later date as they would then be in the exact form of negotiation."

Taking a deep breath, Ralph continued quickly. "You asked me if they would like or dislike Patty more because of my actions. That argument is invalid. For starters, if not for you or Sly, they have no way to trace it back to me, nor Patty, meaning it would be status quo. Secondly, if they start disliking her more, it would be because they realized Sly had told on them and trace Patty to him. Thirdly, you cannot make bullies suddenly like their victim."

He stared his mother down, despite Paige being several inches taller. "You asked me whether I helped or exacerbated the problem… maybe I helped the problem by exacerbating it. Sly went to the teachers, but most teachers, when it comes to bullying, are either incompetent idiots, unwilling or unable to do something about it, as schools have become just as much business as an institute for learning. The teachers who may be willing to do something about it risk facing a reprimand or pink slip from the board as the loss of students mean loss in income. But by possibly escalating the problem, whether through my actions or Sylvester's, it might force them off their asses and really do something about it. And if they don't the first time, and those girls start getting worse to Patty, I will respond in kind until the teachers, or social services or the likes, are forced to act."

He sighed. "Mom, did you know that every year, kids commit suicide because of bullying? It's not just a phase, and it's not just about growing armor against it and grow up. Some harden and get that armor over time, some don't… and even those with that armor risk being marked for life, psychologically… just look at the team. The point I'm trying to make is that bullying has consequences… and consequences are the only thing bullies understand. Them liking their victim is not necessary to stop the bullying… what is necessary is for them to get some sort of respect, or in some cases, fear of their victim, and for them to understand that their bullying has consequences for them as well."

Looking her dead in the eye, Ralph continued. "From my experience, when it comes to bullying, there are four types of people: The bullies, the victims, the passive onlookers who know that that bullying happen but do nothing, and the select few who are willing to fight the bullies head to head." He hesitated for brief moment, scrutinizing his mother. "Mom… when you were my age… what group did you belong to? The members of the team are easy to place, but not you… but given your response earlier… I don't think you belonged to the last ones."

He heaved sigh, closing his eyes, before speaking again, his last words for the evening. "I will go wait in the car."

With that he walked out of the garage, but he didn't register the tears in his mom's eyes… nor the ones trailing from his own.

AN:

Let me be clear. I don't hate Paige. I find to be an interesting character, but her treatment of Ralph there pissed me off. Not only didn't she try to listen to his side of the story (from what I can tell) and try to see things from his perspective, she only wanted him to apologize to the bullies.

What incensed me even more was that the girls' actions apparently didn't have consequences for them. Patty got her tardy annulled, sure, but what about the girls who shredded her bike? Did that have any consequences for them? Not that I know of.

Ralph's, perhaps rather extensive monologue, is mostly based on my own childhood experiences. I was bullied, and it wasn't until 6th grade or so we got a teacher who actually had the nerve to tackle the situation head-on. I remember, vaguely a student-parent meeting in an earlier grade, and for a time the bullies backed off. But it was hard for me to speak, with so many eyes on me, so I couldn't exactly tell what was going on… not as well as I probably would have liked.

At any rate, the bullying resumed on and off, meaning that I never knew what to expect… I never knew if I was part of the class fellowship or not. I did, however, get them to back off for a time twice.

The first time I slapped one of the other boys so hard that he had a handprint hours later, maybe even the day afterwards. Why did I slap him? Because he tried pulling the chair underneath me… unfortunately for him, I saw it, so I spun on my heel and slapped him. And I was regarded as one of, if not the, physically weakest amongst the boys… but after that, they kept their distance and left me alone… for a time.

The second was during winter. I wanted to eat my lunch at peace, I met the bullies in the hallways, they wanted to give me a time in the snow, I tried to evade them, but they pursued… I ended up kicking one of them in the crotch. Got away from them, but they caught up to me… punched another one in the head… they backed off after that.

Bottom-line, they backed off because they found that it consequences for them.

As you can see, I feel strongly for the topic of bullying… and this scene pissed me off, for Ralph took a stance against bullying (whether or not he did it the best way I will be up to you) and got scolded for it, and basically called an idiot by his own mom.

As for Sylvester going to principal or whatever to solve it with diplomacy. Clearly, a guy with eidetic memory (or something) has somehow forgotten how things got solved when he was Ralph's age: It didn't. It didn't work then, so what in Hades made him believe it would be any different now?

As Ralph said, and again, based on my own experience, when it comes to handling bullying, most teachers are either incompetent idiots, unwilling or unable help. It was so two decades or so ago, and to my fury, last year or the one before that, I confirmation that things hadn't improved. Zero tolerance for bullying on schools my ass… theory is one thing, practice is another.

Remember how I said they slaughtered Ralph's character? The scene who gave rise to this drabble story was, to me at least, a prime example. Ralph have shown to have a, albeit slowly burning, temper and not being afraid to tell people what he thinks of their actions: Called Walter a coward over not being able to act on his feelings for Paige, calling Cabe a hypocrite for not wanting/allowing for Scorpion to help him… yet he took Paige's scolding lying down.

Granted, Paige is his mom and it can be hard to talk back your mother, but Ralph is:

Genius he may be, but he is also a teenage boy hitting puberty… hormones anyone?

Has a crush on Patty… again, hormones, clouded judgement (maybe?)

A genius with 200 (or more) IQ… yet he couldn't pick apart Paige's argument and could only come up with a physics response like he was a novice in maths and physics? Seriously?

It was the same as when Florence was introduced. A garage of geniuses with IQ 170 or higher, and yet the genius with the highest IQ's solution to catch butterflies (or whatever) is to chase them through the vents with a net? Again, seriously?

Anyway, sorry for the long rant… just needed it to get out my system.