Sorry it has been a bit, this story has been running around a bit in my head and I thought I would try and get it done before continuing with 'A Knight Among Monsters'. It's been a little bit of a bear to wrangle into the Uncivil War story line but I think I have it all worked out. To the Adventure! -Tim
As Cabe opened the door of the Garage and stepped inside he saw Toby, Happy and Sylvester standing back under the ramp by some kind of pool on the floor of the Garage. "Hey guys, what's this?"
Sylvester smiled as he looked over, "Hey Cabe, as we went over our plan for today it made us realize we could run chilled calcium chloride through copper tubing, thereby creating our own curling pond."
Cabe shook his head, "You guys get distracted too easily."
"Yea, well if Walt would just get back we could have a quick game before we have to leave," Toby said as he tested his brush on the ice.
Sylvester nodded, "Ever since he got released from that wheelchair he has been taking Paige out to eat or whatever more and more."
Cabe laughed, "I'm sure they are just trying to make up some lost time from their dating life. They've missed out a lot during all of his recovery." Cabe added.
"Be glad he isn't, I'd make you both cry if he was here." Happy almost giggled.
Toby made a face, "Oh whatever."
Happy kissed him, "Oh yea? You and me, we both throw one stone, whoever has the best placement wins. I'll even let you go first."
Toby grinned, "You're on. Sly if you would do the honor of brushing for me."
Sylvester nodded, "Fine, but just remember, I am still on Happy's team."
Toby grabbed one of the stones and gave it his best throw and surprised them all as the stone stopped inside the circle on the right side of the pool.
Toby smiled as he strutted away.
"How'd that go so straight and smooth?" Sylvester asked.
"I coated the brush with special bacteria I cultivated myself," Toby told him.
Happy nodded, "Not bad, now watch me." She pulled a towel off of a device on a nearby table and stuck her arm down through it and adjusted a couple of straps holding it in place. She quickly made a few adjustments to the mechanism before stepping up and putting a stone on the ice.
Toby stared, "Hey, what is that thing?"
"A mechanical device I made," Happy grinned at him. "Just need to make a few more adjustments, perfect." Happy pushed the stone and they watched as it slid down the ice and as it got to the circle it veered just a bit to the right and smacked Toby's stone and knocked it out of the circle while it rebounded to end up in the center of the circle.
Sylvester became quickly excited, "Yes and no brushing needed."
"I call shenanigans. That's got to be a violation of the rules," Toby told her.
Happy walked over smiling, "Oh and using bacteria to smooth out the ice doesn't? Face it, my mechanical mastery whipped your butt."
Toby smiled and kissed her, "It did."
The Garage door flung open and slammed against the side of the building as Paige stormed in yelling, "Walter, I'm sick of this argument. He was not hitting on me, you completely over reacted."
Everyone turned to look and watched as Paige stormed over to her desk and slammed her purse down on it. "Paige, he was clearly hitting on you," Walter told her as he walked into the kitchen. He opened the freezer and pulled the ice pack out of it and walked back to her desk. He held the pack out to her and she grabbed it from him as she sat down and pressed it against her eye.
"Walter, try and hazard a guess how many times I've been hit on in just the last month alone. I know when someone is hitting on me," Paige told him.
"What the hell did you do Walter?" Cabe rushed over mad as hell.
"I didn't do anything," Walter looked at him and Cabe saw the black eye Walter had. Our waiter was hitting on Paige and after I told him to knock it off and leave us alone he hit me. I fell backwards and the back of my head hit Paige.
Toby had rushed over with Cabe and was examining Paige's eye, "That's going to be a heck of a shiner. But I don't detect any subsurface damage."
"Thank you," Paige told him as she pressed the ice pack back against her eye. "It doesn't matter if he was or not, your response was completely inappropriate and I got hurt because of it. Have I done one thing to make you think I would prefer to be with someone other than you?"
Toby stepped over and examined Walter's eye, "How do you step in it so much?"
"Oh, that's rich, coming from you." Walter winced as he pressed against his cheek. Walter looked at Paige, "No, you have been nothing but loving and supportive of me."
"What waiter are we talking about?" Happy asked as she and Sylvester walked up.
"Jon, that new guy at Kovelsky's," Paige told her.
"Uh, isn't he gay?" Happy asked.
Paige pointed at Happy, "Thank you, he was flirting with Walter and somehow Walter thought he was hitting on me."
Toby began laughing uncontrollably.
Walter looked at everyone, "He's gay?"
Everyone but Toby nodded at him and Toby just kept howling in laughter.
"And did you see how I handled it compared to how you did?" Paige demanded.
"Leave it to you 197," Toby finally stopped laughing as he wiped the tears from his face.
Cabe walked over to Happy, "Hey, I um, I got something that belonged to my Mother. She wore it on her wedding day, and I thought, maybe, with you marrying the Doc and all. You might want to wear it, you know, the whole tradition, borrowed, old, new and blue thing. But it's okay if you don't want too." He held out an old jewelry pin.
Happy looked at it and smiled, "I love it. Thank you."
Cabe nodded, "Just a thank you gift for letting me crash with you while they cleared the mold from my place. I'll be able to move back home now."
Happy's expression slipped back to neutral after frowning, "Oh, uh, okay. What about our Stratego game? We're in the middle of it."
Cabe nodded, "I figured I could come over one night after work and we could have dinner and finish it up. Thanks for letting me shack up with you."
The Garage door opened and Allie stepped inside.
Happy nodded as she gave him a quick hug for the pin. "Speaking of shacking up, isn't that the cutie that's hot for your booty?" Happy shook her head, "Man, I'm starting to sound like the Doc."
Cabe bent over and whispered, "How do I look?" Happy shook her head and punched him in the shoulder.
Allie smiled as he walked over, "How you doing?"
Cabe smiled, "Good. Thanks."
"I-I'm so sorry to bother you at work..." Allie looked at him.
Cabe shook his head, "Ah, it's-it's no bother."
Allie nodded, "I just wanted to drop off the guidelines for the upcoming debate between Mr. Patel and Sylvester. You can review them."
Cabe took the papers, "Oh, that's not necessary. If you say they're fair, they're fair."
Allie clearly looked uncomfortable, "Oh, okay. Um... I thought we'd have it at the Elk's lodge?"
Cabe's eyes lit up, "Oh, that one near the new Italian place?"
Allie got excited, "Yeah, yeah! That's the one. In fact, I've been wanting to check it out. I hear they have a fantastic vegetable lasagna."
"Oh, I love Italian food. With a last name like Gallo, how could I not?" Cabe told her as they both laughed.
Allie became more uncomfortable, "Yeah... Oh, okay. Um..."
"Well, I'll see you soon. Have a good time today." Cabe lamely told her as she finally turned and left the Garage.
Toby walked up and smacked his arm, "Have a good time today. Good time at what? What the hell does that even mean?"
"I don't know. I-I got nervous," Cabe told him.
"She was begging you to take her to that Italian joint," Toby told him.
"No. Pretty sure that was... just a conversation between two adults," Cabe continued to stare at the closed Garage door.
"Cabe, she wanted you to ask her out. You suck at girls," Paige told him.
"Well, let's get everything in the cars and get going guys. I'm looking forward to relaxing in the sun." Cabe told him.
Paige glared at Walter, "Fine, but I'm not riding in the same car as Walter."
"Walter can ride in my truck, Toby, Cabe and Sly can ride with you Paige." Happy told her.
As Paige stood Walter stepped up to her, "I'm really sorry Paige."
Paige stepped away, "Walter, I'm mad and I don't want to talk to you about it right now." Paige handed her keys to Cabe, "You can drive while I keep this ice pack on my cheek."
Happy looked at Walter as they drove down the work access road. She pulled her coms out, "You really thought the waiter was hitting on Paige and not flirting with you?"
Walter's head jerked up with a frown and he nodded. He saw her holding her coms and pulled his out. "I've never been able to properly identify those actions in regards to me. Usually when it happened it just meant someone was playing a joke on me so I quit paying attention. But I have seen them in relation to Paige, that's why I thought he was hitting on her."
Happy nodded, "Well just give her a little space. Just be attentive for when she talks to you, but don't try to force anything. You'll just end up ticking her off more and increasing the time it takes for her to forgive you."
Walter slowly nodded.
"Don't just nod, you listen to me or I'll give you a matching shiner," Happy told him.
"So what exactly happened?" Toby asked Paige from the back seat.
"You know what happened. I don't really feel like going through it right now. I'm just trying to calm down and get over it," Paige told him. Her eyes had been locked on the back of Walter's head in Happy's truck the entire drive.
"Oh come on Paige, we're your friends, family," Toby wheedled.
"No. I haven't been mad at Walter since the he watched that security video and I don't like the feeling. I just want to calm down and forgive him," Paige told him.
"That isn't very realistic Paige," Toby told her.
Paige glared at him, "Look. Just because Happy enjoys being mad at you for weeks at a time doesn't mean everyone else enjoys that. Not wanting to be mad at the person you love is realistic. Once I can calm down from being mad I can work with him on what caused it."
As Toby opened his mouth Cabe cleared his throat and Toby looked into the rearview mirror and saw Cabe staring at him shaking his head. Toby swallowed and sat back in the seat.
As they arrived at the job site they began setting up and ensuring all the components they requested had been delivered. Cabe pulled Toby to the side, "Look Doc, in all the years you have been with Scorpion you haven't made a dent in Walter's EQ, other than to piss him off. In the short time Paige has been with Scorpion Walter has grown leaps and bounds. Even more since they started dating, and while he's still got a ways to go how about you back off of Paige and let her do what comes naturally to her since she's doing so much good?"
Toby swallowed hard and nodded.
Cabe smiled and patted him on the back as he put out his lounge chair and removed the shirt from over his t-shirt and sat down in the chair and opened his cooler and removed an ice coffee. As he poured a cup he kicked his feet up on the cooler taking a sip.
As they all converged by Cabe to confirm they all had what was needed to proceed, Paige stood at the far end of the group away from Walter without really looking at him. "Okay, well let's get started then. I'll go in and monitor the equipment in the shack," Walter told them as he looked at Paige one more time, resisting the urge to ask her to help before he turned and walked off.
Paige stood outside of the shack, probably because of the fight, but as soon as Walter had walked into the shack her nerves shot up and she felt the panic rise within her. She began her deep breathing, trying to quell the feelings. 'Walter is fine. He is just inside the shack. I looked in there just a few minutes ago. There is no one or anything in there to hurt him.' She kept repeating to herself.
Walter stood in the shack sweat running down his face as he monitored the readings when the door opened. Unable to resist any longer Paige stepped into the shack. "Do you need me to record any of the data for you?" Paige asked quietly.
Walter smiled, "Thank you for offering Paige, I've got it I think. I know you are still upset with me and you have every right to be. But I think the temperature might be more comfortable outside." They both frowned as a high pitch squeal began. Walter tapped his coms, "Happy, something isn't right, can you come check this out?"
Toby and Sylvester came with Happy and they all stood inside the shack looking at the equipment trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. Happy finally pointed, "This is the problem, copper fittings. No one told us there were copper fittings."
The sound increased dramatically and Cabe stepped into the shack, "How's a guy supposed to enjoy his day with all of this racket?"
The noise level rose again and Walter reached out and grabbed Paige, "Paige, look out." Walter pulled her out from in front of Cabe as a small explosion went off. He pushed her against the wall behind him and covered her with his body.
They were all shocked and they looked around, "What the hell Walter?" Paige demanded. She looked into his eyes and recognized the signs really quick, "Walter, its okay. It was just the piece of machinery. Something broke. Tim is not here, he's dead." She spoke calmly and softly, gently running her hand through his hair. Trying to help ground him again.
Walter stared at her for a moment, struggling with the feelings. He stated to get it under control when, "Hey guys, I don't feel so good." Cabe told them as he fell to the floor. Seeing Cabe fall, Walter finally snapped the rest of the way out of it.
"Cabe," they all shouted almost in unison as they all jumped over to him. They saw blood soaking his t-shirt. Toby grabbed his head, "Oh man, I think his abdominal aorta has been cut."
Happy got up and looked at the piece of equipment. "This piece of copper gave out. A section of it is missing. It must have sliced right through him."
"Let's get him outside. We need to call for a medivac helicopter," Toby told them.
Paige ran out and called as Happy and Toby grabbed his arms and Walter and Sylvester grabbed his legs and carried him out. As they set Cabe down they heard Paige, "Oh yea? Well thanks for nothing." She hung up and turned to the gang, "It is going to be at least ninety minutes before they can get here."
"Guys, Cabe hasn't got ninety minutes. Hell he doesn't have ten minutes," Toby warned them. Toby looked at Cabe, "I'm sorry, this is really going to hurt." He placed his fingers to the opening of the wound and pushed them inside. Cabe cried out. "Oh yea, the aorta is severed. Strong sucker, I can't hold this long I need something to pinch this off." He felt the piece of metal and pulled it out.
Walter reached down and pulled the binder clip off the paperwork and handed it to Toby. Toby took it and pushed it in and got it around the aorta and clipped it on. "Toby, that wasn't sanitized," Sylvester complained.
"Sly, I'm wearing Cabe like a puppet, sanitized went out the door." Toby reached up and felt Cabe's neck, "Good, his pulse is getting stronger." Cabe's eyelids flickered, "There we go, come on back to us Cabe."
"Walter," Cabe said weakly.
Walter knelt down next to him, "Yes?"
"Help me," Cabe gasped.
"Okay, what are we going to do?" Walter asked.
"We're talking over three hours before Cabe can see an operating table. There is no way that clip stays on that long plus everything below that point is going to die from blood/oxygen deprivation if we can't figure this out." Toby told them.
"We need to stop his heart," Walter told them as everyone stared at him.
"They taught us at Harvard that stopping the heart is actually bad for the patient, something about the brain needing oxygen." Toby told him sarcastically.
Walter nodded, "What if the brain doesn't need any oxygen? What if we bring his body temperature down so low that it slows his metabolism down so he's not using any oxygen?"
Toby's face scrunched up, "Has the sun got to you 197? We're in the middle of the desert."
Sylvester looked at him in shock, "Suspended animation? That's a long shot."
Toby shook his head. "Well, take it from a gambler, sometimes a long shot's all you have to bet on. We're in the middle of the desert. How do we get the body temperature low when it's a million degrees out?" Toby asked.
"Guys, he's shaking," Paige fretted.
"He's in shock. Guys, we have to figure this out like yesterday!" Toby warned them.
Happy snapped her fingers, "If we can put Cabe in my truck's tool chest, fill it with water I can use the diesel engine on the water truck to cause super evaporation and it will freeze the water." Happy looked at everyone.
"Let's do it," Toby said as he and Walter ran over to her truck to get the tool chest off of it. Happy ran over and lifted the hood of the water truck and began working on the engine while Sylvester ran over and grabbed a large plastic bucket and cut a hole in the bottom.
Paige knelt next to Cabe, "Cabe, you can't leave me here with these guys, I can't handle all of them alone without you."
Cabe smiled and gave her thumbs up.