Tad Lascher was barely five months old, but Scorpion's newly reappointed mechanic was sure he knew flipping over onto his back was precisely what they did not want him to do, and that that was precisely why he was doing it.

"We missed the immobility days," Happy said. "When we could just put him down and he would stay exactly where we left him."

"He will be crawling before we know it!" Toby said, placing a hand on her back. They were both kneeling on the floor, the baby on the blanket in front of them making short order work of tummy time.

They had been a little bit presumptuous when they told the team back in Europe that they were getting the process of finalizing his adoption expedited. With the court cases surrounding the reason they even knew about him, his current guardian in no shape to take part in the process, and a bunch of other red tape, it might be a year before he was truly, finally theirs. Officially, anyway. Happy had known he was theirs the first moment they'd laid eyes on him.

In person, anyway. The first time she saw him was in the news clip of Florence passing him off to Walter, and then Cabe, when she removed him from the foster home that was burning to the ground. At that point, just hours removed from Centipede's own disaster of a case, she'd been too numb to think ahead. But man oh man, was it love at first sight when she and Toby had visited Tad in the hospital, neither having been involved in his rescue but both feeling a need to make sure he was okay.

You were his parents before you knew you were his parents, Paige had said later, when Happy'd confessed as much to her.

They couldn't take him home yet. He'd been restrained in the house by the perpetrator of that tragedy, and he needed physical therapy and monitoring so as to give a proper account of the toll the events took on him in the perpetrator's trial. It was all very complicated. Happy was sure Sylvester understood it more than her.

"Aaaaaaa!" Tad said, getting progressively higher in pitch. He grabbed his feet, looking fascinated.

"Weirdo," Happy said affectionately.

"Just like me, whaddya know," Toby joked.

Happy smiled at him. "Oh goodie, I get two of you."

"You're gonna have to be a lot less smiley if you want to be convincing in your horror," he told her, grinning back at her and leaning over to kiss her forehead. "You know what does make me sad? That he's too big to curl up in my hat. I've always thought that would be a cute as hell newborn photo."

"Yeah, I heard you telling Paige about that last night," Happy said. It had been after their first case back as a single team, one that turned out fairly uneventful both in content of the case itself and in their working together. That part had gone especially smoothly. She was sure that wouldn't last forever. They'd be at each other's throats again. But the ease of their first case back was either from the joy of being back together, the conscious effort they were all putting out, or both. It was a good sign for their future.

"Did you hear what she told me in that same conversation?" Toby asked.

Happy shook her head.

"Walter suggested they double date with Florence and Sylvester."

Happy's eyebrows shot up. "Is she taking that as a red flag?"

"No. She said it wouldn't be her first choice of a date, but she also knows that a lot of relationships within the four of them still have a lot of work so she gets why they should probably do it. They should be arriving at the restaurant about now, actually."

"Damn," Happy said. "And you waited until now to tell me? This is the kind of potential issue I like to be in the know about."

"Happy Quinn – Curtis," Toby said, "we only get to see Tad for a few hours. Did you really want to spend it talking about them?"

"Fair enough." She moved Tad back onto his belly. He immediately flipped back over.

"Booths are a little small," Paige commented to Walter as they squeezed in across from Florence and Sylvester. "Good thing I kinda like you."

"Should we have invited Happy and Toby?" Paige asked, glancing at Walter and then back to the other couple. "I feel weird excluding them."

"That wouldn't make it a double date," Florence said. "Then it would just be all of us hanging out without Cabe."

"Plus, the word double does mean two, so even if it didn't turn out to be all of us sans one person, it's still not a double date with any more or less than two couples."

Paige stared at him for several long, uncomfortable seconds. "I know that, Walter."

He looked alarmed. "Oh, no no no, I didn't mean to…I wasn't being…" he frowned. "I'm sorry."

"It's okay," she said, still angled toward him.

"Unnecessary clarification. I know. I recognize it."

Paige leaned over and kissed his cheek. "I know you're trying."

"I shouldn't…" he glanced over at Florence and Sylvester, then turned back to Paige and lowered his voice. "I shouldn't be messing up this quickly."

"You are fine."

Sylvester coughed. "Anyway," he said, "I told the waitress to bring us all waters and then Walter's fish appetizer."

"Sylvester," Walter said, seemingly annoyed but with a glint in his eye that suggested otherwise, "you're going to let this woman next to me know I eat fermented fish on our third date?"

Florence leaned over, her shoulder pressing against Sylvester's arm. "I'm confused."

"It seems they're pretending that they don't know each other that well."

"Why?"

"It's just humor," Paige said. "Like making fun of the fact that this is only our third date since we got back together but we are way past third date content in our history."

"Interesting. You have been on two other dates since you've been back?"

"If you consider watching a movie at the garage a date," Paige said. "Which I do," she clarified quickly, glancing at Walter. "He got takeout from a place we used to go to a lot, gave me a back massage, it was nice."

Walter looked extremely proud of himself.

"So you're saying dates don't have to be extravagant if there is meaning attached to them?" Florence said.

Paige nodded. "And as long as they're the type of thing you're doing with your partner because you want to do them with him or her specifically, not just because they're your default."

Sylvester felt Florence tense up beside him, and he understood why when he noticed Walter had an uncomfortable look on his face.

Paige noticed, and her eyes widened. "I didn't mean…I mean…" she sighed. "Your lecture outing applies. But that wasn't meant to be a dig."

"She was like my sixth choice for who to take anyway," Walter said.

"And I was in a weird head space," Florence added quickly. "Zero of ten would go again."

Sylvester noticed Paige eyeing the two of them, but couldn't comment on it because the waitress came back with the drinks and appetizers. Once their orders were placed – Walter studied the menu for a solid five extra minutes before ordering what he always did – Sylvester attempted to change the subject. "So…Patty tells me I should start working on my reelection campaign, but that's not for another almost three years. I believe in action over words, mostly, and I feel my accomplishments so far speak for themselves. I was wondering what you thought, Paige."

"I think it's never too early to think about reelection," Paige said, "if that's what you want to do. But you can't let it take over your life, because then you'll be neglecting your duties. You've worked very hard to keep the promises you made, and I think if you start seriously campaigning a few months after an opponent that isn't necessarily a disadvantage as the incumbent, since your current success will be a campaign in and of itself. But I think you definitely should start thinking about it just so you aren't overwhelmed with all that prep work once the time does come."

"And in the meantime, you and I will keep kicking butt on our projects, right babe?" Florence asked, bumping her shoulder against him.

Babe? He looked at her with a confused expression.

"Kicking butt together." Walter lifted his glass of water in the air as if to toast before bringing it to his lips. He set the glass back down exactly on the water ring. "A sign of a beautiful relationship." He put his arm around Paige. "Isn't that right, my sweet?"

Sylvester couldn't tell if Paige's expression was more amused or confused, but it was definitely a little bit of both. And as the late afternoon turned to evening, he could see her expression changing over to more on the confused side as Walter and Florence continued to make affirmatory comments about their relationships. It was when Florence commented on Sylvester's "incredible fork skills," that Paige cleared her throat, dabbed at her mouth with her napkin, and then looked at Sylvester. "I'm going to go to the bathroom. Join me? For a sidebar?"

He frowned. "Me?"

"Yes."

"I'm a…a guy."

"There's nothing gendered about a sidebar."

"No, but there is something gendered about the restrooms here."

Florence snapped her fingers. "A gender neutral bathroom. That can be our next project. Get them in all the major buildings in the area. Much more inclusive, and as a bonus, takes care of this sidebar problem."

"Sly, just…just follow me." Paige made a shooing motion at Walter, and he slid out of the booth to let her by. Sylvester glanced at Walter, then at Florence, and then eased out of the booth with a shrug.

Paige turned around in front of the artificial flower display in front of the bathrooms. "You know what they're doing, right?"

Sylvester felt a slight pang of annoyance. There was a time, and not too long ago, when he believed Walter and Florence had been sneaking around, intentionally hurting him and Paige without a care in the world. Just because they were both acting weird now didn't mean anything was going on. Despite his niggling fear, he believed Florence when she had told him earlier in the week that she was confident her feelings for Walter were gone for good. "N – no," he said cautiously. "What do you think they're doing?"

"Trying to prove themselves."

"Prove…what about themselves?" He asked, now thoroughly confused. "I'm a tad bit lost."

"Whose idea was it that we double date?" she asked. "Did you bring it up to Florence, or the other way around?"

"She mentioned it."

"Walter mentioned it to me, too."

"O – kay?"

"They wanted this double date so they could be affectionate and complimentary to us in front of the other couple to try and prove to us that there's nothing between them."

"But there isn't."

Paige's expression told Sylvester two things – that he still didn't get what she was saying, and that she'd just figured that first thing out. "I know that, Sly. I'm saying they want to make sure we know that, and they're trying too hard to make it not awkward, so that makes it awkward."

"That makes sense." Now that he thought about it that way, Florence's comments throughout the night made sense, too. "So this isn't about you potentially being a little jealous?"

She was quiet a moment. "Do I love that they will always have things in common that Walter and I won't have? Not really. But like he and I talked about when we got back together, he also has some of those things in common with you, and Happy and Toby and Ralph. But I wouldn't have suggested we leave them alone across from each other at that booth if I was really, truly worried."

Sylvester smiled. "I'm younger than you. So I feel it's weird to say I'm proud of you, but…" he gave a small shrug. "I am."

She smiled. "You're a good friend, Sly."

She was, too. He was still having a hard time shaking off the events of Centipede's case in Arizona, but she – and Happy and Toby too – had gone above and beyond to help him recover from that. He wasn't sure if he had ever thanked her properly for it, and he felt it would be weird timing to bring it up now. But he was grateful. So, so grateful. "Right back at you."

Her smile morphed into a grin. "Want to go back and tell them we see through their game and they should just relax?"

Just relax.

That was easier said than done, but Florence felt the double date became immensely more successful once Paige – and Sylvester – had assured her and Walter that they trusted them and they didn't need to act over the top, they both knew the two of them didn't have any clandestine motives.

Of course, Florence thought her and Walter had been acting very convincingly. She would have to review the night later to try and figure out exactly what had tipped them off.

"Well, this is me," she said, gesturing to the door to her lab. She had parked a little way up the street, and although the bus stop was in the other direction, Sylvester had insisted on walking her to her door. Walter and Paige were not with them. They were spending a night in a hotel downtown while Ralph – although he continually pointed out he was a teenager and could stay home alone – stayed with Cabe and Allie. "Third date, you know," Paige had said with a wink, as if any of them were under any illusion that she and Walter hadn't done anything already since getting home.

Not that he and Florence would be doing any third date related activities tonight. They hadn't talked about it since their first lunch, but he certainly wasn't ready and he doubted she was, either.

At Florence showing him her door, Sylvester gave an amused smile. "Are we trying the pretending thing Walter and Paige were doing?"

"I mean, this is our actual third date ever."

"But I have known where you live for a lot longer than that."

"Fair. Plus," she admitted, "I was trying the thing they were doing."

"Nice," Sylvester said, nodding his head in approval. "Did you have fun tonight? I did, at least once we got the air cleared a bit. But I hope you did, too."

"I did," she said. I'm starting to get a glimpse of what life could be like when the day comes again that I can really, truly be friends with both of them without it feeling weird or feeling like it has to be weird. I think Paige and I have a longer way to go, than me and Walter do, but I have…hope, you know?"

He smiled. "I've hung on hope many times."

She bit her lip, feeling a knot of anxiety in her stomach. "I really missed spending time with you this past summer, fall ish time. I didn't realize how much until I saw you again. And that makes me extra happy that it seems things are okay with me and Walter and me and Paige, because…" she shrugged, biting her lip. "For a long time I thought the only way for things to be okay again with everyone would be to leave." She'd been avoiding his eyes, but now she looked up to them. "It may still be a pipe dream to think I'll ever really belong here. But it's nice to not feel driven out."

He stepped closer, taking both of her hands and rubbing her skin gently with his thumbs. "You do belong here. When I showed up, when Happy and Toby and Paige and Cabe all did, there were moments of that doubt. But all of them have made Scorpion better. They've made the team better and the team has made them better. That's what Scorpion does. And you're a part of that now."

Florence felt her body grow warm. She took a tiny step closer to Sylvester. She liked the feeling of his hands in hers. "I want to kiss you," she said, "but I'm too short. So you're going to have to kiss me."

He did. It was only their second time, and the first since returning to the States, but she liked that feeling too. Even more, this time.