"Sly, look." Toby was bouncing Tad on his knee. "Isn't he the cutest little guy?"

Toby was smitten. Despite his anxiety, Sylvester smiled. "He is."

"Looks just like me, huh?"

Happy rolled her eyes. "He is astronomically cuter than you are."

"Look at you guys, being parents," Sylvester said. "It's so crazy how everything can change so quickly."

"Yes, and for once, for the better," Happy said. "At least, it's that way for the three of us. How are you though, Sly?"

"Okay. Good."

"Can't be that great. The Super Fun Guy artist is on that knockoff Ellen program this afternoon and yet you're here talking to us." Toby cocked his head. "Have you thought about what I'd said a few weeks back? About continuing your therapy with someone?"

"I've considered it. And I've decided that I can cope with what happened better if I don't dredge it up again. Plus," he added, shrugging, "Florence is right. I did kill someone, but it was him or all of us. I'm learning how to reconcile that. And I'm processing it fine on my own."

"Okay," Toby said.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"I believe you think that's enough. And sometimes it is. Just trust yourself, okay? If it keeps bubbling up, be honest about that and get help. You deserve more than a lifetime burden."

"I know."

Happy took Tad from Toby and sat down next to him, making a surprised face. The baby giggled. Happy made the face again. Tad giggled again. Happy looked very pleased.

"Something else is bothering you, isn't it?" The behaviorist said, lifting his eyebrows.

Sylvester shrugged.

"There is." Happy looked at him in that no – nonsense way. "You said you were worried about something. We brought up Miller. You haven't told us anything that's miss – Knockoff – Ellen worthy."

"It's something to do with Florence, isn't it?" Toby asked. "Things not going well? It's been…it's been almost a month now."

It had been. And over a week since the night she'd pulled away from him in her lab. It wasn't like they hadn't seen each other since then. In fact, just the previous day she'd sat next to him on a flight back from Texas, after a case that had almost gone pretty wrong, holding his hand tightly and resting her chin on his shoulder. Things weren't weird. Now that he could touch her, he wanted to, all the time, and it certainly seemed she felt that way, too. Yet the business of the words she'd said to him kept rattling around in his head and he couldn't get rid of them.

"I've been married before."

"Yep," Toby and Happy said in unison.

"What if…what if she thinks that means I'm in a rush to get married again? What if she thinks we should do something I'm not ready for?" He covered his face in his hands. "What if I let her down because she so clearly expects me to be so good at relationships, what if…" he lifted his head slowly. "Oh, God. What if she's looking for an out because I really am just a consolation prize?"

"Wouldn't put it past her," Happy grumbled.

"Hap, not the time," Toby said quietly. He looked at Sylvester. "You remember when we were in Europe. She thought you and Walter were both going to die. You were her primary concern. Whatever she felt for Walter…it doesn't mean she's settling for you. Paige was in love with Drew. I was in love with Amy. Neither of us are settling for the person we're with now. And Florence's thing, I mean, it was a crush. People get them. They go away."

Happy mumbled something, getting to her feet and carrying Tad out of the room.

"She hates her," Sylvester said.

"She doesn't. She's worried we won't all be able to heal. She doesn't trust Florence entirely."

"At all."

"No. That isn't true. You know she would have gone to her and made some kind of threat if she really, fully didn't trust her. She hasn't done that because she wants everything to work out. But you know how she is. She puts on that tough front when something scares her. Tough, and sometimes aggressive. Florence does that too, I've seen."

Except for a couple times when they were alone, Sylvester thought. He realized he hadn't quite appreciated it as much as he should have, when she opened up to him.

Toby cocked his head, watching the younger man through the long silence. "You know, Sly, when I saw you two kissing in Europe, I said that that was going to be the toughest fix. That doesn't mean it can't be done. It just means deciding to date each other isn't a master key for all problems."

Somewhere nearby, a door slammed closed. Toby frowned, then got up and went to the window. "Okay. I'll admit when I'm wrong."

Sylvester got up. "What?"

Florence was deep in the level of Wikipedia that one only reached when continually clicking links embedded in different pages that eventually led far away from what was originally being read.

"Interesting," she said to herself. Pulling out her phone, she composed a text to Sylvester. Did you know the oldest known seal lived to be thirty – five? There are almost six seal years to a people year. That's like a two – hundred – year – old seal!

He responded back almost immediately, but it contained no acknowledgement of her cool seal fact. Is Happy there?

She frowned. Why would Happy be here? No, she…

There was a banging at her door. "Tipton! Open up! I know you're in there, Tipton, open this damned door!"

Florence deleted what she had typed. Yep, she's here. She hit send, dropped her phone on her desk, and went to the door. "Hey Happy, what's – "

Happy was two inches shorter than Florence, but that didn't mean that when bowling into the taller woman she couldn't knock her clear over. Florence was on her back before she knew what was happening, and she snapped into defense mode, pushing back against Happy's weight and trying to get use of her knees. "Happy, what the hell?"

"I knew it!" Happy yelled. "I knew you were nothing but trouble!"

Florence pushed Happy off, flipping over and knocking Happy from her knees back to the ground, pinning her under her hips and hands. "What on Earth are you talking about?"

"Oh, like you don't know." She squirmed. "Let me up, Tipton!"

"Not until you tell me what's going on." Florence leaned forward, putting more weight on her arms, which held down Happy's.

"Get off me!"

"Tell me why you're here!"

Happy sneered up at her. "I don't know what it is you're up to, but I do know you're going to stop it right now."

"What?" Florence shouted back. "What would I be up to?"

"First you cause use to almost lose our family by falling in love with Walt, now you're messing with Sly's head." Happy twisted hard to one side, trying to shake Florence loose. "I don't know why the hell you chose us to mess with, but it's going to stop. Or so help me – "

"Hey!" Florence snapped, her voice coming out much lower than usual. She leaned down until she was right in Happy's face. "I was never actually in love with Walter. I had a crush which I didn't admit to until after he and Paige broke up. And I'm not playing with Sylvester's head. I'm dating him because I like him."

"Until you decide you don't have a crush on him anymore either, huh?" Happy jerked one of her wrists free and reached up, grabbing the collar of Florence's shirt and using the leverage to pull herself into a sitting position, their noses nearly touching. "Is that how it works?"

Unless Florence had been wildly misinformed that was, actually, how dating worked. "What do you want from me, Happy?"

"Sly is still dealing with the whole business of shooting someone. He's still repairing his relationship with Walter. He cares so much for you and wants your relationship to work but he is just fixated on the idea that despite everything, you're settling for him, or that you have these expectations for him that he can't make, like Paige had for Walter. Happy's hips were still pinned to the ground by Florence's, but when she unexpectedly threw herself to the left, Florence found herself on her right side. She scrambled to her feet before Happy could hold her down. The mechanic got to her feet as well, glaring at her. "I'm saying shit or get off the pot, Tipton."

"What on Earth is going on here?"

Florence and Happy turned their heads in unison toward Toby. "Happy," he said carefully. "What's…what's happening?"

"Nothing." Happy folded her arms. "I'm just defending Scorpion's honor."

"With Tad in the car? You got yourself into a physical altercation with Tad in the car?"

"The car is two feet from the door, it isn't hot, and he's sleeping," Happy said. "Don't try to terrible parent me."

"Happy," Toby said, grabbing her by the shoulders. "You initiated a fight with the kid we are trying to adopt present. They could take him from us."

Florence could see the horror in Happy's eyes, despite the fact that she was seeing the mechanic on an angle. Then, like she did, Happy masked fear with anger. "Not if no one yaks about this," she said, eyeing Florence.

"I'm not going to try to make you lose your kid," Florence said. "You know why? Because contrary to what you seem to believe, I don't consider the goal of my existence to be to ruin your life."

"Good! So everyone is fine here then, huh?"

Somehow Florence hadn't even realized that Sylvester was there, too, standing in the doorway. "I thought everything was fine already," she said. "I thought we were all okay with each other."

"Scorpions defend their cyclone," Happy said, her eyes narrowing as she looked at Florence again. "Against enemies. I'm still not convinced you aren't one."

"That's fair. I know I've given you reason to doubt me in the past." Florence spoke slowly, both to keep composed and to take extra care in her words.

"This has been a weird year, Flo," Toby said, still with a cautious hand on Happy. "We're all a bit touchy. Maybe it's growing pains. A lot is changing. Isn't that right, Happy?"

"I'm not apologizing."

"I don't want your apology anyway," Florence said, raising her chin.

"Uh…" Sylvester shifted awkwardly. "Maybe a bad time to interject? But um, Tad is…is still…"

Toby and Happy bolted from the lab.

Florence wasn't sure if Sylvester was going to follow them. He turned back to her slowly. "What side of this door do you want me on?"

Her throat was closing up and her chest felt constricted. Dammit. She didn't trust herself to speak, so she just gestured. Sylvester closed the door, locked it, then walked over and pulled her close.

"She hates me," Florence whispered. She was okay whispering. "She's always going to hate me."

"No," Sylvester said. "She's just scared. She's scared about a lot of things."

"Well," Florence replied, a tear following the same track down her cheek as the previous one, "that makes two of us, then."

Toby followed Happy's car home, pleased to see she was driving safely, and when they arrived back, he continued to follow a few paces behind as she carried the baby seat inside. Tad never woke up through the whole thing, even when she took him out and laid him in the crib to continue his nap.

"Happy?" He said gently, when she returned to the living room. She shook her head. He debated whether or not he should push a conversation.

Everyone always thought he had all the answers. Everyone always looked to him for what to do.

He was pleased when Happy dropped onto the couch next to him and curled up close. He held her. He thought that, for now, this might be conversation enough.

I wanted to juxtapose how Happy still feels about Florence, even now, with the chapter in A Conflict of Parallels where she talks to her while she's in a coma, to hopefully show how far they do end up coming. (Also, I wanted to write at least a little bit of them actually fighting in this one because Foul Balls completely robbed us of it.)

Drop reviews if you're still around. This fandom died so quickly.