-Back at the beach again, Sylvester has a heart to heart with Paige and Allie. Then Cabe starts his therapy with Toby.-

Thank you, as always, to everyone who is reading this story. I'm so grateful for all your reviews! I hope you all enjoy this new chapter.

CHAPTER 14.

"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer to stay on dry land, son?" Cabe strapped his diving mask and snorkel around his head as he spoke. "You know you're not the greatest swimmer."

"I'll be fine," replied Walter, fumbling with his own mask. "I don't want you going in alone after... after everything that's happened. B...besides, we won't be long. Either we'll find the seaweed - and I'll only need to collect a small sample - or we won't."

Cabe nodded. "OK," he agreed. "But, um, you might find it easier if your snorkel's the right way up."

"Here, let me," said Paige with a smile and she quickly sorted it out. "There, now please be careful."

"Both of you," added Allie, touching Cabe's bare arm.

"Don't worry, baby," smiled Cabe. "We'll be talking to Sly on that thing the whole time." He nodded towards the tablet Sylvester was clutching.

"The whole time," Walter confirmed, waving his own tablet in the air. The waterproof casing creaked a little and Paige frowned. "It's fine," Walter reassured her.

"OK, son, let's go," said Cabe and he walked into the surf with Walter close behind.

Sylvester let out a shuddery breath as the two of them swam out a little way into deeper water. "I hope Walter was right about this location," he said. "My original calculations said forty feet that way." He pointed back along the shoreline, closer to the spot where they'd rescued Josh.

"Walter knows what he's doing," replied Paige, her eyes fixed firmly on the water as she spoke. "He said something about undercurrents."

"But I factored in the undercurrents," Sylvester replied. Then his tablet beeped. "Oh, it's them. Nothing yet... going further out," he read from the screen.

"Why don't we sit down and wait?" suggested Allie. She couldn't explain the uneasy feeling she had as she watched Cabe and Walter swim away from them.

Sylvester nodded and he sat on the sand, with Paige and Allie taking up positions either side of him.

"So, how did your date go?" asked Paige with a smile. "I've been dying to ask you all morning."

"It... it went well," replied Sylvester.

Allie pushed him gently on the arm. "Come on, Sly, we need details," she urged.

Sylvester blushed hard. "It... it went very well," he said.

Paige rolled her eyes. "Men!" she exclaimed. "I guess we'll have to quiz Kimberley the next time we see her." She paused to gauge his reaction. "I take it there will be a next time, right?"

"Yes," Sylvester responded, a tiny smile dancing at the corners of his lips. "Yes, at least I... I hope so."

"That's great!" exclaimed Paige. "I thought you were in a good mood today. If a little tired. I take it you didn't get much sleep last night?" She looked at him with wide eyes, waiting for his response.

"Paige!" he exclaimed. "You... y...you don't think that... I mean, we didn't... oh golly, you think..."

"Relax, Sly," grinned Paige. "I'm just teasing. I'm sorry."

Sylvester let out a slow breath, but the smile returned to his lips. "We had a… a… very nice evening. We… spent most of it here, at the beach. We just sat and talked. It was… it was great. Kimberley's great. I feel… I feel… I guess I don't want to get ahead of myself, but I feel…"

"You feel happy," smiled Allie. "And you deserve it," she added.

"She just accepts me," said Sylvester. "It was so easy, just talking to her, I didn't feel uncomfortable, or anxious at all, not really. I haven't felt like that since… since…"

"Megan?" offered Paige.

Sylvester nodded. "After last year… Florence… I was an idiot. The dumbest genius on earth…"

"Oh, I think that accolade goes to Walter, don't you?" grinned Paige.

Sylvester laughed. "Maybe," he conceded. "I'm a close second, though. Anyway, what I mean is, although there was never anything between Florence and me - and realistically there was never going to be – I realised back then that I wanted to feel… something, again and last night I started to think that maybe… I don't really know how to put it into words? I wanted to feel…"

"Whole?" offered Allie. "That's how I feel when I'm with Cabe," she added, blushing lightly. "And it's taken me so long to find that person, I'd almost given up, but then Cabe Gallo walked into my life."

"I haven't really got anything to add to that," said Paige, her voice suddenly cracking with emotion. "You both know how I feel about Walter, everyone does. Our relationship has played out in front of all of you, all the ups and downs, the ridiculous drama, but despite everything he and I are one, we're meant to be together… for always."

Sylvester smiled broadly and pulled her into a hug. "You guys," he said. "You've given us so many scares! And I don't need any more!"

He released Paige, but only long enough to throw his arm around Allie and pull her into the group hug.

"I can't promise anything," said Paige, smiling as the warmth of their love filled her heart. "With me and Walter you never know! But if anything else happens we'll get through it, we always do and right now, everything feels so good. So good." Another wave of emotion washed over her and Sylvester sensed it and tightened his grip.

Allie was the first to break away. "Wow," she said, swallowing hard to quell her own emotions. "I didn't expect this today."

Sylvester and Paige broke apart and laughed. "I just thought we were here to help the guys look for seaweed," said Sylvester, wiping his damp eyes with the palm of his hand. "And now we're all crying!"

"It's just so lovely to see you like this," said Paige, squeezing his hand. "The start of something new and exciting for you, I couldn't be happier for you."

"Me too," added Allie. "But talking of our boys, has there been any communication from them while we were sitting here getting all sappy?"

Sylvester picked up his tablet and glanced at the screen. "Oh, Walt says they've found something and they're on their way back."

The three of them got to their feet and looked out to sea just as Cabe and Walter swam back towards the shore. Cabe was the first one to realise he was in shallower water and he righted himself and strode purposefully out of the ocean.

Allie couldn't help but smile at the sight of her handsome man - half naked, with water dripping from his muscular arms - walking across the sand towards her. She picked up a towel and greeted him with a kiss, lingering for a moment longer than Cabe expected as she acknowledged how lucky she was to have him in her life. Then she threw the towel over his shoulders just as Walter stumbled out of the water, almost tripping over the trail of wet, dark green foliage he was carrying in his arms.

"Walter!" exclaimed Paige, stifling a giggle at his clumsiness as she skipped across the sand with his towel in her hand. "I guess you found your seaweed," she noted, draping the towel – and herself - around his neck.

"Indeed," agreed Walter, slightly confused at her unexpected display of affection. He dropped the bundle onto the sand and pulled his mask and snorkel from his head. "It's a little further out than I anticipated, but… but I think I know why all our calculations were off."

"Our calculations are never off," retorted Sylvester. "You already overrode my original figures, what aren't you telling us, Walter?"

"A…a…and I think this narrows down our list of suspects," continued Walter, ignoring Sylvester's question. "Let's get back to the garage, I need to run a few tests on… on these new samples and - as much as I hate to say this – I'll need Toby's help."

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Pretty please, with sugar on top?"

"Toby, I already said please." Walter frowned at him as he spoke and thrust a handful of wet leaves at him before starting to clear his workbench.

"I know," agreed Toby, reluctantly taking the leaves out of his hands. "But I just want to hear you asking for my help again. So, we'll try it one more time. Toby, my old friend… come on, Walt, repeat after me: Toby, my old friend."

Walter sighed. "Toby, my old friend," he reluctantly repeated, resigned to the fact that this was the only way he was going to get the help he needed.

"As you are an expert in the fields of botany and biology," continued Toby, grinning broadly.

"As you are …"

"An jackass!" Happy interrupted, much to Walter's relief. She grabbed Toby by the shoulders and shoved him towards Walter. "Here, Walt, you can have my husband for as long as you need him," she said.

"But I didn't get to the part where he has to beg for my help!" whined Toby.

"We're trying to catch a murderer here," Walter reminded him. He lifted a crate of test tubes onto the desk and started to unpack the equipment he needed.

"OK, I know, I know," agreed Toby. "But remember, I'm supposed to be on leave," he added.

"I remember, I… I was looking forward to a whole week without you," retorted Walter.

Toby grinned and slapped him affectionately on the back. "You know you don't mean that, pal," he said. Walter just sneered and went to find some more equipment.

Happy leaned over to Toby and spoke in a low voice. "Just get it over with," she said. "Remember you have your first session with Cabe this afternoon."

"I haven't forgotten," replied Toby, seriously. "I won't let him down."

"You'd better not," warned Happy. Of course she knew Toby wouldn't, but she felt the need to say it anyway.

She glanced across the garage to where Patrick and Cabe were sitting on the rug with Caitlin and Stella. The two men were trying to construct a plastic railway track, but the girls seemed intent on taking it apart faster than they could put it together. Even though Patrick was permanently back in her life now, Happy still held a deep affection for Cabe, thinking of him – as the whole team did – as their surrogate father. She glanced back to Toby who gave her a reassuring smile, before she walked into the kitchen where Allie and Paige were making lunch.

"Patrick seems to have really taken to being a grandparent," noted Allie with a smile.

"Yeah," agreed Happy. "I guess he's making up for… well, y'know."

"I know," said Allie with a sympathetic nod. "You're both so lucky to have found each other again."

On the rug, Stella held a plastic train in the air triumphantly while Caitlin handed a piece of track to Cabe.

"Thank you, sweetheart," smiled Cabe and he put it down on the rug with the other pieces. Caitlin immediately picked it up again and handed it back to him.

Patrick laughed. "This could take a while," he noted.

"Sure will," agreed Cabe. "I thought they'd enjoy watching the train run round the track, but I guess taking the track apart is much more fun."

"Happy used to take stuff apart all the time when she was this age," Patrick told him. "We didn't have much, but everything we did have was in pieces. Course I had no idea she was a genius, I just figured she was a mischievous kid."

Cabe could just imagine a one year old Happy Quinn taking her toys apart, desperate to learn how they worked. He grinned at Patrick, but the other man's face was serious and Cabe's expression quickly changed to match it. "You OK?" he asked.

"Sure," replied Patrick, dismissively. "Just thinking, y'know… thinking would I have tried harder to keep her if I'd known? If I'd known that she was different. I thought I was doing the right thing, giving her up, I mean, but…"

"Hey, we all try to do the best by our kids," Cabe answered. "You did the best you could, that's all any parent can do."

"When I handed her over to the orphanage…" Patrick began, but he paused to collect his thoughts before continuing and Stella took the opportunity to climb onto his lap. "That day," he continued eventually, stroking Stella's hair gently as he spoke. "As I walked away from my beautiful daughter I assumed I'd never see her again. I figured she wouldn't want to know me when she found out that I'd abandoned her. But… but she came looking for me after all this time and, well, now here we are. I've made a lot of mistakes in my life, Cabe and I feel like I've been given a second chance. I don't know if I deserve it, but I'm sure as hell gonna make the most of it."

Cabe smiled warmly at him. "Sure you deserve it," he said.

Cabe loved Happy like she was his own daughter and now she had Patrick back in her life he couldn't be more delighted for them both, but knowing he'd never get the chance to see Amanda again tore him apart. Just to see her smile one more time, to stroke her hair the way Patrick was stroking Stella's, to read her a story to make up for all the times he'd been too late home and she'd already fallen asleep. He knew it was impossible, of course, but the empty feeling inside him was rapidly becoming too much to bear.

Cabe glanced across the garage to where Toby and Walter were running experiments on the samples they'd collected that morning. Toby had draped a long trail of seaweed over his head and was strutting up and down, pouting and posing like Marilyn Monroe, much to Walter's annoyance. Cabe couldn't quite believe that in less than three hours this was the man who was going to help him heal his tortured soul.

xXxXxXxXxXxXx

"Come in, Cabe. Make yourself at home."

Toby closed the door behind him as Cabe walked into the apartment. Toby was pleased to note he had changed into jeans and a casual t-shirt instead of his more usual suit and tie, it showed he was trying to make himself feel as comfortable as possible. It was a good sign.

"At least it's more spacious than the trailer," noted Cabe, slumping down onto the sofa and thinking back to the last time he'd had therapy sessions with Toby.

"All that chintz kinda cramps my style anyway," replied Toby. "Can I get you anything? Coffee?"

"Coffee," agreed Cabe. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and tried desperately to relax. He was just going to talk to Toby. It was no big deal. Just talk. He could do this.

"Patrick's taken the girls to the park," Toby called from the kitchen as he poured Cabe's coffee. "And Hap's downstairs doing an oil change on the bike."

"So no interruptions then," replied Cabe. He was grateful. So far the only people who knew he was here were Allie, Toby and Happy and he wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible. He knew secrets never stayed secret for very long at Scorpion, but he wanted at least to get this first session out of the way before he had to start dealing with the others knowing he was back in therapy.

"Nope," agreed Toby, as he walked back into the room carrying two steaming mugs. He handed one to Cabe and set the other one down on the table before picking up his black notebook and a pen and settling himself on the chair. "I know how hard this is for you," he said, earnestly. "And I appreciate you putting your trust in me again."

"Yeah, well, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for Allie," replied Cabe. "I'm doing this for her."

"Allie loves you – don't ask me why, but she does," replied Toby with a smirk. "And she knows what you need. More than you know yourself."

Cabe shrugged. "I guess," he replied. "So, where do we start?"

"Wherever you feel comfortable," Toby explained. "There's no right or wrong way to do this. You know why you're here, so just take a couple of deep breaths and talk to me."

Cabe inhaled deeply and his mind was suddenly filled with images of Amanda. Her first birthday, days out at the beach, her school plays, the day she died…

"Cabe?"

"Sorry, Doc…" Cabe released the breath he was holding.

"What's going through your mind?" probed Toby, gently.

"I think about her every day," began Cabe. "I guess I always have, ever since the day we lost her, but lately… I dunno, it's like she's haunting me, Doc."

Toby scribbled Cabe's words in his notebook, it was an interesting turn of phrase and he would definitely need to come back to it another time, but not right now. "Tell me about her," prompted Toby. "Tell me about Amanda."

"I have a photograph," explained Cabe, pulling his wallet from his pocket. "I carry this one with me everywhere I go." He passed the tiny picture to Toby. It was crumpled at the corners and there were signs of water damage, but the smiling face of the girl in the picture shone through. "That's my girl," said Cabe, swallowing hard.

"She looks like you," noted Toby. "The eyes and her cheekbones, she has your bone structure."

"Thankfully she inherited Rebecca's ears," noted Cabe, dryly.

Toby smirked and waggled his ears with his fingers. Cabe scowled. "Watch it, Doc, or your ass'll be so sore from connecting with my foot you'll be doing the rest of this session standing up."

"So, why do you carry this old photo?" asked Toby, quickly returning to a more professional manner. "You must have others."

"I do," agreed Cabe. "Hundreds, but this one… this is the one I took with me to Baghdad, when I was so far away from home and, well, it was a real tough time. I guess I needed her with me then and, well, now I need her with me all the time."

Toby nodded and smiled. "That's normal, to carry a physical reminder," he said, reassuringly. "But when you look at that picture, how does it make you feel?"

Cabe's face crumpled into a puzzled frown. "How does it make me feel? That's a dumb question!" he exclaimed. "It makes me feel sad, Doc! It hurts like hell! She was my daughter and she's gone."

Toby pressed his lips together. Already it was becoming obvious to him just how deep Cabe's troubles ran. Just as he'd expected, this wasn't going to be easy. He knew he needed to get Cabe to a place where he could look at a photo of Amanda without feeling so much pain. And that particular photo, the one he held so dear, was a huge part of the problem, Toby realised.

"How about next time you bring some more photographs along?" suggested Toby. He wanted to see how Cabe behaved when he was looking at other pictures of his daughter.

Toby knew that people carried pictures of their lost loved ones to bring them light in their darkest moments, but Cabe's photo only brought him heartache and somehow it was all linked in with what happened in Baghdad. That was a revelation Toby hadn't been expecting.

"Sure, why not," agreed Cabe. He took another deep breath.

"You wanna take a break?" asked Toby. They'd only been talking for a short time, but already it was taking its toll on Cabe. "Or we can wrap this up for today?"

"I'm good," replied Cabe. "It ain't easy though."

"Never said it would be," noted Toby, raising his eyebrows. "OK, so now I want you to think about…"

But he didn't get to finish his sentence as the door burst open and Happy walked in. She was a little out of breath and was clutching her phone in her greasy hand. Toby was immediately concerned.

"What's wrong, Lovebug?" he asked.

"I'm so sorry to interrupt," she said. "But Paige just called. It's Walter, he's in the hospital. She was kinda hysterical. We have to get over there, now!"

To be continued...