Cabe finds out just how difficult therapy can be, the homicide investigation progresses and Paige and Walter have a special moment.
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CHAPTER 16.
"And… I think we're done for today."
Cabe looked up at Toby and nodded silently. He hurriedly wiped away another tear from his cheek with his knuckle and looked back down at the array of photographs that were spread out on the table in front of him. Amanda's smiling face stared back at him – as a little girl holding an ice cream, as a ten year old in a ballet tutu and as a teenager cheekily sticking her tongue out at the camera. He could remember every single moment and Toby had expertly guided him into putting his feelings into words, pushing him just enough so his emotions came to the surface.
Cabe knew he should have done this a long time ago.
But it hurt. God, it hurt.
"Take as much time as you need," said Toby, gently. "I'll be in the kitchen."
Toby had suggested Cabe have his second therapy session in his own home so he felt more comfortable and Cabe had agreed. Allie had contemplated going out, but in the end she'd decided to stay, making herself busy in the kitchen baking cookies, muffins and whatever else she could think of to take her mind off what Cabe was going through in the other room.
An array of delicious smells overwhelmed Toby's senses as soon as he walked into the kitchen. "Mmmm," he said, grabbing a still-warm chocolate cookie from the plate and stuffing the whole thing into his mouth at once.
Allie frowned, but then she realised Toby was alone and she looked at him with questioning eyes.
"Rough session today," Toby explained, swallowing the remains of the cookie.
Allie clasped her hand to her mouth.
"But he's OK," Toby tried to reassure her. "He'll be out in a minute. We really made a breakthrough today, I'm kinda proud of the old man – don't tell him I said that though," he added with a wink.
"Should I… should I be asking him about how it's going?" Allie asked. "I kind of figured he would talk to me if he wanted to."
Toby nodded. "And he will, when he's ready," he replied.
Tears filled Allie's eyes and she swallowed hard. "I love him so much, Toby," she said.
"He knows," Toby answered with a warm smile.
"Have another cookie," suggested Allie, offering him the plate. "You've earned it."
"Save some for me, Doc."
Allie looked round at the sound of Cabe's voice. She could see that he'd been crying and it almost broke her heart. Why did life have to be so unfair?
Cabe's eyes lit up when he saw her and he strode purposefully across the kitchen towards her. Allie barely had time to shove the plate of cookies into Toby's hands before she was enveloped in Cabe's warm arms.
Toby smiled and put the plate on the side. "I'll leave you two lovebirds alone," he said. He gently placed one hand on Allie's arm and squeezed Cabe's shoulder with the other. "Smell you guys later," he said.
He was half way home when his phone played the familiar 'Atta boy' text alert that meant his wife was trying to contact him. He pulled over at the side of the road, expecting a message about picking up some bagels on the way, but the text simply said, 'Call me'.
"What is it? Are you OK? Is it one of the girls?" Toby asked urgently as soon as his call connected.
"Relax, dummy," replied Happy. "I'm fine, the girls are fine, but O'Brien's checked himself out of the hospital against doctor's orders and he wants us all at the garage ASAP."
"He's done what?" exclaimed Toby.
"Paige is spitting feathers," added Happy. "I don't blame her, the guy's a moron."
"You're right there, darlin'," agreed Toby. "OK, I'll head straight to the garage, meet you there. I take it the girls aren't giving you any trouble?"
"Unless you count throwing banana slices at each other as trouble then no," replied Happy. "But my back's still killin' me."
"Oh, sugarplum, I'm sorry," said Toby.
He hated feeling so helpless, but he'd examined her before he'd left this morning and his earlier thoughts had been correct – Baby Quintis was just lying in an awkward position and putting extra pressure on her lower back. He had assured her that it was nothing to worry about and that the baby would move soon enough, but she was still in pain and all he wanted to do was make her feel better.
"So you should be," retorted Happy. "You put this baby in me in the first place."
Toby smiled to himself. He knew she didn't mean to snap at him and he always found her grumpiness strangely endearing.
"Love you, sugarpuff," he said. "See you in ten."
xXxXxXxXxXxXx
Happy was the last to arrive at the garage. Toby's optimistic estimate of ten minutes hadn't taken into account the amount of time it took to persuade two active toddlers to sit in their car seats while she strapped them in.
Sylvester had arrived at the garage soon after Toby and had bumped into Ray outside who – in typical Ray style – had quickly made himself at home. When Cabe arrived he was slightly stunned to be offered a bowl of freshly made soup – MinestRAYne Soup.
"I made it for Wally," Ray explained. "Full of vitamins. And Robbie seems to like it too," he added, nodding towards Ralph who was on his second bowl.
Cabe politely declined, claiming he didn't want to deprive Walter. It was then that Happy arrived with the twins. As the truck pulled into the garage Toby went over to greet her.
"Have I told you how beautiful you look today, sugarplum?" he asked, smiling at Happy before unstrapping Caitlin's seatbelt and lifting her into his arms. Both girls had fallen asleep during the short journey and Caitlin was having trouble keeping her eyes open.
"I look like hell," retorted Happy, taking a sleepy Stella from the truck. "And that pretty much sums up how I feel right now too. How did you go with Cabe?"
Toby noted how she'd changed the subject and made a mental note to talk to her later when they were back home. He hated seeing her so uncomfortable and so far this pregnancy – their longed for pregnancy – had caused her no end of trouble from morning sickness, to her low blood pressure and now the backache. He knew she wanted the baby more than anything, but he also knew how frustrating she was finding the whole process and they still had over three months to go until Baby Quintis was due to make an appearance.
Caitlin reached out and touched his face, breaking Toby from his thoughts and he realised he hadn't answered Happy's question yet.
"It was a good session," he replied, gently pushing his daughter's fingers away from his nose. He didn't really want to talk about it, not only to protect Cabe's privacy, but also because talking about the photographs had been even more emotional for Cabe than Toby had imagined it would be.
Happy narrowed her eyes. She was nowhere near as good at reading people as her husband was, but she knew when he was struggling with something. "Good for Cabe, but…?" she left her question unfinished, knowing Toby would understand what she was asking.
Stella was little more awake now and Happy lowered her to the floor, still keeping a tight hold of her hand. The garage was definitely not a suitable environment for unattended toddlers.
Toby sighed and stood Caitlin down on the floor with her sister. "Let's just say making Cabe cry isn't top of my list of fun things to do on a Friday," replied Toby. "Even if he really needed the release."
"Gather round, Scorpions!"
Happy rolled her eyes at the sound of Ray's voice. "Who invited him?" She loved Ray as much as everyone did, but today she wasn't in the mood for his enthusiasm.
"No one ever invites Ray," replied Toby with a wink and they walked over to join the rest of the team who had gathered around the monitor tree. Toby exchanged a quick nod with Cabe and he was relieved to see the older man's expression conveyed gratitude.
"Thank you all for coming at short notice," began Walter, who had perched on the arm of the couch.
"No, thank you for checking yourself out of the hospital early," Paige interrupted him, standing with her hands on her hips. "Because what I really need is to spend the next few days worrying about you."
Walter's face fell. "P…Paige, I'm… I'm sorry," he said. "But… but you don't have to worry about me."
"You're gonna take it easy for the next couple days, though, right?" offered Toby. "No running around, no jumping out of planes?"
"Do I need to lend Paige my handcuffs?" asked Cabe.
"I don't think Walt's gonna have the energy for kinky stuff for a while, Cabe," Toby quipped. He yelped as he was rewarded with an elbow in his left side from Happy and another in his right from Paige, but he decided it had been worth the pain for the look on Walter's face.
Walter blushed hard and cleared his throat. "I c…c…can assure you I'll take it easy," he said. "I… I simply don't see the need to spend a…a…another minute in that hospital. It's a terribly inefficient use of my time. However, while I was there I did take the… the opportunity to go over all the evidence we've gathered so far in this case. I… I thought we should consolidate what we know. Toby, if you'd like to explain about the seaweed and… and the spores?"
"Nah, I'd rather just sit here and do nothing," retorted Toby. He waited just long enough for everyone to start wondering if he was being serious, before getting to his feet. "OK, OK, so Walt got sick because he ingested seawater that contained toxic spores."
"You did swallow a lot of water that day," acknowledged Cabe. "Remind me to give you a few snorkelling lessons before we try it again."
"Or, maybe just stay on dry land next time?" suggested Sylvester. "Where it's safe."
"Until you get hit by a bus," noted Toby, mischievously.
"Can we p...please focus!" urged Walter. "Toby, the spores?"
"Right, yes, the spores," nodded Toby. "Ralph-boy here discovered that it's the spores that have enriched the ocean ecosystem."
"Causing native seaweed to experience prolific growth," added Ralph stepping forward and addressing the group confidently.
"So seaweed really loves 'em," continued Toby, "But as One Ninety Seven can testify, the human body really shouldn't invite these spores to a party."
"What about Josh?" asked Cabe. "He swallowed a ton of seawater and he didn't get sick like Walter?"
"Well that's where it starts to get interesting," replied Toby. "And by interesting, I mean kinda scary. So, when the body is exposed to bio-toxins like the spores it causes a condition called CIRS."
"Chronic inflammatory response syndrome," clarified Ralph. "But symptoms usually develop after a long period of exposure. Like months."
"But it was less than twenty four hours between Walter downing his saltwater cocktail and him hitting the deck in the hospital?" queried Happy with a puzzled look on her face.
"And his symptoms weren't typical of CIRS," added Toby. "More like a bacterial infection."
"The spores are… are acting outside of their normal, natural parameters," stated Walter. "Which raises the question of cause."
"Genetic mutation?" offered Happy, grateful that Stella and Caitlin both seemed to be happy sitting on the floor and playing with a wooden activity toy.
"And there I was thinking I'd married an engineer," grinned Toby.
"Based on the tests we've been able to run in the garage genetic mutation is the only plausible explanation we have for now," explained Ralph.
"I'll make some calls, book you guys some lab time," said Paige. "I think we're still on good terms with one or two laboratories in the city."
"If you're referring to the discussion I had with… with that idiot at Conti Labs last week," began Walter, but Paige held up her hand to stop him talking.
"Maybe if you hadn't called him an idiot he wouldn't have thrown us out of the building?" she offered.
"OK, OK, time out!" exclaimed Toby, making a 'T' gesture with his hands. "Mutated spores, remember?"
Sylvester raised his hand. "Can I ask a question?" he asked. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before adding. "One that I really don't want to know the answer to."
Walter looked at Sylvester with a frown. "If you don't want to know the answer, why would you ask?"
"Because I think it's important, but the answer is going to be one of my biggest fears," replied Sylvester. He took another deep breath. "How could the spores have mutated in the few days between Josh and Walter ingesting them?"
"Are we talking about bio-engineering here?" asked Happy.
"Got it in one, darlin'," nodded Toby seriously.
"Oh no," muttered Sylvester. "Oh no, oh no."
"Hey, guys," said Ray, who had been uncharacteristically quiet up until now. "Can we just pretend for a minute that I don't know anything about science and could someone just tell me what the hell all this means?"
"It means," began Walter, getting to his feet, "that… that the spores were genetically engineered with a delayed activation period."
"The seaweed was already growing out of control when Josh was in the water," said Happy, realising what Walter was saying. "So the spores were present, but the bio toxins didn't become live until a few days later."
Ray scratched his head. "Still don't get it."
"Everyone does it, it's just no one likes to admit to it," answered Sylvester, shaking his head in despair. "We do it, the Russians do it, the Brits do it, it's just another way for human beings to kill each other, right, Cabe? They call it germ warfare, which are the two worst possible words for me to hear together in a sentence."
"Are you saying the military is involved in all this?" asked Cabe, folding his arms across his chest defiantly. "Are we under attack?"
"At ease, soldier," commanded Toby, spreading his hands out in front of him in a calming gesture. "We don't know who, or why yet."
"And what exactly has this rather horrifying revelation got to do with our murdered lifeguard?" asked Paige. She'd just about been able to keep up with the conversation, but she had no idea what it had to do with their homicide investigation.
"Have you forgotten about Dr Sametti, the medical examiner who changed the autopsy report and his redacted military record?" asked Toby. "He was desperately hiding something when Cabe and I spoke to him."
"So he's the killer?" asked Ray.
"No!" chorused Toby, Happy, Sylvester, Walter and Ralph in unison and they all rolled their eyes.
The non-geniuses in the room just looked at each other and shrugged.
xXxXxXxXxXx
"I don't mean this the way it sounds," said Paige a couple of hours later when everyone had left the garage. "But I'm glad they've all gone. I just want to be alone with you for a while."
"I second that," replied Walter and he smiled up at her from his position on the couch. "And we're f…finally getting closer to wrapping up this investigation."
"Are you sure this plan of yours is going to work?" asked Paige. "Getting all the suspects together in the same room sounds a little dangerous to me."
"We still have to work out some of… of the details," replied Walter. "But Cabe and Sylvester are busy making arrangements already."
The plan was for Sylvester to organise a gala dinner for local prominent citizens. Everyone involved in the case would be invited and the team would use their skills to flush out the murderer. How exactly it was going to work Paige had yet to understand. She hoped it would all make sense in the next few days.
Paige sat beside him with a look of concern on her face. "Are you feeling OK?" she asked. "I really wish you hadn't walked out of the hospital like that."
"I feel fine," Walter tried to reassure her. "A little tired, perhaps, but... but Toby said that was to be expected."
Paige tenderly touched the side of his face with her fingertips. "Let me take care of you," she said. "What do you need me to do? Ray left more soup in the fridge if you're hungry."
Walter covered her hand with his. "Thank you, but I… I don't want soup," he replied. "And you don't have to take care of me, Paige, I told you I'm fine."
"I want to," replied Paige. She stood up and grabbed a spare cushion from the chair. "Here," she said and she gently moved Walter's shoulders just enough so she could tuck the cushion behind them.
Walter smiled warmly at her. He was actually more uncomfortable now than he had been with just one cushion, but he didn't want to complain. "Thank you, my love," he said. He slowly moved his shoulders from side to side until the cushions felt a little less lumpy.
"How about a foot massage?" asked Paige and before he could answer Paige had removed one of his socks.
"Paige," he said as she started rubbing the sole of his foot with her thumbs. "Paige, I… I don't… I just…"
Paige immediately stopped and let out a sigh. "I'm sorry," she said. "I want to make sure you're OK. When you were sick, I was so scared Walter. I never want to see you like that again."
"Oh, p…please, don't apologise," insisted Walter. He reached forward and took her hands in his. "I should be the one apologising for… for frightening you. I had no idea that would happen when I went into the ocean, but at least we know what caused it and… and if I hadn't gotten sick we wouldn't know about the spores. If you want to make me feel better, then please… please just sit with me."
Paige smiled. "That sounds nice," she said and she crossed her legs underneath herself and scooted as close to Walter as she could. Her head naturally fell to the side until it came to rest on his shoulder. "Mmmm," she said, a contented smile on her lips. "Yes, this is nice."
Walter gently stroked her hair. "I love you," he said.
Paige closed her eyes as a warm feeling coursed through her body, the way it always did at when Walter said those three little words. Warm and safe. It was the most wonderful feeling and Paige wished they could stay like this forever.
"I love you too," she replied.
She loved saying it almost as much as she loved hearing it. There had been a moment at the hospital when she'd wondered if she'd ever get the chance to say it again as her darkest fears had threatened to overwhelm her.
Walter put his life at risk all the time – the all did, it was part of the work they did - and Paige had come to accept it in a strange way. Their lives were stupidly dangerous at times, but it always felt right because they did it to save people. But Paige had been struck by the thought that Walter could have died just because he'd swallowed some stupid fungus, or whatever it was and it would have been such a pointless death that she knew she would never have recovered from the loss. It had given her a whole new perspective on her life and their relationship and she felt strangely free, released from a pressure she hadn't even realised she'd been under.
She lifted her head and turned to look at him. "Walter, I've been thinking. When you asked me the other day about having a baby, I was totally shocked. I guess I needed time to think about it because I'd never thought about it before. Not seriously, anyway and when we talked about it, it felt like the right thing to do to wait a while."
"Yes, that's what we agreed," nodded Walter. "And you were right, of course. I… I think I just got carried away. B…b…because of seeing Toby and Happy with their children and, well, I… I guess just because I love you so much. Family means a lot to me and… and I can't say I fully understand why I feel like this, but I do know that I am complete when I'm with you, Paige and when the time's right we will have a baby together. Our baby will be loved so much and I have no idea how I will process any of it, but I will. For you, for us, for our family. As long as I have you, Paige, forever, I can wait for as long as you need."
Paige's eyes were suddenly wet with tears. It was so rare for Walter to talk in such an openly emotional way and it took her a moment before she could answer. "Oh, Walter," she said. "The thing is… well, I nearly lost you yesterday and now… now… I think I've changed my mind about having a baby."
Walter's heart sank. He couldn't understand it, not after everything they'd talked about. "So you… you don't want a baby after all?"
Paige gasped, suddenly realising how her words had sounded. "No! Oh, Walter, no, that's not what I meant at all." She squeezed his hands tightly and looked into his eyes as tears began to fall from hers. "I realise now that anything could happen and we don't really have control over our lives, not as much as we think we do anyway. Life's too short to wait for something we both want, so why wait? I guess my old insecurities were just trying to scare me when we talked about it the other day, but I've changed my mind about waiting. I want to have another baby. I want to have your baby, Walter, more than anything in the world."
To be continued...