YOU GUYS. Sorry this took so long. My real life got bonkers busy. Plus, I live in Florida, which you may have seen on the news recently. It's the state being swallowed by a tropical storm that keeps knocking out our power.

Anyway, I had to do some research for this chapter. Let's just say that if someone gets murdered and the police check my search history, it's going to look pretty bad for me. But also, a ton of this is made up, so don't take it as fact. Thank you for the reviews, and please keep letting me know what you think! My plan is to wrap the last chapter of "Silent" soon and then my whole focus will be on this story. :)

"Paige…"

"Don't do it," Toby warned in a stage whisper, shaking his head fervently. Walter looked over at his friend and furrowed his eyebrows, confused as the shrink pulled his finger across his throat, which the genius took to mean that whatever he was preparing to say was going to end badly. He wasn't sure what, exactly, was so dangerous about telling Paige that she was wasting her energy by pacing around the waiting room and encouraging her to calm down, but Toby had some experience with tempestuous women, so he kept his mouth shut.

The dirty glance she threw their way suggested that it was, indeed, best for him not to finish his thought. Her heels clacked loudly against the tile floor as she stormed through the row of chairs the team was seated in, spinning around and heading in the other direction for the eighteenth time.

Fortunately, it was Cabe who spoke first, breaking the unbearably thick atmosphere. "Kid, it's okay. Ralph is going to be fine."

"You don't know that," Paige snapped, her normally reassuring demeanor cold as ice. "You don't know anything, and neither do I. Why? Because we've been here for forty minutes and not a single person can tell me what the hell is wrong with my son." The agent reached out to touch her arm, but she yanked it away and continued her pacing, ignoring the concerned looks from the team. "If a doctor doesn't come out in the next five minutes, I swear, I'm going back there and you're going to have to arrest me to get me out, Cabe."

The older man leaned forward in his chair, rubbing his hands nervously over his legs as he and Walter locked eyes. They were all on edge, but the geniuses were waiting for the facts until they started to panic. Paige, on the other hand, obviously assumed the worst. It was understandable. Ralph was at the center of Paige's life. He was everything to her.

Walter had hoped, at first, that Ralph's condition was merely a result of dehydration, low blood pressure, nerves…but when he began to seize in the ambulance, it was clear they wouldn't be so lucky.

"Paige," he said lowly as he rose from his chair and rested his hand on her elbow, stilling her. He could feel her tense, but she didn't pull away from him. "Do you want something? Water? Tell me what you need."

Her face started to crumble a little, and Walter wondered if she was going to have a breakdown in the hospital. He certainly wouldn't judge her, and neither would the team, but he questioned his ability to adequately comfort her in that level of grief. Walter would have to find a way, though. Toby might have to talk him through it, but he was determined not to draw away when she needed him the most.

Paige took a deep breath and regained some of her composure, wiping away her tears with the heel of her hand. When she finally met his gaze, the rims of her eyes were red and her cheeks were flushed. "I need to see him," she said in a near whisper, shaking softly underneath Walter's fingers. "Please find someone who will let me see him."

"Okay." He could do that. He could take Cabe and interrogate every member of the hospital staff if she needed him to. Anything was better than standing next to her and feeling helpless. Walter squeezed her arm, an awkward gesture for him but in the moment, it felt like the right one.

He'd only just released Paige when Dr. Albanese came through a set of double doors holding a chart, and the liaison was in his face in an instant. "Where is Ralph?"

"Ralph is stable," the doctor said evenly, seemingly unfazed by the emotional mother in front of him. "We've moved him into the isolation ward as a precaution, and we've received the results of his tox screen, but we need to ask you a few questions about your son."

"Why is he in isolation?" Walter asked abruptly, coming up to stand next to Paige. Dr. Albanese hesitated as the team gathered around her, but she straightened herself up to her full height and crossed her arms over her chest.

"This is Ralph's family. They can hear whatever I hear."

The doctor nodded acquiescingly and lifted his clipboard, flipping through the sheets of paper attached to it. "Ralph is in isolation because his symptoms suggest that he has been exposed to a toxin. We have to keep him in isolation until we can confirm whether the toxin is airborne, but since no one involved in your son's treatment is displaying similar symptoms, it's more likely that he ingested it."

Paige stared at him blankly for a second. "I'm sorry, are you saying that my son was poisoned?"

"In the simplest terms…yes," he sighed. "But his tox screen was clean, meaning that we're still not sure what's in his system yet. We'll continue to run tests, but it would be helpful if you and anyone else who was with Ralph in the last twenty-four hours could retrace his steps. Write down everything that he ate and drank, as well as every location he visited. It could help us to narrow down what we're searching for."


"Do you think this was an accident?" Paige murmured as she ran her thumb over the back of Ralph's clammy hand. Dr. Albanese told them that he needed to rest and encouraged no more than two visitors to be in the room at one time. After they'd finished the list, Toby came in with her to examine her son and offer a second opinion. But he left quickly, knowing who Paige really needed by her side.

"Seventy-nine percent of all poisonings are unintentional," Walter answered quickly, grateful for once that the statistics were on their side and he didn't have to sugarcoat the facts for Paige. "And eight-five percent of cases have minor or no lasting effects."

She swallowed, her eyes not breaking from her son. "But he's not getting better."

That was a point he couldn't argue. Ralph was a ghostly shade of white, much paler than he'd been earlier that day, and his pulse was well below normal levels, thought at least still strong enough to be found. The doctors had hooked him up to an IV drip to replace the fluids he lost as he vomited in the ambulance and the hospital. But they'd officially cleared the possibility of Ralph carrying a contagion, so Walter and Paige were able to visit him without wearing protective gear. "No."

This had started out as a good day. They were celebrating a milestone in Ralph's life, as…Walter hesitated to say as a family, but he didn't have a more adequate term for it. And now the genius and the liaison were anxious for a far different reason, watching Ralph's health deteriorate while they were powerless to stop it.

"But it's only been a few hours," he offered in a tone that he hoped sounded more positive than he felt. "If the doctors can identify what Ralph ingested, then it will simply be a matter of giving him the correct antidote."

"If?" The uncertainly in Paige's eyes grew more pronounced, and Walter knew instantly that he'd slipped. His answer to every situation had always been to rely on the science, but Paige needed more from him right now.

"When," he corrected, clearing his throat. It almost felt like a lie—there was no guarantee that the doctors would be able to identify the poison, out of thousands of possibilities—but the way Paige's shoulders relaxed slightly convinced him that he'd made the appropriate decision.

Despite Ralph only having been in the hospital upwards of three hours, Walter could see the toll it took on Paige. Dark circles were forming under her eyes, as though she hadn't slept in days, and she was refusing to eat or drink. The frustration of uncertainty and being unable to help were affecting her as much as they affected him. Toby was putting his medical knowledge together with Sylvester's eidetic memory to assist the doctors, but this wasn't Walter's area of expertise and he knew that, for perhaps the first time in his life, he would be of more use in an emotional capacity.

"I don't understand," she said softly, drawing him out of his thoughts. "Ralph seemed fine when he was giving his speech. How did this happen so suddenly?"

Walter dropped his hands in his lap, wringing his fingers together. "Most likely the, uh, adrenaline of being in front of a crowd masked his symptoms. He may not have felt that anything was out of the ordinary immediately before or during the speech…it was only when the urgency had passed that his body succumbed to the effects."

"I should have…I should have listened to him. I should have known that something was wrong. I never should have taken him to that stupid ceremony." The genius opened his mouth to contradict her, but Paige help up her hand to stop him, her voice cracking with every word. "No, Walter, I'm his mother. I know everything about him, how could I…how could I not have known this?"

He stayed silent for a moment, having learned long ago that saying the first thing that came to his mind often lead to disaster. But he was saved from searching for a response when Dr. Albanese appeared at the door and waved for them to join him in the hallway. Paige leaned down and kissed Ralph's hand before letting go and vacating her seat for the first time in hours.

Cabe and the other geniuses were already in position, shooting sympathetic looks at Paige but saying nothing. Happy wordlessly handed the liaison a cup of coffee, which she accepted without drinking. "You have news about Ralph?"

The doctor focused his attention on the mother, whose early vitriol was replaced by what the geniuses recognized as numbness. It was, very likely, the only way she could keep herself together while Ralph was still in danger.

"Your colleagues and I consulted with my contact at the CDC. We pinpointed several potential toxins that we then screened Ralph for. One was the poison found in rhododendrons, after we realized that your son had eaten honey this morning."

Paige clutched the cup tighter in her hands, but her face remained passive. "What does that mean?"

Toby spoke up from his position halfway between her and the doctor. "Honey made from bees that have fed on rhododendrons is poisonous. There are a wide range of side effects, but it can cause nausea, slow pulse, vomiting, and seizures. The symptoms usually present themselves about six hours after ingestion."

"So it was just an accident, then?" There was a hopeful inflection in Paige's voice, but it faltered when the doctor's eyes dropped swiftly back to his chart.

"This is where it becomes…a bit more complicated," Dr. Albanese offered in a much less clinical tone than the one he'd greeted them with earlier. It was clear that he wasn't preparing to deliver good news. "The amount in Ralph's system is easily seven or eight times any accidental dose that I've seen, which means that it was most likely intentional. The majority of intentional poisonings are self-inflicted…" Paige narrowed her eyes at him, but he hurried on before she had a chance to set him straight, "…but based on the account that Mr. Dodd provided, that does not seem to be the case."

He motioned for Sylvester to contribute, and the mathematician nervously shuffled to the front of the group. "Um, Ralph and I were eating breakfast together in the garage this morning. He was making oatmeal and found a bottle of honey in the cabinet. It didn't look familiar to me, but I assume you'd bought it. I'm sorry, Paige."

The liaison chewed her lip, silent and deep in thought. Knowing that Paige was too distracted to fulfill her usual role, Happy leaned over and whispered to Sly that it wasn't his fault, which appeared to calm him.

"It could have happened to anyone on the team," Cabe said gently, but Paige snapped out of her daze and shook her head.

"No, it couldn't have," she said firmly, her eyes still not meeting the team's. "Ralph eats the same thing every morning. Oatmeal with honey. We were out and I was going to pick some up tonight." Paige's breath caught in her throat as she added, "Someone knew Ralph's habits. They targeted my son."

Walter had been quiet up to that moment, absorbing the information provided and piecing it together in his mind. But he had an almost biological response to the distress in her voice, and his hand reached out to rest on her lower back. He could feel her heart racing through every part of her body.

"Can you treat him here?" he asked. Paige needed time to process this turn of events, and Walter sensed that she was starting to shut down; a situation he was uniquely qualified to handle. "What does he need?"

Dr. Albanese exchanged a reluctant glance with Toby before focusing his attention back to Walter and Paige. "Typically, we carry the antidote to treat accidental exposure. But with Ralph's dosage…we just don't have enough on hand. The nearest lab that does is six hours away. We're having it flown in, but given the rapid progression of symptoms, there's a possibility that six hours may not be enough time to avoid permanent damage."

Walter felt his own heartbeat increase. "What kind of permanent damage?" he asked evenly, not wanting his concern to create further stress for Paige.

"I'd like to be as transparent as I can here." He looked to the team, seeking their approval, and they nodded collectively for him to continue. "The worst case scenario for this type of poison is a coma or death. It's rare, but factoring in Ralph's age, and the high dosage he received…it's significantly more likely."

Everybody noticed when Sylvester refrained from offering the concrete statistics. No one wanted or needed to hear them.

Paige was the first to pierce the heavy silence. "I need a minute," she muttered, Walter's hand sliding from the small of her back as she pulled away from the team and disappeared around the corner into another hallway. Toby noticed the unspoken question in Walter's eyes and nodded.

"It's okay. Let her go."

Dr. Albanese excused himself as well, but as he returned to the nurses' station Walter could hear him directing a young woman with red hair to record Ralph's vitals and change his IV bag. None of the geniuses said a word as they sipped their lukewarm coffee, until Happy loudly cleared her throat.

"Let's just tranquilize the elephant in the room, guys." The mechanic took the last swig from her cup and arced it into the garbage can. "You know damn well who did this, Walter. We all do."

He didn't know. He only suspected. Scorpion had put quite a few criminals in prison since they started working with Homeland, but Walter only knew one man who wanted revenge so badly that he would threaten the life of a child to get it. Only one man who studied the team, knew their habits, made a puzzle out of it instead of blowing up the garage like any run-of-the-mill terrorist or thief might have done.

Walter remembered Paige's reaction vividly when Cabe informed them Collins was missing. Or, rather, his body was. The genius was certain that he witnessed Mark take his own life, but if his scientific experiments had taught him anything, it was that the world went far beyond what the human eye could see.

Paige moved past their ordeal admirably, but she still had nightmares, much like he did. Dreams that Cabe didn't show up on time, and Collins shot them both instead. Or that Paige had accepted Mark's deal and vanished without a word, removing her and Ralph from Walter's life permanently.

She took the brunt of Mark's anger. He manipulated her, twisted her mind until she doubted everything she was sure of. Paige didn't have to tell him how unsettling that was. Walter had experienced it firsthand. She put on a brave front when she learned that Collins's status as 'deceased' was more flexible than they'd hoped, but Walter could tell that part of her was always on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop. They hadn't talked about it much since; there was always another case, another project, another step toward forgetting it happened at all.

Until now.

"We don't even know if he's alive," Walter insisted, but Happy picked up on his lack of confidence and scoffed.

"Cut the crap, Walt, of course he's alive." Happy rolled her eyes. "That man is too in love with his own intelligence to kill himself. Collins changed the game and he won. He stayed out of prison and made you question yourself, again. But he won't stay down until he gets what he wants."

The genius leaned his weight against the wall, feeling suddenly drained. He'd have to tell Paige of their suspicions, of course, but he wasn't sure he had enough courage to do it. He wouldn't only be dredging up memories of her captivity; he also risked reminding her of the harsh things he'd said to protect her, and he fretted about the wedge that might drive between them.

But Ralph was more important than anything he could sacrifice.

"Have you ever known Collins to use poison before?" Cabe asked. "Do you have any idea what his MO might be?"

"He tried to poison Walter once," Happy offered, her voice dripping with disdain.

"Technically, he injected me with a serum that he believed would improve my brain function. I agreed to it," Walter rebutted, but the memory did make him shudder. Collins had always appealed to his pride, his megalomania, his obsession with having all the answers. It had led them both onto some fairly dark paths.

She matched Walter's scowl with one of her own. "Collins told you that you agreed to it. You were down the rabbit hole then, who knows what the hell you actually said?"

He had to concede on that point. His memories of the event were incomplete…just flashes, mostly, which had been quite typical when he was under. But it seemed like something he would do, and Walter had never questioned Mark's story. "It's been three months since…" He pressed his lips together. "Why would he wait to make his move?"

Sylvester raised his hand, and Happy motioned impatiently for him to speak. "Because we weren't looking," he noted in a shaky voice. Collins terrified him, and unlike many of his phobias, that one was rooted in experience and fully justified. "When he went missing, we were all on high alert, remember? He had to wait for our guard to drop."

The mathematician was right. And it was Walter's fault. He continually believed that he was finished with Collins. He had wrapped himself up in Paige and Ralph, in enjoying the new routine he was building with them, and failed spectacularly in his pledge to keep them safe.

A hush fell over the team, and Walter lifted his eyes to see the liaison walking toward them. Everyone seemed to scatter in different directions, leaving the two of them, and she took a straight path to Ralph's room with the genius right behind her.

"Paige?" he asked lightly as she dropped back into her chair, unsure of how to phrase his question. She was staring intently at her son, still sleeping peacefully but far from the happy, healthy kid they were used to seeing.

She combed her hand through her hand, brushing her bangs out of her face. "It's him, isn't it? Collins?"

Walter fell speechless for a moment, surprised. He'd felt his resolve to tell her faltering from the second she reappeared, but Paige was an intelligent woman and she likely suspected Collins for all the same reasons he did. "I don't know." That was the truth…or most of it, anyway.

Paige dropped her hand and sighed. "I saw your faces. How quickly you shut up when I came back. Don't try to protect me, Walter. As I recall, it didn't work out so well last time."

He felt a pang of guilt spike through his chest—the same sensation he always attached to memories of that day. Paige never brought it up, but the words he couldn't forget saying would always haunt him.

I used you, Paige. I used you as an experiment and I apologize for that. But as much as I tried, it was never real.

No more lying. That was what he'd decided on that drive home from the hospital, when they admitted the truth about their feelings for each other. Honesty was the only way they would survive.

"Okay." Walter lowered into the other chair, angling his body to face her. She kept her focus on Ralph, but he knew she was listening. "If Collins is behind this, he'll reach out. Or he'll let us find him. But until then, we can't, uh, we can't know for sure."

She nodded, raw determination in her eyes.

"Does he want to kill Ralph?"

Walter's mouth went dry at the thought. He'd always known that he had a special affinity for Ralph. But he suddenly realized how thoroughly devastating the idea of losing him seemed.

He forced himself not to follow that train of thought too far. "His grudge isn't against Ralph. It's against us." Walter let out a deep breath. "He may be trying to hurt us through Ralph, but knowing Collins, it's more likely that this is all part of a larger game."

Paige laid her hand on the bed within an inch of Ralph's, as if any contact might break her son. "If anything happens to him, I won't…"

She trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Walter didn't want to hear the possibilities. The only circumstance under which he had been able to accept losing Paige and Ralph was when he believed that they could be safe, free, happy. Not like this.

"Paige, look at me." When she hesitated, Walter placed his fingers under her chin and tilted her head, bringing her tired eyes to his. "I will never let that happen. Do you understand?"

It was like someone flipped a switch, and all of the walls that she had built up to protect herself crumbled at once. The armrests of their chairs created a barrier between them, but that didn't stop Paige from sinking into him, trembling as her sobs soaked through his shirt. And after three years of working with Paige, and three months of dating her, Walter knew exactly what she would do in this situation. He wrapped his arms around her back and let her cry.