2. Chapter: Tension

Without a word Toby stood up and walked out of the garage.

Happy followed him with her eyes and suppressed the instinct to go after him immediately. Some feeling in her gut told her, that she needed to know what ticked him off before she could walk after him. Aside from that she didn't want the others to recognize that something important had changed between the two of them. She wasn't ready to talk about their relationship with the others. She wasn't even sure if she would ever be ready to talk about all of her feelings.

"Why didn't you tell us earlier?" Paige confronted Cabe like only a mother could. "You knew this would be hard on him."

"Yeah, I know", Cabe agreed. "But there were more important things to talk about."

Paige didn't look very convinced and Happy got a little bit impatient. "So tell us already. Why is the doc suddenly so upset with his 'childhood dream'."

"The leading psychiatrist on this project is someone from Toby's past", Cabe admitted.

"What's the big deal?" Happy wanted to know. "I mean he even applied for a job in Quincy Berkstead's department at the university to get a mission done. And this man is his declared nemesis! Who much worse can it be this time?"

Paige and Cabe both looked at each other a little more worried than before, while Walter stood up and read the file Toby had opened a few minutes ago.

"It's Amy," he stated calmly.

"His ex-fiancé Amy?" Sly asked just to be sure.

Walter nodded for confirmation, while Paige studied Happy closely. For a second the usually unimpressed face of the mechanical engineer looked shocked, but when Paige blinked the expression was gone and Happy stated dryly: "Not good."

Happy wasn't sure what the others were talking about exactly, because after the big announcement that Toby's ex-fiancé was involved in their latest case her mind went blank. For the first time in her adult life she had decided to take a risk and let this crazy shrink in her life – not only as a best friend, or a lover – but as a boyfriend for god's sake. They hadn't even been together for long. And now everything went downhill.

Suddenly Happy recognized that she was really nervous, confused and had to think. Without a word she left the garage and found herself in the back alley, where Toby was standing beside his truck. His back was turned towards her and she had some kind of déjà vu.

Last year when Sly had been injured the two of them had been in the same alley, talking about the docs fears of losing one of his closest friends. So much had happened since then. Happy closed her eyes for a minute and took a deep breath.

"Hey Doc" Happy approached him like everything was perfectly normal even if she had the feeling the world had been turned upside down.

Toby looked at her rather clueless. He felt extremely uncomfortable, but he didn't want her to worry, so he tried to ignore his feelings. "Hey Hap," he responded and suddenly grabbed her hand like he was afraid she could simply walk away. For a second he thought that she would resist, but she stepped a little closer so that they were standing right in front of each other and he smiled a little.

"Let's take the car and drive to the beach," he suggested. "We could stop at Kavelski's and grab some sandwiches and soft drinks and make a picnic near the ocean. The two of us didn't have a lot of free time since Scorpion made it; we deserve a day off from time to time." Happy didn't look very approving, so he rambled on: "Or we could visit some of your salesmen and try to find that vintage engine you're searching for. And when we get back we get takeout and watch some movies on my couch. Maybe afterwards we have time for hanky-panky, who knows."

"Sounds nice" Happy had a tiny smile on her face. "But we both know that that's not going to happen today."

"Why not?" Toby was absently caressing her hand with his thumb. "We are two adults we can do whatever we want."

Happy shook her head gently. "If we don't get this Homeland intelligence back in time innocent people could get hurt. You don't want that."

"Walter and Sly are going to handle it. They'll track the data as soon as it's put online." He didn't want to let go of his illusion.

"We also have to find the person behind all of this. That's your job, numb nut" she reminded him.

"Okay," he agreed. "But when this is over we take the weekend off and do something nice. Promise?"

"Promise," Happy answered and when they went back to the garage they were still holding hands like they were afraid of letting go.

Cabe, Paige and Toby were driving in a SUV to the Homeland Training Center. The whole drive had been rather quiet and the behaviorist had only looked at the files of the most likely targets, when Paige tried to talk to him.

"If you want to talk about it, I'm there for you," she simply stated.

"Talk about what?" Toby wasn't even looking at her. He was currently reading John Bishops profile, he was the leader of the task force and known for his rash and unconventional behavior. The man shouldn't even be on the project, he was nominated after the former leader had been wounded during a mission.

"Don't play dumb," she replied. "Your ex-fiancé is working for Homeland and we have to investigate, so you are going to meet her. How do you feel about that?"

"Usually that's my line." He was still refusing to look Paige in the eye, so he grabbed Marcia Herolds file. She was an expert on Middle East countries and was working with the task force members as well.

"Toby" Paige's voice sounded demanding, but he refused to react like she wanted to. Suddenly she took the pages of his profile out of his hands.

"Hey?!" When he looked up, Toby accidentally made eye contact with Paige. He knew he was busted.

"Listen to me," she said calmly. "I know how you feel. I was terrified when Drew announced that he was back and wanted to see Ralph. Not only because I didn't want to confuse my son, but also because Drew had been a complicated part of my past and seeing him again and talking to him brought back a lot of memories. At first I tried to suppress them, but then I realized that everything I did, made me, what I am today. I love being a mother; I have a great job and really good friends. And seeing Drew was like looking at old yearbooks. At first you get really excited and a little bit anxious, but then you put them back in some box with stuff from your past and everything is back to normal."

Toby looked closely at his colleague. "I totally get it. I know Amy is in my past and I don't want it any other way, but I'm just …" he suddenly interrupted himself, before he said: "I'm just really pissed."

"Cause she left you," Paige said empathetic.

"No," Toby exclaimed. "Cause everything went so smooth lately. I solved my issues with Walt and now I just wanted to enjoy what life is offering, but when I'm almost perfectly happy, there pops up this reminder of how much I screwed up in the past. And not only I'm confronted with all my failures again, but everyone else will see them as well."

"We'll get over it," Cabe suddenly interjected.

"And Happy will too. She knows you by now and nothing will change her opinion about you," Paige assured him.

After that little talk the drive went on as silent as before. By the time they arrived at the training facility Toby had convinced himself that this was nothing but a normal job and nothing about it would jeopardize his relationship with Happy.