5. Chapter: Toby to the rescue

Happy was really pissed. This day had gotten worse with every minute.

Meeting Amy had suddenly shaken her confidence and there was little she hated more than feeling insecure about herself. If that hadn't been bad enough Toby also went to talk to her in private. Happy had wondered what he couldn't tell Amy while she was listening through the com. This thought had definitely distracted her while defusing the bomb.

Now she was sitting in the dark, while smoke filled the room and waiting for him to finally show up. She hated being stuck. Maybe she shouldn't have sent the two other task force members out of the room before she had started working at the bomb. Happy was alone and a little bit too short to reach the grid and open it.

While waiting for Toby she got angrier at him. Jealousy wasn't a feeling she was used to and couldn't handle very well. She especially hated that it was her own fault. Letting down her shield had been a stupid idea and falling for him was even dumber.

Her thoughts were interrupted, when she suddenly heard a crack and the metallic grid in front of the vent fell on the ground.

"Here I am," Toby announced triumphantly. "Doctor Tobias M. Curtis to the rescue." He was halfway hanging out of the tunnel. The beam of Happy's flashlight barely reached him through the smoke.

"It was about time," she grumbled, when she stood up and went in his direction.

"Crawling through vent tunnels is more your expertise than mine," he remembered her. "Now come here and try to grab my hands. Then you can use your feet to brace yourself and I'll lift you up."

Happy didn't argue, because she didn't want to talk to him at all, so she followed his instructions. When her hands touched his it was a familiar feeling, but she didn't want to think about it.

As soon as she was in the ventilation tunnel as well Toby grabbed her face to look at her closely. First he wanted to check if she had any visible injuries and then he wanted to show her how relieved he was to see her again, but she withdrew quickly.

"We have to hurry," she simply stated and turned into the direction Toby had been coming from.

Sly guided them through the tunnels until they reached an exit near Cabe's position. Happy was glad that they had left the small vent and hurried to get to the Homeland agent.

Toby sat down next to Cabe and checked his pulse. "It is steady. He is only knocked out. There is a bump on the back of his head."

"Cabe, wake up," Happy demanded several times until the man slightly moved his head and began to groan.

"Welcome back in the land of the living," Toby joked.

"What the hell?!" Cabe exclaimed and tried to sit up.

"Woah, not so fast," Toby took Happy's flashlight and checked Cabe's eyes. "I am pretty sure you have a concussion. You have to move more slowly if you don't want to pass out again."

"We have to get Baker, he is on the run."

"We'll take care of him later," Walter promised. "The sprinklers are online and Sly is opening the main exit in a few seconds. We'll meet up there."

Three hours later the whole case was closed and Toby searched the garage to find Happy without any luck. He hadn't seen her since they left the building and Cabe had called a Homeland unit who caught Baker at LAX. Sly had found the online ticket on Baker's laptop so it was quite easy to get to him before he could leave the country. The data he had stolen had been found in his luggage as well.

"Have you seen Happy?" Paige was packing her bag, ready to go home, when Toby approached her.

"She practically fled on her motorcycle the minute we stopped at the garage," she answered him.

"I'm going to give her a call," Toby responded and grabbed this phone.

"Maybe you should give her time to cool off," his team mate suggested. "It was an intense day."

"We handled much more complicated cases in the past. She shouldn't be that affected by this one."

"I don't think the case is the reason why she is affected," Paige told him.

Toby looked at her a little startled. "What du you mean exactly?"

Paige rolled her eyes. "You know very well what I mean."

"I know I didn't do my job very well today. She was in danger because of me. I should have been in the control room to help handling the situation, but I wasn't. But I saved her after all. That should count for something."

Paige realized that he felt responsible for what happened, but she was amused by the fact that the world class behaviorist didn't get that the woman he was into had been damn jealous half of the day. "Happy can handle dangerous situations. That's not was all this is about."

"Now you really lost me," Toby confessed.

"Please, Toby," she rolled her eyes again. "You met your ex-fiancé today for the first time since you split up."

"That doesn't have anything to do with Happy," he claimed. "She has never been interested in what happened between me and Amy." Thank god.

She shrugged her shoulders and smiled knowingly at Toby. "Maybe something has changed."

He looked suspicious at Paige, trying to figure out what she knew about them and their newly started relationship.

"I'm not oblivious like Walter or Sylvester," she reminded him, but when she recognized the bewildered look on his face she changed the topic a little. "Look, Toby. I don't know what's going on between Happy and you exactly, but there is one thing I know."

"And that is?"

"I know that you are completely into her, you never made a big secret out of it. But Happy isn't like you. She isn't open with her feelings and I am pretty sure she doesn't want anyone to think of her as vulnerable."

"Happy is the strongest and most independent woman I know," he agreed.

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that she is free of insecurities. All people have them from time to time. Every one of us has to cope with them at some point."

"Let me get this straight," Toby said. "You are telling me that Happy Freaking Quinn is feeling insecure because of Amy and the fact that I met her again?"

Paige simply looked at him, waiting for him to see the truth as well.

"That's the most stupid thing I ever heard!"

"That's love," she whispered, when Toby left her alone, while she watched Walter who was sorting through some stuff on his desk.

Paige looked at him for a moment until Walt recognized her glare and asked: "Is something wrong?"

"No, everything's alright," she assured him. "I'm heading home. Ralph is waiting for me."

"Have a good evening," he said still looking at her.

"Good bye, Walter," she responded with a friendly smile, before she went to the exit.

Walter was still looking at the closed door minutes after she had left.