WriterFreak001:

IT IS ALMOST MONDAY!

Title | Mind Games

Fandom | Scorpion (CBS)

Description | Post-Deception. Four months passed since the ending of "Deception," and it seemed as though life, for the most part, returned to normal for Team Scorpion. Walter and Paige were given a chance to focus on their relationship in the midst of all of the cases that were assigned to the team. However, eventually, all great things must end, and once again, Team Scorpion will have to deal with an even bigger opponent than the Leviathan Mafia. Mark Collins is back for revenge and will have something big in store for Walter – something even the 197 IQ genius might not be able to see coming. And Collins's return just might cause a rift within the Scorpion family in the process, making it next to impossible for them to beat his ultimate game.

Rating| This fanfiction will be rated T for violence, obscene language, sexual themes as well as brain stuff and fluff.

POV | Limited Third Person

Disclaimer | While CBS owns Scorpion, I am the owner of this masterpiece.

Claimer | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something should be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

Mind Games

Sequel to Deception

Written by WriterFreak001

Chapter 27

~ SCORPION ~

As promised, Walter took Paige to Callan but was still reluctant to revisit people and places that were part of unwanted memories. The ride in the rental car was far from silent; because of their argument from the night before, Walter decided to go more in depth and describe his experiences in Callan so that Paige would be properly prepped once they arrive in his hometown.

"Are you sure you're okay with this?" Paige asked as Walter took the exit off of the freeway and then slowed to a stop to check for oncoming cars before turning right. "Because we still have time to return to Dublin if you're not."

"I'm fine," Walter faked a smile and glanced at her, noticing her slight disappointment as he returned his attention to the road. "I mean, it's just one day, right?"

"One day," Paige nodded as she laced her fingers with his and squeezed his hand. "Are we going to your parents' house first?"

"I figured it might be best;" Walter quickly nodded. Walter turned left and inwardly groaned; there were only three more turns before arriving upon their destination. "Otherwise, I'd get an earful from my father about being inconsiderate of my mother's feelings."

"Well," Paige blinked as she rubbed her belly, "At least your father recognizes the fact that you had a better relationship with your mother than with him. That has to count for something, right?"

"We'll see," Walter sighed and took another turn. Two more to go. "By the way, if my mother asks – because my father won't – we are planning on staying in Kilkenny for the night."

"You don't want us to stay with your parents?"

"If it can be avoided, I'd rather avoid it." Walter forced a smile before taking the second to last turn. The road was no longer asphalt; light plumes of dirt puffed out of the wheels and dispersed in their wake.

"Well, if your mother offers us a space in her home, we're going to take it; the last thing you need is another reason to push your parents further away. It would be nice for our child to have at least one set of grandparents willing to be a part of his or her life." As he turned down the road leading to his parents' house, she smiled. "Think of our child as…an olive branch…a peace treaty between you and your parents…where…maybe…you can give them second chance."

"I'm giving them a second chance by coming here," Walter replied as he saw his old home in the distance. "What they choose to do with it is their business."

"At least promise me you'll be on your best behavior and attempt to salvage your relationship with your parents. If you want them to see that you've changed, you've got to make an effort in showing them." Paige paused as Walter slowed the car to a stop and shifted the gear to park. The fields were just as grassy as they were when he was a boy, and the house looked the same too. The stone wall was still intact, the vines looked as though they had been recently trimmed and the farm animals were loafing around. Nope. Not much had changed since he left, and he was beginning to think his parents hadn't changed at all. "And besides," Paige continued as she unbuckled her seatbelt and leaned towards Walter, "you're not alone this time."

Paige pulled him in for a brief kiss. "No. I'm not." Walter mumbled in agreement, receiving another chaste kiss.

"We should get out of the car," Paige lightly smacked his cheek and gently pushed him away from her as she opened her door and stepped out of the vehicle. He shook his lingering thoughts away, took the keys out of the ignition and climbed out of the car. He closed the door and locked the rental as Paige interlocked her fingers with his; he slowly pulled her to the front door, wondering if it was too late to turn back around and speed the hell out of Callan. "Wait," Paige whispered into his ear as she took the keys, raced back to the car and unlocked it. He watched her pull out the trench coat she had bought the other day and slip it on. She closed and locked the rental, jogged back up to him and dropped the keys into his pocket.

"It's not that cold out." Walter lifted an eyebrow as she buttoned up the coat.

"I know," Paige laughed quietly and quickly kissed him. "I think it's best to hide the baby until your parents get over the shock of seeing you for the first time in more than ten years."

"Ah," Walter nodded quickly. "Good idea."

She grabbed his hand and kissed his cheek as he stared at the door. "You've got this."

"Right." Walter muttered but hesitated to ring the doorbell. As he reached for it, the door swung open, and his father stood in the doorway. Walter gulped and nearly froze, but as Paige squeezed his fingers, something compelled him to speak in his native accent. "Hi…. Dad."

"You have some nerve coming back here, boy." his father frowned as he crossed his burly arms in front of his chest.

Before Walter had a chance to reply, his mother called out to his father from inside the house. "Who's at the door, Angus?"

"See for yourself, Caitríona!" Walter's father hollered towards his mother and stepped aside from the door.

Walter's mother caught once glimpse at him and gasped before running up to him and giving him a strong embrace. Walter stiffened to his mother's touch but relaxed when he remembered Paige's advice in the car; he needed to show his family he's not the same Walter anymore. When she pulled away, she ordered his father to go to the market and buy more food. Angus muttered a curse under his breath and passed the newlyweds as he made his way to his car.

"And who is this lovely lady?" Caitríona asked as she gave Paige a quick onceover and then returned her attention to her son.

"Paige…, um…, m-my wife." Walter replied in his American accent as he shifted a glance at Paige and caught her smiling at him. He couldn't help but flash a smile back.

Out of nowhere, Caitríona surprised the newlyweds as she gave Paige a tight hug and quietly welcomed her to the family. Walter noticed the smile forming on his wife's lips in response to his mother's greeting. Caitríona's eyes shot open and she slightly stepped back from Paige and scanned her form. "Well, bless my soul; my boy's havin' a babe!" She gave Paige another hug and then invited both of them into her home. They followed her into the living room where she encouraged them to take a seat on the couch and then she took a seat in a chair across from them. "How far along are yeh?"

"I'll be going into my fourteenth week in a few days." Paige smiled as she unbuttoned the trench coat and slid it off of her body. She hung it on the back of the couch and plopped down next to Walter, relinking her hand with his.

"Is this your first child?"

"Yes." / "No." Walter and Paige replied in unison. Caitríona lifted an eyebrow so Paige cleared her throat to explain. "I have an eleven-year-old from a previous marriage; Ralph…. He's mentally enabled like Walter." Paige leaned her head against Walter's shoulder and added, "In a few more weeks, the adoption papers will be filed, and Walter will be Ralph's adopted father."

"Oh? Then have y'not been married long?" Caitríona crossed one foot in front of the other as she locked eyes on Walter, waiting for one of them to answer her question.

"About a month," Paige smiled. "We're actually on our honeymoon right now."

"And y'came to Callan of all places?" Caitríona was obviously skeptic. Walter couldn't blame her though.

"I wanted to see where Walter was from. We spent the last six days in Dublin and decided to come here next." Paige explained and then Walter continued. "Because of our jobs, we were only given a week for our honeymoon so we have to catch a plane tomorrow at 3 PM."

"Oh. That soon? You can't stay longer?" Caitríona frowned.

"No. Sorry." Walter swallowed the lump in his throat, unsure of what else to say.

"And what is it that you do, these days?" his mother inquired. Suddenly, the kettle whistled. "Hold that thought." She stood up and disappeared into the kitchen.

"Your mother seems nice," Paige muttered as she wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He naturally leaned against her and pulled her closer as he placed his left palm against her belly. "Your father… might need more time to adjust to your sudden arrival."

"More time is an understatement." Walter whispered and then forced a grin as his mother walked in with three cups of tea. After Caitríona placed two of the mugs in front of Walter and Paige, she sat down and sipped her tea. Walter then said, "My company, Scorpion, works for the American government and takes on difficult tasks not suited for average thinkers."

"Are you a genius too?" Caitríona directed her question towards Paige as the expecting mother took a sip of her tea.

"No," Paige shook her head. "I'm not; I'm the project manager and EQ translator."

"Oh? So what does that entail?"

"When I first hired her," Walter quickly glanced at Paige and then returned his gaze towards his mother. "Her duties ranged from filing reports, paying the bills on time and serving as the liaison between my company and normal people, but she mostly translates EQ related situations for me because I, um, I'm, well, I'm horrible at establishing connections with normals."

"And how's me Megan?" Caitríona asked as she placed her mug down on the small table beside her. "Are the doctors treatin' her well?"

"She's fine," Walter skirted over his mother's question, not wanting to dive into specifics.

"What Walter mean's to say is that Megan is hanging in there," Paige suddenly stated. "Her walking has worsened, but she's a fighter."

"Oh…. So her condition hasn't improved any."

"Unless there's a ground breaking discovery, it's not going to improve." Walter replied. Before he could continue, he heard the door open; his father started hollering for his wife to help him. When Caitríona left to help her husband, Walter glanced at Paige. "Why did you tell her that?"

"Because, Walter," Paige leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I'm a mother, remember? If something was wrong with Ralph, I'd want to be the first to know about it. Distance aside, she's still Megan's and your mother. She clearly wants to know more about your life since you've seen her last so don't block her out, okay?"

"Kay." Walter nodded.

"Good, now why don't you go in there and see if your parents need any help." Paige kissed him again, and he nodded once more before rising to his feet. "I'll be right here when you get back."

"Okay." Walter muttered before leaving Paige's side to head for the kitchen. His mother was nowhere to be found, and his father was busy hauling in the groceries, Walter cleared his throat, catching his attention. "Um…, uh, is, um, is there anything I can do to help?"

His father glanced at him. "Help your mother; she'll put you to work."

"Okay…." Walter sighed as his father walked outside. He heard a toilet flush, and his mother stepped out of the bathroom. "Um…. Have something you, uh, you need help with?"

Caitríona smiled. "Not right now, but your father might…. He'll be in the shed."

Walter released another sigh. "Kay." He jammed his hands into his pockets and stepped outside. He slowly walked to the shed and found his father working on the truck. As he approached him, his father shouted a string of curses and slammed his hand against the hood. "Um… Is something wrong with the truck?"

"Dammit, boy! What have I told you in the past about sneaking up on people!?" Angus jumped in response to Walter's voice.

"Sorry."

Angus sighed. "If you really want to know, I can't get the damn thing to run; it's been broken since harvest, and I can't really afford to get a new one right now."

Walter glanced at the truck. "May I?"

"If you must." His father sighed and stepped to the side.

Walter lifted the hood of the truck and examined the engine. It only took him a second to identify the problem. He rolled up his sleeves and walked over to his father's toolkit. He grabbed a wrench and returned to the truck. He tightened a few things and then said, "Try it now." His father walked over to the driver's side of the vehicle and climbed into the car. He twisted the keys into the ignition and fired up the truck. It roared to life; Walter saw his father sink against the seat with relief. As Angus turned the car off, Walter put the wrench back into the toolkit and clapped his hands together. "All right, well, if that's all you need, I'll, um, I'll get out of your hair."

"Walter, wait." Angus called out to him as he hopped out of the car.

"Yeah?" Walter turned anxiously towards his father. Perhaps a little too anxiously.

"Could you," Angus scratched his head, "show me what you did?"

"Yeah," Walter nodded. "I can do that." He walked over to the engine and spent the next thirty minutes explaining to his father what he did to fix the truck. And despite past grudges, the conversation they held about the vehicle was engaging; it was perhaps the first genuine conversation he had ever had with his father in his entire lifetime. To Walter's surprise, his father was actually curious about his life in America so he spent an extra fifteen minutes telling his father about Scorpion and about some of the cases they had worked on.

"So," His father spoke as he wiped the sweat off of his brow, "You're married, huh?"

"Yeah," Walter nodded. "Paige…, she, uh, she normalizes me. In a good way, too."

"So she's not…like you?"

"No." Walter shook his head. "She's normal…. Her son, my, uh, my soon-to-be adopted son, Ralph, is mentally enabled like me, though." He loosened his tie and wiped his sweat off with his sleeve.

"Have any kids of your own?"

"Um…not yet…, but we will in about 26 weeks." Walter pressed his lips together, wondering how his father would take the news of Paige being pregnant.

"Is that so?" Angus stopped what he was doing and looked at Walter. "Boy or girl?"

"Don't know yet. Too soon for the ultrasounds to pick up anything definitive." Walter scratched the back of his head. "Won't know for another month."

"You guys ever planning to visit?" Angus raised an eyebrow as he tossed his dirty handkerchief into his toolkit.

"Maybe…. Paige is, um, well, she's wanting you and Mam to be involved in our child's life; I'm, uh, I'm fine with it because, um, well, because it's what she wants." Walter swallowed the lump in his throat. "I'm, um, I'm also w-willing to let b-bygones be bygones b-because I, um, I don't want p-past history to h-have an impact on whatever relationship you and Mam want to have with my family."

Angus walked over to Walter and placed his hand on his son's shoulder. "Sixteen years have been good to you, boy. You're definitely not a child anymore." Angus glanced over towards the door to the shed and gave Walter a small smile as he retracted his hand from him. "You've got a visitor."

Walter turned and found Paige leaning against the doorframe with a smile on her face. Walter walked over to his wife, and she hooked her arms around his neck. "Seems like your relationship with your father is on a better track."

"Maybe," Walter shrugged.

"Well, at least it's a start," Paige gave him a quick kiss. "Your mother asked us to stay for the night so I accepted her invitation; I hope that's all right."

Walter turned towards his father who had returned back to working on things in the shed. "I guess. That's fine."

"Okay. Good. Now, while we're waiting to eat, why don't we unload the car; your mom said we can use your old room; it's been redone." Paige smiled as she pulled Walter towards the car.

"Kay."

~ SCORPION ~

Later that night, Walter and Paige were sitting in bed, working on separate things. Walter was on his computer, and Paige was reading one of the few books she brought on the trip. Walter was growing frustrated; while his parents did upgrade to Wi-Fi sometime within the last sixteen years, it was very shoddy, and it kept going in and out.

"Okay, this is just…depressing." Walter mumbled as he slipped out of the bed, walked over to his bag and sifted through his things.

"What's wrong?"

"My parents' Wi-Fi is outdated; I'm setting up a Wi-Fi Hot-Spot so I can actually get some work done on my computer. Tomorrow, before we leave for the airport in Dublin, I'm going to make an early trip to the local electronics store in Kilkenny and buy them a more reliable Wi-Fi modem. One that will never lose signal." Walter said as he hooked his Hot-Spot up and then made his way back to the bed.

"Seems like you're making a breakthrough if you're worried about your parents' technology." Paige laughed as she leaned into kiss him.

"Ehh, no; it's more like I can't stand the sight of pathetic technology." Walter grimaced as Paige kissed him again.

"Say what you want," she lightly smacked his arm with her book, "but I know you Walter. Just remember that." She slid off of the bed and placed her book on the bedside table. "I'm going to take a shower so you finish up what you're working on. When I'm done, the laptop goes away."

"Okay," Walter nodded; she leaned in to kiss him once more before disappearing into the bathroom down in the hallway. When his computer connected with the Hot-Spot, Walter pulled up Skype and called Ralph; it should be close to three in the afternoon in California. He was grateful when Ralph answered. "Hey, Buddy."

"Hi, Dad." Ralph beamed on the screen. Walter felt a sense of pride when Ralph had started calling him 'Dad' since the wedding. He wasn't even Ralph's legal father yet. "Where's Mom?"

"In the shower." Walter quietly answered. "Don't tell her about this, okay? She'll castrate me if she finds out I called you in secret."

"Okay," Ralph nodded. "But what does castrate mean?"

"Um…," Walter paused and asked himself what Paige would do. She normally deflected uncomfortable questions by changing the subject. "So, how is everything over there?"

"Fine. Other than a few cases, it's been quiet over here – nothing too major to be concerned about. Since they don't want to bother you and Mom on your honeymoon, they've been coming to me for help on the hacking front. It's fun to be part of the team – even if it's from the garage."

Walter smiled. "And one day, you'll be able to do the field work too."

"Soon?"

"No…. Probably not as long as your mother has a say in the matter…." Walter replied. "Anyway, how's school going?"

"It's boring." Ralph shrugged. "Though, I do engage more during recess."

"That's good." Walter nodded, "It's important to embellish your social skills; the last thing you want is to grow up into a socially awkward genius like me. Connections are important, Ralph. Remember that."

"I know," Ralph grinned. Ralph started talking about various things that had happened over the week, and the two of them engaged in a rather lengthy conversation. When Walter heard the bathroom door start to open, he quickly bid farewell to the boy and ended the call. He closed his laptop and placed it on the table next to the bed. As expected, Paige walked out of the bathroom and re-entered his old bedroom with a towel wrapped around her body as she clutched her clothes to her side. She walked over to her bag and dropped her dirty clothes into as her towel pooled around her ankles. He slipped out of the bed and walked over to her. Just as she slipped on her underwear, he slid his arms around her middle and splayed his fingers against her baby bump. He planted a kiss against the nape of her neck, and she leaned against him. "I just wanted to, um, to thank you for asking me to come back here…. I'll admit, I was reluctant at first, but I think…somewhere down the road… my parents and I will be okay."

She turned in his embrace and pulled him down for a gentle kiss. "You're welcome," she smiled and kissed him again. "I'm glad." She wormed out of his embrace and finished slipping on her pajamas, explaining to Walter how she really didn't feel comfortable doing anything in bed while they were staying at his parents' house. He had to admit; it would be too awkward, that was for sure.

Not long after he turned out the light, Paige fell asleep in his arms, but he couldn't compel his mind to shut up. He kept thinking about various things and knew it was going to be another long night for him.

~ SCORPION ~

WriterFreak001:

To answer your question, no. We are not done with his parents yet! This mini-plotline will be at least three chapters (if not more) long!

I hope you enjoyed this chapter. The next one will not be posted until Tuesday because I need to rest my wrists. By the way, I also struggled with this chapter because we've never really met Walter's parents so I had to make up their characters (and their names) as best as I could.