A/N: Thanks for all the positive feedback and reviews. This story has been fun and honestly, I need to get it out of my head (along with another Scorpion story in there) so that I can focus on my fiction series because I'm currently about 8? months behind on a delivery date for the 3rd book in my series. But my brain doesn't want to finish that story...it wants to do this one. Also writing fanfiction pays even less than writing books so sorry for all the typos that I'm trying to catch and fix, I don't get an editor for fanfiction. XD

Waiting sucked.

They all sat in the small room while this team of doctors did what they could to get Walter stable. They had a private plane to get him home but until the damage from the bullet and several of his other wounds were repaired there was no way he could survive a flight.

"Guys, I know you're mad at me but I was only following orders. Walter's mission was of the highest clearance and he saved the world from a potential war."

"Yeah, well maybe if you had spent more time gathering better intel or not sending him alone, he wouldn't have ended up a human pin cushion." Happy retorted.

Toby swallowed hard knowing the pin cushion was far from the worst thing that had been done to Walter. He was trying to hide some of the worst things from the rest of the team but just the glance at Walter's leg told him that there was a chance Walter would not come out of this in one piece.

"That's what's bugging me. Why didn't Walter try to contact us? That's not like him, orders or not." Sly said.

Tim sighed. "While on base recovering anything electronic was kept out of the room, all his medical equipment was on the other side of the wall. He was always kept under guard. They didn't trust him not to contact you. Once he was with the terrorists he was worried about you getting hurt coming after him."

"Wow, some hospitality from good old Uncle Sam" Toby muttered.

"What's your problem? I'm a soldier. I had orders. Walter understood." Tim yelled.

"Maybe that's the problem. There's no place for a soldier in Scorpion. I like you Tim but I don't think I can trust you anymore." Sly said.

"We stopped a war! It was for the greater good!"

"Walter stopped a war. All you did was lie to us and you were going to just leave him to die! We don't do that. How could you hold me while I cried over him knowing that was alive and could possibly be captured? Did you hate him that much?" Paige asked.

"No! Why don't any of you understand? I had orders and a mission…"

"Walter may not have liked you and he may have hated your relationship with Paige, but he would never have left you behind. Mission or no, he would do whatever it took to give you the best chance of success and survival." Cabe said from where he had been pacing. "And all of you need to stop talking in the past tense. He's going to make it."

Tim went to sit by Paige but she found she didn't want to be near him. She stood up to get away from him. "I'm going to check in with Ralph and the sitter, he's probably worried."

"Put the kid on speaker," Toby asked softly.

"Yeah, please? We want to hear him too." Happy asked.

"Could use something good." Cabe agreed.

"Um okay," Paige replied. She quickly dialed the number.

"Mom! Is Walter okay? There was so much blood and he looked awful." Paige sighed knowing that Ralph must have gotten back into their communication feed to be able to see the cams they were using to watch the mission.

"Yeah baby, he's with the doctor now. They're taking good care of him." Paige said looking over at Sly who mouthed "told you I couldn't keep him out long."

"Mom, I saw him…are you sure he's okay?"

"Well he is hurt pretty bad but Toby took good care of him and now the doctors are making sure he can come home with us." Paige tried to hold back a sniffle.

"Mom it's Walter. You're right. He's going to be okay. Just tell him I need his help with my science project. Unless he comes home, I'll do a paper mâché volcano!" Ralph declared.

Despite the direness of their position, the entire team laughed. It eased the tense shoulders and trembling fingers.

"How are you doing? How was school?" Paige asked realizing they were all desperate for the distraction.

Hours passed. Happy slept against Toby. Paige and Sly curled up while Cabe paced, and Tim stared off into the distance from his spot in the corner. It had been a day that took everything out of them. Cabe couldn't blame them a bit, but he couldn't sleep until he knew. It was his 75th pace back across the floor when he spied the doctor.

"Guys wake up. The doc's coming." Cabe said in a loud whisper.

"I'm already here," Toby mumbled.

"Not you Doc, that Doc." Happy said.

Cabe approached the doctor, holding his breath as he waited for the man to say something.

"He's alive and as stable as he can be. He'll be better off in the states with better care and facilities than I can provide here. I know you want him home. I just warn you, even though we've stopped all the bleeding we could find and repaired the damage caused by the gunshot, we couldn't repair everything. He's so weak we didn't want to keep him under too long and his body needs time to heal before he is opened up again. There are several hospitals closer that could provide the care he needs, and it would be a shorter flight, so less strain and less chance of something going wrong while you're in the air and can't help him."

Toby came up. "Listen I'm a Harvard-trained doctor. We have a private plane waiting. We'll buy anything we need but Walter is my patient. I know he'll recover better in familiar surroundings, and he'll want out of the hospital as soon as possible. He's got a little boy waiting for him to come home and I promise you just seeing that kid will do wonders for Walter too."

The doctor sighed. "I'll clear him for travel, I'm sure you know the risks and what to look for. We don't know if there is something we missed that would be exacerbated by the flight or pressure and he could start bleeding again. Then you're 30,000 feet in the air and he'll bleed out before you even get close to landing."

"Well don't sugarcoat it," Toby said. He held up his hands.

"What should we do? I want him back home and I know we all want to get home too. He needs to get as far away from where he was tortured as possible. Being home is where he'll feel safe, even if he is in a hospital but…" Toby trailed.

"It's time to bring our boy home," Cabe said and the others nodded.

"I trust you Doc. You'll make sure he gets home alive." Happy said.

Toby looked at Paige. "Let's go home. I don't want to leave his side, but I can't leave Ralph with a sitter forever. I know Walter needs to see Ralph too." Suddenly an image of Walter looking at her as he protectively stroked Ralph's hair as he slept on the couch came into her head.

"If that is your decision then I will make sure you have what you need. Godspeed." The doctor said walking away.

Cabe sighed, he was really getting over hearing Godspeed said in such a way that suggested Walter would be seeing God soon.