Toby thrashed in his bed as his phone began ringing. Slowly he realized what he heard and reached out and grabbed it. He groaned as he saw "Garage" on the caller id.
"It's much too early." Toby complained as he answered.
"No, it's much too late Toby. Where are you?" Megan demanded.
"What time is it?" Toby frowned as he tried to get his bearings.
"Ten thirty in the morning. Paige is supposed to be here with her son at eleven, remember?" Megan asked.
"Oh crap, I'm sorry I was doing research all night and I overslept. I'll be there as quickly as I can." Toby promised before he hung up.
Toby moved into the bathroom and quickly splashed water on his face. A quick tussle with his toothbrush and a comb through his hair. He grabbed a wash rag and quickly soaped and rinsed his face, neck, pits and crotch before applying deodorant. He moved out into his bedroom and grabbed fresh clothes while leaving yesterday's clothes on the floor along with Thursday's and Wednesday's.
He was out the door by a quarter til and on his way.
"Hello?" Paige called out as she slowly stepped into the Garage with Ralph, unsure if that was the right place they were supposed to be or not.
"Paige, good morning." Megan smiled. "And this must be your son Ralph."
Paige let out her breath in relief as she saw Megan at a desk.
"Good morning Megan." Paige smiled as she began walking towards her.
Happy had shot her a look she didn't like but chose not to address it.
"Yes, this is my Ralphy. I named him after my Dad. He passed away my first year in college. Seemed like a good way to honor him and the influence he had in my life." Paige smiled at her and Mark who had stood and moved over to stand with Megan. "Am I talking too much? I'm a little nervous and excited."
Megan laughed as she shook her head.
"No, but there is no reason for that. All the IQ's of my husband and his employees aside, we're pretty much normal." Megan grinned.
"It is nice seeing you again Paige. I know the neighborhood isn't the best. So that can amp up your nerves. I'm sure the yellow tape around Walter's car didn't help." Mark smiled.
"Yes, it definitely threw me. And I wasn't sure if it was this door or the door closer to Walter's car." Paige said as she shook hands with them.
"Well unfortunately Toby is running a little behind today, but should be here soon. He was up late going over all the records for Ralph. This is Sylvester over there." Megan pointed. "Most of the time we call him Sly. And that was Happy back over by the door."
"Hello Sylvester." Paige greeted him even as Ralph moved over to him quickly.
"Walter said you are a grandmaster chess player too. Would you fancy a game?" Ralph asked immediately and full of life.
"Ralph." Paige said reprovingly.
Sylvester just grinned and bumped fists with him.
"It's fine Paige. It is nice to meet you and Ralph. I'd love a game with you. We can play while we wait on Toby." Sylvester said as he moved over to his desk and pointed to the chair in front of it.
They watched Ralph sit down and Sylvester brought his chessboard out and they began setting it up after Ralph guessed a hand of Sylvester's and got black.
"Guys, I'm really grateful for this. Since Ralph met Walter he's been a bit different, but in a good way. What he just did there, is so far beyond what he would normally do." Paige told them.
"We're happy to try and help all we can, Paige. Would you like some coffee?" Mark gestured towards the kitchen.
Paige nodded and began walking with him and Megan as she rode her scooter.
"Walter told me you have MS, I'm so sorry." Paige told her.
"Thanks Paige, it isn't easy but we're making the most of it." Megan nodded.
"If I could just get this process figured out maybe we can turn it into a chronic condition." Mark muttered.
"My husband has been working tirelessly in between cases to try and figure out a way to get my body to rebuild the myelin sheaths on my nerves after an attack. Instead of scar tissue. We have hopes that if he's successful, while it won't stop attacks, at least I'll fully recover. The question will be, how much damage will be done by the time he gets it figured out." Megan sighed as she fondly caressed his cheek.
"Umm, did I do something wrong? Happy kind of gave me a stink eye when I came in." Paige said as she sat down at the table with her coffee.
"I'm not touching it." Mark said to his wife as he held up his hands.
Megan sighed.
"No, not really. It starts with her being complicated." Megan told her.
"That's one way to put it." Mark smiled even as Megan smacked his hand.
"Hush, you said you weren't touching it." Megan rolled her eyes but was smiling. "The other problem is that Happy and Walter used to be involved. It was more a physical thing for Walter, though I think he loved Happy too. Just not in a, until death do we part, kind of way."
"Oh no. Should I try talking to her? I certainly didn't mean to mess up her relationship with Walter." Paige fretted.
"Don't worry about it." Happy said as she walked into the small area and filled her cup with coffee. "You didn't mess it up. If he can love you the way you want and deserve, well more power to you both. Sorry about the look when you came in."
"Thank you, Happy. That is very gracious of you." Paige gave her a smile. "I don't blame you for the look. I'd probably have done the same or worse to be honest."
"Megan said she gave her Stang to you because your car isn't worth much. If you have any problems with it, give me a call." Happy told her before she started to walk out.
"Thank you, but if you don't have to leave I'd like you to sit with us." Paige told her in hopes of fostering a relationship.
Happy paused and looked at Megan who just smiled and nodded. Happy sighed and stepped over and sat down.
"I'm here." Toby called out as he came through the door.
"About time." Happy snapped at him from the kitchen.
Toby walked over as he saw Sylvester pacing back and forth behind his desk as Ralph sat there calmly.
"Sly?" Toby asked, seeing how antsy he was.
"He's beaten me fifteen out of sixteen games!" Sylvester almost whined. "He's amazingly brilliant!"
"Does that mean you are conceding this game?" Ralph asked. "You only have twenty eight seconds left."
Toby grinned.
"You've got some serious moxie kid." Toby told him approvingly and went to rub his head but Ralph shied away. "Don't like being touched?"
Ralph shook his head.
"Fine, I concede." Sylvester turned and tipped his king over.
"Toby." Mark called out from the kitchen.
"Yeah, yeah, in a minute." Toby said as he sat on the edge of Mark's desk and watched as they reset the board and started a new game.
Mark sighed.
"We might as well give them some time. Toby's a bit unorthodox but he is brilliant when it comes to issues of the mind and body." Mark told Paige.
Paige just nodded as she looked out and saw Toby intently watching the pair play and occasionally asked questions to which Ralph replied something.
Toby finally got up and walked back into the kitchen after about twenty minutes and three games.
"Toby Curtis, Psychologist and medical doctor." Toby greeted Paige.
"What? No Harvard trained?" Happy gasped even as Megan and Mark laughed.
"It's nice to meet you doctor Curtis, or do you prefer Toby?" Paige asked after the way he introduced himself.
"Whatever you feel most comfortable with." Toby told her as he got a cup of coffee. "Well short story, your son, he is a genius. He's making mincemeat out of a grandmaster genius out there. Sly's a mathematical and probabilities wonderkid. If it wasn't for his excitement at Ralph he'd be weeping on the floor right now. I've never seen anyone beat him even remotely bad…let alone like he was three years old. Well Walter, but I've never seen them play online together." Toby told Paige as he sat down at the table with the other four.
"So he doesn't need all this medication then?" Paige asked as she picked up her tote bag and pulled out a large plastic bag with a number of medicines.
"Let me take a look. You don't by chance have a copy of his medical records with you do you?" Toby asked as he took the bag.
Paige shook her head.
"Trick question. I accessed his records last night and I've seen everything." Toby said as he sat the bag down. "There are a couple we need to adjust and taper him off of. But most of it you can just stop." Toby said as he pulled each bottle out of the package and either marked a big X on it or adjusted the dosage. "Walter was absolutely correct about your son. How's he been since meeting Walter?" Toby asked.
"Different. It is the best I can describe. Things that used to bother him don't as much. Except he still has issues being touched." Paige said sadly.
"That's not likely to change, I'm afraid. But I can give him and you some tools and things to do. And that will help you both in that department." Toby told her with a smile. "I've also looked over the tablet Walter wants you to have, and the games are exactly what Ralph needs. I'd recommend you let him play it for a half hour before school. I'll write a note to the school that they are to let him play them during lunch or any free period he has. And in the evenings I'd recommend he play it for fifteen minutes every hour. It will really help him settle down."
"Good evening Walter." Paige said as she walked into his room.
Walter looked over and smiled.
"Paige, it is so good seeing you. How did the appointment go?" Walter asked.
"It went really well Walter. Thank you for arranging it. Toby confirmed you were correct about Ralph, he's given us a number of changes and things we can try doing to help. I also got the tablet, thank you." Paige said as she kissed his cheek.
"Please sit." Walter smiled as he gestured towards the closest chair.
"I have to ask." Paige said as she sat down. "Is it really good to see me? Or is it merely a game? What do you see or want from this, from me?"
Walter smiled.
"You had a good talk with Happy, I take it." Walter nodded. "It really is good seeing you Paige."
"We did. She was very calm about the situation. I'm not sure I would have been." Paige told him.
Walter nodded.
"It is a long story, but I can give you some cliff notes if you want. But you have to promise, you'll listen to it all before you make a decision. Because it may forever change how you feel about me. You may not want anything to do with me and if so, I'll have to live with that. But I just want a fair chance to explain. Everything I've told you and everything I will tell you now and in the future will only be the truth." Walter told her.
Paige was unsure, but Walter was so charming and they meshed so well. She didn't want to just end things, she needed to give him a chance so she nodded.
"After the NASA deal, Cabe used to come by off and on to check on me. To talk and then one day he brought some ciphers that the US Security Council wanted me to try cracking." Walter told her. He nodded as he held up a hand. "It is all relevant Paige, I'll need some latitude if you have the time."
Paige slowly nodded.
"Shortly before my sixteenth birthday Cabe came and he had another job for me. The ciphers had been easy and I made some decent money for my efforts. But this job was really along the lines of what I wanted to do. A humanitarian aid program wanted me to design software that would let them fly in and out of hotspots safely and deploy the packages." Walter told her before taking a sip of water.
"Problem is, they lied to Cabe and by extension to me. They wanted to get terrorists in Baghdad. I had sacrificed accuracy of delivery to maximize asset safety. So instead of just bombing they drop bombs with sarin gas. Around one thousand and five hundred people died in the initial raid. Almost two thousand more died as a result of the gas." Walter told her seeing the horror in Paige's face.
"I was devastated to say the least. I had only wanted to do good." Walter told her even as Paige nodded she understood that. "And then it came out that three days before the bombing they told Cabe the truth. And he withheld that information from me. I could have disabled the software if he had told me, but he didn't." Walter said as a tear ran down his face.
"It was too much. I had been mostly abandoned by everyone around me to begin with, except for my sister. I had a hard time with emotions and people just thought I was this arrogant know it all. And without enough support, I went the wrong way. I hated myself. My sister tried when we moved to the US for her treatments, but it wasn't enough. I loathed myself so much, cursed my ability so much. And one night I even considered killing myself. And part of me spoke up before I could, that I hadn't done anything wrong. And if people were going to blame me, then people needed to bear the brunt of my pain." Walter sighed.
"School in the US, just like in Ireland, was too simple for me so I challenged it and got my GED. So then I challenged the first two years of college and got my associates. Some of the stuff I had to read up on to do that, mostly the mandatory psychology texts, without proper guidance, had given me ideas that resonated with that part of me. The part that wanted to inflict my pain onto others. And I found myself emulating people, emotionally. While my emotional side was finally maturing it was still guided by this…this sickness." Walter told her as he saw a tear slip down her face.
"Quite frankly Paige, I used people. I treated them badly and I didn't care, it helped ease how horrible I felt. Understand, most people I've met, I didn't care about them. I was able to manipulate them in any way I wanted and get what I needed and then walk away. Then I met Happy. She's so brilliant, competent and trying to heal from her own bad life. She fell before me like everyone else. But, there was something different about her." Walter told Paige as he watched some of the feelings she had for him changing and another tear ran down his face.
"Something about her resonated with me and I never could walk away completely. She helped to calm that self hate. So I kept her on a string for years. She was eighteen when we first met in 2009 and I kept her with me for a little over a year, but then finally as I feared it would, my interest in her waned. But I couldn't just let her go. She was mine and I reasserted my dominance over her anytime I wanted. If some guy tried to establish a relationship with her, I would humiliate him and drive him away." Walter sighed.
"As Happy will always say, she chose to endure what I did and that is true. She could have stopped it, but she refused. When I came back she'd shy away, but I refused to let our relationship go. She'd ask, beg even, for me to stop, to let her go. But I needed her so I wasn't about to let her go, she'd have to do it herself. She was the only one who truly had the power to tell me it was over and I would have stopped." Walter said as he wiped away a tear.
"That was until I met you and we had our first date. I had felt such a resonance with you, it went much deeper than Happy. And when we said goodnight, I was a changed man. That part of me that wanted to hurt others to make my pain easier, was gone. For once, I was completely and truly happy. I no longer felt that loathing I had felt for over fifteen years. As I drove over to tell my sister and her husband about what had happened to me, I knew then I had to let Happy go free. But thankfully she broke it off instead. It reminded her that she always had the power, she just had to reclaim it." Walter said.
"As for you and I, what I want or see. It is all in your hands Paige, I have neither the desire or inclination to force a relationship with you. It has to be what you want with me, I can't settle for anything less than you wanting me. It might sound like nonsense to you, but I know I could happily live out my life with you. Without knowing it or trying, you have healed the sickness that was in me and I know that I will never feel what I've felt for anyone else. And that is boredom or lack of interest concerning you." Walter said before he grew silent.
Paige stared at him. She was torn in three. She felt for the pain that his sixteen year old self endured. She felt the budding love she had for him. She felt the overwhelming disgust at what he had chosen to do to people in his pain. Paige stood and he watched every move she made. Her head shook as she struggled with her feelings and then turned and fled the room.
Walter sighed as he watched her go.
Greetings! I hope this finds you well! However you celebrate it, even if you don't, I wish you an amazing and joy filled weekend and holiday!
JerBr23 - hehe Toby definitely likes to step in it. lol And after S1 I love to see the trouble he receives from it! lol So far 3 for and 0 against so I guess there might be an extra story tomorrow. Definitely a lot happening. lol Your story might just help everyone over it!
Railman - He really does hate it. It is like if he can't figure it out on his own he's got to stick his nose in to get more info. lol I'm beginning to see it as part of his gambling nature. This new story I'm working on brought that thought out to me. Like he is gambling to see just how far he can push people. A Toby faceprint on her windshield would be priceless! I wonder if she got some sealant to spray over it so the print would be there forever! LOL
Marti - Indeed he is and it doesn't look like he'll change anytime soon. Hrmm...every bad thing he has done? Most likely not...lol But a few things might come up between now and the "end". I'm glad you are enjoying this take on our "boy" genius! Maybe this chapter will answer your question on if it is demons or better angels we'll see more of...lol As for that room...only time can tell.
LouBe - Well, so far 3 for the extra chapter, and that is all it is, I'll just post 1 tomorrow as the present then Monday like I would have. No adjustment to the schedule unless JerBr does. So no worries on us both posting every time on the same day. The laptop just might play another role...stay tuned for tomorrow's exciting continuation! lol While Walter knows that there is always a way to break through computer security, he wouldn't exactly be upset with her leaving it behind. He's basically entrusted what could be very embarrassing for her to her care, how she deals with it is totally up to her. As he is right now, he might even be a bit embarrassed if the truth of what was on there got out but if that was her decision, he'd be okay with it. Oh goodness...his home...my oh my...We'll learn a little more come 15 and a lot more come 26 & 27, as well as more about his finances starting in 25...
Pearliegirl - You're welcome!
Marie Mac - Well so far 3 zip in favor of a chapter tomorrow so it looks promising! hehe Thank you! And a very blessed Christmas to you!
And to all, a good night!
To the Adventure! -Tim