Paige was all smiles as they walked back into the Garage from lunch.
"Looks like someone had a good time." Toby said as he looked up from his desk.
"That we did Toby. That we did." Paige smiled. "Walter definitely pulled out all the stops."
Walter grinned at her before they shared a small kiss.
"Speaking of that, thank you so much for lunch Walt." Toby told him.
"You're welcome Toby." Walter said as they walked over to their desks as Megan and Mark walked in.
"Your phone has been ringing a lot." Sylvester told him.
"Would you like some coffee?" Walter whispered into Paige's ear.
"Please?" Paige smiled before she sat down in the chair he held for her.
"Thanks Sly." Walter said as he picked up his phone from the desk where he left it so he wouldn't be disturbed during lunch. He entered his passcode and saw he had several missed calls from Richard Elia. "I'll call him in a few minutes." Walter said as he kissed Paige and left the phone on her desk.
Walter stepped up to the counter and got their coffee cups out and set them up. As he was reaching for the coffee pot his phone rang.
Paige smiled as she saw it said "Richard Elia" on the screen. She scooped the phone up and pressed "Answer on speaker".
"Walter O'Brien's phone may I…" Paige started.
"Shut up bimbo and get me Walter!" A man's voice screamed out.
Silence immediately overtook the Garage as everyone in the Garage looked up and over at Paige who sat there stunned and blushing.
"What in the hell?" Megan said in anger even as there was a sound of glass shattering and liquid splashing and then Walter flew out of the kitchen. Walter's hand took hold of Paige's as she sat there still stunned holding the phone.
"You have exactly thirty minutes to have your ass at Centipede Partner's headquarters to make a formal apology to Ms Dineen." Walter said in a dreadfully calm voice and then hung up before another word could be said.
Walter turned Paige's hand over and the phone fell to the desk as he pulled against her. Paige rose up still trying to understand what had just happened as Walter pulled her into his arms.
"I am so sorry Paige, he never should have acted that way towards you. But he won't make that mistake, ever again. And you will be apologized to for that. I'll make his life a living hell until he does." Walter whispered.
Paige smiled as she finally came to terms with it in her head and hugged Walter back.
"It's okay Walter. He's probably just had a bad day." Paige tried to brush it off.
"If Richard isn't here in the next twenty seven minutes and forty two seconds, his day is about to get a whole lot worse." Walter told her.
Megan moved over and rubbed Paige's back as Walter stood there hugging her.
Walter sighed as he thought of the coffee pot. His arm fell away from Paige as he reached down and grabbed his phone off the desk. He scrolled down through the contacts as Paige watched and then clicked on a name, "Sherry Duncan".
Walter brought the phone up as he smiled at Paige. Paige smiled back before she looked at Megan and while smiling squeezed her hand.
"Sherry, it is good to hear your voice. It's Walter O'Brien." Walter smiled. "I'm good, recovering from a car accident. How are you doing?" Walter asked. Walter nodded. "Glad to hear it and thank you. Hey, I had a small accident and need a new coffee maker here. What's your best model?" Walter listened for a moment. "That sounds fine, you should have my card on file. Have someone run it over here ASAP." Walter told her before giving her the address. "No, I'll tip them in cash. No, that's fine. Thanks." Walter hung up.
"They're going to stop what they are doing to run a coffee maker over here for you?" Paige asked Walter.
"If they want to keep my business they will." Walter smiled as he kissed her again.
"You okay Paige?" Happy asked as she walked over with her Dad.
"Yes, thank you. It was a bit of a shock." Paige told her.
Walter stepped away and went back into the kitchen and began cleaning up the mess.
"Do you really think he's going to be here in time for your deadline?" Mark asked Walter as he got the glass picked up.
"I don't know what his problem is, but yes." Walter smiled as he nodded.
Mark grabbed the mop bucket and filled it with water and a bit of cleaner. Working together they had it cleaned up in just a few minutes.
"Thirteen minutes." Mark said as they walked out of the kitchen area.
"I'm sure he won't be here." Paige smiled. Suddenly they heard the loud roar of a helicopter.
"You were saying?" Walter smiled.
"Surely that isn't him." Megan frowned.
Walter gestured for Paige to stay seated as he pulled her chair out from behind her desk and moved her to sit nearby her desk.
"Walter?" Paige asked puzzled.
"You're about to have an audience. It is only fitting you receive him like the queen you are." Walter winked as he kissed her hand.
Paige felt her stomach flop about, as she began wondering what was about to happen.
Suddenly the door opened and a man a few years younger than Cabe came through the door. His eyes were wild and desperate looking. Walter stood to Paige's left and slightly behind her and he looked to his watch.
Richard quickly moved over carrying a huge bouquet of pink roses, a bottle of some kind and a gold looking box. He was almost out of breath. And then he saw Walter's head wrapped in a large bandage and a cast on his right arm.
"Ms Dineen, I'm Richard Elia." Richard said as he stopped in front of her. He swallowed as he looked from her to Walter and back again. "And I must humbly ask for you to forgive my horrible manners when you answered the phone earlier. I was very rude and you did not deserve my abuse. I am profusely sorry." Richard told her as he gave her each item.
Paige stared at the three dozen beautiful pink roses and then handed them to Megan as she sat there next to her grinning. Paige accepted the bottle next and saw it was a bottle of 1972 Pétrus Pomerol.
"From my private reserve." Richard smiled nervously.
The last item was a box of specialty chocolates that Paige had never seen before.
"DeLafée Gold?" Paige asked, looking at it.
"Not found in any stores in the US. They are pretty much a specialty item, ordered for special occasions. My cigar club happens to carry a few boxes for special needs. They are topped with 24-karat edible gold. And there is an antique Swiss gold coin in it as well." Richard told her.
"Well thank you Richard. I'm not sure you had to go to this extreme to apologize." Paige smiled.
"No, no, I was completely wrong. I should have known better than to try and call Walter when I was upset." Richard explained.
"Well I accept your apology and my name is Paige." Paige told him as she extended her hand.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Paige." Richard smiled as he shook it and looked at Walter.
"I really am sorry Walter." Richard told him and held out his hand.
Walter took in a deep breath and then nodded as he took his hand and shook it.
"Why don't you have a seat and explain what the problem is." Walter gestured to the chair beside Paige's desk. Walter moved Paige back around as Paige laughed at him.
"What happened to you Walter?" Richard asked as he sat down.
"I was in a bad car accident a couple of weeks ago. They weren't sure if I would make it or not." Walter explained as he stepped to Paige's side.
"I'm sorry, I hadn't heard. Now I understand why you haven't returned my calls." Richard nodded.
"It happened on a job for Homeland, so it was bound to be classified. As well, I agreed to take over my sister and her husband's company here, while he works on a separate project." Walter explained.
"It's a disaster Walter. One of my competitors, I don't know how but they had to have stolen the information from my system. They've launched their own version of my new tech watch. But it looks so much like mine I can't believe they came up with it on their own." Richard told him as he handed him two almost identical watches. "Problem is, they somehow released it first. Walter, you have got to help me." Richard whined.
Walter started to answer when his computer started beeping.
"Just a moment Richard." Walter said as he walked over and sat down. Everyone began moving over as well. Happy stopped next to Richard.
"You ever get rude with Paige again, and you won't have to worry about what Walter will do to you. Understand?" Happy whispered quietly.
"I understand." Richard told her as he stayed in his chair.
"Okay, the system has finished rebuilding all the data files that had been changed. And no surprise, Merrick's office is where the email originated." Walter said while looking at Cabe.
"Son of a bitch. What do we need to prove he did it?" Cabe asked.
Walter pulled out a USB stick and gave it to him.
"Give that to Molina, it has everything on it." Walter told him.
Cabe nodded and then looked at Richard.
"You need any help with him?" Cabe asked.
Walter smiled and shook his head as he disconnected from Homeland's computers. He gestured at Happy and Paige and they both stayed while everyone else went back to work.
"Since this has identified Merrick was involved in this, we don't really need Toby on profiling anymore. Would you like his company on your trip?" Walter asked Happy.
"You serious Walt? You'll pay him to come with me?" Happy asked.
"I'll pay him his salary and I'll pay for his trip, nothing extra." Walter grinned at her. "If you want, and Paige doesn't have a problem with it, that is."
"I don't have a problem with it. Might be nice not having him around for a bit. Though I'd hate to dump him on Happy." Paige grinned and shook her head.
Happy grinned at her before looking at Walter.
"I think I'd like that Walt. Thank you." Happy said.
"I'll let you tell him when you are ready then." Walter winked.
Walter gestured and Richard moved over to the large work table by the monitor trees.
"I'm not exactly a free agent anymore Richard, but I can accept this job. And while I'm not the same man you once knew, that doesn't mean I won't use every resource at my disposal, against anyone who is rude or messes with those I love." Walter told him.
Richard nodded quickly.
"I understand Walter, believe me. Now that I know the situation, your response was quite amenable in comparison to the old Walter. I don't want you to break the law, but I need proof they did this. It could be the end of my tech watch line." Richard explained.
Walter nodded even as his mind began planning.
"Toby, do you mind getting everyone's order if they want coffee and go get us some? Since we'll have to wait for the new coffee machine to get here." Walter asked as he connected his computer to his hacking portal.
Paige quickly grabbed a pen and paper and began writing down preferences even as Toby shook his head no.
"Go to that coffee shop on the corner of Vermont and Kingswell. Tell Gladys or Barry it's for me and to put it on my tab." Walter told him.
Toby nodded and then took the list Paige made.
"On second thought, no, here." Walter pulled out his wallet and opened it. Paige and Toby's eyes opened wide seeing all the one hundred dollar bills in it. Toby swallowed as Walter gave him two of them and then left.
Walter turned to his computer and quickly made his way into Richard's computer system. He began to slowly analyze and search the system.
"Looks like Walter might be a bit Richard. Have you known Walter long?" Paige asked politely.
Richard smiled.
"Almost five years, so not really very long. How about you?" Richard asked.
"Well we met briefly back in 2005 and then again almost two months ago when he came into the diner I was a waitress at." Paige smiled.
"Walter certainly can change peoples' fortunes." Richard nodded.
"Does that mean he changed yours?" Paige asked as one eye opened speculatively.
"Definitely…funny thing is, he did it while breaking the law technically." Richard chuckled.
"Oh this should be good." Paige nodded at him.
"Well, I had been planning to invest in this startup company. It wasn't a lot of money, comparatively. But even to me, one hundred million is sizable. Anyway I got an email from an anonymous account. It told me my plans to buy the company were ill-advised and I'd be better off not investing into it." Richard explained. "I was puzzled and responded to it. I hadn't told anyone I was going to invest in it. The next email I got contained all the personal files I had on my computer system about my plans. I was of course completely shocked. And then another email arrived showing what the company was actually doing. Had I bought into it, not only would I have lost all of that money, I could have been in serious legal problems."
"I was torn, I mean I was grateful but also very upset that someone had been able to snoop through all of my computer systems and figured out what I was planning. But I had a thought, what if I befriended this person? If they took the time to alert me to what was going on, there had to be a person worth knowing behind the screen. So I asked if they'd like to meet. I got the name of a restaurant back and was told to ask for Walter at 3 pm." Richard explained.
"I was intrigued by the audacity of this person. But I cleared my schedule and went. As we sat talking I took out my checkbook and wrote him a check for five million dollars. I figured what he just saved me from was worth at least that much. He's done a lot of work for me since. Anything computer security wise that comes up I turn it over to him." Richard told her.
"So is that how he made all his money?" Paige smiled.
Richard shook his head.
"I'm not sure how he's made most of it. He is or was, a day trader as well. He gave me a tip on an up and coming business. It wasn't my normal type of acquisition but I thought…it was a little less than one hundred million. And Walter had done so much for me, so I bought it. Turns out he was the main stockholder." Richard laughed. "But, he was right, the company was golden. He just wanted it off his books as he never likes his money to be invested in something long term. I've also bought a lot of his photographic art and sponsored a number of exhibits of his work."
"Sounds like the two of you have had a mutually beneficial relationship." Paige smiled.
"We have, but more in my favor I think. But Walter doesn't measure things by money, so it is difficult to really say for sure." Richard smiled.
Greetings I hope this finds you all well!
Railman - Yep, Walter is still a good bit of a hedonist. So money spent in that pursuit is money well spent. lol And he is so filthy rich it is disgusting. lol Cabe wasn't exactly annoyed, maybe a little upset that he'd left and missed the conversation. Yep, Drew is really upset over it. Had it not been for how he believed she felt towards Walter he would have tried to kill her instead of Walter. But he wanted to try and make her suffer. He better hope that some of the inmates there don't find out who he stabbed...a few of them might decide to make retribution against him for it. They'd love to have Walter owe them a favor...lol I think you just found out who was behind it, now what will Molina do? lol Love it...useful as a chocolate teapot! lol
LouBe - hehe It happens, I'm guilty of not reading them regularly myself. lol Well for good or bad, this is the only appearance of Heywood in this offering. Maybe if it continues past chapter 30? As for Drew it is all about sour grapes. But despite all of his shenanigans he knows he never had it better than when he was with Paige, even if he did abandon her over Ralph vs baseball. But she wasn't about to take him back. If he is smart, he'll keep his head down, do his time and get the heck out of California and never return as fast as he can. Walter loves to impress still, that doesn't seem to be on the menu of change for him. lol TMI? Never! hehe
JerBr23 - Nope, Walter really doesn't spare expense...Paige is about to have a discussion with him over that. lol Yep, definitely a different Mark and he takes a bit to get used too. lol Well Drew is in the right place to hit rock bottom...He'd better move carefully if he wants to make it to his first parole hearing! lol
Lucy - Nothing as of yet sadly.
To the Adventure! -Tim