I really do appreciate all the reviews you all send. Sorry how rough the last chapter was, and thanks for pointing out the copying error. I wrote the document on my iPad and was about to fall asleep when I posted it to fan fiction. I just copy and pasted it and didn't check to see if there were corrections needed, but after rereading I noticed a bunch of errors. I will try better to correct the verb tenses, misplaced words and sentence structuring. I want to blame the Pages application, but truly it is only my fault. I am trying to update regularly but my fulltime job tends to get in the way. I will try to keep up the effort.
Thanks for all the positive reviews, I love them.
Ema.
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November 17th
Skipped breakfast today, just not in the mood. Toby made a gesture as if my subconscious was dealing with the jealousy emotion I felt yesterday. I just didn't want food. No mission today. Spent the day working on building an infrastructure the GPS program. Went to the parent teach open house with Ralph and Paige.
Paige kissed me.
On the cheek.
But close to the corner of the mouth.
Walter was sitting at his desk when he felt the faint buzzing on his desk. He looked down at the phone as it danced to life and showed an image of Walter, Ralph and an exploding volcano. It was taken at the point when the lava was just bursting out of the peak. Paige had taken the image just as their hands were in the air from the immediate success. It was only slightly after the explosions that their adjustment to the explosive equations had impacted the garage.
Paige.
And her phone.
But the image still brought a chuckle to his face, had set the picture as Ralph's personalized image, so whenever he got a phone call or text, he would be reminded of the funny memory. This time it was a test message, which was not all that uncommon. Walter and Ralph had exchanged numbers to keep in contact on projects, ideas and the occasional riddles. Walter had insisted the Ralph had his own phone because it was part of the work plan that would get the team a lower rate for each additional line. Walter truly wanted a phone for Ralph so he could keep track of him on his GPS.
He focused on the screen of his iPhone, and unlocked the message.
Hi Walter.-R
Hi Ralph, how are you this afternoon?—W
I am good. I think mom is in a bad mood.—R
Why is that?—W
My parent-teacher open house is tonight, and Drew wanted to come, but I just heard her on the phone. I think he is going to another movie.—R
I am sorry, Ralph. What time is the open house?—W
In an hour.—R
See you in half an hour. –W
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Paige was stressing in the kitchen. She had just heard her voice mail from Drew cancelling on the parent teacher open house that night. After he had promised Ralph, swore to her, and begged to even get an invite in the first place, he called and left a message saying he could not make it tonight. She picked up the phone and returned the call.
She had pulled the phone to her ear. Paige glanced to the hallway that led to Ralph's bedroom. She knew he was busy working on a recent math puzzle he got from Sylvester. The phone call went directly to his voice mail.
"Hey this is Drew, leave a message." Then beep.
"Drew, this is shit I knew you would pull. You have already abandoned my son once in his life, which he recounted to me to exact detail, and calculated the different possibility of movies you could have gone to and he was three. What do you expect me to tell him now? I am telling him the truth. I will not make up some excuse to cover your inabilities of being a dependent human being let alone a father." Paige screeched into the phone. She hit the pound sign and the voice mail responded.
"Do you wish to review this message, or cancel?" The automatic messaging service. Paige looked guiltily at her phone and hit the button to delete the message and disconnected from the line. She was sick to the stomach at the possible outcome of this discussion she was about to have with Ralph. She remembered back to the day after Drew left the first time, and he asked how long was his father going to be gone. In those exact words.
Paige cried for days. It only took a week for Ralph to compartmentalize his father's abandonment. So he stopped asking.
So she was on her way to his room when there was a knock on the front door. For a moment her heart shot into her throat, and she thought Drew had come to his senses. Cautiously she approached the door and did not bother to look through the view finder. Paige nearly cried when she saw who was on the other side of the door.
Walter stood awkwardly, he had a sports jacket folded over his arm and his bag hanging on the opposite hip. He looked almost nervous but when Paige opened the door a smile spread across his face. She moved from the door jam and launched herself at the mentally enabled individual. He caught her in his arms and she hugged him close. "Ready for a parent teacher open house?"
"Thank you so much." Paige whispered into his ear. She leaned back and stepped away from the dazzled intellectual. Walter followed Paige into the apartment, and he took a quick scan of the entire living room and kitchen. It was empty of all things baseball. He had not been to the apartment since Drew came back into their lives. So he had kept his distance due to the awkwardness of the situation, and how he wanted to respect Paige's wishes to build a relationship between the father and son.
"So, do you want a drink?" Paige asked gesturing to a few bottles of wine and smile at the grimace that Walter made at the beverage options. It had been a bonus from the vineyard. It reminded Walter of 'Mrs. Curtis.' Paige smiled and went about the kitchen putting away the chicken carbonara that she had made for Ralph earlier in the evening. "Ralph is in his room, want to go get him?"
"I think he is on his way." Walter smiled and looked down at his cellphone. Paige gave him an exasperated look as the nine year old walked into the room. "He likes to text. Unlike someone in the room."
Paige rolled her eyes. "It is just a waste of time. Now if you guys don't mind, we have a parent teacher open house to attend. Shall we go?" The little family went about exiting the room and turning off the lights and locking the door. The group piled into Paige's compact car and off they went. They had just pulled into the space. Ralph seemed to deflate the moment the car turned off. He had been animated and excited as they drove the fifteen minutes through the neighborhood to his school.
"You ready, buddy?" Paige asked from the passenger seat. She looked back to her child and he looked sullenly out the window. "Come on Ralph. Let's do this." Walter looked into the review mirror and saw that Ralph was about ninety-two percent shut down. He put his hand on Paige's knee and gave it a squeeze. Paige's eyes left her son and focused onto Walter.
"How about you let me handle this." Walter said softly and gestured to Ralph. She nodded and squeezed his hand before exiting the car. She walked off about twenty paces before turning around to look at her car. Walter was saying something Ralph. Her son seemed to be nodding, and then made a giant arch with his hands. Walter was nodding his head. He then said something and she saw something that made her heart break wide open. The image of Walter and Ralph laughing. Walter stepped from the car and then opened the car door for Ralph. The boy grabbed his hand pulling him in the direction of his mother, and grabbed her own.
Thirty minutes later, they had walked into the science lab, the men had abandoned Paige to talk to the teacher about the curriculum and Ralph's participation in the class. It was when Ralph broke into laughter for the seventeenth time that night at something Walter had said to just the boy genius. Mrs. Sampson, the chemistry teacher smiled at pair.
"It is so nice to see Ralph open up." The teacher mentioned. "He mentioned that his father was coming tonight. I did not expect him to be like Ralph." Mrs. Sampson had been put in charge in Ralph's case when he started at the private school. After the public school system had wanted to stifle her son into a corner that was a special education class, she had worked with the team to get Ralph into a private school centered about the genius intellect. Walter had encouraged Paige to go with the progressive educational facility after seeing the science department.
"Oh," Paige started to answer but was interrupted by the laughter that escaped both Walter and Ralph. They were rigging up a chemistry set. "Please excuse me, I am going to go save your classroom from an explosion." She stepped away from the teacher not bothering to explain the relationship between Walter and Ralph.
"What are you two doing?" She asked coming to stand next to Ralph and ran her hand through his hair. Paige fixed a look on Walter who had a look on his face that he was just caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
"We thought we would test out science project." Ralph admitted and Paige faded at the admission. Walter gave her an innocent smile when her eyebrow quirked into a gentle arch. He was put the chemicals he had hiding behind his back onto the lab table.
"I thought so." Paige clenched through her teeth. He knew that the experiment was a bust now. Walter moved away from pair and walked to the teacher. He had been the one to interview the teachers when looking for the perfect fit for Ralph's new school. Mrs. Sampson had been the teacher to seal the deal. She didn't have the genius intellect but was able to see how special Ralph was with just a few short words. She also had not bothered to focus on the adults in the room and went directly to talk to Ralph who was taking interest in the science gadgetry.
"Mrs. Sampson, it is good to see you again." Walter said extending his hand to the teacher. Ralph was taking the time to explain the differences between the science apparatuses and where his station was. He had already gone through the tour, and he smiled at Paige when she caught his eyes on her, she smiled in return.
"Yes it is, Mr. Dineen." Mrs. Sampson stated. "I am sure glad to see you tonight. Your son is a joy to have in class. He was explaining about a volcano he made at the garage, and how you tweaked the equation and it exploded all over the place. He made the entire class laugh." Walter smiled missing the name mistake the teacher made, and he didn't want to embarrass the teacher. "I am sure glad he has someone in his life he can relate to."
"Me to." Walter said more to himself, and the rest of the group came to the front of the class. "Well shall we continue on to the next class?" So for the next two hours, the trio moved about the school from class to class. There were more moments when the teachers mistook Walter as Ralph's father and Paige's husband. During the open house there were group activities for the kids to interact with each other, and for the parents to meet. Ralph had run about the gym with other students, running off the sugar of the cookies and sweets that were set up in each classroom. It was nearing ten when the trio were leaving the school. Walter and Paige chatted quietly as they drove back to the apartment, because twenty seconds in the car, Ralph sacked out in the back seat.
They returned to the apartment and Walter carried a sleeping Ralph into the building. He followed Paige into the apartment and set the boy into his bed. They both went about taking his shoes off and pulling the covers to his chin. Walter patted the boy on the head, and Paige gave her son a kiss and the exited the room.
Once they returned to the living room, Paige moved closer to Walter. He looked tired but reluctant for the night to end. "Thank you for tonight, Walter." Paige commented and noticed how he ran his hand his hair. A habit that Paige wanted to mimic. Every time he ran his hand through his hair, she had to still her hand to her side. It was catching.
"You are welcome." Walter said looking about the room. It was already a quarter after ten. Walter wasn't tired, but this was the latest he had been around Paige when they were not on a mission. He shuffled at the quiet atmosphere. He did not do well with silence when his hands were empty. Paige smiled at his predicament.
"Well it is getting late." Paige said giving him an out. She knew he was uncomfortable. He nodded and stifled a yawn. It was sympathetic response to her comment about it being late. She held her hand out to him, and she walked him to the door. They seemed to linger in limbo at the threshold. "Walter, I wanted to thank you again for coming. Drew had bailed, and I know Ralph had been looking forward to showing off his school to someone other than me."
Walter smiled. "It was really my pleasure. I got his text earlier about his dad not being able to make it. I sensed he wanted me to come but did not know how to ask. I offered." Walter stated reflexing his fist at the thought of Drew being a disappointment when his son was in need. Paige was floored by his admission. For the second time that night she rushed into his arms, effectively catching him unguarded. She wrapped her arms about his neck, and before giving him the time to react. She stood up on her toes and went to press her lips to his cheek. Walter had been in the process in turning his head and her lips landed at the corner of his mouth.
Her lips remained pressed to his face for only five seconds, but it shocked Walter to the core. He took a step back while a blush bloomed across his face. Paige smiled again. They said their good byes and Walter could feel her mouth the entire drive home.
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He walked into the garage to find Toby still lounging at his desk. "Well welcome home our beloved leader!" Toby greeted the returning member of the genius squad. "How did the little family outing go?"
Walter shrugged, not wanting to lock his eyes with the behaviorist. He knew the wrong mood or moment would cause him to predict the exact thing that happened. "It was entertaining. Drew bailed on Ralph, so I stood in for the lacking father."
Toby agreed. "It was only a matter of time. Did anything happen tonight?" There is was. Walter wish he had the ability to read other's as well as the clinical psychologist. Walter ran a hand through his head giving another tell. "Did you kiss?"
"How did you know?" Walter asked, his mouth agape with his ability to call Walter out and the interactions with Paige. Toby chuckled.
"I didn't until you confirmed it." Toby laughed and stood up from his desk. He followed Walter into the kitchen and the pair went about talking about the entire night starting with his feelings about Drew abandoning Ralph, the mistakes all the staff of Ralph's school made about his relationship with Paige and Ralph and finally the kiss. Walter tried to play it off as just mistakes and a fluke. Toby rolled his eyes at the self-loathing of the team leader. It was something they had been working on for the past two years since Walter admitted he needed help with his emotional and social abilities. It was a latent behavior set back from his childhood. But Toby knew, no matter, if he told Walter it meant more to both him and Paige. Walter would not believe it until he understood he deserved to be loved.
So Toby teased him. Mercifully so.
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I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. Hopefully I can get more written this weekend so I don't stay up to complete one. Do you guys have any journal entries you would like to see? Any particular interactions. I would love any ideas.
Ema.