Walter cleared his throat. "In regards to clear and honest communication, that newest waitress at Kovelsky's diner, I think she was hitting on me."

Paige's eyebrow rose up. "You think. You don't know?"

Walter shook his head. "You know how terrible I am at such things. But she did ask me out once, so I assumed the extra niceties she always performed were her way of hitting on me."

"You're talking about Rose, right?" Paige asked with a hint of irritation in her voice.

Walter looked at her still sitting there with her head against his shoulder. "Yes, you're not upset with me are you?"

Paige shook her head. "I am, a little, at Rose. She certainly didn't wait long to make a move on you. You didn't agree, did you?"

Walter shook his head. "You are the only one I am interested in that way Paige. It wasn't even worth experimenting to see if it could help me emotionally."

"Good boy, don't you ever forget you are my nerd." Paige nodded.

Walter smiled. "So what do you want to do if you are pregnant?"

Paige smiled. "I want you to move out of the Loft and into my condo.

Walter nodded. "Well if I do that, I can convert the loft into more research areas."

Paige shook her head as she smiled. "Leave it to you to think of that. It might be better to leave some of it as a living space, in case we come back from a case late or something, we could just crash there. I still have very fond memories there."

Walter nodded with a laugh. "Like the smell of ozone from Happy's welding and torch cuttings, or the smell of industrial oil and grease?"

Paige laughed. "Well there is that too. But I was thinking more about the quiet evenings we spent there as a family. It was the place and people but the smells play a part in it as well."

"Like when you tried to explain to me how important I was to Ralph, how important I was to you." Walter smiled remembering the conversation following the subway car case.

Paige nodded. "I didn't get through to you that night did I?"

Walter frowned. "What do you mean?"

Paige laughed as she shook her head. "I told you, I needed you to be selfish for a reason. And what did you do? You ran off with Cabe to check on Toby."

Walter continued to frown. "But, you told me to go."

Paige grinned. "Walter, there are certain things a woman can say to you that might seem like permission but it is really the exact opposite. I told you to go, but you should have been selfish and told Cabe that Toby would have to learn to control himself and then stayed with Ralph and me."

Walter glanced at her for a moment. "That makes no sense. Why would women do that? Words have a definition for a reason."

"My poor Walter, it is especially confusing for you, but the good news is, it's confusing to most guys." Paige smiled.

Paige and Walter sat in the little exam room waiting for her Dr to come in and tell them the news that would fundamentally change their lives. Paige looked over the edge of the magazine she was reading and watched Walter's left knee bouncing up and down nervously. She sighed as she closed the magazine and reached over and pressed her hand down on top of his knee.

Walter looked at her and gave her a wan smile. "Sorry."

Paige smiled. "It's okay Walter, but why are you so nervous?"

Walter swallowed hard. "I don't know how to be a Dad."

Paige grinned. "Walter, you do just fine with Ralph."

Walter shook his head. "Ralph's a genius so it is easier for me. There is no guarantee that any child we have would be a genius. I don't know if I will be able to relate."

Paige shook her head. "Walter, you relate to me just fine. And I am not going to let you stumble. I'll be with you every step. By the time our child is old enough, we'll have worked on things to the point that you will be just as natural with our child as you are with Ralph."

Walter looked deeply into her eyes. "You promise?"

Paige grinned and nodded. "I promise."

They shared a tender kiss just before the door opened and Paige's Dr walked in. The Dr smiled at the couple as she walked over to the sink and washed her hands. She picked up the folder she brought in and then turned around and shook hands with both of them. "How are you feeling Paige?"

Paige smiled. "For the most part pretty good but I am a bit nervous right now."

The Dr nodded with a smile. "Well then, let's talk about why you are here."

"Cabe!" Ralph yelled as he came out of his school as he was dismissed.

Cabe grinned as he saw Ralph take off running towards him.

"What's going on?" Ralph asked as he stopped suddenly before Cabe and then hugged him.

"Not sure kid. I got a message from your Mom asking if I could pick you up for her." Cabe answered before they broke their hug. "How have you been doing?"

"Miserable. I mean I understand why Mom was so mad she walked out on Walter, but…so he took Flo to that stupid lecture. Mom didn't even want to go." Ralph complained as they got into the SUV.

"I know, kid. I was so mad at your Mom, that isn't how you treat the person you love." Cabe sighed as he started the SUV.

"So how come you are picking me up? Have they made up?" Ralph asked hopefully.

"Doubtful. Walter's been a bit miffed with me, so I haven't been hanging out at the Garage. Your Mom sent me a text asking if I could pick you up and bring you home. She said she wanted to lay down as she wasn't feeling good." Cabe told him as they pulled out of the parking lot.

They drove in silence the rest of the way. They turned off the condo driveway and passed by several of the units and then saw Paige's parking spot had Allie's car parked in it.

"Did your Mom's car break down? Is that why Allie is here?" Cabe said, confused.

"I hope Mom didn't get sicker and called her for help." Ralph worried.

"Calm down son, I'm sure she's fine." Cabe said but clearly his voice sounded with concern. He pulled into the spot next to Allie's car.

Ralph quickly unbuckled his belt and flew out of the SUV and up to the front door.

Cabe chuckled even as he closed his door. He saw the door open before Ralph could slip his key into the door and was greeted by Allie.

"Hey sweetheart." Cabe said as he stepped onto the patio porch.

"Evening agent Gallo." Allie winked.

Cabe chuckled as they hugged.

"Well then I know Paige is okay if you are talking like that." Cabe said as before he kissed Allie.

"Yeah, she said she was a little nauseous, and she is lying down. She wanted me to let her know when you got here." Cabe nodded as they closed and locked the door.

"Mom?" Ralph said as he knocked on her bedroom door.

"I'm okay baby, I'll be out there in just a moment." Paige answered.

Ralph sighed.

"Mom said she'd be out here in a moment." Ralph said as he walked back out into the front room and sat down on the couch looking towards the hallway. Cabe nodded as he stepped over and sat on the loveseat with Allie.

Ralph resisted the urge to run around to the hallway when he heard her door open. A moment later he jumped off the couch as Paige came out holding hands with Walter.

"Walter!" Ralph exclaimed before running over and hugging Walter.

"You guys made up?" Cabe said with a dreadful hope as he stood up with Allie.

"Actually we never broke up." Paige told him with a smile as she watched Walter and Ralph hug.

"What?!" Cabe and Allie nearly screamed together.

"Explain yourselves this second." Cabe growled pointing at the floor.

Paige smiled and nodded before her and Walter stepped over and sat on the couch with Ralph.

"Do you remember back at Halloween we had the case on the Queen Mary for that film maker?" Paige asked softly.

Cabe, Ralph and Allie all nodded.

"While I was at the Garage by myself I discovered an electronic audio transmitter that had been placed close to my desk." Walter told them. "I searched around but didn't find any other devices anywhere else. I kept quiet about it until we went out to celebrate Sylvester's birthday at that faire." Walter told them.

"Cabe, while you were walking around, the five of us discussed it quietly." Paige told them looking at Cabe. "Walter and Sylvester both calculated that it had to be something Mark had done. So we decided to set a trap in hopes of catching him."

"And you didn't clue me in because?" Cabe growled.

"We wanted perfect reactions from everyone we could get. It is why we didn't tell the three of you and Florence what was going on." Walter told him. "We knew the four of us might not be very convincing, so we thought with Paige's skills from her Mom along with the times she acted in plays she'd be fine and with you guys acting legitimately shocked it would help sell the break up."

"Before we talked about it, Toby told me I had been acting badly as a boyfriend. As we had our meeting, he told me that I should try and use it to make it seem like Paige had a reason to be growing upset with me. I relied on all my previous relationships to accomplish that." Walter sighed. "It has been the worst time of my life. Even the Baghdad bombing didn't bother me as much as missing Paige and Ralph. Trying to act like I was mad at the guys really felt nasty too."

"I told Toby that because I was a little frustrated at our relationship at the time." Paige told Walter. "Before you told us about what was going on at the Garage during our meeting that day, I spoke with Toby about it, hoping he'd give you some pointers. Of course he was too busy trying to get to Happy to…talk about a baby. I didn't realize he had talked to you about it when he recommended you act that way. It wasn't until later I realized that you are always who you are. That's why I told you later that day that I wanted you to always be yourself. I'm so sorry." Paige smiled and kissed Walter for a moment.

"I'd watched another man pretending to be this noble hero king and when things got real he ran, cowering in horse…manure. And it made me realize just how amazing you really are, you are always your true self. And even if that true self has some edges or barbs to it, people can count on you no matter what. If I was in trouble, you would be the first one running to help me. And that made me fall in love with you even more." Paige squeezed Walter's hand.

"What about the lecture?" Ralph asked.

"Well that was actually a stroke of luck for our plan. I really didn't want to go. And it hurt Walter's feelings a bit. We talked about it over lunch at Kovelsky's the next day and about him taking Florence. So we decided to use it as our break up catalyst." Paige smiled as she ran her hand through Ralph's hair.

"I see. So what has caused you to reveal the truth?" Allie asked.

"Well…" Paige grinned as she looked at Walter and he nodded. "By all the predictions Walter and Sylvester made it should have drawn Mark out into the open by now. Plus the stress it was putting on all of us was too much, it needed to be done." Paige reached over and grabbed Ralph's hands. "Plus, I found out I am pregnant."

"What?!" Cabe and Allie said even as Ralph's eyes went wide looking from his Mom to Walter and back again.

"It's still very early, but we wanted to go ahead and tell you." Walter told them. "Your Mom wants me to move in with you guys, is that okay with you buddy?" Walter smiled.

Ralph grinned and nodded and then frowned.

"Wait…we don't have enough room here for a baby." Ralph told them.

Everyone laughed.

"That's true. We're looking at moving as soon as we can find another place and sell this one." Walter told him.

"So, what about the guys?" Cabe asked.

"We're going to meet with them tomorrow morning at CP and tell them. We'll be moved back into the Garage before the week is up. But we're keeping the new office furniture, right?" Paige answered and then looked at Walter.

Walter grinned before he nodded.

"Where are your cars?" Ralph asked.

"I left our car at the Garage and I had Walter park in overflow so we could surprise you." Paige smiled.

"I can't believe you guys had us believing you broke up all this time." Allie told them. "You really fooled us."

"I just wish it had fooled Mark." Walter sighed. "I don't really want to see him back in prison, but he's too dangerous out there."

"How did you pull all of this off so fast?" Cabe asked.

"Remember the loan I took out for your bail?" Walter smiled.

"Yeah, you gave it to Happy and Toby to try and get pregnant." Cabe nodded.

"Do you really think they needed all that money?" Walter smiled. "Most of it was to set up Centipede Partners. I just didn't expect it to be so hard to make ends meet like it was. It was supposed to be difficult, but I was actually worried for the last couple of weeks."

"What? Walter, that was rule one. Scorpion couldn't go under." Paige slapped his arm. "Why didn't you keep my salary then?"

"So anyway." Walter blushed. "Paige and I went over all the jobs the last couple of weeks before the blow up so they'd be prepared to dazzle the clients. They low balled the Beauchamp job to get it to show they were ruthless. All the other bids were to be strong bids to show their worth. I thought it all worked well. I'd purposely tried to act over confident to show I wasn't enough without Paige."

"You are more than enough." Paige smiled before kissing him.

"Get a room already." Ralph sighed while rolling his eyes.

Paige giggled as Walter blushed.

"So what did this device look like?" Cabe asked as he thought about everything.

Walter pulled out his phone and showed him a picture he had taken.

"That's not from Collins. Son of a bi…biscuit." Cabe swore and paused looking at Ralph. "That's a Homeland device."

"Are you sure?" Paige asked.

"Hell yeah. Freaking Carson. He must have had it planted to try and capture any confession that it had been planned for me to let Collins go. So they could use it against me in my trial." Cabe told them.

"Oh my gosh. Are you kidding me? We've been going nuts over this all this time and we didn't have to?" Paige said bitterly as she looked at Walter.

"Predictive models showed it was over a seventy percent chance it had to be Mark. There was only a twenty percent chance it was Homeland." Walter said as he held up his hands. The expression on Paige's face scared him.

"I can't believe this…all this energy and time wasted. Damn it." Paige said while shaking her head.

"Well, there isn't a lot we can do now about it. I'm sorry Paige. Maybe our fear of what Mark was doing, caused a math error. Umm, we talked about going to Papa Carpini's for dinner. Are you guys up for that?" Walter asked hesitantly.

"Well, I'm always up for their breadsticks. But seriously kids…next time, trust us a bit more. This whole mess could have been avoided." Cabe complained.

Walter and Paige nodded as they felt very bad now.

Sylvester sat at his desk looking out the store front glass. "I can't believe Paige is late. Did she call you guys?"

Toby and Happy were sitting on Toby's couch next to Sylvester's desk. "Nope, haven't talked with her since she said she was going to the Dr yesterday afternoon." Toby told him.

Happy just shook her head.

Sylvester turned back towards the glass and then smiled. "Here she comes now."

Sylvester frowned. "Someone is in the car with her, and driving."

Happy stood up and stepped up to Sylvester's desk and looked out and saw her car parking in her normal spot. "Is that Walter?"

Toby jumped up. "Can't be, that would blow the whole operation."

Sylvester shook his head. "No, that is Walter driving her car."

"Not good." Happy declared as the trio moved down the short walkway to the front door.

"You don't think Paige is sick do you?" Sylvester asked.

The three friends stepped outside as Paige and Walter exited her car.

"Walter." Sylvester nearly yelled and waved frantically.

Walter smiled and waved as they began walking up the steps.

Sylvester grabbed him up in a rough bear hug as they reached the top of the steps. "I've really missed you."

Walter smiled. "Missed you too buddy."

Happy surprised him as she moved up and hugged him next.

"I take it that if you are here that either Collins was caught or we're going to stop this nonsense." Happy said.

Walter smiled. "I wish Collins was caught."

Toby stood back observing Paige and Walter and as Happy pulled back from Walter he grinned. "You knocked Paige up didn't you?"

Happy turned and slapped Toby's shoulder. "Stop playing games, of course he didn't." She looked over and saw the look on Paige's face and her jaw nearly hit the ground. "Oh you have got to be kidding me, you are."

Sylvester grinned and rushed up and hugged Paige. "Congratulations."

Paige smiled as she returned his hug. "Thank you Sly. Let's go inside and talk guys."

Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!

Champagne42 - What was a strange omission? If you mean that they didn't tell Cabe, nope, they clearly meant to leave him and the others out of the loop on it. hehe He might need to repair a bridge with Cabe, dinner was a start. After all, they had promised no more lies between them.

Railman - Yup, now we know that Cabe, Allie, Ralph and Florence had been left out of the loop. I certainly hope you think it is a good one by the time the curtain on it is drawn! lol

Marti - hehe I remember you saying that before. While not as long as "Secrets" I hope it satisfies everyone with another way the show could have continued.

Pearliegirl - I was about to start worrying about you...5 days, 3 chapters and no word from you. lol Did you miss Elizabeth's 2 chapter story "Elizabeth Of Caranth"? I was about to say you normally comment to chapters about either Knight's stories. Then I looked back at "Lady Aine" and noticed you hadn't commented to it either. lol

LouBe - hehe Ol'Collins...Mark is waiting just off of stage left for his turn in the spotlight! Stay tuned for chapter 3 to answer your questions! *bwaahahahahaha* Nope, Cabe wasn't in on it...you'll have to wait to see in the next chapter. lol Glad you enjoyed Walter's acting! Yep, poor over-emotional Sylvester. A helpful Toby...now that would be a new one! lol So glad you are! If you weren't then I would know I did something wrong! lol Really? Tim isn't in the list either? I didn't even notice. Does that make me bad? LOL

Susan - Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. Yep, the charade is coming to an end, hang on to you seatbelt! lol

Chipbass - Thank you brother! Glad you enjoyed it. Collins was definitely a worthy foe. Perhaps even worse since Walter was somewhat naïve in his dealings with other geniuses at times.

JerBr - hehe I wondered if anyone would know what the name of the story meant or had looked the word up. Given what goes on in it, I felt it was a great name for it. lol Glad it has piqued your interest! Where does it lead is an interesting question...******. *wink* lol

To the Adventure! -Tim