Sorry for the delay! Been a busy holiday! I limited my work hours at one of my jobs because I still need my sanity so that should help me have time to update chapters more often if I'm not trying to catch up on some sleep. Heh.

This chapter, ended up going a different direction than I originally was going to take it, so… probably one more (maybe two) chapters after this.

I'm Sorry. I Can't.

Written by WriterFreak001

Part 3

~ SCORPION ~

Ralph didn't like the tension between his mother and his mentor, and seeing them unhappy – continuously unhappy – made him sick to his stomach. He always thought Walter would one day become his dad because he knew how much his mom loved him, and how much Walter loved her back. Since Tim was out of the picture, Ralph was surprised when Walter didn't jump at the chance to take his mother dancing, but then, after watching them painfully avoid each other for the past week, he realized something must have happened while he was visiting his dad for the weekend.

Though they hardly interacted outside of professional means, Ralph wasn't an idiot. They might be fighting. They might be angry with each other, but if either one of them ever told him they wanted to move on and forget one another, the young genius wouldn't buy it for a second. As if it wasn't obvious, whenever his mother wasn't looking, Walter – if he wasn't busy at his computer and if he wasn't hiding upstairs – would watch her for as long as he could before she noticed. And if Walter was walking by Paige's desk, or if he was heading towards his loft, his mom would follow the older genius with her eyes, aching to follow but never moving from her seat.

What did a kid have to do around here to make his mom and his mentor realize they were meant for each other?! Ralph really didn't believe in fate or serendipity, but he believed that good things happen to good people, and Walter was a good thing for his mom. The same goes in reverse.

In spite of the intellectual gap, they seemed to – or, rather, they used to – understand each other. Even though they've hit a rough patch, if they love each other as much as Ralph believed, they should be able to get through this argument, right? There were no more distractions physically keeping them apart. If they can fall in love once, they can find each other again, surely.

Ralph frowned. He wished he was more apt in understanding the concept of love. If he wanted his mentor and his mother to move in the right direction instead of distancing themselves – again, he was going to need a professional. Someone who could read people very well and manipulate situations undetected.

Ralph suddenly smiled, knowing exactly who to ask.

Pushing away from the kitchen table, Ralph hopped off of his seat and slowly approached this person of interest as she looked up from her phone and gave him a friendly wave. Still grinning, he plopped down beside his grandmother on the red, leather couch and leaned backwards. "So, grandma… Up for some… meddling?"

Veronica's lips curved to a small smirk. "Depends on the meddling."

"Mom and Walter are fighting and have been fighting all week. Though no words are spoken, they hardly look at each other, they maintain their distance as much as possible, and whenever we arrive to the garage in the morning, Walter always goes upstairs to work, and mom doesn't follow. He keeps his door locked now, and when Mom and I go home, she spends her nights crying, and I don't like that." Ralph paused to take a deep breath before continuing.

"Something happened between Mom and Walter, and whatever it was, it's causing a rift in the team whether they realize it or not, and I'm worried for both of them. They're thinner, I think. Mom doesn't eat as much at home, and based on Walter's appearance, I don't think he does either. I think…," Ralph glanced towards the loft where Walter was currently hiding and then glanced at his thumbs as they mindlessly twirled together, "I think if we can at least get them to talk… get them to remember who they once were to each other before Tim came into our lives and destroyed everything that was good, then maybe – at least – they would be on the road to recovery…."

Veronica nodded and hummed in agreement. "I agree. Seeing them interact – or lack thereof – it's incredibly sad, and you're right," she winked, "it does need some meddling."

"You'll help me?!" Ralph was overly pleased.

"Of course, squirt." Veronica combed her fingers through her grandson's hair. "But first, before we get down to the nitty gritty, let's discuss this more in the airstream mini. Your mom could be returning any time from the grocery store, and we don't want her to find out what we're doing. When angry, I've learned that Paige is certainly not someone I'd want to be messing with."

Ralph nodded swiftly and slid off the couch. "Agreed."

…

It had been a successful two hours of non-stop planning with his grandma, and Ralph was very pleased with their progress. Everything was in motion, and all he and Grandma Ronnie needed to do was convince the subjects to meet at a specific place and time without the other knowing; otherwise, the whole operation would fail. Ralph firmly believed there was no room for error.

"All right," Veronica flexed her fingers and cracked her knuckles, since Paige will most likely listen to you, Ralphy, as opposed to me, convince her to take you to 'Final Destination Point A,'" she air-quoted, "and I will work my magic and convince Walter to meet me at 'Final Destination Point B.'"

Ralph gave his grandmother a strong nod. "What if my mom refuses?"

"Throw around the word, 'privacy.'" Veronica shrugged slightly. "She doesn't get a lot of it here these days so it might be nice if you two 'take an evening out' and enjoy yourselves."

Ralph pursed his lips. "And what if she gets mad as we execute Step 3?"

Veronica paused for a moment before smiling. "Hopefully if everything goes well, she'll forget about being angry."

Ralph returned his grandmother's grin, beaming widely. Sometimes hanging out with Grandma Ronnie was fun! "I'll go talk to Mom right now."

"And I'll go talk to Walter." Veronica started for the door but paused to look at her grandson, "Reconvene back here in thirty minutes to go over the rest of the details?"

"You got it!" Ralph issued his grandmother a thumb's up and smirked. "They're not even going to know what's gonna hit them."

As the boy rushed out of the airstream mini, Veronica couldn't help but mutter, "Let's hope it's love."

~ SCORPION ~

Ralph slowed to a stop as he saw his mother glancing towards the loft again; his heart ached for her to be happy again. He stopped walking when she noticed he was behind her. "Hey," she smiled slightly, reaching out to him. "Where have you been, baby?"

"With grandma," Ralph shrugged, walking to her slowly. "I was showing her some neat coding tricks… like how to hack into Netflix and stream free movies for life…. Walter taught me that one…."

"That would explain why I never receive a statement from them anymore…," Paige muttered under her breath, and Ralph tried his best not to grin too much. He then moved closer to her until he was within arm's reach.

"Mom?"

"Yes, baby?" She reached up to smooth down his hair, and he let her.

Ralph frowned, still able to see the dark circles she had tried her best to hide this morning with her makeup. "Why are you sad all of the time?" He pretended not to know about why Tim wasn't in the picture anymore. "Is it because you miss Tim?"

Paige shook her head slowly, her honey-colored hair swishing about her face. "No, honey. I don't miss Tim at all. In fact," he could tell she was trying her best to put on a brave face, "My relationship with Tim is over, and I'm happy I'm not dating him anymore. He and I… we weren't the right fit…."

Her answer seemed to satisfy Ralph, and he didn't need to ask any more questions, but… to ward of her suspicions, he slowly asked, "Do you… want to talk about it?"

"No, not really. I don't want anything to do with him anymore." Paige frowned, and Ralph dropped the Tim subject… in the ocean… where it could drown forever. Paige leaned forward and kissed Ralph's forehead. "All I have and all I need is standing right here in front of me." She gently poked his nose, and he wrinkled it, causing her to giggle. "We haven't done anything in a while… let's do something tonight. Just you and me. You pick. How does that sound?"

Well… that was easier than expected… "Sure," Ralph nodded with a beaming smile.

"Great! It's a date!" Paige pressed loud smooches on both of Ralph's cheeks and his forehead. "Just let me know where you want to go, and we'll make an evening out of it."

Offering a place right away would seem to suspicious so he kept silent. He would need to see how Grandma Ronnie's persuasion with Walter went first before moving along with their plans.

"Between you and me," Paige mumbled quietly in case there were any unwanted listeners around, "I've decided to swear off my romantic life altogether."

Ralph inhaled deeply, not liking her response at all. "W-What?"

"Don't worry about it, Ralphy. You're too young to understand." Paige kissed his cheek before playfully tapping it.

Before he could stop himself, he stammered, "W-what about Walter? I thought… Mom," Ralph needed to be frank, "you love him. I've seen it with my own eyes….," he swallowed thickly, "W-what about him?"

Paige's nose burned as she smiled sadly. "You're right, baby. I do love him. Very, very deeply, but…," she glanced up towards the loft, and her eyes lingered there for a few silent seconds before she returned her gaze to her son, "We're just… we're way too different. We won't be able to make things work… so why bother trying?"

"But…," Ralph was at a loss for words. Was that really what she believed?! Their distance was worse than he thought, and it needed to be remedied as soon as possible; otherwise, the longer this avoidance goes on, the more likely everything between them would become unrepairable. That was not an option.

Everything had a solution; they just needed to find theirs… with a catalyst… and his grandma.

His mother told him never to give up on the things he wanted most in life, why did she think she was the exception to that rule?

"Walter… I can tell… he loves you, Mom. He loves both of us… and he could… I thought…," Ralph paused, needing to compose himself before he blew the entire operation, "He loves you, and you love him…. Why are the both of you making things difficult on yourselves?"

Paige sighed, giving her son a small smirk. "I underestimated you, Ralphy. You understand a lot more grownup things than I realized…," she swiveled her chair until Ralph was standing between her knees. She placed her hands on her son's shoulders and gave him a weak smile. "You're right a lot, Ralph. I do love Walter, and he loves me too, but…," she swallowed the lump in her throat as her nose began to burn again, "we made mistakes… horrible mistakes…, and it's too late to correct them…. I know you mean well, Ralphy, I know you do, but… I'm sorry," a tear fell from her left eye, "I… I can't. I can't keep going through the emotional pain branded with relationships…. I just can't do it anymore."

"But…," Ralph's voice cracked, "he stayed, Mom…." Ralph clenched his fists and tensed, "Through everything – the good and the bad – Walter never abandoned us…."

And as he slowly walked away, he accidentally heard his mother mutter, "Then why does it feel like he's miles away?"

Ralph inhaled deeply, wanting to punch something. Anything.

The time to fix things was slipping away faster than he thought, and if things weren't heading in the right direction tonight, he feared he would never have the family dynamic he had always wanted, and that scared him.

~ SCORPION ~

Veronica rolled her eyes as she saw Walter pathetically sitting at his desk and staring at his phone like no tomorrow. She was 99.9% positive the genius was pining over a picture of Paige because why else would a genius with a 197 IQ waste his time moping? He was so focused on his phone that he didn't even hear her pick the lock and slip inside the loft – a talent she had conveniently picked up over the years as a con-artist.

"You know, with how desperate you look, you might as well customize and order a cardboard cutout of my daughter to keep you company rather than ogle at your phone and waste it's battery unnecessarily." Veronica lifted an eyebrow as he sheepishly met her scrutiny, and she frowned. "I know you said you'd win Paige your way, but you actively moping around up here instead of trying to woo my daughter is not how you win a woman's heart."

Walter locked his phone and placed it down on his desk as he sighed and crossed his arms across his chest. He leaned backwards slightly and pursed his lips together. "Paige and I…," he swallowed thickly, "It's never going to happen."

"Never going to happen, my ass." Veronica leaned one hip to the side and tapped her foot as though she was waiting for Walter to respond, but he didn't. "You love her. She obviously has the hots for you even after the whole Tim thing blew up in her face, and you're just going to give up?!"

"I'm sorry, but," Walter groaned as he pressed the heels of his hands against his temples, "I can't deal with this right now. Paige and I already discussed the future of our relationship, and guess what?! There's no future." Walter pushed away from his desk chair and stormed to the kitchen to find a mug that hasn't been smashed already this week.

Veronica sighed and realized she needed to approach Walter more like a bunny than a woodpecker. Trying to pound the information out of him wasn't going to work, and if she wasn't more gentle with her delivery, she might ruin things, and the last thing she wanted was to upset her grandson again. "Look," Veronica turned towards him but kept her distance, "I'm sorry if I came down a little too strongly on you…. It's just… I really do love my daughter, and I just know you're what's best for her. Are you absolutely sure distance is the best answer?" Veronica slowly walked towards him and kept silent, waiting for him to answer.

"We… we're too different. She doesn't want someone like me; she wants someone like Tim. She made that pretty clear when she chose to date Tim even after she found out I loved her…. There's obviously no room for in her heart for me because she's always going to choose the other guy." Walter sighed into his hands and grumbled incoherently.

"Ouch," Veronica cringed, not realizing how bad the situation was. She bit the left corner of her lip and thought for a moment. "Do you… want to talk about it?"

"Not really…."

"Okay, give me the Cliff's Notes version." Veronica shrugged, and Walter let out a ghostly laugh at her choice of words.

"I remembered something that happened a while back that no one cared to tell me about – something she should have told me about, and when I realized I had confessed my love to her when I was experiencing a severe case of hypoxia, I got incredibly angry because she knew I loved her, and she didn't do or say a damn thing about it. And when I went to ask her about it, we got into this huge argument. I was angry at her for flaunting Tim in front of my face even though she knew how much I felt about her, and she was angry at me for choosing Scorpion instead of taking a risk and dating her. In our anger, we mutually decided – in spite of our feelings – dating was never an option. There's… to much at stake, and… we realized that night… we're just… we don't see the same things eye-to-eye anymore."

"Wow, that's a lot," Veronica let out a huff of breath. "Hmm… so you're both angry and hurt for mistakes the other has made."

"More or less…."

"Are you still angry with her?"

Walter bit his lip. "To be honest? No. I love her; therefore, I'd forgive her for anything, and that's true. But… she's still mad at me, and if I try to talk to her, it'll blow up in my face, just like it always does."

Veronica hummed to herself and leaned over the counter separating her from Walter. "Maybe it doesn't have to…."

"What are you saying?" Walter frowned, unsure he liked where she was going with her thoughts. "I already told you, I don't want to deceive her anymore so… if you think flattery is going to work, then stop right there because I won't make that mistake again."

"Flattery might just be the very thing that'll work in this scenario, but… in a different sense…" Veronica spoke more to herself than to Walter, but the genius gave her a quizzical brow.

"I'm not following."

Veronica blinked, her brain cooking something potentially unpleasant. "You said you chose Scorpion over her, correct?"

"Yes, but she chose Tim over me."

"That's old news, Walter," Veronica rolled her eyes. "Besides, you said you've forgiven her so… get over it. It happened. Sure, you might not like it, but the past is the past, and it's the future that counts right now." Veronica hopped up onto the counter and folded her legs into a pretzel, "Aside from losing Ralph, what is most likely Paige's number one fear?"

Walter thought for a moment. "Abandonment."

"Exactly," Veronica nodded. "And I'm sorry for being the reason she has a hard time trusting people and letting them into her life, but it's a regret I'll have to live with for the rest of my life, but I'm not here to talk to you about me. I'm here to talk to you about your relationship – or lack thereof at the moment – with my daughter." Veronica shifted slightly and smiled a little when she noticed how intrigued Walter was of her idea. "Ralph filled me in about Drew… and Tahoe…, and it seems to me that Paige has been experiencing a non-ending cycle of abandonment for most of her life. Again," she rose up her hand, "I'm sorry for contributing to that unfortunate factor in her life."

She cleared her throat and continued quietly. "Paige loves you," she smiled. "I can see it in her eyes every time she looks at you. In case you haven't noticed, she pines after you too so I don't think she's still mad."

"You… You don't?" Walter shifted his weight and blinked rapidly.

Veronica shook her head. "I think she's hurting, and I think she's afraid of going to you and apologizing because she doesn't want another rejection from you. Paige's heart is in a delicate state right now; Tim cheated on her, and though she may have not loved him like she loves you, being abandoned and tossed aside for another passion still sucks. Her ability to trust anybody – including yourself – is incredibly thin. Maybe… maybe she just needs something to latch onto… something to give her hope that you would never leave her."

"But I haven't left her. I've always been here. She knows that." Walter frowned deeply.

"Physically, yes." Veronica nodded in agreement, "You've always been within arm's reach for her, but… what about emotionally? You two have a big fight – perhaps the biggest fight you've ever experienced with her, and what? You're both going to resolve everything by ignoring each other?! I'm not saying she's perfect and shouldn't own up to her mistakes, but… if you really want to show her you've changed… if you really want her to know you're there for her physically, emotionally and mentally… that you're willing to stay for her in all capacities, then you need to get your butt into gear and do exactly that. Not trying to fight the odds, not trying to fight for her, is what will ruin your chances of ever being with Paige Dineen, so before your window of opportunity closes, I suggest you think long and hard about what you want to say to her and then go to her and tell her she's worth every damn risk that's out there."

Walter pursed his lips. "Even if I want to, I wouldn't know what to say…."

"Then tonight, you and I are going to work on your dating proposal because you absolutely cannot afford to screw up again." Veronica took his hands in hers and squeezed them gently. "Like I said once before," she winked, "I'm going to help you win Paige back."

~ SCORPION ~

"Walter was certainly a piece of work!" Veronica exclaimed quietly as she took a seat next to Ralph in the airstream mini. "I swear, if this plan doesn't work, I'm going to lock them in a car or an elevator or in some small space, and I'm going to throw away the key because this distance thing is absolutely ridiculous." The middle-aged woman sighed. "So," she offered her grandson a small smile, "how were things on your end?"

"Successful, but… things are worse than we originally thought."

Veronica bit the inside of her cheek softly, nodding in agreement. "You can say that again."

~ SCORPION ~

That was a long chapter! Much longer than I thought it would be. As it stands, I'm thinking there will be at least two more chapters. Hopefully no more than 2.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I had fun writing it!

PS. I know many people are conflicted about who is at fault when it comes to Waige not being together, and I think the blame can be directed towards both parties. If it seemed like Ronnie was biased when she was telling Walter to take the high road and show Paige she's worth it, I didn't mean for her words of encouragement to come across that way. Ronnie just needed to find a believable way to convince Walter to meet up with her in the evening so… you know Ronnie, she'll say whatever she needs to in order to get the job done. ^_^