"Well, I need to get home to Ralph," Paige gets up to leave, but turns back to Walter, "Let's make each other a promise."
Standing to face her, "What's that?" Walter asks.
"No backing out. We're going to give this a shot, no matter what?" Paige suggests.
"No matter what." Walter confirms.
"Goodnight Walter, sweet dreams." Paige gently kisses him goodbye.
"They already are. Goodnight Paige." Walter watches as Paige walks out.
A short while later, Walter wakes to a persistent banging at the door, "Coming!" He yells out while stumbling down the stairs. He opens the door to two police officers and a completely distraught Ralph who immediately throws himself around Walter's waist, sobbing uncontrollably.
Hugging him back, Walter asks, "Ralph, buddy what's wrong?"
When Ralph just cries hysterically, Walter looks to the two officers for an explanation.
"There was an accident on the I-10 tonight. His mother was badly injured." The officer states.
"But she's alive?" Walter asks.
"For now, I'm afraid it doesn't look good." The officer advises which sends Ralph into even more hysteria and earns the officer a slap on the back of the head from his partner.
"It's my fault!" Ralph yells, "She's going to die and it's entirely my fault!"
"Ralph, buddy, this is not your fault…" Walter begins.
"It is! She was coming here to get a book that I left," he goes over to Walter's desk and picks up his notebook and begins to panic.
Concerned at Ralph's overwhelmed emotional state, he grabs the throw off the couch and wraps it around Ralph. He kneels down to look Ralph in the eyes, "Ralph, listen to the sound of my calm voice and know that everything will be ok. This is not your fault. It was an accident. Just because you forgot…"
"No! You don't understand. I didn't forget it! I left it on purpose, so we'd have to come back and interrupt your date. I…." Ralph is overcome with emotions and starts to hyperventilate.
Walter removes the throw and has Ralph lay face down on the cold concrete, "Ralph, I need you to focus on your breathing. Just take slow breaths in and out, ok."
Ralph complies and begins to calm to a gentle sobbing. Walter lays the throw on top of him. Ralph pulls it toward him, "This throw smells like Mom."
Those words hit Walter like a brick wall. He knew that wasn't possible, he didn't take that throw out of the dryer and put it on the couch until after Paige and Ralph left that afternoon. The thought briefly crossed his mind that Ralph was imagining it in his grief-stricken state, but he knew Ralph wouldn't conjure up false realities; facts, not fiction, are stabilizing to Ralph. The only explanation is that he wasn't dreaming and he'd seen Paige that evening, after the accident occurred.
"Ralph, listen to me. I don't know what's going on, but these officers are mistaken. Your mom is just fine. I spoke with her this evening; she wasn't in an accident." Walter insists.
"That doesn't make sense; if she was here, why didn't she take my notebook?" Ralph asks skeptically.
"I must have distracted her. She probably forgot what she came for." Walter suggests.
"I don't know…" Ralph begins, but is interrupted when Walter's phone begins to ring.
Looking at the caller id, he picks up immediately, "Walter, Ralph is not here! I don't know where on earth he'd have went…" Paige begins panicked.
"Paige, listen to me. Ralph is here. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear your voice." Walter says, handing the phone to Ralph.
"Mom?" Ralph asks.
"Ralph, oh my god. What are you doing at the garage?" Paige asks.
"They said you were in an accident; that you were going to die." Ralph sobs relieved.
"Who said that sweetie?" Paige asks.
"The police officers that brought me here." Ralph responds.
"I see, are they still there?" Paige asks.
"Yes." Ralph answers.
"Let me talk to them for a moment, please." Paige requests.
"She wants to talk to you." Ralph says, handing the phone to one of the officers.
"Hello?" the officer hesitates.
"Where in the hell do you get off telling my son that I was in a wreck and dying, nonetheless? What kind of incompetent cops drag a boy out of bed in the middle of the night and scare the living daylights out of him…" Paige screams into the phone.
The officers move to the corner of the room where Paige's phone shaming of them can't be overheard by Walter and Ralph. Walter gets Ralph up off the floor and sits on the couch hugging him, "You ok, buddy?"
"Yeah, but I'm still confused. Why didn't you begin by telling me Mom was ok? And how did you know when the accident was?" Ralph asks.
"Well, I knew about the accident because Mallory was called back into work to assist. You're mom came by after that, but I thought I might have been dreaming. It wasn't until you said the throw smelled like her that I knew it wasn't a dream." Walter answers.
"Oh, I guess that makes sense." Ralph says sleepily.
Two very sheepish officers walk over and hand Walter the phone without saying a word.
"Paige?" Walter says into the phone.
"Hi Walter, I'll be back to get Ralph soon. Sorry for all the trouble." Paige's voice cracks from all the yelling.
"Stay put, I'll bring Ralph to you." Walter responds.
"Are you sure? I don't want to…" Paige begins to protest.
"You've had an upsetting evening. I'd rather you not get behind the wheel. It's no trouble. I'll see you soon." Walter interrupts.
"Ok, thanks, Walter."
Hanging up the phone, Walter asks the officer, "How did this mix-up happen anyway?"
"Ms. Dineen's purse was swiped from her front seat at a gas station this afternoon. She reported it, but the report hadn't been filed yet. So when the victim was brought into the hospital with her purse and id, we naturally thought it was Ms. Dineen." One officer responds.
"But hey, at least she'll get her things back." The other officer adds.
It was a little past midnight when Walter pulled up in front of Paige's apartment. Ralph stirs from the back seat having fallen asleep on the way over. Before either can get out of the car, Paige rushes down the steps and has the back passenger door open, "Ralph, thank god you're alright."
"I'm fine, Mom. I'm glad you're ok too." Ralph states coolly, but the firmness of his hug undermines his steady tone.
Still squeezing one of Ralph's hands, Paige embraces Walter, who has stepped out of the car, with the other, "Walter, thank you. Would you like to come in?"
"No, you need to get him to bed and I should get back. See you at work tomorrow." Walter states.
"Yeah, ok. Goodnight." Paige begins to lead Ralph inside.
"Oh, wait." Walter grabs something from the car as they turn around, "I think Ralph left this at my place earlier."
Walter hands Paige the notebook while winking at Ralph.
"Thanks, Walter. I owe you one." Paige responds, realizing for the first time that she never got the notebook she went after in the first place.
On the way home, Walter stopped to assist a drunk driver who wrapped his car around a light pole after taking out a fire hydrant. He'd have been electrocuted had Walter not come along when he did, but Walter was dog tired when he returned to the garage around 4 AM. Walter didn't even bother to change before crawling into bed again. When he was awaken by the buzzing of his cellphone just an hour later he muttered, "Argh, You've got to be kidding me."
Walter feels around the night table blindly until he finds his phone. Looking at the caller id, the number instantly resonates and his stomach tightens, "Dad?"
"Hey Walter, I need to see your face. Can ye get on your computer and skip with me?" Sean asks.
"Skype, and it's 5 o'clock in the morning here. Can't this wait?" Walter grumbles.
"It's important. Please Walter?" Sean insists.
"Is mom ok?" Walter asks.
"Yes, she's at the market. Everyone is fine." Sean answers.
"Ok, give me a few minutes and I'll call you back." Walter promises.
Walter digs out his laptop and tries to connect with his dad, but there is no answer. His phone rings. "Dad, why didn't you answer?" Walter asks.
"I tried, I never know what button to hit on this contraption." Sean responds.
Walter tries again while coaching his dad on how to answer, once connected Sean greets, "Good morning, Walter."
"Let's skip the small talk. What's going on?" Walter responds.
"My, but you're the grouch. I know it's early there, but ye could be a bit more respectful." Sean responds.
Walter is tempted to disconnect the call, but decides to let it go, "Sorry, it's been a long night. I've only been in bed an hour. What did you want to discuss?"
"I'm sorry, Walter. You're tired, perhaps this can wait…" Sean begs off, guiltily.
"It is fine dad, I'm awake now. Let's talk about why you called." Walter assures.
"Well, it's a bit of a long story. Ye see, about a year after your mother and I were married, there was a terrible drought. Money was tight and our marriage was strained. Ye could say the honeymoon was over…"
"Fewer details, please Dad." Walter interrupts impatiently.
Sean takes a deep breath and announces, "Mallory might be your sister."
"What? I… you had… more details, please dad." Walter stutters.
Sean then begrudgingly explained how he and Emily had an affair while their marriages were strained by the drought, but he broke it off when he found out Louise was pregnant with Megan. He later found out that Emily had twins but didn't know whether or not he was the father. "Anyway, I thought it was important that ye know." Sean finishes.
"You don't think that would have been an important fact for me to have when I saw you a month ago?!" Walter asks completely astonished.
"Honestly, I didn't think you two would still be together. You've never been great with the ladies…" Sean answers shamefully, "If I thought, ye'd fall in love with her and I'd have to break your heart…"
"I'm not in love with Mallory. I'm actually getting ready to break up with her." Walter interrupts.
"Oh, well, that's a bit of good news anyway…" Sean responds relieved.
"No, it's really not. I'm not pleased to learn that I may have had intercourse with my sister." Walter blurts out.
"Of course, that's not what I meant. I just…" Sean begins.
"Mom doesn't know?" Walter asks to change the topic.
"No, that was years ago and it's never happened again. It's ancient history. There is no need to dredge that up." Sean defends, "Let's keep this between us, Walter. I don't want to hurt your mother…"
"I don't like secrets, but I see no real purpose in telling her. " Walter concedes.
"Thanks. Again, I really am sorry. I should have told ye when we we're working in the yard last month. I just…. I just didn't know how." Sean apologizes.
"Yeah, look it's 6 o'clock here and I haven't had much sleep. The team will be arriving in a couple of hours and I'm sure Mom will be back from the market any minute. Let's finish this another time." Walter requests.
"Sure, I understand. I do love ye. Bye Walter." Sean concedes.
"Bye, dad," Walter states disconnecting the call.
Walter lies back down, but his mind is whirling and he can't get back to sleep. He decides instead to run a basic DNA test and heads to the bathroom to collect the samples.