Hey guys! Sorry this is a little later than I imagined it to be but this will be the penultimate instalment of this story. I have started to write the 4th chapter but I don't think I will be able to post it until at least Thursday or Friday because I am busy for the next couple of days. Thanks for all of the reviews and comments you have left, it is giving me some good ideas for the final chapter. I hope you guys enjoy this one!

BANG!

-Scorpion-

Back at the garage, Walter was waiting for a text from to Paige to confirm her arrival at home. 20 minutes had passed since she had left and he was beginning to worry for her well-being. Suddenly, his cell began ringing but instead of hearing Paige's pleasant, melodious voice singing down the line, he heard a few grunts from an Agent who seemed to be quite concerned and annoyed.

"Hey kid, I know it's late but will you possibly be able to make it down to the Barrington intersection. There is something I need to tell you but I fear that you won't be able to process it over the phone."

Cabe was certainly worried and as soon as he hung up, Walter raced out of the garage – but not before he had picked up the note - and just prayed that his old Datsun would hang on until he got to the site. For the entire journey, he couldn't stop replaying the conversation with Cabe in his head. What could be going on? Why wouldn't he be able to process it properly?

When he arrived at the scene, Police cars, the Fire brigade and ambulance service were all gathered around one car. Debris lay across the junction and all access routes had been diverted and blocked so the site was clear from passing vehicles.

Before being able to examine the state of the cars involved, Cabe pulled him aside to have a small father-son conversation.

"Now son, I don't want you to start shouting at the emergency services because from what I can remember, that never ends up well." Cabe tried to be as gentle as possible when explaining the situation but instead, it only made Walter more impatient.

"Cabe. What's going on?" Walter replied with a sternness to his voice as he began to lose his temper.

"Right, well… Can you remember the first mission we did together, when there was 56 planes in danger of running out of fuel and the only possible option was for yourself and Paige to drive like madmen through the city to get to that airfield? Well, I remember hearing over the comms that Happy had a problem with changing the light on Barrington so that it would allow you two through."

"Cabe, just tell me the situation!" Walter replied get more agitated by the second.

"Well… there is no easy way to tell you this but the problem came back to haunt us…"

Just before Cabe could finish, a couple of paramedics jogged past with a stretcher. Upon that stretcher laid an unconscious body which for some reason looked familiar to Walter. Before Cabe could continue, Walter sprinted over to be able to view the scene of the collision. He was able to catch a glimpse of the wreckage before two cops pulled him back. Within the twisted and crumpled chassis of the two cars involved was a Chevy that was the same colour as Paige's. He immediately turned round with a questioningly look on his face and Cabe nodded as if to confirm that it was Paige's car. Just a few feet away from him, an ambulance door was opening and a petite figure was being wheeled into the back of it. Walter, without even thinking for a split second, ran to the back of the ambulance and started arguing with the paramedic about whether or not he could accompany her to the hospital. Hearing the commotion, Cabe ran over and flashed his badge which swiftly shut the ambulance driver up and then both men hopped on board. The first thing Walter did was reach for her hand. He didn't understand why he did it but he knew that the time when he was sharing stories about his past, he needed to hold her hand to reassure him that everything would be okay. He must have assumed that if he held her hand, everything would turn out alright for her. This gesture didn't go unnoticed by Cabe. It brought a slight smile to his face. All he could be was proud in this moment. Both Paige and Cabe were so very proud of Walter due to the amount of emotional progress he has made over the past year which was now becoming even clearer and made everybody's life a whole lot easier; especially Paige's. Knowing he would be unable to translate any of the current events to the team, the genius handed his cell to the agent and let him call them instead. After all, Toby would probably listen more to the agent than 197.

Once he had called everybody, he noticed Walter sitting there studying a small piece of paper.

"What you got there kid?" Cabe asked, wondering how Walter could process anything whilst ambulance sirens were blaring left, right and centre.

"Just a small note that I can't make any sense of at all. I saw it lying on my desk earlier. I can't tell who wrote it or why they would write it." Walter was becoming more and more confused by the minute.

"What does it say?" Cabe was bursting with anticipation about what the note read.

He handed the note to Cabe but he still couldn't shift the look of wonder from his face. Suddenly but subtly, Cabe let out a small laugh and all he could say was: "Well, it looks like someone is getting a bit jealous!" and he laughed again.

"What does it mean though?" Walter asked again, this time with a bit more urgency though.

"Well, for someone with a 197 IQ I didn't think I would have to spell it out for you O'Brien! Isn't it obvious? The note is from Drew."

"How can you make that conclusion from just them 4 words?" Walter asked, clearly not convinced by Cabe's answer.

"Well, who else could it be 197? After all, the words 'She was mine first!' can only be talking about one subject and you are the closest to that person: Paige. Since you two met over a year ago, I could tell that there was going to be something between you. Now look at you two!" He nodded in the direction of their conjoined hands. "It's like you have known each other your whole life. And the only person who could be worrying about you two being together is Drew! He would probably flip if he found out that you two were a 'thing' as you guys call them now-a-days. For him, it would probably feel like he couldn't see Ralph again because he and Paige aren't being interrupted by anything, or in this case, anyone! He is probably jealous of you anyway because you are the one that can connect easily with Ralph and you know instinctively what the matter with him is or what is bothering him. Also, the fact that Paige is now earning a lot of money from the government due to the high-risk jobs you guys deal with. Not even to mention the fact that you give her a portion of your pay check!" Before Walter could intervene, Cabe stopped him. "Don't think I haven't noticed. I may not be a genius but I do get a copy of everyone's pay checks because I get Paige to send them to me after the trouble with had with Merrick and Molina before Cooper became involved with us."

For ages Walter just sat there in silence staring at the woman who he had fallen in love with hanging on for her life after him being too arrogant to drive her home. Of course, Walter found even the tiniest reason to blame himself for what happened. If Paige ever got injured, he would blame himself and nobody could stop him from doing that!

-Scorpion-

The journey to the hospital was short but by the time they got there, Toby, Happy and Sylvester were there. There was only two members to take care of now – Ralph and Paige. Currently, Paige had been wheeled down to the ICU where Toby predicted that some doctors would be contemplating whether or not she would survive with or without surgery.

For a number of minutes, Walter was pondering whether or not he should call Ralph and explain the situation. In the end, he opted to call Drew and tell him to pick Ralph up because he didn't think that Ralph would be able to cope with the news over the phone.

The phone call with Drew only caused more of an argument between the two guys but in the end, Walter was persistent – thanks to all the lessons Cabe gave him when he was a teenager – and was able to persuade Drew to collect Ralph from his sitter and bring him to the hospital.

Just as Walter was putting his cell back into his pocket, he jumped up from the couch as a doctor came strolling towards the team who were all in little worlds of their own – Sylvester running calculations regarding all of the furniture he could see in the waiting room, Toby reading another book whilst Happy leaned on his shoulder and was half asleep and Cabe was trying to make a deal with Katherine Cooper on about upcoming cases that could be an issue for the team to be 100% efficient on with the current circumstances.

"Are you all here for Ms. Dineen?" the Doctor asked. Walter could have sworn he recognised her from either hospital visits to see Megan or from his Physical Therapy last summer. Before Walter could speak though, Cabe intervened.

"Yes we are. How is she?" Walter couldn't blame Cabe for cutting in because if he was talking, there would probably be less of a chance of an argument erupting that if Walter was.

"Well… this may not be the best of news but…"