Making Relationships Work

Part 19

"I can't believe he tricked me." Paige said as they were still up on the deck a couple of hours later celebrating the amazing night they had. She had looked at the rock on her finger no less than 500 times by now.

"Join the club mom, he duped me too." Ralph told her as he took another bite of his third piece of cheesecake."

"You both realize I had help from both of you." Walter told them as he was laying on one of the lounge chairs watching the stars in the sky.

"Oh, I know, and he's going to be in so much trouble." Paige said as she kissed Walter's cheek again as she continued to lay right next to him on the same chair with him. "You know you almost gave me a heart attack when I saw you on your knee."

"I'm sorry about that, but I wanted to surprise you. I knew after tonight you would know I was going to ask you pretty soon."

"It was perfect. Thank you. And Walter, oh my gosh this ring is incredible. I want to know the whole story about the ring. And I think it's so special that Megan was with you when you picked it out."

"Wait, Aunt Megan helped you pick it out? You've had the ring for that long?" Ralph asked as he finished off his cheesecake and sat in the chair next to them. Walter had wanted to make them partners forever, well since forever ago.

Walter spent the next twenty minutes telling them the whole story of Paige's ring. Around 11:00 they decided it was time to get Ralph to bed. He was excited to spend his first night in the house that would become his family's home.

"I have something else I want to give you tonight, if that's okay." Walter told Paige as they were both laying in bed right next to each other. Paige still couldn't stop looking at her ring.

"Huh?" She said not hearing what her fiancé said to her. "Sorry, I was kind of zoned out again. This ring is so beautiful Walter."

"Just like the person it belongs to." Walter started to tell her as he reached for her other hand. "I said I had something else I wanted to give you tonight, if you were okay with that."

Paige smiled at him and without having to say a word he understood she was okay with whatever it was he had for her. He handed her a small envelope with a piece of paper inside. "What is this, a pre-nup?" Paige kidded with him.

"Quite the opposite actually. Although it is a contract, so I guess technically you weren't wrong." Walter said scratching his head hoping she didn't think it was anything like a pre-nup.

"Wait, this contract shows us as equal owners of Scorpion."

"It um, yes it does. We've been talking about your new role there and how much I value your input on everything. I told you how Scorpion was at its best because of you, and I meant every word I said. I have a few ideas I do want to talk to you about, but I don't want to talk about them before you agree to owning it with me. That way you know your opinion with everything means just as much as mine."

"Walter, you don't need to do this. Scorpion was your vision."

"Paige, there is no way I would ask you to marry me as my equal in our life but not at our company. I wouldn't want this any other way. And if it is okay with you, I would like to make Ralph an equal owner as well when he turns twenty one if that is agreeable to you. We can talk about that later of course, but I would want that as well."

"You really are the kindest and most generous person I have ever met Walter O'Brien. I am so lucky to call you my best friend and the love of my life. And pretty soon my husband and the father to my son." Paige said to him as she started to have tears run down her face.

"Will you be agreeable to call me your business partner as well?"

"I would be absolutely honored to. I love you Walter."

"I love you too Paige."

"I um did get something for you tonight too. It's not on the same level as what you've done for me, but I did want you to have it tonight. Can you um lock the bedroom door while I go get it from the bathroom?"

"Um, s-sure." Walter said intrigued by what she got for him and why the door would need to be locked. He made his way over to the door, locked it, and then stood back in front of the bed. "It's um locked."

When Paige reappeared in the doorway of the bathroom, she was wearing a thin and incredibly short night gown that barely covered her hips and a pair of new stilettos. "I um wanted to see if you approved of my new shoes. You know since at the seminar you said you liked the way my legs looked in my shoes." And before he could answer, that was all she was wearing as she disrobed and stood in the doorway in nothing but her stilettos. She gave him a slow 360 degree view of everything before she made her way over to him. "I thought maybe tonight I could show you a couple of my superpowers."

Walter spent the next several hours thanking every star in the known universe, as well as all of them in any other universe for the celestial body that he got to spend the rest of eternity with. Tonight truly was the greatest night of his life.

Saturday June 9, 2018

Walter O'Brien woke up in bed looking over at his new fiancé as she laid there completely content and perfectly still as she continued to sleep for another hour as he watched over her and smiled. Her one long slender leg still draped over him as she started to wake.

"Morning beautiful." Walter said to her as he kissed her forehead.

"Morning to you too handsome." She said back to him as she realized she was still wearing nothing but her shoes.

"I don't think I ever got around to telling you last night, but I like the shoes. I like everything that came with them too." He told her as he covered her up with the sheets on the bed before pulling her even closer to him. "I love you Paige, and all your superpowers." He finished before kissing her again.

They spent the rest of Saturday continuing to move their belongings into their house. Ralph spent a considerable amount of time setting things up in the bonus room and especially the garage workshop for some of the experiments he wanted to do over the next several weeks. All things he would get to do with his dad.

Throughout the day they would take breaks to just sit on their deck or walk down to the beach a little over 100 feet from their front door and take in the beauty of the ocean as the waves came ashore. Neither one of them could still believe this was their new home.

Ralph wasted no time in wanting to have a sleepover at the new house, and Paige was ecstatic and more than willing to let it happen. Paige had Walter run to the store to pick up a bunch of snacks and drinks for Ralph and his friends. She loaded the mini fridge that was up in the bonus room with enough stuff to feed what felt like the whole neighborhood. Or at least the three teenage boys that were going to spend the night.

Ralph had spent plenty of nights at friend's houses, but he never had them stay at their condo. He always said it was too small for them to come over. Not anymore. Their new house would be an ideal location for him and his friends to hang out. Paige could not have been any happier for him. They ordered three large Genius pizzas and a few appetizers as well. While the boys ate, played video games and ran around at the beach, Walter and Paige sat up on the deck again and he started telling her about his ideas for Scorpion.

"Your serious about this. Getting rid of the Homeland contract."

"I am, Cabe has been complaining for a while about all the changes going on there, and all the new regulations and forms to complete with every job. Other than this last job at the Science Museum, all the other jobs we've had the last month and a half have been worse than usual. We don't need the money from the contract anymore and the risks I believe far outweigh the rewards."

"I agree with you about the risks and rewards. You have risked your life countless times on jobs for them. I just don't want you to regret giving it up."

"When you and Cabe joined our team I felt like I needed to repay my debt for what happened in Baghdad. That was my biggest motivational factor at the time. And I feel like I have done that."

"Walter, many times over. First of all, none of what happened that day was your fault. You were young and they lied to you about the way your software was being used. Don't ever blame yourself for that anymore. But like I said, you have repaid whatever debt you think you owed. Is there something else you are wanting to do with Scorpion?"

"We still have some decisions to make, and now that you are my equal, I do want to share what some of my ideas were. And some of these may be contingent on whether or not we bring back or hire new people to work with us."

"OK, that's something we do need to discuss, but tell me some of the ideas and we can talk through them together."

"Coding and programming jobs, as boring as they usually are, are highly profitable. So, I would definitely want to continue going after some of those jobs, just maybe not as many. Ralph has been an amazing help with them already. I think having a few larger clients like Richard that we could maybe sign some kind of contract with to be their designated solutions center would prove to be wise too. More than anything though, I want to be able to spend more time around you and also work with Ralph on projects and inventions. No more U-Dogs, I mean real projects, like what we just did. Spending time with him and you and not worrying about getting our heads shot off or being sent to prison in too many countries to list. Become more than just government problem solvers."

"I love everything you're saying. I could sit and watch the two of you working on projects for the rest of my life and be happy."

"When I first started Scorpion, I wanted to help people. Give people who were considered outcasts or different, like me, a chance to succeed and to make a difference. To use our abilities and our brilliance to help people. With your help we started to do that, and we made a name for ourselves these last four years. People know what we are capable of doing. I don't think we need to be involved with Homeland anymore to do that. It would give us a lot more freedom not being tied down to them."

"Walter, I think you are exactly right. I do want to ask you a question though. What about Cabe? He's close to retirement and I don't know if he would be willing to step away from his Homeland job."

"I've thought about that too. We would without question hire him on as an independent contractor if we needed to, but I think we need to find out his opinions on everything before we think about making any changes."

"And we might as well bring this up too. What about Happy, Sly and Toby; and I think we need to add Florence to that list too?" Paige asked him.

"I would like to talk to Cabe about things first. Maybe we can do that Monday first thing. I'm still not sure what to think about everyone else. Happy and Sly are both hard workers, and Florence in the little time she was around was a hard worker too. And I think the three of them more than Toby would be valuable assets working on inventions and on special projects."

"I agree with you. And I'm going to throw this out there, so you don't have to worry about anything. I do not in any way feel threatened by any friendship you have with Florence. I was 100 percent wrong about that. So don't ever be nervous of me getting upset if the two of you work on a project together. And all of this is if we even decide on asking them back."

"Thank you for that. You never have to worry about anyone in anyway. You are the most irreplaceable person in my life. You always will be." Walter told her before getting back to what they were talking about. "I just don't have a clue right now of what to do about Toby."

"I think a lot of what to do with him will depend on what he decides to do about himself. He needs to figure some things out. Where his anger and manipulative ways are coming from. He may need to go to some gamblers anonymous meetings or see a shrink. He likes to analyze everyone else, but he won't ever allow himself to be analyzed. We need to take our time with this Walter. Happy is out of commission for a month at least, which means Toby is out of commission for a month too, because I doubt he will leave her side for the time being trying to atone for what he did. I don't envy her for the next month, let me tell you. And Sly and Flo will be okay for a while with projects they have going on."

"See, it hasn't even been 24 hours and you're already making everything better. And do you know what I just realized." Walter was telling her when he remembered something.

"What?"

"We never told Ralph about us owning Scorpion together."

"How did we forget to tell him about that?"

"I was under the spell of a couple of your rather impressive superpowers." Walter explained to her. "I don't know what your excuse was."

"Whatever SuperDork." Paige told him with a kiss.

"Well, I say we tell him tomorrow after his friends go home. I think we are going to have a house full of teenage boys all summer long." Walter told her bringing a smile to her face. "And one extremely happy son."

Sunday June 10, 2018

After Ralph's friends left to go home Walter and Paige told him the news about them owning Scorpion together. He was almost as excited as the night before. They had a night full of surprises to tell their friends about when they came over to eat dinner.

Paige decided to make an Italian feast. She was going to make chicken parmesan, lasagna, spaghetti and meatballs, toasted ravioli and manicotti. She also planned on having salad and breadsticks as well. She sent her super genius fiancé to the store to get everything she needed and even though he didn't write a single thing down of what she asked him to get, he made it back home in record time and had everything right. He even remembered to pick up some of her favorite bottles of wine and a few desserts.

While Walter was out getting everything she asked for, she took care of several chores around the house. Ralph helped out as well. He was excited to share in all the news they had to tell everyone.

Paige also sent out the group text with the address they were to meet at. She told them it was meant to be a surprise, so if they could, try to keep it that way.

She spent the better part of three hours preparing all the food for the feast before people arrived. Walter pitched in when needed, if he wasn't too preoccupied with helping Ralph get a couple of experiments started. At 6:00 on the dot, the guests all showed up. She had learned long ago that when a genius was given a time to show up, that was when they showed up. To the minute.

"Could you guys not find a rental house any closer to the beach? Look at that view." Cabe said as he whistled carrying some adult beverages with him for people to share for the night. "A man could get used to drinking his coffee and looking at that every day."

"It's um not actually a rental." Walter told everyone while holding Paige's hand.

"Holy shit waitress, is this part of that life changing decision you told me about?" Happy said as she was sitting in her wheelchair while Toby was checking to make sure her feet were on the pedals. "Toby touch my feet again and I'm gonna have Cabe bury you in the sand."

"We have something for you Happy." Ralph told her as he handed her the small foot long box before her question was answered.

"Thanks squirt. Do I open it now?"

"I would, unless you want to help us dig Toby out of the sand later." Ralph told her as he pointed at Toby reaching for her feet again.

Happy opened up the box and was amazed that crutches were inside. Titanium, fully retractable, light weight, shock absorber crutches. "This kicks ass guys. I'm gonna ditch the wheels right now."

She had Toby put the wheelchair back in the truck much to his dismay. She made her way around the rest of the night with no trouble at all.

"Why don't we all head inside and we can tell you everything that's happened over the last few weeks." Paige told everyone as they made their way inside. She had kept her other hand in her pocket the whole time so far.

"Man, it smells good in here. Nothing like the smell of some home cooked Italian food." Cabe said as they first made their way in the house.

"We actually have a bunch of news to share with you guys. And I need to apologize up front if I get emotional for some of it, but um you'll understand." Paige told them as her eyes started to glisten already. "I don't even know where or how to begin. I guess I'll start from the beginning. A couple of days before I went to the seminar last month, I dropped Ralph off with Walter to spend the afternoon with him, while we all had the Davenport Consulting job to do that day. Walter had been working on a project for Richard..."

"Was it the jet propulsion project?" Florence asked. "That was all he did for a few weeks."

"It was. Ralph got to help him run some tests and look over some of his numbers and they were able to do something incredible. They can explain it all in detail to you guys later. That weekend I went to my seminar and got to hear this man let me know what I meant to him. Sorry." Paige said as she started tearing up. "And I um realized how big of a mistake I really made of everything. We um talked a bunch all weekend and figured out we needed to give us another try." Paige paused to wipe her eyes. "That next week on Monday I told you guys I couldn't be a part of CP anymore. Walter met with Richard a couple of times that week to talk to him about what they had done and after they ran some more tests Richard offered to purchase the rights to all of the work they had done on Thursday. Richard knew we had gotten back together because a few of his employees were at the seminar as well. I haven't shared any of what happened at the seminar with you guys. And Florence, I won't ask you to keep from sharing anything anymore if you want but I hope maybe some of the things that were said you could keep private."

"Of course. I haven't told Sylvester anything. I wanted to talk to you and Walter first before I said anything to anyone."

"Thank you. Anyway, at the seminar Walter said he had been looking into finding a condo for us to move into before I acted bat shit crazy that night. Which leads us to surprise number one. Walter, can you tell them the rest of this part, I need to check on the food."

"So um, Richard had bought this property seven years ago as an investment property. It needed to be completely gutted and restored. He finished work on it about six months ago. He told me to have Paige see it and see if she liked it."

"Who the hell wouldn't like a place like this?" Toby chimed in.

"As part of the negotiation we were um able to purchase the house."

"Walter, did you say part of the negotiation? What exactly did you do to his jet engine?" Sly asked. "I have a pretty good idea what this house would sell for in today's market."

"The condensed version. Ralph and I were able to get an extra 25 percent more thrust out of it with only 3.7 percent more fuel consumption."

"How the hell did you do that? That could change the whole industry." Happy asked dumbfounded.

"We can discuss that later. But to answer Sly's question, yes, this house was part of what we were compensated with."

"Good for you Walter. You deserve it." Sly told him, followed by similar compliments from everyone else.

"Ralph was just as big a part of this as me. And Paige was the one who talked Richard into most of what we got." Walter told everyone to make sure the credit was spread out to all of them.

By this time, Paige made her way back into the room and sat next to Walter again.

"So, while that was going on, I um don't know if I can make it through this part." Paige said holding her heart and looking at Ralph and smiling. Florence picked up on it instantly.

"Paige, can I maybe get it started for you, if that's okay." Florence told her.

"I would appreciate that. You do know what I was going to talk about?"

"I think I do. If I'm wrong stop me, but at the same time Walter was looking into condos for them, he was looking into some other stuff as well." She started saying and when Paige nodded, she continued. "He had been, oh wow, this is um hard to get out, sorry, Walter had been looking into what needed to be done to um adopt. To adopt Ralph." Florence finished saying as she was starting to get tears in her eyes.

Paige started full on crying which caused Allie and Happy and even Sly to do the same.

"Sweetie can you…" Paige tried to say before Ralph knew exactly what she needed.

"A couple of days ago on Friday night, mom and dad gave me this." Ralph turned over so everyone could see that it was the certificate showing that Walter was going to be adopting him.

By this point everyone was in tears hugging one of the three of them. It took another ten minutes before they were able to continue.

"The um same night." Paige started to say but couldn't get any further, still too emotional.

"I think everyone knows what Paige was going to say next, and I'm not going to share anything too personal, Walter was also getting ready to propose to Paige." Florence told everyone looking at Paige to make sure she didn't say anything she shouldn't have. Paige smiled at her and took her hand out of her pocket for the first time proudly showing off her ring.

"Five hundred bucks Toby, easy money, I told you her hand was in her pocket for a reason." Happy yelled out instantly. "Damn look at the size of that thing. Where did you dig that thing out of the ground Walt?"

Again everyone went around hugging and congratulating them.

"Florence, do you want to tell the story?" Paige asked her.

"Oh me, yeah sure. This is kind of fun. Like I'm a part of the gang again. Happy, to answer your question, it is two carats."

"1.97" All the geniuses yelled out.

"Sorry, I was just rounding up. Walter wanted to find a flawless diamond for Paige. It took five months to find one and another two months to have it cut to how he wanted it."

"Hold on a minute. My math skills aren't the same as the rest of yours but that was seven months before it was ready for you, when did you buy this son?" Cabe asked.

"It was a little longer than that. That's all I can say though." Florence said stopping there putting her hands up in the air.

"This must have been some seminar." Allie said.

"Yes, it was." Both Paige and Florence said in unison smiling at each other.

"So who is going to spill the beans and tell us when he got the ring?" Toby asked. He always wanted to know everything. Even after all the trouble he was in.

After a few moments, Walter figured he needed to be the one to tell everyone.

"It ah was November nin…" Walter started to say before Sly jumped from his seat.

"Holy lucky rabbits' foot, it was November 19, 2015 wasn't it?" He shouted out while everyone turned to Sly instantly as he finished speaking. "I should have known it would have been something like this."

"What should you have known?" Several of them asked.

"Something I think I need to tell you guys in private later. Oh man, that makes perfect sense." Sly finished looking at Walter and then Paige.

"What makes sense, am I the only one that's lost? Usually I'm on top of this stuff." Toby said.

"I'm lost too."

"Me too."

"Maybe we can finish that story after we eat then." Paige said after a few seconds of uncertainty, and then continued on with the last other tidbit of news they had. "That very same night Walter told me since we are going to be married he wanted us to both run Scorpion together as equals, and he offered me half ownership in the company."

"Well alright, good for you sweetheart." Cabe told her with a hug followed by everyone else doing the same.

It was now time to eat. The ladies all made their way to the rooftop deck as the men brought up all the dishes of food. They watched the sun set over the Pacific Ocean as they enjoyed their family meal together. Talking and laughing all through the meal. All the tension from a few months ago was almost completely gone.

After the meal was over, Sly was able to get Paige and Walter alone and shared with them what Megan had told him about that day.

"I didn't want anyone else but you guys to know what Megan said to me. This way you can share it if you want or keep it between the two of you, but I will not repeat this to anyone. Her exact words were 'Sylvester, don't ever forget this okay, remember this day forever. This day is the day that I found out for sure my brother will be okay when I'm no longer here. He is going to be okay.'"

It brought all three of them to tears.

Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! Bad night of sleep so I figured I better go ahead and post this before I try and get back to sleep. lol

To the Adventure! -Tim