An hour later Ralph got the email from Dan and he quickly called Amanda's Dr.
"Dr McDermott, this is Ralph Dineen. I have some good news. If you will give me an email address I can forward an email with the genetic comparison results of Amanda and her parents." Ralph greeted the Dr.
"Oh, uh Mr. Dineen. Thank you, but unfortunately Amanda just passed away peacefully a short bit ago." Dr. McDermott told him.
"Oh dear Lord, no. Oh man, are her parents still there?" Ralph asked as he choked up.
"Yes, they are still with her body." Dr. McDermott explained.
"Okay, thank you Dr." Ralph replied and hung up his phone. He hit his intercom button. "Debbie, clear the rest of my afternoon. Agent Gallo's daughter has passed and I'm going to go see if there is anything I can do for the family. Have my SUV brought around."
"Of course Mr Dineen, please pass along my condolences." Debbie replied back.
"Thank you, I will." Ralph told her before he got up. He frowned as he heard a clap of thunder and looked out and saw dark clouds rolling through the sky. 'That's odd, they didn't say we'd have rain today, much less a storm.'
Ralph stepped out of his office and made his way to the carport. The doorman got him in his SUV quickly and it drove off.
Ralph's finger brushed back and forth across his chin just below his lower lip as he tried to figure out what to say. He couldn't imagine a worse situation. The streets were a bit chaotic at the unexpected storm but they finally arrived at the hospital without incident. Ralph quickly made his way inside with two of his detail and on up to Amanda's room. Cabe and Rebecca were standing on opposite sides of Amanda's bed holding a hand each.
"Cabe, Rebecca." Ralph said softly after clearing his throat. "I am so sorry. I just can't imagine."
Cabe nodded as he stared at his little girl and Rebecca smiled back at him sadly.
"Thank you Mr Dineen. It was very kind of you to come down here." Rebecca said.
"I'd called to let the Dr know we had a genetic comparison between the three of you so they could try to help Amanda when she told me that your daughter had already passed." Ralph said as he stepped up and put his hand on Cabe's shoulder.
"H-How did you get that? They told us it would be another three months before they'd have it." Cabe asked while not taking his eyes off of Amanda.
Ralph kind of smiled and gave a slight chuckle.
"Walter, when he found out he spent all weekend working on a program that would speed up the analysis. And then last night he hacked his way into IBM and took over their supercomputer to run it. I just got the results from a friend there." Ralph told him.
"That kid is something else." Cabe told him with a slight nod of his head.
"That he is. Do you want to have a service here for Amanda? Do you want to take her back to the States to bury her?" Ralph asked softly.
Cabe kind of shrugged even as Rebecca nodded.
"My employer has been putting pressure on me to come back to the US to work. So I'd like to take her home to bury her. She has a few friends here, so we should have some kind of service for them." Rebecca told him.
"If you'd like I can make the arrangements." Ralph told her.
"That would be helpful, thank you Mr. Dineen." Rebecca told him.
"You are more than welcome to call me Ralph." Ralph told her.
"Don't take this the wrong way Mr Dineen, but I'm not sure I'm coming back." Cabe told him.
Ralph nodded.
"Cabe, you are a good man, you've been an exemplary member of the Secret Service and Protection Detail. I'll support you wherever you want to go after this." Ralph promised.
"I figured you'd be trying to get rid of me to be honest." Cabe said.
Ralph smiled.
"I hadn't planned on getting into this with you but I must confess, I was very upset at how all of this has hurt Walter. And you were going to be transferred to the Ambassador of the UN, depending on when you came back to work. Nothing punitive, but I have to protect my boy. I don't know what you knew about what was to happen Cabe, but the bombing has devastated Walter. He's already memorized every name of everyone reportedly killed in those attacks. He's still not sleeping well, some nights we're having to take turns sitting up so when he wakes he has someone to turn to." Ralph explained.
Cabe nodded.
"I don't blame you. Walter hates me now. I didn't know that it was subterfuge, though Merrick was kind enough to tell me three days before the bombing what they were using that program for." Cabe admitted.
"You knew three days before? Why didn't you say anything?" Ralph asked.
Cabe shrugged.
"To protect Walter. If he knew what they were going to do, he'd have tried to stop them. And the Security Council would have come after him, loaded for bear. There was no way I could have stopped them from doing this so my only option was to keep it quiet and let it happen. I doubt even you could have protected him, kept him from jail. You know the government here would have given Walter to them. He'd never be able to touch another computer, or help people like he wants to do. I couldn't allow him to be stuck farming or sacking groceries for a living. So I kept quiet and would live with the consequences of my decision." Cabe told him as a tear ran down his face.
"Damn it Cabe, if you had just come to me. I could have made them understand that the software wasn't reliable enough to use." Ralph told him.
Cabe shook his head.
"Merrick didn't care. He knew the odds were low he'd get the people he wanted but he hoped it would be enough to scare them out of hiding so that his assassins could get them." Cabe told him.
Ralph sighed.
"Alright, I'll go make some calls and get Amanda's service set up and people over to care for her. I'll also make calls to get things set up to take her back to the States. Where would you like to intern her body?" Ralph asked gently.
"We have spaces for Cabe and I in Oakwood Memorial Park and Cemetery in Los Angeles. Maybe we could get a third space there. If not, I guess we'll need to sell those and get three places somewhere else in Los Angeles." Rebecca told him.
"I'll take care of it. Call me if you need anything. I'll set up a service for her this weekend, if that is okay?" Ralph asked and watched as they both nodded.
"Thank you Ralph." Rebecca said as she returned the rest of her attention back to Amanda.
June 2nd, 2001, Saturday:
Walter walked into the mortuary with Paige and the rest of the Dineens as they came to pay their respect. Walter stood staring at the book for sign ins. Paige just smiled at him and reached up and took the pen and printed Walter's name and the Embassy's address. She knew people could easily find out where he lived but she was going to make them work a little harder for it. She sat the pen down and kissed his cheek.
"Let's go on inside Walter." Paige told him softly.
Walter nodded and took her hand back in his hand as they walked down the short hallway towards the viewing room. An usher handed them a small folded card with Amanda's picture on the front on a blue background. White clouds and a golden sun with it. Amanda's name blazen across the bottom of it. They stepped in and saw a line of people making their way up to the casket and stopping in front of Cabe and Rebecca as they stood there greeting people.
Walter stopped as he saw Cabe and his hand tightened just a little around Paige's.
"Do I really have to go up there?" Walter asked.
"You said you wanted to pay your respect, Walter, this is how you do that." Paige told him.
Walter still stood there, his eyes locked on Cabe.
"I know it isn't easy Walter. What they did with your program but you heard Daddy, Cabe didn't know what they were going to do with it. You can't be mad at him if he didn't know, they tricked him too. You don't want anyone mad at you over it do you?" Paige asked quietly.
Walter shook his head.
"I'll try." Walter finally said but Paige still had to pull a little against his hands to get him to move.
Cabe looked down the line one time and saw Ralph clearly towards the back and his eyes searched the people around him as he saw Veronica, Happy, Paige and finally Walter. Cabe teared up at the expression on Walter's face. He leaned over to Rebecca as the people with them walked off.
"I don't know if I can face him." Cabe whispered.
Rebecca frowned and looked down and saw Ralph standing there.
"Is Walter with him?" Rebecca asked quietly.
Cabe nodded.
"You'll be fine sweetheart." Rebecca told him as she kissed his cheek.
Cabe's eyes never left Walter, who in contrast never looked at him again. Cabe watched as Rebecca greeted the people just before Walter and Paige. He watched Walter step up with Paige to the coffin.
"I'm so sorry Amanda. I wish I had been quicker. Maybe we could have found a solution." Walter told her before he turned and saw Cabe had moved up.
"Walter, I." Cabe started but Walter cut him off.
"I understand, today is about Amanda and that is the only reason I am here. If I wasn't who I was, I'd fight you. We're done talking." Walter told him stiffly.
"Walter." Paige admonished him.
Cabe shook his head and waved his hand.
"It is okay Ms Dineen. Walter's got a right to be upset with me. I am grateful you both came." Cabe told them.
Rebecca stepped up and linked her arm around Cabe's.
"Thank you both for coming." Rebecca told them.
"We're both very sorry for your loss." Walter said almost in unison with Paige.
Rebecca smiled.
"If you are hungry or thirsty there is a small room where you can get some snacks or something to drink." Rebecca offered.
"That's very kind of you Mrs Gallo, but we're fine, thank you." Paige told her.
As Happy moved up from the casket with Ralph and Veronica, Paige and Walter stepped away and sat down towards the back of the room.
"Walter, you could have been a little nicer. His daughter just died." Paige told him sadly.
Walter looked at her for a moment and slowly his head looked down and he nodded. Walter stood up quietly and walked back towards the front. Ralph put his hand on his shoulder as he was passing them walking back.
"You okay son?" Ralph asked.
Walter just nodded as he continued up to where Cabe was standing.
They were in the middle of speaking to a couple when Walter stepped up.
"Cabe." Walter said softly.
"What's up son?" Cabe turned instantly.
Walter threw his arms around Cabe and hugged him tightly.
"I'm really sorry." Walter told him as tears broke over the edge of his eyes and streamed down his face.
Cabe's breath staggered for a moment and then he surrendered to the moment and began crying with Walter as he hugged him back.
Ralph moved back up and with some of the detail they escorted Walter and Cabe to a room where they could just be alone and Veronica went back up to stand with Rebecca to continue greeting the visitors.
Paige had wanted to go with them but ended up staying with her sister to give Walter a chance to process his feelings with Cabe in peace.
"You think Walter's going to be okay?" Happy asked her as she continued to stare off into the side of the room at the door to the room they had put them in.
Paige nodded.
"Eventually he will. He keeps his emotions bottled up a bit too much. He's a lot better than when I met him though, according to Megan." Paige told her.
"I wish I had been faster Cabe, maybe they could have used the data I collected to help Amanda." Walter told him.
Cabe shook his head.
"Son, you listen to me. You are smart enough to know that no matter how fast you could have found out which gene was causing the problem, technology isn't to the point where they can repair the gene. Rebecca and I can't thank you enough for what you did. Your program might one day lead doctors to genes that are causing problems. And that is a good thing. But until we have the tech to repair what is wrong it just lets us know which genes to look at." Cabe told him.
"You are an amazing young man Walter. And I am so proud to have known you. I am so sorry that people played me to get to you and tricked you into writing that program. Had I known before you got that code written I would have told you. I hope you can believe that." Cabe told him.
Walter slowly nodded.
"I do, Mr. Dineen and Paige both believe you wouldn't have done something like that to me." Walter told him.
Cabe grinned.
"I'm glad Walter. I'm probably not going to see you for a while." Cabe told him.
Walter frowned as he looked at him.
"What do you mean? Aren't you coming back to Paige's detail?" Walter asked as his stomach knotted up.
Cabe shook his head.
"I'm going to take some time off first and Mr Dineen isn't happy about this either. He's not punishing me, but he's gotten me reassigned to a pretty prestigious post with the current Ambassador to the UN." Cabe explained.
"But, if he doesn't think you did this knowingly, why is he doing this?" Walter asked, getting a bit upset.
"Because Walter, he wants to protect you, just like I do. I failed to recognize that someone was using me to use you. And that is unacceptable to Mr Dineen. And besides that, Rebecca's employers are pushing for her to return to the States." Cabe told him.
"This isn't right." Walter yelled as he stood up.
Cabe reached out and grabbed hold of his arms and forced him to sit back down.
"Walter, listen to me, it is okay son. I'm not going to be in a good place for a long time anyway. I can't do my job properly because my emotions are out of balance. I'd be a danger to Paige and the rest of the Dineen family's safety, and that includes yours." Cabe told him.
"But." Walter started but Cabe shook his head.
"Walter, even if I stayed, I wouldn't be back on the job for a long while. So there is no difference. You can still contact me on your computer if you want. We can do that tele-comp thing you and Paige do at night." Cabe smiled.
"Video chat." Walter said sadly.
"Video chat." Cabe nodded.
"But I'll miss you." Walter told him as a tear ran down his face.
"Son, you've got so many people around you that love you. You'll be fine." Cabe assured him.
Walter shook his head.
"You don't understand Cabe. I'm used to having input from you. All this time you've had to be away because of how sick Amanda was has been torture for me. Everyday you are supposed to be with us walking to and from school, going into town to have a date. All of that is stuck in my head, two and a half years worth of constant input. And not having it is like a bad itch that nothing relieves." Walter confessed.
Cabe smiled with his eyes misty with tears.
"Son, you'll be fine, I promise you this. Our chats will help." Cabe told him.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! Well at least we're past this sad bit of story.
Railman - Walter is definitely good at his "magic"! lol Paige said it made her very uncomfortable when Richard asked about hacking NASA. She was wondering if he was thinking of trying to exploit Walter's ability to slip through security protocols or even try and blackmail him into doing something far worse.
Susan - Yes, so sad indeed. Yeah, Merrick has a lot to answer for! Hopefully one day soon! lol Yep, I love Happy and the entire Dineen dynamic. I just hope Paige doesn't get jealous of Happy's progression in school! Has to be a bit intimidating to have someone 4 years younger than you nipping at your heels in school!
To the Adventure! -Tim