Two days after Amanda's funeral as Walter arrived with Paige at her home after spending the night at his home they saw Ralph's SUV was still at home. For some reason this bothered both of them, perhaps because there was an unknown car there as well.
"Daddy?" Paige called out as they entered the home.
"In my den sweetheart." Ralph called back.
"What's going on? You are never here this late and we have a visitor?" Paige asked as they walked the short hallway to his den.
"Good morning sweetheart, son. Let me introduce Dr. Cassandra Davis." Ralph said as he stood up.
"Are you sick Daddy?" Paige fretted.
"No, she's a psychologist, she's here about me." Walter said instantly.
"How could you possibly know that?" Ralph and Paige said together.
"I hate psychologists." Walter told them.
"I'll try not to take that personally Walter. It is nice to meet you anyway." Dr. Davis told him as she extended her hand.
"Daddy?" Paige asked.
"Sweetheart, what happened to Walter has had a monumental impact on Walter. I wanted Dr. Davis to interview him and see if she can make any suggestions on how we can help Walter recover from the betrayal and the anguish he's felt because of how his work was used." Ralph explained.
Walter slowly reached out and shook her hand.
"Well, that's a start. May we talk privately for a few minutes Walter?" Dr. Davis asked before Ralph escorted Paige out of the room and shut the door.
"What do you think about Walter, Cassandra?" Ralph asked quietly after the interview and Walter and Paige went upstairs to her room.
"He's a very complex young man. To be honest I'm not sure how much good I can do with him. His distrust of psychologists is quite strong so that presents problems for me to treat him. He probably should have been under a psychologist's care since he was three. Years ago, whoever first worked with him at his school did a lot of damage as far as getting Walter to trust mental health professionals." Cassandra told him.
"Surely there is something?" Veronica asked with tears.
"I've got some ideas for you guys to try. But as for me helping him I don't think he'd let me. We'd need nearly daily meetings for months. But from everything you've and the O'Brien's have told me, I believe he'll be okay and will get better as time moves forward with him. Paige has an ameliorating effect on him. I'll certainly leave him my number and email so if he gets to a point where he wants to talk to someone he might reach out and if so that will help." Cassandra sighed.
The summer had been mostly pleasant for Walter and Paige. Walter had good days and bad, on days that should have been days with Cabe around them Walter was a bit more despondent than just days he'd think of the bombing. All four of their parents had been so caring and, with certain restrictions, allowed Paige or him to sleep with the other at one house or the other.
Walter had refused to use anymore of the money he had received from cracking the various ciphers. He figured the money had just been a way to trick him into writing the code. He persuaded his parents to donate the money to a charity.
Mr and Mrs Walsh had missed them coming in for dinner and they hired Walter to design them a website. They'd been appalled at what had happened when they asked Ralph about why Walter and Paige hadn't been coming in on their dates. Before long Walter had a little side business building local merchants' websites as the Walshs spread the word about what had happened.
September 2nd, 2001, Sunday night:
The combined family decided he needed to try sleeping alone again. It had caused him quite a bit of stress. But he did better sleeping that night alone than he thought he would. But he was so desperate to see Paige Monday morning that he ran the entire distance to the Dineen home.
Paige it seemed had been a bit desperate to see him too as she stood at the door waiting for him to show up. They spent nearly a half hour just holding each other before they ate breakfast and then walked to school.
The school day was fairly normal but after spending so much time with Paige, Walter found it even more insufferable. Finally the last bell rang and he all but flew out of his classroom. Walter weaved and dodged around other classmates as they exited their classes until he was in the main hall and he ran as fast as he could and slid to a stop at the stairs that went down to the Home Economics class that was Paige's last class room. He leaped down the twelve steps and slid around the corner to go down the next set by grabbing the railing post. He started to leap down those but saw several students running up the wrong side so he had to slow down and move down the steps by going around the other kids.
He saw Paige standing outside the door watching the stairs and they both grinned. He moved quickly around the kids passing back and forth in the hallway. He slid the last few feet and they both enveloped each other in their arms and kissed.
Agent Todd looked at his partner and smiled while shaking his head at her. Agent Makle just grinned and then her grin disappeared as her and agent Todd both touched their coms.
"Acknowledging Tweety Bird, we have Juliet, you get Grease Monkey." Agent Todd said before they moved up to Walter and Paige. "I'm sorry about this Ms Dineen." Agent Todd said even as they grabbed her by her arms and picked her up off the floor and began running down the hallway with her.
"What are you doing?" Paige screamed even as Agent Todd and Makle were yelling for the kids to clear a hole.
Walter was stunned at first and then gave chase as best he could but it seemed just as quick as the kids separated for the agents to move through; they came back together and Walter had to dodge and weave around them. As Walter hit the door he saw the back door of the SUV close and Paige and Happy in the back seat before the SUV tore off out of the school yard.
"Paige!" Walter yelled.
"What the hell was that all about Brainiac?" Thomas asked as he stepped up.
"I don't know for sure. But something bad must have happened." Walter said as the SUV disappeared over the side of the hill.
"Well, what are you waiting here for? Let's go find out." Thomas told him as he shoved Walter's shoulder.
Walter nodded even as he began running with Thomas hot on his heels.
It was a bit more than two miles to the Dineen's and Thomas was impressed with Walter. Thomas was captain of the cross country team and Walter kept up with him every step. They both ran up but none of the SUVs were outside. Walter ran on up to the door and began knocking frantically.
The door opened shortly.
"Mr O'Brien?" Sylvia was shocked to see him in the fearful state he was in.
"Sylvia, where's Paige? Her agents scoop her up and run off with her. They put her and Happy in the SUV and took off, I figured they'd come here." Walter said quickly as he was breathing fast.
"Walter, I don't know. One of Mrs Dineen's detail muttered something about Tweety Bird and then they grabbed her and dragged her out of the house and took off with her." Sylvia explained.
Walter's eyes went wide and he turned and ran for home. Walter ran faster than he had run from the school. He nearly took the screen door off the house as he charged in and grabbed the TV remote to turn it on and turn to a news channel.
"Mom! Have you had the news on today?" Walter cried out.
"Walter?" Louise and Megan both said as they came out of the kitchen.
"Whatever is wrong?" Louise asked upon seeing Walter standing there frantically searching the news channels.
"Did anything bad happen today?" Walter asked while his attention was still focused on the TV.
"What? No, nothing any worse than normal deartháir. Now what is this about?" Megan demanded.
Walter kept flipping channels searching.
"Deartháir!" Megan nearly screamed and Walter turned to look at her.
"Sorry, the protective details for Paige, Happy and Mrs Dineen scooped them all up and took them away. They had been heard saying a code word. So something bad must have happened." Walter told her before he turned back to the TV and kept flipping channels.
Walter sat in front of their TV and alternated between searching the web and the cable channels but nothing was coming up. Several times he was tempted to hack into the Secret Service's database but each time he started he'd see Paige's face and her shaking her head at him. She'd really read him the riot act over the IBM hack. He sat there while the rest of his family ate dinner. Louise brought his plate out to him. But when she came to check on him after they'd finished his plate still sat there untouched.
"Walter, my sweet boy, I need you to eat." Louise told him.
"I'm trying to find her Mom. I can't help protect her if I don't know where they are." Walter mumbled.
"Boy." Sean started gruffly until Megan put her hand on his arm and shook her head. Sean inhaled deeply but nodded.
"Deartháir, you've got to let the protection detail do their job. Paige would want you to relax and eat to keep your strength up." Megan said gently.
"I'm worried, deirfiúr." Walter told her without looking back.
"You think we don't know that Walter? We're worried too, and also about you. Please, eat your dinner. You can do that as you watch the news channel." Megan told him.
Walter swallowed but nodded as he reached down and picked up his plate and began eating tiny bites.
"It's a start." Louise said sadly.
Sean walked over and picked up the phone and called the Embassy.
Sean was trying to remember what Ralph had told him once.
"Yes, this is Sean O'Brien. Priority, seven, alpha, lima, six, two, five." Sean said.
Louise and Megan both looked at him puzzled.
"Yes, this is Sean O'Brien." Sean said again. "Our family is worried about the Dineen's." Sean nodded. "And there isn't anything you can tell me?" Sean sighed. "No, I understand, thank you." Sean nearly slammed the phone down. "Damn bureaucrats." Sean complained.
"What did they say dear?" Louise asked.
"There was nothing they could say at this time but someone would be out to talk with us as soon as possible." Sean told her as she stepped into his arms and he hugged her.
"I hope they are okay." Louise sighed.
"Me too." Sean nodded.
Walter sat on the floor in front of the TV and his laptop for several hours when they were all shocked by a knock on the door. Sean got up and walked over and opened the door.
A man in an expensive suit stood there and showed him his credentials as a member of the Secret Service.
"Mr O'Brien. I'm agent Josh Sullivan. May I come in?" Josh asked.
Sean nodded and gestured and Josh walked into the living room carrying a large suitcase.
"Can I offer you some coffee or anything? I can heat up some supper for you." Louise asked.
"No Ma'am, but I do thank you for your kindness." Josh told her. "I'm guessing you are Walter." Josh looked at Walter sitting on the floor.
Walter looked up and nodded.
"I was told you could help me set this up." Josh said as he held up the suitcase.
"I don't know what is in it, but probably." Walter told him as he stood up.
Josh smiled.
"May we use your dinner table?" Josh asked softly.
Louise and Sean both nodded as Louise gestured.
Josh walked over and laid the suitcase on top of the table. He entered a series of codes into a lock and it turned green and he opened the suitcase. Walter saw a satellite modem and laptop inside. He quickly pulled the modem out and set it up by the south window. He grabbed the cable and ran it over and hooked it to the laptop. Josh plugged the power to the laptop as Walter did the same to the modem and then he turned the laptop on.
The laptop came up asking for codes and Josh pulled a small book out and handed it to Walter who quickly sat down and began entering codes. They heard a series of alternating tones as a cursor flashed on the laptop. They saw it say "Connecting…" "Establishing transmission protocols…" "Security codes recognized…" "Access granted…"
Suddenly the screen showed Ralph Dineen sitting in front of them.
"Walter, my boy. Are you okay?" Ralph asked.
"Walter?" Paige yelled as she ran over.
"Paige!" Walter yelled and then she came into view next to her Dad.
"Ralph, are you guys okay? What is going on?" Sean asked as he stepped up behind Walter. Walter's eyes were locked on Paige.
"Yes we're fine. We've been forced into protection. We can't talk long, but we needed to let you know. There has been a lot of increased chatter among terrorist channels. They've taken all top level diplomats and families and have sequestered us until the threat has been identified and neutralized. I'm sorry but we don't know how long this will last." Ralph told them.
"Do you need us to do anything with the home?" Louise asked.
"No, Sylvia will take care of the house and our other help. She should send over the perishables that can't be used in time. So you just use them however you want." Veronica told her.
"I really miss you Paige." Walter said softly.
"I miss you Walter." Paige said back with tears running down her face.
"Is Happy okay?" Louise asked.
"I'm fine Aunt Louise, but if that agent ever grabs me like that again I'm going to knock him out." Happy complained.
"Not good." Ralph said as he shook his head. "But yes, we're all fine. I've got a couple of agents who will be hanging around the farm to watch over you guys and the school to watch out for Walter. I don't think any of you are in any danger because you aren't Americans."
The laptop started beeping.
"Okay, we've got to go to keep our position protected. Walter, I want you to know, one of the codes you broke, it allowed our intelligence service to identify this threat. Thank you. We'll have someone keep in contact with you guys. We all love you." Ralph told them.
"Paige." Walter said forlornly.
"I love you Walter." Paige cried.
"I love you and miss you so much." Walter said just before the beep turned into a steady tone and then they lost connection.
"I'm sorry we couldn't give you guys more time." Josh told them.
"We appreciate what you were able to do for us." Sean told him.
Walter slowly nodded before he got up and began climbing the stairs for his bedroom.
The next few days dragged by like some kind of slow motion fog for Walter. Cabe's absence, his guilt over the bombing, the Dineens, all the agents he was use to and of course Paige herself. It was like his heart was someplace else but he had no clue where. The replacement agents did their best to help him with what was happening. The third night he was a little better as Cabe called to check on him through the computer. As Megan put it to Cabe, he was about thirty percent normal then.
September 7th, 2001, Friday:
"You understand of course Mr and Mrs O'Brien, we're all very concerned over Walter. He's severely despondent, he's not doing his homework or if he is he isn't turning it in. He isn't participating in his classes when called on. We just need to figure out how to help him." The Principal explained.
Louise sat there and rubbed Walter's back as they talked.
"We understand that, but the problem is he's suffering terrific guilt right now." Sean told her.
"Sean, not in front of him." Louise gasped.
"Walter's got to face up to it dear. He didn't do anything wrong, it isn't his fault that people used him." Sean snapped back.
"What exactly are we talking about?" The principal asked with concern.
Sean explained about the request that had supposedly came in from the aid relief organization and how someone co-opted Walter's aid package delivery program and used it to bomb Baghdad.
"And the problem is, as he put it, he wrote it to maximize asset safety, not package delivery. So a lot of innocent people were hurt. Our daughter Paige has been able to help him deal with it but with them taking her into protection he's struggling, badly." Sean told her.
"They weren't just hurt because of it, Father, they were killed because of it." Walter cried.
"Oh dear, that is just horrible. Look, Walter is so bright, how about we excuse Walter for a week. We'll send all his assignments home and you can try and get him to do them. We can revisit this in a week. When he comes back he can bring all the assignments and we'll do any makeup tests at that time. Do you think that will help?" The principal asked as she looked with pity at Walter.
"Aye it just might. Megan still has a bit of connection to him even like this, she might be able to handle him easier." Sean nodded as he looked at Louise. "What do you think Love?"
Louise smiled.
"I think Walter being home right now is exactly what he needs if the Dineens need to still be in protection." Louise nodded.
"Walter, I am so sorry people abused you in such a manner, but your Father is right, it isn't your fault. You try to remember that. And remember there are lots of us here who care about you. We want to see you back in school Walter. Okay?" The principal smiled.
Walter nodded slowly after a moment and then got up when his Mom pulled against him.
They walked out of the school and got into the SUV that brought them and the detail took them back to the farmhouse.
Megan came out the door as soon as she heard the tires on the gravel.
"What did they say?" Megan asked and then saw Walter climb out of the SUV. "Deartháir, what are you doing back home?"
"We decided to give him a week home to see if it will help him. We thought maybe being with you, it might bring him some comfort and help him out." Louise told her as she looked up at the porch.
Greetings! Hope this finds you all well! I am assuming you all will quickly see where this is headed...Just as a side note, Dr Davis, was the psychologist from the episode "True Colors". Friday's chapter incorporates a news clip from YouTube of the event as broadcasted on European airwaves. While I don't go into a lot of detail other than using that news clip, just wanted to forewarn anyone who might be sensitive to 9/11 that it does happen in chapter 35!
Railman - Thank you! It was hard to write. I don't like writing death scenes to start with and then to write one for this sweet child we never got to meet.
Margaret - I thought of you while writing this.
Guest - Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it and got to feel Ralph's laughter!
Pearliegirl - Thank you! So glad you guys are enjoying it!
To the Adventure! -Tim