Paige and Walter walked into the main house when they got home instead of going to their basement apartment.
"Daddy! You did get to come home!" Paige said excitedly as she saw him sitting in his recliner talking to Happy.
"Hey Pumpkin." Ralph grinned. "Oof." He let out the groan as Paige ran in and half fell across him hugging him. She made sure her weight was on her arms when she landed and her arms were against the chair. Ralph hugged her back just as tightly.
"When did you get here?" Paige asked softly as they hugged.
"About an hour ago." Ralph told her.
"I guess I lost Walter." Paige pulled back and hugged Happy to her.
"I'm glad you are still with us Dad." Walter said as he watched.
"Me too. Lost? Lost what?" Ralph smiled. "You okay? How'd your session go today?"
"I didn't have one today, they'll be on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays." Walter told him. "Oh and you guys really missed an excellent rendition of "Hopelessly Devoted To You" that Paige sang at the audition. She did so well even reading the lines they asked her to do."
"Thank you Walter." Paige blushed. "We just had a friendly wager, I figured you'd still be in the hospital."
"Way to go sis." Happy grinned.
"Yes, way to go pumpkin." Ralph told her. He hugged her and kissed her cheek.
"You think that is something, Walter deposited just under one hundred thousand dollars today into the Scorpion bank account. He won one hundred and thirty five thousand total." Paige told them proudly.
"Walter?" Veronica and Ralph both asked while shocked.
Walter nodded even as he blushed.
"I had won a lot from blackjack so I deliberately lost twenty five grand to cool things with them and then played Texas Hold'em against other gamblers and really won a lot after learning about it for a while." Walter explained.
"You never cease to amaze me Walter." Ralph chuckled.
"What are you laughing for? You promised me that you would stop him from gambling." Veronica said scared.
"Now sweetheart, I did talk to him as I said I would. But Walter isn't gambling like we were worried about. He isn't gambling with seedy bookies but going to a legal casino." Ralph told her. "I told him gambling in a professional casino is okay but to still take precautions."
"I don't carry money with me Mom. I just give them the bank routing number and have everything done electronically. It is much safer." Walter promised.
"Now I'm going to be a nervous wreck every time you go out." Veronica fretted.
"I spoke with Richard earlier. He's got meetings tomorrow and Thursday but he's got to fly to New York Friday for something. Said he could be here to talk to us at 1 PM, is that okay?" Ralph asked while trying to ignore his wife.
Walter nodded.
"I'll need to see if I can move my appointment with Toby." Walter told him. "Did you get a chance to check out that article on solar energy I sent to you, Happy?"
"I did." Happy nodded. "There was a good idea in there I want to try and explore for the rover."
"Good, I wanted to ask you. Do you think there is a downside to incorporating three separate computer circuits? I had thought about just incorporating them all into one set of chips but then I thought if something damaged that chipset then all the backup systems would be damaged too." Walter asked.
Happy frowned but shook her head no.
"As long as I got specs I can design the body a bit bigger to accommodate them without a problem." Happy told him.
Wednesday Sep 10 8:43 AM
Paige winked after kissing Walter goodbye outside the door of her first class of the day. Walter smiled and walked away after Paige walked through the doorway. Walter barely got twenty feet when an attractive blonde girl stepped around the corner and bumped into him.
"Oh, I'm sorry." She smiled as she tried to lay her hand on his chest.
"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you approaching." Walter quickly stepped back.
"Hey sugar, it's okay. No harm done." She grinned as she stepped forward, closing the distance he just created. "And my what a cutie you are. What say you and I go have a coffee together, my treat." Her hand rose up again and she was able to grab the lapel of his jacket.
Walter shook his head and stepped back again as she was forced to let go of his jacket.
"No thank you, I'm taken." Walter told her firmly.
He saw her eyes flicker and then glared for a moment before she stepped up and grabbed his crotch.
"Get off me!" Walter demanded as he shoved her back away from him.
Paige frowned hearing Walter's voice and as she turned she saw one of her agents move quickly past the opening of the door. Paige's eyes went wide and ran towards the door.
"Mr O'Brien!" The agent said as he stepped between them with a hand held out behind him keeping Walter firmly behind him. "Are you okay Mr O'Brien?" The agent asked while eyeing the woman.
"I'm okay, but she sexually assaulted me." Walter told him.
"I did no such thing. The freaking dweeb can't even take a simple compliment." The girl shouted.
"Walter?" Paige said as she came out of the room and her other agent moved up with her. "What the hell is going on? What are you doing here Becky?" Paige demanded as she saw the woman on the other side of the other agent.
"Oh, figures it is your creeper of a boyfriend groping me and stuff." Becky complained.
"She bumped into me as I was leaving. She kept trying to touch me every time I moved away. The last time she grabbed my crotch." Walter told Paige as she stepped up next to him.
Walter could almost feel Paige's anger boiling inside of her.
"You wish, you sicko loser." Becky rolled her eyes.
"Listen you little slut." Paige said loudly. Not that she needed too now that a lot of students were standing at the classroom doors trying to see what was going on. "Because I rejected your advances last week you thought you would make a play for my fiancé. Thought you could somehow lure him away from me to hurt and embarrass me? Too bad for you, Walter's integrity is of a much higher caliber of man than you've ever experienced in your miserable life. Do yourself a favor and learn how to accept rejection Becky, it will save you more heartache in the future."
"I'm going to ask you to move along Ms, unless you want to press charges Mr O'Brien." The lead agent asked Walter.
"As long as she leaves and stops this nonsense I don't see any reason to involve the authorities." Walter said.
"If you ever try something like this again you whore, then we will press charges. You better be glad we don't anyway you bitch." Paige told her loudly.
Becky turned, red-faced, as she heard all the laughter coming from many of the students around the area. She turned and hurried through a doorway into a stairwell.
"I swear that girl is pissing me off." Paige fumed.
"Sorry." Walter told her softly.
"You have nothing to be sorry for Walter. You did the right thing." Paige grinned and they shared a quick kiss. "I better get to my seat." Paige told him before she gave him another kiss.
Walter grinned but nodded as she turned and left.
"One hundred thousand dollars?!" Toby asked, completely shocked. He was sitting with Walter Wednesday afternoon in the park where they enjoyed their lunch. They were just talking following Walter's session in dealing with the bombing.
Walter nodded even as he looked around the area nervously for who might have heard.
"Damn man. You are scary, do you know that?" Toby sighed as he sipped his Dr Shaz.
"It's just math really. Anyone could do it if they put the effort into it." Walter said softly.
Toby laughed while shaking his head.
"No, no it isn't just math Walt. People have developed all kinds of interesting techniques to analyze the players. Sure there are some card counters out there, but what you are doing far exceeds that.
"So, Happy told me that you have an insecurity when it comes to Paige. Wanna talk about it?" Toby asked to change the discussion since Walter seemed uncomfortable with being praised.
Walter shrugged.
"It's just, I worry because of all the probabilities I ran. There is an almost 70% chance that Paige will grow beyond me in college. I don't have the growth capability she does. I don't want her holding back, I want her to enjoy and experience everything in college and life." Walter told him.
"But because of the probabilities you are afraid that it is more likely that her college time will end your relationship with her, at least your romantic relationship." Toby nodded.
"And it isn't that I don't trust Paige. I absolutely trust her, with all that I am. She would never cheat on me. But I also know, because of how I am, the likelihood of finding a mate who fits me like Paige is infinitesimal. But even if I could find someone else, I'll still go through the rest of my life alone." Walter sighed.
"Because you really love Paige and you don't want anyone else." Toby added.
"Does that make me pathetic?" Walter asked.
"Maybe a little." Toby grinned. "Not really Walt. Maybe unrealistic. I'm not saying you can find another who can match what you have with Paige, but I'm pretty confident that if you broke up, you'd be able to find someone that you'd be happy with."
Walter sighed.
"I don't want to be happy Toby. I want to be elated like I am with Paige." Walter explained.
"I get that Walt. And if I'm going to be completely honest with you, there are times I feel that with Happy." Toby held up his hand. "Don't go weird on me Walt." Toby told him as he saw his expression. "It is like there is just this special connection with her. It isn't sexual in any context, there is just something about her that resonates with me. Even when she was mad at me Sunday, I was completely okay with it. I mean, maybe one day when she is much older maybe it could develop into a romance but, not now."
"I don't think I'd tell anyone else this. Dad would go berserk on you." Walter told him.
"I hadn't planned to. But, you and I are developing a friendship and I don't want you feeling like everything is one sided here." Toby told him. "As for Paige and her possibly growing away from you, I don't think that will happen. You may not have noticed but she's aware of you continually. Her love for you is solid. As long as you don't do something to hurt her, you have nothing to worry about no matter what the math says."
Walter stared at Toby for a moment, his eyes had that look of studying, as he tried to grasp that variable. He knew Paige had told him as long as he didn't do anything too horrible, she would be his as long as he wanted. But how did Toby know this? Was there more to psychology than he ever gave it credit for?
"There's also a possible problem." Walter said softly.
"Like what?" Toby asked.
"The lead in the musical that Paige tried out for. Something about him irritated me the moment I saw him get up. I think he has eyes for Paige. And he's an athlete." Walter told him even quieter.
Toby grinned.
"Walter, listen to me. Paige isn't going to give a crap that he is an athlete. She's spent five years with you. Everything about her is geared towards what she expects from you. If this guy tries to make a move on Paige. She's going to explode on him if he goes beyond polite. She'll be nice at first, but when he pushes that point with her, duck." Toby grinned.
"She kind of did that with a female classmate last week. She tried to get her to go with her to try out for cheerleading and to start dating college guys." Walter nodded slowly.
"Exactly. Paige wants to experience things, but she wants to experience them with you. Just be open with her. If she wants to go do something with you that doesn't sound interesting, do it anyway." Toby told him.
"Well there is another wrinkle in it." Walter started. "That same girl bumped into me today after Paige went into class." Walter explained what happened.
"Okay, this isn't as big of a deal as you might think. Paige knows and trusts you. You haven't done anything to compromise that, so you keep being you. You might want to consider getting some copies of any of the video footage that shows what really happened. You can casually show it to Paige, tell her you retrieved it as backup in case the girl tries to stir up trouble over it." Toby told him.
"That's a good idea, I'll take a look at that, thanks." Walter smiled.
"And something for you to consider with Paige, if I'm not mistaken, she likes art. Go study some art, you can't go gambling everyday. Hell, take some art classes even. She loves music too, so learn about music, her Mom plays piano right? Ask her to teach you while Emmett is asleep on your non gambling days." Toby explained.
Walter grinned.
"Those are actually great ideas. And we haven't been dancing since the last Christmas ball. Surely there is some ballroom dancing around here." Walter said excitedly.
"Of course there are. I can send you some places I know of along with some art studios you can go to. But don't forget to support her in what she's doing too." Toby grinned.
"Thanks Toby, that could really help things." Walter grinned. "I won't forget, I promise."
"Good deal, now what's this company Happy told me about?"
"Scorpion?" Walter asked and saw Toby nod.
"Well, a number of years ago, since I couldn't get anyone back home to listen to or understand me, I decided I wanted to create a problem solving company. I chose Scorpion because a group of scorpions are called a cyclone. And the members of the cyclone are very protective of their cyclone. And that thought intrigued me. Other than my sister, I didn't have anyone to help me. So I thought I wanted to make my own cyclone. That's why I'm gambling. Richard Elia wants me to just work for him but I don't want to work for him as a job. Don't get me wrong, I want to make a good living so I can give Paige everything she desires. But I want a strong core group of people to work with me. People with true gifts who will have my best interests in their hearts, that I'll have their best interests in my heart. We'll work to encourage, support and grow together, all so that we can do good in this world." Walter told him excitedly.
Toby smiled at how emotional and strong Walter got while talking about this concept and he nodded often.
"Damn Walt. You sold the hell out of that to me. You think you might need a doctor on this team?" Toby grinned.
Walter smiled.
"Well I did think a doctor would be a good addition when we get going. As for it being you specifically, I'll have to ask my partners." Walter's smile turned into a grin. "Of course I've still got to get the start-up capital raised. If all goes well, maybe by September after Paige gets her associates, Scorpion could be ready to open its doors." Walter told him.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
LouBe - hehe Yup, "I'm Drew, Drew Baker." lol Definitely "not good"! No worries you didn't get it, it is pretty hard to play wheel of fortune without some letters! hehe Cabe screwed up in what he said to Nick. Merrick knew someone was after him, and knew Cabe was involved. He had people watching or listening rather to Cabe's apartment for a while. But instead of an electronic bug they used tech similar to the what Scorpion used to listen to that man's apartment in S1 E3. Glad you enjoyed Ralph and Toby's convo! lol And yeah, Walter was pretty bad at teasing her. lol Dodgy game show host indeed! I did have Rusty and Simone together in "Caber"! lol Paige is a bit like "No one puts Baby in a corner." when it comes to Walter! lol
2LawDog - hehe Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. I'm with you, Katherine needed more screen time! hehe I had forgotten that Forrest said that until you mentioned that, I was going for sort of reverse of "Bond, James Bond." LOL And you are right, Walter is not going to be too happy about those scenes...let's see how it plays out, shall we? hehe I've been rather proud of Toby in this story so far!
Railman - hehe Well...you've read most if not all my stories...so as far as that goes, the field is wide open! LOL
Pearliegirl - Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it. Yes, in "Layla" while Layla and Terry actually knew and developed individual relationships with both Walter and Paige, they didn't know that they had been a couple before hand in that story. Thank you, "The War Between Us" was the first full story I was able to write after Cathy's death. And the title was in addition, symbolic as well to life/death and the normal difference between male/female. hehe Thank you, "Uncivil War" has been one of my favorites. Getting a story to a good stopping point is one of my personal goals. I don't ever want to leave a story hanging. Well if you ever want to contact me privately about your story idea I'd be happy to listen and see if I think it is something the Muse would like. A DM on Twitter is probably the easiest way. PMs here are sometimes problematic. In responding to someone recently I had a length reply typed up and the site absolutely threw a hissy fit over it. While it was under the limit amount, the site just refused to send it. But it did send a email alert to the person for each attempt. lol I ended up breaking it up in like 5 smaller pieces to send.
Marie Mac - hehe You are welcome! That was always my thought...and I do admit most men seem rather "forgetful" about such things. Some birthdays I remember better than others. Looking at the ones I remember it is usually because they were "better people to me". lol I guess that is why. Hey, at least your hubby was thinking ahead! Smart man! lol I used to have a list I carried of all the wife's heath list, it was so extensive. And while I couldn't remember all her meds, when I would be asked by the hospital to go over their record I could always point out the changes to the list. lol Guys of a certain area are definitely "machine guys". My Dad was one too...He was such a neat freak on it. He'd get mad if he saw I had some thing/trash lying on the floor board of the back or if there were pebbles and dust on the floor board of my cars. I'd just roll my eyes, "It's my car." lol As a young man he'd spend hours in the hot sun hand washing and waxing his car. Even made his nephew help him. Glad you are enjoying the story! It is funny they created the Midway class aircraft carriers, which of course the USS Coral Sea was the 3rd ship created of that design. I guess Midway class sounds better than Coral Sea class aircraft carrier. Just over 10 years before my appearance in the world. lol
To the Adventure! -Tim