As I didn't consider it last week when I posted the chapter, in American English when we say biscuit(s) we're talking about small bread servings and not cookies. hehe

Walter slid into Cabe's SUV after he pulled up outside of the Garage.

"Everything okay?" Cabe asked as he watched Walter buckle up.

"Not sure." Walter started speaking even as Cabe put the SUV in gear. "But I guess I screamed again this morning. So bad it scared Mom. She said she thought I was dying. Ralph said it was a little worse than before." Walter sighed again.

"I figured it was your arm. Is that why you are screaming?" Cabe asked, confused.

"No, well I have no conscious memory of screaming. So I don't really know. Ralph thinks I'm having nightmares, but I don't have a memory of them either. I do have some unpleasant dreams of losing Paige during the night, but at the time the scream happens, nothing." Walter told him.

"Huh, that's weird. Ralph was telling us about it while you were in the bathroom yesterday after lunch. He didn't want it to freak your Mom and Dad out. Where's Florence been?" Cabe asked. "I haven't seen her since we left that morning to go to Homeland, before Paige called you."

"That was kind of Ralph. As for Florence, the next morning she had slid her key and her resignation letter under the door." Walter explained. "She felt tremendous guilt that if she hadn't gone to the lecture with me, Paige wouldn't have died." Walter sighed. "I left her a message on her voicemail that I didn't blame her, it was my fault. But she hasn't returned the call."

"I guess I can understand her feelings on that." Cabe nodded. "How are you feeling over the guys?"

Walter sighed.

"While I'm trying not to think about it, or act on the feelings. I'm so furious with them now. To come over acting like they were concerned for us? But in reality they were just worried we might include them in a lawsuit with them as defendants." Walter shook his head. "How did we fall so far? While it hadn't entered my mind, Ralph certainly had thought about it. I'd just hoped they would have given us time to adjust to the new reality. But all they could see was a lawsuit."

"I'm not sure how we got here son. I'm sure you know there has been a problem between you and Toby for a long time now. Sylvester was just stupid. How could he ever think you had anything for Florence? You were either with Paige or the gang. You didn't really have any time alone together. Happy, well, she's a special case I guess. I think she saw it as her family falling apart and she just bolted. I'm sure it was the doc that pulled them all together after. He's wanted to prove he's as capable as you for as long as I've known him. I'm sure they are also worried about income. Without Paige they are going to be screwed." Cabe half smiled.

"True, but will I do much better? Especially now, having to worry full time over Ralph. Somehow I've got to be both his Mom and Dad. These emotions are really wearing me out as well. As for Florence, we did work one evening together on a circuit design but that was it." Walter sighed.

"Well, you are doing a great job with Ralph so far. You think the emotions are why you feel so tired?" Cabe asked.

"Thanks." Walter smiled. "Well, since I don't have much experience with them it is my best guess. But it isn't a mental tired, but a physical tired. I've been experiencing so many emotions and they have been so intense since I woke up the next day. Sometimes they block out all the normal random thoughts I have. Instead of calculating different angles and equations based on geometry, I'm feeling and trying to analyze these feelings." Walter explained.

"I'm sorry son, I know all of this has to feel overwhelming. Probably like when my little girl died in a way." Cabe looked at him briefly.

"If you don't mind and have time after picking me up, I need to go over to the condo." Walter said and then swallowed hard.

"Well I'll be waiting for you, but sure, we can do that. Does Ralph need something?" Cabe asked.

"No, well in a way. As you know, he wants me to lead the memorial service. I thought I should grab Paige's diaries and maybe I can use them to help formulate some kind of expression about her life. Other than what she meant to me." Walter said and then reached up and wiped at the tears.

"I'm so sorry son. I'd gladly trade places with her for you." Cabe said softly.

"I'd trade places with her too. She deserves to have her life." Walter said weakly.

"So do you son." Cabe said before pulling into a parking lot.

Walter nodded as he began climbing out of the SUV after Cabe parked. He took in a deep breath and started walking towards the doors.

"So are you here as a follow up with your arm?" The young nursing assistant asked, looking at his sling. She reset the scale and smiled at Walter.

Walter nodded.

"Well, maybe in a way." Walter said as he stepped up on the scale. "My son says I've been having a nightmare or something around 6 every morning because I scream out in horror as he puts it. But I have no memory of screaming or of a nightmare. My parents just came to town and are staying with us and this morning I did it again. It really scared my Mom."

"Huh and you have no memory of it either?" She asked as she recorded his weight.

"No." Walter said, stepping down and then sat down by the blood pressure machine as she pointed.

"Did you hurt your head when you hurt your arm?" She asked as she put the blood pressure cuff on his arm.

"No. But it started the morning after I hurt my arm." Walter explained.

The woman wrote down his complaint and the numbers from the blood pressure machine and walked him to a small exam room.

"Dr Wiseman will be in shortly." She smiled at him and turned to leave.

"Wait. Janice Wiseman?" Walter asked.

"Do you know her?" She smiled and nodded.

"We dated for a few months four years ago. I didn't realize it was with her, my friend made the appointment for me." Walter sighed.

"Well she's very happily married, so I doubt she'll hold it against you." She teased Walter.

Walter gave her a slight, sincere chuckle.

"Please leave the door open, I don't care for the acoustics of small closed rooms." Walter told her.

"Of course." She smiled and walked on out.

"So…Mr O'Brien?" Janice paused seeing the name as she grabbed the folder out of the slot outside the room and looked up real quick. "Walter?" She said shocked.

"Sorry Janice, I didn't realize. My friend made the appointment for me. And I didn't want to just walk out." Walter said with a slight smile.

"I am so sorry." Janice said as she quickly washed her hands and then sat down close to him. She reached out and touched his left hand. She noticed he didn't shy from her touch. "I read the newspaper article about what happened. I can't imagine what you are going through."

"It's been a bit tough." Walter nodded.

Janice couldn't believe the emotional expression Walter had.

"I'm trying to keep it together, not just for me but for Paige's son. She'd wanted me to look after him if anything ever happened to her." Walter explained.

"I can imagine, it has to be difficult. Let me do a bit of an exam first and we can talk more about it." Janice said even as she got her stethoscope out of her pocket and slipped the ear buds into her ears.

"Well Walter, you sound and look really healthy. The wounds on your hands are healing, but could use a bit more attention. Do I need to have a wound care person go over treatment for them?" Janice asked.

Walter shook his head no.

"I'm not sure what could be causing the screaming. Especially if you aren't remembering any dream at the time or doing it. But I wouldn't discount it being part of your grief. You might need to see a counselor. But it could have something to do with the damage to your arm. I'm going to pull up the scans they made originally of your arm and shoulder to see if I can see anything that might shed any light on it. And of course I'll go over the blood and urine test results as well. As for how tired you are feeling, there could be several factors. Your grief, dealing with more emotions as you said or even guilt, for example." Janice told him.

Walter sighed as he nodded. He was sure this was going to be a waste of time, but he had to do something. He didn't want to keep traumatizing Ralph or his Mom.

"Thanks Janice. I appreciate it." Walter said before they both stood up. She watched Walter walk out to the check out desk and marveled at how much he had changed since the last time she saw him.

Walter took in a deep breath before entering Paige's condo. He called movers as they headed to the condo and set up a time for them to come clean everything out and bring it to the Garage. Walter figured it would be easier on them to go through everything there and then he could get their attorney to cancel Paige's lease.

"Feels weird being here now." Walter told Cabe as they walked back towards Paige's bedroom.

"I know what you mean." Cabe nodded as he looked at everything still perfectly in its place as he remembered it.

"Thanks for coming in here with me." Walter told him as he stepped into Paige's bedroom.

"You're welcome." Cabe told him as he stopped at the bedroom door and waited.

Walter saw one of his dress shirts that had been left there, lying on the bed. As if Paige had been sleeping in it. He smiled a little at that thought and then he sighed. He sat down at the desk that doubled as her makeup table. Opening drawers Walter looked in each one and found numerous diaries in the four bottom drawers. "I didn't think there would be so many diaries. I'm glad the box is as big as it is now." Walter told him. He counted twenty five of them. A quick check had the first one written when she was almost ten. He pulled them out and arranged them by date before putting them in the cardboard box they brought.

He frowned, finding a small lockbox in the very bottom left drawer. He figured he better bring that too.

"Uh, do you mind carrying this for me Cabe?" Walter asked apologetically.

"Of course I don't." Cabe smiled and walked into the room.

Walter stood and Cabe picked the box up.

"Do you think we should clean out the fridge? I wouldn't want anything going to waste." Walter asked.

"Ally and I did that the next day. We didn't want you burdened with anything." Cabe told him.

Walter smiled and nodded as they walked out of the bedroom.

"Hey Grandma, Grandpa, have you guys checked out the roof yet?" Ralph asked them.

"No, what's to check out up there?" Sean asked.

"Well it is a good view of LA and using my telescope at night to see some stars, but it is kind of a rec area where we have cook outs and stuff. Wanna go see it?" Ralph asked enthusiastically.

Sean and Louise both chuckled and nodded as they got up and followed Ralph to the back of the Loft and up the stairs to the roof.

Ralph pointed out some points of interest from the skyline of the city.

"Oh I almost forgot. I'll be right back." Ralph told them, grinning.

He ran back into the stairwell and down to the Loft. He quickly ran into his bedroom area and got the small wireless web camera and went into Walter's bedroom area. He looked around and quickly found a likely spot for it and set it up. It was close enough to Walter's computer desk that hopefully the power cable wouldn't be so noticeable. He'd been running lots of predictive models the last twenty four hours. He took the expression "Once you have eliminated all what is impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth" to heart. After getting it set up he ran back to his bedroom and grabbed a notepad and went back up to the roof.

"Sorry, I wanted to get your opinion on something." Ralph told them. "I'd been wanting to talk to Dad about getting the roof in this area over here, extra support so we could put a pool up here."

Ralph moved over to the area and opened the notepad.

Louise walked over and looked at his drawing.

"Oh, that looks very nice. I don't know anything about roof supports, but I think that would be a nice idea." Louise nodded before looking back at Sean. "Sean?"

Sean nodded as he turned from looking at the busy freeway not far away.

"Looks like there is a good number of homeless living by the overpass of the highway." Sean said as he took the notepad from Louise to look at.

"Yeah, the number fluctuates from time to time. One of the long time homeless, his name is Freddie. He's really nice. Walter does his best to look after him." Ralph told them.

"It's a fine idea and drawing son." Sean nodded. "The roof would definitely need extra support for that kind of weight."

"Thanks, I like to try and have as much information as I can when I make a case for something." Ralph grinned.

"Hey buddy." Walter said as they walked into the Garage with lunch.

"Hey Dad!" Ralph said excitedly as he ran over and took the large bag of food and his chocolate shake from him.

"Put that on my desk Cabe. Please." Walter asked.

"What's that?" Ralph asked.

"Well, since you wanted me to conduct the memorial, I thought I would read through Paige's diaries. I only knew your Mom for such a short time, comparatively. And I want to do the best for her and you." Walter told him.

Ralph nodded.

"I wanted to ask. There was a small lockbox that was in the bottom of her desk in the bedroom. Do you know what is in it?" Walter asked.

Ralph shook his head.

Walter sighed but nodded.

"What did the doctor say?" Ralph asked as they passed through to the kitchen.

"She's unsure of what might be causing it. She felt I should talk to a counselor to be sure it isn't grief related. But she's going to get all the scans they did of my arm and shoulder so she can rule out the pain as a cause." Walter smiled as they sat down in the kitchen.

"I wanted to ask something. I don't want to take any summer classes this year." Ralph said quickly.

Walter frowned as he paused taking one of his sandwiches out of the box.

"Oh? What did you want to do then?" Walter asked.

"Well." Ralph grinned at his Grandparents. "I thought if it is okay with Grandma and Grandpa, maybe we could go to Callan for a visit? I didn't get to go with you guys that time and I'd like to see where they live and where you grew up. To visit Aunt Megan's cenotaph."

"Oh, that would be lovely. We'd love for you to come visit." Louise grinned at Ralph.

"Yes, we'd love to have you both." Sean nodded.

"Well, I'm not opposed to that." Walter nodded. "We'll have to see where work is when we get closer to make arrangements. Hopefully I'm not still screaming in my sleep by then. I'd hate to upset a lot of passengers on the plane." Walter grinned as Ralph laughed.

Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!

Lucy - Those three are something aren't they? Well so far the Doc has Bupkis! lol Glad you enjoyed it! She's definitely gotten a raw deal so far...After I posted last Sunday, I wrote the entirety of chapter 14, but have struggled with 15. I'm 2/3 of the way thru it. See, I don't trust wireless keyboards...lol

Railman - Ralph definitely doesn't like what is going on with Walter for sure. Danielle will only be representing them in family court, she just gave them a name of a colleague who deals with civil matters in wrongful death cases. So far your feeling is panning out with the Doc! lol You might be right about Haar-vard! lol Glad you are enjoying it enough to look forward to future chapters! As for breaking Waige or not...well, only time can tell. lol

LouBe - hehe Eating for two you say? So glad you enjoyed Walter and Ralph time! I did find it interesting that after the pilot episode, they didn't seem to have Ralph express his feeling of not wanting physical contact very much. I figured it had to do with "exposure" or working with the guys. And since he really hadn't been around Sean and Louise much, he might still have some issue with it...Hope that makes sense. You know, in one episode of the three stooges, I think they as attorneys were called "Dewey, Screwum and Howe"...LOL Man that's a long time memory. lol But yeah, not their brightest idea...They should have just came over as friends...or kind of friends...friends-ish maybe? lol Walter definitely seemed to have given the situation a lot of thought...? hehe I'm so glad you and everyone did enjoy Cabe and Sean helping to defend them! lol Well as noted at the start, yup, she was making American biscuits and not cookies! lol That tickled me so hard. Sadly so far, the appointment appears to not have figured anything out...Well if "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is any indication, her memorial will be pretty heartbreaking...*sigh*

DaToad - Indeed, losing a loved one is very difficult, it is a gnawing emptiness that nothing else seems to fill for very long. You will often think back over things and think "Why wasn't I a little nicer and just done that with them? It wouldn't have taken long..." It is definitely part of closure being able to share and talk with others over it, especially those who also loved the person. I think Walter and Ralph have really helped each other a lot through this, even if I didn't really go into it. I definitely want the weight of their pain, but I didn't want to drag it out too much. I've been watching/listening to a screen writer a lot the last oh, month or so, I'd found his IG account shortly before the strike began and he's always taking peoples' questions and answering them concerning what goes on behind the shows and I have to say I have been shocked by what he's revealed. They don't do it anything like what I thought and it explains why the show missed on such things like how they didn't use the character relationships to their full potential. He went on to say something I hate...he was explaining why in most shows they don't want to solidify a couple as a couple and then he said it, "The audience only thinks they want that, they really don't want that." People know exactly what they want, the problem for me is, most times TV writers just don't know how to write that dynamic, interestingly enough for couples in a long term relationship. Scorpion writers did it well enough for Happy and Toby, they could have done it for Walter and Paige as well. And maybe they would have, but they were shooting for something "special" and were sadly caught in the cancellation before they could execute it.

Pearliegirl - Maybe she is? hehe I think for sure it is a wild story. hehe Probably further out there than "Unconsciously Conscious"! lol It definitely does appear there is some kind of connection between Walter and Paige, metaphysically might be the best term...might...lol Actually there is a chapter coming up that deals with "stupid" so, for now, don't say that about yourself! I'm so glad you are being s ! hehe Boy the week goes by pretty quick sometimes. So glad you are *smiling*!

James - Thank you! So glad you have enjoyed my stories to actually read them multiple times! I know how you feel, kind of like pets, they characters have definitely wormed their way into my heart! The dead feeling as well as the pain are real symptoms of what happened to his arm while trying to rescue Paige, but that isn't to say that some of it can't be from him not wanting to let go...*grin* As for what Paige feels...no comment for now. Maybe around chapter 12 I will... Ralph's aversion to Louise touching him, was a trait they established in the pilot and then for or less dropped it. I decided to use it in this story to show why doesn't pull away as he is mentally fighting the feeling, more so for now for people he doesn't have as much social time with. Thank you and you're welcome!

To the Adventure! -Tim