Next Morning:
"Walter, it's good to see you." Danielle smiled as she stood up from her desk and greeted him. "I was surprised to get your request for a meeting so soon, what is going on?" Danielle gestured to the chair in front of her desk.
"It's good to see you too. I got a message from Drew's attorney. In addition to seeking custody, they've filed a petition to have an interview conducted with Ralph, claiming I was manipulating Ralph and driving a wedge between him and Ralph." Walter sighed as he settled into the chair.
"That type of petition isn't unheard of, and from what you and Ralph told me of the man I'm not surprised at his actions. But his attorney sent this to you? That's troubling, whoever his attorney is, they should know better than to contact you and not me. I'll have my law clerk contact the courts to find out if they've received the petition yet or not. And to expedite getting a copy. Sometimes the paperflow can be very sluggish." Danielle explained. "I'm also going to contact his attorney to find out what they think they are doing by contacting you. If I don't like the response, I'll be filing a grievance with the court."
Walter nodded.
"What exactly are your responsibilities concerning Ralph, me and the courts?" Walter asked cautiously.
"Well, firstly I have to be honest with the courts. I can't in any way support any kind of perjury. As for you and Ralph, as long as you are honest with me you have my complete support and dedication to helping you. I won't divulge anything you tell me as long as it doesn't pertain to either of you going to commit a crime and whatever you tell me doesn't support perjury to the court." Danielle explained.
Walter slowly nodded.
"Well, in an attempt to prepare for Paige's memorial, I decided to read her diaries. It was Ralph's wish that I conduct the service and I wanted to be able to talk about Paige overall and not just as how I knew her." Walter said as Danielle nodded.
Walter went on to describe what happened to him in San Francisco, and what Paige had written about that happened that same day.
Danielle nodded her acceptance of what he said.
"It is inconceivable that I was not this man. The odds of two men in the same motel, at the same time, being mugged and aided by someone are infinitesimal. We've submitted hair samples from Ralph and me, along with a hair sample from Paige I collected from a shirt she'd worn recently." Walter explained. "We're just waiting on the results."
"Well, that is something. If the results come back as Ralph is your son that will help bring an end to all of this swiftly. I can understand your reluctance to expose what Paige went through. But it is a better explanation than Paige having a fling with you while involved with Drew. But unless Drew tries to question the paternity test, the court probably won't care about the circumstances of how it happened. I'm sure he will probably demand the court conduct another test to see if your test was somehow falsified. But if the court asks for information as to how this happened, I'll petition it to be in closed chambers to the judge alone and let the judge decide if it needs to be disclosed." Danielle explained.
"That sounds reasonable. There is something else too." Walter said a bit cautiously. "We have been having experiences that we couldn't explain until this week." Walter went on to explain how they found out that Paige was still alive, but somehow integrated into his body.
"Okay, that is unbelievable. If you tell me this is happening and that everyone that knows Paige feels this is truly going on, then I accept it. But I'm unclear what you want me to do about it." Danielle asked, sitting there.
"Well nothing that I know of. I just felt I needed to be honest with you about what we've discovered. I'm unsure about proceeding with the wrongful death suit." Walter told her.
"Well, unless you think there is some way of bringing her back…I'd say proceed with the case. Whoever you go with to represent Ralph would be better at advising you on that though." Walter nodded before thanking her and leaving.
"How'd it go?" Cabe asked as Walter settled back into his seat.
"Good." Walter sighed. "She's looking into the petition, she said it is a common practice. She accepted my word on what happened between Paige and me in San Francisco. And that if I am Ralph's Father that will end this. Might have to take a court ordered test to be sure ours wasn't falsified. As for the other thing. She accepts what I said, but that whoever we settle on to handle the wrongful death, they'd be the best judge about it."
"Makes sense." Cabe nodded as he pulled out into traffic.
Walter reached into his jacket and pulled his phone out.
Cabe looked over as he heard it vibrate.
"This is Walter O'Brien." Walter answered the phone, seeing it said "LAPD" on the display. Walter listened for a few moments and then nodded his head. "One moment." Walter looked to Cabe. "Detective Lorenbrance from LAPD wants to know if I can stop by the site and walk him through what we discovered."
"We can do that." Cabe nodded.
"We'll be there in about a half hour." Walter explained into the phone. "We'll see you then." Walter hung up the phone.
"Wow…" Walter said in a complaining voice as they climbed out of Cabe's SUV.
"What's wrong?" Cabe frowned.
"The methane smell is really strong today." Walter told him as they saw a man in a business suit moving their direction.
Cabe frowned and sniffed around a good bit.
"I don't really smell anything like that." Cabe told him.
Walter looked at Cabe like he was crazy.
"Mr O'Brien?" Detective Lorenbrance called out.
"Call me Walter, I'm assuming you're detective Lorenbrance?" Walter asked him.
"That's me. Thanks for coming out, Walter." Detective Lorenbrance said as he reached his hand out.
"This is agent Cabe Gallo, Homeland." Walter shook his hand and gestured to Cabe.
"Good to meet you, agent Gallo." Detective Lorenbrance reached out to shake his hand.
"Likewise." Cabe nodded.
"Has anyone looked into that methane smell?" Walter asked as he looked around.
Detective Lorenbrance looked at Walter and then Cabe.
"I don't smell it." Cabe told him.
"I don't smell it either, but I can request a team to do an inspection." Detective Lorenbrance said even as he pulled out his phone and made a call.
"Okay, the team will be out to investigate shortly." Detective Lorenbance said as he put the phone up. "Our investigators confirm what your team told our people about the point of explosion and the pipe rupture that caused it. But they were confused how you determined the precise location so quickly. Can you walk me through that?"
"Of course." Walter said while holding his nose. "Do you mind if we move over that way to get up wind of the smell first?"
"If it is bothering you that bad, absolutely." Detective Lorenbance said as he gestured and the three of them walked off.
Finally at about one hundred yards away Walter dropped his hand. He carefully pointed out a number of factors from the debris, giving him the percentages of where it all came from. Leading him through the math until they arrived at the most likely point of origin.
"It's truly amazing that you guys were able to determine all of that and that you can recall all that information now." Detective Lorenbance told him. "Now as I understand it, Ms Dineen had been your girlfriend before she was killed?"
"At the time of her death we were estranged." Walter sighed.
"And you are sure this was accidental?" Detective Lorenbance asked.
"That's our theory." Walter told him. "But it doesn't rule out the chance of sabotage. After all, this tech has great potential. A competitor could have tried to do something."
"Or maybe someone Ms Dineen upset could have sought a way to settle it permanently?" Detective Lorenbance said.
"Walter wouldn't have harmed a hair on Paige's head." Cabe growled.
Walter held up his hand to Cabe.
"It's okay Cabe, that's a natural path of investigation. I'm sure the detective has already interviewed Paige's girlfriends and I'm sure they wouldn't have painted me in a very good light." Walter sighed.
"That's putting it mildly." Detective Lorenbance nodded.
"The thing is detective. I've had a hard time understanding most emotions. My childhood was filled with people who didn't understand my intellect and as such I was often the outsider. But that doesn't mean I didn't have them. I still feel quite strongly, and the last thing I would ever do is harm someone else. Much less Paige. I would kill myself before I would hurt her. Paige worked with me, helping me bridge the gap between me and people with normal EQ. Because normally when I speak, I'd say things that while innocently meant, people could take them as insults. That's what Paige's friends would have been complaining about. My not being able to express or interpret others' emotions like they can." Walter explained.
"Ultimately orchestrating all of this and somehow getting Paige trapped in that room would be mathematically impossible." Walter finished.
"Paige might have been frustrated with Walter on that front, but she never feared Walter." Cabe spoke up. "I watched as he struggled with everything in him to save her. What happened to Paige was the fault of Beauchamp's safety protocols. Or rather the lack thereof."
"What makes you say that?" Detective Lorenbance asked.
"Her team didn't have proper access to the system. So they couldn't shut down the system or override the door lock to get her out of the room. His security force, as well as the safety guards in place, wouldn't give her team access to the solar collector that supplied power to the eradicator." Walter told him. "And Beauchamp responded too slowly to get the power turned off. They had one hour before the collector would gather the energy needed and he couldn't or wouldn't do the right thing."
"I see." Detective Lorenbance nodded. "And do you still think it was the lithium of Ms Dineen's phone that caused the rupture?"
"It's hard to say for sure. But if it wasn't sabotage, our theory is the lithium had reconstituted finally and the high humidity caused it to explode which caused the rupture in the pipe and that in turn destroyed the facility." Walter nodded.
"Okay, well I can't think of anything else for now. I appreciate you coming down to talk to me about this." Detective Lorenbance held out his hand.
"You're welcome." Walter told him and shook his hand. "Cabe, if you wouldn't mind, bring the SUV over here to me?"
Cabe grinned and nodded.
"Hey 197, Cabe. How are you two?" Toby asked as they walked into the Garage.
"Toby?" Walter asked cautiously. "What brings you guys by?" Walted eyed his three former friends warily before his face grimaced. "What are you wearing?" Walter complained. "It stinks to high heaven."
"What?" Toby looked at his clothes. "You mean my cologne? It is the same thing I've always worn."
"It reeks." Walter shook his head as he walked past him. "Please don't wear it anymore if you are coming over here."
"Wow, okay. I wanted to get vitals on you and see how you were doing. To find out if Paige has resurfaced and if not if you wanted me to see if I could wake her up." Toby told him.
"I'll always want you to do that. But we did get to talk for over an hour last night." Walter said as he sat down.
Toby moved over with the blood pressure cuff and his doctor's bag. He pointed at the chair beside Walter's desk.
Walter rolled his eyes but nodded as he turned on the desk fan trying to diffuse the scent of Toby's cologne.
"Walter." Louise said from upstairs. "Are you hungry for anything?" Louise decided to try and feed him multiple times during the day to keep him from eating too much at one time.
"I am, but I'm craving salty-sweet at the moment. If you would. Check my pantry, there should be some microwave popcorn in there and I think there are a few bags of chocolate morsels. After popping the corn, please put it in a bowl and put half a bag of the chocolate in it for me." Walter smiled at her.
"Of course dear." Louise smiled.
"How was she doing?" Toby asked as he wrapped the cuff around Walter's arm. The expression on his face told Walter he was puzzled.
"Other than calling herself a leech and a vampire, she seemed to be doing okay." Walter told Toby as he put his stethoscope against his arm.
"Leech isn't exactly a wrong description I suppose." Toby shrugged. "Why did she use the word vampire to describe herself?" He began pumping the bulb on the cuff.
"Because she looked into the mirror the other morning and all she saw was me. Said it reminded her of horror movies and how vampires don't cast reflections." Walter sighed.
Toby nodded.
"Well your blood pressure is excellent." Toby smiled even as he took his pulse. "Any new or different pain, impairment or feelings?"
"No, everything seems the same as it has since that day." Walter told him.
"Well I think both of you are pretty stable, but I'd really like to keep a closer eye on you." Toby told him.
"What do you mean?" Walter asked warily.
"Well, I'm not needed at CP, so I thought I could sit over here during the day just to keep an eye on your condition." Toby told him while putting everything but his stethoscope into his doctor's bag. He gestured and Walter began unbuttoning his shirt.
Walter sighed.
"Well, if we do that, you can't wear that cologne anymore." Walter told him before inhaling several large breaths for Toby.
"Okay, I get it, you really don't like my cologne. I won't wear it anymore if I am going to be around you." Toby laughed.
"What about us apologizing to you and coming back to Scorpion?" Happy asked quickly.
Walter's eyes furrowed as Toby sighed.
"We weren't going to ask that just yet, my Asian princess." Toby reminded her.
"Shut up." Happy told him. "CP was your idea. I didn't really want to quit Scorpion. Paige and I both wanted to come back and talk to Walter to settle this."
"I did too." Sylvester spoke up.
"As you can see, I was the villain in all of this." Toby told Walter softly, but honestly.
"Why did you do it?" Walter asked.
"For no good reason to be honest. In some ways I wanted to prove myself to you, Happy, everyone really. To show you that we didn't need you. And maybe we didn't need you in one sense, but in all the ways it matters, we do. And in my arrogance, I caused you guys so much pain and suffering. I can't even begin to apologize for what has happened because of me. It's why I haven't tried. I honestly owe you so much and I repaid it horribly." Toby said earnestly.
"Here you go my boy." Louise smiled as she brought down the bowl of popcorn and chocolate.
"Thanks Mom." Walter said as he took the bowl.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
LouBe - It looks like Toby has found a new path! Shocking, I know. So glad you enjoyed Ralph's 1st birthday. hehe Walter did kind of enjoy that story a bit. Well at this point, Paige (Walter too) might as well be completely honest and direct, that's for sure. Nothing subtler than a 5lb sludge hammer! lol I've always wondered, just what is involved when someone has been declared dead and then found alive. LOL I like your idea about Drew...but Walter as tempted as he'd be, he "can't go for that...no can do." 50 points if you know it! lol I've a feeling they all will be stepping up now, even as they make it clear they were wanting to come back to Walter to fix things. hehe Well there will be an end chapter for sure. At least an end as in drawing this to a close, never know a new story might speak from it. After chapter 20 we'll probably see a few time jumps and I think chapter 25 might be the last chapter. I'd love to torture you guys more, but it might get boring if I go too long. lol
Lucy - So glad you enjoyed it! Hopefully they'll figure it out and hopefully they'll keep up the honesty! Yeah, Drew, our resident wet blanket!
Railman - Good question! Over all I think Toby is changing. Seeing Happy and Ralph's pain the other night really got to him. Yes, Paige got a lot out of her system so to speak, info Walter really needed all along. I think the difference between Walter as a wee lad and Ralph is Paige. Even though she never felt like she was connecting to Ralph, she really did, far more than Walter's parents. Even though Drew wasn't there emotionally during Ralph's 1st 2 years, his financial contribution made it possible for Paige to devote so much more to Ralph than what Walter's parents were able to do. So in that respect, I think Walter could have been a lot better if his Mom could have devoted more to him. Yep, still waiting on the test results for that! hehe
Pearliegirl - Aww...thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
DaToad - That's the plan! lol I'm glad my stories help. Paige never spoke about what her Dad's name was as far as I remember. I just never understood why she chose Ralph for his name. And it just made sense, she lost her Dad and she might have named him after his Grandpa. Time will tell on that!
James - Yes, it was a rough chapter for sure. I never feel bad for making Drew a real piece of crap! lol Paige was definitely willing to do everything she could for Ralph. A FB group I am part of posted the ending scene of 1x15, Forget Me Nots and poor Walter, trying his best to explain how important Ralph is to him and you can tell he's so nervous, not about what he is saying about Ralph, but because he wants to say it about Paige too, but he settles for just a small token about her at the end. How much better Paige and Ralph would have had it if Walter had been with them the whole time! She's just wanting to be honest with Walter now. She wants to be sure Walter understands she screwed up too, it wasn't all on him. Yes, I will always believe Toby used her to hurt him a lot. The end of 1 episode where Cabe is hurting after breaking up with Allie, Walter goes to talk with him, he thinks he can help him with his heartbreak. And Toby tells Paige "I know you didn't mean to, but you really hurt Walter." Something to that effect at any rate. And I wanted to punch his face in. No dude, you orchestrated this whole thing. You knew Walter admitted 2x he loved Paige and then you stopped Paige from trying to help him remember the rocket. He was just a real nasty piece of crapola. What Drew did out of indifference Toby did out of maliciousness. I think that is what I like about re-origination stories so much, we can go back to a time where Toby wasn't a monumental jerktard.
To the Adventure! -Tim