"Good afternoon Louise." Paige said as she came around the corner and saw her in the kitchen, cooking. Even though she felt otherwise, Paige decided as long as they were joined as they are, she'd only call Louise by her name to avoid confusion.
"Good afternoon dear." Louise smiled back at her.
"Walter said you were upset at what he had written in his book you found?" Paige asked as she paused by the dining table. She grimaced as she belched. "Man, this heartburn."
"I was." Louise nodded. "With his pronouncement of it was all his fault, it almost seemed like he had meant for it to happen."
Paige nodded.
"Well just so you know, I've read all the entries and that isn't what he was saying. I'm confident that what Walter is feeling is being enhanced by our hormones at this stage of pregnancy. He knows he's no more at fault than any of us. He did everything he could to save me and because of that, I'm still alive, even if it is a weird way to live. But it is still endearing too." Paige explained.
"I'm glad you were able to get to the bottom of it." Louise smiled. "Dinner will be in about an hour if there is anything you need to do."
"Thanks, there is a section of math we've all been struggling on for the cross over. But I think I know what might work for it." Paige smiled even as she turned before she made her way over to the ramp.
"I thought you were laying down for a while?" Toby asked.
"Walter did, I woke up." Paige told him.
"Do you know what Walter has been doing?" Toby demanded as she reached the bottom of the ramp.
"I assume you mean his journal. And the answer is, of course I do. Walter left me a note and I read his journal." Paige told him as she stopped and grabbed the Tums and took several. She moved over to the white board she used for her calculations.
"And?" Toby asked.
"And I am confident that it isn't anything more than the rest of us have been feeling off and on. Other than, I believe it has been influenced by the normal hormonal fluctuations during pregnancy that brought about a stronger sense of guilt in Walter." Paige told him as she picked up her marker.
"You're going to dismiss this that easily?" Toby asked.
"Yes Toby. I've been pregnant before and I know what happens a lot of times. What Walter is feeling is normal and I applaud his use of writing it down to cope with it. Even if he was too ashamed to tell any of us, especially me." Paige told him before she began writing on the board.
Toby sighed. He'd hoped to have a more meaningful conversation with her over it, but clearly she was going to overlook it in his opinion.
After eating dinner, Ralph stood before his Mom's whiteboard going over the math she had come up with. He smiled as he nodded and approved of everything. He particularly enjoyed one algorithm she had expressed and while committing it to memory, he wrote it down, adding it to his "Book of Tricks".
As he moved to his white board he had a thought he hadn't considered before. Pulling out his phone he called his Dad's phone.
"Ralph?" Paige seemed surprised he called her.
"Sorry, I just wanted to let you know I'm going over to talk to Florence for a little bit." Ralph smiled as he looked up towards the Loft.
"Oh, of course. Thank you for letting me know, sweetie. You know, I really should have gone over there and talked to her long before now." Paige sighed. "Just with everything I hadn't really thought about it. Tell her we miss her and we don't blame her." Paige smiled. "I Love you." She said as a way of good bye.
"I will and I love you too." Ralph said before walking to the door and leaving.
He smiled as he walked around the building and saw Florence's car parked outside. He'd worried she might have been gone.
"Ralph?" Florence frowned as she opened her door when he knocked.
"Hey Florence. Sorry for disturbing you, but I need a genius chemist's help." Ralph smiled.
"Oh, uh, sure, come on in." Florence said as she stepped back, opening the door wider.
"Thanks." Ralph said simply as he walked in. The acrid smell of chemicals permeated the air inside the building. She always complained about noise but smell never seemed to bother her, he noted. Not really a surprise why.
"So, what brings you over here?" Florence asked.
"Well, you had made it clear you didn't want to be involved with us anymore. But some important things have happened since Dad had to go to the ER. And I wanted to tell you about them as well as get your help with something." Ralph smiled.
As she nodded he began explaining everything that they knew to this point. After nearly an hour and numerous questions Florence slowly came to believe Ralph wasn't pulling her leg about his parents.
"Your Mom is really alive?" Florence asked cautiously.
"She really is." Ralph nodded. "She wishes she had come over before now but things have been so confusing and busy trying to figure things out."
"I can imagine." Florence nodded slowly.
"But here is the thing." Ralph smiled. "Mom, Dad, Sly and I are doing some amazing theoretical math work on the problem. But I don't know that this is the right answer to separate them. Based on how Mom's body was able to become the dominant body, I'm thinking there is a chemical process we might be able to use to separate them. Some form of osmosis perhaps."
Florence looked skeptical as she stared at Ralph. But he could see the tiny movements of her eyes, and it was telling him she was considering it.
"That would be a very complex process…" Florence said finally after a considerable amount of time of thinking.
"Maybe you could examine Mom's blood and see if you can find something others wouldn't think to check for?" Ralph suggested.
"Possibly…" Florence said non-committedly.
"Why don't you come over in the morning? When Toby gets there, and have him do a blood draw?" Ralph suggested. "Or I could ask him to do one and bring it over to you?"
"I don't know Ralph…" Florence hesitated.
"Florence, I get it, I understand you feel guilty over what happened. So do all of them, but none of them blame you. They all blame themselves, if only they had done this instead of that. But blaming yourself isn't the answer to any of this for any of you. I'm not asking you to come over and socialize or work with everyone. But you are the smartest chemist I know. And if anyone would be interested in helping them, it would be you." Ralph explained.
Ralph saw she was still against the idea.
"Plus, if you can help with a solution, that will nullify any guilt on your part." Ralph smiled. "You'd feel worse if another chemist came up with the solution and you did nothing, wouldn't you?"
"That's not fair." Florence bit her lip.
"I'm not trying to be unfair, I promise. I'm trying to point out a way that you can help. Wouldn't you rather try and help and fail than not to help?" Ralph asked.
Florence sighed.
"Fine, get me a sample of their blood and I will examine it." Florence finally said.
"Thank you Florence, I mean that." Ralph told her sincerely. "I've got some ideas I'm going to start trying to map out mathematically. Maybe they will help you after you analyze their blood." Ralph added before leaving.
"Insane genius teenager said what now?" Toby asked as they all stood on the Garage floor the next morning.
Paige glared at Toby for a second before looking at Ralph. "What do you want it for, Ralph?" Paige asked puzzled.
"I want Florence to study your blood." Ralph told them. "I'm not sure the answer to the condition you and Dad are in is to try and reverse what happened the same way it happened. I think the answer is in chemically separating you, like osmosis."
Ralph gestured and they all walked over to the whiteboard. He'd spent most of his evening running numbers and had written it all down for their analysis of the math.
Paige stood looking at the numbers and became quiet.
"Of all the nonsense." Toby started but then shut up as Paige held their hand up without taking her eyes off the board.
They stepped around to look at Paige and they watched as their eyes began flashing back and forth as Paige began running probabilities.
Ralph looked at his watch as they continued watching Paige run the numbers.
Toby looked at Sylvester and pointed at the board.
"Tell me you don't believe this." Toby asked.
Sylvester shrugged his shoulders.
"Why are you constantly against ideas on how to help them? And while I haven't run all the numbers yet, I do like what I'm seeing." Sylvester told him as he continued running the numbers.
"I'm not actually against it, Sly, I'm worried. None of this makes sense medically." Toby told him.
"See, this is why I said Walt was wrong when he said we could be replaced. Sure you might be able to program a computer to run math faster than the human mind can, but it can't be creative like this." Happy said as she gave up on running the math. "No computer could have come up with this. You'd have to program every possibility for it to work. And who else but Ralph would have thought of trying it this way? Even Walt didn't think about approaching it chemically."
"Who says he didn't?" Ralph demanded as he became angry at Happy's seemingly belittling of his Dad. "Dad might have considered it, but he really enjoys the experience he's having. And as long as they are healthy, I doubt he'd have brought it up."
Happy slowly nodded.
"Yeah, you might be right about that." Happy admitted.
"Toby…" Paige said and paused. "Get a vacutainer to draw a blood sample. Paige finally continued. "Ralph has the start of an amazing idea."
"Thanks Mom. Grandpa, would you mind taking me to school?" Ralph asked Sean.
"I can do that." Sean nodded as Toby moved over to his desk to get his bag.
"Paige?" Florence asked in shock as she opened her door and saw Paige actually standing there and quite pregnant. Florence moved out quickly and hugged her tightly.
"It's really me, Florence." Paige smiled as she hugged her back. "I'm sorry for not coming over sooner."
Florence shook her head before she stepped back and gestured for Paige to enter.
"You've had a lot going on, I can't find fault with you over that." Florence said.
"Oh man…" Paige said as she grabbed her nose. "I'm sorry, I really want to talk but I can't stay." Paige said as she backed out of the door.
"Wait." Florence said.
Paige shook their head as she moved down the sidewalk but before even getting thirty feet she threw up in the gutter.
Florence's eyes went wide and she ran towards her.
"Are you okay?" Florence asked as she tried to help Paige balance.
Paige nodded as she tried not to throw up again but then failed as she gagged again.
"I didn't even think about the smells. I'm so stupid." Florence complained.
Paige shook their head no as she grabbed their mouth.
Florence stood rubbing Paige's back as she held her right arm while Paige gagged and choked.
"I need to sit down." Paige gasped out tiredly, their muscles trembling.
Florence nodded and walked with her, helping to hold Paige up as she walked.
"Paige!" Happy yelled seeing her come in the door half bent over with Florence holding her hand.
Toby jumped up off the couch as Happy ran over from her area. They worked and helped her to sit on the couch.
"Trashcan." Paige gasped.
Cabe grabbed it up and moved over with it.
Paige nearly ripped it out of his hands before she puked into it again.
They watched as her body was trembling from fatigue.
Toby ran to the downstair's kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water and ran back out to them.
"What happened?" Happy demanded.
"I think it was the smell of my lab." Florence explained. "She barely stepped through the door before she began gagging and moved out, trying to come back to the Garage."
Toby opened the bottle and held it out to Paige.
Paige gave him a wain smile but happily took it and sucked some of the water out, swished her mouth a bit and spit it into the trash can.
Toby took her wrist and held it for a moment checking her heartbeat.
"A little elevated, but strong and steady." Toby told them before he checked her eyes. "I don't think you were exposed long enough to do any damage. Your body responded quickly to protect the baby."
Paige nodded before sipping some water.
Florence sat down next to her.
"I'm so sorry." Florence told her with tears in her eyes.
"It wasn't your fault." Paige said hoarsely.
"Paige?" Louise called out from the Loft seeing them gathered about her.
"She's okay Louise." Toby told her. "Just a bad reaction to some smells."
Louise came down from the Loft anyway. She stayed right with them until Paige had drunk about half the bottle of water and hadn't thrown up again.
"I'll go clean the trash can and make you some more breakfast." Louise told her. "Do you want what you had earlier?"
Paige smiled wanly but nodded.
"Thank you Louise, sorry for the extra work." Paige told her.
"You sound just like Walter. He always hated when something he did or happened to him and it caused someone to do more work because of it." Louise smiled and cupped Paige's cheek. "But don't you worry with it dear. I'm here to help in any way I can."
They helped Paige to stand and move over to her desk. She sat back down and pointed at the chair next to it as she looked at Florence.
"Let me go and lock up real quick." Florence told her.
Paige nodded and Florence left.
"Sylvester." Paige said weakly. "Please move Ralph's white board out here so I can discuss it with Florence."
"Of course." Sylvester nodded and moved a few things before bringing the board out and set it on the other side of the desk from the chair.
"You sure you're okay?" Happy asked.
"Thank you, Happy, I am." Paige nodded.
"If you need me, just call out." Happy told her and went back to work. Although her eyes sought Paige out over and over throughout the day.
Toby brought his bag over and began double checking her vitals and listening to her lungs just to be sure she was okay.
"Is the baby still moving?" Toby asked.
Paige nodded with a smile.
"Very active right now." Paige told him as their hand caressed their stomach.
"I'm sorry, I should have considered her lab and had you stay here." Toby told her softly.
"No." Paige shook her head. "I doubt she'd have come over if you had. This way she'll be here and we can talk and settle things between us as we work on the problem."
Toby nodded and then stood up as Florence came back into the Garage.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! Well I'm glad I posted last Sunday when I did, my internet went out and was out for most of the day right after that. I'm setting this up now so if something happens tonight like last night or last Sunday I can still get it to post.
Railman - lol Well you never know about "friends" they could act like your friend until the opportunity happens. Paige (or Walter) has had no problems with her body since it became the dominant form. It was only in Walter's body that they felt pain and couldn't really use his right arm. Sorry for the confusion. Yep, Ms Teague has done a great job! For the time being they will be at the Garage. Perhaps in a future story we'll find out what they'll be up to. I don't think they'll get rid of Louise until she's positive they won't merge back together again, provided they get separated of course. And as you've read, Paige did read it and she's very confident that what Walter felt was more about the pregnancy hormones making those feelings stronger. Thank you, sleep has been better but could be better still. Hopefully as the med balances out in my system things will get more normal.
Pearliegirl - lol Well, I've never said I wasn't bent. LOL Glad you are enjoying their experiences together. As for how many more. I'm pretty sure 25 will be the end of this story, I don't think I can wrap it up with 24. At least not without skipping a lot. I think we all want them together but separate. lol Thank you, sleep has been somewhat better since I got my med again. They claim it isn't habit forming, but if your sleep goes to crap because you aren't taking it, sounds kind of habit forming to me. Okay, so for you, we'll get them separated and solo in a body. How about Walter permanently in Paige's and Paige in Walter's? LOL I'm glad you enjoy the stories I offer.
DaToad - It would for sure be a weird experience. I don't watch a lot of TV, I find shows because of trailers, which is how I found Scorpion, when I saw the premier of their trailer for the pilot. I was immediately hooked into it. Well my goal is to separate them, so, any thoughts of staying together is theirs. lol The birth will be here before you know it!
LouBe - Paige has definitely discovered just how difficult it has been for Walter. Her poor friends. lol Yep, major kudos to Ms Teague and so glad the judge was willing to give them the benefit of a doubt to hear the motions and evidence! hehe Glad you enjoyed the exploration of their use of their body. lol The Muse definitely went out on a limb with that one. I hear you on that, I guess I just really want an "official" end to the story. I can still enjoy all the alternate universe combinations everyone comes up with! Life and games do tend to get in the way sometimes! lol Just glad you enjoy what I offer enough to keep coming back! LOL So glad you agree with Walter! lol I'm sure if it didn't, there might be a couple of million people on the planet at most. lol Walter said from your lips to the Muse's ear. He really doesn't want to be in charge of that. lol He says he wouldn't mind being in the rumble seat for the show though. lol Oh Cecile has really enjoyed Walter's predicament! lol All I can say is, the story is moving forward...LOL Thank you, I could use several really good night sleeps. It is funny because just before the bad nights started, I had 2 really good nights and I was leery this was coming up.
Guest - LOL Good riddance to bad news for sure! So glad you enjoyed the chapter! I've definitely enjoyed watching them growing and coming to understand each other so much more through this process and I'm happy you are too. Toby's trying to be, but that little boy in him keeps cropping up from time to time. lol
Lucy - I was sad to see them go, but they had to do something with the farm and here they are back to help more! I think most of us love the thought of Drew kicking dirt! lol Well he definitely feels like the heartburn is overkill. lol We'll have to wait and see how it progresses.
James - Good question, someone will definitely be interested in breaking this story! Yeah, Toby keeps flipping around but mostly trying to stay professional. Maybe Walter can use some of the money from Richard to pay it? lol Glad you enjoyed it! A bit of Ralph in this chapter, it really is difficult to include everyone. Poor Veronica has been rather lonely too. lol Well I really appreciate when you guys do comment to chapters, and I don't want you to think I don't. *ouch* Thankfully power hasn't been a problem for us so far, thank the Lord! But twice this year already I've lost internet for more than 6 hours. Usually when it goes out, it is maybe 10 minutes. lol Both times were 12+ hours, this last time because the modem needed to be reset and I understand the issue of dealing with a smart phone. My thoughts run too fast to try and finger type more than about 5 words. Because frustrating quickly. Even touch typing on a keyboard gets sluggish at times and is difficult to keep up with my thoughts. Nope, sorry, no baby yet. lol I'll let the Muse know you don't want a death...no promises that she'll listen. Gosh with so many stories and the ways they can continue. Though I think if I could chose which story/stories of my fix-its I could continue, "Donor" and "Lawsuits" would be my top picks. Just have to wait to see what the Muse wants.
To the Adventure! -Tim