Walter was still growing used to being watched so much, especially in eating. When he was working it was usually just him. But since Ralph had brought out the fact that Paige was now part of Walter, everyone watched his every move. He tried to ignore it, but sometimes…it really disturbed him. Especially since the guys were there. As they finished lunch Walter needed to take a break from everyone and went to lay down, along with fatigue, he needed some down time.
He sighed somewhat contentedly as he curled up as if spooning with Paige and then slowly he drifted off to sleep.
"Walter?" Paige said as their eyes opened and she looked around. "Right." Paige said sorrowfully. She stretched and felt their full, but not stuffed stomach. She pulled back the cover and slipped out and onto the side of the bed. She slipped on the shoes that were beside the bed. Paige smiled seeing a post-it note on the nightstand.
"Paige, if you wake up I just wanted to remind you that I love you & miss you. -Walter."
"Oh Walter, I love and miss you too." Paige said as a tear ran down their face. She stood up as she looked around again.
"I wonder how long this is going to take to get used to?" Paige said as she walked to the door and stepped out of the bedroom. "Is that Toby's voice?" Paige frowned and turned to go towards the voices.
Paige stepped just into the living space and saw Toby, Happy and Sylvester sitting at the table talking with Cabe, Louise and Sean.
"What are you three doing here?" Paige asked of the geniuses.
"Paige?" Everyone was surprised to see Walter back already.
"Yes." Paige said. "What day is it? What are you doing here?"
"Well it's been two days since Beauchamp's building blew up. And I came over to check Walter's condition. Happy and Sylvester came with me." Toby told her. "Speaking of which, I should get a reading on you to see if there are any differences."
As Paige sat down Toby jumped up and moved down stairs to get his doctor's bag. Paige looked about for a moment, she smelled something she didn't particularly like.
"What's that?" Louise asked about the piece of paper in her hand.
"Oh, Walter left me a note." Paige smiled as she looked at her. "Reminding me he loves and misses me."
"We're also trying to work things out with Walter…you know, apologizing to him and maybe come back to work in Scorpion." Happy said cautiously.
Paige rolled their eyes. That irritated her, if they hadn't formed CP, she'd still be alive on her own.
"How are you feeling kid?" Cabe asked gently, seeing the irritation.
"Tired, but not as tired and still a bit disorientated. Was Walter okay?" Paige asked, trying to use subterfuge.
"Yes, he was a bit run down and needed a nap." Sean explained.
Toby moved over from the stairs and checked Paige's pulse first.
"Wow, that smell is coming from you? What are you wearing Toby?" Paige complained as she held her nose.
"Walter complained about his cologne as well." Happy nodded.
"It's just my normal cologne." Toby shrugged. "I told Walter I would stop wearing it since it was bothering him so much. Pulse is good."
Toby put on the cuff and began to check her blood pressure.
"Has there been any word from Richard? About buying the tech from Beauchamp?" Paige asked.
"Probably much too early for that." Sylvester spoke. "I doubt if his investment advisors have even completed a rough report for him. But Walter told us that he spoke with Richard. Richard immediately reassigned Dr Phillips to his teleportation group and they are working really hard on it."
"Yeah, but more importantly." Happy continued a bit excited over it. "He also persuaded him to bring in all his personal data on how his eradicator works. He's pulling out all the stops to figure out if they can reverse what happened to you. Even if he has to steal the tech. Dr Phillips has agreed to give them access to all of the data he still has."
"That's encouraging at least…Do you think there is even a chance they can use it to separate us?" Paige asked quietly.
"That's a difficult question." Toby chipped in.
"We don't have anything to base this on." Sylvester explained. "But, we'll do everything we can."
"Absolutely." Happy nodded. "Richard wants all of us to come over to help work on the theories as soon as our workload clears. So we're not taking any more cases as CP."
"Okay…but one thing guys. You have to promise me, if they can separate us, but I won't survive, don't let Walter keep me like this. I don't want to die, but I don't want to be a burden like this to him." Paige said as a tear ran down their face.
"I-I, I don't know if I can do that." Happy said. The look of shock on her face said a lot to Paige.
"You have to, Happy." Paige told her.
"Breath in deep for me." Toby told her as he slipped his stethoscope under the back of their shirt.
"Well since we're talking hypothetically, I can promise you hypothetically that I'll make sure Walter goes through it." Sylvester told her.
Paige rolled their eyes.
"How long will you and Sean be staying, Louise?" Paige smiled at her.
"Sadly only another three weeks." Louise explained. "The farm just can't be kept running without a full time attendant and unfortunately, we don't have the money to pay someone full time."
Paige smiled as she nodded.
"Well all your vitals are great, just like when Walter is conscious." Toby said as he began to put stuff away. He went on to fill out Walter's health record he was keeping. "What would you rate your pain and tiredness?"
"Pain is about a 6 and about a 5 for tiredness." Paige told him.
"Do you want to try something for the pain?" Toby asked as he looked up.
"No, if Walter isn't taking anything for the pain, I'm not going to either." Paige told him.
"It's not a competition." Toby told her.
"No, but it is Walter's body and he doesn't like things messing with his mind." Paige reminded him. "What about if you guys were to lease the farm to a young couple just starting out? You could move to the States, stay here with us. That would lower the cost of your needs and you could make a new life here."
"Oh, I don't know dear." Louise said. Paige could see the wheels turning in her head, she definitely liked the idea. It was Sean's cold expression that said where the problem was in it.
"I mean, it isn't like Walter would take it over so unfortunately the farm won't stay in the O'Brien family, unless you have nieces or nephews who would want it?" Paige suggested.
Sean stood up and walked off towards their "bedroom".
"Sorry dear, it is a sensitive topic for Sean." Louise smiled weakly. "With Walter's aversion to the farm, our hope had been that Megan would meet a young man, marry and have a grand we could pass it to." Louise sighed. "And while we could pass it to Ralph, whether he is or isn't Walter's son, we know he wouldn't be interested in running it. I guess I should have tried for another child but Walter was such a handful. I'm sure Ralph was as well. Add to it the demands of an older child, husband, farm and house and I was at my end."
"Trust me, I understand." Paige nodded as she put their hand on Louise's. "I don't blame you. I know as an only child it can make things more difficult for the child. I would have liked to have given Ralph a sibling but without a partner to help it didn't make sense."
"So what have you guys done in the way of trying to reconcile with Walter?" Paige asked as she looked at the three geniuses.
"Well, we've apologized and he has loosely forgiven us. But that's contingent on what Ralph feels over it all." Happy explained.
"He said we can move back into the Garage to work." Sylvester explained.
"He's going to start working part time on the data Richard's team is coming up with, from the Garage until he gets his jobs finished. And once our commitments are completed Richard is going to start paying us for working with his team." Happy explained.
Paige's nose wrinkled and she looked at Toby.
"Okay, I'm sorry, I can't take your cologne anymore. You guys need to go. Take a shower, change clothes and come back if you want." Paige told them.
Louise chuckled as Toby grumbled while they left.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd swear you were pregnant." Louise teased Paige.
"Oh, that would be a nightmare." Paige laughed. "But thankfully the test was negative before this happened." Paige sighed. "Though I had wanted to have a child with Walter. I really thought that would help him more."
"I didn't know I was pregnant with Walter the first month, all month long I was nauseated by almost everything I could smell." Louise laughed. "I finally got tired of it and went to Dr Byrne and she told me I was pregnant. She got me on prenatal vitamins and that really helped a lot."
"While I did have a lot of morning sickness with Ralph, smells as far as I could tell never bothered me." Paige smiled.
"Oh Rebecca had the smell issue so bad." Cabe chuckled. "I couldn't wear cologne at all, and I had to find a new deodorant, soap and shampoo. We even had to change out the laundry detergent, the smell for her was so bad."
"Poor Sean…Every day that first month he had to take a set of clothes out to the barn before going to work with the sheep. When I saw him walking from the pens I'd take his lunch out and leave it on the picnic table. And I'd put water out there for him in the late afternoon so he could take a bath in the barn before coming up to the house. The smell of the sheep was so powerful when he worked with them. He'd soak his clothes before bringing them up to the house. Hoping the water would lock up most of the smell. It was all I could do to handle dumping his clothes in the washer each evening to wash the stench off." Louise grinned. "Never had it with Megan though."
"Sean, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to nudge a sore spot for you, concerning the farm." Paige told him.
"It's okay son…err…Paige." Sean said as he worked on the roof support. "I should be over it by now, I've known it would never survive beyond me when Megan turned twenty. She was dead set against having a child. She was so sure she'd die too early and she didn't want her child to grow up without her."
"Don't worry how you address me, I'll try to just respond to however you call me. I know this is a difficult situation. I can understand her feelings, but really there is no guarantee in life." Paige smiled. "What are you doing?" She asked even as she saw the wall where all her furniture and belongings were being stored.
"Ralph revealed he wanted to have a pool on the roof. I made some sketches and gave Walter a list of material needed to support the weight. So he got the materials." Sean smiled at her. "That friend of yours, Happy, liked the design and said it would work."
"Huh, that's interesting. Ralph had never been that interested in swimming and pools and stuff." Paige told him. "But I was serious earlier about you guys moving here. I believe it would be very beneficial for Walter and Ralph." Paige told Sean as she put their hand on his shoulder.
"I don't know if my being merged with Walter this way is really helping him or if he's just benefitting from my emotional side. But either way, having you and Louise close at hand could help keep him and Ralph centered." Paige told him.
"Aye, it probably would. I just don't know what I would do with myself. Can't imagine there is much call for a shepard here in the city." Sean kind of chuckled.
"Maybe not." Paige smiled. "But, if you think it would be something you'd like we might be able to get you on at the zoo."
"Huh, that's an interesting thought. I don't know, but I'll think about it." Sean promised.
"That's all I can really ask, thanks Sean." Paige said as she squeezed his shoulder and left.
"Walter O'Brien." Paige answered Walter's phone as she walked towards the living space. "Oh Richard, sorry this is actually Paige." Paige replied. "Yes, we switched again after he laid down for a nap after lunch."
"Oh, really?" Paige said, surprised. "Sure I'll go make sure the email came through and then call you back." Paige smiled as she reached the stairs. "Oh, sure, if you want to hang on."
"I'm doing okay. It's tough to say the least. When I'm out it's, I guess, much like sleep, I have no idea what is happening. How much time has passed, no dreams either, that I remember." Paige said as she walked to Walter's desk.
Paige smiled seeing the bowl of half eaten popcorn and chocolate morsels on the desk.
"Okay, the laptop is coming up now, I'll have to put the phone down to enter his password." Paige said before setting the phone down and then typing Walter's password. She moved the cursor and clicked on his email client and waited a moment. She smiled seeing an email from Richard. Their hand dipped into the bowl and grabbed a small handful of treats, slipping them into their mouth. She clicked it and watched it pull up.
"Okay." Paige said as she pulled the phone back up. I've got the email and it has four attachments in it." Paige nodded. "I'll leave a note to Walter about it then. Thank you so much for working on this. I mean I realize this tech has potential benefits for your company, but still you are trying to help us and I am very appreciative of it."
"Okay, have a good day." Paige smiled at Cabe as he walked towards her before hanging up.
"Richard sent all the data on the two processes." Paige told him as she moved the cursor to open one of the attachments.
"Well I guess he didn't get to where he was by playing it slow." Cabe nodded.
Instantly her mind tuned Cabe's voice out as she was engulfed in dozens of calculations as she looked at all the data and formulas expressed in the first attachment. The sheer volume was staggering to her. Their hand moved up and hit ctrl-p and the printer interface came up and she told it to print. She did the same with the other three documents. As the printer powered up Paige stood and looked at the RV and considered it but then decided against it.
They would need a well lit area to put the sheets up so they could go through all the data. The best lit area was around the desks and Happy's old work space, the rest of the Garage floor was dark and dingy.
"Maybe Happy could run some lights over to that corner and I can put all the paper up around it." Paige said out loud.
"Paige?" Cabe asked softly.
"Huh? Oh sorry, I think it would be easier to go through all this data if it was on the wall where it could be looked at without having to shift back and forth through the documents." Paige told him.
"Is it still you, Paige?" Veronica asked as she came out of the RV.
"Yes Mom." Paige nodded.
"Oh this is going to take so much to get used to." Veronica sighed.
Cabe and Veronica watched as Paige walked over and filled one of the feed trays up with paper so it wouldn't run out. She pulled a large stack of pages out of the printer as it continued printing.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
Marie Mac - I certainly hope you are here when "Callan" starts up again too! Happy early birthday! I just had my 61st last Thursday. I celebrated by ordering a huge amount of Chinese food. lol I try not to respond to comments from other stories in different stories, but since I don't know when I'll be back to "Dark Walter" I figured it was okay. lol
LouBe - LOL I share Paige's concern, that would really complicate things! lol Only time will tell, but obviously it isn't just Walter smelling things... LOL Maybe so, or maybe Danielle has heard/seen some pretty crazy things in her business. lol I debated using him again, but the Muse said it so, I had to do it. lol Yep, got to have the "fix" in a fix-it. lol Hope the weight wasn't too long, but then, not a lot happened in this chapter either so...
Railman - hehe The Muse said it was Drew being lazy, he didn't tell his attorney Walter had an attorney, just gave him Walter's contact info. Walter and Paige's feelings/quirks/habits seem to manifest within each other and here she is enjoying a bit of the salty-sweet treat too. lol It will indeed be awkward if they are pregnant...LOL Looks like Walter is at least...okay with it, provided Ralph is.
DaToad - Yep, he did admit that, but I also wondered if he was being honest or just giving another excuse for his growing bad behavior. Yes, I'd love to know more of the backstory of CP, I hadn't seen anything "official" about when it started or anything and of course in "Lycosidae" the whole thing had been planned months in advance. Which if it was a ploy to catch Collins as a lot of fans believe would make sense. And why Walter would have given Quintis all the money for fertility treatments. Yes, while the geniuses were getting better, they still needed each other a lot.
James - Thanks, so glad you enjoyed it. I'm sure if Danielle was his attorney for suing Beauchamp, she'd be more skeptical and asking a lot more questions! lol As long as they can prove he is Ralph's biological Father, she'll accept that part of the story no problem. Paige's influence is definitely bleeding over into Walter, at an important time too! hehe Seems everyone is suspecting something brewing within! lol A bit of Paige this time, no Ralph, school requirements stink for something like this. Hopefully we'll see more soon. It seems like Paige agrees with you on them trying to get back with Walter...You're welcome. It is Sunday now! lol
Pearliegirl - I am so sorry to hear you got Covid. I sure hope you have successfully beaten it into submission! It sure seems like everyone is thinking the same thing...lol Paige doesn't think so. Time will tell. LOL I don't want to prove that! lol But that made me think of "Junior" with Arnold, Danny DeVito and Emma Thompson! Loved that movie. The Muse just smiled, so obviously she knows something about how it will work out if true.
To the Adventure! -Tim