Welcome back to Callan!
May 31, 2003, Callan, Ireland:
Paige stood holding Walter's hand as the graduating class began breaking apart. Their eyes locked gazing into the other's. The doorway of their future was now wide open. Walter just grinned as he continued to stare into the eyes of the young woman he loved and who loved him. Before Paige came into his life he never saw this day coming. All the probabilities he ran before meeting Paige had him being alone until he died.
Paige grinned as she saw their future together. She wasn't sure where she wanted to live, Ireland for sure called to her hard. But she had no personal memories of living in America. The home of her birth. She really did have a desire to know more of the country. She was really happy to have won the scholarship to Harvard. She'd be able to experience it, with Walter beside her, through every step and trial.
"Hey sis, Mom wants to get a few more pictures of the two of us with Dad, Emmett and her." Happy interrupted them.
Paige nodded without taking her eyes off of Walter. She reached up on her tiptoes as her eyes closed and their lips met and the tender kiss gave way to the passion within and their lips parted as their tongues touched and caressed the other's.
"I'll be right back." Paige said softly as they broke their kiss.
Walter nodded as they held hands for a moment as Paige stepped away, their hands rising up as their arms stretched out. Finally they separated and their arms fell to their side.
Connor stepped up next to Walter as he had come to see his cousin graduate. He smiled at Walter and then nudged his shoulder.
Walter returned his smile as he nodded.
"Hey, I just wanted to thank you again for getting me into Elia's place. I can't believe how much I make. I know I'm no Ralph Dineen, but man, I actually closed on a house the other day." Connor whispered.
"That's great Connor. I hear good words about you all the time." Walter told him.
They watched as Megan waddled up and hugged Paige and Happy.
"Man, Megan looks beautiful doesn't she?" Connor grinned.
Walter nodded.
"I got to hand it to you Brainiac." Connor said before he looked around to ensure no one could hear. "I really figured you and Paige would have had to gotten married and had a kid or two already."
Walter frowned as he looked at him.
Connor raised his hand.
"The summer before we graduated I was in the woods late one night checking my traps. I looked out once and I saw the two of you in that one field of your Father's. I left immediately and came back the next morning and moved all my traps. I mean I couldn't see anything but it was clear what the two of you were doing." Connor told him quietly.
"I think I would have preferred not knowing this. But thank you for being discreet and not telling people. Paige's reputation could have been ruined." Walter replied with a quiet voice.
Connor nodded.
"Yeah, that happened to my older cousin a couple of years ago. She ended up moving to the far side of the island. So that alone wouldn't have let me say anything. But I respect you and Paige so, I wasn't about to do that. I almost asked you back then if that was the reason for the weird spell the two of you went through. But I figured I should just keep my mouth shut." Connor explained quietly.
As he sat there Walter considered telling Paige but he wasn't sure that was a good idea.
"What's going on?" Paige nudged him as they sat at the table at the Walsh's.
"Something disturbing I found out. I mean at this point it is moot but, not sure if I should keep it to myself or to tell you." Walter whispered.
"Is it about me?" Paige asked quietly.
"About us, yes." Walter nodded.
"Well, tell me." Paige smiled.
Walter sighed as he leaned in closer and whispered quietly.
"Can't you two wait until you are alone to do that?" Happy teased.
Everyone at the table saw Paige blush and they laughed thinking she was embarrassed at Happy's comment.
July 3rd, 2003 Richard's offsite office:
"She's in labor? How soon?" Paige asked excitedly as she answered the phone.
"Dr. Bryne feels about three hours, maybe a bit sooner." Billy told her. "Make sure you call the family for me."
"I will Billy, congratulations!" Paige cried excitedly before hanging up.
"She must have been in labor for some time if it is happening that quickly." Walter said as he stood up from his desk.
"Probably." Paige nodded as she called Louise. "Mom! Megan's in labor!" Paige squealed. "No, Billy is so nervous, he called me and asked me to call you. I'm going to call Mom and Dad and his parents before we'll head over to pick you and Dad up." Paige hung up and looked at Walter grinning.
"I just might win the pool!" Paige laughed.
"Pool?" Walter frowned.
Paige nodded as she laughed.
"The Walshs had a pool for who would guess the closest time of delivery. I put a bet down for today at five pm." Paige grinned as she jumped into Walter's arms.
Walter looked around at the small office. It had been their work space for over a year. And as Happy had unceremoniously pointed out to Cabe at the wedding dinner for Megan they had made love there many more times than anywhere else. It held a lot of memories for Walter. Tomorrow was to be their last day there. They turned in their resignations with Richard so they could take a month to prepare for moving to the States. Richard was quick to push for Walter to agree to continue to work for him once they got settled in the US. But for now Walter's plans would have him working to build up the capital to start Scorpion.
Paige laughed as she snapped her fingers in his face.
"You okay?" Paige asked.
"Yeah, just remembering all the good times we shared here in this office." Walter smiled.
Paige blushed but nodded.
"We'll have a much nicer place to form memories when we get to the States." Paige grinned.
Walter nodded while he followed as she pulled against his hand so they could go pick up his parents while she called her Mom. Walter barely got the alarm set and the door locked as Paige pulled him quickly to their car. Her service detail followed them in the SUV.
Paige fell in love with the car the moment they walked onto the dealership's lot. A 2003 blue four door Mazda6. The agent used Paige's excitement and love for the car heavily against Walter every time he tried to haggle against the price. And in the end he paid nearly full sticker price for the car.
Sean had given him a hard time over such an extravagance and then even more when he found out the price. But Ralph just smiled and nodded approvingly to Walter as he patted his back. He'd always spoiled Paige and he was happy Walter was so giving to her.
Ralph rushed into the small room where Megan was. He saw his family had gathered there since Megan had already given birth to a little boy.
"Oh look at him. What a chip off the old block." Ralph said as he grinned at Billy.
Billy just grinned back.
"You know if you guys would like to come to the States with us, you'd be more than welcomed." Ralph told them as he stepped up and kissed Megan's forehead and then shook Billy's hand.
"Hey now, you're already taking most of the kids away from us." Louise teased.
"Well, why don't you and Sean sell the farm and come join us after the crops are harvested? Thanks to Walter your farm is out performing your best record, and in the middle of a two year drought no less. And with this drought killing the other farmers, you should get a hefty price for everything." Ralph looked at them.
"Well I don't want to take advantage of my neighbors when it comes to food. And I don't know what I would do with myself over there. No farm or animals to tend." Sean shook his head.
"It is a tempting offer Ralph but I don't think so. Callan is our home." Louise smiled as Ralph nodded.
"Well think it over. If later you want to even come for a visit I'll bring you over." Ralph smiled. "So what is this young man's name?"
Billy blushed. He hadn't wanted him named after him but Megan insisted.
"William Patrick, Billy didn't want William, he wanted Walter, but we already have two Walters. I agreed to Patrick, even though that makes three. Mostly because I liked the sound of William Patrick better." Megan smiled at Billy.
"Ralph William or William Ralph wouldn't sound as good either." Ralph winked as everyone laughed.
July 6, 2003:
"Deirfiúr." Walter said softly as he walked into the hospital room where Megan was waiting to go home with her baby and Louise.
"Deartháir?" Megan said even as anxiety rose up in her at the sound of his voice.
"Don't be alarmed, it isn't good news, but Billy is okay. He'll be in the ER for a bit, but should be released in a few hours. Your car has been totaled though." Walter told her.
Megan's eyes closed as she breathed out in relief. She felt arms envelop her and smelled Paige's perfume and she smiled.
"Hey sis." Megan said.
"Hey." Paige smiled as she let go. "How's my nephew and big sister?"
"Well I was about to have a heart attack." Megan laughed as she wiped at her eyes. "William is fine. A little fussy today."
"You leave my grand alone, he's just perfect." Louise told her with a grin as she cradled the newborn.
"You two need to get to work on a grand to get her off my back." Megan grinned at Paige who laughed.
"Well if you are ready to go home, we can take you." Walter said as he cleared his throat a bit uncomfortable with the turn in the conversation.
The three ladies just laughed at him.
"What about a carseat for William?" Megan asked.
"The garda on the scene let us take the one from your car." Walter told her.
August 8, Boston Logan International Airport:
"I'm actually a little scared." Paige squeezed Walter's hand tightly as they walked out of customs and joined up with the rest of her family waiting on them.
"I'm here love, nothing to be scared of." Walter tried to reassure her. Even as his own stomach kind of rolled with anxiety of what he was getting himself into. Americans didn't know him and he was barely tolerated by the majority of people in his hometown.
Paige smiled and then kissed him even as Happy rolled her eyes.
"We're going to be here all night at this rate." Happy teased.
"Oh hush." Paige told her with a smile.
Walter just blushed as he picked up his and Paige's suitcases and they walked off to meet up with the rest of the detail waiting for them in the SUV.
Ralph's realtor friend had found them a perfect home in West Cambridge. A nice two story with a finished basement apartment.
Walter had planned to get them their own apartment but Ralph promised them they'd have their own autonomy in the basement. And after finding out the going rates for apartments in the area he reconsidered and accepted the offer since he wasn't able to touch his winnings until his twenty-first birthday. They had over fifty percent of his and Paige's income from Richard over the last year but that was their nest egg. Otherwise he was going to have to work for Richard rather than work on building the capital to get Scorpion up and running as soon as possible.
Walter and Paige spent much of the next two weeks making love often in the luxury of their apartment. When not pleasing each other they took trips to Harvard so they could get used to the change in location as well as the people outside of West Cambridge. During those visits Paige grew comfortable with the change of the schools. They met a few of the professors for some of her classes. Walter actually liked her philosophy professor. While she still spoke in abstracts she actually was quite detail oriented and he appreciated that. Walter was better about it but he really enjoyed things being in order.
With Ralph's connections Walter was able to get a driver's license fairly quickly and they bought a car so Walter would have transportation when not with Paige. They'd given their Mazda6 to Billy and Megan since it was too expensive to take it with them and Billy had finally recovered enough to drive again.
Ralph and Veronica escorted Happy to MIT where she got to meet a lot of the professors who had been waiting anxiously for her arrival. Happy marveled at how she was treated by these men and women of science. She found her first semester was already set up so she didn't even have to go through all of the headaches with the other students to get registered. She found out her professors from Dublin had been in contact with several of them all along and she was almost a celebrity.
Ralph and Veronica couldn't be happier but still it concerned them. Because they came back to the US they had to change a few members of their protection detail as some didn't want to leave Ireland.
On their third visit to MIT they got a surprise.
"Hey, Happy!" A male voice rang out from across the parking lot where the security detail had parked their SUV. Ralph was less than pleased as he looked over and saw a scruffy looking kid in a dark grey straw fedora hat. Ralph's scowl was so hard it nearly stuck on his face.
"Toby!" Happy grinned. "I thought you were going to be here yesterday?"
"Yeah, sorry, I couldn't get away from the hospital." Toby smiled.
Happy moved up and gave him a hug.
"Toby, this is my Mom and Dad. Veronica and Ralph Dineen and my little brother Emmett." Happy introduced them. "Mom, Dad, this is Toby."
"Mr and Mrs Dineen, it is nice to meet you. Happy has told me a lot about you." Toby smiled at them.
"Veronica is fine Toby. It is nice to meet you finally." Veronica smiled as she adjusted Emmett and then reached out and shook his hand.
"Mr Dineen." Toby smiled as he extended his hand.
Ralph's eyes bore down into Toby standing there. Veronica backhanded his arm and Ralph slowly extended his hand and his giant hand engulfed Toby's noticeably smaller hand.
"Toby." Ralph said as they shook hands.
Toby tried not to express the pain he was feeling as Ralph's grip tightened ever tighter around his hand. Just as Toby's lip started to curl from the pressure Ralph pulled him in close to him before letting go of his hand.
"You just remember this is my little girl and she's only thirteen." Ralph told him in his deep voice.
"Daddy!" Happy said in embarrassment. "Mom!" Happy appealed to Veronica.
"Ralph! Be nice." Veronica told him.
Ralph begrudgingly agreed to take the four of them for a nice steak lunch as an apology.
Toby surprisingly acted completely innocent in respects to Happy but he was also irreverent on a lot of things. Happy was very impressed as he showed her his chips from AA showing he had almost two years of sobriety. She kissed his cheek in honor of his achievement.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well!
To the Adventure! -Tim
When I was writing this story back in the beginning there was a part of a scene I had started writing and then I removed what I had. Because of the complexity of the answer I intended, it was going to put the chapter over in word count. I had planned to use it later but it never happened. So before I delete it from my storage I thought I would share it with you here. In Chapter 7 in the hotel before the chess tournament, after Walter asked Cabe about what "bust them up" meant Walter had another question for him.
"Cabe, what's love?" Walter asked.
"Well, that's the million dollar question son." Cabe chuckled. "You could probably ask a hundred people and get just as many answers."
"I think I love my family, but how do I know? And if I do love them, why doesn't it feel the same with Paige? Does it mean I don't really love her or them?" Walter asked.
Cabe sighed as he sat down on the end of a bed and patted the mattress. Walter looked over and saw him sitting there so he walked over and sat down beside him.
yedy