December 7th, 2005 12:38 p.m.:
"Again?" Paige growled at her OB/GYN as she told her it was false labor for the 3rd time since December 1st. "Ralph, you are not making Mommy very happy." Paige complained bitterly while looking at her stomach.
Her head shot up as she looked at Walter and saw the smile on his face as he chuckled. The smile faded instantly as the echo of his laugh died.
"Sorry, I wasn't laughing at what you are going through, just your reaction, Ralph isn't at fault either…" Walter tried to explain the process, but the look on Paige's face caused him to look away as he resumed his normal observation mode.
"Fine, help me get dressed." Paige finally said. Adding "Please" finally as she tried to calm down.
Walter nodded and quickly stepped up and helped her to sit up on the side of the bed before grabbing her clothes.
"Again?" Happy almost screamed as Walter walked out pushing Paige into the waiting room.
"Yes." Paige grumbled.
Ralph started to say something and Walter quickly shook his head no, trying to warn him off.
"Err, how about we go out for lunch then?" Ralph adjusted what he was going to say.
"Fine." Paige said.
"I know sweetheart." Veronica whispered as she hugged Paige. "It won't be much longer and you won't even remember this part."
"Bet me." Paige grumbled again causing Veronica to laugh. "I'm half tempted to have Walter help me on Happy's bike so he can drive me around, maybe all that vibration will kick start it."
Everyone laughed as they went out the door to the parking lot.
8:53 a.m. December 11th, 2005:
"Walter…" Paige moaned softly.
"Paige?" Walter answered as he stuck his head in from the other room.
"Come talk to your son please." Paige complained. "He's making it impossible to rest."
Walter smiled as he walked in and grabbed the speakers and slipped them around Paige's waist.
"Hey Ralph." Walter smiled as he spoke into the microphone softly. "How's my buddy doing? Mommy says you're really moving around this morning. Is there anything I can do to help you? Mommy could use some rest right now, you didn't let her sleep well last night."
Paige smiled at Walter as after he said Ralph's name, Ralph paused his movement and became still as if to listen more intently.
"It really won't be much longer now and I'll get to hold you in my arms. We'll be able to look into each other's eyes, which for you, it will be a new experience. It'll take time for your mind to interpret the impulses it receives from your eyes. You'll be able to hear our voices more clearly as well." Walter said.
They watched as if Ralph was reaching out towards one of the speakers pushing against Paige's side.
"As I've talked with you before, I don't know if you will be like me or your Mom, I really hope you will be more like her. She has such an easier time dealing with other people because of emotions. I'm much better than I was before I met your Mom, but I promise you, if you are like me, I'll do everything I can to make sure you will not grow up with my handicap." Walter explained as Paige reached out and took his left hand in hers.
The look of love Paige gave Walter nearly took his breath away.
"Oh…" Paige said suddenly.
"Paige?" Walter said softly, looking at her.
"I think I better get up and walk around a bit like Dr Danvers told me. See if this is another round of false labor starting." Paige told him.
"Okay Ralph, I've got to help your Mommy now. We love you and can't wait to hold you in our arms." Walter said as he nodded. He quickly removed the headset and then helped Paige to sit up on the side of the bed.
"Oh, it feels a little cooler than I thought. Grab my robe please." Paige asked.
Walter nodded before getting the robe and helping her put it on.
"What were you doing out there?" Paige asked as Walter began walking with her.
"Oh, I'm going over the code again for the asteroid retrieval drone Happy sold to Richard. They want to do a test of the system in a few days for the Ursids asteroid shower." Walter told her.
"What? I thought they were three years from trying to do that?" Paige asked, surprised.
"Well as far as actually trying to retrieve one, yes. Richard wants to see how the system actually functions before he keeps spending so much money on it. He's really been anxious to get it done ever since they decided they finally had all the kinks worked out for a launch rocket. Theory and models are all well and good, but since we can put the rocket into orbit, he wants to see if we can land on an asteroid and the system anchors itself into it. Then see if it will deploy the sail to slow the asteroid's momentum." Walter explained.
"Oh." Paige said.
"Pretty cool huh? You're finally starting…" Walter said but was interrupted by the sound of a slush of liquid.
"No Walter, not that. I think we need to go to the hospital after all." Paige told him.
"Your water just broke." Walter nodded as he struggled to switch off his emotions to stay as logical as possible. "Your go bag and the wheelchair are already in the SUV, so all we need to do is get your skirt and blouse on."
"I know Walter." Paige smiled, trying not to be short with him. "Have one of the agents call up to Dad." Paige said as they walked back into the bedroom.
Walter nodded but grabbed her clothes and the baby wipes for her first.
After helping Paige to get cleaned up and dressed, Walter called up to Ralph, then they moved into the entry room to leave the basement. The door opened quickly as Ralph stepped through.
"Are you okay pumpkin?" Ralph asked while breathing rapidly. His eyes opened wide hearing her breathing.
"Yes, it is finally time to evict the baby." Paige tried to smile as she paused to let the contraction pass.
Ralph stood there immobile watching as the contraction finally passed. His massive frame held the door open the entire time.
Veronica was there and took Paige's other hand as they started to climb the steps outside the door.
"Looks like Mr O'Connell won't win the drawing after all." Veronica grinned as they climbed up the steps.
"Unless this takes another seven hours give or take." Paige laughed. "And no, that isn't permission to drag this out." Paige said, looking at her stomach.
"Well, technically, if it happens by 10 a.m. our time, they might call it for Mr O'Connell as it would be 3 p.m. there." Walter told them as Paige slid into the SUV.
"Oh, did anyone call, Happy?" Paige asked.
"Yes, she was almost to MIT when agent Charles called her detail. They should meet us at the hospital." Ralph told her as Veronica and Louise got into the SUV with Paige and Walter. "Sean and I will go in our SUV."
"See you soon Daddy." Paige smiled.
"What is taking so long?" Happy complained as she paced the waiting area.
"Sweetheart." Veronica smiled. "This can still take quite some time for the baby to be born. It's barely been over an hour."
"Oh, it better not." Happy complained. "I won't be able to eat or sleep until the baby gets here now."
Everyone grinned at Happy.
Suddenly a door opened and Walter stepped out holding a small bundle wrapped in a light blue blanket. The grin on his face was enormous.
Happy let out a squeal as she ran over to him followed by their parents.
"Everyone, meet my son." Walter said proudly. "Hey buddy." Walter said softly while slightly jostling the baby. "This is our family, your Aunt Happy, Grandma Veronica, Grandma Louise, Grandpa Sean and Grandpa Ralph, we named you after Grandpa Ralph because I wanted you to be like him. Able to understand both sides of problems and help resolve issues in a mutually beneficial way."
They watched as a tear ran down Walter's face.
"Family, this is Ralph Page O'Brien." Walter told them as they all stood around him gushing. Walter slipped him into Happy's arms first.
"You named him after Paige?" Sean asked.
"The masculine version of the name, yes." Walter nodded. "Because Paige has an easier time understanding other people's emotions and expressing her own emotions."
"I'm your Aunt Happy." Happy said as tears ran down her face. "I've been dying to meet you for six months. You've got nothing to worry about in this world Ralph, I'll always be in your corner. And if anyone tries to mess with you, you let me know and I'll take care of it for you."
"Not good." Ralph Dineen smiled.
They all marveled at how little Ralph seemed to hold himself stiff as Happy had spoken. Like he was truly listening to her. Happy passed him to Louise next who began crying over the little boy as Sean held her in one arm and his other hand wrapped around the side of little Ralph's body.
Sean and Louise grinned at each other and then kissed before she passed little Ralph to Veronica.
"What was the official time of birth?" Sean asked softly.
"10:04 a.m." Walter told him.
"Ah, that means old Ed O'Connell will win the baby draw." Sean grinned. "They decided to do it based on Ireland's time to be fair if the lad was born anywhere else."
"Makes sense to me." Ralph nodded as they continued looking little Ralph over.
"Look, he stiffened up at the sound of your voice." Veronica told Ralph.
"He did the same to you just now." Happy said excitedly.
"Do you think he actually recognizes our voices?" Ralph looked at Walter.
"It is very possible." Walter nodded. "We've known for several months now whenever he heard Paige or I talking he'd stop moving inside her like he was listening to whichever of us were speaking."
"Isn't that something." Veronica smiled. "I know Paige didn't do anything like that, what about Walter?" She asked Louise.
"Oh, it has been so long since then, I'm afraid I don't really remember." Louise said sadly.
"I was lucky because of my being so paranoid about it." Veronica told her. "I'd kept a baby journal throughout the entire pregnancy and Paige's first year. I must have reread it so many times since then, I don't think I'll ever forget it."
Walter smiled, enjoying his family's expressions of love for his son. His life finally seemed to be completely righted after all the problems growing up in Callan.
"I hear congratulations are in order." A voice boomed after the door of the waiting room opened.
"Toby!" Happy said excitedly as she ran over and caught him up in a bear hug before he got halfway to them.
"My nephew is absolutely perfect!" Happy crowed.
Toby laughed but moved over with her and then he got to hold little Ralph after both Grandfathers got their turn.
Just as Walter got little Ralph back into his arms the door opened again and Richard moved into the room holding a large pink gift bag.
"Sorry Richard, Walter and Paige had a boy." Happy laughed.
Richard laughed with her.
"No, this is for Paige." Richard explained as he handed the handle of the bag to Walter before accepting little Ralph to look at. "Gosh, this takes me back to when my daughter was born. Well not exactly, I was on a business trip and didn't get to meet her for two days. You better get little Ralph back to Paige before she comes looking for him."
Everyone laughed but nodded their agreement as Walter took little Ralph back into his arms.
"Moms, Happy…Paige wanted you three to come back with us." Walter told them before he turned and led the way back to the "Home Birth room".
While the room still had the "air of a hospital" about it, it was still very homey. Instead of a hospital bed, it had a full size adjustable bed, a wide open floor with regular looking furniture. Definitely not cheap quality. There was a giant screen TV, minifridge, microwave along with the ensuite bathing room. A stereo sat on a nearby nightstand with soft music playing.
"Paige." Walter said softly as he sat on the side of the bed closest to the baby cradle.
Paige's eyes opened tiredly and she smiled.
"There's the two loves of my life." Paige said and then smiled at the three most important women in her life.
Walter moved Ralph over into her arms before he kissed her and then moved away to let their Moms and Happy move up and be with her. He watched them talking for a moment before he turned and quietly left the room. He joined up with the men of his family and they went to the cafeteria to have some lunch.
Four days later:
The overwhelming response they'd gotten from family and friends amazed them both. Back in their basement apartment Walter doted on them both constantly. Walter was so glad he was used to only getting sporadic sleep. His body seemed to sync up with little Ralph and his eyes would pop open mere moments before Ralph would wake at night.
They had a huge video call to the Walsh's cafe back in Callan once they were settled back in at home. One of the tech specialists from Richard's plant had gone over and set up a giant screen TV to their laptop and made sure their settings were right for the call. When the call connected and the video image of Walter, Paige and little Ralph flashed up on the screen there was a roaring cheer from the hundreds of townsfolk who were in the backyard of the Walsh's cafe to be part of the conference call.
Paige teared up seeing all the faces of the people she had finished growing up around. The outpouring of love from all those people seemed palpable.
The following Saturday Cabe arrived and spent the next week off and on visiting with the family after taking a week's vacation.
The last three months of Paige's pregnancy Walter had done a lot of research. He consulted all the baby books, and he interviewed both sets of their parents as well as Megan. With her permission Walter even read Veronica's journal of her pregnancy with Paige. He spent time with Sylvester's parents and even Happy's Dad.
Patrick told him he didn't remember much of Happy's first year but told him what he did or what his Mom said about how she behaved as a baby. He reminded him about Happy's dollhouse and urged Walter to never do what he did if little Ralph turned out to be a genius. "Do everything you can to support him, ensure it is safe, but don't limit him if you can help it. You never want to see the look of pain I saw on Happy that day."
Walter even contacted Toby's Mom. Once he made her realize who he was and what he wanted to talk with her about, she told him she'd contact him when it was a good time.
"Walter O'Brien." Walter answered his phone on November 1st.
"Walter, this is Lisa Curtis." Toby's Mom said into the phone.
"Good morning Mrs Curtis." Walter smiled. He'd given up hearing from her as it had been over a month.
"Lisa is fine Walter." Lisa smiled as she told him that. "I wanted you to know I've been on my medication for just over a month now and if you want to talk about when Toby was born I'd be happy to answer any questions I can."
"Absolutely, I would love to be able to talk about him with you." Walter grinned.
Even while dealing with the attack that hurt Paige, by November 10th Walter had collated all the information he'd gathered together and everything that had commonality among the many stories he put together as bullet points. He took the things that were common among those with high IQs and made them a subset of bullet points and then the things that were one offs from both groups he made a subset of those.
He spent the next month studying those points and formulating his own plan to help Ralph based on them.
Everyone marveled at Walter's attention and actions towards little Ralph and Paige. As Megan put it the day they spoke quietly over the internet, Walter looked far happier then he had looked even on his wedding day.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! We finally get to see little Ralph brought into the world! And that means, just 1 more chapter is left. *sigh*
LouBe - hehe Last chapter kind of gave you whiplash huh? lol It really wasn't a trick on Happy's part, Paige really felt for how Happy was feeling and decided to reveal the truth. But yes, at least Happy kept the secret. hehe Yes, Callan is definitely vested into their distant family for sure! hehe And as "luck" would have it, yep, the school will get a nice boost for their arts programs! hehe
Pearliegirl - LOL When the site sent your comment to my email, for some reason part of it was truncated..."Can't wait for the family to meet little eat kid" I was like, wait...why is she wanting the family to eat poor Ralph? LOL
Marie Mac - Indeed it would be better to rap! Still waiting on the Muse to finish the current saga of "Dark Walter".
Masikka - So glad you enjoyed it! While a little shaky at first, this chapter seems not to be plagued by the Scorpion need to complicate things. LOL
To the Adventure! -Tim
