A/N Thank you to all of you that gave reviews for what was a one shot , but due to the requests for a continuation of the story here goes , I hope you will enjoy the way this story will go . xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
As the door shut behind him , and he heard the pitiful sound of Paige's voice calling his name , the pain that was already in his heart , increased to a full blown explosion . Tears began to roll down his cheeks as the memory of the love of his life had changed to one of shame she had showed seeing him sitting all alone in the corner of the reception area .
He dropped his head and stuffed his hands into his pants pockets and began a slow walk to his car . He thought he had begun to get over her , but now he knew he never would be able to forget the love and joy she had bought into his life since that first meeting at the diner . His thoughts also going to Ralph who he looked upon as the son he never had and now most likely never would have . He knew for certain he would never find another woman who would understand him the way Paige did , so he knew for certain he would never be a father to his own child .
Although walking slowly he was almost at his car , when he heard running footsteps coming towards him , he began to turn , but before he had chance to remove his hands out of his pockets , he was almost knocked over , if he had not been so close to his car he would have , by someone throwing themself at him and hugging him tight .
It took him a few seconds to recover and look down . " Happy what the ! " He yelled as he looked at the top of Happy's head .
Happy looked up at him , tears in her eyes . " i am so sorry Walter , i should never have walked out on you that night but i was scared my family was breaking up . it was like the time my dad left me at the children's home and never came back for me . " She released Walter from the hug and quickly wiped the tears from her face , on the sleeve of her jacket .
Walter pulled his hands out of his pocket and then in a low voice and with no emotion at all asked . "You have had over four weeks to tell me that , but no one would answer my calls or reply to the numerous texts and E-mails during those first couple of weeks . Then at Genttleman's i knew the reason . You had all decided to form your own company and then had the nerve to call yourselves Centipede Partners . I suppose you know the centipede is a natural predator to the scorpion in the wild . So that was the intention to destroy Scorpion . Well congratulations you succeeded . "
Happy's mouth dropped in shock at Walter was telling her . " That was not our intention i am sure , it was just a name Toby and Sly came up with . Toby had suggested that in time you would come to us and suggest we should join the two companies into one . " As she spoke her voice got less and less confident .
Walter gave a "Huff . " Then spoke in a disappointed voice . " Sorry , but i am on my way back to the garage . Hopefully this time next week i will be back in Ireland . "
Happy's anger began to grow , her hands began to ball into fists . " You cannot do that , Paige needs you and even more Ralph needs you . "
At the mention of Ralph's name Walter's face became confused . " What is wrong with Ralph ? Is he ill ? "
Happy began to calm down and attempted to answer in a calm voice . " Since you and Paige broke up . " Walter went to interrupt but Happy put a finger on his mouth to stop him .
" As i was saying since you two broke up , Ralph as regressed back to old ways . He refuses to talk to anybody , he no longer attends Caltech and his grades at school have dropped lower than when Drew turned up some three years ago . "
Walter's face was full of sadness . " What do you expect me to do , Ralph either does not want to have contact with me , or Paige as forbidden him to make contact with me . " A tear began to roll down his cheek as he finished speaking .
" At the start she did forbid him to contact you . However after she saw you at the Gettlemen pitch and saw the hurt and sadness on your face , once she got back to the office . Although office is stretching the truth a little , we are running C. P , from out of our spare bedroom . She locked herself in the bathroom for almost a hour , she was sobbing her heart out , i managed to calm her down a little by talking to her through the door . She admitted she was still madly in love with you but was afraid if she approached you she could not bear the thought that you might reject her . I also made the mistake of telling her why you followed them to Tahoe and that Tim had made you a backhanded threat to you so you would not interfere in their relationship . Then to make it even worse i told both Toby and myself were positive nothing was going on between Florence and you . This just bought on another bout of sobbing
Once she had calmed down again she told me what Toby had done about stopping her pushing you to remember what you had told her in space . Needless to say Toby suffered that night "
As she was talking they both heard Toby shouting . " Happy are you alright ? "
This was to much for Walter , he moved away from Happy and managed to open his car door and climb in . " Sorry Happy , i can't face anybody else today . As i said i will be at the garage for the next week , any of you are welcome to come over , but not all at the same time . Please .
At that Walter started his car and pulled out of the parking space . Looking through his rear view mirror he saw Toby approaching Happy , he appeared to say something to Happy , the next second Toby was bent over double following a punch to the stomach by Happy .
Back in the reception area of Bryson and company .
Paige had sat down in the chair Walter had recently got up from , she could still smell , in the atmosphere , his after shave and she was sure she could still feel the body heat he had left behind . She again began to sob , so loud the young receptionist bought her a box of tissues and a glass of water over to her , which Paige gratefully accepted .
Once she had calmed down a little all she could keep saying was " What have i done , that man is still the love of my life and i have destroyed him ." Toby was trying to calm Sylvester down who was just standing in the same place when Walter left , tears were streaming down his cheeks .
So concentrated on Sly , Toby had not seen Happy follow after Walter . After about five minutes , Paige had stopped sobbing but tears were still rolling down her cheeks . Toby had managed to convince Sly to sit down , but again tears were still rolling down his cheeks . Toby looked around and realized Happy was no were to be seen .
" As anyone seen Happy ? "
The young lady behind the reception desk looked up and answered . " She followed Mr. O'Brian out the door , she looked really upset . "
Toby turned to the other two . " I will go and find her , but i think we can call this bid one big bust , none of us are in any sort of mind set to give a good presentation . O'Brian strikes again ! "
Paige shot up from of her chair and put her face only a few inches away from his . " DO NOT dare to say anything derogatory about Walter or you will feel the full force of my wrath ." She then immediately sat down again and buried her head in her hands and again began to mutter . " Just what have i done . "
A shocked Toby took the opportunity and turned quickly away from Paige and made his way through the door .
" Happy , are you alright ? " Toby shouted as he went through the door . He began to walk towards the parked cars , he heard a car start up then saw Walter's car pulling out of a parking space and moving towards the exit at speed . He also saw Happy appear and it seemed she was shouting at the quickly disappearing car .
He picked up his pace and almost ran towards Happy . Happy heard the running footsteps coming behind her and quickly turned round her fists clenched tight , ready to defend herself if it was someone who wanted to attack her . " What the hell Toby ? "
" Why did you chase after big brain so quickly ? "
Happy who was already wound up like a coiled spring , threw a punch at Toby's Stomach , which doubled Toby over as he gasped for breath .
" Walter was the first person in my life , who took me for who i am . He was in fact the first real friend i had ever made . Now because of what we did all i saw today was a broken man , who in a weeks time will not even be in America . "
By now Toby had managed to almost stand up straight again , although he was still having problems taking in a deep breath . In a rather still breathless voice Toby replied .
" He bought it on himself , he should have listened to us about the lecture . "
Happy gave Toby a stare that made him take a large step back far enough so she could not hit him again .
" We had no reason to walk out on him , it was Paige and Sly who had grievance against him , although Sly was totally wrong to blame Walter for Florence having feelings for him and i am positive Paige after a couple of days would have gone back to Walter and make up . But you had big ideas we could set up a company to compete against Scorpion . You even insisted we cut our prices by such a margin that our price would be unbeatable .
You are a doctor , have you seen what this whole thing is doing to Paige , i know she is not sleeping or eating . She as lost so much weight and all the sparkle as gone from her . The worst thing for her is that Ralph is totally ignoring her , that is like her heart is being cut every time she as to speak to him . " '
Toby looked dejected . " Is that what you really think ? "
All Happy said was . " Yes . " As she walked past him back to the reception area leaving a very shocked Toby .
Happy made it into reception , walked over to Paige and sat down beside her . She leaned in close and very quietly began telling her . " Paige , please listen to me . " Paige lifted her head , Happy saw the redness in her eyes from all the crying she had been doing , for the first time she took a good look at Paige's face she had not realized before just how gaunt she was beginning to look . What a friend she had been , it was not even friendshipist , it felt more like she had been acting more like a real bitch .
" I have been speaking to Walter , he is going to leave America , sometime in the next week , he feels totally destroyed . But he as said we are welcome to go see him at the garage , but not all at once . I think you should take Ralph over to see him once he comes out of school and at least let him see Walter . You never know Walter may want to see you . "
Paige sat silent for almost five minutes , it was not until she heard the door to reception open that she came out of her trance like state .
" Do you really think Walter would listen to the biggest apology i could give him , i not only walked out on him , i kept Ralph away from him . "
Before Happy could answer , Toby stepped up to them , it was him entering reception that had bought Paige out of her trance . " I hope you are not going to see 197 just because "
Before he could finish speaking , Paige stood up and landed a left hook on his jaw , which caused him to collapse in a heap on the floor .
Paige sat back down , turned to Happy . " I did warn him . "
Happy shrugged her shoulders and ignored Toby who by now was struggling to sit up .
" You know you still love the guy , it is unlikely you will find anyone else that will match Walter for you . Comparing any new man will just end in misery and i am sure will hurt Ralph even more . You know Ralph is as important if not more so than Walter in your life . So when you pick Ralph up from school , go to the garage instead then let Ralph go in first . I am sure Walter will either send Ralph out to fetch you or come out himself . "
By now Toby managed to stand , he pointed a finger at Paige , but before he could speak Happy told him . " You had been warned . "
Sly had watched the interchange , was shocked when Paige put Toby on his back , but he knew he had been warned . " Do you think Walter would talk to me , especially as i have told his parents one or two untruths . "
" Not truths ? " Paige said .
" Well i did not really tell them everything , i sort of condensed everything so Walter was to blame for the whole thing . "
Happy made a small huff . " You can try but do not be surprised if he his sharp with you . I will take you over tomorrow morning and wait in the pickup for you . "
Toby butted in . " Don't expect me to go and bow down to 197 , he should be apologizing to us . "
Paige went to stand up again , but Happy put her hand on her arm and shook her head before saying to Toby ." I never offered to take you . Should you decide to make a visit , you know were the garage is ."
Paige had settled down a little by now . " I agree with Toby on one thing , this bid is a bust . I will go and tell the receptionist we are withdrawing our bid , then i will take you all and drop you off at Happy's ."
She slowly got up and walked over to the reception desk .
Forty minutes later she pulled into the beach carpark , once parked and getting out the car she removed her shoes so she could walk on the sand . After locking the car she set her phone alarm for 2.20pm , that should give her time to pick up Ralph from school , then today she would take him to the garage so he could see Walter .
She walked slowly across the sand , remembering all the walks she and Walter had taken over the previous twelve months . But then she remembered one of the things she had told Walter that night . " I just want to walk along a beach , without listening to a marine lecture . " As the memory came back to her a tear began to roll down her checks and thought of how much she wished that was what was happening now . She reached their favourite spot close to the launch pad they used to send the rocket , with Megan's ashes in , that Christmas over two years previous .
She sat on the sand , pulled her knees up to her chin , then wrapped her arms around her knees , slowly rocking as tears again began to roll down her cheeks .
It was only the sound of her phone alarm that bought her out of her thoughts . She slowly got up off the sand . Knocked the sand of herself the best she could , before making her way back to her car .
She was waiting outside Ralph's school just after 3.00pm .After five minutes she saw Ralph walking towards the car . He opened the car door , got in and fastened his seat belt all in complete silence , exactly the same as the past four weeks . Paige did not attempt to make any conversation , she just started the car and began moving away. Ralph immediately noticed she was going in a different direction to the way home , but would not say anything . as she pulled into the parking space of the garage , a big smile came on his face .
" Are we going to see Walter ? " He asked in an excited voice , the first time he had really spoken like this to Paige for four weeks .
" You are , i will stay in the car , because i am not sure if Walter will really want to see me . Although i really do want to see him . "
Ralph quickly undid his seat belt and opened the door , he turned to Paige . " Thanks mom." A big grin on his face .
He ran to the garage door , tried the handle and found the door was not locked . He entered the garage and at the top of his voice he shouted . " Walter , Walter . "
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