Next Morning…:
Walter smiled hearing tennis shoes squeaking out in the hallway. He was hoping that it might be Ralph, it was early enough, Paige might have brought him before school, if she could get him awake in time.
"Walter!" Ralph said excitedly as he ran into the hospital room.
"Hey buddy." Walter grinned while he was sitting in a chair by his bed.
Ralph stopped suddenly, remembering his Mom telling him that Walter's ribs had separated from his sternum.
"Sorry, I almost forgot." Ralph smiled as he stuck his fist out towards Walter.
Walter chuckled as he extended his left hand and bumped his fist.
"It would have been worth the pain." Walter grinned. "It is so good seeing you and you not being so mad at me."
"I'm sorry for being mad." Ralph told him as he sat down in a chair next to him.
"Nothing for you to be sorry for buddy. I had screwed up, you were just caught in the fallout of it." Walter sighed as Ralph nodded.
Walter suddenly grinned as he looked towards the doorway at the sound of heels clicking on the floor.
"That should be Mom." Ralph nodded with a grin on his face.
"Good morning, gorgeous." Walter said with a huge smile as Paige walked into the room.
"Well good morning to you too, handsome." Paige smiled back before walking over and kissing him tenderly on the lips. "Should you be out of bed?"
"Trying to get used to this." Walter nodded even as he pointed to the chest strap he was wearing.
"Are you in much pain?" Ralph asked.
"Not as much now that you and your Mom have arrived." Walter smiled.
"Ralph begged me to bring him by so he could see you before school." Paige said as she moved to sit on the side of the bed.
"Here Mom, take my seat." Ralph said as he moved over and sat on the side of the bed.
"Thank you sweetheart." Paige smiled before sitting down. "We can't stay long, but I'll be back after I drop Ralph off at school."
Walter started to ask her what about her job, but then realized he should mainly focus on Ralph at the moment. Since they'd be leaving soon. He nodded to Paige in acknowledgement before looking at Ralph.
"Have you given any thoughts as to what you want to do this weekend?" Walter asked.
"Yes, I want to go to the Science Center!" Ralph grinned as he began talking about one of the new exhibits that opened recently.
"I like that idea, Ralph." Walter smiled. "But, that won't be very appealing to your Mom."
Ralph nodded sadly.
"No Walter, it's okay. You both need time together as well as using your beautiful brains." Paige smiled.
"No, Walter's right. If you want to come you should, we're a family aren't we?" Ralph asked quickly.
"Well, if you both want me to come. I don't want to intrude." But if I get bored, I can find a place to sit and read a book while you both nerd out." Paige winked.
Walter laughed.
"Absolutely we want you to come, I want you to be with us. Ralph is right, we are a family. I'm okay with you sitting and reading if our nerdiness gets to be too much for you. But only if you really mean that." Walter sighed happily. Walter had a sudden inspiration. "What about Sunday, we travel up to Paso Robles? We can do a little sightseeing, lunch at one of the vineyards, and even take a tour of one of the vineyards. It might be interesting to learn some of the history and art of making wine."
Paige stared at Walter in disbelief, but the grin on her face told him it was a great idea to her.
"As I understand it, the San Antonio Winery has vineyards there as well. And you really like their wine." Walter continued.
"I think that would be an excellent idea!" Ralph said excitedly. "I've got an Earth science class project that would go well with vineyards."
"I would be very open to that." Paige said as she continued to smile, impressed with Walter's consideration of something she'd like.
"I also noticed that your friend Amy will be playing at a spot downtown Sunday evening…I thought, if Ralph would be willing to give us some time to be alone together, we could go support her. And Cabe I'm sure would love to have Ralph stay with them for a few hours." Walter smiled.
"Walter, you don't have to do that." Paige sighed.
"I-I, I'm not saying this to curry favor, or to please you, Paige." Walter swallowed hard. "My occupational therapist and I had a discussion last night before she left and she made me aware of some things I hadn't considered before."
"Really?" Paige grinned.
Walter smiled with a nod as he reached over and held her hand.
"I don't mind staying with Cabe for a while." Ralph smiled. "You two need time together as well."
"Thank you Ralph." Walter grinned at him.
"So, are you in your clothes because the doctor is going to release you? Or are you just hoping to be released?" Paige asked.
Walter smiled.
"He was in just after 6 this morning. Said he liked everything that had been charted and I'd be released after family practice made their rounds." Walter smiled.
"Good." Paige grinned.
"So what did Walter say when you talked to him last night?" Sylvester asked as he got into Happy's truck with the other two geniuses. He had big news to share himself, but he had to know how things went with Walter.
"Well, he made a lot of good points over my behavior the last few years." Toby said almost with a kind of defeat in his voice. "And while I still have some apologies to make to Paige over what I have done, Walter and I have a loose restart of our friendship."
"That's great!" Sylvester grinned. "Of course I still have my own apologies I need to make to Walter. And speaking of Paige, I got a text from her. Since we have no bids this week and everything else is already planned, she's taking the rest of the week off to help Walter convalesce at the Garage."
"I kind of figured that she'd do that." Happy nodded. "By the end of the week I'm sure we'll have her resignation. She was so happy after having coffee with Walter the other day. Wish I knew what about the cashier's check freaked her out."
"Well…I've got some news to share!" Sylvester grinned. "And I'm sure it will explain what freaked her out. I did a little snooping and I know Walter has only bought one cashier's check in the last seven months and it was for nine hundred and fifty thousand dollars." Sylvester told them.
"WHAT?!" Toby and Happy screamed even as Happy slammed on the brakes bringing the truck to a hard stop in the middle of the intersection they had just entered.
Sylvester grimaced almost as soon as all the horns began honking.
Happy quickly put the truck back in gear and drove on through the intersection. She pulled over to the curb as quickly as she could.
"What the hell is going on?" Happy demanded as she looked at Sylvester.
"I don't really know." Sylvester told her. "But putting together what I do know…Walter got a money transfer from Richard Elia for three and a half million dollars. He got it yesterday morning and he got the cashier's check when the bank opened."
"Why would Richard give Walter that much money?" Toby frowned.
"I did some further checking trying to figure that out, and one of Walter's projects was granted a patent a week ago. He might have sold it to Richard." Sylvester told them.
"Which one?" Happy asked quietly.
"The new photovoltaic solar cell." Sylvester grinned.
"Seriously? The one that will convert 100% of the light spectrum into electricity?" Happy asked and saw Sylvester nod. "And he sold it for a measly three and a half million?" Happy asked. "Did he get stupid while we were gone?"
"No." Told said as he rubbed his finger across his lips. "Obviously along with the debt Scorpion is in, he felt he owed Paige a large sum of money and he banked on Richard being the right person to do the right thing with the tech. He probably set the price that low just to get the money faster."
"So, why would he need to pay Paige almost a million dollars?" Happy asked.
"That's the forty two dollar question!" Toby grinned.
"Excellent reference." Sylvester grinned as Happy shook her head.
"Bottom line is, I don't know." Toby sighed.
Happy put the truck back in gear and checked her mirrors before pulling back out into the street.
"Wait…" Toby frowned as he thought. "Sly, what would the average cost be to raise a child with special needs?"
"Oh, pretty close to three million dollars to age eighteen." Sylvester nodded.
"What would you say Paige's out of pocket would have been raising Ralph to now?" Toby asked.
"Well, taking into account the costs associated with pregnancy, birth, medicines, treatments, not counting government assistance, charities that offer assistance…" Sylvester was saying.
"I don't need a running count of things." Toby interrupted him.
"It's my process." Sylvester complained.
"Not out loud you don't." Toby snapped.
"Fine, about one million seven hundred and ninety three thousand dollars." Sylvester finished.
"Are you thinking Walter is paying her back for some of that? Why would Walter do that?" Happy frowned.
"No clue to be honest." Toby told her even as he continued to consider everything.
"Well, there is something I'd like to bring up about the whole white lie." Walter said softly, looking at Paige.
"Of course Walter." Dr. Rizzuto smiled. "This is a safe place to speak."
"I'm sorry about another part of it, I didn't think about." Walter told them as he looked at Cecil. "Cabe reminded me the other day about a fact I didn't exactly consider." Walter took a deep breath. "And that is, how much Paige had been hurt by Drew. What with all his lies, and his disappearing on her, all of that still haunts her to this day. I never should have tried to tell you a white lie, Paige…when I heard you talking to Ralph about how tired you were, how you didn't want to go to the lecture…That you'd rather have been back in the swamp with the gators. I just should have told you I wanted you to go home and get some rest after your ordeal."
"Walter…" Paige said with obvious regret at the pain she could tell he felt over her careless comment.
"It's okay Paige, you didn't know I could hear you…I get that the lectures are usually on things that can't possibly interest you. I was still so very happy and grateful you went to any of them with me." Walter told her.
"No, it really isn't okay." Paige sighed. "I never wanted to hurt you Walter and I'm so sorry I did. But I do have to say for Dr Rizzuto's benefit, Toby reminded me the other day, I wasn't being completely honest with you, as I confessed to you yesterday. As well as he told me I should have taught you about soft truths vs hard truths." Paige sighed. "We are very different people, but we are also very attracted to one another. And as you pointed out, you had to learn to be so self-sufficient because of how different your IQ is." Paige paused and held her hand up for a moment as she wanted to be sure to say this right.
"I don't have that same level of self-sufficiency. I've had to fake it for many years and I don't want to fake it anymore, especially not with you. I absolutely love being able to rely on you." Paige said with a smile full of love as she looked into Walter's eyes.
"But you're so self-sufficient, I know you can be secure in our relationship, with me leaving after the work day is done and just doing your theories and stuff. I don't just want, but I need for our connection to grow, I need to feel you need me, not just to help you in the world over EQ but when it is just us. And I am not saying I want you to change. I want you to be yourself, but if you truly want me in your life…want me to be happy in our relationship…I need more…of you. I need to know my presence, my opinions, my happiness is something you value and desire…And most importantly, need in your life." Paige sighed.
"It's part of why I missed "dopey Walter" so much." Paige said as a tear ran down her face. "It took me a while to really come to this conclusion. Because I could see your self-sufficiency wasn't as strong, you were leaning on me to actually help you. And you were willing to be vulnerable, to take a chance to expand who you are. Not to just be an intermediary. That's what made "Dopey Walter" so amazing to me."
"I've really got to give you both some high marks at everything we've covered today." Cecil smiled. "And I really liked your conversation with your OT last night, Walter. She's quite correct, you should have a private counselor. You've had such a complicated life. Not being able to connect with your parents or members of your community. Being overprotected by your sister, it all has led you to being trapped in this rigid persona that we see. And the thing is, you are so comfortable in it, because then you aren't having to try. To grow beyond it. But, how happy have you been in it? Have you ever been happy while being in it? Or is it just this static setting that keeps you from feeling too much?"
"I…I experience moments of pride…" Walter said as he looked down at the floor. "Pride in what I see my friends accomplish. I felt elation every time I've interacted with Paige, even before the wedding. Shortly after she started working at Scorpion, I realized how much I truly loved her. One day I discovered how much I loved the sound of her voice…I even asked her to replace the outgoing message on the answering machine…But, I've always felt that because I had been given this intellect that I had to use it to move human understanding further. But after discussing things with Lisa, and your words now, I'm no longer as certain of that."
"We definitely need to get you into private counseling. I'm going to call a friend of mine and get an appointment set up for you, Walter." Cecil smiled. "But pride isn't happiness Walter." Cecil said softly. "But I think for our first day we've made some great strides together. I've got some workbooks I want you both to take with you. I do ask that you work on them separately and not share with each other from them. We will go through them as we move through our sessions together, but they are mainly designed for you to think and feel about yourselves and your relationship with each other. And we'll build on them with each other here in the office. The answers you might give if just read by the other person could actually hurt your relationship, so do not share them with each other outside of our therapy sessions."
"I'd appreciate you getting me in to see someone." Walter gave him a weak smile.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! What a messed up week this has been for FFN...According to their twitter feed, once they finally communicated, somehow GoDaddy is involved in hosting the site and apparently they gave the site a number of stories that goes against their rules involving advertisers, I believe it was underage sex. FFN manually went through all the stories they were given and the ones they agreed with they took down but I guess that didn't stop GD from pulling a plug and then it was a mess getting the system reinstated. But anyway, we're back!
Railman - Lisa did good, I agree. It looks like Toby's visit has had no effect on what Walter has been considering, thankfully. But it certainly had an impact on Toby. I'm not sure I felt he had a crush on her, but had Happy not been part of the team or kept ignoring him, I could see Toby having made a play for Paige to screw with Walter.
LouBe - Right? Lisa did good. Her advice has definitely made an impact on Walter's thinking. There are times I really enjoy "Creep" and there are times I don't. I'm glad you enjoy as well! I definitely enjoy covers of it more than the original as well. I liked the way Toby approached it as well, I kept thinking, when is he going to spring the trap he has in mind, but reading this, Toby was being sincere...how did that happen?
To the Adventure! -Tim
