"What did she say?" Toby and Sylvester both asked Happy as she walked in the front door.
"She's not coming back." Happy sighed.
"She's going back to work at Scorpion? I thought she was just taking the week off?" Sylvester nearly whined.
"No, she said they hadn't talked about her going back to work at Scorpion. She was just taking the week off, until she found out that you hacked Walter's bank records." Happy sighed as she walked down the hall towards her workshop.
"Wait, how did she find out?" Toby asked.
"Because when she said she was considering not coming back, I mistakenly commented that nine hundred thousand dollars will make you think twice." Happy said as she started putting tools away. "She acted all cool and stuff at first. After all, it isn't the first time we've done stuff like that." Happy sighed.
"Way to go big mouth." Toby snapped.
Happy spun around and glared at him.
Toby's eyes opened a bit wider as his blood ran cold from that look.
"Hey!" Happy yelled. "She was already questioning having done this with us because of how tired she was of your crap. And Sly only slightly less so."
"Me?" Sylvester complained. "What did I do?"
"You assaulted Walter, blaming him for making Flo develop feelings for him and then led the walk out…ring any bells?" Happy demanded from him.
Walter yawned before he looked at his laptop and saw it was almost 11:30 pm. He sighed even as he saved his work before shutting down the laptop. Walter chugged the last of the water from his water bottle and stood up. After walking to the front door he set the deadbolt and turned on the alarm.
Walter smiled at the box of Paige's things. He looked up at the Loft before picking the box up. He winced and quickly switched hands. He carried it up to his bedroom, he smiled at Paige sleeping soundly in his bed.
Paige had put on the shirt he wore the first day they had met. She had an affinity for that shirt and whenever she figured they'd just sleep in his bed, she'd always worn it.
Walter slipped the box on top of his dresser and he heard the sound of rustling on the bed. He smiled as he turned and saw Paige had rolled onto her left side. The cover had moved with her and he saw the lower half of the black silk panties covering her ass, exposed as the shirt rode up her body. They had been inside the box as well, as Walter recalled.
"I love you, Paige." Walter whispered. He reached over and gently pulled the cover back over, covering her before he stepped out of the bedroom area.
Walter stepped back to check on Ralph and found him snoring lightly.
"I loved you before this happened and if you really are my son…I'm really going to have to reevaluate…everything." Walter said as he leaned against the support column in that area, with his left shoulder. He crossed his arms, just watching Ralph sleep.
Paige's eyes slowly opened and the early morning light of the day had the Loft illuminated brightly. She shut her eyes for a moment and then barely opened them and looked about. She was alone in bed and Walter was nowhere to be seen. She pulled her phone over and saw it was five minutes before her alarm was set for.
Paige quickly turned the alarm off before she threw the cover back and sat up. While stretching her arms and back, Paige yawned. She smiled seeing the box with all her things in it was now on the dresser. She stood and stepped over and slipped Walter's robe on. She walked out to the living area but didn't see Walter up there so she stepped to the railing and looked down. The Garage floor was empty as well so she turned and walked back deeper into the Loft.
She smiled as she passed a certain point and saw Walter standing there watching Ralph sleep. She walked quietly over to him and slipped her arms around his waist.
"Good morning." Paige said softly.
"Oh!" Walter almost jumped. "Paige, good morning." Walter said as he turned and put his arms around her.
"How long have you been up?" Paige asked as they looked into each other's eyes.
"Umm…" Walter hesitated.
"You didn't sleep last night?" Paige asked while already knowing the truth.
"No…" Walter said sheepishly. "I was too busy watching Ralph sleep. Dreaming of all the things I missed out on with him."
"Scorpion, Walter O'Brien speaking…how can I help you?" Walter answered his phone. Walter frowned as he looked at his watch. "Where are you located?" Walter asked. "That might be a little tight on time…One moment."
"Paige, do you think you can give me a lift to this doctor's office?" Walter asked. "It's the doctor Cecil wants me to see."
"Of course." Paige said as she grabbed her purse and sweater.
"Okay." Walter said into the phone. "I might be a few minutes late, what with LA traffic." Walter nodded. "See you shortly."
"You know, we haven't really discussed this check you gave me." Paige said as they got into her car.
"What's to discuss?" Walter frowned. "You should deposit it."
"Well, I'm not until we have the DNA results back, showing you are Ralph's Father." Paige told him as she started the car.
"You'd have to deposit it regardless." Walter told her. "You wouldn't want to lose it or for it to fall into some unscrupulous hands would you?"
"Well, I guess…" Paige sighed.
"Mr. O'Brien." The doctor greeted Walter as she walked into the small office. "Do you prefer to be called Walter?" She asked.
"Dr. Overly." Walter greeted her as he stood. "Yes, I prefer Walter."
She extended her hand and Walter reached out and shook it.
"Please have a seat, Walter." She smiled as she gestured back at the loveseat he had been sitting on. "Thank you for making this appointment, I know it was rather quick." She sat in an armchair.
"I'm thankful you could see me so quickly." Walter told her as he sat down.
"Well I have to be honest, last night as I read through the documentation Cecil sent me yesterday, I was very concerned." Dr. Overly told him. "You had a pretty rough childhood and it looks like things never got better." She sighed.
"I don't typically dwell on it." Walter told her.
"Which, in part, is why we find ourselves here." She smiled. "Now as Cecil has told me, he's currently seeing you and Paige Dineen for couples counseling." Dr. Overly said as she looked at her notes.
"Yes." Walter replied.
"And she's been your employee for four years and just before the start of the fourth you both admitted your feelings for each other. And then you were a couple for a bit more than half a year. Is that accurate?" Dr. Overly asked.
"Yes." Walter sighed.
Dr. Overly looked over her glasses and smiled at Walter.
"I understand Walter. Cecil has noted you find yourself getting irritable when things are dragged out." She smiled again. "But I need to make sure things are accurate so we don't compound the problems you already have, as well as verify what has been reported to me."
Walter sighed as he nodded.
"And is it accurate that you recently discovered that Paige is actually the woman who, mistakenly, raped you back in 2005?" Dr. Overly asked.
"She didn't rape me." Walter said defensively.
"Walter." Doctor Overly said calmly as she set her folder aside. "Cecil recommended you to me because I am an abuse specialist, with a subspecialty in sexual abuse. Trust me, no matter how you view it today, she did rape you. Not intentionally, not violently but still without your consent."
Walter jumped up quickly.
"Walter, sit down." Dr. Overly told him, her voice was very calm and even.
They both stared at each other and slowly she saw Walter's will give and then his knees bent and he sat back down.
"Thank you." Dr. Overly told him. "I'm not trying to be mean or say anything against Paige. The problem is as Cecil noted, you've lived in a special, isolated bubble for most of your life. And if you are serious about getting out of the bubble, to actually live your life then we have to be honest about what happened. We have to work to be prepared for the day that the bubble is gone."
"Now, given your relationship with Paige, you could be fine over it once you break through." She smiled. "But I don't deal in probabilities, I deal in eventualities. So we can use the rest of this time and discuss what you want out of this. What I believe we can accomplish from what you want while working on some things I believe you need. At the end of our time here today, you can decide if you want to continue with me or if you'd like to find someone else to go to. Is that agreeable?"
Walter slowly nodded and Dr. Overly smiled.
"It is also possible I am the Father of Paige's son Ralph as well because of that…incident." Walter told her.
"Oh, okay then…that wasn't in the notes I got." Dr. Overly said as she made a notation.
"Dr. Rizzuto doesn't know that, it hadn't come up yet since we only had one appointment." Walter explained.
"Hi." Paige smiled at the teller at the bank her and Walter normally used. "I have an account here and I was given a cashier's check drawn from this bank, by another customer. I'd like to see if I can have the money put back into their account, please."
"Oh…I'm not sure." The teller said very confused. "Let me get the manager over here."
Paige nodded as the teller picked up her phone and called the manager.
"Ms. Dineen, it is good to see you." The manager smiled.
"You too Mr. Gregory." Paige smiled.
The teller quickly explained what she wanted to do.
"I don't understand." The manager frowned. "Walter seemed quite firm in his decision on this check."
"He is but we don't see eye to eye on it at this time. And I'd rather it be in his account until we can agree on it. I would have brought him with me but since we're disagreeing it wouldn't do much good." Paige smiled.
The manager nodded slowly.
"Well, do you know his account number? And you realize if you do this, there isn't any way to get it back unless he issues it again…right?" Mr. Gregory asked.
"I know his account number by heart." Paige smiled. "And I am aware there is no way for you to return the money to me once deposited into his account. And as long as it is put into his account, I'm fine with that."
"Of course." Mr. Gregory nodded as he filled out a basic deposit slip then pushed it to Paige.
Paige quickly wrote in the account number and amount before Mr. Gregory verified the name of the account and had the teller deposit it.
"Thank you both so much." Paige told them as they gave her the deposit receipt and she double checked the account and amount on it. "Have a great day." Paige waved and left.
"How did it go?" Paige asked Walter as he got into her car.
"It was fine." Walter said softly.
"Umm…I thought we could stop and get some lunch before going back to the Garage…But…What is wrong?" Paige asked.
"Why did you have that money put back into my account?" Walter asked.
"Walter, first there is no way I personally spent even that amount of money you gave me in the almost fourteen years since I got pregnant. Let alone double that amount. Plus there were plenty of resources that helped pay for things. I don't want to take advantage of you like that. We can sit down and talk about it after we get confirmation that Ralph is your son, okay?" Paige told him calmly, but with love.
"It isn't just about what you spent on all of the things to get Ralph to where you both are today." Walter told her.
"Then what else is it about?" Paige asked.
"It's about all the hardships you faced getting the both of you here to this point so you could be with me." Walter swallowed hard before he looked up and their eyes locked together. "Every sleepless night…every tear of not seeing Ralph meeting the normal markers of the other babies. Not being able to understand, wondering why Ralph was the way he is, but still loving him so much and doing all you can for him. Of the pain you felt because of his touch sensitivities. Of having to fight and beg people for help to live and survive. Sometimes working two jobs at a time, and almost never having time for just you. For every dream you lost and every single struggle you had to go through because I wasn't there to help you."
Paige was in disbelief as she was staring into Walter's eyes as his emotions poured out in his words.
"Oh God, Walter." Her hands shot out and grabbed his head and pulled him over to her, smashing her lips hard against his.
"You are so amazing." Paige said as she broke the kiss. "If you really mean that and when we get confirmation about Ralph being your son then I'll accept it." Her left hand stroked Walter cheek tenderly.
"I want you to have it, regardless if I am or I'm not Ralph's biological Father." Walter said softly. "I want to take care of you, completely. I need you to understand how much you mean to me."
"What do you mean by…take care of me, completely?" Paige asked cautiously.
"I want you and Ralph to move into the Loft, permanently." Walter told her. "I want you to have the freedom to do whatever you want to do. Be it as a stay at home Mom, or going back to college full time and my income will support us. You could even keep working at CP or go to work somewhere else, if you wanted."
"Walter, that's very sweet and generous, but not very practical…What is this about? Did the doctor say something to you?" Paige asked.
Walter shook his head.
"Lisa told me that our partners like to know what we think about our relationship, about where we see it going." Walter smiled. "When we finally get to a place where we're comfortable with everything, I want us to get married. I want us to be that so-called "nuclear family" I hear some people always talking about."
"That is so sweet Walter." Paige said dreamily. "But, do you really think we can afford to do that? LA is not cheap." Paige told him as they held hands.
Walter nodded.
"In a month, after his people have been all through the specs, I'll get my second payment from Richard for my patent. And then money, as far as living a normal life goes, will never be a problem for us." Walter explained.
"Uh, just how much is Richard buying it for?" Paige asked.
"Altogether, ten million dollars." Walter smiled. "He offered me three and a half up front, the rest after they reviewed everything. If it can't work for what he wants it for then he wants to be a partner with me, he'd take care of all the necessary negotiating and everything."
"Ten million…" Paige gasped.
Walter nodded.
"And I want to use it to take care of you for the rest of your life." Walter smiled.
Greetings! I hope this finds you all well! I'm recovering from some kind of sickness...while initial symptoms have all gone away, I'm still having issues as a result of being sick. Most likely caused by dehydration and not eating for 48 hours. Biggest problems are "brain fog" and inability to stay focused for long. As such, I'm not ignoring your comments on last chapter, I am just struggling with it right now. I will address them next chapter, hopefully fully recovered by then.
To the Adventure! -Tim