Chapter 2 - The New Arrival
It took more than a day for Cabe to arrange Temporary Homeland Agent Nathan Hall's new assignment to go through, so the team wasn't expecting it when Cabe walked in the door a few mornings later with his newest partner.
"Team Scorpion," Cabe hollered as he removed his trademark sunglasses, "Gather round. I've got someone here you've been waiting for."
Walter and the others moved toward the center of the cavernous room. Nathan Hall stepped through the door of the Garage dressed in civilian clothes and removed his own mirrored aviator sunglasses. Still sporting a trademark military buzzcut, but with one arm in a sling and a crutch under one arm to aid his obviously injured knee, Nathan grinned broadly at the members of Team Scorpion, both the ones he had met before on the ill-fated submarine mission and the ones instrumental in their rescue.
He made a valiant attempt at standing at attention and saluted, first to Walter, then to each member of Scorpion in turn. Before finally turning back to face Walter once again. "Homeland Agent Nathan Hall reporting for duty. Request permission to serve with Team Scorpion for as long as the Navy and Homeland will allow."
Walter studied everything about Hall's bearing and demeanor searching for any sign that he was being mocked or condescended to, but he could sense no malice or ulterior motive in the other man's bright demeanor and he remembered how sincere and straightforward all of their interactions had been while they had been trapped on the submarine. Walter glanced at Paige, his humanity barometer, to see if her body language or facial expressions showed any signs of concern. Seeing none, he was satisfied that he had made the correct choice in inviting him to join Team Scorpion temporarily. Walter stepped forward with his hand outstretched. "Permission granted," he said as he clasped Hall's hand that braced his crutch rather awkwardly and shook it.
"That was a relief," Hall grinned. "I wasn't certain for a second there. I was afraid maybe you'd changed your mind after seeing how banged up I was."
"Where are our manners? Come in. We cleared off a desk for you. But would you rather sit somewhere more comfortable, Agent Hall?" Paige asked. She had just taken a sip of her foamy cappuccino and unknowingly had a bit of foam on her lip "Please, call me Nathan. And a desk is fine. If you'll show me which one. But you might want this first," he handed her a napkin from a pile on the desk next to a box of donuts. "You have a bit of something on your lip."
Paige blushed and turned before wiping hastily at her mouth. "Thank you. What a great first impression," she muttered as she gestured to the empty desk near Sly's before slinking off toward her own seat and Nathan made his way slowly toward his new space.
"What happened? If you don't mind my asking? A submarine must be a dangerous place," Sylvester mused.
Once he was settled in his chair, Nathan replied. "Routine training drill. The whole crew has to be ready for anything on a sub. It's a lot of pressure."
"Literally and figuratively," Toby broke in.
Nathan chuckled. "You get it. You must be Toby. I researched the whole team when I found out about the assignment. Thanks for the rescue, by the way, both of you." He nodded to Toby and Sylvester. "We had a new class of nubs to break in. The pressure got to a couple of them and there was an incident. Unfortunately, I was the one overseeing their training and I was in the way. And, well…" he gestured to the sling and bandage on his knee. "I'm sure you can guess the rest."
"I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with the term nub," Walter told Nathan.
"Sorry, I forget, I'm not in the Navy anymore. Non-useful body or what we call newbies."
"Sounds like we might have a nub or two around here," Happy chimed in looking at the Doc.
"I've missed that sense of humor. It's part of the reason I accepted this assignment." Walter, Happy, and Nathan exchanged a knowing glance while the rest of the team looked on mystified.
Her embarrassment finally dissipated enough to allow her to rejoin the conversation, Paige spoke up. "Nathan take a few minutes to get settled in. Then, Walter, you can take him on a tour of the Garage, let him know how we do things around here, and I'm sure our next assignment will come walking through that door before we know it. And if not, you guys can show him how we deal with that too." Paige smiled at Nathan, "Welcome to Scorpion. We're glad you're here."
Nathan returned the smile. "We met on the rescue boat. I never got a chance to thank you for helping make sure there was a rescue effort while there were still living people to save."
"That's kind of Scorpion's thing. We save everybody."
"Definitely a worthwhile motto and something I'm proud to be a part of, if only for a short time," he returned her smile with an easy grin of his own.
"It was great to see you again, Nathan, I have a pile of paperwork I need to get back to, but later, when my son gets out of school, I'd love for you to meet him."
"Yeah, sounds great." Nathan watched Paige turn her attention to the stack of paperwork at her elbow.
Toby had moved to stand next to Walter to watch the interaction between Paige and the newest team member. He elbowed the genius in the side, "Nice going 197, you actually went out and brought a genuine American hero into our midst guaranteed to sweep the lovely Miss Dineen off her feet while you stand here and watch. Sometimes I think you should have your IQ retested. For a genius, sometimes you act like you don't have a brain in your head."
"I have no idea what you're talking about, Toby. There is no reason to think that Paige is going to be swept off her feet by anyone or that it matters to me if anyone does. This is a professional workplace and there will be no romantic entanglements. Consider the subject closed." Walter stalked off to his desk.
Toby, Happy and Sly watched him go. Happy slugged Toby in the shoulder. "He just won't admit how he feels and you pushing him won't make him any more likely to. I think you should back off, Doc, if you know what's good for you."
Toby turned to Happy. "What's good for me is you," He batted his eyes at her.
"Oh brother, Doc, are you trying to make me hurl?" Happy went back to her workbench pointedly ignoring the behaviorist and his pleading looks, but she couldn't help worrying about Toby's assessment of the new team member. He really was quite charming. She only hoped Paige would be immune to his charms. She couldn't stand the thought of Walter's heart being broken before he was even willing to admit it existed.