Chapter 15 - It Seemed Like A Good Idea At the Time

It was just another typical Southern California day, sunny and gorgeous. Nathan had been promising Ralph a day of looking for marine life in the tide pools at Cabrillo Beach for a few weeks, and Ralph had decided he had waited patiently long enough.

Ralph shoved the last of his completed homework into his backpack and approached Nathan's desk. "Today, Nathan? Will you take me to the tide pools today? There hasn't been a case all week, and you're so bored you're actually filing your paperwork for Homeland on time. I know there's time to go today."

At Ralph's words, Nathan glanced out one of the Garage's grimy windows that couldn't keep out the beauty of the day. He looked over at Paige, who smiled and shrugged.

"Let me check with Walter, but I don't see any reason why we shouldn't go today."

Ralph squealed with joy as Nathan approached Walter. "Hey, Boss, not much going on around here today. Do you mind if Paige and I knock off early?" He gestured toward Ralph, who stood looking up at Walter with hands folded in supplication and big puppy dog eyes. "The kid is dying for some quality time on the shore."

Walter made a sound of irritation in the back of his throat, doing his best to ignore Ralph's pleading eyes. "I have no idea what the two of you find interesting or entertaining about the ocean in general, the beach specifically, but as you and Ralph both seem enamored by the ecosystem, who am I to stand in the way when there's nothing useful for you to do around here?"

Ralph immediately began spinning in circles, chanting, "Walterthankyouthankyouthankyou…"

Despite himself, Walter grinned at the boy. There wasn't anything he could deny Ralph, even when it was time with someone who most definitely wasn't him. Walter quickly lost his good humor when he saw Paige smile and stand to start packing a large bag with beach towels that she kept at the Garage just for such an occasion. Walter had momentarily forgotten that Paige would choose to accompany the two of them to the ocean. It appeared as if she had hoped this would end up being the day's activity when she dressed for work today. Granted, it was a Saturday, and Walter would likely have sent her home before the morning had passed anyway, but it still grated on him. Paige was dressed quite casually, wearing a t-shirt with the neck cut wide, showing the bikini top she wore underneath, cut-off jeans as shorts, and sandals, displaying her toned legs to perfection.

In acknowledgment of Walter's barbed response, Nathan grabbed at his chest dramatically and pulled out an imaginary barb as he winked at Ralph. "I felt that insult hit me right in the heart. I don't think Walter thinks I'm particularly intelligent or useful when he remembers I love the sea. It's something you and I have in common, Ralph."

Ralph nodded emphatically.

"And so does Ralph's mom." Paige smiled as she slipped on a pair of oversized sunglasses and slung the beach bag over her shoulder. "Sweetie, do you want to invite Walter to join us?"

Ralph stopped his dance of joy and surveyed Walter carefully, taking in the sight of him dressed in his usual uniform of dress shirt, sleeves rolled up a few inches, tie, and slacks. "I don't think Walter would fit in very well on the beach. He'd probably ruin his shoes." Ralph pointed to his own practical beach footwear of flip-flops. Paige motioned for him to try anyway. "Walter, will you come to the beach with us? Come investigate the marine life in the tide pools." Ralph hesitated for a moment. "Please?"

Nathan gave the boy a thumbs up.

Walter wished for a moment that he found any part of studying marine life worthwhile before he answered. "You know I find that kind of investigation pointless. There is more value in studying subatomic particles or a theoretical equation."

Ralph turned to his mother and shrugged as if to say I tried.

Paige squeezed Ralph's shoulder comfortingly as Nathan gathered up the sample containers for the marine microbes he and Ralph hoped to gather. She made her own attempt to convince Walter to join them. "Are you sure? We'll miss you." But Scorpion's founder had already turned his attention back to the algorithm on the whiteboard he had been staring at intermittently for the past two hours. She sighed in disappointment. "I guess we'll hit the beach, just the three of us then."

Nathan and Ralph high-fived, excited to get going but disappointed that Walter, unsurprisingly, wouldn't join them. "Low tide isn't for a couple of hours yet. How about we stop for a burger at Kovelsky's before we hit the beach?" Nathan suggested.

"Excellent!" Ralph crowed as he took the case of sample containers from Nathan and crossed the Garage toward the door outside, Paige and Nathan following close behind him.

"How about you, babe? How does that sound?" Paige nodded as Nathan dropped a kiss on her cheek, then opened the passenger door of his truck to allow her to climb in. He took her beach bag from her, and then he and Ralph piled their gear in the bed of the truck. Once everything was secured in the bed, Ralph clambered in through the driver's door and settled himself in the middle seat. Nathan sat next to him and started the engine. Moments later, they coasted out of the parking lot, heading to Kovelsky's.

In the now silent Garage, Cabe sat at Toby's vacant desk, finishing up a stack of Homeland casework before getting ready to head out himself, but he couldn't seem to focus on the pages in front of him any longer. Instead, he found his attention drawn to the genius at the whiteboard, scribbling the same variable and erasing it over and over until Cabe worried he might wear a hole in it. Cabe cleared his throat to get Walter's attention.

Walter jumped as if he'd heard a gunshot. He had completely forgotten that he wasn't alone. "What?"

"Why didn't you go with them? A day with Paige and Ralph at the beach isn't the worst idea anyone's ever had."

"And Nathan," Walter corrected the Homeland agent, "Looking at tide pools," he shuddered.

"Is that really so bad?"

"Collecting marine microbes living in those tide pools? And whatever else calls them home? What do you think?"

Cabe smiled to himself at Walter's palpable discomfort even thinking about the ocean. "Is it really about what's living in a tide pool, or is it more about the fact that it's Nathan who's taking Ralph to look at them?"

"I'm glad Nathan is taking him," Walter huffed indignantly. "You know how I feel about the beach. It's too bright and crowded, and the sand sticks to everything. The last time we went, it took weeks to get that mess out of my car after Toby did an insufficient job of cleaning himself off."

Cabe remained unconvinced. "Uh-huh… then why do you look like something from a tide pool crawled into your shoe?"

Walter rubbed the back of his neck in agitation. "I don't know what that means. But if you are implying that I am upset about Paige and Nathan's flirtation with a more serious romantic relationship," Cabe nodded, and Walter continued as if he hadn't seen it, "You are incorrect. Paige is a grown woman, unattached, and free to flirt with any man, regardless of how inappropriate her actions may be."

"Sure, Walt, whatever you say."

Walter began scribbling on the whiteboard again and then erasing the errant variable vigorously before trying again to find the correct value to balance his equation.

A spark of an idea sprang to life in Cabe's mind. Something that might take Walter's mind off of Nathan and Paige's activities for the day with the added bonus of burning off some of his inner turmoil. "Do you remember when Toby and Happy were struggling with their relationship, and I was giving him boxing lessons?"

"Yes, of course," Walter retorted, "I have an–"

"Eidetic memory." Cabe finished for him, "Yeah, I know. It was more of a rhetorical question."

"Oh, of course," Walter ducked his head in embarrassment.

"Anyway, I think it might be time to get the old punching bag out again. I think you need a distraction."

Walter looked like he was going to argue with Cabe for a moment, but then he simply nodded and followed Cabe to the back of the Garage where Cabe stood behind the bag, holding it steady as Walter quickly pulled on a pair of gloves and then threw a punch.