Chapter Eighteen
Oh, God, she was pregnant. Eight weeks along, since she knew the exact day
she had conceived. Looking back, she realized all the signs had been glaringly
obvious; the vomiting, the increased salty sweet cravings, the tenderness
in her breasts, tiredness, moodiness. . . Toby was right. She'd been in denial.
She was going to be a mother again, Paige thought as she touched her abdomen.
And Walter. . . Walter was going to be a father. Panic filled her as she
wondered how he would take the news. He was such a good father figure for
Ralph, but a child of his own. . .? It was a topic they had never discussed.
"Hey, Dineen, other people have to pee too, you know." The sound of Happy's
ticked off voice as the mechanic pounded on the door shook Paige out of her
shock. Glancing at the test in her other hand, noting it still indicated
she was pregnant, she tossed it into the wastebasket. She threw the box away
as well, crumpling up pieces of toilet paper to hide both items.
"‘Bout time," the other woman grumbled as they passed in the doorway. "Though
I was going to have to tie a knot in it." She shut the door in Paige's face.
Paige walked out into the main area of the garage and saw Walter and Ralph
were still looking at the coding program. A nearly deafening shout filled
the room.
"He did it!" Toby slapped Tim on the back. "Everyone behold Timothy Armstrong,
the new Proton Arnold record holder." He bowed in an exaggerated manner in
the intern's direction.
Glancing away from the trio at the video, Paige noticed the sour look on
Walter's face. So much for her plan to pull him aside to tell him of his
impending fatherhood. With a sigh, she realized it wasn't something she could
just blurt out anyway. She was going to have to break the news to him gently.
"The entire Library of Congress in 5.9 seconds?. That's incredible, Ralph,"
Walter said, returning his attention back to the boy's computer. "And the
final presentation is today?"
Ralph nodded. "Yep. At three."
"You're going to ace it." Walter held his hand in the air and the youngster
slapped him a high five. Looking up, he saw Paige approaching them, an odd
expression on her face.
"Carpool's going to be here any second, Ralph," she said before he could
ask her if she was okay. "Let's get your stuff together."
Picking up the boy genius's backpack, Walter held it open so he could cram
his laptop in it. A horn sounded outside, signaling his ride to school had
indeed arrived.
After a kiss from his mother, the boy ran for the door. Cabe had to step
aside as Ralph barreled past him. Another man followed the agent into the
building. "This is John Pandova," announced Gallo. "He'd like to retain our
services for a case of utmost importance."
Paige sighed in exasperation as she gripped the phone. "I'm sorry, Ralph.
A case came up. . . I know, I wish I could be there, too." A shadow passed
over her desk and she glanced up to see Walter standing across from her.
"I have to go, honey. I have to arrange for the sitter to come stay with
you tonight. Love you sweetheart." Hanging up the phone, she turned her full
attention to the man in front of her.
"I don't think you should go," he said at the same time she said, "I don't
think I should go." "Wait, what?" they both said in unison.
"You don't want to go?" Walter asked in a tone filled with what she thought
sounded like relief.
"Ralph has his presentation today," she replied, although that wasn't her
only reason for wanting to remain at the garage. Vietnam wasn't exactly on
her list of places to visit while pregnant. "Why do you think I shouldn't
go?"
Walter heard the challenge in her voice and knew he couldn't tell her the
real reason he wanted her to stay behind. "Uh, because of Ralph's presentation,
like you said," he answered. "I know it's important to him. . .and you."
"I really would like to stay. . ."
"You're coming," Cabe stated as he walked up to stand beside Walter. "We're
going to be dealing with possibly uncooperative if not downright hostile
local contractors. I can't contain this bunch on my own. I'm going to need
your help."
"But. . ." Walter started to argue, but a glare from the other man closed
his mouth. "Okay." He glanced at Paige. "Sorry."
"It's okay." She knew Cabe had a point. It was her job after all.
"Sylvester can stay with Ralph and go to his class thing," the agent suggested.
"There's not a lot of math involved, and if something does come up, Walter
can easily handle it."
"That would work," she agreed. "If it's all right with you, Sly." She turned
to smile at the human calculator.
"More than all right." He pushed up his glasses. "I admit I was not looking
forward to going to another country full of nasty little monkeys."
Paige laughed as she picked up her phone. "I'll let Ralph know about the
change of plans."
Walter glanced up from scanning a pair of dog tags to where Paige was standing,
talking on the phone again to her son. The plane hit some turbulence and
she stumbled, catching herself before she fell. His heart leapt into his
throat as he wished she were safely back in Los Angeles, especially since
Sly had reported the area they were heading to was experiencing stormy weather.
"Are you ready for your presentation?" she shouted over the noise of the
engine. Ralph must have answered yes, because he saw her smile. Everything
violently lurched again, and he watched in horror as she tumbled sideways.
Dropping the scanning device, he tried to reach her before she hit her head
on the wall of the transport. But before he could, Tim wrapped his arms around
her, breaking her fall just inches away from the hard metal interior.
"Everyone okay?" asked Cabe as the plane steadied again. "I think we should
all sit down and buckle in."
Paige, her face still pale and still in Tim's embrace, lifted her cell back
to her ear. "Okay, honey, I need to go. I love you. Good luck."
Walter put his hand on her shoulder, his eyes angrily locking with the intern's.
Tim immediately let go of the liaison, stepping back as Walter helped Paige
into the nearest seat. "Are you okay?" he asked.
She nodded. "I'm fine. I just want to get this over with."
"Hey, help me secure this equipment," Happy said, tapping him on the back
before he could reply.
"Sure." He reluctantly turned around as the plane shuddered once again.
"It's getting a little bumpy," declared Toby, hanging onto his hat.
"You think this is bumpy, wait until you drive down a road in the Vietnamese
jungle." Cabe chuckled. "This doesn't even compare."
Once the gear was safely stashed, Walter went to sit down. To his dismay,
Cabe had taken the seat next to Paige, who was sitting at the end of the
row. The only open spot was next to Tim. He tossed himself into the seat
and buckled himself in.
"Hey. I heard what Toby said earlier, and it's just a video game." Walter
rolled his eyes. Great, not only was he stuck sitting next to the jerk, now
Mr Perfect wanted to discuss the damn video game. "I'm not trying to compete
with you," Tim leaned in closer, brushing his shoulder against Walter's.
He flinched away at the unexpected contact, inching himself to the other
side of his seat.
"I'd be crazy to even try to compete," the trainee continued. "I've read
your file. You're pretty gonzo. I like that in a guy."
"Just doing my job," Walter mumbled, glancing over at Paige. The color had
returned to her cheeks, although she still had the strange expression on
her face he'd noticed earlier.
"Is that how you got that scar?" Tim drew a line with his finger across his
own lips and down his chin. "On a case?"
"No." Walter suppressed the urge to copy the other man's gesture. He had
never told anyone how he had acquired the scar, and the asshole sitting next
to him certainly would not be the first person to hear the story.
"Huh," Tim grunted before adding, "Perfection with a slight imperfection."
He nodded in Paige's direction. "Noticed she's got one in practically the
same place. Did she get hers on a case?"
"No." Closing his eyes, Walter relived the nightmare of helplessly watching
the knife cut her, the blood dripping down her neck as she was threatened
with rape. Dragging in ragged breath, he said, "It wasn't a case."
"Uh, all right. . ." Before Tim could say anything the else, the pilot's
voice came over the intercom, informing them they were approaching Da Nang
and to prepare for landing.
Paige stood in the middle of a flapping tent in the middle of the Vietnamese
jungle in the middle of a violent storm. But all of her attention was focused
on the man standing across from her, speaking to her son.
"Ralph, you need to link your software program to the satellite," Walter
shouted over the roaring of the wind. "Now, if it can transfer the Library
of Congress in 5.9 seconds, then it can get us satellite data in real time."
"I don't think that's a good idea." She frowned when she heard the dejection
in Ralph's voice. "My professor failed me." Oh, God, he had immersed himself
into that project for weeks. All that effort and he had flunked? Paige felt
as disappointed as her son sounded.
"Who cares?" Walter's anger tinged tone sliced through her thoughts. "Your
professor is a human, you are a genius. Now, I have faith in your mind, but
if you don't. . .then there's no point in you having your ability. Ralph?"
She didn't even try to stop the smile which spread over her face. Any doubts
she'd had harbored about Walter becoming a father were instantly dispelled.
He already was a father. And a damn good one. Placing her hand against her
belly for a moment, she knew everything was going to be all right.
"I can do it." The 180 degree change in her son's attitude showed in his
response. "It'll just take a minute."
"Good." Walter glanced up from the map he'd been holding down to see Paige
grinning at him, the odd look in her eyes once again. Wishing he had time
to ask her what she was thinking, he reached out to her. "Come on," he said,
grasping her hand. "We need to steal some trucks."
"I gotta hit the head," Toby declared as the team trooped back inside the
garage after another successful yet harrowing mission. Happy rolled her eyes
at him as he made his way to the ground floor bathroom.
Unzipping his fly, his eye caught the corner of a very pink box peeking out
from under what seemed like an excessive amount of wadded up tissue. Once
he finished with his business, he pulled the box from the wastebasket before
nearly dropping the pregnancy test kit like it burnt his fingers. Oh, shit.
. .
Toby frantically poked around in the trash, finally grasping the stick resting
on the bottom. Two bright pink lines stared back at him, indicating a positive
result. Double shit. There were only two women on the team. A fifty-fifty
chance he or Walter were about to become a daddy and the odds were certainly
not favorable to either one of them. It was a bet even he would walk away
from.
Of course, he loved Happy and wanted to marry her and have a couple of little
Quintuses, but that was all in the future. . .someday. Not now. But then
again, if it was Walter and Paige with the bun in the oven, a little O'Brien
could certainly complicate an already strained relationship.
Hoping against hope a random stranger had somehow left the test in the garbage,
he exited the bathroom, stick in hand, walking out into the empty floor space
in the midst of their workstations. His stomach twisted a little as he held
the pregnancy test up into the air for everyone to see.
"Now, which of you lovely ladies does this belong to?"