Chapter Nineteen
Paige jumped out of her chair and snatched the test out of his hand. "And
we have a winner," Toby announced, breathing a sigh of relief.
He strolled toward Happy, catching out of the corner of his eye a wild-eyed
Paige spinning around to face Walter, who had risen to his feet. Past an
open-mouthed Sylvester, a stunned Tim, and a smiling Cabe. Feeling much better
than he had been a few moments earlier, and a little proud of himself for
silencing the rest of the team, he. . .
"Oof!" Happy's small but powerful fist slammed into his gut, knocking the
wind out him as he doubled over. "What was that for?" he gasped when he could
breath again.
"You jackass," the mechanic snarled. "You could have been a little more discreet."
The shrink glanced up at her face and realized he was in serious trouble,
although he wondered why she was so pissed at him.
"What if that had been mine?" she asked. "Is this how you would have wanted
to find out?"
Shit, she had a valid point. "No," he mumbled, duly chastised.
Across the room, Walter walked up to Paige, holding out his left hand. She
placed the test in his palm, noticing he was pressing his lips together tightly
as if he was trying to keep his emotions in check.
"This isn't how I wanted you to find out," she stated.
His eyes flicked over the stick, then a grin grew on his face. "I, uh. .
. I kind of already knew."
Paige stared at him in amazement. "How? I just figured it out this morning."
"Um, something Cabe said, the morning after our rooftop dinner, when you,
ah, threw up," he explained.
"Oh." Back when she'd been in denial and had blamed his fish for her sickness.
"You're not going to ask if it's yours?"
"I know it's mine. . .ours," he replied, and she had to smile at his arrogance.
He appeared to be bursting with a mixture of happiness and pride before his
demeanor sobered. "Why would you ask that?"
"Because Drew did when I told him I was pregnant with Ralph."
"Drew's an asshole."
"Walter!" She had to bite her lip so she wouldn't laugh at his assessment
of her ex.
"Sorry, but he is." He set the test on his desk before taking a step toward
her. "I've been so worried. . . You never said anything. . . I thought, uh,
maybe you'd. . .um, miscarried. . .or. . ." His gaze shifted to stare at
the floor as he shoved his hands in his pockets.
"I didn't even realize until today," she said, understanding what he meant.
"Does this mean you're okay with. . .?"
"Yes." He lifted his head back up to stare into her eyes. "But. . . I-It's
your choice," he added. "I know this wasn't planned or something we ever
discussed. . ."
"I want this baby," she replied, her eyes shimmering. "I was afraid you wouldn't."
"I do." He moved closer, placing his left hand on her abdomen. "B-But I'm
scared."
She covered his hand with hers. "Me, too."
"I don't know if being a f-father is something I'm even capable of."
"You already are a father," she reassured him. "You're more of a father to
Ralph than Drew ever was."
"Mom?"
Oh, God, Ralph. He must have been dropped off from aftercare. She turned
to see her son walking up behind her, a concerned expression on his young
face.
"Toby said you and Walter have something to tell me," he announced in a voice
filled with worry.
"I'm going to kill him," she muttered, throwing a glance at Walter.
"Not if I kill him first." The genius flexed his fists.
Paige knelt down to her son's level before giving him a hug. Pulling back,
she then said, "Ralph, honey. . . What do you think about having a little
brother or sister?"
The boy genius's gaze shifted from his mother to his mentor. "You're having
a baby?"
"Yes," she nodded, "I just found out today." Rising, she clutched Walter's
arm as Ralph processed the information.
He shrugged. "I guess it would be okay," he said before wrinkling his nose.
"I won't have to change diapers, will I?"
A strangled sound drew Paige's attention, and she had to hold back her laughter
at the look of horror on Walter's face. "No, not if you don't want to," she
told her son. "But, you don't have a choice," she said to the man standing
beside her. "They don't come out potty trained, you know. It's pretty messy
for the first few years. Sure you still want to do this?"
Walter stared at her for a few moments before his mouth curled up into a
grin. "Yes."
"Does this mean we're a family now?" asked Ralph.
"We've always been a family, buddy," Walter replied. "Ever since the day
you and your mom joined Team Scorpion."
"September 22nd, 2014."
"That's right."
Paige watched as the two most important men in her life fist bumped. Tears
rolled down her cheeks as she gathered both of them into her arms.
Toby sidled up beside Tim, who stood watching Walter, Paige, and Ralph; his
muscular arms crossed over his broad chest. "You never stood a chance with
him," he remarked.
The intern glanced sharply at the shrink before returning his gaze to the
trio. "I don't know what you mean."
A huge grin graced Toby's face. "I'm a world class profiler," he announced
smugly. "Plus I'm not blind. I've seen how you've looked at him. He's the
reason you wanted to join Team Scorpion in the first place, isn't he?"
"One of them," Tim conceded grudgingly.
The shrink lifted his chin in the genius's direction. "Walter O'Brien was
destined to love only once in his life. . .and she's it.
"You'd never know but before he met her," the psychiatrist continued, watching
Walter, who was smiling as he, Paige, and Ralph conversed, "but he was practically
a robot. No emotions, no empathy. . . He doesn't seem to have much of either
even now. But to those of us who've known him longer, it's like night and
day since she came into his life."
The Homeland trainee rubbed his chin before speaking. "I guess I knew it
was a long shot," he finally said, releasing a resigned breath. "Can't blame
a guy for trying though," he added, smiling cheerfully before becoming serious.
"You won't say anything to anyone about this?"
"Nope," replied Toby, slapping Tim on the back. He, of course, saw through
the other man's false bravado. If he could lay odds on it, he'd say the ex-SEAL
was more heartbroken than he'd ever admit. For someone who had little use
for emotions, Walter O'Brien inspired a great many of them in the people
who crossed his path.
"Time to get up." Paige yawned as she reached over to shut off the alarm.
"I have to run over to my place this morning," she said as she tried to slip
out from under a warm and sleepy Walter.
"Mm, why?" he asked as he drowsily nuzzled her neck. For someone who disliked
physical contact, he certainly didn't have a problem with it when he was
unconscious. Since they had started regularly sharing a bed in the past month,
she had awakened with him wrapped around her like a python more often than
not.
"Ralph wants to wear his Cal Tech shirt," she replied, kissing him on the
nose. "The school is having a spirit week and evidently today is college
day. He didn't tell me until he was going to bed last night."
"Spirit week? What's that, another contrived exercise to stir up enthusiasm
for some kind athletic endeavor?" He snuggled even closer.
"Walter, I have to get up." Paige would have loved nothing more than to stay,
but. . . "I have to help Ralph get ready for school."
"Okay," he said, rubbing his face before placing his hand on her belly. "Uh.
. .I've been thinking. . .and we probably should , um, maybe make a decision
about where we want to live."
Paige sat up. "What do you mean, decide where to live?"
"I mean, you and Ralph have stuff here, and I have stuff at your place, and
it's getting confusing and inefficient to bounce back and forth, and. . ."
"Walter," she said as she tried not to laugh at how obvious he was being.
"Are you saying we should move in together?"
"Yes."
"Do we have to make a decision right now?" She got out of the bed, intending
to head for the bathroom.
"No, we can think about it," he said as he got up and followed her. "Analyze
all the pros and cons of each dwelling. I could run an algorithm. . ." He
wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Walter. . . I need to take a shower."
He grinned. "So do I," he said. "I was thinking, for efficiency's sake. .
."
"Efficiency, huh?" She smiled, realizing being efficient was probably the
last thing on his mind at the moment.
"Yes."
"We'll need to be quick."
"Okay."
Paige had to suppress a giggle as they shut the bathroom door.
"Ralph, come on." Paige was in her bedroom, gathering up a few more items
of clothing to take back to the garage. "Did you find your shirt?"
"Yes." The boy stood in the doorway, wearing his Cal Tech tee. "I found this
by the front door. It has your name on it."
He held out a manila envelope. Taking it from him, Paige wondered what it
could be. She hadn't noticed it when they had arrived at the condo fifteen
minutes ago. But then they'd been in a hurry (and still were). Curiosity
got the better of her, however, and she bent the tabs holding down the flap.
Inside was a single 8 x 10 photograph, and when she slipped it out to look
at it, it took a few seconds for her to register what she was seeing. Her
stomach flipped as she shoved it back into the envelope. Oh, God.
"What is it, Mom?"
"Uh. . ." Wracking her brain, she latched onto the first thought which made
sense. "Um, it's a picture of the damage to Walter's Datsun."
"Oh," the boy said. "Can I see it?"
"No," she snapped. "We don't have time, we're already late. Come on."
"All right." Ralph ran over to grab his backpack then toward the front door.
Paige fumed all the way to the school then back to the garage, wondering
if this was Walter's idea of a romantic gesture. If so, it was a disaster.
And it didn't even begin to explain the lie he had told her.
She pulled up in front of the garage, grabbing the envelope, and stormed
inside the building, ready to give Walter a piece of her mind, if not her
foot up his ass. Thankfully, the rest of the team hadn't arrived yet. This
certainly was something she didn't want to air in front of them.
The target of her anger was sitting behind his desk. "Wal. . ." she started
to say as she marched toward. him. Her feet came to a halt when she saw the
manila envelope in his hands as he opened it, pulling out a single 8 x 10
photograph. Abruptly standing, he shoved the picture back in, then raced
toward the stairs, muttering a string of obscenities she'd never heard him
use before.
Following him upstairs, Paige stopped when she reached his bedroom, where
he was pushing his bed to the left side of the room. Once the piece of furniture
was out of the way, she saw a safe had been embedded in the floor underneath
it. A few moments of fumbling and cursing followed before he unlocked it,
immediately plunging his hand inside to rummage around its contents.
Exhaling with relief, Walter sat back on his heels as he extracted the thumb
drive.
"You said you erased it."
Paige's angry voice caused him to spin around to see her standing in the
doorway, another manila envelope in her hand. "I did." Oh, shit. If that
was he thought it was, he was in so much trouble.
"Then how in the hell did I receive this?" she demanded as she yanked out
the photo and waved it at him.
Walter felt ill as he recognized it as a still from the video feed of him
and Paige having sex on the old musty mattress when they had been held hostage.