Chapter Five
"A disciplinary hearing?" Sylvester's voice was filled with panic. "Why me?
I didn't do anything."
"You're a witness," said Cabe. "Paige, too."
" I need to go home and change" Paige said. "I slept in these clothes and
my other ones still stink like the sewer." She bit her lip as she glanced
at Walter, who seemed as anxious as she was.
"Hearing starts in less than half an hour," Cabe announced gruffly. "You
look fine. Come on."
Paige snatched up her purse then kissed Ralph on the head. "Love you," she
said. "You can finish your reading assignment I know you didn't do last night."
The boy sighed. "Okay, Mom," he said before returning to the cartoon he was
watching on Toby's tablet.
Walter came up beside her and took her hand as they walked out to Cabe's
SUV. They climbed into the back seat as Sly reached the vehicle, looking
bewildered.
"Looks like you're shotgun, kid," the Homeland agent said to the confused
young man.
"Walter's always shotgun when you drive," he murmured as he settled himself
in the front passenger seat.
Cabe flicked his eyes to the rearview mirror as he started the engine, watching
as Walter helped Paige buckle her seat belt before taking her hand in his.
"I think you're going to have to get used to it." With a shake of his head,
he put the vehicle into gear.
Walter swallowed nervously as he and the others were lead into a conference
room at Homeland headquarters. Glancing around the room, he noticed five
other people already sitting at the table. They were all unfamiliar with
the exception of Deputy Director Cooper. She smiled timidly at him.
"If you will take your seats, we can get started." A voice came from behind
them and they all spun around to see Adriana Molina stride into the room,
carrying a thick file. Walter's anxiety worsened. He had hoped Katharine
would be in charge of the hearing. He stood half a chance with her. Molina,
however. . . He wondered if she still held a grudge against Scorpion after
Cabe challenged her decision to leave Sly in prison to face certain death.
He took a chair next to Paige, resisting the urge to take her hand, leaving
his to fidget against his leg. The director took her place at the head of
the table and cleared her throat.
"This is a disciplinary hearing concerning the actions of Walter O'Brien
yesterday, Monday, February 22nd, aboard the aircraft carrier, the USS Carl
Vinson, while performing duties under contract to the Department of Homeland
Security."
She rifled through the papers in front of her before continuing. "Mr O'Brien
stands accused of striking a naval officer, Ensign Bogardus. . ." Walter
quit listening for a moment, he already knew what had happened.
"Ms Dineen, if you will give us your statement at this time. . ." He felt
Paige stiffen beside him, before shooting him an anxious glance.
"I, uh, I didn't hear what he said. I had just walked past him, Ensign. .
.Bogardus and another man. . .sailor. . .and then the next thing I knew,
Walter was being restrained and the captain was pointing a pistol at us."
"You didn't hear what was said?" Molina's tone was full of disbelief.
"No." Walter knew she was lying. He'd seen her back go rigid for a second
right before he had punched the man for his filthy remark. But he couldn't
blame her for not wanting to repeat it, even it meant hurting his case. "I-I
wasn't paying attention. I-I was thinking about my son and how he would have
loved to explore the carrier."
The directed leaned over and whispered something to the man next to her.
"Thank you, Ms Dineen. Mr Dodd?"
"I heard what he said and it was disgusting."
"Can you elaborate?"
"Elaborate?"
"Yes. Can you tell us what you heard Ensign Bogardus say?"
"Do I have to?" Beads of sweat had formed on the human calculator's forehead
and Walter was afraid Sly was about to lose his breakfast.
"Yes, if you want to help Mr O'Brien."
Sylvester took a deep breath. "Can I write it down instead?
"I guess that would be acceptable," the director said. A piece of paper and
a pen were passed down to Sly, who looked askance at the pen before pulling
one of his own out of his shirt pocket. He quickly scribbled down the offensive
words then shoved the paper away. Molina read what the human calculator had
written and Walter felt vindicated as the woman's cheeks flushed red for
a moment.
"The ensign testified he did make a comment on Ms Dineen's appearance, but
nothing like this." She sat back in her chair. "Mr O'Brien, what do you have
to say for yourself?"
Walter narrowed his eyes as he stared at the director. A hearing held at
the last minute, giving him and the others no time to prepare, the other
parties involved already interviewed. . . He had no doubt his punishment
had already been decided and this was all a mere formality.
Taking a deep breath, he was about to reply when Paige entwined her fingers
with his, catching him off guard for a moment. " I'm sorry," he said. "I
shouldn't have hit him but then he. . ." A squeeze to his hand cut off the
rest of his sentence.
"Mr O'Brien, I want to believe you actually feel remorse but your past behavior
indicates otherwise." Removing folder after folder from the file in front
of her, she spread them out on the table as she went on, "Insubordination,
destruction of public and private property, breaking laws ranging from traffic
infractions to the theft of a one hundred million dollar painting. . ." Walter
glanced up at her sharply and saw the smug smile on her face. "Oh, yes, we
know you returned it to the daughter of the original owner. Did you really
think we wouldn't find out?"
She re-stacked the folders into a neat pile. "You're arrogant, reckless,
and lack the proper respect for authority. My predecessor suggested on more
than one occasion Homeland should cut all ties with you and your team of
geniuses. But. . ."
"Merrick was intimidated by us. And a traitor." The words left his mouth
before he could stop them. Walter bowed his head, staring at the shiny surface
of the table. Paige's thumb rubbed across his knuckles and he caught a glimpse
of her worried expression.
"Be that as it may," Molina said, "the fact you and your team have a 100%
success rate despite your unorthodox methods and your lack of discipline,
means we will be retaining your services. . .for now.
"Mr O'Brien, you will be put on a six month probationary period. Any more
incidents like yesterday's, and Homeland will terminate Scorpion's contract
permanently. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes." Walter raised his head, meeting the director's eyes.
"Then this hearing is adjourned." She stood as did the others and they started
departing. Only Cooper remained behind.
"I'm sorry I wasn't able to give you much of heads up about this," she said
rather sheepishly. "I only found out about it an hour ago myself."
"We're not exactly on her list of favorite people," Cabe stated. "Seems like
the outcome was already cut and dried. Our presence was barely necessary."
Walter nodded, the agent's words echoing his earlier thoughts. "Can we leave
now?" he asked, eager to get away from the headquarter's oppressive atmosphere.
"You're free to go," said Katharine. "Please, just be careful from now on.
I'd hate to lose you guys. You've done tremendous work, in my opinion."
"Thank you." Paige got to her feet, letting go of Walter's hand and he instantly
missed the contact.
It was a somber ride back to the garage. But as soon as they walked through
the door, they were greeted by Toby and a flood of questions.
"What happened? Did you talk to Cooper? Are we all in trouble or just Walter?
Why did you punch that guy anyway? What did he say? What. . .?"
"Slow down, Doc," Cabe growled. "One at a time."
"Walter got six months probation," Sylvester blurted out. "And Director Molina
threatened to cut us all loose if. . ."
"If I didn't start showing some proper respect for authority," finished Walter.
The shrink blew a raspberry. "Like that's going to happen. None of us have
proper respect for authority."
"Hey!" Paige crossed her arms over her chest. "I do. . ."
"Not," Toby interrupted. "You may look sweet and innocent but you flaunt
the law every chance you get. We've been a bad influence on you."
"Well, you all better shape up or you're going to get shipped out," said
Cabe. "And if I ever walk in again on whatever the hell the doc and Walter
were doing earlier, I'm gonna bust some heads. I'm too old to go looking
for another job." With that, he turned and left the garage.
As the others went back to their desks, Walter walked up to Toby, who had
wandered over to his own workstation. "I want to apologize for before," he
said. "I shouldn't have tried to hit you."
"Yeah, well, I probably deserved it," replied the shrink. "I could have expressed
myself better."
"I want to know why you can't leave us alone?" Walter asked. "It's none of
your business what happened."
"You've just been placed on six months of probation and our job security
has been threatened and you think this is none of our business?" Toby shook
his head.
"Nothing happened. They roughed me up a bit, but it was my fault," Walter
explained, once again lying by omission. "I piss people off."
"That's true enough," said Toby. "I still think you and Paige need to continuing
seeing Dr Rizzuto, but separately. You two have grown too dependent on each
other. It's not healthy."
"I admit we have some feelings for each other but it's not. . ." said Walter
quietly as he glanced from side to side, hoping everyone else was out of
earshot.
"It's more than just feelings. It's borderline obsession." The psychiatrist
shook his head. "But no one can force you or Paige to get help. You have
to want it. And for whatever reasons, neither of you have reached that point
yet." He sighed. "I just hope you do before you both spiral completely out
of control and take the rest of us down with you."
He sauntered off toward Happy's work area and Walter watched as the couple
interacted with each other. Toby was one to talk about obsessions. Gambling,
alcohol, plus the shrink had been obsessed with Happy for years. His own
relationship with Paige was nothing like theirs. Obsession played no part
in it.
"Walter?"
He started as Paige came up beside him and touched his arm. "I'm going home
for a few hours. Ralph and I both need to change our clothes. And we haven't
been home since before the earthquake. I really should make sure everything
is all right."
"Okay." He stared at her, seeing the panic in her eyes which matched the
apprehension he felt rising inside him at the thought of her leaving. "Uh,
do you want me to come with you?" he asked. "In case there's damage or something,
I-I could help."
"Um, sure." She smiled at him. "Ralph, come on, we're going," she called
out, going over to her desk to pick up her belongings. Walter followed her
and she handed him some of her stuff to carry.
Obsessed. Walter scoffed as he and Paige walked out of the garage, hand in
hand, with Ralph trailing along behind them. It made him wonder about the
quality of the Harvard psychiatry department if one of its top graduates
could be so wrong.