Thank you so much to everyone sticking with this story. It's my first Scorpion fanfic, so I hope I'm getting the characters right! I don't think I can wait any longer for Young Hearts Spark Fire, good thing its on tomorrow! I'm so ridiculously excited

When Walter woke up, he was suffocating. Or at least that's what it felt like. He couldn't take a breath for himself and it felt like he was choking, air was getting into his lungs but it wasn't under his control. Panic flooded through his body, why could he not take a breath? He tried to breathe in, make his chest rise and fall but he just couldn't. For the first time in years he felt tears well up in his eyes as he continued to struggle. Never has he felt true panic like this. He knew he was going to hyperventilate if he couldn't control himself, but no amount of IQ can overcome reflexes and instinct.

Walter was vaguely aware of alarms ringing, though the seemed at a distance. As he struggled to breathe a voice seemed to bring him out of his panic.

"Walter, Walter listen to me. Listen to me, you need to calm down." Paige's voice was the only sound that was registering through the haze of panic and confusion that veiled Walter's world at the moment. "Walter let the tube breath for you. Don't fight it, that'll only make it worse." His frantic breathing slowed as Paige gently laid her hand over his. It had an oddly soothing affect that he wasn't used to. The touch was foreign, but peaceful. He honed in on her voice, closing his eyes, and tried to calm down. He knew how breathing tubes worked, and knew how his body was supposed to react and respond.

Forcing himself to relax and stop fighting the tube he focused on their hands intertwining. Walter doubted that the gentle circles Paige was rubbing with her thumb was intentional, it was the hallmark act of a mother soothing her child, and God knows that Paige was a great mother to Ralph.

As nurses and doctors rushed into the room responding to the alarms, Paige was gently pushed out of the way. Cracking open an eyelid he saw as she stood nervously in the corner, biting a nail. Furrowing an eyebrow his mind raced. Why did he feel so alone now? He missed the slight pressure of her hand on his but as doctors surrounded his side she was lost behind the bodies, disappearing behind the blue scrubs and glove-clad hands.

Seeing no point in staying awake now, Walter allowed his eyes to shut, his breathing to steady, and his mind to drift off.

…..

On another floor in the hospital Toby sat restlessly in the waiting room. His hat was uncharacteristically missing from the top of his head and was instead seated in his lap. He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and rubbing his hands over his face. The last 18 hours had been a rollercoaster of adrenaline rushing moments in between bouts of lonely waiting where the minutes seemed to slow and he swore time was lagging just for him.

Releasing a large sigh he slumped back into the chair, picking up his hat absentmindedly and playing with the rim where it was fraying slightly. The hat had seen some difficult times since Christmas when Happy had replaced the one he lost in Bosnia.

Toby wasn't entirely sure why he felt so secure with the hat placed firmly on his head. Maybe he did it so no one could get into his mind the way he could read other's thoughts through their actions. Maybe it was because he considered it part of his new identity after he had severed ties with his messed up family and found himself a new one. Slowly, his eyelids began to feel heavy, and his eyes started to close and he maybe would have slept for the first time in days if Cabe and Sylvester hadn't marched into the waiting room at that time.

Cabe was clearly defeated, his shoulders hunching slightly, the air of professionalism and his general in-charge aura had faded, replaced with a grim face and tired eyes. Sylvester trailed in after looking more depressed than the shrink had seen him in years. And it was no surprise. Walter was rushed to the hospital with slim chances within minutes of the crash, Paige following closely. Happy was under supervision without any visitors allowed while the medical staff was trying to discover the source and possible remedy to her partial paralysis.

Sly was one of the only one on the team who didn't need any medical attention in the end. Toby had needed a few stiches to the side his forehead where it had cracked against the window and even Paige had to have her wrist placed in a cast after it was discovered she had a hairline fracture. She hadn't noticed at the scene of the crash because of the adrenaline and other important matters to attend to.

Cabe raised an eyebrow in a silent question to Toby; any changes?

The shrink shook his head slowly, eyes cast down. He could feel tears threatening to show their presence again, but he refused to cry. Shedding tears and wallowing in pity did nothing. There was no efficiency or productivity of crying, so Toby just decided not to.

Noticing the man's emotional state, Cabe lowered himself into the chair next to Toby. The pair didn't speak for a few terse minutes, until Toby turned to Cabe, his voice hoarse, "Any news on the bastard that did it?"

Sighing deeply, Cabe spoke with a gruff voice. "Turns out this case that Homeland had for us was a bit more dangerous than previously anticipated. The group that was responsible for the security breech at Greenan was a small scale terrorist group. They had an inside man and were looking to insert a virus into a handful of key microchips; microchips that were being produced specifically for government purposes. "

Toby sta up straighter, whistling softly, "geez, we weren't told that part of it."

"I know," Cabe responded angrily, "Even I was kept out of the dark on the fact that the microchips were governmental property. If we had been informed, we may have taken more precautions, but still, that's not the point I was trying to get at. The thing is, this group was somehow tipped off that we were on the case, probably getting info from their inside man still. That car crash wasn't an accident Toby," Cabe looked right into the shrink's eyes. "Our van was hit specifically by the terrorist group. They were trying stop us getting to the truth of the matter."

So that's it for this chapter, it was kind of a filler I guess. But now we know why they were in the accident, nothing is coincidental with this group. I'm thinking of bringing Ralph into it soon, I'm thinking of playing with his relationship to Walter. I'm excited to keep this going, but it's not going to be much longer, maybe two-three chapters left.

Thank you guys for reading!