Here (finally, I know) is the last chapter of What Comes Next. I hope you all enjoyed this fic. I certainly had a good time writing it.

"Come on, Ralph," Sylvester said. "This is our stop."

He knew Ralph knew the route from the Dodd apartment to the garage, he could get there after being blindfolded and spun around. But after the events of the previous night, he felt that he had to be a point of consistency, of reassurance, in the boy's life.

Ralph's mother was off on a weekend away that she didn't want to go on, in a relationship that her heart wasn't in. Happy and Toby, who had contributed significantly to raising Ralph over the past two years, were fractured. And if anyone could pick up on the complete distress that Walter was in, it was the boy who was so much like him.

Scorpion was a safe space that had suddenly become unstable and no one else seemed to be giving much thought as to how this all was affecting the ten year old.

So Sylvester would do any little thing to combat that environment. "You got your bag?"

Ralph nodded. "Yeah."

The bus came to a stop. "Alright," Sylvester said. "Let's go."

Coming back to the garage had been Ralph's idea. Sylvester had just wanted to spend the entire weekend at his place, in their pajamas. Watching movies and reading comic books and forgetting the burdens their genius saddled them both with at times. They could go back to being smart and critical to the survival of humankind on Monday.

But even though the garage had, just twenty hours before, been a noxious, unstable environment, it was the source of many happy, comforting memories. And Sylvester was beginning to understand that it called to Ralph like a homing beacon. He wanted to be there. He needed to be there.

Sylvester figured they'd goof off for an hour or so and then Ralph would go up to Walter's bed and fall asleep, as neither of them had gotten a wink the night before. He was fine with that. They could do whatever Ralph wanted. Monday was going to be tense and awkward at best and downright toxic at worst.

"Toby?"

By saying his name, Ralph alerted Sylvester to the older man's presence. Toby was kneeling in front of the piano, brushing confetti pieces into a dust pan. Something painful tugged at Sylvester's heart. "Hey, Toby, let us help you with that."

"No worries," he said. "I just think, when Walter and Paige get back, we'll want this place to look decent again. Put that night behind us. It wasn't…it wasn't a good night."

"Are you doing okay?" Sylvester asked quietly, glancing at Ralph. The boy had his hands folded in front of him, and he looked at Toby, awaiting his response. Sylvester looked back at his friend. "Toby?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling and nodding. "I'm doing really good."

"R-really?" Sylvester turned his head to the side and eyed him. "Wait, really?"

They all turned as the door opened. "Hey so Kovelsky's didn't have…" Happy trailed off, coming to a halt. There was silence in the garage for a moment, and then she straightened her posture and smiled. "Hey there."

"Happy?" Ralph looked between her and Toby, his eyes rapidly flying back and forth, and then they settled on Sylvester, who couldn't do anything but shrug.

"Uh, so, guys," Toby said, standing up and walking over to Happy. "We have something to say." He looked down at her. "You want to do the honors, love bug?"

"Toby and I are still together," she said. "And…" She looked at him. "Don't you want to do this wen Walter and Paige get back?"

Sylvester realized it was the second time since he and Ralph had entered the garage that someone had referred to Walter and Paige as a unit. "Walt…and, and Paige? Do you guys know something I don't?"

"Walt loves her," Happy said. "But we all already knew that. Except for him, of course."

Sylvester glanced at Ralph just in time to see it click on the boy's face. "Walter went to Tahoe?"

Toby nodded, a grin on his face. "He did."

"To tell her he loves her?"

Toby's grin was the kind where his lips were pressed together in an attempt to restrain excitement. "Uh huh!"

"Toby," Sylvester said in a slightly uneasy tone. Ralph had completely lit up at the news, but they didn't know if Walter had found her, much less if he'd actually confessed and if the confession was well received by Paige.

"No it's okay," Toby said, holding up a hand. "She texted me an hour ago saying they'd be home soon. And she included the old fashioned smiley face – not the emoji. That tells me it's actually Walter texting and she told him to put the smiley face. Which if they're driving together and he's using her phone, they're good. They're all good."

He'd barely gotten the sentence out when the garage door opened again and the subjects of their conversation walked inside. "Hey, guys," Paige said, a smile on her face. She looked surprised at the sight of her son. "Ralph! You okay, sweetie?"

Ralph ran over and threw his arms around his mother with an enthusiasm that she clearly wasn't used to, but she smiled as she dropped down to his level and rocked him.

"He-e-ey!" Toby said, a broad smile on his face as he walked over. "You two!" He hugged Walter. "You guys did it!"

"Uh," Walter shifted awkwardly as Toby moved on to hug Paige. "N-no, no we didn't!"

Paige gave him a nudge with her elbow. "He means we became a couple, Walter," she said under her breath.

"Oh." Walter nodded rapidly. "Yes that, that we did do."

"How are you doing?" Paige asked, putting a hand on Toby's arm.

"They have news!" Ralph said excitedly.

"News?" Paige grinned at Walter and then looked expectedly back at Toby. "What's going on?"

"We talked a lot," Happy said. "I had some stuff that given the way the cards fell, I realized he needed to know. I'm not comfortable with the idea of everyone here learning the details, but please know that it is nothing traumatic." She made brief eye contact with everyone in the room, making it extra clear that she would not be taking questions. "We initially discussed keeping this a secret, but secrets haven't been very good to any of us lately, so…" She smiled when Toby reached for her hand and linked their fingers. Their elbows bent, lifting their entwined hands up to shoulder level. "We're engaged."

Sylvester lost track of who hugged who in what order, but when things settled down, he surveyed the scene before him with a smile playing easily across his face. Ralph stood with his back against his mother, her hands reaching around his front, his fingers curled around hers. Walter was next to them, an arm slung around Paige's waist, her left hip pressing against his right. Toby was hugging Happy to him, and although her head was nestled into his chest, Sylvester could still see her smile.

Suddenly, Sylvester realized something was still wrong. "Where's Cabe?"

Everyone's faces fell instantly. "Oh crap," Toby said, pulling out his phone. "I'll get him here, just…just everyone act surprised when we tell it again."