Ralph eyed his mother with a stubborn frown. "I don't want Tim to go on the family campout with us. Forestry Braves is something Walter and I always do together. Besides, I've already asked him and he said he'd go. I can't un-invite him now."

Paige tried to quell her impatience. It had been a couple of weeks since the disastrous weekend in Tahoe with Tim with the excruciatingly awkward interruption by Walter. When she left the garage that night after he told her their feelings needed to be buried, she made up her mind to give Tim a fair shot and she was determined to put those forbidden feelings for her boss behind her for good. She just couldn't take another second of the constant back and forth, thinking one minute they were getting somewhere only to have him dismiss her and withdraw again. She deserved a man who was sure he wanted to be with her. Didn't she? Things had been strained between her and Walter ever since. Now she also had to contend with Ralph's resentment.

"I just want you to give Tim a chance, sweetie. He can be a lot of fun too. I've already asked him. I didn't realize you'd invited Walter."

"Give him a chance to do what? He's dating you, not me. Plus, you didn't give Walter much of a chance," her son mumbled, looking belligerent.

"Ralph, you need to watch how you speak to me, please. I'm not going to discuss who I date or debate the reasons for my choices with you. While you are very smart, you're still only eleven and you don't know everything, okay? Tim wants to get to know you better. I know Walter is your favorite friend, but you can branch out and have other friends too. Like Happy and Toby and Sly and Cabe. You love hanging out with them. You might find you like hanging out with Tim if you'd give it a try."

"Sorry," he sighed, sounding remarkably unrepentant, "But, Walter and I have almost completed the requirements for my astronomy merit badge. If we bring my telescope this weekend, we will be able to finish them up. Otherwise, it will have to wait for the next overnight outing. That would be inefficient. I guess maybe both of them could come if you want," he conceded grudgingly.

'Heaven forbid we lack efficiency', Paige thought sarcastically, but she fell silent as she turned the car into the parking area behind the garage. Being mature about this situation wasn't easy on a good day and she didn't even want to think about how she would approach Walter about this new development with Ralph's campout. It was going to be a very weird and uncomfortable conversation at best. These days they only spoke about business matters and avoided each other as much as they could otherwise. It hurt more than she wanted to admit. She missed him…a lot.

But she was trying to be fair to Tim, and stick by her decision to move forward with him. Their weekend in Tahoe was interrupted first by Walter then by a case. Since they got back, she hadn't allowed him to stay at her place and she wouldn't stay with him because of Ralph. He was exceptionally patient about all of it. She hated to tell him the campout wasn't going to happen after they already made plans.

Without another word or even a backward glance, Ralph unbuckled his seatbelt, barely took the time to shut his door, and rushed toward the garage leaving Paige to rest her forehead on the steering wheel. She was beginning to think men were too much trouble. Maybe dating just wasn't in the cards for her.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Ralph burst through the door like a rocket. He just needed a few minutes alone to reformulate his plan. When he heard about the Annual Forestry Braves Family Campout, he knew he could talk his mom into participating. So he'd also invited Walter thinking he could encourage them to interact like they used to and they would finally make the reasonable assumption the three of them belonged together as a family unit. And his mom would put an end to this Tim nonsense once and for all.

He may only be eleven, and he may not know everything, but sometimes adults were more than clueless too. For instance, he knew that being in a relationship was supposed to make you happy and content. But his mom was tense and restless. And Walter was wretched. The only one who appeared to be happier was that colossal anthropoid primate, Tim. But who could tell with him, the man always seemed to be happy and positive. It was slightly loathsome. In this case, the grown-ups needed a push in the right direction and who else was going to give them the nudge they required.

Noting Walter wasn't at his desk, Ralph dashed up the stairs to the loft. It was easier to approach him first. The two of them thought alike, so he knew logic was the best way to manage his mentor. Or if that didn't work, he knew the older genius hated the thought of disappointing him, so he would pull the old 'sad puppy eyes' trick out of his cache. That tactic had a one hundred percent success rate with Walter.

OOOOOOOOOO

He was a genius with the fourth, no fifth, highest IQ. He was the leader of a successful company. He had good friends who cared about him. Together they had saved many lives over the last two years. He had much to bring him contentment. He'd even made great strides in recognizing his own emotionality. Which was currently his biggest problem as well. When he had so much to be grateful for, it was illogical to feel disconsolate so often.

He had no appetite. He was unable to get adequate rest. When he tried to concentrate on his projects and experiments, his focus would drift toward the painful encounter with Paige in Tahoe and her subsequent rejection of him. And if that wasn't bad enough, he was plagued with thoughts of her with that nauseatingly perfect interloper.

In the face of these facts, Walter couldn't help but draw this scientific conclusion: Love sucks.

AN: Okay, don't hurt me. Someone has to deal with this possible outcome. Unfortunately from everything I've read, I think the writers are going this direction and Tim is going to be around for at least a little while longer. *sigh* Show of hands - Who finds Tim annoyingly perfect? They do a great job showing the flaws in every other character including Cabe, Paige, Megan, etc. But I'll bet Tim even voluteers at the animal shelter once a week and calls his grandma every Sunday. Someone had Happy call him a Ken doll in her story. I don't remember which author it was, but it seriously cracked me up! So apt! Kudos! I just wanna muss up his perfect rep with my story. Nothing too bad, just a little hissy fit or bad morning breath or something. Maybe he has a tiny...? Oooo, Tiny Tim? Bwahahaha!