Chapter 18: Robots

Dedicated to the two guests who have left me reviews in the past 24 hours asking me to update. This one's for y'all!

"You should buy these pillows." Paige said, picking one up and squeezing it.

Happy just gave her a blank stare.

"Those are pink." She deadpanned.

"Yeah, so?" Paige pushed the pillow closer to Happy.

"I don't do pink." Happy said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"We're redecorating my place, not redefining my personality." Happy pulled the pillow out of Paige's hand and put it back in it's proper place.

"Not that I'm complaining, but why did you ask me to do this? Why not take Toby?" Paige asked tentatively.

"Have you seen his apartment? There's no way I'm letting him make any interior design decisions."

They move on towards another wall of pillows.

Maybe this is all a little overwhelming.

Maybe she just wants to go home and forget this whole thing.

But Paige won't let her. She can sense Happy's discomfort almost as well as Toby can, and she's quick to reel Happy back in.

Paige understood Happy's need to redecorate. Happy needed to do something to make her apartment feel less like her place and more like their place.

But, Paige also knew that once a genius got attached to a material possession that brought them comfort, they never wanted to give it up. She'd recently tried to redecorate Ralph's room and he wouldn't let her take away his beloved pillows. He told her repeatedly that he couldn't sleep without them. Happy was the same way. Change wasn't easy for her, but she had still taken Paige to a store with way too many pillows and an over abundance of curtains. Now she was overwhelmed, and calming down a flustered genius is exactly Paige's specialty.

"I know this is a lot to take in, but you wanted to redecorate, and Toby moving in is the perfect opportunity. You don't have to do much, even changing a few small things will make a world of difference." Paige said, placing her hands gently on Happy's shoulders.

Happy sent her an appreciative smile.

"I don't even know where to start." Happy admitted, looking around and feeling overwhelmed all over again.

"Is there anything you're really attached to? Something that makes you feel safe that you don't want to change? I mean, besides Toby." Paige said with a shrug.

Happy rolled her eyes, but couldn't deny it. Toby did make her feel safe. Her home was with him, material things aren't important. Well, most material things.

"I have this blanket. I can't sleep without it anymore. Technically it's Toby's, but I haven't slept without it since the first night I spent at his place. It's almost as comforting as him." Happy says quietly, surprised at how open she was being with Paige. Paige was easy to talk to. Happy knew she could trust her, and she found that she actually liked having another woman around who understood things the guys just didn't.

"That's where we start." Paige said with a sparkle in her eye.

They returned to Happy's apartment to find the rest of the team, even Ralph shuffling boxes around.

Her floor is going to be scuffed all to hell, and she'll probably get a noise complaint because none of the guys know how to shut up, but she doesn't really care.

"Party's over." Toby says once he sees Happy and Paige in the doorway. They drop the shopping bags that they were determined to carry all in one load.

"Ralph, feet on the floor please." She gestured to where Ralph was standing on the couch that Walter and Sylvester were currently moving. Ralph jumped down onto the floor.

"You guys got a lot of work done. Forget saving the world, Scorpion should become a moving company." Paige said, looking around. She was genuinely surprised that got anything done without her and Happy pushing them along, although she was sure there were petty arguments and Cabe had probably threatened to shoot them a time or two.

"That's not happening." Walter's face wrinkled as if it was the most disgusting idea he'd ever heard.

"You're just mad because I left Toby in charge." Happy smirked.

"I wouldn't be if Toby wasn't being intentionally inefficient just to annoy me." Walter sent Toby a glare.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Toby said, as smug as ever.

Walter opened his mouth to respond, but Paige cut him off. She'd been shopping all day, and she wasn't in the mood for the alpha male fight for dominance.

"One more word and you're back to couple's therapy." Paige demanded.

Walter and Toby both shut up, and they got back to work.

Nearly an hour later, there are boxes everywhere and the apartment still looks like a mess, but the Scorpion Moving Company had resorted to sitting on the couch eating pizza.

Walter and Paige were sitting shoulder to shoulder and pretending they didn't plan it that way, with Ralph sitting on the floor at their feet. Sylvester was on Paige's other side and Cabe was in the armchair next to Sylvester's side of the couch.

Toby was in the armchair on the other side of the couch, facing Cabe, and probably arguing with Walter. Somehow, Happy ended up on his lap, throwing her legs over the arm of the chair.

She's never been that forward in front of the team, but her work rules didn't apply in her apartment. Toby had been keeping his distance all night. He knew that she liked her space when people were around, even if those people were her closest friends.

But really, she's kind of in love with him and his lap was the most inviting place to sit.

"Well hello." The giddy look took over Toby's face and surprise laced his voice.

She ignored him and continued eating her pizza, until he took a bite of it.

"Get your own." She sent him a murderous glare.

"I would, but you'd have to move."

She rolls her eyes, but lets him finish her slice.

They finish eating, and Toby starts running his fingers through Happy's hair.

"Did you wash your hair this morning? It's really soft." He's been staring at her pretty much the entire time she's been in his lap, but she's been looking around at everyone else, lost in her own thoughts.

She smirks down at him.

"You washed my hair this morning."

How did he forget that?

"Oh yeah. I did."

They were in their own world until Walter knocked Happy's blanket off the arm of the couch.

"Don't touch that blanket unless you want to know what a wrench to the face feels like." Toby warned.

Paige sent Happy a knowing look.

"That's enough family time for today. Goodnight, guys." Paige offered Sly a ride home and carried a sleepy Ralph out of the apartment.

Cabe yawned as he said goodbye and left.

Walter seemed like he was about to leave too, but he sat back down as Happy and Toby were cleaning up.

"How did you do that?" Walter looked at both of them, and they stopped what they were doing to look back.

"Do what?" Happy asked. She had a feeling this conversation was going to venture into uncomfortable territory.

"Fall in love."

Happy and Toby look at each other, silently deciding who was going to start this conversation.

"She's really easy to fall in love with." Leave it to Toby to make a cheesy comment.

Happy rolled her eyes, but smiled at him. Then, she sat down across from Walter. She wasn't sure her little impromptu speech was going to come out the way she wanted it to, but Walter needed to hear it.

"Accept that you have feelings. Then decide who is worth having feelings for." She paused, and Walter looked away from her.

"You have to trust someone, someone who's patient enough to give you the time it takes to trust them. I know emotional risks aren't your specialty, but there are some people you should take a risk for."

There's a double meaning there,and they all know it.

He's taken endless risks for Paige, life-threatening risks, but he won't take emotional ones. Even he knows that's illogical.

"Is it worth it?" His voice was low, and they could both tell that he was intimidated by this incalculable risk.

"Of course it is." Toby was as confident as ever.

But Walter needed to hear this from Happy. They're the emotionally lacking ones in the group, and Walter needs to know that love is worth fighting for.

Happy nodded.

She turned her eyes to Toby. He was smiling softly, silently encouraging her.

"I'm not a robot anymore, Walter, and neither are you."

He smiled, and walked out the door with a quiet "thank you."

Toby followed behind him, locking the door. Happy was already walking into the bedroom and taking off her shoes. She'd already pulled on one of his t-shirts and crawled into bed by the time he reached the doorway.

"Doc?" Her voice was sleepy and ultimately adorable.

"Yeah?" He was still leaning against the doorway, his head tilted down to look at her.

"Can you get my blanket?"

He smiled fondly, walking to the couch to grab the blanket and throwing it at her.

"I didn't say throw it at me." She spread the blanket out over her and turned to face him.

He jumped into bed next to her.

"I think you love that blanket more than me." He pulled her closer.

"Maybe I love it because it's yours."

The first night in their apartment, with his blanket on her bed and her face pressed against his chest ended with a forehead kiss and two whispered phrases that sounded a lot like "I love you."

Surprise! I realize that it's been 3 months since I updated, but I haven't forgotten this story. I had it about halfway done the day of the finale, but the damage it caused left me unable to finish the chapter... until now.

Next Chapter: Serotonin

Until next time,

M.