Happy waited for Ralph to hang up before slamming the phone back on the dock.

"What was that about?" asked Toby, concerned, but still trying to lighten the mood.

"That was Ralph," she said obviously pissed, "he's tried to call Walter's cell three times and he hasn't answered." Happy stood up and started to walk away from her desk. "Paige is taking them for a weekend trip to Maine this afternoon. He wanted to say goodbye to Walter but he isn't answering. Cabe and Paige are one thing, but he is not allowed to push Ralph away too." She started for the stairs. "I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind."

"Whoa whoa whoa, wait." Toby quickly stopped her before she could go up the stairs. "You're right, that isn't like Walter. It's almost noon. By now even his jets should have cooled."

Sylvester walked away from his chalkboard to join the conversation. "You think something could be wrong?"

"You don't need a Ph.D to know that that man was in extreme emotional distress last night. Probably more than he's experienced in his life. Even a normal person would have a hard time dealing with the abandonment he just went through. What's worse with Walter is he doesn't know healthy coping mechanisms. He is incapable of dealing with his emotions, so what does he do instead?"

"Focuses on logic and work," said Sylvester.

"Exactly."

"You think he went down the rabbit hole again." It was no a question but more of a fact. Happy swore to herself, knowing she was right.

"One of us needs to go up there and gently get him out of it. Now Happy, you've done it before, do you think you can do it again?"

Happy crossed her arms and sighed. They acted like it was easy seeing their friend like that. "This is completely different from before, and even then it took him until he nearly passed out before he finally came out of it." She shook her head. She was only looking at the negative. There were other positive factors too. Mark Collins wasn't involved this time, and then there was Ralph too. She took a deep breath and turned towards the stairs again. "I'll try but I don't guarantee a good outcome."

She got to the top of the stairs and stopped. One of the file cabinet drawers was open. One that was not supposed to be open. "Crap." Happy made her way towards one of the old offices that was now almost always used as Walter's room. She and the team had only come in here on very rare occasions and they could all be counted on two hands. Happy knocked on the door. "Hey Walter I'm comin' in."

After seeing THAT drawer open, and knowing that THAT file had been missing, she shouldn't have been surprised at the view in front of her, but it still made her stop and a small gasp was audible. The room was dark. The walls were covered in paper and the paper covered in algorithm after algorithm. She didn't have a specialty in math but she still knew what she was looking at. All the work that Walter and Mark Collins had been obsessing over before Walter sent him to the asylum. This part was just like last time. In the back of the room stood Walter, his back to Happy, pencil in his ear, scribbling furiously on a blackboard. Not surprisingly he didn't hear Happy walk into the room.

"Walter?" she said cautiously, taking one step into the room at a time. Happy didn't expect an answer and she didn't get one. Damn Paige. Damn Cabe for abandoning him. Damn them all. They weasel their way into their lives, make the team trust them, love that kid, and then just disappear, leaving Happy to do the clean up. They didn't need this. They didn't need them.

She reached up and grabbed his shoulder shouting his name again. "Walter!" He turned towards her, his eyes cloudy and a confused look on his face. Dark circles were pitted in his eye. He hadn't slept all night.

"Happy? I-" he glanced back towards the board. "J-just a sec..." he turned back, continuing to scribble more parts to an equation.

She sighed. He had responded, which was good, better even, than last time. Last time Collins had him so far deep he didn't even recognize the team at first. She grabbed his shoulder again and said more directly, "Walter you need to come downstairs."

"Yeah... yeah," he said obviously distracted, waving his hand in a 'go away motion. He continued to stare at the board. "I need- I'm almost- soon." Walter started writing again.

"Hey, Walter!" he didn't flinch. She grabbed both of his shoulders this time and turned him to face her. "Walter Ralph has been been calling you!" She was frustrated.

"Huh, Ralph?" he seemed to focus on her a little bit more.

"Yeah Ralph. That kid you've spent the past year practically raising? He's been trying to call you to say goodbye."

"Goodbye? What?" He shook his head, seeming to try and clear it.

"Yeah if you hadn't brought this crap up again," she gestured to the paper on the walls, "you might know that Paige is taking Ralph to Maine. You know to live there?" Happy's voice was rising. Walter looked around as if noticing all of the work for the first time. "And what the hell gave you to idea to bring this out again? You know what it does to you!" Her voice rose to a yell.

"Ralph's leaving?" His eyes cleared and his face finally showed something more than just confusion. Sadness maybe?

Happy grumbled, "God you have a one track mind. Yes you idiot, the poor kid just wants to say goodbye before he leaves, but no you have to go and throw yourself down the rabbit hole! The team is worried too, and with both Cabe and Paige gone now they need their leader!"

Something finally clicked in Walter's mind. He looked up and ran his fingers through his hair, and the pencil fell to the floor.

"I get that you're angry at Cabe" her voice softened, "and I get that what Paige did upset you, but doing this Walter? This isn't a solution to anything.

Walter looked down at his feet. She was right. He hadn't been thinking rationally and now both his team and Ralph were suffering for it. And why the hell did he think this line of work was going to do anything for him? He wasn't thinking, and that's what scared him the most. "I'm sorry, Happy," he apologized looking up at her, "How do I fix it?"

Happy let out a breath. He was back. "Well for starters you could go downstairs and apologize." She was relieved but the anger hadn't quite left her voice."

"Yes. Okay." Walter made his way out of his room with Happy following close behind. They went down the stairs to where Toby and sylvester were waiting.

"Hey there buddy," said Toby. He turned to Happy. "He good?"

"He's good."

"You good?"

A small smile crossed her face. "Yeah."

Walter faced the three of them, his arms crossed behind his back. "I apologize for my outburst. I was not thinking rationally." Walter thought back to a time when Paige taught him how to apolo-. He cut that thought off quick. "How can I make it up to you?"

"It's okay Walter, we're just glad you're feeling better." Sylvester smiled and patted his friend's arm.

"You can make it up to me by spending some time on my couch." Walter tensed. No matter how much he deserved it, the idea still repulsed him. Working would be the most efficient way to forget about yesterday. He would be uncomfortable, but he owed it to Toby.

Walter nodded his head. "Also thank you for taking the keys."

"Anytime." He smiled and patted his back. "let's get you some food." He led Walter away and to the kitchen.

Sylvester looked over to Happy. "How bad was it?" he asked grimacing. He was almost afraid to know.

"He was working on the crap from Collins. Help me take it down?" Happy said nodding towards the stairs.

"Yeah sure."

A/N: Thank you guys so much for all of the ideas. Like most of you I do love the idea of a hostage at the airport, but I'm not sure how the team would be involved. Cabe doesn't have a job anymore so he can't get them on the scene, even if he knew Paige and Ralph were there. The ideas are bouncing around though and I think I can come up with something. Also sorry if this chapter feel chopped off. I wanted to get this out so I could let you guys know my thoughts. Thanks so much for reading! -Abby