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"I'm not going with her." Ralph almost cries to Walter. His mother watches him from the opposite side of the room. Her eyes are wide with surprise of his son's reaction

"Ralph." Paige croaks as she takes a step towards her only child. He is quick to latch himself onto the genius next to beside him.

Walter watches the mother's expression. Carefully analyzing her body language to the best of his abilities. He wasn't Toby but she was clearly upset.

Slowly, Walter lowers himself to be the same height as the little boy grasping his hand.

"You have to go with her Ralph." He whispers, messing with the child's hair. " Please, go grab your stuff before you miss your flight."

"When will I see you again? And the team!" He was pouting, and Walter was reminded of the time they said goodbye the first time. It was two months ago but it felt like two years ago.

Walter glances at Paige, who watches the scene with frozen, wide, unseeing eyes.

"Soon." Walter faces the boy.

"Soon is subjective. She won't let me come back, she-"

"So than we will come to you." Walter takes the little boy's other hand. He always did have a sweet spot for Ralph. "I promise."

Paige watches the boys have their silent exchange, once in a while noticing how Walter would look in her direction while Ralph refused to even glance at her.

She Sighs. Paige had woken up to Ralph dropping a glass bowl on the floor when he noticed his mother sleeping on the couch. He started yelling, which woke up a sleeping Walter.

Paige was shocked to find her sons mentor with his hand in a brace but she hadn't asked what was the cause of the injury. She wasn't sure she still reserved the right to.

Meanwhile, Walter was having trouble concentrating. Since he woke up, he felt a bit shaky. He knew he should eat but his appetite was gone. He knew he was probably getting sick but he instead attributed the way he felt to Ralph leaving or the lack for sleep he had that night.

That had to be it, right?

Paige then watched her son pout before he nods in agreement. Ralph doesn't glance in her direction as he stomps up the stairs to the loft.

Walter straitens up and rubs his eyes tiredly before uncomfortably adjusting his tie. He slowly makes his way towards her.

She sighs.

"I wish he could understand why we left." Paige frowns.

"Oh, he won't." Walter tells her, "It was an emotional decision."

She sighs but doesn't respond.

They stand by the bottom of the staircase waiting for Ralph to come down. Walter shifts uncomfortably on his feet for a moment before remembering the envelope in his back pocket.

"Oh," He quickly takes it out, " This is for you."

She looks back at him in confusion before slowly accepting the envelope.

"What is this?" She opens it slowly and glances inside. Her jaw drops.

"Five thousand, in cash, it's to help you and Ralph." Walter states the fact as if he had handed her a piece of chocolate, rather than a wad of cash. Walter leans heavily on the stairs railing, feeling a bit dizzy.

"I- I can't take this from you Walter." She closes the envelope and attempts to hand it back.

He frowns as he takes it.

"Yes you can, and you will." He slides it into her purse. She remains silent, her eyes staring at him as she puts pieces together in her head.

"It was you, wasn't it?" She says gently, her jaw drops.

"What?" He raises an eyebrow in confusion.

"I can't believe I didn't figure it out before," She opens her purse and takes the envelope out. "Walter, you've helped us enough and-"

"What are you taking about?" He stiffens uncomfortably.

"You've been sending us money the whole time I was in Portland!" She attempts to hand the cash back to him, "A little bit at a time, so I wouldn't notice. You've been helping pay my bills little by little. Haven't you?"

Walter remains silent, his eyes locking with hers as she forces the money in his direction.

"No." He lies, " Now take the money and-"

He freezes when she hugs him tightly. He doesn't reciprocate but he doesn't pull away either.

"Thank you." She whispers in his ear. "But it's not your responsibility."

She slowly pulls away and he just stares at her.

A few uncomfortable seconds pass and he blinks and moves away from the woman when Ralph comes skulking down the stairs.

He looks up at Walter as he drags his school bag beside his mentor.

Walter clears his throat.

"Ready to go?"

"Yes." The boy frowns.

"Let me grab my bag." Paige sighs and makes her way to her old desk. She didn't know why but as everyone got dressed this morning she had straitened up her old workspace.

She adjusted the desktop and straitened out old paperwork that had never been done.

It made her miss her job at scorpion. She goes to get her bag off her old desk.

"Ralph, give this to your mother when you get back to Portland." Walter watches her walk away and hands the envelope to her son. Ralph doesn't ask questions as he folds it up and puts in in his backpack.

"Ready?" Paige returns, feigning excitement for her son's sake.

"No."

"Fantastic." She responds hugging her son long enough for him to pull away before she began directing him towards the exit.

"Did you eat anything?"

"Yes."

Paige sighs.

"Are you only going to give me one word answers?"

"Probably." The youngest genius sighs before pushing the door open. Walter begins to follow after with the keys to Cabe's SUV.

"I'll drive." She takes the keys.

"No."

"You look like heck and you have a bad hand, it's safer if I drive."

"That's not-"

"How much did you sleep last night?"

"Paige-"

"Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." He responds instinctively moving back as she raises her hand to feel his forehead. She rolls her eyes.

"Your sick, you're practically burning up." She sighs, "We'll call a cab, you have to stay in bed and-"

"Paige!" Walter takes her hand off of his face and holds it, "I'm fine." She watches him skeptically, his eyes narrow and he watches her slowly shift off of her 'mommy mode' as Toby used to call it. Eventually she sighs and neither notices him still holding her hand.

"Have you eaten today?"

"Fine, you drive." Walter rolls his eyes and passes her the keys.

Meanwhile, she hands him an apple she had been holding behind her back with her free hand.

"Eat it." She demands and they stare at each other for a second before she turns from him. Making her way to the car.

Only when the she disappears does his hand begin to feel empty.

He rolls his eyes and makes his way to the kitchen for a moment. He leaves the garage and locks the door behind him after making her a sandwich- turkey, her favorite- if his memory was correct, which it was.

"Here." He puts the sandwich on her lap as he slides into the SUV. "Eat it."

To his surprise, she chuckles.

"Thank you." She mumbles and takes a bite while Walter's apple remains uneaten and forgotten in the garage kitchen.

It's not long before they pull out towards the road.

"Walter?" Ralph silently questions as they approached LAX.

"Yeah buddy?" The man tiredly turns his head to face him; he had been slumped down in his seat for the last fifteen minutes.

"Are you coming in with us? To the terminal."

"Yes." The genius shrugs and watches the boy smile.

"No Ralphy, he cant." Paige contradicts with a sigh, taking the last bite of the sandwich.

"Why?" Both genius question. 197 was about to begin an argument about Ralph being considered his son as well.

"They will stop you at security."

"I'll buy a cheap ticket." Walter shrugs.

"Walter." She shakes her head in disbelief, stopping at a red light. "Where is this magic money from?"

"I pay one less person now." He mumbles and that ends the conversation.

The rest of the ride remains silent.

He could feel her eyes on him as they go through security. He could feel her gaze when her son grabbed his hand instead of hers. He knew she was watching him as he bought an overpriced sweater in the airport because he was starting to shiver.

She watched as her sons leaned into the side of his feverish mentor as they waited at the terminal.

But 197 couldn't look at her.

Walter couldn't understand her.

Why did she need to go?

It was his fault.

197 wasn't better emotionally and she couldn't handle it. Now he was miserable, Paige was miserable and most importantly, Ralph was miserable.

When that thought hits him, he can't look at his 'son' either. Guilt weighing him down and reminded him that he might not be good enough. Not for Paige and by the transitive property, Ralph.

So Walter looks at the television instead, only half paying attention to the murder of the day, the robbery of the week, or the fact that it will remain sunny in California for the next two months.

As he mindlessly watches the screen, someone sits beside him, listening to music and playing air guitar like a nine year old. But he wasn't nine years old; he was older than Ralph and maybe a year or two older than himself. The genius angles himself closer to his 'son' and farther from the stranger who was giving him a headache.

Paige notices this but remains silent as she continues to sit across from her old boss, taking out her phone for company that doesn't hate her.

"Hi." The stranger turns to Walter after his music slows. The genius frowns.

"Hello?" Walter responds as he and Ralph turn to face him.

"The names Ray, Ray Speewag."

Both geniuses frown in unison as the dirty looking man extend his hand to be shaken.

"Walter," 197 shakes Ray's hand, "and this is Ralph."

Though Ray extends his hand to him, Ralph doesn't reciprocate and for reasons unknown to Walter, Ray isn't caught off guard.

"Wally and Ronald-"

"Ralph-" Walter remarks.

"That's what I said." The man heavily pats Walters back, " What brings you to the east coast, brochacho?"

Walter stiffens up at the touch and glances at Paige who bites her lip and nods her head towards Ralph. Ralph watches Walter, his body ridged as if Ray had wrapped his arm around him instead of his mentor. So, Walter takes a deep breath and forces himself to look relaxed and though Ralph still remains stiff, it was less so than before.

His son learns from him.

"I'm just dropping off." Water frowns but replies none the less. "

"Who? The pretty lady who keeps looking over?" The man attempts to look subtle as he nods in the direction of the former liaison. "She your wife?"

"No." Walter responds quickly, and Ralph straitened up beside him. " She just uh... Hm."

He's speechless. We're they friends? They certainly weren't colleagues, or lovers, but were they even friends?

"She's uh, Paige."

"Ohh, I see," Ray winks at the mentor and stands up. "I got this Wally. "

The geniuses eyes widened.

"Ray?" Both Walter and Ralph straighten up. "Ray, whatever you're about to do – Stop. "

"Don't worry my brotha – I got this." Ray reassures ignoring 197 as he makes his way towards Paige. Walters about to stand up and stop him but glances over at the little boy next to him –. Ralph had an amused smile on his face.

Walter didn't have the heart to take that away from him and really, what was the worst Ray can do?

The dirty man takes a seat next to the liaison.

"How you doing?" Ray winks at her and nods in her direction. Walters is surprised to find her chuckling.

"Hello." She smiles and extends her hand, " Paige."

"Ray." His firm grip surprises her and she's can't help but find him somewhat amusing.

"How can I help you "

"You see that guy over there?" He doesn't let go of her hand and instead Nods in Walters direction. Walter's face turns red and he covers it face with his hands in embarrassment. Ralph smile widens.

"Yes?"

"He likes you a lot and-"

"Okay!" Walter stands and the small boy laughs out loud. "That's enough of that for now."

And Ray stands up and mumbles, " You try to help a brotha out-"

"First of all, we aren't brothers." Walter mumbles quietly as he pulls Ray aside. Something he had learned to do from the liaison.

"Second, I never said that."

"But yeah you did." Ray contradicts and leans in past the boundaries of comfort zones. " With you eyes."

He says seductively before turning from the adult genius to the child prodigy. Walter shakes his head in disbelief.

"Rudolph!" He slides beside the laughing child.

"It's Ralph-"

"Yeah, anyway..." The grown man begins talking to the small boy and Paige is amazed as she watches the two interact.

A year ago, Ralph wouldn't have said a word. He only used to speak to her. To watch him engage in a conversation with someone... Normal- weird, but average, none the less- it took her breath away.

She looses her train of thought when Walter takes the seat next to her.

"Uh, sorry about him."

Paige smiles, " He's somewhat amusing."

"Weird." Walter chuckles skeptically. " yet somehow... Charmingly."

Paige quietly snorts. It's not exactly the word she would have chosen to describe Ray but as she watches her son laugh with the stranger, she begins to understand what 197 means.

"A Character." She agees.

"Looks like you and Ralph made a new friend."

Walter chuckles and lies back in his seat slightly, closing his eyes.

"How are you feeling?"

197 chuckles, "Terrible."

"Maybe you should go home and rest?"

"It's okay, I would probably just work on the rocket anyway." He mumbles, barely coherent.

"With your broken hand?" He's surprised when he feels her take his hand in her small palms and is careful not to pull away. It felt... Nice.

"I guess not." He mumbles and reframes from shivering as he opens his eyes to look at her.

"What um-" She scratches the side of her head. A habit she had picked up from the man intently watching her. "What happened to your hand?"

Walter just smiles at her and chuckles as if it was some kind of private joke.

"I um-" He straitens up, " After I left the garage last night, I punched the wall."

"Walter!" Paige exclaims in surprise.

197 flinches at the loud noise and Paige is quick to apologize. They both chuckle humorlessly and remain silent.

"I don't want you to go again Paige." Walter finds himself admitting and Paige turns to face him in surprise. He forces himself to look at her, "I, uh, I like it when your around."

Paige smiles slightly and continues to lightly caress his broken hand.

"And I love it here Walter but-"

"Attention passengers," The loudspeaker cuts off their conversation, " All flights have been cancelled until further notice."

"What?" Paige, Walter and what seemed like every other person in the terminal exclaiming surprise.

"Something is wrong." Walter mumbles. It's at that moment his phone rings.

"Cabe?" Walter stands to answer as Paige makes her way towards Ray and Ralph.

"Kid, I'm back with homeland, meet back at the garage, we got a case."

The phone hangs up then Walter and looks at the ex liaison and her son.

"We got a-" Walter stops and sighs, running his broken hand through his hair. " Well, I guess, I have a case."

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