Title: Sentimental Things

Summary: Things are going missing at Scorpion.

Author's Note: I came up with this idea on FanForum and apparently, just had to write it. It's rather long, but I couldn't find a good place to break it up. I've also somewhat indulged my need for cheesy sentimentality. Thus, the title.

This is future fic - about two years in the future. If you're reading this in the future - and how could you not be, since I haven't posted it yet - that means about two years after episode 4.06.

For those who are wondering what's happening in We Need to Talk and my Five Things fic, I will be updating those again soon. It's just that work and life are both keeping me ridiculous busy right now. Thanks for hanging in there.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own /scorpion. This story is for entertainment purposes only. I make no profit and no infringement of copyrights is intended.

Not all those who wander are lost. ~J. R. R. Tolkien

"WHAT are you looking for?"

Paige stood up from her desk and made her way to the other side of the room. Part of her job was keeping track of things for the sometimes muddle-headed geniuses. Sure, they were brilliant when it came to math and science and technology. But they would misplace those big heads right off their shoulders if they weren't firmly attached. She went through the garage every evening, straightening up as best she could. She wouldn't touch Happy's mechanical paraphernalia and she rarely had to do anything with Sly's uber-neat workstation. But she collected and re-filed files, straightened papers, put pens and pencils in holders and generally put things back in their places.

Then she spent some part of the next morning reminding four brilliant minds that the logical place to look for something was where it belonged.

This morning was different. For once it was Sly who was – very carefully and meticulously – moving and replacing the items on his desk, obviously looking for something that just as obviously wasn't there. She'd watched as he went through every container on the desk twice and he was about halfway through his third round of the drawers. What was it they said about repeating an action and expecting a different outcome?

"Sly," she said more gently. He looked up from his chair. The stricken look on his face made her realize just how devastating it must be for the obsessive-compulsive math whiz to misplace something. He could recite to within a micron the exact placement of every item and the number of paper clips, pencils, and other supplies he had in each neat receptacle.

"I can't find my mouse!"

His voice squeaked, which nearly made Paige giggle considering the object of his search.

"I always place it exactly two inches to the right of my keyboard. Which I place precisely in the center of the desk, three inches from the front edge. After I've wiped them both with an antiseptic cloth, of course." Sly gestured to the desktop. "This morning I come in and there's the keyboard, like always, but the mouse is gone." Suddenly he rushed off to the back. "I have to go wash up. I got down on my hands and knees – on the FLOOR – to see if it somehow fell off. But it's not there, either!"

Paige watched Sly make his way to the rest room and sighed. If nature called, she would have to run up to the loft; Sly would be occupying the downstairs facility for some time. She was only surprised that, having touched the nasty floor, he didn't just go home and drown in a bathtub full of Purell. Her sweet almost-brother-in-law was a notorious germaphobe, but in recent days he'd been unusually wound up. The cause was easy enough to figure out. Happy's father had been released from prison. He'd been welcomed into the Scorpion family with open arms and had, in turn, opened up about his experiences. The summation of that being that living in a cage was no way to live. Walter told her that he remembered when Cabe was facing possible imprisonment and suddenly took great interest in Ferret Bueller's living arrangements.

Walter spent the next few days ferret-proofing the windows and doors, then declared that the little animal would no longer be spending his time behind bars. Bueller would have the run of the garage, day and night.

Happy was concerned that the creature might disturb her machine parts. So, for the past few days her workstation was neat as a pin because she packed everything up into locked cabinets every night before she left. Sly threatened to enclose his work area in a bio-bubble until Toby reminded him that he'd been seen – on occasion – cuddling the team mascot and stroking his soft fur. Happy contributed that he was also their frequent babysitter; a position that entailed changing dirty diapers and wiping baby drool off virtually everything. If that no longer bothered him, what was so bad about a free-ranging ferret?

Paige stared down at the desk. The mouse was quite obviously not there. She bent down and looked underneath. Still no mouse. She shrugged her shoulders and walked over to the area past the stairs where a few storage cabinets sat against a wall in a disused area. Opening one, she plucked a blister-packed mouse off the shelf. Sly might keep careful track of his computer peripherals, but Toby and Walter misplaced theirs with regularity. So, she kept a small supply in stock to avoid disruptive runs to the office supply store. She ripped open the package, tossing it into her waste can as she made her way back to Sly's desk. She was about to place it neatly beside the keyboard when she stopped, grabbed the canister of antiseptic wipes and pulled one out. She wiped the mouse down thoroughly, taking care to turn the center wheel to ensure it was completely clean. Then she set the mouse down, resisting the impulse to measure the required two inches. Sly would know it was not his original mouse, there was no point in any effort on her part to make it seem so.

She'd done the best she could to diffuse this little emergency. It was time to take on the bigger task of organizing the paperwork for their next case. The contracts had been signed yesterday and Cabe and the rest of the team were out at the site, a seed farm near Victorville. Thankfully, it wasn't as remote as the facility where they'd been exposed to seed dust and suffered through ergot-induced hallucinations. Paige smiled as she recalled the brief vision she'd had, of Walter embracing a young woman who looked not unlike Paige herself. She wondered if that was the moment she began to realize her true feelings.

Shaking herself out of her musings, Paige sat down at her desk, pulled her own keyboard and mouse forward, and clicked through a few folders, setting up the forms she would need for the case summary and billing.

"Well, that was fun!" Happy declared as she entered the garage, wheeling a case of equipment behind her. She stopped dead just inside the doorway and sneezed violently. Fumbling in a pocket, she brought out a well-used tissue and wiped her nose, then turned to glare at the man currently standing in the doorway. "Ugh. Will you explain to me why I suddenly get allergies every time I'm pregnant?"

Toby stood blocking the doorway. He was uncharacteristically laden on both sides with equipment boxes. The doc was usually unenthusiastic about pitching in on the tote-and-carry aspect of their work, but when Happy was expecting, he became endearingly – or annoyingly – solicitous.

"As I've explained numerous times, my sneezing snuggle-bunny; it's probably not allergies at all. More than likely you have a simple case of pregnancy related congestion. I will admit that it's probably been exacerbated by all the dust in that vault. We were all sneezing in that place."

"Exacerbated is an understatement!" Happy turned and continued to haul her case over to her work area, while Toby set his boxes down in front of her assembly table. "I thought I was going to sneeze my head off. If I was any further along I would have dropped this kid right there!"

"There's no truth to the old wives' tale that sneezing can bring on labor," Paige contributed. "How are you feeling otherwise, Happy?"

The mechanical genius plopped down in her chair and looked up at Paige, whom she still thought of as 'The Waitress', although these days the moniker was meant affectionately. Having no mother and no real female friends, Happy found herself leaning on Paige for motherly advice during her first pregnancy. The Doc was great for medical advice, but having someone who'd been through it was indispensable.

"Oh, you know. The morning sickness is gone, but I'm looking forward to a few months of swollen ankles, heartburn and leg cramps, followed by backaches and spending my LIFE in the bathroom until it all culminates in twenty-four hours of pain and screaming, all courtesy of the man I love."

She glanced up at Toby and couldn't stop herself from smiling and reaching a hand up to grasp his. She liked to grumble, but the truth was she'd go through much worse for their little girl. She was more than prepared to deal with whatever might come to bring their son into the world. She just wasn't prepared to name the poor kid Tobias Merriweather, Junior. She had a bit more than five months to work on that.

Paige looked at the closed door. "So are you guys finished already? Where are Cabe and Walter?"

"They'll be here in about an hour or so," Toby explained. "Old wives notwithstanding, I was concerned at how much dust was in the air. No one was seeing chickens, but that doesn't mean it might not be detrimental to my percolating progeny. I wanted to get Happy out of there, so we brought some of the filtration equipment back here where she can work on it safely. Walter and Cabe are loading up the rest and making arrangements for us to return tomorrow, assuming my baby mama finishes the repairs and can go over the reinstallation with Walter. I'm not letting her go back there until the air is pure and clean again."

"You do realize that if I wanted to go back, your skinny butt wouldn't stop me!" Happy proclaimed. She understood that Toby only wanted what was best for her and their children. Still, she had to make sure he knew that she held the final word on her own actions. She was reasonably sure that when he made statements like that, it was the doctor in him that was giving orders. But she'd also met his dad after their daughter Virginia was born. Not only was the senior Curtis an unrepentant gambler, he was also sexist and controlling. She didn't think Toby would mimic any of his father's habits, but she also read enough pop psychology to know that boys raised by an absent father could be messed up in that regard. If parenting magazines were to be believed, even the most well-meaning and committed fathers were sometimes at a loss how to teach their sons to treat the woman in their life as an equal partner. As a mechanic, inertia was something she knew a lot about. Objects tended to continue to move in the same direction unless acted on by an outside force. She figured that hundreds of years of patriarchal social structure could cause even the best of men to move in that direction sometimes.

"Is this place anything like that place in Greenland?" Paige asked.

"Not exactly." Toby swung a chair around and sat down, leaning back and propping his feet up on Happy's table.

"OFF!" Happy barked.

"But my plantar fasciae, not to mention my gastrocnemius and soleus muscles are sore from all the standing and hauling I've been doing to shield you in your delicate condition."

"You'll be in a delicate condition if you don't get those dogs off my table. I'm happy we're having another kid, but I might be tempted to make sure there isn't a third!"

Toby instantly pulled his feet down and sat upright. "Yes ma'am!" He swiveled around to address Paige, who was unsuccessfully trying to hide a smirk. "You see what I go through? Believe me, it only gets worse over the next few months. I may have to invest in a medieval codpiece to protect the boys before this is all over." He leaned forward and rubbed his hands down his thighs. "As I was saying, the seed farm isn't exactly like the seed vault in Greenland. They grow plants specifically to harvest seed that they then sell to farmers and others for planting. Much of their farm is greenhouses, which help to prevent random pollination and preserve plant varieties – especially hybrids. But they do have a small seed vault where they store their inventory. Both the vault and the greenhouses require special ventilation and climate control. In the vault, it ensures that the seeds remain viable in storage. In the greenhouses, it helps with that pollination thing and just generally keeps the plants healthy. Our tour guide there kept repeating, 'Healthy Plants make Healthy Seeds' like some sort of mantra."

"Sounds interesting," Paige said.

"Not really," Happy responded. "Walt is checking the software that controls everything to see if the sudden changes in airflow are caused by some sort of bug, while I check over the equipment. Even if there's nothing wrong with it, I can probably tweak some things to make it more efficient. Give the farm some return on their investment in Scorpion beyond just fixing their problem."

Paige chuckled. "No, I guess it's not that interesting. Giving the client a little extra for their money is always a good idea. Keeps 'em happy, Happy. At least the job is close by, and as long as there's nothing toxic in the seed dust, it should be a safe job, barring some explosive sneezing. I'll break out some fresh boxes of tissue for everyone's desks."

Happy finished unpacking the case she brought in and got up to walk around the table and start on the large boxes. She opened one and pulled out a small plastic bag filled with nuts and bolts. "Have to put these somewhere where I can find them easy," she said, taking a long piece of tape and taping the bag to the top of the table. "There. Hard to get lost when they're stuck in plain sight. Those are security bolts – not something you can pick up at your local Home Depot. I could order replacements, but these are in perfect shape, so there's no need. Getting replacements would just delay the job."

"And we wouldn't want to do that," Paige agreed. "This isn't exactly one of our higher paying jobs so the sooner we finish, the sooner we can find something more lucrative. Scorpion's about to have another mouth to feed after all!"

Toby smiled at that, got up, walked up behind his wife and carefully put his arms around her. "I can hardly wait to watch you feed the next little Quinn-Curtis," he whispered in her ear.

"You just like how big my boobs get, perv." Happy squirmed in his embrace, intent on finishing the unpacking.

"A pregnancy perk about which I cannot complain!"

Happy stretched up on tip-toe and strained to reach, but just missed. "TOBY! Get over here, please," she whined.

Toby glanced up from his desk to see his wife jumping up and down in front of the new refrigerator. He quickly got up, and dashed over, immediately discerning her problem. Reaching up easily, he got the fruit basket off the top of the appliance and presented it to her. Happy selected an apple and walked to the sink to wash it.

"PAIGE!" Toby marched over to the liaison's desk and thrust the fruit basket in front of her face. "Why was this on top of the refrigerator? Happy was over there jumping up and down trying to reach it. She could have tripped. She could have fallen."

Toby was not used to feeling angry. He was normally a pretty easy-going guy. Being angry at Paige felt almost… absurd. He knew that whatever reason Paige had for putting the fruit up high, she wasn't trying to endanger his family. He took a deep breath and began counting in his head.

"Toby, I'm… I'm so sorry. I just… I didn't want Ferret Bueller to get into the fruit. It's bad for him to eat it. Best case scenario he thinks they're toys and they wind up all over the floor."

"It's… it's okay," Toby raked a hand through his hair, the hormonal rush from his fear and anger dissipating, leaving him shaky and sweating. "I… I understand. But maybe while we are trying to keep the place ferret proof we can consider that my wife is our resident short person and deserves some consideration."

"Right," Paige nodded. "I'll… I'll figure out some other way to keep the fruit away from Ferret. And I'll be careful about where I put things in the future."

"Good."

"GUYS!"

Paige and Toby both turned their heads in the direction of Walter's desk. He was lifting files and books, shuffling through the disorganized clutter and scattering papers.

"I left them right here. I left them here and now I can't find them."

"Can't find what, Walter?" Paige said in her most soothing voice.

"I can't find the keys to the seed farm's control facility." He looked up, clutching a pile of papers to his chest. "The… the caretaker doesn't work every day. He won't be there today, so when I told him we needed to come back, he gave me a set of keys to access the computer systems and mechanical rooms. I set them on top of my desk yesterday and now… now they're not here."

"Let's… not… panic," Toby said, emphasizing each word. "Keys do not walk away by themselves. And in any event, they are easily replaced. Worst case scenario Scorpion reimburses the company for a locksmith."

"Yes, but in the meantime, we can't do the work we're being paid for," Walter countered. "We're already a day over, although I can justify that because they failed to inform us of the extent of the dust problem. But this… this will be totally Scorpion's fault if I can't find those keys and we can't get inside the buildings."

"Jesus, Walter," Happy interjected, taking a bite of her apple. "Boinking the waitress must really be affecting the blood supply to your brain. Have you forgotten that you have in your employ one of the finest lock pickers around? Namely… me? We can find the keys later. I'll go with you and have you inside before you can say pin and tumbler."

"Wait… wait just a minute," Toby walked over to stand in front of Happy. "Have you forgotten the reason we left yesterday? You aren't going back there. Walter will just have to find his stupid keys."

Happy frowned, then grinned. "Okay then, I'll follow Walter to the farm, pick the locks; then I'll come back. I promise I won't go into the greenhouses or any of the other buildings. That okay with you, Doc?"

"Well…" Toby began.

"That's… that's a good plan," Paige agreed. "While Happy and Walter go to the farm, we can all look for the keys. I hate the idea of telling a client that we risked their security by losing their keys. Scorpion's reputation is at stake."

"What's this about Scorpion's reputation?" Cabe entered the garage with Sly behind him. While they all stumbled over each other explaining the situation, Cabe crossed his arms over his chest, nodding occasionally. "All right then. Happy's right. She can go with Walter and open things up without being exposed to the dust. The rest of us will search this garage from top to bottom until we find those keys. But first, how about we check Walter's car to see if maybe he dropped the keys in there?"

"No… no… I'm sure I placed the keys on top of my desk," Walter insisted.

"Humor me, son. I don't want to spend my morning going through this place only to find out the keys are stuck under your driver's seat."

"You know… Paige may have hit on something when she mentioned how this could affect Scorpion's reputation."

Cabe was up to his shirtsleeves in garbage. They'd gone through all the waste cans, turned over every piece of paper, rifled through the filing cabinets and desk drawers and even searched the refrigerator to no avail. Now, Cabe was looking through the kitchen garbage. He'd up-ended the bin into the small sink, but it was still a nasty job, considering that last night's take-out containers were mingled with empty soda cans, fruit cores and peelings.

"Are you suggesting that someone might wish to sully our honor?" Toby asked.

"It's not a ridiculous notion," Cabe replied. He began to gather up the garbage and toss it back into the bin. Sly, who was searching the kitchen cabinets and drawers, wrinkled his nose.

"There are still a few folks at Homeland who think of Scorpion as nothing but a lot of troublemakers. Not to mention there are a few folks that have been made to look bad by you geniuses. Maybe somebody's got an ax to grind big enough that they want to make Scorpion look bad. Messing up like this on a private case… even a small one… could do some serious damage."

"All because of a set of lost keys?" Sly asked.

"Keys are important," Toby noted. "They represent security and trust. Losing them means loss of security… loss of trust. Not to mention that a lot of our private work involves security issues. There's a touch of irony there that makes this all even more… suspicious."

"So, you think maybe someone… came in here last night and stole the keys?" Paige looked horrified.

"I doubt it," Cabe answered. "One set of lost keys doesn't add up to sabotage. But if we run into any other problems with this case, it's something to think about."

"When have we had a case where we didn't run into problems?" Sly retorted.

"Well, all I know is we've been searching for hours and…nada," Toby said. "I just got a text from Happy. She's almost back from Victorville and wants to know if we've all had lunch yet. You all know she's a walking appetite when she's pregnant. What do you say we meet her at the site of our nuptials for lunch?"

"I'm famished," Cabe agreed. "Anyone mind if I call Allie and have her join us?"

"I'm in, too," said Paige. "I just want to go wash up. I feel like I could grow those seeds in the dirt I've collected under my fingernails."

"I… I'll go upstairs and wash," said Sly. And let's not forget to lock up tight when we leave. Just… just in case."

"Is there anywhere left we haven't looked?" Paige led the group back into the garage. They lingered over lunch, since no one wanted to get back to the seemingly fruitless job of searching the garage.

"We… didn't really look in the loft," Sly ventured.

"It doesn't make sense to look up there," Paige countered. "I told you. Walter and Cabe came in last night after you all left. Walter went to the bathroom… down here… and then we left to go pick up Ralph and go home. He never once went upstairs so he could not possibly have put the keys up there. It would be a colossal waste of time to search the loft."

"I have to agree with Paige," Cabe said. "I left when they did, and Walter absolutely did not go upstairs. None of us did. The keys simply can't be up there."

"Well they sure as heck aren't down here," Toby grumbled.

"Maybe… could he have dropped them outside?" Sly suggested.

"Not good."

The group all looked towards Happy. She was holding up the tattered remains of a piece of tape. "Remember those bolts I had in a bag? I taped them to my table yesterday so I wouldn't lose them. They're gone."

"Well, whatever's going on, I don't think it's sabotage," Toby said. "There's… there's something missing from my desk, too. And it has nothing whatever to do with this case."

Happy walked over to where Toby was rifling through the things on his desk. "What is it?"

"It's… it's nothing. Just something personal… a memento."

"A memento? Of what?" Happy asked.

"It's… like I said…" Toby dropped his voice to a whisper. "It's personal."

Happy glared. "It's not a reminder of some old girlfriend, is it?"

"What? Old girl…? NO!" Toby sighed. "If you must know…" he groaned, aware that the rest of the team was listening avidly. "You remember when we had that case in Bosnia? The pilot who was lost? You.,. you twisted your ankle? I wrapped it with some green strapping and… when the medic took it off on the plane back, I… I kept it… as a remembrance."

"A remembrance of what? How humiliated I was that I had to let you carry me?"

"No, Happy," Toby took his wife aside in an effort to get out of the others' earshot. Leaning over, he whispered. "That was the first time you let me get even a little bit close to you without flinching. It was the first time that I… admitted how… how I felt about you, even in a roundabout way. Call me sentimental, but that time with you is time I treasure."

Happy looked up into her husband's eyes. "I might have you beat, Doc. You remember that paper airplane that we bet on once? I went across the street later and found it. I keep it in the bottom of my toolbox."

"Happy Quinn-Curtis, you may have the whole world fooled, but not me. I've always known you're a big softie," Toby smiled and bent to kiss her. "Ow! My deltoid," he cried as he rubbed a spot on his shoulder.

Walter drove up to the garage to see his entire team walking around the parking area. They formed a line, with about two feet between them, and were walking deliberately around the garage building. It didn't take a genius to realize that the keys were still missing.

He got out of the car and immediately walked up to the end of the line next to Cabe.

"I take it you haven't found the keys?"

"No," Cabe admitted, "and it seems that several other things have gone missing. We may have some sort of serial thief randomly stealing things – most of them with little or no value. Could be a sociopath. Not surprisingly, it's got Paige pretty spooked since she and the kid stay here some times. So far we've determined that Sly's mouse is the first thing that went missing, then those keys, then some bolts that Happy needs for the ventilation job and finally a… sentimental keepsake of Toby's."

Walter looked down the line. "Where… where is Paige?"

"She went to pick up Ralph. She should be back any minute."

As if on cue, Paige's Malibu pulled into the parking area. Ralph jumped out as soon as the car stopped and ran inside.

"There's a special on public television that he wants to watch," Paige explained. "He was going to DVR it at home, but forgot to set the timer. I said he could watch it upstairs."

"That's… that's fine," Walter agreed. "Cabe was just filling me in on the other things that have gone missing. I don't see how it could be a thief, even a sociopathic one. The security on the garage is pretty tight."

"That's what I keep telling myself," Paige said, "but all these things are disappearing. What else could it be?" She walked to the door of the garage and Walter followed her. "I'm going to go inside. Even with everyone here… I don't like the idea of Ralph inside… alone."

"Understood. I'll come inside in a few minutes, okay?" Walter leaned over and kissed her tenderly on the temple.

When Paige walked up to her desk to drop her things, the first thing she noticed was that the top drawer was sitting open.

"Don't panic," she tried to calm herself. "RALPH" she yelled up the stairs. "Did you go into my desk?"

"Yeah," came the answer. "The remote needed new batteries."

"Oh," she responded, relieved. "Okay, then. Please try to remember to close the drawer next time." She began to close the drawer, but stopped. Her box was missing. It was a box that her father had given her when she entered high school. The fine pen it originally held was long gone, but she kept the box and the few sentimental items it contained.

"Ralph?" she called up again. "Did you get anything else from the drawer?"

"Nope! Just the batteries."

It was impossible. The drawer was shut when she left the office. She never left her drawers open. Could someone have come in with everyone outside in the parking lot and taken her box? All the other items that were taken were sitting out on desks, in plain sight. This was inside a drawer. Why would the thief change his M.O. and start going through drawers? Unless he came in after Ralph got the batteries. Ralph was terrible about leaving drawers, doors, cupboards and everything else wide open. Had he come in during the few moments after Ralph came inside? While Ralph was upstairs? The thought made her shudder.

At that moment Walter walked in the front door and Paige jumped.

"Hey, are you okay?" Walter walked up and put an arm around her.

"I… something of mine is missing. A… a box… a stupid little box that I had… sentimental keepsakes in." She collapsed into the chair. Looking up at Walter she began to cry. "Walter, I'm frightened. I don't want to be here. I don't even want to work here anymore."

Walter knelt so he was at eye level with Paige. "The lack of value of the stolen items indicates that the thefts are compulsive – kleptomania. Kleptomaniacs almost never graduate to any sort of violent crime. This is… unnerving… but there's really no reason to be afraid."

At the sound of footsteps on the stairs, Paige started.

"It's just Ralph," Walter assured her.

Paige looked up. Ralph was coming down the stairs, Ferret Bueller in his arms.

"You okay, mom?" Ralph asked.

Paige realized that her anxiety must be written all over her face. To say nothing of Walter kneeling beside her. Since he'd already proposed, that could only mean that he was trying to comfort her. Ralph was much better at reading emotions than the other geniuses.

"I… I'm just a little upset is all. You remember I told you about the things that have gone missing? I just discovered that something of mine is missing, too."

"That's why I came down. I think I've discovered the thief, and he's right here." Ralph held up the ferret, who chittered a protest at the treatment. "He was in his cage and I wanted to play with him while I watched the show. He had Sly's mouse, Walter's keys, a bag of bolts and some green strapping all piled up in a corner of the cage. There's a pretty little box, too. Is that yours, mom?"

"YES!" Paige exclaimed. "Did you bring it with you?"

"No. I left everything where it was." Ralph grinned. "I figured you might want to have the police dust for pawprints."

Walter chuckled. "Come on," he said, standing up and holding out a hand for Paige. "Let's go up and retrieve Ferret Bueller's ill-gotten booty."

Paige giggled, relief making her giddy. "You've been hanging around Toby too long."

After returning Sly's mouse, Toby's strap and Happy's bag of bolts, Walter hung the seed farm's keys on a hook well out of the ferret's reach. He would return to the farm tomorrow, give back the keys and help Happy install the repaired ventilation equipment. Then they could close the books on another successful case. Although taking three days to complete what should have been a one day job meant that their profit from this case was virtually non-existent, Cabe and Walter were both pleased that Scorpion hadn't been the target of a saboteur.

Paige was recovering from what Toby described as a mild anxiety attack. He prescribed rest, and as much hugs and cuddling from Walter that she could tolerate. She was tolerating the treatment very well. Walter was administering it on the couch in his loft while Ralph did his homework downstairs. The others had gone home.

She was toying with the box in her lap. It was made of wood, with the name of the pen manufacturer inscribed on the top. There were small brass hinges along one side and a clasp on the other. When her father gave it to her, Paige had been much more impressed by the box than the pen it contained, although it was a very nice pen. The inside was lined with velvet. She had removed the velvet covered cardboard that held the pen in order to use the box to store her little trinkets in.

"So," Walter wondered, "what do you have in that box, anyway? Don't you want to open it… make sure everything is still there?"

Paige drew away to look up at him. "You're just curious, aren't you? Trying to mask it with that lame suggestion that something might be missing."

"Ferrets are extremely dexterous creatures. It's not out of the question that he could have opened it," Walter grinned. "But yes, I'm curious as to what sort of things have… sentimental value to you. I would expect maybe… something from when Ralph was a baby?"

Paige nodded. "Yes. I have the first baby tooth that Ralph lost in here, along with a ribbon from some baby booties that a friend of mine from college gave me."

She grew silent and Walter prompted her. "What else?"

"You remember when I first joined Scorpion, and we were up on the roof with Ralph and his telescope? You gave me a piece of paper with something about Orion's belt and the moon on it. I have that piece of paper in here."

"You attach sentimental feelings to it?"

"Yes, Walter. It's silly, but it reminds me of… of passing notes in class with a boy you have a crush on. But more than that, it made me realize how much you genuinely cared about my son. Even back then."

"I think I loved Ralph even before I loved you."

"I know you did."

"Anything else?"

"There is… one other thing. I've only had it for a few days. I've been keeping it to show you, but I'm just not sure how you'll feel about it." Paige looked down at the box in her lap. She fidgeted with the small clasp.

Walter stroked her arm. "You know I'm not… I don't typically attach emotional significance to inanimate objects. Although there are exceptions. I have a box of my own… somewhat larger than yours, in fact."

"I'm not… I'm not worried about what you'll think of… of the object. It's more… what it means. I mean, we're getting married soon and I know you love me and you love Ralph but we really haven't discussed the possibility…"

"Is this about some sort of wedding tradition you want? You know I think those things are… ridiculous." He drew her closer. "But I happen to have a… a particular affection for weddings, since it was at Happy and Toby's wedding that I finally revealed my feelings to you."

"No, this isn't about the wedding."

Paige flipped the clasp and opened the box. She pulled out an object wrapped in a tissue. When she unwrapped it, Walter realized he'd never seen one, except in advertisements. But he knew instantly what it was. And he knew what the two bright pink lines meant. Not that it was difficult, since a legend was printed on the little stick right next to the window where they appeared.

"Pregnant?" he asked.

November 4, 2017