For those who might have problems with religion in general or Christianity specifically, there is a short prayer by Cabe at the end.

One month later:

Walter and Paige exited his car after he parked at the Augustus Hawkins Mental Health Center. They walked hand and hand up into the facility and checked in at the visitor's desk. The clerk directed them to a small antechamber to await the Dr., Sylvester was sitting in the main waiting room and saw them go by so he got up and followed after them. "Hey guys," Sylvester said from the doorway.

Paige and Walter turned in their chairs and smiled, "Hey Sly, you just get here?" Walter asked.

"About twenty minutes ago, I got a little nervous waiting in this room. Haven't seen the Dr. yet," Sylvester told them.

Walter stood up and stepped over to him and gave him a hug, "It's good seeing you buddy, how are things going?"

Sylvester looked down at the floor, "Not the best, Happy spends most of her time here and we haven't had any new jobs come in anyway. I was going to ask her if she wanted to just shut it down. Most of the company's money is gone taking care of Toby. We won't have enough to pay the lease or utilities next month when we pay for this month's medical bills. But if I contact them in the next few days, we can avoid any extra fees."

"I'm really sorry buddy, anything I can do to help?" Walter asked trying to look up at his face.

Sylvester half laughed, half sobbed, "A job?"

Walter looked at Paige and then back at Sylvester, "Of course buddy, all you had to do was ask. Stop by the corporate HR and fill out the paperwork, I'll hire you."

Sylvester looked up at Walter with tears in his eyes and hugged him, "I really don't deserve it."

"Hey, we're family. But I have to warn you, our project manager is a real slave driver and your supervisor, he's a little young but he's strict!" Walter teased with him.

Sylvester smiled as Paige got up and hugged him too.

"Walter, Paige, Sylvester, how are three of my favorite geniuses today?" Dr. Rizzuto greeted them as he came into the room from the other door.

"Thanks Dr. Rizzuto, but we all know I am not a genius." Paige told him.

"Are you kidding? It takes a special genius to keep all these guys running right for as long as you did."

"Well thank you Dr. Rizzuto. How's Toby doing?" Paige asked as they all sat down.

"Baby steps," Dr. Rizzuto started, "Cognitive deficits are still fairly high. He's slowly beginning to tap back into his real memories, but of course those created through the interface device are still very strong. Interestingly enough, his strongest memories are of Happy."

"We've been running some equations and we think we've come up with a liquid supplement that might help his brain recover from some of that." Walter told him.

"I'd certainly be opened to investigating it, without something significant I think in another four to six months Toby might be able to transfer to home care, but I'm not sure when or if ever he will be able to be the man we all knew three years ago." Dr. Rizzuto told them. "And from what Happy told me, she doesn't think they can afford to keep him here much longer, maybe another month."

"That would correlate with my figures; another monthly bill like this past month and our business account will be drained and I am not sure how much they have left in their personal accounts." Sylvester spoke up.

"I've done all I can, I am not billing for my time but Toby needs far more care then I can give due to the limits of my training. Just his monthly room bill is almost fifteen grand and that's with a discount I got the hospital to give." Dr. Rizzuto explained.

Walter looked down at the floor, "He wouldn't be this bad off if I had taken the time and found a better way of stopping that device."

Paige put her hand on his back and rubbed it back and forth, "You had no idea, you did what you thought would be the best for him."

"It's not your fault Walter," Happy said from outside the room.

"Happy?" Walter looked at her in surprise and got up and hugged her.

"Actually by doing what you did, you probably saved him from being a complete vegetable." Sylvester told him.

Walter looked over at Sylvester, as he sat down, and asked almost pleading, "What do you mean?"

"Dr. Rizzuto got me the chip after it was removed and I hacked into it. A lot of the instructions had been damaged by the shock, but there was code in there that the device eventually would have built up a sufficient enough of a charge and sent it through Toby's mind. You stopped that from happening. What he's going through now is residual damage caused by the hijacking of his brain." Sylvester told him.

"Plus we have no way to know how much of what he is going through is the result of the surgery to remove it either," Dr. Rizzuto explained.

A small smile touched Walter's lips, "I'm not responsible?" Walter started to shake a little, "I've been so worried, so positive that I was responsible."

Paige kissed his cheek, "Didn't I tell you this wasn't your fault?"

Walter looked at her and nodded, "Maybe I could talk to Richard, I know he isn't too keen on Toby, but maybe he can help out with a loan to keep Toby in here and getting the help he needs?"

Paige nodded, tears in her eyes as she saw the worry leave Walter's face, "I'm sure he would be happy to work something out with us."

"Us," Walter questioned her.

"Of course us, we're a team, you jump, I jump. That's how it goes." Paige smiled at him.

"I can't let you guys do that, this is my problem, I've been trying to find an IP company to buy my winch design, but the cheap bastards won't even give me twenty percent of what it's worth, claim they are assuming all the risk." Happy complained.

"You know, our best bet, if that is what you want to do is to sell it to a company who wants it for their company, not just a company interested in it as something to sell for a quick buck. Richard might be interested in it. He's got some divisions who could really use it, plus he could manufacture the device to sell." Walter said thoughtfully.

"Hey, I could sell the IP on my water purifier too; surely together we would have all the money needed to keep Toby in here until he is better." Sylvester said.

"Sylvester, no," Happy told him, "This is my problem."

"Nonsense Happy, if we don't support each other then how can we stand?" Walter told her.

"Sounds like we got some good ideas going here, how about I go back to Toby's room with you?" Dr. Rizzuto told them as he stood up.

As they stepped into Toby's room, Toby was sitting in his wheelchair and slowly looked up at the noise. A smile slowly spread across his face, "Ha-p-p-y," he said straining to speak, his left hand jerked several times as he raised it up towards her.

Happy smiled instantly and ran across the room and hugged him and tears ran down her face as he slowly closed his arm around her and hugged her back. They stood there silent for several minutes until Happy finally pulled back a little and looked into Toby's eyes, "You've got some visitors." She looked back at Walter and softly said "Walt first."

Walter took several steps forward and got down on one knee and looked at his friend, "Hi Toby, its good seeing you again."

Toby's head jerked to the right several times until he could see Walter. "I-I-I know y-ou-you."

Walter smiled and nodded his head, "You sure do buddy, its Walter."

"You-You-You w-w-were her-ere-ere the o-oth-er-er day." Toby struggled to say as he reached out his left hand.

Walter took his hand in his and held it firmly and Toby squeezed back. Walter looked back at Paige and gestured and she walked up next to Walter, "Good afternoon Toby, you're looking well." She smiled at him.

Toby's head jerked up and he smiled as he looked at her, "Pr-Pret-Pretty l-ady, I-I-I was so-so-so me-mean to-to-to y-y-you. I-I-I'm so-so-so so-o-r-ry"

"Oh no Toby, remember, we talked about this, that wasn't you, it was that device that made you do that." Paige told him gently.

"Yo-yo-your not-not-not mad a-a-a-at me?" Toby said his face showing his amazement.

Paige bent down by her knees until she was eye level with him. She reached out and took his face in her hands and pulled his head down a little and kissed his forehead. "No, I'm not mad at you," she told him as she released his head.

Toby saw Sylvester still standing by the door and he smiled as his left hand jerked up towards him, "Ba-ll-o-o-o-o-ns."

"That's right Toby; I brought you balloons the other day. How are you feeling?" Sylvester asked.

Toby looked back at Happy, "Ha-p-p-y" he said and tried to laugh.

They all laughed at his joke.

Toby looked at Walter, "Y-yo-you ha-had tho-those f-f-fish again." He scrunched his face pretending Walter's breath was really stinky and they all laughed at that.

"I can't fool you can I buddy?" Walter told him smiling.

Toby just grinned and jerked his head from side to side.

Walter and Paige sat waiting in Richard's outer office. "I'm really sorry; I'm not sure what could be taking him so long." His receptionist told them again and they both just nodded to her.

His office door opened and Richard stepped out, "Sorry guys, couldn't get off the phone any faster, come on in and have a seat. What's going on?"

"Thanks for seeing us Richard; we know how busy you are." Paige told him.

"No worries Paige, I'm always happy to meet with you guys. What's going on?" Richard asked again.

"Well, as you might recall, we discovered that a lot of the problems with Toby was being caused by a device that Mark Collins had implanted into his brain. The problem is that Toby has suffered severe damage to his brain and they'd used most of all their money for his care and Happy has been trying to sell an IP right she owns for a winch she designed, but the companies that buy those things aren't willing to give her a fair price for it. I mentioned that she'd have better luck selling it to a company who could actually use such a device and who was interested in producing and selling them. Naturally I thought of your company first so I brought you the specs to consider it." Walter told him as he reached out with the paper work to hand it to him.

As he took the papers, "Also, Sylvester said he would be willing to sell his rights to his water purifier to help Toby as well if you are interested. The design won a very prestigious award a little over a month ago." Paige told him.

Richard looked up from the papers and got the ones from Paige. "I remember Walter telling me about that after Ralph's graduation." Richard told her. So he sat studying them both for several minutes. "These are both very impressive, do you mind if I give these to my people and try to come up with a bid for them? I'm not going to have to try and outbid someone for them am I?"

"Oh no, not at all Richard, we wanted to give you first crack at them. Especially for looking after me," Walter told him.

"I'm definitely interested, but give me a day to put together a proposal?" Richard asked.

"Oh sure, that's very considerate of you, thank you." Paige told him as they got up to leave.

Walter turned, "Also, I wanted to let you know that the supplement Ralph and I have been designing this past month at home, Dr. Rizzuto is willing to give it a try with Toby, to see if it will help his recovery. We're willing to give you proprietary control over it as well."

"That's very generous of you Walter, you sure?" Richard asked.

Walter nodded, "You have been in my corner these past three years, it's the least I can do."

Walter was watching Paige cook, he was always enamored with everything she did. With a smile on her face and without looking back, Paige told him, "Walter, why don't you stop staring for a minute and open the wine and let it breathe for a while? They should be here in another twenty minutes."

Walter smiled, "Sorry, I couldn't help myself." He got up and got the wine out of the cupboard.

"I know and if it was just us, I'd be happy to just let you watch." She told him as he came up and kissed her cheek.

"Hey, did I tell you that Dr. Rizzuto called today and told me that your supplement was having an affect on Toby already? He said his jerkiness has improved greatly." Paige told Walter.

Walter nearly dropped the bottle, "Really? That's great news, I hope it gives Happy more hope, I know when she is there she's very positive and all, but outside of that place, she's very depressed."

Paige watched as the cork popped free finally, "I'm sure that after she leaves the bills play a huge part in that. Of course if Happy and Sly agree to Richard's offer then that won't be a problem anymore. Personally I am really shocked at how much he is offering."

"I am too, I mean I know they are worth it, but it seems a bit over the top for this kind of thing." Walter told her.

"You know, I bet he did it because of your supplement offer. Plus it was us asking, I bet if it had been anyone else it wouldn't even have been half." Paige said as she stirred the sauce.

"Hey! Anyone home up there?" Cabe yelled up from the main floor.

"Hey Cabe, come on up man, we're in the loft kitchen." Walter said as he replaced the wine bottle into the ice basket.

"Oh man Paige; that smells heavenly!" Cabe said as he came up the ramp with Allie.

Paige smiled, "Thanks Cabe. Dinner will be ready in about thirty minutes. Make yourself at home."

Cabe walked up and put his hands on her upper arms and kissed her cheek, "Thank you for coming back to us." He whispered in her ear. I love seeing my kids so happy."

A tear escaped Paige's eye, "Thank you Cabe." She whispered back.

"Paige is there anything I can do to help?" Allie asked.

"Well, Ralph isn't here yet, do you mind setting the table?" Paige asked.

Allie smiled, "Of course not." While Allie grabbed the silverware Cabe went over and helped by getting the plates from the cabinet and taking them into the dinning area.

"Hey Cyclone, your doorbell isn't working!" Happy yelled up to the loft.

Walter and Paige laughed, "Sorry, hope you wasn't trying it for very long." Walter yelled down, "Come on up."

"Hey Mom, Dad," Ralph said as he came running up the ramp.

"Hey buddy," Walter responded.

"Hey Ralph; if you were with Happy, why didn't you just bring her on in?" Paige asked.

"He did, we just decided to tease you a little." Happy told her.

Paige laughed, "Hey Happy."

"Something smells really good." Sylvester said as he entered the loft.

"Hey buddy," Walter greeted him.

"Happy, Sly, I got proposal papers from Richard for you to sign if you agree to his bid. I'm sorry we weren't able to get more." Walter told them.

Happy took one set of the papers and Sylvester took another and their eyes opened wide in disbelief. "Are you kidding me?" Happy asked.

Walter shook his head, "I thought it was pretty generous myself."

"Why would he offer this much for the IP's? It doesn't make much sense." Sylvester said.

"Walter and Ralph gave propriety control of the supplement they developed for Toby to Richard as well. Plus we figured he really likes us, so." Paige told them.

Sylvester did some quick calculations, "Still, two and a half million dollars?"

Happy quickly signed her copy and then the copy Sylvester was holding and the third copy for Richard. Sylvester signed them and Paige came over and notarized their signatures.

Cabe sat at the head of the table after a short argument with Walter. It might have been Walter and Paige's place they still considered him the patriarch and he deserved the honor.

They joined hands as Cabe prayed, "Dear Heavenly Father, we first give You thanks for all You've done for us and for all You will do. We lift up Toby as he can't yet be here with us. We lift this meal up in gratitude for its provision and its preparation. We ask that You bless it to the nourishment of our bodies and bless those hands that labored on it for us. In all things we give You the honor and glory and our love, asking it all in the name of our Savior Jesus, Amen.

Greetings friends. I hope you have enjoyed this story as much as I have had writing it. I may revisit this story line in the future, maybe in some one shots but at this time, there are no plans to.

This story grew out of a concern over if CBS brings back Scorpion. It's been a year and a half, you figure if they decided today to bring it back it could take at least 6 months to put together everything to start filming and Riley being a young teen will be growing like a weed and the changes would be too noticeable (to me) to pick up where the show ended, so this was a way to explore how it could be brought back. And if you saw the pictures Riley and Nikki posted when they were together (around the time of the 2nd or 3rd chapter) he looks to be almost 6 inches taller than she is already. 5'5" he replied to me the other day.

One thing I dislike about this site is there is no way to reply to those of you would don't have accounts but still comment to the stories. And even if you did, any replies are always sent into private and I would love to be able to communicate more openly rather than privately as it could answer someone else's questions. If you have asked any questions that I never cleared up for you, you are more than welcome to find my twitter page and talk with me there.

Thank you so much to you for your continuing comments on the chapters, it really means a lot. Until I started writing these Scorpion stories, I never understood the "need" some people had to hear feedback from those reading their stories. It's actually kind of a high, when you put an inner piece of yourself out there and someone let's you know how they enjoyed it. Between your comments and watching the metrics of how many see the first chapter, how many times those same people came back to the first chapter and then how many of those moved on to next chapter and so on to the final, it really does create a high.

-Tim