Scorpion's New EQ

Chapter 23

  A gentle voice prodded into my dream and my heavy eyelids opened slowly. Standing there was Ralph, his eyes prying into me. he was wearing a shirt that was a little too big for him that had an image of Super Fun Guy on it, and matching pants. His eyes were bright, as if he had been awake for a while.

  "You were talking again. It didn't sound good either," he said it quietly, probably so he wouldn't alert Paige, who was the next room over.

  I sat up slowly with a sigh and rubbed my eyes. I drew my blanket around me to block out the chill in the room, "I'm fine, it was just a dream. Not the greatest, but I'm okay. Thank you for waking me up though," I said, matching Ralph's volume. My voice was still raspy with sleep and I could feel how tense I was from the dream.

  "This is the third night in a row, are you sure?" Ralph asked, obviously not wanting to push me too much. He had a point though, this was the third night that he had woken me up from me talking or having a bad dream. Maybe I wasn't 'fine'.

  I put my hand on his shoulder and let a small smile onto my face in an attempt to release the tension building in the room, "Yes, I am fine. Some nights I don't sleep at all so this isn't that bad." Ralph looked unsure but nodded anyways. I relaxed a little and said., "Go back to sleep, and I will too."

  Ralph nodded again and then began to walk towards the door, but before he reached it, he turned back to me, "Toby could probably help you, you would just have to build yourself up to talk to him." With that he turned and walked from the room, leaving the room utterly silent.

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  "You look awful," Toby said as I approached him. I scowled at him and tried to keep my temper in check. It was not only a Monday, but that's not exactly what I like to hear when I come to someone for advice. Real confidence booster, Doc.

  "I didn't sleep last night. . . or the night before. . . or the night before. . ." I lead off and I saw the sarcastic grin appear on Toby's face right before he let out his remark.

  "Well yeah, that tends to happen when you have insomnia," his voice was laced with sarcasm and I fought the urge to punch him. Evidently Toby saw the look on my face and he withheld anything else he was planning on saying.

  Toby collected himself before he asked, "Alright, well obviously something is going on in that head of yours, so what's up?"

  I drew in a breath, grateful that Toby had finally picked up on my vibes so that I wouldn't have to say anything myself. I leaned against his desk and bit my lip cautiously, debating whether I should really tell him, before I said, "I have been having really weird dreams that I can't help but feel are. . . important somehow." A confused expression crossed Toby's face, but before he could respond, Walter burst through the door of the garage.

  "Happy, I asked you to meet me out front!" He yelled it, knowing the Happy was probably in her area. His face looked a combination of stressed and angry. Perhaps even worried. I forgot that today was the day that his parents were flying in. God, I was a wreck.

  I cast my eyes back on Toby and mouthed "later" before I pushed myself off of his desk and wandered over to where Paige was sitting on the couch, waiting to go with Walter and Happy to the airport. She bit her lip nervously and held a cup of long cold black coffee between her hands.

  It seemed that she barely noticed me as I sat besides her. I was still debating whether or not to go with them to the airport, which also included the hospital. Granted, Megan was a family member of mine now, but I felt that it was time for her immediate family to be there for her. And, quite frankly, the added bonus of meeting Walter's parents scared me more than I care to admit.

  "You don't have to come today, you know that right?" Paige asked gently, pulling me out of my stupor. I could tell she was on edge, but we all were. Megan was on her pretty much on her death bed.

  "But I want to be there for support. I want to be there should it happen today. . ." I led off and looked over at Walter. His hands were crossed over his chest and his eyes were downcast, stopping me from seeing if he allowed any emotion about Megan to come through today or if he was going to try to pull through without emotion.

  "We understand but we also know that it could get, for lack of a better word, odd, for you. You will meet Walter's parents regardless, but if I were you, I'd want it to be where you feel more comfortable. That's here, isn't it?" Paige asked. I sighed and nodded. How she was able to read that from me was unusual. Then again, I always let my guard down a little during situations like this.

  Coming to a conclusion after a while, I sighed again and let my head fall back against the couch, "Alright, I'll stay here. Never know if you're going to need backup for something," I said it jokingly and it brought a relieved smile to Paige's face. "Give Sylvester my best please. I can't imagine how this is wearing on him."

   Paige looked from me to Walter, and she simply said, "The same way it is wearing on him, just Sly isn't trying to hide it from us."

  With that, there was a car honk from outside and Walter was beckoning to Paige that it was time to go. I was about to say something to Walter for support but before I could, he was out the door with Paige right behind him.

  I didn't move from  the couch for a while, Toby occasionally saying stuff to himself as he focused on his computer. He had obviously lost track of time so I cleared my throat to get his attention. Only when I did it a third time did he look up at me.

  "Weren't you planning on going to the hospital?" I asked when he looked at me expectantly. He opened his mouth as if to argue or say something but then his eyes traveled to the time on his computer and he shot out of his chair.

  He grabbed his keys off of the desk and began towards the door, calling back to me, "Don't think that we're done talking about your sleep issue. I am working on it." With that, Toby shut the door behind him and I heard his car start up and pull away, leaving me in the garage, utterly alone.

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Author's Note

FINALS IS OVER I DID WELL YAY.

I'm back after almost three weeks. This isn't the longest chapter ever but I wanted to get somwthing out for you guys since I got so many new readers while I was gone omg I love y'all.

And yes, this is based off of the episode "Arrivals and Departures" and yes, you will probably cry. This is the first chapter that has a few chapters based off of what actually happens in the show, and I am doing it because I feel like this is important for the story line. SO YEAH GRAB THOSE TISSUES.

Thanks for reading everyone, you are all lovely, intelligent, fun human beings that I would love to meet honestly and I am so grateful that I get to do this for you guys. :)