Chapter Text
The next morning, Alec met them in the garage.
They’d assembled a list of toxins that could be made out of the stolen chemicals and had been able to narrow it down to two. One of these toxins was odourless and tasteless, making it the most likely option, since it would be the easiest to distribute without anyone noticing.
When they told Alec about it, the FBI agent just nodded.
“That’s what I’ve feared.” At the questioning looks from the team, he continued.
“There’s been a burglary in the administrative centre of LA’s waterworks, last night. They say nothing’s missing and the software and everything else seems alright too. But we cannot rule out that whoever broke in, downloaded something from the system. Plans, sensitive data. We believe it has something to do with the bioweapon threat. We’ll go there, see if we can find any evidence regarding the perpetrators and what they might have taken. Agent Gallo is informed, he’s on his way to Homeland right now, to fill them in on everything, so they can prepare for the worst case.” He directed that last sentence at Walter, who nodded slightly.
“We’ll keep him informed, if we find out anything.”, Alec finished his briefing.
“Let’s go.”
They exchanged looks while they followed Alec outside. Toby knew the others had the same subtle, uneasy feeling as himself, in the light of these new developments. Even though this was their job and they’d handled many dangerous and potentially disastrous situations in the past, these things didn’t really get any less scary. And the thought of potentially deadly toxins being released into LA’s water supply was quite unsettling, to say the least.
A few minutes later, they sat in Alec’s car on their way to the waterworks. They couldn’t really do anything until they knew more and had already shared their new findings and theories back at the garage, so it was a relatively quiet ride.
As often during the last few weeks, when there was nothing immediately demanding his attention, Toby’s thoughts drifted off to Walter. To the kiss, for the thousandth time – God, why couldn’t he just stop to think about it..?! – but before he could start to spiral, like he usually did, Paige’s voice brought him back to reality.
“So, how have you two met?” Paige looked back at him from the passenger seat, and then at Alec, who was driving.
The brunette cast a quick look over his shoulder at Toby, a small, mischievous smile on his lips. Toby had to admit that it still looked as good on him as nine years ago.
“In a casino, actually.” Alec answered. “Toby scraped a victory against me- “
“You mean, I completely destroyed you.”, Toby interrupted him, because there was no way he would allow a such a blatant insult of his honour as poker player.
“Well..” Alec played sceptical for a second, before surrendering with a low chuckle.
“Okay, yeah, you did. I was impressed, actually. So after the game we got talking. One thing led to the next.” A smile tugged at the corners of his lips, which turned into a small grin, as he shot Toby another quick glance.
“It was a great night. Well, not just one, actually.”
Toby couldn’t help but grin, even though he felt a subtle warmth rising to his cheeks. Since the rest of team already knew about the nature of his and Alec relationship back then, the situation felt a lot less awkward and embarrassing than the one yesterday, but Toby was still thankful, when Happy gently nudged him with her shoulder.
“You never cease to surprise me, Doc.” Her words broke the short silence that had filled the van after Alec’s comment and prevented the situation from getting awkward.
Toby only listened with half an ear, as Paige asked Alec for how long he’d been in LA now, and even though he was interested in the answer, he couldn’t quiet bring himself to pay attention to Alec’s words. Too busy was he casting a subtle glance over to Walter, who sat two seats away from him, looking out of the window.
He knew it was stupid, but he still had the urge to know what Walter thought about it. His past with Alec. Him being into men.
He wasn’t scared that Walter would judge him, but.. Yeah, what..? It didn’t change anything. Whether the fact that Walter was most likely straight, nor the circumstance, that he'd never start a relationship with someone from the team. Toby being bi didn’t change that, nor did Walter knowing about it. But still, there was a part of Toby, that had hoped, kind of still hoped, to get any clues from Walter’s reaction. Clues regarding his thoughts about him being bi, about their kiss. Anything to keep himself from spiralling, even though he didn’t even know what that could be.
But still, he couldn’t keep himself from analysing Walter’s body language.
It was subtle and any normal person would’ve probably overlooked it, but Toby saw the slight tension in Walter’s shoulders, his jaw. His instincts told him that this wasn’t about their case, but rather the recent conversation.
Of course, Walter disapproved. Having a past like that with someone working in the team basically screamed distraction. And Toby knew Walter didn’t like distractions when they were working on a case, especially if they were of a romantic or sexual nature.
Toby tried to push the soft, dull pain in his chest aside, trying to focus on the city that passed by beyond the car window.
Ten minutes later, they arrived at the waterworks. The head of the facility – a Mr. Johnson - welcomed them, leading them into a room filled with monitors, where they could work.
After briefly summarizing again what had happened, he thanked them for their assistance and introduced them to one of his employees, – Mr. Carter - that would help them if they had any questions. The young man smiled nervously at them, probably intimidated by the reputation of Scorpion, or the current situation regarding the threat. Most likely both.
“So, um, if there’s anything I can help you with, regarding the program or the files..”
“Not necessary.” Walter replied, his eyes already scanning the room and Toby could hear in his voice that he already worked on a plan.
The employee seemed a bit uncertain due to the brief answer, opening his mouth and closing it again, as if he was unsure of what to answer.
Paige raised her voice.
“I think we’ll get by.” She smiled at the young man. “We’ll let you know if we need anything.”
For a second the employee looked at her, before he returned her smile, his nod still a bit nervous.
“Alright, I, uh.. I’ll be next door, if you need me.”
And with these words he left the room, closing the door behind him.
“Alright, Sylvester”, Walter made two steps into the room, turning around to face the group.
“Take a look at their system, try to find out, if the intruders downloaded anything, or implemented something into the software.”
Sylvester nodded, taking a seat at one of the computers and starting to type.
“Happy. Go with Mr. Carter and inspect the spot where the intruders broke in. Take Paige with you.”
“On it.” Happy replied, leaving the room together with Paige.
“Toby.” Toby could feel his heart stumble for a millisecond, as his eyes met Walter’s, something he’d avoided the best he could over the last few weeks for fear of what he might see there. But all there was in that deep brown, was professionality and Toby wasn’t sure if he was relieved or frustrated because of it.
“Take a look at the security footage from the last few days. Look for anything suspicious, anyone who could be a suspect.”
Toby nodded, heading over to one of the huge monitors.
“So that’s what you do here. Use your psychology magic to find suspects.”, said Alec next to him, while Toby searched for the security footage database. Despite the situation, Toby couldn’t help but smile at his comment. Alec’s ability to make him laugh had been one of the things Toby’d appreciated most about him and seemingly that hadn’t changed.
“I prefer to call it science. But sure, magic works too.”
He found the database, searching for the last few days, while creating a profile of the intruders in his head.
“We’re looking for a man, most likely, in his forties, casual clothing. He’ll take his time, look at the different sides of the building, so we should be able to see him through more than one security camera. Probably on the phone to look busy.”
They started three days ago. Luckily, one side of the building bordered on a narrow side street and since this part of the city wasn’t really crowded, there were even less people traversing said side street. Maybe one, sometimes two per hour. So they were able to use the security camera there as a marker, fast-forwarding the video files and only stopping if someone appeared in the designated frame. The intruders wouldn’t miss out on the opportunity to inspect this side of the building, especially since it potentially offered a good spot to break in, mostly shielded from the street and probably completely deserted at night.
They got through the first day relatively quickly, not finding anything of interest. They’d stopped at every person appearing on the side street, but every time Toby had been able to rule them out within seconds.
Toby closed the current tab, scrolling to get to day two.
“Let’s see, what we’ve got here..”, he mumbled, eyes fixed on the screen in front of him. He just wanted to click play to start the first file of day two, when he noticed from the corner of his eye that Alec was looking at him. Turning his head, he returned his gaze, making a small, questioning sound.
There was that smile on Alec’s lips again, as well as that mischievous sparkle in his eyes.
Toby felt a soft shiver running through him. He wasn’t used to Alec looking at him like that anymore. Well, if he was being honest, he wasn’t used to anyone looking at him like that.
“Still the hat, huh..?” Alec’s words were soft, almost gentle. He lifted his hand to give the hat a small nudge and when he lowered it again, his knuckles brushed ever so slightly over Toby’s cheek. The touch left a light tingly feeling on his skin, seeming to find an echo in his stomach.
He knew the touch had been on purpose. Saw it in the way Alec’s smile widened the tiniest bit and the sparkle in his eyes seemed to intensify.
He's flirting with him.
Toby hadn’t been one hundred percent sure until now, even though he probably should have been. Would have been, if he hadn’t been so distracted by the whole situation with Walter. But he was certain now. Only a blind man could miss that.
Toby wasn’t quite sure how exactly he felt about it, besides the fact that he was embarrassingly caught off guard by Alec’s touch.
“You’re surprised?”, he managed to reply, a crooked smile on his lips.
“Not a bit. You know what suits you.”
And Toby couldn’t help but notice that he liked it.
The compliments, the way Alec looked at him. It felt familiar and exciting at the same time and just.. good.
But before he could respond, Walter turned up to their left.
“Who are we looking for?”
The expression on his face was concentrated and Toby could swear that there was also a hint of annoyance there. Quickly, he pushed the thought aside, trying to focus on the screen in front of him.
He briefly repeated the profile and Walter gave a short nod, his gaze fixed on the screen, where the stills now started to move, as Toby pressed the play button.