Tonight on Tumblr I was sent a drabble prompt "Things you said with no space between us" for Walter and Paige. I'm not super comfy yet writing Scorpion - especially with all the brilliance that I've seen out there so far - but I ended up fairly satisfied with this.


"I don't understand," Walter said. "How does this make you feel better?"

"I don't know, Walter," she said, "I'm not alone, for one."

Walter tipped his head to look at her. "Whether I'm here or not, Drew and Ralph are still six hundred miles away and Ralph still has the stomach flu. And yet me laying here next to you is actually some sort of comfort?"

She rolled her eyes. "Well, I suppose the jury isstill out on that." She really didn't know why she'd asked him to stay. It was embarrassing enough that he dropped by to check on her and found her laying face down on her bed sobbing because she felt so helpless to help her son feel better, but then she'd actually asked that he stay with her. She should have known that he'd try to bring logic into it…Paige furrowed her brow. Of course she'd known that's what he would do. She knew him well enough by now.

"I guess I asked you to keep me company because…because I don't know what's going on with Ralph. You…I almost always know what you're going to say. And consistency is comforting." She gulped. "And when you're around, things always seem to end up okay."

"I do have an excellent track record in that respect," Walter acknowledged. Paige laughed. He seemed pleased that he'd gotten her to laugh…then he shifted his weight, hesitantly sliding his arm under her neck and awkwardly draping it over her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Paige asked, startled at this uncharacteristic move. She shifted slightly to make the new arrangement more comfortable.

She felt Walter shrug. "I've seen Toby comfort Happy this way, you comforted Sly the other day in a similar fashion, and…"

"But you don't believe touching has any meaning. You don't like touching people."

"But I do like getting jobs done," Walter said, "if this helps you…then it's what I want to do."

She smiled at him, daring to scoot a tad closer and rest her head against his armpit. "Thank you, Walter."