THE RIGHT CHOICE

Paige always believed if her life was going to be in danger it would be directly related to her job. After all, dangerous circumstances were all too common at Scorpion. She never thought for a minute it would be the result of being polite to a neighbor in her apartment laundromat.

It all started on a typical Saturday. Walter and Ralph had gone to Angeles National Forest for the day to work on Ralph's mineralogy merit badge for Forestry Braves. They had been so cute together when Walter came by to get her boy that morning. Looking very out of character, they were both wearing brand new regulation Forestry Braves windbreakers and baseball caps. The hats were so new that they sat stiffly on both dark-haired heads. She had never seen Walter wear a hat before, so she knew he was doing it for Ralph's benefit. It made her smile to remember how a-dork-able they looked as they grabbed backpacks and set off together. Ralph was practically bouncing with impatience for them to go. Spending time with Walter doing anything was what her son loved best.

Paige took the rare opportunity of having a day to herself to work on laundry, a seemingly endless task for any mom. She threw her hair into a messy ponytail and donned her favorite comfy, sloppy clothes and flip-flops. She stripped the beds and stuffed the sheets into her large laundry basket. She grabbed the wheeled clothes hamper from the bathroom and set her basket, detergent, fabric softener and a paperback book on top. Clumsily maneuvering her way out her door and down the hall to the apartment building's laundry room, she felt like a circus balancing act.

As her last loads were lazily thumping around in the bank of dryers on the wall, Paige stared at the words in her book. She was unable to focus on the content because her mind was spinning like the dryers. Her restless thoughts were focused on the men in her life. On one hand she had Tim. He was a perfectly charming and attractive guy who made it obvious he was interested in her. He was easy going and open with no apparent hidden agendas. He had asked her to dinner a few times, but she always gave him some excuse. While she enjoyed the attention from Tim (and the dark looks this association produced from her boss), there was no real spark on her part. Plus, being unusually demonstrative, Ralph showed a strong dislike for the man.

On the other hand, there was Walter. He was complicated and frustrating and weird and closed off and, let's face it, beautifully sexy. And there were those times he could be very sweet and oddly vulnerable. But he blew so hot and cold. Every time she felt like they were getting closer, he would withdraw again. Since Toby and Happy became a couple, he seemed even more distant than usual.

Paige sighed and gave up trying to read. She was so preoccupied she almost failed to notice her neighbor, his upper half almost totally obscured by a huge bundle of clothes, stumbling through the door of the laundry room. That is until he tripped and fell. Shirts, pants, socks, underwear and towels went flying in all directions. His bottle of detergent spun out of his hand and landed with a thud on the hard concrete floor splitting and spilling its contents in a glutinous puddle.

Paige rushed to help asking breathlessly, "Are you okay?"

"It's mostly my pride that's hurt," he replied with a sheepish grin.

The two of them began to gather his things. Paige mopped up the spilled detergent with shirts and towels and threw the dripping bottle in the nearby trash can.

"Look on the bright side. Your clothes are pre-soaped now," she joked.

"There's always a silver lining, right?" He laughed then continued, "Thanks for the assist. I'm Chris by the way." He extended his hand for her to shake.

"Paige." Smirking, she held up her hand. It was slimy with spilled detergent. "Rain check on the handshake, I guess," and began to wipe it off the best she could on one of his towels.

She took in his features. He was of medium height but he was very solid and broad through the shoulders. He had sandy blonde hair and pale blue eyes that were strangely opaque and a touch too close together. "I've seen you before. I think your place is two doors down and across the hall from mine. Welcome to the neighborhood. I noticed you moving in a few weeks ago."

As he loaded his clothes into the nearest washers, they chatted for a few minutes. The conversation was friendly enough at first as they talked generally about their jobs, the unseasonably warm weather and the ridiculous traffic between LA and Oceanside. But then he started asking questions that were a bit too personal. The direction things took made Paige uncomfortable. Soon he began to look her up and down and let his eyes linger improperly on her legs and breasts. Absurdly Paige was thinking about her sloppy attire and was glad she hadn't bothered to fix herself up or he probably would have been even more obnoxious. Then he looked with a leer at the lingerie in her basket and asked what colors her boyfriends preferred on her. Taken aback she didn't respond until he asked if she would like to model for him and ran his fingers lightly down the back of her arm. She was perilously close to telling the guy just exactly how repugnant she thought he was, but was stopped from telling him off properly by the buzzing of the dryers.

Grimacing, she settled with saying stiffly, "You are being very inappropriate and I don't appreciate it. Kindly keep your hands to yourself and please leave me alone! Let me get my clothes out of the dryer and go."

Still ogling her, Chris sneered, "Don't be like that, honey."

Paige shoved past him. Without stopping to fold anything, she stuffed her clean washing into her hamper and basket and beat a hasty retreat toward the door. For a few seconds he blocked her exit with one hand on the doorframe.

"Move your hand, please," she ground out, eyes narrowed.

With a dark chuckle that had her quivering with disgust, he dropped his hand and let her pass.

When Paige got back to her apartment, she felt like she needed a hot shower. Thinking about how she had touched that creep's dirty clothes almost made her gag. She busied herself folding and putting away her things when she heard a knock on the door. She looked out the peephole and her perverted neighbor was on the other side. The distortion of the lens made his eyes seem even more disturbing. She held her breath, ignored his knock and willed him to go away. Why in the hell had she told him which apartment was hers?!

"I know you're in there, sugar," he said, his oily voice oozing around the cracks in her door, "Oh well, maybe you'll come out and play with me some other time." After a pause, he cackled to himself and strolled back down the hall.

She shivered in revulsion and went to take a scalding shower.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

In the busyness of her weekend, Paige tried and mostly succeeded in forgetting all about her nasty neighbor until Monday morning. She and Ralph were heading out for the day and she was startled when she saw him in the hall. He appeared to be playing with his phone, but when she brushed past him, he winked at her and said, "Looking good, baby."

When she got to the garage she was still a bit sickened, so Paige told her coworkers about the weekend's bizarre encounter with the vulgar man. Their responses were varied according to their individual personalities. Happy told her to kick him in the cojones the next time he bothered her. Cabe and Tim both offered to kick his ass. After dubbing him Creepy Chris, Toby told her she was right to trust her instincts. His advice was to let the team research him and turn the tables on him. Sylvester suggested she move immediately. Walter was remarkably quiet about it.

It wasn't until the end of the day that he pulled her to one side and asked, "Why didn't you tell me about that encounter when I dropped Ralph back off at your place on Saturday afternoon? I would have confronted your neighbor for you."

"To be honest," she answered, "I forgot all about it until I saw him in the hall this morning."

"Did he say anything else to you today?" Walter demanded sharply.

"No. He was fiddling with his phone and only looked up to wink at me and make that one stupid comment," she shuddered with distaste and made a face.

"I-I would be more comfortable if you and Ralph would stay in the Airstream here for a while until he stops lurking in your hallway."

Paige looked a bit baffled and shook her head, "I don't think he was lurking. I mean, he does live there. And I can take care of myself. I'll just keep my pepper spray handy when I'm in the hall. I'm not going to let some freakish guy scare me away from my home."

Perturbed, Walter said, "Okay, but I'm going to run a background check on him and in the meantime someone from the team will walk you all the way into your apartment every night until further notice."

When Paige opened her mouth to protest his autocratic behavior, Walter continued adamently, "I'm not going to argue about this. Do you remember when you lectured me about taking unnecessary risks? This is an easy thing we can do to prevent a potential hazard."

Because she could see the logic and more importantly the concern behind his demands, she chose not to debate the issue with him and instead agreed to a nightly escort even though she thought it was unneeded. So Cabe followed her home that first night and made sure she got inside safely. The whole team took turns doing this for a few weeks without incident until Paige finally insisted they stop. Walter was not pleased, but nothing had come up on the background check so he finally acquiesced.

She had only seen Creepy Chris a few times around the complex and while he still made her feel ill at ease, he seemed to be maintaining his distance. Convinced it was all just a storm in a teacup, she went back to her normal routine and put it from her mind.

She would never regret anything more.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

AN: This plot bunny has been running around my brain for a while. This is my first attempt at a multi-chapter story, so you guys will have to tell me if you want me to continue. I already have the story worked out in my mind, I just have to get it down as I have time.

I have to say I had this first part written before Episode 2-20 so we hadn't officially met Tim yet. He seems okay so far, (less offensive than I thought he might be) and while Paige seems flattered by him, she still isn't giving him the 'Walter Look'. Walter just seems so closed off recently though. But I'm hopeful everything will work out by the season finale. Part of me SO wants Ralph to be firmly on Team Walter! That's why I made him hate Tim in my story. That may be AU before the next chapter is up.