GETTING PLAYED

AN: I was so impressed with Walter in this latest episode. He's come so far from Season One. Almost always before someone has had to point out the feelings of others and explain why they feel the way they do and tell him how to behave accordingly. This time he saw how Paige was feeling and called her out on it. And he was right! Yay! I had to give him a little reward. ;-)

Walter was achy, streaked with dirt and feeling vaguely sick to his stomach after stuffing his face with junk food, some of which was leftover from Halloween, all day. And he was tired. So tired.

The whole day turned out to be an emotional train wreck. Dealing with feelings always left him extra wrung out. Then the overpowering relief of Cabe's acquittal followed by the deeply moving gesture of the gifts was almost more than he could process in such a short time.

He was especially grateful for his girlfriend who understood, would take time to explain things and help him deal with situations he found difficult. In fact, he'd improved so much in the years since he'd known her, earlier in the day he'd even been able to recognize when she was overwrought and grouchy and help her identify the cause. He smiled to himself. More progress. Good for him.

While the team was waiting for Paige to pick up both Ralph and a take out meal from Kovelsky's, Walter went upstairs to shower and change. As much as he cared for his friends, he really needed to withdraw and regroup for a few stolen minutes.

After a quick shower, change of clothes and a little time spent working on some coding he needed to do for a project, Walter was refreshed and much steadier. When he heard the garage door open as well as Paige's and Ralph's distinct voices, he felt ready to rejoin the team for a much earned celebration.

He was halfway down the stairs when his gaze met his girlfriend's. She didn't say anything, but something about the way she looked at him caused him to flush while a warm wave of awareness washed over him. His brow furrowing, he paused and stared, watching the way her smoldering eyes raked over his body. It made his mouth go dry and caused him to swallow audibly. The tip of her tongue wet her lips and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly before she turned her head to respond to something Ralph said.

Everything went back to normal when everyone was sorting through the food to find their choices and took seats at the conference table, passing the bread and other shared items around. The mood was as jolly as a group of geniuses can get as they talked over top of one another during Ralph's questioning. Luckily the boy could concentrate on multiple things at once because he wanted every last one of the details of the trial and the rescue of Monty. He interrogated them all thoroughly to get the whole story.

Walter began to think he'd misinterpreted Paige's non-verbal signs of desire earlier. He chocked it down to his inability to read people adequately. Maybe his progress wasn't advancing as rapidly as he'd hoped.

Then he felt her hand on his thigh.

He cleared his throat and continued expounding on the thought process behind the plan to flood the cistern. She was looking across the table at Florence, asking her about Christmas decorations or some other nonsense, when her fingertips began to stroke in slow, ever widening circles.

Walter's voice cracked mid-sentence. Perhaps he'd accurately guessed the direction of Paige's thoughts after all. But under the current circumstances, there was nothing he could do about those ideas. So, he worked to modulate his breathing, trying to stem the heat creeping up his neck before it could turn the tips of his ears a telltale red.

When her fingers brushed him lightly, he jerked reflexively and banged his knee on the underside of the table, groaning softly for more than one reason. It had to be an accident. Didn't it?

It wasn't an accident.

Paige's playful fingers touched him again followed by her palm, fondling him more firmly while she continued her conversation with Flo, appearing completely blasé about the whole thing. Then her touch abruptly disappeared.

When Walter recovered his wits, he found her hand lying innocently atop the table beside her plate as if nothing happened. As if he'd imagined the whole thing.

But Walter's imagination had never been that great.

He focused exclusively on her face for a few minutes trying to catch her eye, but she continued eating and talking with everyone else. She never even glanced at him.

Toby did, however, waggling his eyebrows and giving Walter and an irritating, lop-sided smirk. He looked away from the stupid, know-it-all shrink.

He and Sly subsequently began a discussion about the merits of having a lawyer on staff, in which Sylvester was hinting heavily for a raise in his salary. Part of Walter was nodding, feigning interest and assent, while a greater part of his brain was still analyzing his girlfriend's actions.

He decided to try an experiment, nudging her leg with his.

A few breathless seconds later, she nudged back.

Hmmm. Interesting.

He needed more research, so he wrapped his lower leg loosely around hers grazing her shin with his calf and he placed his palm gently above her knee and began to slowly and lightly trace the inside seam of her skinny jeans with the barest tips of his fingers.

It was all Walter could do not to chuckle or leer at Paige when her voice squeaked in the midst of her chat with Ralph about his science club's Christmas party and gift exchange. She shifted and let her legs fall open a bit wider.

He halted his teasing just short of the target zone, but close enough to feel her warmth on the back of his hand. He congratulated himself when she squirmed in her seat. Cutting his eyes toward Paige, he noted her heightened color and couldn't completely hide his satisfied smile. Walter had never encountered a more interesting or beautiful woman.

While this game was amusing, it came to a sudden stop once everyone was done eating. Paige quickly stood up and started clearing the table.

Toby snickered to himself then, addressing the company liaison, he drawled, "Are you feeling okay, Paige? You're looking a little flushed. And are you in a big hurry for this celebratory meal to be over or something? There's no need to rush. Unless you have other plans?"

She glared back at him, but chose not to comment while she kept busily tossing empty containers in the recycle bin and the leftovers in the trash. Walter got up to help her.

"Well…?" Toby continued his needling even though Happy was frowning at him in confused aggravation. "Do you have something more pressing to do? Or someone you're thinking about pressing? Or squeezing for that matter? Studies have shone certain nocturnal activities, aside from the obvious benefits, can also help to relieve built up stress. Don't get me wrong, I commend your choice of stress reducing activities. It beats what the rest of us were doing today."

The misbehaving behaviorist grunted when his wife kicked him under the table and hissed, "If you ever want me to relieve your built up stress again, you'll shut it. Now."

"Yes, dear," Toby answered meekly, but he was still grinning evilly at Walter and Paige.

Ralph, looking disgusted, threw in a quiet, "Gross."

That little comment brought Walter up short. It was one thing for Toby to embarrass him and Paige, but quite another for Ralph to be upset. Walter narrowed his eyes and scowled a warning at the shrink before carrying the stack of mismatched silverware to the kitchen. The last thing he wanted was for the young genius to be made uncomfortable because of Walter's relationship with his mother.

Paige was running steaming water into the sink and watching while the squirt of dish soap she'd added started to foam. She didn't look up at his approach, but she smiled ever so slightly. "Sorry about that," She said, but didn't sound truly apologetic. "It's hard to get anything past a genius psychiatrist. Sometimes it ruins all my fun."

Walter bumped her shoulder with his and answered her smile with a grin of his own. "I can take Toby's taunting. I'm used to it by now. I just didn't want him upsetting Ralph."

After a few moments working in silent tandem, he asked, "Do you want to tell me what all that was about? Not that I'm objecting," he was quick to add.

"I wish I could say Toby was wrong...," Paige said quietly, glancing around Walter to make sure the shrink wasn't listening. Then focusing on the dishes, she continued, "See, after I called back to Kovelsky's to apologize, I got to thinking about better ways to release tension than biting some poor restaurant worker's head off. Heaven only knows I've dealt with plenty of irate customers in my waaay too long stint as a waitress. And I was so impressed by your recognition of what I was feeling earlier and you being able to identify the reason why, my mind immediately went to you and how much progress you've made in the EQ department and how proud I am of you. Of course from there it didn't take long to think of something I really enjoy doing with you that would both help with the stress and show you just how amazing and incredibly… sexy, I think your human progress is." She finished in a whisper and flashed a flirty, rather hungry smile in his direction. It did strange things to his equilibrium.

He began to dry the silverware she'd been washing so he would have something to do with his hands. Because what he really wanted to do was toss her over his shoulder like a caveman and haul her up the stairs to his loft no matter who was watching. Walter kept throwing her desperate, longing looks instead.

Darting another quick peek at the team, she warned, "If you don't stop looking at me like that, I won't be responsible for my actions. You've already been on my mind all evening. That's why I practically molested you at the dinner table in front of everyone. I was having trouble keeping my hands to myself." With that, she reached over and gave his bottom a quick squeeze.

Oh, so the game wasn't over after all.

Walter grabbed her by the upper arms and turned them both so her back was pressed to the counter. She was held solidly in place from shoulders to knees by the length of his body. His eyes bored into hers, daring her to make good on her threat. Then he planted one hard kiss firmly on her startled mouth and said gruffly, "That will give us something else to think about until everyone else is gone or asleep. Then I will hold you responsible for your actions."

With that, Walter left an astonished, intrigued and aroused Paige to stare after him, silently plotting her next move.

Game on!