"Aaaarggh" Paige screamed pushing her rolling desk chair forcefully back and jumping up, stumbling on her high heeled boots.
" Paige, what happened? Are you okay?" Paige heard Walter ask and spun around to see him holding one of Happy's wrenches up high, as if to smash something, and wearing a concerned look on his face.
"Why do have a wrench?!" Paige exclaimed.
"Well, I…I heard you scream and thought maybe you were in danger, the wrench was merely the closest defensive tool available" Walter quickly explained his cheeks tinted with a slight blush.
"I…that's very sweet of you, Walter" Paige smiled at him.
Walter gulped, "So, um, why were you screaming?"
"OH!" It was Paige's turn to blush now "Well I…"
Walter noticed that she seemed to be struggling to find the words and decided to smile back at her in a way he was hoped was encouraging, in a way he hoped showed he was really taking her advice seriously and trying to connect more emotionally.
"There's a spider on my desk" Paige rushed the words out so fast Walter almost didn't catch them.
"A spider…?" Walter questioned slowly, his eyebrows raised.
Paige huffed indignantly "Yes, it was big okay?! It scurried across my keyboard and went behind the pencil cup holder"
Walter was trying and failing miserably to suppress a smile.
"Don't laugh" Paige stated seriously, rolling her eyes at him.
"I'm not laughing. It … it's just completely irrational to be afraid of spiders, if anything they are much more afraid of you. Humans are much bigger and…" Walter rambled on.
"Walter" Paige interrupted "I know its irrational, but can… can you just kill it or something? Okay, it's creepy" she continued exasperated throwing her arms up.
"Okay" he stated, nodding his head, thrilled that Paige was asking for his help and preceded to walk around to the other side of her desk near the cup holder where the spider was supposedly hiding and picked it up to investigate.
Paige watched Walter search around picking up the other office supplies sitting on her desk with a look of determination covering his features. "I don't see…" Walter started but was cut off by Paige yelling.
"There, it's RIGHT there" she yelled pointing to the left side of her computer.
He picked the pencil holder cup back up and quickly dumped the contents, an array of neon colored markers rolling unto the desk in different directions. His eyes located the spider and he quickly trapped the spider under the holder. Walter stepped back and they watched as the spider started climbing up the black wired walls of the holder.
"There! Now I just need something to…" Walter looked around searching the room "Ah this will do" he stated as he picked up an empty manila folder and slid it under the pencil cup holder. "Okay" he clapped his hands together "Now I will dispose of the spider outside"
"Outside?! No, killed it!" Paige exclaimed
"Paige" Walter sighed "I cannot kill this spider in good conscience. Spiders actually have wonderful effects on nature and everyday life. For example, did you know, spiders…"
"Fine, fine. Whatever, just get it out of here" Paige half yelled in a frustrated tone.
Walter picked up the make shift trap and hurried out the door to release the spider. A few moments later he stepped back into the shop and saw Paige collecting the neon markers, that he had just dumped out moments before, in her hand.
"The spider has been released back into the wild" Walter smiled and walked over to Paige, the pencil holder cup outstretched in his hand. Paige smiled back at him and placed the markers back in the holder and watched as Walter placed it back its rightful place "and all it right with the world" he finished.
"Thank you, Walter" Paige stated gratefully placing her hand on Walters bicep as he took a step closer to her.
"It's not a problem. Glad I… I could be here for you, even with something as little as disposing of a common household pest." Walter managed to stumble out as Paige in return took a step toward him.
"Walter…" she whispered as they both took one final step together, that closed the remaining gap between them, the tips of their shoes touching.
The tension between the pair seemed to be rippling out in waves around them, engulfing the room. Walter started to speak "Paige, I…"
"Alright team, caught us a case!" Cabe yelled walking into the shop, the heavy metal door slamming shut behind him.
Just like that the tension evaporated, Walter and Paige quickly jumped apart as Cabe stepped into view and the rest of the team made their way out from the kitchen to hear the details of the case.
Walter looked up to see Toby staring at him. "What?" he questioned, annoyed by the smug expression covering Toby's face.
Toby raised his eyebrows in return, "Nothing" he answered just as smugly as he looked, bringing the mug in his hand up to his mouth, and taking a sip.