And twenty days later...here's some more smut! Just a few more weeks of the interloper, and then maybe we can start to get on to lovely things like established Waige spending some time heating up the Dineen living room.


Walter smiled as Ralph made his way over to him after hugging his mom. "See you later, Walt," he said with a grin.

"See you later, buddy," Walter said, ruffling the boy's hair. He didn't live with Paige and Ralph – at least not officially. Most of his stuff was still at the garage, but for the past two months, he'd been sleeping at the condo, helping Paige cook and assisting Ralph with his school projects. He occasionally stayed behind at the garage when the two of them went home, needing time to himself, but for the most part he relished the change. He loved watching movies on the couch, Paige's head on his shoulder and Ralph cuddled against him. He loved waking up with her within reach. And he loved this part – where Ralph was headed off to meet the carpool and would go up to both of them to say his goodbyes.

Both of them. His mother and Walter. Paige used to be the only one in the whole world's population that he would go up to before leaving for school and now he came up to Walter too.

Domestic life had never been quite his style – but Paige and Ralph were the family that made it all too appealing.

Ralph left the condo, the door closing with a quiet click. Walter and Paige stood in silence.

Scorpion was almost always a busy company, but work had, lately, been almost relentless. For the past seventeen days, there hadn't been movie nights. All their food had been delivered or picked up already cooked, and not once had Walter and Paige both gone to bed and then subsequently woke up the next morning at the same time. One or the other was always working on something far later into the night than the other could stay awake, or had gotten up extra early in the morning to pick up wherever they'd left off. Who surrendered to sleep last or woke up first was about fifty fifty. Four years on the job and Paige had long since been every bit as dedicated to Scorpion as Walter.

Now they were alone in the apartment, and while there were dishes to do and carpet to vacuum and clothing to launder and, at some point, a garage to drive to, both of them stayed still, stayed quiet, just because they could.

Then Paige sighed. "It's sad how much I'm looking forward to sorting dirty laundry."

Walter chuckled, turning to head for the hall closet. "I think even the vacuum has collected dust." Locating it, he noted that he was right.

Paige brought a laundry basket full of clothing out of the master bedroom and set it on the kitchen counter, since Walter was vacuuming around the couch. He watched as she dropped the clothes onto three separate piles. She usually had more than three categories – a luxury she could afford herself after years of dumping everything in together to save quarters – but today, it seemed that she was trying to minimize the number of loads she had to do. Despite her expressed eagerness to actually get to do chores they hadn't had time nor energy for for nearly three weeks, laundry was still something that had to be done, and she'd had so many responsibilities lately that she wanted to slack, just a little bit, and this was something that she could do half – heartedly that wouldn't result in mass destruction.

Not that Walter particularly enjoyed vacuuming either, but his life was full of complex problems, many that took what felt like forever to craft and implement solutions for. Vacuuming was getting something done quickly and done well, and there were times he enjoyed the little accomplishments.

He ran the vacuum around and under the coffee table, glancing over at Paige because that's what he did. He caught her looking at him, and smiled before shifting his eyes back to the carpet. He was nearly done. When he glanced back at her, he noticed she was still staring at him, and she didn't appear to have moved. He turned off the vacuum. "What?"

"I was just...thinking."

Walter didn't know how to respond, so he shrugged. "Thinking is good."

"Yeah. You know," she said, glancing over at him, her lower lip rolling under. Walter's eyebrows ticked up a fraction as he waited for her to continue. Her tone had changed. He knew that tone. She tipped her head to the side. "We haven't made love in almost two weeks."

Thinking is very good. Walter noticed the gray shirt she held in her hands. Ah. That's what he'd been wearing the last time, twelve days ago, when they had no way of knowing what a long stretch of non – stop work strain they had in front of them but did know that the past few days had been ridiculously busy. They'd both needed something to relieve the stress and she'd ended up sitting on the edge of the kitchen table, her skirt bunched up around her hips and her underwear pulled to the side while his pants were pooled around his ankles. His boxers had only gone as low as necessary. Then, there'd been a rush to re – dress before Ralph got out of the shower and he'd returned to the program he was trying to code while she studied a transcript from a meeting Cabe had had on the team's behalf.

Since then, nothing. Sure, they'd kissed, he'd held her hand while they flew home from missions at all hours of the night, but they hadn't gone any farther than that in twelve days. They certainly weren't rabbits, but in the nine months they'd been a couple, they'd never gone half that long.

Walter had been too busy, too focused, to even have really thought about it. But now that she'd mentioned it...

The leggings she wore hugged her tightly from hips to ankles, which Walter thought was an odd observation to make, seeing as all leggings were designed that way. But suddenly, that was all he could think about, that and how the slightly loose hoodie she was wearing contrasted, hiding her figure from shoulders to waist. Her hair was the had the fluffy, slight frizziness to it that happened when she towel dried it and didn't have time to style, and although he wasn't sure she believed him when he told her, he always found that look irresistible. He didn't know why. Maybe because it was a version of herself that very few people got to see.

"Uh huh," he said, realizing he hadn't responded out loud, and she smiled slyly, as if she knew exactly what he'd been thinking. He had the coiled up cord from the vacuum still in his hand, and his thumb rubbed it absentmindedly, feeling the beginnings of the familiar tightening in his groin.

Paige dropped the gray shirt onto one of the clothing piles. "Get on the couch."

He dropped the cord as if it had become radioactive and obliged, settling down on the far right cushion. As soon as he sank onto the cushion, he regretted his decision of not choosing the middle one – it'd be almost impossible for her to sit on his lap this way. He was debating if he should get up or scoot over when Paige came around the other side of the couch and lowered herself onto it, stretching across the other two cushions. It quickly became clear to Walter that straddling her was not what she currently had in mind.

Paige tapped his thigh. "Bring your leg up here." He shifted his weight, settling his body in the corner of the couch and leaving his left leg hanging off it as he maneuverd his right leg between her and the back of the couch. Paige lifted up on her arms as he did so, giving him room. Then she scooted closer to him. "There we go," she said, running a hand slowly down and then back up his leg. Walter felt his heart rate increase, his body flushing all the way down to his groin, where he was beginning to ache.

She lowered her head, opening her mouth and grazing it along his fly. Walter groaned quietly, both from anticipation and from the light sensation. She repeated the motion with slightly more downward force, and his stomach muscles clenched in expectation.

He didn't use to like this. He had thought it was cheap and degrading, and knew there were thousands upon thousands of videos on the internet that would back up that thinking – women in almost nothing, men grabbing their hair and thrusting into their mouths, making them choke...he couldn't treat Paige like that.

But then she'd convinced him that it wasn't degrading, not in and of itself, just one of a thousand different ways that she wanted to love him, and the first time she'd put her mouth around him he swore he'd departed for another dimension.

She unzipped his fly, spit into her hand, and reached into his boxers, wrapping her fingers around him. She smiled, seeming pleased, as her eyes flickered up to meet his. "Pretty hard already," she commented softly, almost smugly.

"All you," he responded, his eyes half closed. It wasn't a cheap exchange. He used to have to actively think himself into an erection, take advantage of a natural hormonal upswing and get himself there, with his hand and a lot of focus. With her...sometimes all she had to do was look at him in a certain way and he had to actively think himself out of the mood.

He lifted his hips and she tugged his pants and boxers off his hips, settling down on the couch. She licked her lips as her hand continued to slowly move up and down. Walter's abdomen clenched again. Paige smiled affectionately at him, her free hand lightly stroking his hip. "I love you," she said.

"Let me kiss you." He didn't want them to start with her lips anywhere but on his own.

Paige rose up on her knees, leaning over him and placing both hands on his neck as she put her mouth on his, kissing him deeply, moaning quietly into his mouth as their tongues tangled slowly together. She lowered her pelvis, pinning him between her hips and his stomach, and slowly rocked her hips back and forth over him. He grunted into her mouth, the hand resting against her rib cage clenching into a fist around her sweatshirt. She lifted her head, looking down at him before moving to kiss his neck as she continued to slowly move her hips forward and back. Walter groaned as her tongue danced along the spot on his neck she'd discovered – to her delight – was almost like a light switch for her, to get him writhing beneath her. He lifted his hips up against hers, using his hands to push her down on him. "I need – "

"What do you need?" she murmured in his ear before dropping her lips back down to the spot on his neck.

He turned his head against hers, his mouth against her hair, and he could feel his own hot breath. I need your mouth or I need to be inside you. "Now," he begged, groaning again as he began to feel how affected she was by him through her leggings. "Oh God."

She kissed him on the mouth one more time before backing down his body, settling back on her sternum between his thighs and taking him into her hand.

She always began by pressing soft, tender kisses along the length of him, one of her many ways of always reassuring him that everything he felt for her was reciprocated. Then she dropped her head, licking him slowly from base to tip. Walter tipped his head back, closing his eyes as she repeated, two, three, four times before taking him partway in her mouth, locking her lips around him and swirling her tongue.

Walter pressed his lips together and forced a breath out through his nose. This woman knew him, knew everything about him, and she'd quickly brought him to that place that was right near the edge, not so close that he was in any immediate danger of toppling over, but close enough that he couldn't think straight. And she would keep him there until he couldn't stand it anymore.

She locked her lips just below his head and swirled her tongue over and around him, moving her jaw back and forth so her lips rubbed against him. She knew the underside was incredibly sensitive for him, so she flicked her tongue against it. Walter grunted, tipping his head back.

Paige slowly took him all the way into her mouth and hollowed out her cheeks. Walter's breath hitched, his eyes rolled back and he clutched at the cushion beneath him, pushing his hips down and resisting the urge to thrust upward. "Paige," he gasped.

He saw her smile as she came up, swirling her tongue around his head before taking him in again, bobbing her head slowly, her hand substituting when she didn't go down all the way. The sensations she was creating were drawing breath out of him in sharp gasps. Paige lifted her head, pushing her hair back behind her ears, pumping her hand faster, then put her mouth back on him, sucking hard as she accepted all of him again. Walter felt pressure building in his groin, almost without warning, and he drew in a ragged breath. "I'm close," he panted, "I'm close."

Paige lifted her head, her mouth coming off of him, and Walter's hips jerked in agitation as her hand released him as well. He saw her lips curve into the same smug smile that he used when he teased her. She ran a finger lightly up and down him, her eyes following its path. It wasn't enough. It wasn't nearly enough. "Paige," he said, his voice barely a whisper. She didn't look up, continuing to barely touch him, keeping the tip of one finger as her only contact with where he desperately wanted her. "Paige, please."

She lowered her head, slowly licking up the length of him again, then pointed her tongue and moved it rapidly back and forth along the underside. His muscles tightened so quickly they almost hurt. Then she wrapped her lips around him and slowly filled her mouth, lips moving back and forth at the base of him as she sucked hard.

Walter's hips bucked. "Ho God," he managed, his left hand still clutching the front of the cushion, his right sliding up over the top of the couch as his breathing grew heavier. Paige kept on, taking him all in, sucking vigorously for several seconds, then coming up and repeating the process. She quickened her tempo, moving relentlessly, and that was it.

"Paige, Paige, Paige..." He managed to choke out his warning to her and she immediately locked her lips around him, one of her hands beneath them, the other one rubbing his hip as he shuddered and pulsed, a loud groan escaping him as his vision temporarily blurred. He let go of the back of the couch and put a hand over his eyes, panting hard. Paige's tongue swirled around him again and she swallowed.

She kept her hand around him, her thumb rubbing lightly, and she pressed one more kiss to his head before crawling up his body and settling on top of him, stretching her arms out in front of her, past his ears. She nestled her head into his chest and sighed audibly. Her weight on him made it harder to catch his breath, but he didn't care. He loved when she was this close to him. "Oh my God," he gasped, sliding his arms around her. "That was incredible."

She lifted her head. "I love you," she said, her voice low. She slid her arm back, cupping the side of his face with her hand. He stretched his neck forward and kissed her, needing to stop within seconds for oxygen but continuing to brush his lips lightly along hers as his breathing slowly began to resemble its regular rhythm.

He slid the hand that was resting on the small over back up over her rear, squeezing gently, then reached farther, between her legs, his fingers able to just reach her entrance. He crooked his index finger, rubbing at it through her leggings, and Paige pushed her hips backward against him, slowly wiggling her hips side to side for more friction as she sighed, "oh yeah."

"Lay back," he murmured; she rose up off of him and they rotated to the other side of the couch, her leaning backward against the arm and him shifting onto his knees, tugging his boxers back over his hips. "There you go," he said, reaching down to her feet and tugging off her socks. She worked her leggings down her hips and bent her knees, drawing them almost up to her chest and putting her ankles close together so Walter could pull them off. Then he leaned forward, kissing her deeply, realizing that already, this was the most alone time they'd had in weeks where both of them had been awake.

Her arms wrapped around his neck as they kissed, and he shifted his weight to one arm so the other could dip underneath her underwear. He knew he'd find her wet and ready for him, and his fingers were immediately coated in her arousal. She bucked her hips against his hand and gasped quietly into his mouth as he kept all four of his fingers together and stoked her swollen mound. She pushed her thighs together, trapping his hand and making movement, in its current position, nearly impossible. She ground her hips against his, moaning quietly. "Love," he said with a chuckle, "you're done doing the work for the moment." He eased one of her legs off the side of the couch and thrust two fingers inside her.

Paige hiked up her left leg over the back of the couch, giving him room, as his hand continued to thrust into her, hard and fast, her mouth opening and what started as a sigh growing louder. Then she pulled her leg back down, lifting her hips and pushing her underwear down her legs. Walter balled it up and tossed it in the general direction of the laundry pile, pushing his fingers back inside her as she eased her ankle back over the back of the couch.

She pushed her hips forward to meet him with every thrust, moaning as the heel of his hand bumped against her clit. "More," she managed, and he kept his fingers all the way in her, letting her grind against his hand as he began to stroke her from the inside. He knew, by now, where to find the spot, but he still reveled in how she let him know he had, with her stomach tightening and her breathing growing more audible each time his fingers rubbed against it.

Then he removed his hand, drawing it up to his mouth and sucking each finger clean, one at a time, looking down at her as she watched him. One of her hands slid down her body, her fingers running over her clit, and with his free hand, Walter pulled it away. He saw her body clench with need. "Walter."

"In a minute," he said, though he wouldn't make her wait quite so long before he got back to her. He felt her fingers flexing in his hand, desperately needing stimulation, desperately wanting to do it herself if he was waiting, but he wasn't going to wait any more, and he certainly wasn't going to leave anything about her pleasure up to her. Scooting backward, he settled between her thighs and licked along the insides of them before moving to where they met, pressing his tongue against her hot flesh and running it from bottom to top.

"Oh that's good," she said, putting a hand over her eyes as he repeated, not delving anywhere below the surface, not just yet. "That's good."

Walter's mouth moved slightly lower, his nose just below her clit, his lips enveloping her as his tongue began to explore. He slowly began to run his tongue up and down between her folds, almost lackadaisical, pleased at how her body was responding, coating his tongue every time he passed by her entrance. He lapped at her eagerly. He loved the taste of her, loved the feel of her warm, wet, tender flesh pushing up on his face, and he groaned quietly against her. The slight vibration of his lower lip when he did so made Paige clench slightly, and he groaned again. "Oh," she managed, breathing heavily, "why do you do that?"

His own breathing was slightly elevated. "Because you taste incredible." He mouthed her slowly, gently, his left hand resting on her thigh. He could feel it beginning to tremble. As long as he didn't stimulate her clit – and was able to prevent her from doing so herself – he could get her to a certain point and keep here there as long as he wanted. He'd taken it too far once, several months ago, teasing her beyond where frustration was a strategy, making her tear up and then actually begin to cry at her inability to come. Now, he teased, moved slowly, avoiding where she really wanted him, feeling her tremble and hearing her little moans only until he sensed that she was nearing where she couldn't take it anymore.

Physically, she seemed to be enjoying his attentions even more than usual, making him reluctant to move on, but he lapped at her again, drawing as much as he could into his mouth and swallowing with a mmmm sound in the back of his throat. Then, he moved higher, licking up along the left side of her clit, then the right, not quite touching it, hearing a sharp ah sound from Paige. When he finally swept his tongue over the darkening bud, he heard it again, louder, and felt her leg jerk as if she'd been shocked with electricity.

"Walter," she said, her voice higher than normal, her breathing starting to come shorter and heavier. "Walter, towel."

You don't have to worry about a thing, Love, he thought, I'll get every last bit. He flattened his tongue, brushing it over her clit, feeling her breathing grow louder. He repeated the action, then swirled his tongue, rubbing it from all sides almost simultaneously, beginning to pick up the pace.

She made a sound that almost sounded like she was choking on air, and then she was scooting up toward the arm of the chair, pulling away from him. He stretched his neck forward. Oftentimes, when she got close, Paige would move away from the stimulation, temporarily overwhelmed, and he would move with her, driving her into an explosive orgasm. This time, though, she put a hand down to push him back even as her hips bobbed against his face. "Walter, stop."

He lifted his head. "What's wrong?"

She was panting hard. "Get a towel," she begged, her voice sounding almost weak. "Walter, please get a towel."

"Okay, okay, okay," he said, scrambling to his feet. Darting into the kitchen, he grabbed one of the larger hand towels and returned to the couch. Paige took it from him and lifted her hips, positioning it underneath. He dropped back onto the couch and took over from where she was rubbing her clit with the pad of her index finger and replaced it with the pad of his thumb, pushing two fingers inside her again and stroking her from the inside. She closed her eyes and pressed her lips together, breathing hard through her nose as her face contorted. When they first got together, Walter had mistakenly thought she was in pain. Now, the look, combined with how she was squeezing the arm of the couch so hard her knuckles were white, made Walter understand why she'd been so desperate for the towel.

He moved his fingers faster, lowering his head and kissing her on the neck. "Oh God," Paige gasped, "Walter..."

He scooted back down, hooking her left leg over his shoulder and pointing his tongue, running it vigorously in circles around her clit before sucking vigorously at her lower lips, tongue parting her slightly. He moved his tongue up and down, faster, faster, hearing her gasp, moan, rock her hips at a tempo that he knew meant she was losing control, and he moved up, locking his lips around her clit and sucking as his tongue flicked it rapidly.

Even without being inside her, he could feel her pulsing against his face as she came, hard, her breath escaping her in a loud, sharp gasp followed by a low groan. He kept his tongue at her clit, tracing back around it as her body continued to shudder, then slipped it lower, running his mouth slowly back up as the inside of his bottom lip pressed against her.

Paige's head was tipped all the way back; he could barely see it over the arm of the couch, but he could hear her, still quietly moaning as she came down out of it, and he could see her chest heaving; her shirt had ridden up some and the muscles in her abdomen were still clenching. He loved the different ways he could see that she'd come apart. "Oh my God," she gasped, her hand moving from the couch cushion to grab the end of the towel, bringing it up against her hip. "Oh my God."

Walter tuned his head to the left and gently kissed the inside of her thigh, sliding his hand over where hers was on her hip. He moved his lips to her other thigh. "Easy, Love," he said gently, kissing her gingerly just below her clit, then turning his attentions back to her thighs.

The hand that wasn't between his and the towel at her hip came down and ran through his hair, and he heard his name in the tone that she never used with him when they were with anyone else. He lifted his head crawling up her body and returning his lips to hers. She sighed into his mouth, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I love you," Walter whispered, kissing her again. "I love you so much."

"I missed this," she said quietly, and he knew she wasn't just talking about sex. There was something about this when they were finished with – or in between – activities, faces close together, just verbalizing how they felt about one another.

"I've missed you," he said, dropping his head and kissing her neck. "We've been so busy."

"The world calls, and Team Scorpion answers," she said. "I suppose if there's anything that merits our full attentions, it's that, even if it means we aren't able to be at home with each other as much as we'd like."

"I'm going to put my side projects on the back burner for a little while," he said, feathering kisses along her collarbone, over her hoodie. "I don't need more late nights at the garage right now. Not after these past few weeks. Not when I saw you all the time but it felt like I didn't see you at all."

She bit her lip. "Walter?"

He lifted his head, looking down at her. "Hmmm?"

"I haven't talked to Ralph about this yet, but given how happy he's been since you started staying over all the time I don't think he'd object, uh..." she ran her tongue over her lower lip, hesitating. "Do you wanna, maybe, live here?"

She's asking you to move in with her, a voice in his head told him, as if he needed a translator. His chest heaved again, this time with sheer emotion, and when he spoke, his choked up voice betrayed that feeling. "You mean...like...like a family?"

She giggled affectionately at his response. "Yeah," she said softly, "though the three of us have been a family for a long time now. Haven't we?"

She already knew he agreed, but he knew that she would often end statements like that with a question rather than stating them as fact. It gave him a voice, a chance to disagree if he ever did so, and eliminated some of the power imbalance that naturally existed in a relationship between people at near opposite ends of the IQ/EQ spectrum. He nodded, smiling down at her.

Paige reached for the top button on his shirt, and he pushed her hand away, undoing the buttons himself and leaving her free to pull her hoodie over her head. She sat up and reached behind, and Walter saw her bra stretch slightly before popping loose. He shrugged out of the shirt and pushed his boxers down, finally kicking them away. Paige's eyes lowered from where they'd been focused on his face. "Just give me a couple of minutes," he said, reaching down and taking a breast in each hand. She arced her back up against his touch, sighing as he lightly massaged her, running his thumbs over her nipples before leaning down and taking one in his mouth, swirling his tongue all around the darker skin and then teasing the hard center. He felt her hands – both of them – in his hair, running through his curls as she continued to arch her back, pushing her breasts up to meet him.

"Sit up," she said after a minute, lightly pushing him back, and he did, settling down on the middle cushion he was now glad he hadn't chosen earlier. Paige crawled over, straddling him, reaching down and taking him in her hand. He was ready, but she stroked him for a moment, her eyes on his. "All set?"

"C'mere," he said, tugging her toward him by her hips. She settled into position, guiding him to her entrance and slowly sinking down. Walter groaned quietly as she surrounded him.

Paige leaned forward and kissed him, her hands on both sides of her face, as she lowered herself the rest of the way. "Mmmm," she said against his lips. She tightened around him, deliberately, and he grunted into her mouth, catching her bottom lip between his and biting down on it slightly when she tightened again. She pulled back slightly, smiling at him, and began to move.

He enjoyed watching her ride him, even though when she was on top it was harder for them to kiss, and one of his absolute favorite things to do during sex was kiss her. But there was something about giving her the control, of having a view of her body as she moved on him, that Walter couldn't believe he'd deprived himself of for so long, when he refused to come to terms with his feelings for her and then was too afraid to act on them. She always looked glorious when she rode him and today, with the light from the ceiling illuminating her face as her eyes closed and her mouth fell open was an image that would burn at the front of Walter's memory for a long, long time.

She picked up the pace, starting to pant, and Walter rocked his hips along with her. It always took him a little longer for a second orgasm, and it always took her a little less time, which left him hoping that maybe now they could fall together. They both knew it was unrealistic to expect that outcome every time, they'd gotten good at managing it whenever there was a round two. And Walter could tell by the angle that Paige was thrusting from that she had the same thing on her mind.

He reached down between them, trying to find her clit without accidentally jabbing it, and she batted his hand away. "Don't," she managed through gritted teeth, and he realized she was already close, placing a hand on either side of him and pushing his back against the back of the couch for more leverage, he thrust more forcefully up to meet her, the angle and position allowing for deep thrusts. Walter could tell by the way she was frantically rubbing his nipples that she was going to get there before him, and shy of having her get off and use her hand or mouth again, there wasn't much either of them would be able to do about that. "Hey," he said, grabbing her hips and holding her down, preventing her from thrusting. He straightened his legs, resting his ankles on the coffee table in front of them.

She shook her head. "I want us to finish together."

"Maybe we can. I'm the only one that has a refractory period." He moved her hips in circles, the way she liked it best, and Paige made a sharp sound that she quieted by biting her lip and looking at him with concern. "Lean back, put your hands on my legs."

She nodded, shifting her weight, and Walter rocked his hips against hers, reaching out and touching her where they met. She moaned, pumping her hips faster. "There you go," he grunted, watching her face, watching her chest, his thumbs relentless. "Come for me, Love."

He felt her arms going weak, and leaned forward, catching her around the waist as they gave out, feeling her pulse around him, feeling her body shake in his arms.

"You okay?" He asked in a low voice, and she nodded, wrapping her legs around his waist. He lifted off the couch scooting past the coffee table and gently laying her on the floor. Resting on one forearm, he reached for her left hand with his right, and they linked fingers. He leaned in to kiss her and resumed thrusting.

Paige moaned immediately, telling him he hadn't waited too long to recommence stimulation. She wouldn't take long. He pumped his hips, squeezing her hand, closing his eyes as she tightened her legs around him and pulled him deeper inside her. "I love you," she whispered when their lips parted briefly, her hands on his neck. "I love you so much."

"You..." he gasped out the word, closing his eyes and tearing his lips from hers, panting against her neck and feeling her hard nipples rubbing against his chest as her breath rhythmically rushed by his ear. The tension was building, he hoped she was close because he could no longer stop it, and then she was shuddering again, clenching rapidly around him, and his hips propelled forward two, three, four more times before he stilled against her, groaning loudly.

They lay there, both gasping, her hand up by her head, flat against the carpet, fingers still linked with his. He lazily pressed his lips to her neck, his body twitching lightly. Her other hand rubbed his back as her feet slowly lowered to the floor.

He lifted up off her, rolling to his side, still propped up on his arm. He tugged their linked hands toward him until they rested on her stomach. He leaned down, kissing her shoulder. "Oh, Love."

"You know," Paige said, "we're going to have more times like the past few weeks, where we're so busy."

She was going to suggest that they work harder to make time for each other. "I can do that," he said. "I can be better for you when we're under stress. This won't happen again, Paige. We won't go twelve days again."

"No." She added her other hand to their mess of fingers. "That's not what I'm saying. I mean...we both could have done better showing affection, I guess. We did hold hands and we still kissed, but you're right. You're right. Next time we're caught up in work like that, we should actively keep working on our relationship. But what I mean is, Walter...today is such a relief for me."

"H – how?"

"Knowing we can go like this. We can be under such stress, be so busy, be so exhausted, and yet...yet we come out of it okay. We come out of it like this." She drew his hand to her mouth and kissed his knuckles. "Please move in with us." She smiled at him. "I know we're going to be okay."

"Yeah," he said with a smile, "I think we are."

"So that's a yes."

"Yes. Yes it is." He kissed her again. "I'd love to live here."

Paige tipped her head to one side, then the other, and then she looked back up at him. "Walter?"

"Uh – huh?"

She smirked. "I'm glad you vacuumed first. I wouldn't even go barefoot in this living room an hour ago."


As always, hope you guys enjoyed this! If you are so inclined to leave a review, I do really enjoy those.