Disclaimer: I don't own anything Scorpion

I haven't been able to get this idea out of my head since the season premiere. I had to make some slight adjustments to take episode 3 into account but I think it actually works better with Paige knowing how Walter feels. Right now I'm not sure how long it will be but I think at least 3-4 chapters.

It will have smut, of course it will - it's me after all, and takes place a couple of weeks after the end of episode 2. For reasons beyond my control updates will likely be slow. I appreciate your patience.

I have been unable to read and review these past few months so I am way behind. I hope to catch up soon on what I'm sure are some great stories.

Thanks in advance for reading and enjoy!


Married - Chapter 1

"Walter?"

The genius looked up from his laptop as Ralph stepped onto the roof. The sun in the distance was starting to set; leaving streaks of red and pink across the darkening sky and Walter realized just how late it was. He'd been so lost in his coding that almost the entire day went by without him realizing it.

"Hey buddy," Walter greeted glad it was his young mentee instead of Toby, who did nothing lately but yammer on about not being able to discover the identity of Happy's husband. It was all the behaviorist talked about and as badly as Walter felt for the frustration and hurt his friend was going through, it wasn't Walter's place to reveal the man's identity. It was Happy's.

"Mom said you've been up here all day," Ralph murmured as he stopped beside the chaise Walter was sitting on.

It was true. Walter spent most of his time working alone on the roof these past few weeks. It was the only place he could be completely free of the noise that filled the garage. It was the only place he could be and not hear Paige's voice wafting up from the floor below. Too often it mixed with the interloper's and if he had to hear the two of them chuckling or joking or, god forbid, flirting, one more time, Walter was sure he just might throw himself out the stained glass windows in his loft.

"It's quiet up here."

Ralph gave him an odd look as he sat down on the chair next to the table. The constant din of the traffic below was an ever present background noise and quiet was definitely not what one would describe the roof. Walter hoped Ralph would leave it at that.

"Your loft is quieter," Ralph replied as he leaned back in the chair.

No such luck.

"My loft is filled with your mom," Walter murmured under his breath. But then his eyes whipped to the young genius beside him as he realized he said the words out loud. If Ralph heard him the boy didn't show it.

Every square inch of the garage was filled with Paige. Her presence, her scent, her touch. Both Walter and his space would never be the same and that was what made seeing her with the interloper all that much more painful.

"Was there something you needed, bud?" Walter asked as he closed his laptop and set it aside. It was Friday and he likely wouldn't see Ralph again until Monday morning before school. He missed having the young boy around on the weekends but that had stopped right around the time that Tim and Paige started dating.

Walter gagged internally at the thought. God damn it. He was such a moron. All of this was completely his fault. His inability to understand his emotions, his inability to verbalize his emotions, and his inability to express his emotions were the reasons the woman he loved was in the arms of another man.

"Sly and I are leaving for San Diego and I just wanted to say bye," Ralph replied before Walter could get too sucked into his self flagellation.

"Is it Comic Con weekend already?"

"Yeah." Ralph nodded his head with a grin. "We're staying in a hotel for the weekend. The Super Fun Guy panel isn't until Sunday morning so we won't be back until the afternoon."

Walter smiled at the young genius' enthusiasm.

"Maybe when you get back your mom will bring you over and we can work on the AI project for a while."

"Really?!" Ralph exclaimed excited and sat forward. They hadn't been able to work on their project since before Toby had been kidnapped by Collins.

"Unless your mom has something else planned when you get back."

"Nah," Ralph shook his head. "She and Tim are going to Santa Barbara for the weekend. They won't be home until late Sunday night so I was gonna stay at Sly's anyway."

Walter's entire body stiffened as Ralph's words sunk in. An ache Walter didn't know was possible to feel filled his entire being and it had nothing to do with his fall from Richard's space capsule.

"Santa Barbara?" Walter wondered if his voice sounded as strangled to Ralph as it did to him.

Ralph sat back again with a roll of his eyes "There is some art festival thing my mom wants to go to."

Of course Timothy would take Paige to an art festival. She loved art. Walter still didn't understand the appeal of it but he had learned to appreciate its existence because he knew Paige enjoyed it.

If given a chance Walter would have taken her. He would have endured it just to make her happy. But instead the interloper was taking Paige away and would make her laugh and smile and then probably do god only knows what to her deep in the night.

Walter swallowed back the bile that crept up his throat.

"Walter, are you alright?"

At Ralph's concerned tone Walter realized the fingers of his right hand were clenched into a fist and he slowly relaxed them before forcing a smile.

"I'm fine."

Ralph scoffed in the way only a child on the cusp of becoming a teenager could. "You haven't been fine since my mom and Tim started dating."

"I-I d-don't…" Walter's sputtered but was saved from having to respond by the door behind them opening. The genius knew, instantly, who it was without having to turn around.

"Ralph, sweetie, you and Sly have to get going."

Walter didn't know when the sound of her voice had started affecting him. But he couldn't hear it now without wanting to just close his eyes and lose himself in the sound.

"Why won't you just tell me?" Toby's voice ruined the moment when it echoed through the door behind Paige.

"Give it a rest, Doc. I'm tired of having this argument."

"I'm tired of you keeping this a secret."

"And I'm tired of you hounding me about it."

Their voices faded as they moved away from the bottom of the stairs.

"God, I'm going to strangle those two if they don't stop this," Paige muttered as the door closed behind her. She walked over to stand behind the chaise Walter was in.

"Bye, Walter," Ralph said as he stood up.

"Have fun with Sly, pal," Walter said and he reached up to pat Ralph's shoulder as the young genius walked toward his mother.

Walter looked down at the computer in his lap to avoid looking at Paige. Every day it hurt more and more to look at her. But he listened intently as she hugged and kissed her son, telling him to be careful and have fun.

Walter heard Ralph grunt as he endured his mother's ministrations and he couldn't help the smirk that curved his lips. Ralph was going to be an interesting teenager.

He heard the door open and then close again behind Ralph. But Paige didn't follow her son and the genius remained still, torn between hoping she would leave and hoping she would stay.

He could hear her soft breathing as she slowly approached and sat down in the chair Ralph vacated.

"The doctors were with you a long time today," she said quietly as she looked at him.

He reluctantly lifted his eyes but he knew Paige liked it when he looked at her when they spoke. She told him once it was polite to look at someone when they're speaking to you.

"They wanted to make sure I have no residual aftereffects of the oxygen deprivation."

"And?" Paige sat back in the chair and crossed her legs. The barely knee length skirt she wore rode up on her thighs and it took all of Walter's effort to not gawk.

"M-my brain is intact," he said as he swallowed.

"Did they clear you for work?" she asked and he could hear the beginnings of frustration in her voice. She hated having to pull information out of him.

"Mentally, yes."

"And physically?" she encouraged him to continue.

Walter placed his laptop on the table and stood up, still moving a little slow. His back and ribs were mostly healed but there was still a residual stiffness and ache in his lumbar that lingered. Then again it could just be the ache from Paige's close proximity.

He grunted and slowly twisted and stretched, his legs shaking slightly as pain radiated down his right one. "Not yet. I've been advised to refrain from any strenuous physical activities for at least another two weeks."

Paige stood and reached for his elbow helping to steady him.

"I know it's driving you crazy because your body hasn't bounced back as quickly as your mind." Walter shuddered softly at the feel of Paige's thumb gently caressing the skin inside his elbow. "But cut yourself a little slack, Walter. You hit that water pretty hard."

Unable to stand her touch any longer he pulled his arm away. "Technically I didn't hit the water. I'd be paralyzed…. or dead if I had."

He could see the distress his words caused on her face but he wondered if it was from his words or his pulling away.

"I'm fine," he said quickly. "Well, I'll see you on Monday."

Walter reached for his computer but Paige slapped her hand down on top of it.

"That's it. Walter, I may not be a genius but I know you're avoiding me."

Walter inhaled slowly. He was tempted to pull his computer forcibly from beneath her hand but he knew she would consider that rude. It was amazing how easily he recognized things like that now. And it was all because of her.

"I'm not avoiding you, Paige."

Paige scoffed exactly like Ralph had done earlier and now Walter knew where he learned it.

"Bullshit!" Paige replied and Walter arched a brow at her uncharacteristic use of an expletive. "You've been avoiding me since Tahoe and I think it's time we finally talk about what you were really doing there."

Walter sighed heavily. He couldn't do this with her. He promised he wouldn't interfere. He promised Cabe. He promised Tim. But most importantly he promised her and he refused to break a promise to her no matter how much it killed him to hold back how he truly felt about her.

He needed an evasion technique.

"Don't you have to leave for Santa Barbara?"

She narrowed her eyes at him clearly used to this. "How do you know I'm going to Santa Barbara?"

Walter shrugged.

"Ralph told you, didn't he?" Paige crossed her arms over her chest and Walter recognized the stance as her "I dare you to lie to me right now" body language.

But he wasn't going to rat out the kid although he doubted Ralph had been told to keep it quiet. So he once again tried evasion.

"You don't want to keep Timothy waiting."

"Tim isn't here," she replied unwilling to be deterred. "He and Cabe are still at Homeland debriefing Katherine. He'll be at least an hour so we have plenty of time to talk about this."

So much for evasion. Walter tried to walk by her but Paige moved in front of him, blocking his way.

"Walter, please," she pleaded softly and he closed his eyes. He could never refuse her when she spoke to him that way. "We can't keep doing this." He felt her move closer. "I miss you."

"I miss you too," the words were barely a whisper from Walter's lips as he swallowed thickly.

"Nothing has been the same since Tahoe," Paige said and Walter opened his eyes to see her frowning.

"I know, alright," Walter snapped as another wave of pain flowed down his right leg. "I know I sabotaged your weekend with Tim. I know I acted juvenile. I've apologized for my behavior. What else do you want from me?"

Paige stepped closer and placed her hand on his forearm. "I want-," she stopped mid sentence and looked away from a moment. When she looked back at him he could see resolve in her eyes. "I want my friend back."

Never in his life had Walter despised the word "friend" as much as he did at that moment. He pulled his arm away and stepped back needing distance from her.

"Paige, I don't-"

"Why did you really come to Tahoe, Walter?" Paige interrupted him softly as she stepped closer again refusing to let him back away. "And don't tell me it was because you wanted to hear jazz"

Paige looked almost as surprised as he felt that she asked him. Particularly because she made it crystal clear she had no intention of hearing him out after she discovered what he'd done.

"It wasn't important," Walter replied quickly as he looked away from her.

"You drove seven hours, Walter."

Paige slid her hand down his forearm and wrapped her slender fingers around his wrist. She moved even closer so there was barely any space between them. Walter found it hard to think with her this close.

"Walter," she said his name in the way that made him tremble and he swallowed. She was standing so close her scent surrounded him and he wanted to close his eyes and just breathe her in.

Why was she torturing him like this?

"Walter," she said his name again.

It was barely a breath of a sound and before he could talk himself out of it, before he could let himself think about what a colossal mistake it would be, Walter reached for Paige's hips and tugged her to him while simultaneously lowering his lips to hers.

It was instantaneous. As soon as his lips sealed over hers, Paige pressed her body against his, sliding her hands up over his shoulders and into his hair. Paige's fingers crawled through the soft strands as his fingers flexed against the warm flesh of her waist between the waistband of her skirt and the navy blue silk tank top she wore.

Pain momentarily shot through his entire body as hers collided with his but it was almost immediately replaced with a pleasurable tingling sensation that enveloped him.

Paige's head fell back and her mouth opened. Walter didn't hesitate to accept the silent invitation as he slid his tongue into her mouth, tangling with hers as a soft whimper escaped the back of her throat. They were just as soft as he remembered. But he could swear she tasted even sweeter than his eidetic memory registered.

The kiss deepened as he held her trapped against his body. She felt glorious as he always knew she would. Unlike their first kiss which was frantic and messy, where he barely dared touch her, this kiss was slow and deep. There was a longing in it and when Paige wriggled gently against him he was unable to hold back the groan that escaped.

He never wanted to let her go. He never wanted to stop kissing her. For a man who previously found very little pleasure in the act of kissing, Walter realized he wanted nothing more than her lips on his for the rest of his life.

It was that realization that had him pulling back from her as much as he loathed doing so.

"Paige, w-wait," Walter stuttered as he struggled to breath evenly.

Paige nibbled gently on his chin as Happy and Toby's voices wafted up from the alley below.

"Toby I swear to god if you don't stop hounding me I'm going to burn every single one of your hats."

"Why won't you tell me? How long are you going to make me-?"

The sound of Happy's motorcycle starting up drowned out their voices and Walter's eyes crossed as Paige dipped her tongue into the dimple in his chin.

"Wait," he said again as he pulled his head back. "I-I have t-to tell you something."

"I know what you want to tell me," Paige said as she pressed her nose against his cheek. Her warm breath tickled his skin as she panted softly.

Her fingers gently massaged the back of his head and he lost his train of thought for a moment but then his mind cleared when her words sunk in.

"No I don't think you do but I need you to know this."

"Walter, I do," she smiled against his cheek. "You already told me."

He kept his arms around her but pulled his head back when she moved to press her lips against his again.

"What?" he looked at her confused.

She looked hesitant for a moment then her eyes filled with resolve.

"When you were in the capsule. You told me when you thought I was in the capsule with you."

Walter dropped his hands from her waist and stepped back.

"Wait," Walter blinked his eyes as flashes of a distant conversation that had been rolling around in his head for weeks, but that he thought was a hallucination, rushed through his mind. "What did I tell you?"

Paige reached up and caressed his cheek. "That you love me."

Walter frowned and shook his head. "No that's not it."

"I don't understand." Now Paige looked confused. "Are you saying you don't love me?"

"No." Walter replied but when he saw the hurt flash in her eyes he instantly realized the mistake he made. He reached for her hand so she wouldn't back away. "I mean yes. That didn't come out right," he grunted in frustration before his voice softened. "Yes I do. I do love you, Paige. I do."

"Then I don't understand what you're trying to tell me." Paige slid her fingers between his and squeezed gently. "What else do I need to know?"

Walter exhaled a deep breath.

"I'm Happy's husband."

To be continued…..


Thanks again for reading and reviewing. Oh and for the record - this isn't going to be a Tim bashing story. I like Tim for the most part and I can't blame him for falling for Paige. But he still has to go. I wish the show could find a way to keep him on but not put him between Paige and Walter just like I wish the writers would have done that with Linda.