A/N: Hey all. I've been away from this site for a long time, but this cancellation was absolutely brutal. My brain couldn't let it be, and I couldn't just give up on the cyclone. So, here we go.

Right now, the first six chapters are written, and amount to part one of the story. They take place around three months after that last scene at Gettleman's office. I'll post them in fairly quick succession, including the first two tonight. I know everyone is going to hate the way this first chapter ends, so I'm adding the second one immediately to give more of an idea of where we're going here. As the summary indicates, this is an eventual Waige story, not a quick-fix.

I hope you all enjoy.

Disclaimer: Scorpion, with all of its characters, plots, and settings, is the property of CBS. Only the plot of this story is mine.

Chapter 1: Moving On

Walter did his best to focus on the hand that lay on his chest. Then he focused on the forearm that the hand was connected to, and the elbow. That elbow was connected to a shoulder, which was part of a beautiful woman.

A beautiful woman that wasn't Paige.

He felt her eyes on him, but didn't look at her. Whenever he did, especially in the morning, it felt like she could read his every emotion. Not that she didn't already know what he was feeling.

She waited another moment, then sighed and rolled onto her back beneath the sheet, looking up at the ceiling. "We don't have any meetings today."

It was a statement that was much heavier than it sounded. Scorpion 2.0 was failing, although Walter was far from ready to say it aloud. Centipede was getting the vast majority of the business opportunities that sprang up. Of course, that was perfectly logical, as Centipede boasted two-thirds of what had made Scorpion so great.

That, and Paige was an extremely aggressive and brilliant marketer, especially when she knew she was competing against Scorpion 2.0.

Florence sighed again. "You're thinking about her." It wasn't a question. She kept her eyes fixed on the ceiling.

He didn't reply immediately, and instead moved his hand over to her arm, tracing a vein with his fingers. She didn't flinch or show any visible discomfort at his lack of denial. "Yes." Then he lifted his head and rolled over onto his side, facing her. "But I'm here with you, and that's not changing."

Now she looked back at him. "How romantic."

He allowed himself a half-smile at her sarcasm. "Florence, as things stand right now, I'm yours. I—"

"Stop." She rolled over so that she was facing him, keeping the sheet to her chest. She preferred to remain modest in the morning, and she was less comfortable with her body than Paige was. Walter felt that it was unnecessary. She didn't have the conventional beauty that Paige did, but in her own way, she was extremely attractive.

He waited for her to say something more. When she didn't, he spoke again. "I'm sorry. I know you have romantic feelings for me, and I—"

"Walter." She interrupted him again. "I don't need romance. I'm a chemist, I know how emotions work."

She had said that to him no fewer than three times by now, and he decided to try a cheeky response. "But you're not a neurochemist."

She was not amused, and, honestly, he wasn't either. It was a terrible attempt.

She sat up. "Cabe will be here soon. Hopefully he'll have something."

Walter sighed, looking at the ceiling. He wasn't about to get his hopes too high. Cabe was slowly restoring his reputation with DHS, but Carson had been itching for an excuse to cut back on Scorpion's contract ever since the softball bet had blown up in his face, and even he knew that Centipede now had the majority of Scorpion's assets. Paige, who had done an excellent job of maintaining her rapport with the organization, even through all of the others' blunders and despite Carson himself, had managed to land a contract for Centipede at somewhat less pay, giving Carson the perfect excuse to sharply cut down the amount of work that Scorpion 2.0 received from the department.

Florence was now dressed and heading for the door. "I'm going for a run. Text me if Cabe has anything."

"I feel like I should go with you."

"You probably should, but see if Cabe has anything first."

Walter wondered if she really felt as optimistic as she sounded.

"Alright. Thanks, Pete. I appreciate you looking into it." Walter looked over as Cabe hung up the phone. "No dice."

Walter was finding that he had a more and more diminished capacity for disappointment each time an opportunity fell through. He was anticipating failure, and that was an unsettling thought. A man with his IQ should never have to anticipate failure.

The door opened, and he looked over as Florence walked in. She had been gone longer than expected, but he hadn't registered it until now. "Hey. Any news?"

"I'm afraid not," Cabe replied.

Florence gave a slight nod, not looking the least bit surprised. "Alright. I'm going to shower."

Walter watched as she crossed the garage and climbed the stairs. Not for the first time, he was impressed by her remarkable ability to take everything in stride, and not just when it came to the loss of work.

Once she was out of sight, Cabe looked over. "She certainly seems at home up there."

"She's just going to take a shower."

"When was the last time she took a shower at her own place?"

Walter frowned at the question. Florence wasn't staying here all the time. As he started to respond, however, Cabe's phone rang. He quickly shut his mouth and watched the phone eagerly as Cabe answered.

"Cabe Gallo. Hey, Allie."

His heart sank a little. Not a job. Tuning out the sound of Cabe talking to his fiancé, he leaned back in his chair and rubbed his temple. There had to be something. He checked his email. Not so much as a piece of spam since the last time he had checked.

"Really? Well, that sounds nice… I could… Hang on, I'll check with the boss." Cabe covered the phone and looked over at Walter. "Allie's been given the day off, and she… well, since we don't have anything going on today, she's wondering if I can…"

"Go ahead."

"Are you sure? I can—"

"Cabe, go. I don't have anything for you to do."

"Alright." Cabe took his hand off the phone. "I'm on my way. See you soon… I love you too." He hung up and stood, then made for the exit. As he passed Walter's desk, he slowed down. "I'll let you know if I hear anything. I'd invite you to come along, but this is an adventure for two."

Walter forced a smile. "I appreciate that. Go be with your fiancé."

Cabe quickly glanced over at the stairs, then lowered his voice. "Listen, about her." He nodded over towards the stairs. "I don't fully know what's going on between you two, and I don't want to. But you better be honest about it, both with her and with yourself."

Walter's first instinct was to resent the advice, but he knew that Cabe was just trying to help. He nodded. "Thanks."

Cabe walked the rest of the way to the door, but it opened before he touched it. "You should be in school, young man."

Walter frowned as Ralph entered. Was everything okay?

"Hi, Cabe. It's good to see you, too." Ralph looked over at Walter and waved. Walter waved back. It didn't look like there was any imminent crisis.

"What are you doing here?" Cabe persisted, putting his hands in his pockets.

"You do know that I'm smarter than my professors are, right?"

"That doesn't give you the right to skip school."

"I didn't say I had a right. I came to see how Walter is doing."

Walter couldn't help but smile at this.

Cabe had a similar reaction, and it cracked right through his sternness. "Alright. But you better get back to school when you're done talking."

"I will. I promise." Ralph walked over to Walter's desk, grabbing the chair from the vacant desk that had once belonged to Toby. Cabe watched him go for a moment, then left, and Ralph set the chair down next to Walter's desk.

"You've gotten taller," said Walter.

Ralph nodded. "And my voice has almost stopped cracking, finally. It's nice to finally start to look as old as I feel."

Walter recalled feeling the same way through much of his adolescence.

"I think I'm going to start lifting weights."

This was surprising. "Do you feel that you need to?"

"I can build complex machines, but I might be in trouble if I can't move them around."

That made sense. Walter had never needed to be too physically powerful, especially with Sylvester around.

"Besides, I have an understanding of physics that will help me lift heavier weights than someone else my size. That should help with impressing girls."

"I had a similar idea once, and it ended badly. Be careful."

"I will."

"So, does this mean that you're over Patty?"

Ralph gave a small shrug, looking down. "Pretty much. It'll be easier once she goes off to college, and I'm not seeing her when I'm at the high school, but… Like Mom keeps saying, there will be other girls."

Walter felt a small weight fall on his gut. "How is your mom?"

Ralph's eyes widened as he realized what he had just said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to bring her up. She's… well, she's fine… I think. I mean… she's still single."

Walter hadn't been looking for that, but it felt good to hear nonetheless.

Ralph looked away for a moment, falling silent. Then he looked back at Walter. "We were a great team."

The good feeling quickly dissipated. "We were."

"I don't mean Scorpion. I mean you, me, and Mom. And I want you to know that I don't blame you for what happened."

"You shouldn't blame her, either. It wasn't—"

"I know, it wasn't anyone's fault. You two… You were just a little too different, just like Patty and I were."

Walter swallowed. Sometimes it felt better to think that it was someone's fault, even if it was his own. He didn't like to think that things would have ended naturally, and he wasn't sure that he and Paige were too different. Until the end, their differences had seemed like a strength.

There was a noise from the stairs, and they both looked over as Florence began to descend. She spotted Ralph when she was about halfway down, and froze. "Hi, Ralph. How are you?"

"I'm fine, thanks. How are you?"

"I'm fine." She looked at Walter uncertainly, and he beckoned. Descending the rest of the stairs, she cautiously approached the desk. "Um, can I get you anything?"

"No, thank you."

She looked at Walter.

"No, thanks." Walter was focused on Ralph's over-the-top politeness to Florence. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to have her join them.

"So, what have you been working on?" Ralph asked her, before Walter could suggest that she give them another moment.

He watched Ralph's face as Florence launched into an explanation of her latest project. Again, Ralph looked perfectly polite and attentive. Walter wished that Toby were here to tell him if there was anything beneath Ralph's outwardly pleasant attitude.

He tried to imagine how he would act if he were in Ralph's position. Ralph had been sitting and talking with the man who might have become his step-dad, only to be interrupted by the woman who had come between his mom and said potential step-dad. Walter didn't think that he would have been so polite under the circumstances.

Then again, Walter hadn't had Paige Dineen for a mother. Paige had taught Ralph everything that she had also taught Walter, and he was certainly better prepared for social interactions than Walter had been at his age. Perhaps Ralph had Paige's voice echoing in his ears, urging him to be polite to Florence.

"That sounds really cool," said Ralph.

"I'm glad you think so," Florence replied. Her face was considerably brighter, as it always was when she was talking about chemistry.

Ralph turned to Walter. "Hey, I've got an idea. I want to program a—"

The door to the garage opened more noisily than it had before, and in walked none other than Paige, looking angry. "Ralph Dineen, you better have a very good explanation for ditching school."

"Um, hi, Mom."

Initially, Walter didn't let himself look at her for more than a moment. He was unprepared, and whenever he was unprepared, the sight of her affected him more than he wanted it to. He looked at his desk for a moment, then at Florence. She returned his look, and he finally looked at Paige.

"How did you know?" Ralph asked.

"Professor Freeman called me when you didn't show up for class. If I'm going to pay for you to take college classes, the least you can do is show up for them."

"How did you know I was here?"

"That part was obvious. Are you a genius or not?"

Ralph looked at Walter. Walter returned the look, then nodded towards Paige. "You should head back to school. Thank you for stopping by."

Ralph sighed and stood, heading towards the door. "Any time."

"He means any time after school hours," said Paige, her eyes still fixed on her son. "And after his punishment ends." She watched as he walked past her out the door, then turned to go after him. Pausing for a moment, she looked over at Florence. "Good to see you." Then she left.

Walter stared at the door. She hadn't looked at him once. He wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, and he wasn't even sure what being a good thing meant in this context.

"Are you okay?" Florence's voice came from significantly closer than she had been before. A moment later, he felt her hand on his shoulder, and looked up at her.

"Yes."

Strangely enough, that felt mostly honest. Ralph's visit had felt wonderful, and that feeling wasn't dampened much by Paige's anger and refusal to look at him.

He placed his hand over hers, then stood. Turning fully towards her, he met her concerned gaze for a few seconds, then placed his hand on her hip. "Listen, I know you're always saying you don't need romance, but… Can I take you out to dinner tonight?"

She looked confused, and didn't reply immediately. When she did reply, it wasn't the response that he was expecting. "Should I be concerned that this is your reaction after seeing her again?"

"No, it's not about… Florence, it's time. I really like being with you. And you say you don't need romance, but… From what I've observed, everyone needs romance sometimes. And I know I don't requite the precise feelings that you have for me, but it's becoming increasingly apparent to me that feelings change over time, sometimes dramatically."

Again, her reply was delayed and unexpected. "You've really gotten better at communicating, haven't you?"

He considered the comment. It had happened out of necessity. Without Paige around, he had needed to learn to be much more articulate in his presentations and on jobs. Perhaps he had been using her as a crutch to avoid developing his own social skills. "Yes. So, will you go out with me tonight?"

She cracked a smile at this most basic phrasing of the question. "Okay, Walter."