Paige never ran that fast before and when she approached the cliff only Toby and Sylvester kept her from going down there. She saw his car in precarious balance few feet down the hill they were upon.
"Walter!" she shouted and struggled as Toby tried to calm her down "Do something!" she pleaded the man out of breath.
"We're doing everything we can… Paige, now you need to calm down and listening to me carefully" Toby looked straight in her eyes grasping her shoulder. She nodded "Good. Walter wants to talk to you… so now I'm giving you this phone" said the shrink grabbing her hand and placing the device right in her palm. "Call him. Sylvester and I will give you some privacy and stay few steps away to keep the situation under control while Happy, Cabe and everyone else gets prepared to bring him up. Okay?" she nodded again.
In that moment her eyes started watering when stared down at the phone and she didn't felt like talking. "Walter?" her voice cracked and her hand was shaking.
He didn't respond so she tried to call his name again, louder this time.
She was relieved to finally hear his voice through the phone even if he sounded scared "Paige? Is that you?". From the cliff the young woman saw his head turning slowly in her direction, however they were too far apart to be able to take a better look at each other. If he moved too much or too quickly the vehicle would have lost grip and fell in the open space below.
"Yes! Walter, please hang on… okay?" she couldn't stop the tears from falling down the cheeks and tried her best to dry them before anyone could see them. "They'll get you out of there in a matter of time. Listen to me… I'm not leaving you, not like this."
"You have a lovely voice" he whispered.
Paige took a deep breath "Toby told me everything and he explained what happened… and… and the emotional state you are in this moment..."
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Walter didn't know exactly how he felt on an emotional state, his very low EQ didn't allow him to fully understand it. He could recognize anger, fear and pain…. Physical or emotional who knows?! He felt clueless and he was certain of one thing, he wanted it all to stop. Paige was still talking but the genius wasn't paying much attention to her words, however he was mostly focuses on the tone of her voice.
You have a lovely voice he didn't even realize he spoke in a soft whisper. He wanted to tell her so many things when he asked Toby to find her and now he was empty, just like someone erased all the data in his brain.
"… he told me that you are overcompensating. The sudden lost trust in Cabe and me telling you that…" he heard that Paige was taking a deep breath. In the meantime he was already rewinding that exchange of the previous night knowing what she was talking about, if not that was else?
"My son almost died because he wants to be you." He had never seen her so desperate.
Walter felt tears in his eyes but refused to cry "It's so awful being me? Being around me?" he meant more with that last statement. More like 'being in love with me', but he wouldn't never say it out loud. They were talking about Ralph after all.
"I just don't want him to become you!" she shouted. And then he felt his heart broke, or he imagined it to feel like that at least. He was sure of one thing: it did hurt.
Paige continued "…that I didn't want Ralph to-".
"-become me" he finished it for her.
However she wanted to explain why she said such things and Walter decided to not interrupt her anymore.
"I want you to understand that I was scared and I said things I never really meant. Remember when I told you about the greater good?" she was walking up and down without paying much attention to the surroundings and Sly and Toby where right behind her, making sure she didn't take a step in the wrong direction. "You were right… I brought it out in the first place, but then… when Ralph pulled out that stunt to save all of us he told me the exact same thing, that he made it for the greater good and he used some other words you and the guys told him in the morning and…. and" she throw her arms in the air. " I'm his mother, Walter." She concluded.
The young genius was still in his seat paying attention to the words of the woman he was in love with (yes he finally admitted it to himself). Her reasons were legitimated. He had time to think about it all night long and came to the conclusion that he couldn't blame her for being scared to lose her son. If he paid more attention to the boy, being 'the grown up' in the room, he wouldn't never encourage him to do something like that. "Paige I don't deny to fact that I'm responsible for e-everything that happened to Ralph… I know and I'm s-sorry" he told her. "I didn't expect your words to be …s-so painful. Perhaps it's all connected… Baghdad and Cabe and then Ralph… you leaving". He was struggling to express it all at once and yet he kept trying "I never experienced something …like… this… before" he almost found it hard to breath.
"Walter, I-"
"No" he interrupted the young woman and shook his head. "Let me finish. I-I wanted to hear y-you and …see you" he looked to see her silhouette above the cliff "but mostly because I wanted to tell you… mmm… I came to your apartment last week to t-talk to you about …everything"
Paige bit her bottom lip and pressed the phone on her ear. Deep inside she knew what he was going to say with that everything and she embraced herself waiting for the genius to spell it out for her. "But?" she encourage him.
"But-Drew-was-there-and-I-never-made-it-to-the-door" he said in one breath.
"What did you want to tell me, Walt?" her voice was calm and sweet.
He waited for the courage to come, he didn't have anything left to lose anyway.
"I love you" he said and immediately ended the call. Right there, he said it out loud and he couldn't never take it back. Maybe he should have waited for a reply or a comment. He remembered what Toby told him about their connection and its increasing over time, but the truth was that he feared a rejection. He was afraid his love wasn't reciprocated.
"Walter?!" she heard the line going down. No, no! She thought. She wanted to tell him she loved him too but he just hanged up. Right behind her a voice shouted that they were ready to take out Walter from his car.
The next few minutes passed so fast as Happy operated to help a determined Cabe climbing down the cliff; he was attached to a rope. He argued a little with Walter, obviously, but took him out of the car the moment it fell down the hill. They lost balance and smashed against the terrain, but the old agent never let go of Walter's arm. They managed to bring him on solid ground then Toby and other paramedics checked his condition. The genius was injured on his left side and apparently he hit his head on the terrain as he presented sign of concussion.
Paige approached them, let herself fall on the knees and leaned down to face Walter. She cupped his face while he was clearly struggling to keep his eyes open while he tried to grab her arms as if he feared to ver see her again. She closed the gap between them and stamped a light kiss on his lips; the gang of geniuses, plus Cabe, raised their eyebrows in sync, taken aback by her sudden move. She couldn't care less what they though.
Walter felt her soft lips on his. His heart was beating fast and hoped she could hear it too. The genius was losing awareness of the situation around him and he was fainting but didn't want to let go yet. For a brief moment he managed to slowly deepen the kiss before passing out completely.
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He woke up at the hospital. It took him a while before he could see clearly all the stuff around him. He was attached to various tubes and he smelled flowers then he saw a bouquet of yellow and red orchids. He asked himself how long he'd been asleep as he tried to reach the last memories he had in his mind. Walter turned the head to see that she was grabbing his hand and he looked puzzled at it thinking how comfortable was the touch of her skin on his. He involuntarily squeezed it causing her to meet his gaze.
"Walter!" with a note of surprise and relief she caught him off guard and hugged him for a long moment.
Paige was happy he woke up so soon. She even brought a bouquet of flowers to perfume the ambient and make it smell less hospital and more home, because the last time she spoke with the doctor he couldn't tell how much time the patience needed to regain consciousness. Paige held Walter in a warm embrace and she was actually surprised when he didn't flinch or freeze at the contact. She wanted to tell him how much he scared her back there or how Ralph convinced her to stay or, again, how much important he was in her life. Everything seemed so easy for Paige now that she knew he loved her back. Thus, she leaned back and rested on the bed beside him. She couldn't help but smiling all the time.
"I'm calling everyone!" she exclaimed, pulling out the phone from her pocket and placed it on the blanket. "But first I wanted to tell you that I lo-"
"Wait…" Walter looked lost in her eyes and swallowed "Who… who's Walter?"
Paige suddenly felt heavy on the mattress and smile faded from her lips. He didn't remember who he was.
A/N Thank for reading this story... please review!