WriterFreak001:

This one shot is inspired by the 16th episode of Scorpion, "Love Boat." This one-shot has no relation to my other FanFiction story, Love Boat.

Title | Single Moments

Fandom | Scorpion (CBS)

Description | I had a dream one night after I watched "Love Boat." This is my dream in written form.

Rating| This fanfiction will be rated K for Waige fluff.

POV | Limited Third Person

Disclaimer | While CBS owns Scorpion, I am the owner of this masterpiece.

Claimer | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something should be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

Single Moments

Written by WriterFreak001

One-Shot

~ SCORPION ~

Paige tried to hold back her tears as one of the men working for Christoph pushed her towards the stern of the ship. Her breath wavered, and she felt sick to her stomach; if she attempted to run, her captor wouldn't hesitate to shoot her. And then they would kill Walter, Cabe and Sylvester too. She knew she had to stay strong, but her resolve was quaking by the second. As he jabbed the nozzle of the gun at her back and forced her to walk down the stairs, she grabbed onto the railing and begged for her freedom. "Pl-please," she blinked back her tears, "I d-don't kn-know anything."

She felt the nozzle press against the back of her head. "Keep moving!"

He grabbed hold of her arm and yanked her away from the railing; Paige inhaled a slow, trembling breath and continued descending the stairs. His grip on her arm tightened as they neared the stern; when she saw the captain and two other men pointing their firearms at Walter and Cabe, she knew there was no hope for her, but she had to try at least one more time; otherwise, she would have felt as though she failed her son. She couldn't let Ralph down, and if she was going to be apprehended, she wasn't going to go willingly. "Please, no." she begged once more as the man pulled her closer to the group.

"Come on," her captor yanked her forward.

"Let's go!" another man shouted as she continued pleading her captor to release her.

"Get her in the raft. Come on!" Captain Caine shouted towards her abductor with his gun still pointing at Walter and Cabe. "We've got to move fast."

"No." Paige's voice wavered as she continuously thought about Ralph. "Please, please." She grabbed hold of the side of the boat and fell to her knees – anything to slow the men down.

"Let's go!" her captor jerked her upward as she caught Walter's gaze; there was so much she wanted to tell him – so much she needed him to know.

"Hold on, hold on!" Walter exclaimed, causing her captor and the other members of the heist gang to look in his direction. What was he doing? As he spoke, she couldn't tear her eyes away from him, and he never stopped looking at her. "You want to guarantee they don't blow you out of the water? Take me."

"Why is that?" Captain Caine asked.

"I'm a high-value government asset." Walter quickly answered as he glanced at the captain. "You take me, you'll have a fighting chance." Walter's voice softened, "Let her go."

"Walter, don't." Paige captured his gaze again. As much as she didn't want to leave with these men, she didn't want Walter to take her place. The world needed him; they didn't need Paige Dineen. She wasn't an asset to the government like Walter – and yet, here he was, demanding Captain Caine to release her and take him instead.

The captain looked at her, and she quickly glanced at him before she found Walter's eyes again and discretely shook her head, begging him not to sacrifice himself for someone as ordinary as her. She saw the look of desperation in Walter's eyes. He wanted to do this – he wanted to protect her. His eyes were begging her to let him keep her safe.

Paige continued to shake her head, and she knew Captain Caine noticed their silent exchange. "Right." The captain looked at Walter and nodded towards the boat, "Get on."

"No!" Paige exclaimed as the man who was gripping her arm pushed her towards Cabe. Walter rose his hands up and slowly walked around her as he headed towards the boat. Paige could have imagined it, but she could have sworn that he had brushed the back of his hand against her arm as he took her place.

"Let's go!" One of the men yelled and drove his gun into Walter's back as the man climbed onto the lifeboat.

"Walter," she called his name out. She wanted to tell him he was making a big mistake! That he was being foolish, but the words escaped her; she knew Walter was too stubborn for his own good, and once the genius's mind was set, it was almost impossible to dissuade him from anything. She remembered the other times the man had put himself in harm's way for her sake. The first time was when they were in pursuit of a Russian mob; he had gently shoved her towards Sylvester and reminded her she needed to survive for Ralph. And then there was the time when he rolled himself on top of her to prevent flying bullets from harming her in Bosnia.

There were many other instances in which Walter blatantly protected her, but she assumed he was keeping her safe for Ralph's sake. She knew the man she had fallen for adored her son; it would make sense for him to want to prevent Ralph from losing his mother. But the way he looked into her eyes as he begged Captain Caine to take him instead of Paige told the woman a different story – one he might not be ready to verbally express, but she knew, in that moment, that Walter O'Brien cared for her a lot more than she was giving him credit for.

When he told her he cared for her as he expressed his feelings about Ralph relocating to Maine, she didn't really know what to think. She assumed he cared for her as a co-worker…as a friend…a confidant, but nothing more. Yet when she saw his desperation, she knew her initial assumption had been wrong. She wasn't just a co-worker to him, and she certainly wasn't just Ralph's mother either. She could tell, by the way he looked at her as he had pleaded the cpatain to take him in her place, that she had meant a lot more to Walter than she thought. And she hated herself for what Walter was doing for her.

He turned around as he climbed into the lifeboat and told her, with his eyes, not to worry; everything would be fine. As much as she wanted to believe him, she really didn't know what to believe anymore. It was killing her to watch him take her place, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from him.

"Let's go!"

As one of the men turned the crank and lowered the lifeboat, Walter's eyes did not leave hers for a second. She wanted to run to the boat and try to stop them, but she knew that if she did, they wouldn't hesitate to kill her – and it would jeopardize everything Walter was doing. She didn't know if he would have done the same thing if another member of the team was in her position, but she did know that Walter wouldn't have wanted her to try to stop them. She knew he knew she wanted to do something with the way she was looking at him; his eyes told her to stay where she was and let him protect her.

"Come on! Move it!" Captain Caine shouted, ordering his accomplice to work the davit faster. Paige's heart pounded as the boat lowered faster; for some reason, though, the pulley got stuck, and the boat hovered above the water. The problem was quickly fixed, and so the accomplice started lowering the lifeboat again.

"BONESTEEEEEEEL!"

Out of nowhere, Sylvester had jumped off of the back of the boat and was headed straight for the lifeboat. Everything happened so fast; the minute Sylvester hit the boat, the pulley broke, and the back of the lifeboat slammed into the water. Walter was the only one still on the boat. Paige felt her heart stop as she rushed towards the rail as Cabe went for the accomplice. She watched the agent knock the accomplice out cold and felt like she needed to do something. She didn't have the combat strength like Cabe, and she wasn't a genius like Walter or Sylvester, but she needed to do something; she didn't want to stand on the sidelines and watch everything fall apart.

"Sly! Where are you?!" Walter shouted from the lifeboat. He screamed with frustration. "I'm tangled in the rope! I can't get free!"

"It's dragging me back! It's dragging me under!" Sylvester shrieked as he tried to stay afloat.

Paige felt sick to her stomach. Sylvester and Walter were in trouble, and she felt like deadweight. One of Christoph's men got pulled under the ship, and a sea of blood surfaced.

"Oh my," Paige gasped and saw the fear in Walter's eyes as he tried to free himself.

Sylvester was shouting something, but the power of the water was drowning out his voice; she couldn't tell what he was saying.

"Hold on, buddy!" Walter exclaimed as he continued to work at freeing his feet. "Hold on!" Sylvester struggled to stay afloat. He called out what sounded like Walter's name, and then he disappeared into the water. "Sylvester!"

"You got to find the crew," Cabe snapped his head towards Paige. "They need to shut off the propeller."

"The crew's –" Paige started to tell him that the crew was on lockdown, but the agent dove into the water before she could finish her statement. "–locked up." Then she had an idea. "Happy!" she called out her friend's name as she quickly ascended the stairs, "I'm going to need your help!" Paige followed Happy's orders and made her way to the control room. "Happy, I'm here."

"Okay, take the throttles out of gear. The control handles are in the middle of the panel."

"Okay," Paige sighed, "I see them."

"Push them both down toward you."

Paige did as Happy instructed, but nothing happened. "It's not working!" She was losing her patience.

"Okay, you need to pull the manual diesel kill switch. There should be a handle on the floor somewhere."

Paige scanned the control panel and spotted the kill switch. "Oh, I see it. Okay." She knelt down to the floor and reached for the kill switch before turning it off as quickly as she could. The motor and the propeller slowed, and she sighed with relief when the noise died down. "I got it. It worked."

She raced back towards the area of the ship where the passengers were locked in and opened the gate, telling everyone that everything was okay. As she left to check on Walter, Sylvester and Cabe, a small hand touched her arm. She flinched from the soft touch as the hand's owner apologized for startling her. Paige turned around and found Walter's ex standing in front of her. "So you really do work for the government."

"Y-yeah," Paige nodded and forced a smile, wondering why Walter had told his ex-girlfriend why they were on the boat. "I'm sorry," Paige apologized, "You're…"

"Janice," she smiled. "I'm Walter's ex."

"Yes. I remember. I'm Paige. You two often ate at the diner I used to work at." Paige wished Janice would hurry things along so she could see how everyone – more importantly, Walter – was doing. "Is there… something you need?"

"This might a little awkward seeing as we barely know each other, but since you and I have a common friend, I figured it would be okay." Janice curled her hair around her finger. "When I spoke to Walter earlier, he seemed different."

"Different, how?" Paige raised her eyebrows.

"Well," Janice shrugged, "He doesn't seem as…burdened as he did when we were dating."

"Burdened?"

Janice's lips curled to a small smile. "You and I both know Walter isn't normal. He is probably the smartest person both of us will ever encounter in our lives. Having all of that intellect seemed burdensome…. Almost like it was… deadweight."

Paige could see where Janice was coming from; before Walter was contracted by the government, he was stuck doing tech support for various clients. Paige knew tech support was barely the breadth of Walter's ability. "Um," Paige didn't know if it was her place to speak about Walter behind his back, but if it would give her a chance to gain some insight on him, she was willing to take the risk, "I think being contracted by the government has taken some of that burden off of him a little bit…. He's able to help a lot more people with his intellect than when he did when he was doing simple tech support jobs."

"Yes, I think you're right about that; he also seems as though he's grown up a bit too." Janice smiled.

"Well," Paige smiled as she thought about the bond between Walter and her son, Ralph, "Ever since he started mentoring my son, I guess you could say he's taken up a level of responsibility; Ralph adores him and looks up to him. Perhaps Ralph has also taken some of Walter's burden away too. When Walter's not working on cases, he spends a lot of his free time with Ralph, teaching him things I can only dream of comprehending."

"Oh, is your son like Walter?" Janice's eyes widened as if she was not expecting Paige's previous statement.

"Yes. I don't know if Ralph is as smart as Walter, but he is mentally enabled too." Paige remembered the time when Walter first met Ralph and how the two of them played chess with the diner condiments; she grinned at the memory. Her life changed that day, and she often wondered where she would be had Walter not walked in to fix the diner's wireless that morning. She didn't know where it came from, but before she could stop herself, she said, "In the last six months, Walter has been more of a father figure to my son than anyone else."

"I'm glad Walter has someone he can mentor; I'm sure he cares a lot about your son." Janice smiled. "And with the way he looked at you when you briefly spoke with him earlier, I can tell he also deeply cares for you too."

"Thanks," Paige felt her cheeks growing warm. "Walter is a very special person."

"He definitely…is that," Janice laughed. "Anyway," she folded her arms in front of her, "Um…, do you mind if I give you some advice?"

"S-sure." Paige blinked, unsure if she wanted to hear what Janice wanted to say.

"Like I said; I've seen the way he looks at you," Janice reached out and squeezed Paige's hand, "And…, I could never get him to look at me that way. You mean a lot to him, and I can see that. So," she smiled sweetly, "from one woman to another, it's important that you realize Walter doesn't make connections very easily."

"I know that." Paige stated quickly. "I know he struggles connecting with people, but he's improving."

"I'm sure he is," Janice nodded. "And maybe he won't lose interest in you like he did me. His mind is stimulated by facts; I learned that the hard way. If, somewhere down the road, you want to have a successful relationship with Walter so it won't jeopardize his special bond with your son, I advise you to wait for Walter to connect with you on some emotional level; otherwise, you'll be disappointed."

Paige frowned. "He does connect – in his own way."

"Yes, of course." Janice released Paige's palm, "But…, his brain and his emotions are on two different levels; sometimes, the emotions he does carry, never makes it past his brain. So he might be able to connect, but if you want a relationship with Walter to work for the better, you need to let him come to terms with his feelings on his own time."

Paige already knew that; she already knew Walter wasn't like other guys. He couldn't just spell out his feelings; his mind didn't work like that. And she knew it too. She knew with Walter came patience. Lots and lots of patience. As pure as Janice's intentions were, Paige didn't think that woman had any right to comment on Walter's inability to connect with people. What did she know? It's been months since Janice even saw him! "Janice," Paige forced a smile, "I know first-hand how difficult it is for Walter to establish connections; he might be able to connect better with mentally enabled people like my son, but he's definitely improving. Now if you excuse me, I've gotta go."

"Paige," Janice calmly placed her palm on Paige's shoulder, "I don't mean to degrade him; he's a very sweet guy – even when he doesn't realize it. Even though I am happily engaged, I still care for Walter as a friend. He deserves to be happy, and I have no doubt in my mind that Walter can be happy with you, but because of who he is, if he ever wants any romantic relationship to thrive, he needs to come to terms with his feelings on his own."

"Thank you for the consultation; I understand where you're coming from. I do, but you don't know Walter like I do." And before Janice could say anything else, Paige quickly walked away from her and headed down to the stern to check on her teammates.

When she arrived, a rescue team was finally pulling Cabe, Sylvester and Walter out of the water as well as digging the bodies out of the water. Captain Caine was apprehended and was being escorted onto a police boat floating close by. Sylvester was with a medic, being treated for something; she saw the medic wrapping something around his ankle so she assumed he must have sprained it when he jumped. Cabe saw her and walked over to her. "How's my favorite female hero fairing?"

"Please," Paige rolled her eyes, "I did nothing."

"Don't belittle yourself, kid. You did good today. Both you and Sylvester showed true courage during this case; even when there was a gun shoved in your face, you didn't compromise the mission. That takes a hell of a lot of guts, Paige. You also turned off the propeller so you saved all of our asses in the end." Cabe smirked. "Oh, and you can let Ralph know I'll have Homeland compensate him too."

"Huh? What're you talking about?" Paige raised an eyebrow. "What did Ralph do?"

"He launched a missile and saved two lives today." Cabe grinned and patted Paige's shoulder. "He managed to hack into the Japanese vessel and override their firewalls in order to launch one of their missiles into the sky. He may not be Walter's son, Paige, but with each passing day, I see more and more of that kid," he looked over towards Walter who was sitting at the far end of the boat with a towel wrapped around him like a cocoon and then glanced at Paige, "I see in your son, Ralph."

Paige smiled. "I see it too."

"Good." Cabe paused as they watched three medics place Sylvester onto a stretcher. "Sylvester's gonna be taken to the hospital ward on the ship since he took a hefty jump off of the edge of the ship. The medic wants to ensure he's good to go so I'm gonna go with them for moral support." As the medic carted Sylvester off towards the elevator, Cabe patted Paige's shoulder and winked, "Perhaps you could check on Walter; he may have suffered from an override of EQ today." Paige blushed as she watched Cabe disappear with Sylvester. Paige slowly walked towards Walter who was in his own world as he stared out towards the water.

"If you stare at that water any longer," Paige smiled as she sat down next to him, "your brain just might turn to goo."

Walter snapped out of his thoughts and turned towards Paige. He forced a smile. "Not possible."

"I know." Paige silently laughed as she leaned her head back against the wall and stared at the sky.

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Walter surprised Paige with a rare, heartfelt apology. "I apologize for the events that happened today; and…because you work for me, I put you in a p-position you, um, you never should have been in."

"Walter," Paige muttered his name, "I knew of the risks when I first took this job to be your liaison to the emotional world. Nothing," she closed her eyes and then opened them again to find him staring at her, "Nothing is your fault." She reached for his hand and gently squeezed it. "And," she smiled, "if it's any consolation to you, I really like my job so you better not be thinking about firing me."

"Huh?" Walter lifted an eyebrow; it was clear to Paige that he hadn't even considered that option. "In spite of what happened," Walter looked away, "the case was… still a success." Walter inhaled a deep breath, "Granted, we should have been prepared for unexpected variables, but overall, the outcome was favorable. No lives were lost today – well," he paused, "none that mattered, at least."

"Well, that's a relief," Paige tried to keep her cool even though she was still a little shaken up from the most recent events of the case. "It's good to know I don't have to go job hunting anytime soon."

"Paige," Walter's lips formed a smirk, "I've seen you stand in a Ferrari going nearly 200 miles per hour underneath a flying plane. And today, even though you had a gun on you, you did not falter." He began to give her little nods, "You're a lot braver than most women. You're the only one who can fulfil the duties of your job and thrive in it. Most normals don't have the level of tolerance you have," he forced a laugh, "with us geniuses. No one," he scratched his head and audibly gulped, "can take your place."

Paige smiled and leaned her head against Walter's shoulder. He froze upon contact but relaxed soon afterwards. "Thanks, Walter." She squeezed his hand again.

"Also," he spoke softly as she closed her eyes, "th-the team needs you, Paige…. Um, I, uh, I…, I n-need you… n-need y-you t-too."

Paige's eyes popped open as Walter's words echoed in her mind. She lifted her head from his shoulder and caught him looking at her. A small smile found her lips; Walter might not have confessed any feelings of affection towards her, but he did just admit that he needed her – and Paige knew just how strong the term, 'need,' could be. He could have considered him as part of the team, but he had intentionally separated himself from everyone else. That had to mean something right? When Walter did have spurts of emotional moments, he never said anything he didn't mean, so if he had individualized his level of need for her, it had to hold some sort of significance.

She wanted to kiss him…to show him that he meant something to her too…to give him sort of gratitude for everything he had ever done for her, but Janice's words crept into the back of her mind. So, instead, she caressed his face and planted a gentle kiss against his cheek. Then she leaned towards his ear and softly whispered to him. "Thank you, Walter." She kissed his cheek a second time as she squeezed his hand before leaning against his shoulder once more. "I really needed to hear that."

"Mmn." Walter quietly acknowledged her sentimental statement, "Okay."

His simple response brought a hopeful smile to Paige's lips as she shared this one moment with the man she had fallen for. She knew, in his own way, Walter was connecting with her. His emotional connections were brief, but they were real, proving to Paige that Walter was certainly capable of making emotional connections. He just needed time, as Janice suggested, and Paige was willing to give him all the time he needed to fully connect with her. She wasn't going to stop cold turkey and have him figure everything out on his own; she knew that, with time, Walter would find a way to comprehend his feelings for her. She wasn't blind to them; she knew he recognized that he had some sort of connection with her.

One little moment of emotion at a time was enough for Paige to know Walter was connecting, and she didn't need the advice of his ex-girlfriend to advise her not to hinder Walter's thought-process – to let him come to acknowledge his feelings on his own. Paige knew Walter better than Janice; she knew that without her help, Walter wouldn't be able to bridge the divide between his brain and his feelings. Not without some sort of guidance. Janice might think Walter needs personal time, but Paige believes that the last thing Walter needs is space. In order to form connections, it's important to have the means to establish them, and he wouldn't be able to connect with her if she had decided to give him space. In Walter's own time, he will come to realize his feelings for Paige, and she was going to be there for him every step of the way. Just as he's always, to some degree, been there for her. And for Ralph.

Single moments were all she needed with Walter; she didn't care for an eternity of emotion when it came to Walter. Walter was…well, he was Walter, and she wouldn't change a single thing about him. To her, he was perfect the way he was.

"Paige?" Walter suddenly spoke her name softly; she liked the way her name rolled off of Walter's tongue.

"Yes?"

"Y-you're…you're w-welcome."

~ SCORPION ~

WriterFreak001:

And that was one one-shot!

I know there wasn't any kissing and such in this story like my other WAIGE stories, but I wanted to stay as canon as possible to the series for this one shot.

Anyway, as a reminder, I will be going out of town for an entire week; I can't promise I'll be able to update frequently, but I will try my best depending on if I have Wi-Fi connections where I'm going.

Where's Walter O'Brien when you need him? LOL

Anyway, let me know what you think! :D