First off, thank you to all my lovely forum friends who always give me great ideas for fics! Just a few things to say before we dive in: 1) I don't think this is what will happen in the finale, it was just fun to write. 2) Don't worry about me moving things too fast in this fic, I won't. 3) Probably going to be a two-shot. 4) Please review, it makes a huge difference in my enjoyment of writing.

"Walter, the clock is ticking!" Happy yelled, the shakiness in her voice a sure sign that everyone around her should be rattled. "Wanna hurry up with plan B?"

"I'm thinking!" Walter snapped, pacing around the narrow hallway. It wasn't often the genius with a 197 IQ was out of answers, and it was terrifying every time. But he would get there. He hadn't let them down yet.

Paige stepped around Sylvester, ready to encourage her boyfriend, but Florence reached him first, putting a hand on his arm. "Back off, guys," she groused at the team, turning to Walter and muttering something she couldn't make out. Doubtful she would have understood even if she could hear over the din of the machinery above them. "Just like the demonstration, right? But…bigger."

Toby clapped his hands together, looking like a man whose odds of survival had just jumped exponentially. "Hallelujah! I knew you guys went to that stupid lecture for a reason." The team erupted into activity as Toby began to rattle off a list of items he needed Paige to scavenge.

She forced herself to focus.

Paige was exhausted.

She'd only come upstairs to retrieve her makeup bag from his bathroom, fully intending to spend the night at home in her own bed. But she made the fatal mistake of sitting on his couch and now it just seemed easier to sink into the cushions and stare blankly into space.

"What do you want for dinner?"

Paige blinked, Walter's voice drawing her out of her haze. He was leaning in the doorway, watching her with a focus that usually made her heart beat a little erratically. But now her skin felt hot in an entirely unpleasant way and she thought her blood might literally be boiling.

She uncrossed her legs, standing up abruptly enough to give herself a head rush. "I'm not staying."

"Oh." The genius's expression folded and he dragged his hand over his mouth, looking visibly deflated. "I, uh…I wasn't sure y-you heard that. Earlier."

"I heard it."

Walter nodded, lapsing into silence while she debated whether to slap him or leave until she'd had a chance to sleep on it. For better or worse, he made that choice with his next words. "It's not what you think, Paige."

God, where had she heard that before? Certainly not while Drew defended the "completely out of context" messages on his phone, telling her she was the crazy one as she rocked a crying Ralph in her arms. Not when the police showed up to arrest Veronica for the fifth time in a year. Not when Tim started avoiding her calls and canceling their Skype sessions, about five seconds before he broke up with her.

Paige swallowed, feeling suddenly nauseated. "You lied to me. And then you snuck around with her. Please tell me what I'm supposed to think."

He sighed, taking a step forward into the loft. "I-I was going to tell you at some point. For this reason. Toby advised me that this was becoming more than the white lie I originally planned—."

"You think that was a white lie?" she choked out with a humorless laugh.

Walter's eyes narrowed, his brows creased in confusion. "Y-Yes. I overheard you telling Ralph that you dreaded attending the lecture. I was trying to spare your feelings. Like you taught me."

"I wasn't teaching you to lie to me!"

"Paige, I don't understand. You asked me to lie about the breakfast you made. T-To be polite. How was I supposed to know that this would be different?"

You're just supposed to know, she wanted to say. But underneath her rage, she knew that was unfair. Walter didn't know. It was his entire reason for hiring her.

She switched tactics. It was jealous and petty, and in the moment, she didn't really care. "But you were fine with telling the whole team?"

"It wasn't…Happy…s-she saw Florence getting into my car. She was under a mistaken impression and confronted me." He stepped forward again, and Paige's instinct to pull back was blocked as her legs bumped into the couch. "I-I can see how lying made it worse. But that doesn't change the fact that Florence and I are only friends. Didn't you encourage me to be friends with her?"

That was before. Before he'd dreamed about being married to her. Before Paige was forced to watch her connect with him intellectually, in a way she never could. Before he canceled plans to be with her instead, stoking one of Paige's deepest fears. "So, what, this is my fault?"

"I'm not—." Walter exhaled. "I-I'm not saying that."

"Then what are you saying?"

"What should I say?" he erupted, his patience finally fraying. "Paige, how do I end this argument? You want me to never speak to Florence again? Fine. Done. Do you want me to apologize for lying? I do. I'm sorry. Tell me what I have to do."

She felt her chest tighten at the frustration and desperation in his tone. She didn't know how to answer. How unfair was it to cut Florence out of his life because of her jealousy? But how could she manage any more days like today, watching the chemist touch him while they saved the day together?

Paige couldn't imagine that Walter would cheat on her. He wasn't wired that way. But that didn't stop the persistent voice in her head telling her that it won't be long. He'll realize this is too hard and find someone who understands him without even trying. This was always a pipe dream.

This time, she had to be the first to walk away. She refused to be left behind again.

Paige crossed her arms, sinking her teeth almost painfully into her lip. "I don't know if this is working, Walter."

If she'd thought he looked defeated before, she certainly wasn't prepared for his expression now. Paige looked down, unable to meet his injured stare. "I thought…you loved me."

"Of course I do," Paige murmured, unwilling to lie to him about that no matter how angry she was. "I do, but something isn't clicking. It's like both of us have one foot out the door and it's been that way since we started this." Heat pricked her eyes and she hated how intensely Walter always managed to affect her, even when he wasn't trying. "We're not giving it everything we have. We both know it. We haven't even talked about the future, Walter. Instead we're standing here fighting about some other woman. Shouldn't we be past this by now?"

The genius was quiet. It was a quirk of his low EQ that he almost never said what she expected or wanted to hear. For once, she wasn't sure what that would be anyway.

She shrugged. "I just…I think maybe we should—."

"Get married."

"Take a break," Paige said at the same time, the last word dying out in her throat. "What?"