SHOCKING TURNS

AN: Here's my contribution to the therapy stories. I'm dreading what the writers consider a 'shocking turn' in the Waige relationship. I strongly suspect it won't be positive and they're going to end up 'taking a break'. So this is my attempt to preemptively fix that scenario.

Also, I wanted Walter to get mad and actually defend himself. That's why he makes a big, ranting speech in the middle of this. There's fault on both sides of this snafu, but he always gets 100% of the blame.

Reviews appreciated and soothing to this stressed out Waige fan.

oxoxoxoxoxo

Worry gnawed away at her gut.

He was fine. Walter had to be fine.

There was too much she hadn't said. Things he'd never know. He wasn't good with emotions. He'd never understand, because she'd never clarified it for him.

Paige wasn't always great at communication herself. She hadn't been in the mood to hear his excuses. Instead of listening to his explanation, she'd shouted at him, telling him she needed a break, and walked out. That was almost a week ago.

She'd felt. She'd reacted. But she hadn't used reason. Until now.

Now he was missing.

Toby called Paige early that afternoon looking for Walter. The conversation was brief, but the underlying panic was clear in the behaviorist's voice.

The Scorpion leader was gone. Vanished into vapor.

Toby told her Walter hadn't been himself since the argument. He wasn't coping well.

In addition to the hiatus in Walter and Paige's relationship, Homeland Director Carson had been keeping the team in his crosshairs ever since Scorpion's win against his softball team. There'd been suspiciously fewer government cases in general and Homeland was much slower in paying their fees too.

To top it all off, the team had experienced its first major failure two days prior. Thankfully there was no loss of life, but there were injuries and the property damage was substantial. Scorpion was being held responsible. Attorneys were already circling like buzzards. Or sharks.

And no one had heard from Walter in over thirty-six hours.

Two years ago, he promised her he would stop taking stupid risks. But that was before. When he thought he was important to her. Now he couldn't even be sure she loved him anymore.

She'd asked, so Paige knew the geniuses had tried tracking all of his electronics to no avail. He'd long ago disabled the GPS on his car.

They'd contacted everyone from Ray to Richard Elia to all of Scorpion's clients to various members he'd mentioned from the Vor collective. No one knew where he was. Walter wasn't at Kovelsky's. He wasn't at the UCLA lab. He wasn't at Froyo Ma. He couldn't be found at the planetarium, the aquarium, the natural history museum. He was just… gone.

Cabe asked a friend at the LAPD to issue a BOLO for Walter's license plate number. So far, the Scorpion leader hadn't turned up.

Walter had to be somewhere.

Fear gripped her in icy fingers as a disturbing thought occurred to her. What if Collins had him? That psycho wasn't above kidnapping.

But no, Collins always had some sort of twisted agenda. He would've contacted the team by now if it was him. If nothing else, the nut case loved the attention. She dismissed the possibility.

Paige couldn't sit around doing nothing. Determined to locate him, she snatched her purse and keys from the table in the front hall and rushed to her car.

Driving around aimlessly for more than two hours, Paige tried thinking like Walter. Where would he go?

She admitted to herself this was a switch. Recently, she hadn't tried empathizing with him. At least since the truth about his 'date' with Florence came to light.

Normally, when Walter was upset, he would shut down the emotions and immerse himself in work. For him, ignoring it was bliss.

But to get hit with not one, but two killing blows simultaneously? First her, then his company? Avoidance wouldn't work this time.

Paige made herself pull over. Tears were blinding her, making it unsafe to drive. She had to get a hold of herself. She needed to find him.

Then it hit her.

The beach. The place where he said goodbye to his sister.

Walter didn't usually care for going to the beach. He always said he didn't see the point of sitting in dirt next to some water. If he was looking for solace though, he might subconsciously want to feel close to Megan again. It was a long shot. But it was the only idea she had.

When she spotted his car in the parking area, the relief was overpowering. Her knees nearly gave way when she got out of her own car.

Anger soon joined in, straightening her spine, and it chipped away at her empathy as she spied him sitting casually in the sand, leaning his back against a boulder, seemingly relaxed, while he watched the waves crest and roll in.

Nice for him to be so unconcerned when they were all turning themselves wrong-side out with anxiety looking for him, hoping and praying he was okay and not hanging off a cliff somewhere.

Stomping was a little difficult in high-heeled ankle boots, especially on sand, but Paige did her best.

When she reached his side, jamming her fists onto her hips, she demanded, "Where the hell have you been?"

Walter didn't look at her. With his jaw set stubbornly, he replied, "I fail to see why it would concern you."

"What?! How can you say that? You disappeared. No one knew where you were."

He turned and leveled a cold stare in her direction. "So you're the only one allowed to need space? I'm sorry. It's apparent I don't understand all the rules." Turning his focus back toward the ocean, he finished with a muttered, "I guess I never did." He picked up a pebble and chucked it hard into the incoming surf.

Well that stung a bit, amping up the adrenaline already coursing through her system. So she retaliated with, "Would it kill you to be considerate once in a while? You could've let someone know. Everyone is worried sick."

"All my fault. As usual. Non-existent EQ, that's me. I never learn. Of course when the rules keep changing unexpectedly, I'm not sure any reasonable person could keep up." His tone was mild, but he was glaring out at the water. "I guess I should apologize. Again. Maybe Happy could make you a key chain with a recording of me saying 'I'm sorry'. It might save time. You'd probably wear it out in the first twenty-four hours."

"What's that supposed to mean? You think 'sorry' fixes everything? Or are you referring to what happened between us, now? Fine. You lied to me! You ditched me and went out with another woman! You're smart enough to realize what that would look like to me. Especially considering how upset I was about your dream. The rules of basic human decency don't change. "

Walter shook his head, huffing out an incredulous laugh. "See, that argument doesn't work." He tapped his temple. "I'm a genius. I recall most conversations word for word. This entire situation isn't much different from that whole confusing day when you said you didn't want me to fix your problems. You told me you only wanted me to listen and sympathize. Until you did want me to fix your problems."

Paige rolled her eyes and was about to make a caustic comment when he kept going, "Last year, you told me you can't tolerate lying when I was asking about your difficulty reconciling with your mother. Okay. I made note. Since that day, you've thanked me on numerous occasions for my candor. So, I tried being as honest as possible.

You specifically asked me to be honest about that disgusting breakfast you cooked. And immediately turned around and told me I should have lied to spare your feelings. That's when you explained about white lies. Later, you even kissed me and told me you were proud of me when I lied to Happy.

It was you who lied about looking forward to that lecture. I overheard you telling Ralph you would rather be in a swamp with alligators. I thought I was simply sparing you from spending a dull evening with me. Remember when I told you I was afraid you would get bored with me doing genius-y stuff? That it's one of my biggest fears? Or did that conversation slip your mind?

And I literally tried asking everyone else in the garage to go with me before I even considered Florence." He shrugged, then added, "I knew she would enjoy going. I didn't want to waste the ticket.

I can only conclude you also lied when you told me you trusted me and when you said the stupid dream was no big deal.

I certainly didn't consider my lie a big deal until Toby and Happy started harping on about it. I didn't see how stupid it was until they brought it up. That's when I started feeling sick about it.

Forgive me for being a little confused by all the mixed signals and double standards," He took a deep, shuddering breath and finished by murmuring, "Now I'm left wondering if you lied about loving me. I was under the impression, when you love someone, you don't abandon him at the first sign of trouble. Or when the person you claim to love misunderstands and makes a bad decision that makes you mad. I guess I was wrong about that too."

Walter turned his head away from her, his fists clenching in his lap.

Paige felt all the anger drain away. Feeling weakened by its loss, she sagged down and sat in the sand next to Walter, placing a gentle hand on his arm.

"Hey, Walter. Look at me, please." She urged.

After a few seconds' pause, he turned toward her glowering. But she saw his eyes were drowning in unshed tears before he abruptly turned his gaze away again.

"I guess neither one of us handled this situation very well. I obviously hurt you too. I'm sorry for the part I played. Do you know how much any of this mattered when I couldn't find you? None of it. And for the record, 'taking a break' did not mean I wanted to break up for good. I was just so mad at you. I was feeling jealous and insecure again. I guess I wasn't clear. I needed to spend a few days on my own to sort out my thoughts and feelings. I didn't want to say something I didn't mean and couldn't take back. Listen, I really don't want to believe anything Collins said. I want to be able to say it doesn't bother me, but there was some truth to it. You and I are very different, and my insecurity stems from that. You and Florence are more alike. She understands…"

"I don't have romantic feelings for Florence! I'm not attracted to her! I love you!" He snapped and whipped his head around, scowling at her in frustration.

"Okay." Paige soothed, and rubbed his tense shoulder. "Okay, I believe you. Let me finish. Please?"

Walter gave her a terse nod, looking marginally calmer.

"I also believe you knew I wouldn't like you secretly spending time with Florence, at least on some level. I think you knew when you did it…"

He sighed and admitted. "I tried to rationalize it. You're right. I apologize."

Then his tone turned pleading, "You have to know I didn't do it to hurt you. I promise I won't do anything like that again. In fact, since it seems I'm not a good judge between white lies and destructive ones, I'll go back to being strictly honest. Starting now. Please give me the chance to show you…"

Paige smiled. "You do realize you can be truthful and still be nice, right? Consider how it will sound to the other person before you say things? But other than that, I think honesty really is the best policy. For both of us. And I promise to tell you when I'd rather not attend an event with you. We don't have to do absolutely everything together as long as we set aside plenty of other time for us."

Walter's eager nod and hopeful expression spoke volumes even before he said, "Agreed."

Still looking unsure, he asked, "S-so… You, um, still…"

"Of course. Yes, of course I still love you. I never stopped. We'll work everything else out. Together, okay?"

He wrapped both his arms around her and gathered her close until she actually felt the stress leave his body.

"I'm okay with anything as long as that's the truth," he whispered into her hair.