Author's Note:
I wrote this after reading spoilers for a future episode. I think it's 2x10 Arrivals and Departures.
So, after reading the spoilers, I just could not get this idea out of my head about how Walter's mom would react to Paige's being in love with him. I also wondered about how Paige might react to Walter's mom knowing. (Yeah, that was a little awkwardly worded. Sorry.) This was the result of my musings.
Also, I'm terrible at writing accents; so, you'll have to insert an Irish accent into Mrs. O'Brien's speech. You'll also get a peek into my headcanon in this one. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters. I wish I did. They belong to CBS and the show's creators.
"You're in love with him."
Those five words broke Paige out of her reverie. She stared at the woman standing next to her.
"Excuse me?" she stammered. "I'm not sure what you mean."
"You know exactly what I mean, and it wasn't a question. It was a statement of a fact, as my son would call it," Mrs. O'Brien returned with an unreadable expression.
Paige continued gaping at Walter's mother for what seemed like an eternity, but before she had a chance to deny anything, Mrs. O'Brien continued.
"And before you deny it, please consider this," she paused, fixing Paige with a severe but, somewhat, amused look, "If you have any intention of getting involved with my son, lying to me might not be the best way to begin our relationship."
Whatever denial Paige might have fabricated died right then as her face began to heat up, and she looked anywhere, and at anything, in order to avoid looking Mrs. O'Brien in the eye. Of all the things she thought could happen when she woke up this morning, having this conversation with Walter's mother didn't even crack the top 100.
My job must be crazier than I thought if a semi-normal conversation is the last thing I expected to happen today, Paige mused, while Mrs. O'Brien continued waiting patiently for her response.
After a few moments, Paige's shoulders visibly slumped, and she asked, "Is it that obvious?"
Mrs. O'Brien chuckled and relaxed her stance, "I'm afraid so. The only time I've seen someone have it worse was when I fell in love with his father."
Paige smiled, and asked the question she really wanted answered, "How did you know?"
"The way you look at him," she replied, "It's the same way I look at his father."
"That and a little birdie might have mentioned something during the last few phone calls I've gotten from her," she added with an amused smirk.
"Megan," Paige said nodding her head, "I should have known."
"Anything that has to do with her baby brother is always of interest to her, and Sylvester is a great help in getting the gossip," Mrs. O'Brien continued and then grew silent.
After that, the conversation slowed to a halt, and Paige began to wonder about the, apparently, dark turn in her companion's thoughts. She was seconds from asking when Mrs. O'Brien finally spoke.
"Paige, I don't need to tell you that my son is not like other men. You work with him every day," she paused as if gathering her thoughts, "But you may not truly realize how different he is."
Paige swallowed and listened more intently than before. She had a bad feeling about the way this conversation was going.
Momentarily, Mrs. O'Brien continued, "Walter has an incredibly hard time connecting to people. I spent years trying to connect with him, but no matter what I did, I just couldn't quite get there. For the longest time, Megan was the only one who could get through to him.
"When Walter was twelve, he met a boy named Peter…Well, it was more like he saved Peter from some bullies… Anyway, Peter was a sweet boy, but mentally, he was a little slow. Walter and Peter became fast friends. They spent every day together. He was Walter's only friend.
"When Walter was fourteen, we received a phone call one morning…Peter had had a seizure in his sleep and died. He had been at the house just the day before…" she trailed off sadly.
Mrs. O'Brien looked directly at Paige and said, "We lost Walter for a month after that. Megan calls it the rabbit hole, I think. He wouldn't eat, wouldn't sleep. He just…stared off into space. No matter what we did, we couldn't get to him. Even Megan couldn't get him to respond. We were terrified."
Paige stared speechlessly with wide eyes. She had no idea. Walter rarely talked about his past. It was a total shock.
"I'm not telling you this to scare you, but you need to know the effects these sorts of things have on him. My son is a wonderful human being, but he doesn't handle emotions well," Mrs. O'Brien looked at Paige imploringly, "He loves you. I can see it, but he's never been in love before, and I'm afraid that if something goes wrong, he won't recover.
"He's my baby, and I don't want to see him get hurt. So, I want you to be sure that you can handle it before you go any farther with him. I'm already losing my daughter. I can't lose my son, too."
Paige stood there, deep in thought as Mrs. O'Brien wiped the tears from her eyes. Could I do that to him? Could our relationship falling apart cause him to fall down the rabbit hole?
Yes, it could, she thought, After you basically told him that he was a terrible person that you didn't want your son to be around, he drove his car off a cliff…Not intentionally, but that's not really the point, is it?
That thought, alone, made her miserable. She had been so concerned about Ralph and the pain that Drew left in his wake that the thought that Walter might be vulnerable had, honestly, never crossed her mind. Tears began to gather in her eyes, but she held them back to avoid causing Walter's mother any undue stress.
"Hey," her companion said, breaking her from her thoughts with a gentle hand on her shoulder, "I'm not saying that you shouldn't try. I'm not saying that at all. You're good for him. He's the happiest I've ever seen him, and that's all I really want for him."
She paused and then continued, "I'm just asking you to be careful with him…for my sake, if nothing else. Just…take care of him for me. Please."
With that, Mrs. O'Brien squeezed her shoulder and gave her a tight smile before walking over to talk to Megan and Sylvester. Paige continued to stand there staring into space but seeing nothing.
"Is everything all right?"
Paige was so deep in thought that she didn't even hear Walter walk over to stand beside her. The concern written across his face forced her to gather her scattered thoughts.
"Yes, everything's fine," she replied trying to give him a convincing smile.
"Are you sure? You don't seem fine," he stated, still sensing that something was off.
"Just thinking. It's nothing important really," she said, trying to think of a way to set his mind at ease.
"Anything I can help with?" he asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid not," she replied, smiling at his willingness to help even though he had no idea that he was the subject of her musing, "I'll figure out how to make it work. I always do."
"That you do," he replied with a smile, "That you do."
So, there it is. I'm not sure how I feel about the ending. I wrote a couple of them, but I'm not really satisfied with either. I tried to double check my grammar, but this was written in a hurry; so, there's bound to be a few mistakes. If you see any major ones, let me know.
I'm one of those people who writes because I have a story to tell, and this was the story that needed to be told today. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. As always, reviews are welcome.