Five Times Walter and Paige Almost Kissed (And One Time They Did) #1

FoxPhile

Summary: Part 1. Walter is surprised at his reaction to a waitress whose son is a genius. Takes place during the events of Episode 1.01 Pilot. A "5 Things" fic collaboration by WeBuiltThePyramids, WriterFreak001 and FoxPhile. Cover Art designed by WriterFreak001.

Author's Note: This fic is part of a collaboration between WeBuiltThePyramids, WriterFreak001 and FoxPhile inspired by discussions on the Scorpion FanFiction thread on FanForum. Each author has written two stories that, together, make up the collection. The stories are best read in order. You can find information on the next story in the series at the end of this chapter. Links to all the stories can be found on my profile page.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own /scorpion. This story is for entertainment purposes only. I make no profit and no infringement of copyrights is intended.

Chapter 1 – Pilot

"We're a million miles from normal" – Walter O'Brien

Walter O'Brien did not recall ever being particularly conscious of his sense of smell.

He was aware that Janice nearly always wore some sort of light perfume. It was flowery, with an undertone of citrus. But it neither pleased nor displeased him. It was just another of the minute details in his vast memory that were filed under the label "Janice". Memories that he would now lock into the vault labelled "Past". He rarely visited that vault, even though he was unable to truly forget its contents.

The boy's mother, Paige, did not wear perfume. Or if she did, it was completely overpowered by the scent of tuna fish, stale grease, peanut butter and something else that clung to her. Walter realized she had changed out of her waitress uniform, but the clinging smell was evidence that she had not showered since their adventures of the afternoon. As he walked into the small living area to join Ralph on the couch, the scent brought back memories. He recalled that the sense of smell is more closely linked to memory than any of the other senses.

"Hey! Please check your language around my nine-year-old!"

Walter had called her a good mother – and she was. Paige, he was sure, would defend her son like the best of predatory mothers in the animal kingdom – lions and tigers and bears. He remembered his own mother, the day the Americans came to find Scorpion. Both his parents stood hugging each other, cowed with fear as armed soldiers took him from his home in handcuffs when he was just a bit older than Ralph. He might not ever forgive Cabe Gallo for what eventually happened, but he wondered what might have happened to him had the Special Agent not come in and rescued him that day.

Paige called him Einstein. She wasn't aware that comparing someone with a 197 IQ to Albert Einstein was tantamount to insult. He forgave her. She was working with the only information available to her. Just as she was working with the information – undoubtedly provided by some public school counselor – that her son was "challenged".

"I'm smart enough to know that you're scared. You don't know how to solve the problem and you're terrified because people will die."

She'd been smart enough to see through his barriers to the heart of his biggest fear. She'd been brave enough to overcome her own fears to help him surpass the greater good and achieve what seemed impossible. He'd never told anyone about Baghdad. He didn't know why he felt comfortable talking to Paige about it, but he was very happy that he found a way not only to improve her life and that of her son, but to keep them both in his own life.

Ralph, he noticed, was freshly bathed and wearing clean, nearly new pajamas. The space cadet motif reminded him nostalgically of his favorite sweater from when he was about the same age. Walter glanced around the room, noting the small table and chair that served as a desk. He hoped Paige would accept the job he offered her, and that the steady income would allow her to purchase a laptop for Ralph. He thought he might buy the boy a chess set, but he would ask his mother first. He knew that people sometimes perceived gifts as insulting. It was yet another element of social interaction that he did not comprehend.

"He's all tucked in and pretending to sleep," announced Paige when she returned to the room, collapsing onto the couch. Exhaustion was etched into the slump of her shoulders and the persistent smell that spoke of a woman too tired to shower; who only changed clothes because she hoped to be able to wear the same outfit a second day and save on laundry and ironing.

"You're tired," Walter said as he began to rise. "I should probably be going."

"No, wait," she pleaded, placing a hand lightly on his forearm.

Walter's flinch was minute, but she obviously sensed it because she snatched her hand away.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, "You mentioned that Ralph can't process physical contact. I don't mean to get too personal, but do you have the same problem?"

Walter sat back down, clasping his hands on his knees. "You can't get too personal with me, I have no feelings to hurt. But to answer your question, yes, I'm not comfortable with physical contact."

"I don't believe that."

Walter looked up, ready to argue.

"No – no," she continued, "I believe that you don't like being touched, and I'll try to respect that. But I don't believe you don't have feelings." She held up a hand to forestall him. "I saw you get angry and frustrated and scared today. Those are all feelings. You also have compassion, despite your greater good theory. You can be hurt, Walter O'Brien, you just don't want to be so you've convinced yourself that you can't." She brought her hand down, hovered for a moment over his leg, and then brought it back to rest in her lap.

Walter was suddenly assaulted with a wave of feelings. Regret and confusion he could identify. He regretted admitting his touch phobia to Paige, because right now he wished she hadn't hesitated about laying her hand on his leg, but he was confused as to why that might be. He also recognized an even greater hope that she would accept his offer. Normally he could care less about connecting with normal people or getting to know them. At best, when they were clients, they were a source of income. At worst they were a distraction and an impediment to his ability to work efficiently. He wanted to learn all he could about Paige Dineen – and her son.

There was another feeling he couldn't identify. It was unfamiliar, but it seemed like a good feeling. He recognized that the feeling was, on some level, stimulated by the young woman sitting beside him, and that it caused him to notice some of her outwardly pleasing physical attributes. Walter cataloged those, together with the observations about her he'd made earlier that day. He filed it all together with the feeling in his memory so that he could examine it more fully later.

"Walter….Walter!"

The distracted genius shook his head and focused on the woman's eyes, which were deep brown and warm, but sparked with a note of anger. "I'm sorry, I was…focused…in my own mind. It happens sometimes."

"You were focused, all right – on my chest and I don't appreciate it," she challenged. "I was thinking that maybe because you're a genius you might be different, but I guess I was wrong!"

"No, no – you were right," Walter explained, "I am different. I mean I…I don't do that. I may have seemed focused on your…" he waved a hand in front of her, then continued, "…and what I…what I was looking at would be registered in my brain but in reality I was not really seeing what I was looking at. I was processing observations."

Paige cocked her head, causing her messy pony tail to bounce around her shoulders. "You know, I think I believe you," she admitted. "Are…are all geniuses like you?"

Even Walter could tell that the young mother was concerned about her son. "No, no," he assured her, "not at all, although we all have what you might term eccentricities." He went on to explain further. "As I've told you, I have a very low EQ. Sly, on the other hand, is a walking time-bomb of emotions and insecurities, along with his OCD. Toby I haven't quite figured out, but since he's a behavioral therapist, he does a good job of faking normal emotions, so we may never know about him. He is, however, what I believe is termed a 'horn dog' and he apparently has a hat fetish. Happy has anger management issues, but other than that, she doesn't let her feelings show, so I'm not too sure about her, either. We all sometimes retreat into our own heads when we're working out a problem." He paused, seeing from her face that he failed to reassure Paige. He wished he could make her feel better, but he was not equipped to be anything but honest. "Ralph will likely have emotional issues as well. You can be the most supportive mother in the world, but he will still be exposed to people who don't understand who and what he is and they will make life difficult for him. Those difficulties will affect him. But we've all been through that and we can at the very least help you prepare him for it."

Paige nodded. She looked thoughtful for a moment, then a faint smile curled her lips. Lips that Walter found himself staring at, only this time he didn't have the excuse of being zoned out inside his own head.

"Okay." She reached behind the sofa to the small table that held a few decorative items and a basket of mail. She picked up the papers Walter had given her earlier. Unfolding them, she paused, apparently re-reading the details. "So when do you want me to report for work…and where? Do you have an office downtown or something?"

Walter grinned. He was surprised at just how thrilled he was. "No – not an office," he confessed. "It's more like…well, it's a converted garage." He hurried to continue when he saw her eyes grow wide. "But it gives us lab room to work on stuff and we have an office area where we have desks. We also have excellent technology. With the government money, we'll be able to afford some upgrades."

"All right, then." Paige picked up a pen from the table and flattened the paper out, signing her name at the bottom.

"Wait a minute." Walter waved his hand over the paper. He couldn't believe he was stopping her from doing the one thing he most wanted her to do. "Don't you want to consult a lawyer, first?"

"Mr. O'Brien," she said, "Right now I'm getting by on tips from two different waitress jobs that keep me away from my son for over eighty hours each week. I have a crappy old car that threatens to fall apart every other week and we live in this tiny apartment in a section of town that is safe enough, but doesn't have the best schools. You're telling me that Ralph is a genius so I'm thinking I need to get him into a better educational environment and I really want to give him a better home and make sure he's safe when I drive him back and forth to whatever school I can get him into." She waved at the paper, still lying on the table. "The money you've offered here can pay for all that, and even if I occasionally have to work around the clock on a case, I'll have much more normal hours most of the time. I might even get a chance to spend whole weekends with Ralph AND you've stipulated that I can bring him to your offices any time I like." She picked up the pen again, finished her signature and handed the document back. "Even if I could afford a lawyer right now, which I cannot, this is a no-brainer. I accept your offer and all I need to know is, since you work in a garage, should I spend my first paycheck on some coveralls?"

Walter stared blankly at her, then at her signature on the paper in his hand, then back up, finding his eyes landing once more on her full lips. He noted that, although her face was free of any makeup, and she was obviously over tired; she was beautiful. He wondered what she would look like with adequate sleep and the time and money to enhance her looks with nicer clothes and perhaps the services of a professional hair stylist. Once again, he shook his head, shocked that thoughts like that even entered into his brain.

"All…all right," he stammered, folding the papers and leaning forward to tuck them into his back pocket. "You have the certified check from today's case, so I'm hoping you can expedite giving notice to your current employer…employers," he said, emphasizing the "s". "Do you think you'll be able to start next Monday?"

The blond smiled and nodded. "I'll be there, bright and early!"

"Uh…not too early. I live in the loft upstairs and when I wake up early I come downstairs to work before the rest of the team arrives." He caught the quizzical look. "I come downstairs in what I sleep in…which is nothing. But don't tell Sly that – he'll douse my chair in so much Purell I'll wind up getting stuck to the seat or sliding off."

It was Paige's turn to stare, until she burst into a fit of laughing. Walter smiled, not sure what was so amusing, but hoping he could find out, since he liked the sound of her laugh. "I um…I suppose I can start wearing a robe or something. Or maybe just get dressed before I come down," he said.

Paige continued to laugh, but finally stopped and took a deep breath. "Don't worry about it," she assured him, "if I decide to come in early, I'll be sure to call first. I wouldn't want to embarrass you," she giggled.

"Oh – you wouldn't…"

"I know – I wouldn't embarrass you because you don't feel things like embarrassment." She smiled at him, then surprised him by reaching out and brushing a curl off his forehead. "Oh – I'm sorry," she gasped, "I promised I wouldn't do that."

"It's…it's okay," he admitted, "I…I actually didn't mind it." He rose again, and thrust a hand out, intending to shake to seal their agreement.

Paige reached up, took his hand, and rising to join him, adjusted her grip and pumped her arm up and down firmly. "Okay, then," she declared. "I guess we have a deal."

Walter found himself reluctant to relinquish his hold, but realized the prolonged contact was getting awkward. He gently let go and turned towards the door. "I really should be going," he repeated, making his way around the sofa and back towards the tiny entrance area. "You're obviously tired and I'm sure Ralph will have you up early tomorrow." He turned to grin back at her and was pleased to see she was following. "Plus, you'll need to go shopping for those overalls," he joked, "Not a requirement, but it's actually not a bad idea. Happy likes to bring her engines and other mechanical projects into the office and sometimes there's grease…"

Paige nodded, mirroring his amusement. "Noted. I'll put that on my shopping list. I assume I'll be meeting clients so I'll need a more professional wardrobe anyway. Although it might not be very diverse at first," she cautioned. "I've got ideas for things to buy for Ralph that could go through that check and about two more of its friends if I allow myself to indulge." She chuckled.

They reached the door and Walter turned to face her. On an impulse, he reached out and took her hands in his. It felt odd, but not unpleasant. He found himself fixated on her lips again, and began to lean towards her. The questioning look in her eyes brought him up short. What was he doing? This was not like him! Walter O'Brien did not kiss women that he had only just hired. For that matter, Walter O'Brien rarely kissed women at all. Even Janice, he counted exactly four times that he had initiated a kiss; and those were only because he knew it was expected. If his comfort level with casual physical contact was low, his comfort level with the sort of intimate contact that kissing represented was below ground level. The evidence, however, suggested that some part of him wanted to kiss Paige Dineen regardless of how insanely inappropriate that was. He dropped her hands as if they had turned to fire. Stammering, he tried to ignore what had just happened.

"R...Ralph will be just fine," he assured her, and her face relaxed from her prior astonished look. "W..w…we can help you find a good school where he'll get more advanced instruction and you can bring him by after school." Paige reached around to open the door, then held it with both hands as he continued. "Is Ralph interested in astronomy at all?" He brightened as the thought occurred to him. Talking about Ralph helped to calm him down from the anxiety caused by his inexplicable behavior. "We have a pretty great t..t..telescope on the roof of the garage. It's high enough to avoid the worst of the ambient light, so we get a pretty good view. Maybe you and Ralph can stay until after dark sometimes and we can look at the stars together."

Paige smiled, her eyes focusing on his. Walter was pleased that she didn't seem upset about his momentary lapse. "That sounds like fun," she agreed. "I honestly don't know if Ralph is interested, but I guess we can find out."

"All right then," Walter repeated, and stepped backwards out the door. "I guess I'll see you on Monday, then."

"Bright and early," she quipped, winking. Walter nodded and Paige slowly closed the door behind him.

As he made his way down the hall, Walter reflected that his life was about to get very interesting.

End Note: Make sure you check out the next story in this series, written by the talented WriterFreak001. Links to all the stories can be found on my profile page. I hope you enjoy reading the entire series! If so – let us know. Reviews are welcome.

April 4, 2016