I know, I should be posting the next chapter to "Renewed." I promise it's coming in a few days! That story is all planned out, at least. But the writer's muse is fickle and I had this idea rattling in my head. I hope you're not sick of post-finale fics yet. This will only be two to three chapters. Review if you're into it! Or if you aren't and want to give me feedback. I'm always down for that too. :)

"I can't believe you chose Tim."

For a split second, Paige was sure the voice had come from inside her mind. She wasn't sure why she'd be hallucinating Toby's voice, exactly. If anything, she had expected the nagging feeling in her subconscious to materialize as Walter, or maybe Ralph. Possibly another, more clear-minded version of herself.

The fact that she wasn't fazed by the possibility of experiencing hallucinations was a terrifying thought in itself. It had clearly been a stressful few weeks.

She heard the squeak of an office chair, and glanced around from her desk to see the real Toby with his feet propped up on his workstation, staring at her with the closest expression to disapproval that she'd ever seen him muster. Paige expected him to still be passed out, sleeping off a massive three-day bender. She was pleasantly surprised to see him upright, or at least she was until his words registered in her brain.

"Chose Tim for what?"

Toby scoffed. "Don't play dumb, Dineen."

Paige glanced at the clock. It was eight a.m. and officially too early for one of Toby's psychological experiments or acting practices, whichever this was. She shook her head to signal that she wasn't in the mood and picked up her coffee mug from her desk, moving toward the machine to brew a pot.

"It doesn't take a genius behaviorist to know that you don't have the same feelings for Tim that you do for Walter." The voice was closer now, and Paige jumped as she realized that the shrink had abandoned his desk and was following her to the other side of the garage. "I know our resident genius can be a bit difficult, but I always thought that if he told you the truth, you'd give him a chance—."

The liaison stopped in her tracks and turned abruptly to face him. He had been walking too closely behind her and stumbled back to avoid bumping into her. "It's early, Toby, and I've had a weird couple of days and I don't know what the hell you're talking about right now."

Toby crinkled his forehead, suddenly seeming as baffled as Paige had been when he started talking. "Did you see Walter this weekend?" he said slowly, annunciating the words as if he was afraid she wouldn't understand them.

She stared at him blankly. Perhaps if she was a genius, she could piece together the scattered clues Toby was feeding her, but in her anxious and uncaffeinated state, he might as well have been speaking another language. "No, why would I? You know I was in Tahoe this weekend."

Toby's eyebrows arched in surprise. Maybe he was still drunk. Paige took the remaining five steps to the coffee pot and reached into the cabinets below, searching for a clean filter.

"Son of a…" she heard him mutter, and when she reemerged with the supplies she needed, she realized that Toby was still watching her intently. He tilted his hat up at an angle and ran one hand through his mussed hair. "Walt came storming back into the garage yesterday, looking completely crushed. I assumed you'd told him that you were with Tim now."

Despite Paige's determination to ignore Toby's directionless rambling, the genuine concern in his voice stopped her. She dropped the bag of coffee and the filter on top of the counter and rested her hand next to them, meeting his gaze. "What do you mean storming back? From where?" The shrink suddenly went quiet, his eyes widening a little. If Toby had a tell, that was surely it. Paige forgot all about the activity she'd been engaged in and advanced toward him, glaring at him in the way that the geniuses all feared because they knew they were in trouble. "Toby, why did you assume that I had seen Walter this weekend?"

"I shouldn't say anything."

"That's never stopped you before," Paige snapped as she stepped toe-to-toe with him, using her height to her advantage. "Why would you think that I had seen Walter?"

Toby slumped a bit in her presence. No one was more frightening than an angry mother; Paige didn't pull that card often, but she had no interest in listening to the psychologist's riddles. She'd clearly missed something important, and although Walter was the last person she wanted to think about right now, Paige sensed it wasn't minor enough to brush aside.

"Because he went after you," Toby admitted, exhaling like he'd been holding his breath. It wasn't the answer she was expecting, and Paige felt a little unsteady, as if the wind had been knocked out of her.

"To Tahoe?" That was all she was capable of asking as far too many questions flooded her mind at once and fought for dominance.

He nodded.

"Why?"

"You know why."

Toby waited patiently for the realization to dawn on her, but she shook her head defiantly. Whatever Walter's reasons for coming after her, she couldn't allow herself to read into them. She'd done it too many times before, and she would be damned if she made the same mistake again. "No, Toby."

"He chased you, Paige. He's…" The psychologist pressed his lips together. "Walt should be the one to tell you. Please just go talk to him."

Paige's hand was shaking as she lifted it up to knock on the door of the loft. A substantial part of her voted to walk away, chalk Toby's story up to a drunken misunderstanding and leave everything as it was.

But that wasn't enough.

She wondered how she kept ending up here. At his door, holding her breath, wondering if this time was going to be different somehow. Inevitably, everything that she and Walter were leaving unsaid stayed unsaid, and Paige would tell herself they had plenty of time. That was illogical, of course, considering the danger of their profession. But even though they'd always managed to survive, she had a hunch she was close to her breaking point anyway. Paige had been patient, but even her patience had its limits.

Walter glanced up from his laptop as she pushed open the door. He blinked a few times, seeming a little dazed, and Paige recognized that as a sign that he had been deeply engrossed in his work. "If you're in the middle of something—."

"No, uh, come in," Walter mumbled, shutting the computer and stretching out in his chair. He rubbed his face with his left palm. "What time is it?"

"Close to nine. It's just me and Toby here so far." When Walter moved his hand, Paige was startled to see the dark purple circles under his eyes. "When was the last time you slept?"

He stayed silent for a moment as he stared at the floor, deep in thought, but he ignored her question and asked, "How was your trip?"

"Fine. It was…" Paige wondered if she should elaborate. She found herself searching his expression, his voice for some hint of…jealousy? She didn't know, exactly, but she knew that she had to stop. If she kept analyzing him, the liaison was bound to imagine some signal that wasn't really there. "Fine." Paige paused, her breath catching slightly as she asked, "What about yours?"

Walter's head snapped up, a hint of panic in his eyes. She had his full attention now, and Paige felt almost guilty for ambushing him but she could safely bet that he wasn't planning to tell her on his own.

"Toby?" he asked simply.

"Yeah."

The genius dropped his elbows onto his legs, linking his fingers together behind his neck, and sighed. "I'd hoped that perhaps he was too inebriated to remember."

Paige's heart was beating erratically and for a second she felt like she might be having a cardiac event. She inhaled to calm herself. "So Toby was telling the truth? You really went to Tahoe?"

"Not…all the way to Tahoe. Eighty miles. Approximately." Walter's focus was still trained on the floor, and as much as Paige wished that he would look at her, she knew it might be impossible to keep her head if he did. "I know you're going to ask me why, Paige, but I'd really prefer if you didn't. The reasons are no longer important."

"They are to me."

"Paige."

"Walter," she answered firmly, undeterred by the warning he'd infused into her name. After a short deliberation, she knelt down in front of the genius, tilting her head until she could see his face. He brought his hands forward to rest between his knees and averted his eyes again, but Paige didn't take it personally. It was unlikely he would be comfortable having this conversation in any form. "You know that I can't let this go."

He swallowed, shifting his weight slightly in his chair. "I'm asking you to."

"Were you…" She hesitated, searching for neutral words that Walter might respond to a little more readily. "Were you coming to talk to me?"

Silence.

Paige let out a rough breath. "I know you have a hard time expressing yourself, Walter, but I need you to say something." He pulled back to put more space between them, leading Paige to realize that she'd been subconsciously leaning toward him. "I just…I need you to explain what's going on, because I don't understand."

There was an excruciatingly long pause before Walter cleared his throat and said, "I can't."

She could hear the insecurity in his tone and shook her head sympathetically. "Yes, you can." Paige wasn't sure if it was the right move, but she couldn't resist reaching up and resting her hand on his knee, taking note of how tense his body was under her fingers. "I'm right here, I'm listening. Just take your time."

"No, I mean…" Walter's eyes flashed to hers briefly, and she was taken back a little by how dark they were. "I can't."

Oh. The liaison hoped he couldn't see her crumbling, but she was sure she wasn't hiding her reaction very well. Whatever he'd come to Tahoe to say, that moment was long gone and he had no intention of sharing it with her now.

She just kept ending up here, didn't she? At square one, only more disappointed each time.

"I can't risk Scorpion," Paige heard him say, forcing her out of her thoughts. "You know that I'm prone to…rash decisions. But the team has to come first. Our work is too important."

She felt him move and realized, belatedly, that her hand was still on his knee. She dropped it to her side, flexing her fingers. No need to make this harder on herself than it already was.

"I'm sorry." He sounded so sincere, just like he'd been on that weather balloon a year ago. The locations and circumstances changed—hell, they'd changed—but their conversation remained the same.

"Don't be," Paige muttered as she straightened up, smoothing out her skirt. Common sense told her to shut up and exit gracefully, but she couldn't seem to hold her tongue as the rest spilled out. "The team is bigger than all of us and I learned a long time ago that I'd never be able to compete with that. And if I thought anything else, well…" She flashed a smile that must have looked even emptier than it felt. "I guess that's on me."

The liaison turned on her heel, walking quickly toward the door but trying not to look like she was running. Her palm was already on the knob when the sound of her name stopped her.

"I, uh…" She tensed at the sadness in Walter's voice, but she managed not to turn around, reminding herself that she was likely just imagining it. "I hope you had a good weekend, Paige."

She nodded once and left the loft.