This sort of follows 3x22 and takes place somewhere within the last two episodes, respectfully.

Based on all of the sneak peeks the cast has provided on the last two episodes; the safest assumption is that the team (including Paige and Ralph if Paige is still no longer on Scorpion's payroll at this point) will be involved in a major plane crash on a secluded island like Castaway. Soooo! This is my take on what could happen between Waige if they ever get their acts together by the finale.

Come Back

Written by WriterFreak001

Part 1

~ SCORPION ~

It had been eight days since the plane went down, and they were nowhere close to contacting a rescue party. After hours of concentration, the geniuses were about to put their brains together and figure out a rough estimate as to where they might have crashed, but according to the pilot's map, the island – wherever the hell they were – was supposedly nonexistent. Their best guest: at least a few hundred miles east of the Philippines, but there was no way to know for sure. Perhaps they were not too far from the Mariana Islands. Perhaps they were closer to the Philippines than originally calculated. Perhaps they could wait a few more days before a plane passes overhead in search of them.

Somebody had to know they were missing.

Richard Elia, the benefactor of this trip, must have figured out by now that they never reached their destination. Surely, he must have the best of the best searching for them, yes?

It had been eight days.

Chances of being rescued: 23 percent.

~ SCORPION ~

For as much as possible, Paige kept her distance from Walter, and only interacted with him if Ralph was involved, or if it was absolutely necessary. Otherwise, because he had decided to fire her, she had absolutely no reason to speak to him anymore. Terminating her job terminated their friendship, and she would be damned if she ever risked her heart for him again. As soon as they were off this goddamn island, Paige was going to completely cut that man out of her life. She would allow her son to have and maintain his relationship with him, but that was it.

She. Was. Done.

Absolutely, 100% done.

Walter O'Brien can go to hell for all she cared.

No longer did she feel like she was a part of the Scorpion family anymore so as much as possible, she steered clear of everybody. After all, what reason did she have to be their friend anymore?

Walter made it clear. She wasn't needed. And once the wedding was over, her job as the Ma'am of Honor was done. Other than being the mother of an exceptionally smart genius, there was nothing more she could offer them so why stay attached?

She knew she was running. She knew she was purposely pushing everyone away, but they had all gotten too close, and now every estranged moment she spent with them made the emptiness inside of her even bigger.

She had never felt so alone than she did on this island.

….

Walter didn't know how long he had been staring, but this was the third time this morning he had caught himself watching her. Like every evening since they were stranded on this island, she had walked away from the group, and it was obvious she wanted nothing to do with the team. Typical. Just like every normal. He was a fool for trusting her and thinking she was different, and he wished he had never fallen in love with her because now that she was effectively removed from his life forever, he missed her terribly.

But she lied to him! Kept a secret from him for seven months and never bothered to bring it up once! He unknowingly spilled out his heart to her, and still picked Tim even though it was damn obvious – now that he remembered everything completely – that she wasn't lying when she said she loved him too.

Even though he still loved her, even though there would be nobody else ever, Walter couldn't have any sort of relationship with somebody he couldn't trust.

But if that was true, then he wouldn't never have forgiven Cabe and restored their relationship.

Walter shook his head and clenched his eyes shut as he racked his brain for clarity. But this was different! This was her.

"Walt?" Toby was waving his hand in front of the younger genius's eyes, "You okay?"

"Yeah," was all he said before attempting to walk away. Toby clutched his arm to stop him though.

"I wasn't going to say this because I didn't think it was important, but… I can see your decision to fire Paige is detrimental to both of you, so I have something to confess, Walt, and it's eating away at me." Toby crossed his arms as Walter turned towards him, giving the shrink his undivided attention.

"What?" Walter's response was more clipped than it should have been, but he didn't apologize. He was on edge lately.

"I should have said something right away, but I thought this little break between the two of you might have been a healthy thing since it would have given both of you time to process things, but clearly you're sulking and she's eternally pissed, and if it's not too late to salvage any relationship the two of you have or had or might have, then I need to come clean and accept whatever wrath you might unleash on me if we ever get off of this isla—"

"Toby, you're rambling." Walter frowned, clearly annoyed with the newly married man.

"Right. Okay, so here it goes," Toby exhaled loudly. "When you were feeling better after your unexpected detour to space, when Paige had asked you about what you had remembered about Space, I have no doubt in my mind that she was going to tell you everything right then and there when you claimed you couldn't remember. But because she was dating Tim at the time, I feared the news of what happened in space – your confession, her confession, your out-of-control and very out of character behavior -would only make you spiral into WALTCON 1, so I quickly intervened and interrupted your conversation before she said anything more. And when you went downstairs upon my request, I told Paige to forget about space and never to bring it up. So she didn't, and that's why you never heard the Story of Space from her…. So… yeah. I'm an asshat for intervening, and if I unknowingly ruined things between you and Paige, I'm very, very sorry."

Walter clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, clearly angry as hell at Toby. "It doesn't change a thing. She could have ignored your request, but she didn't."

"Dude, she had your best interest at heart! How can you overlook that!?" Toby threw his hands out, trying desperately to understand his friend. "If she didn't love you, she would be over this setback by now, and she wouldn't be estranging herself from everybody."

Walter couldn't help but look at Paige as Toby continued talking. "Once we're home, if we ever get there, Paige will more than likely cut all ties from you, Walt. All ties."

Walter suddenly found the hot air hard to breath. "E-Even Ralph?"

Toby shrugged. "It's possible."

"She wouldn't."

"Probably not because she loves her son way too much to disappoint him, but she might change her phone number and pay somebody else to drop him off at the garage. I definitely wouldn't put it past her, Walt. When any time you and Paige had an argument, what did she do?"

Walter gulped. "She threatened to leave."

"And why's that?"

Because her mother left and abandoned her when she was young, and her father died from a broken heart. Walter brushed his hand through his wild, thick curls and sighed heavily. "I fucked up big time, didn't I?"

Toby slowly nodded. "You abandoned her, Walt. You might not think you did, and you probably didn't think about the emotional toll when you fired her, but you finally and effectively pushed her away. And because someone she obviously loves made it clear he doesn't want her in his life, she doesn't have much left to hang on to, Walt. She's hanging by a thread because of Ralph, but that could change in one instant, and you could wake up one day, and they would be gone forever."

Walter blanched. That was the last thing he wanted to happen.

"But she… she lied."

"Yes…. In a way she did, but you're no saint either, Walt. Does one lie really outweigh everything she's done for you? Believe it or not Walt, you're at your best when she's around, and now that she's not even when she's literally 100 feet away, you're starting to suck as a person – especially how you handled the last case we had between that Mars fiasco and my wedding. Your muse for changing is gone so, unknowingly, you aren't as nice to other people anymore. Feelings aside, do you really think you can run this company without her?"

Walter noticed how the breezy wind blew lightly on Paige's long, tangled hair, and his heart ached when she suddenly buried her face into her knees. Toby was right. He couldn't function without her. She was everything to him, and more, and even though she didn't tell him about space, that lie didn't deter his feelings for her. In fact, he was sure he loved her more because of how much he'd missed her the past month. He needed to correct this. Losing Paige, and by extension, Ralph, forever was not an option.

And before he knew it, he was running as fast as he possibly could towards her, but she was absolutely oblivious to it, but perhaps, for now, that was a good thing.

~ SCORPION ~

Paige couldn't understand why he had fired her.

She had gone over the scenario a thousand times, but nothing made sense. She could understand if he wanted space… if he needed time to process everything, but he went too far. He promised her she and Ralph would always have a home in Scorpion… but obviously, she fell for a delusion, and she fell hard.

Liaison. That's all she ever was to him.

And now she was nothing.

She was such a goddamn fool because once again, she just had to fall in love with a man who made her feel absolutely worthless.

She was done trying. She was done with falling in love. Because after Walter, she knew – deep down – there would be no one else. Walter had her heart; he had all of it, and even though she wanted to take it back, keep it from continuously shattering any time she thought of him, she couldn't.

Paige inhaled a deep, shaky breath as the beach water licked her toes again, and she swallowed the hard lump in her throat as she wiped away the quiet tears from her eyes, but they kept falling, and her stomach began to churn as her throat clenched tightly. And as she lowered her head and buried her face into her knees, for the first time in days, she balled her eyes out.

She didn't know love could hurt this much.

…

Walter drew closer to her and slowed his pace with every step. He could hear muffled sobs echoing from her as her body shook, and for the second time that day, he felt like the biggest moron in the world. He had been too rash that night without thinking things through properly. Before even discussing things with her, he jumped to the conclusion that she would be happy to take on a job with higher pay, but her reaction had been horribly miscalculated, and for days, he had analyzed that moment over and over again, not understanding why she was so upset with him.

He had her best interest at heart, and he knew that if she worked with Richard Elia, the tech mogul would have ensured Ralph's future. He really did think that was what she wanted since she started working for Scorpion – a safer, more secure environment for her son, and that was Walter was giving her. He loved her with every fiber of his being, and vowed to always look after her, but because she had lied to him, he really thought terminating her job at Scorpion and securing her a spot in Richard Elia's company was the best solution at the time.

Over and over while she had been dating Tim, she kept saying how she wished she was working with normal people, and working for Elia would give her the financial security she needed as well as fulfill her wishes to live a normal life. But the way she reacted… how she told him to go to hell and had sworn she was done with Scorpion altogether… that wasn't something he calculated. That wasn't something he wanted to hear, and no matter how many times he had tried to talk to her, find out why she was so upset with him, he couldn't find the words to say nor summon the courage to speak to her.

Today, for some reason, was different though. Perhaps it was because of Toby's confession, perhaps it was because of his guilt, or perhaps… it was when he saw how broken Paige looked with her face hidden between her knees.

The sight alone was enough to break his heart in thousands of pieces, and he prayed he hadn't ruined their relationship forever.

Without a word, Walter cautiously took a seat next to her and stared at the ocean in silence. Hearing her broken cries made him feel even guiltier. Not knowing what else to say, he pinned his knees to his chest and rested his chin between them, his eyes never leaving the purple horizon.

And eventually, when he had summoned enough courage to speak, he apologized. "I'm sorry." The woman froze in place in response so he carefully continued. "I was an ass for not consulting things with you first about transferring your job to Elia's company. I shouldn't have acted so impulsively, and when we leave this island, I'll talk to him. You can have your job back if you want it…. It's clear to me now that I… still have to work on some things because… well… I was insensitive."

Without speaking to him, Paige rose to her feet and silently walked away from him.

"Paige?" She wouldn't even acknowledge him when he called after her, and that really, really worried him. Walter sat there for a moment, watching her as she left before scrambling to his feet to briskly follow after her. Luckily, wherever she was headed was not somewhere the rest of the team could see from their position on the island. When he finally caught up to her, he tried to block her path. "Paige, I said I was sorry!"

Her eyes flamed with anger. "You really have no clue, do you!" She pushed past him and picked up her pace. "You think that's all I care about?! My job?!"

"That's why you're mad at me, isn't it?" He almost stumbled trying to keep up with her. "I transferred you to work for another company, and you were angry because of it."

"Go to hell," she spat, not wanting anything more to do with him.

"Paige!" He grabbed her wrist to stop her from running away, but she jerked her arm out of his clutch and slapped him. Hard.

"Just go back to your precious Scorpion and leave me the hell alone!"

He froze and touched his tender, stinging cheek as she marched away from him, but he had lost her twice already. He wasn't going to give up now. Plus, he totally deserved that slap; he always did when it came to her. When the shock finally wore off, he took off again and caught up to her, and before she could whirl away from him, he gripped both of her arms tightly, somehow needing her to see reason.

And there it was. Their eyes connecting like magnets drawn together, and he could see all of the hurt and pain he had caused her to feel, and she could see the confusion, regret and worry deep within his. "Paige," his voice broke as he clutched her tightly as though she was the only thing keeping him from falling to his knees, "Please." He was begging now. He exhaled loudly as he struggled to express himself. "I'm sorry. For everything. For firing you. For being insensitive. For… For abandoning you when I promised, all those years ago, that I wouldn't…. I can't take back what I've done, but please," his fingers curled around her thin arms as if she was his only lifeline, "please come back. I can't do this… any of this… without you."

Paige could feel the desperate need in his clutch and sucked in a quiet breath as his palms found her cheeks.

"Please, Paige," he whispered lowly, "come back."

Paige felt lightheaded and found her hands covering his own as the dying sunset highlighted some of his features. She inhaled a quivering breath and wanted to vomit as she forced his hands away from her face. He would never be anything more to her ever again. The cycle needed to stop now before she lost her resolve. He would never hurt her again. She closed her eyes as he frowned, fear striking his coffee-brown irises. It was now or never.

"No."

And before he could say or do anything, she ran away, leaving the genius alone in the fading darkness.

~ SCORPION ~

HAVE NO FEAR! THIS WILL HAVE A HAPPY ENDING! There will be at least 2 chapters total, but depending on how long chapter 2 gets, I may extend it to 3 chapters instead.