I'm so surprised at the pleasant response for this fic! THANK YOU! After planning the story out, I think it'll have a total of four, maaaybe five, chapters. :)
Just so you know, this story has a lot of internal monologue and almost no dialogue.
Also, parts of this chapter and the next are written a little bit differently than my other stories because both Walter and Paige will be undergoing a lot of soul searching in the next two chapters. Let's just say… they're both visited – inside their minds – by another character in Scorpion that tries to help them sort things out and see things from the other's point of view. (You'll see what I mean when you read it.)
Again, as always, read and review!
Come Back
Written by WriterFreak001
Part 2
~ SCORPION ~
That stupid, idiotic, moron!
Paige desperately needed a pillow to scream into. She wanted a diary to write down every single little thought flooding through her mind at the moment because oh, did she have a lot of them! She stomped around the island for God knows how long, determined to march as far away from Walter as humanly possible. She just could not deal with him right now, and she hoped she wouldn't to deal with him again ever!
Being around him in any capacity was just too painful to endure, and if it wasn't for Richard Elia's insistence that she attended Team Scorpion on this mission due to her past history with the team, she and Ralph would be home and safe and sound and not deserted on a goddamn, freaking island!
She screamed in aggravation.
Her life absolutely sucked big time.
Paige wondered aimlessly along the beach as the chilly water splashed her feet, making the sand underneath sink under her toes. What she would do for a decent pair of shoes right about now. She really wished he had more than pumps in her bag because breaking the heels off the second day after the crash was not something she was very happy about, especially since they were her most expensive pair.
Paige knew she would have to turn back eventually to make sure Ralph had eaten some dinner and was comfortable for the rest of the night, but gosh, she was just so mad, she could punch her feet into the sand for hours!
What the hell made him think a simple apology would fix everything?! The nerve of that guy!
Paige exhaled loudly, all of the air in her lungs flaring out of her nostrils and brushing down her neck. She swore smoke was coming out of her ears as that man's face protruded her mind.
He claimed he was better with his EQ now. He claimed he didn't need her anymore, but what does he do?! He freaking evicted her! That's what! He evicted her from her job…, his stupid company…, from his dumb cyclone…, his whole, moronic life!
She would be damned if she ever accepted his apology and to pretend as if nothing happened that night. Absolutely, eternally, irrevocably damned.
And yet…, she still loved him.
Paige inhaled a deep breath and slowed down as her heart clenched in agony. Yes, she loved him. To death, even. She would always love him no matter how much emotional pain she would have to endure because of him, but… despite how she felt, there was no way in hell she was going to place her heart on the line for him again. She just couldn't handle the heartbreak anymore.
He had his chance to be with her… to love her and be her person, but he blew it.
He really blew it.
But you lied to him… Of course, he would have reacted that way, idiot.
Oh great. She was going crazy. Now Happy was chewing her out inside her own mind!
He was betrayed by the one person he trusted more than anyone. So why the heck are you mad at him for responding the only way he knew how? I'm disappointed in you, Dineen. You should have expected this outcome. After all, despite your differences, you two actually have something in common. I know. What a real shocker! Like it or not, Walter pushes away when he's scared. Just. Like. You.
Paige combed her fingers through her hair and blew out a slow breath of air as she spotted a tiny white crab crawling towards the water. It tripped over a rock, and its legs wiggled lively until it managed to flip back over. The crab then continued its journey as if nothing happened.
She sighed as her eyes settled on the glittery horizon beyond the ocean. A group of birds cawed as they flew towards the evening glow, free and unburdened.
Yes, she had lied. And yes, she had neglected to say anything about, but it wasn't because she didn't want to…. If Toby had only kept his psychobabble to himself and allowed things to play out according to her plans, none of this would have happened. And why the hell did Walter not place any blame on the rest of the team? Why didn't he fire them too?! She wasn't the only one who kept secrets from him! So why did Walter O'Brien take everything out on just her?!
She let out an emotionless laugh, "Mark Collins was right about Walter…," she heard herself say to the wind, "He only kept me around long enough until I wasn't needed anymore and then casted me aside like I was nothing." She let out another laugh. "Who is the liar now?"
He didn't lie to you, Dineen.
There's that Happy voice inside her head again. She must be really going bonkers crazy.
Walter ensured you a job at a higher paying company with more benefits than he could ever offer you and Ralph. He might have fired you from his company, but he didn't kick you to the curb. So stop making him the bad guy. His methods might be… unorthodox, but in his mind, he meant well. Probably... Maybe… Perhaps not… But the point is, Walt had kept his promise… just not in the way you expected or hoped.
But he still fired her when he knew how much she cared for everybody on his team. Scorpion had been her home away from home, and he had taken that away from her… perhaps forever.
Are you deaf, Dineen? He just apologized not an hour ago and even offered your old job back! Stop over-dramatizing things. He apologized. Get over yourself already.
Paige wanted to plug her ears or find some way to push this imaginative version of Happy outside of her mind, but no matter how much she tried racking her brain, Happy's voice continued. Stubborn, just like the woman Paige's subconscious was personifying.
For Walter, apologizing should mean everything. He doesn't apologize often, and hardly ever does he admit he's wrong. He's done both in two minutes for you, and you just left him there like an unwanted piece of molded cheese, pretending as if he didn't just open up his heart to you and beg you to return to Scorpion.
The former liaison stiffened from her own thoughts.
The whole reason Walter hired her three years ago was because she appeared different to him than a normal person. She tried connecting to Ralph even though she couldn't understand him, and she never gave up. That virtue was the main reason why she was asked to join Scorpion, and in spite of the pleasant weeks she and Walter had been through, she had lost sight of that special quality.
"It's no wonder Walter fired you…," she found her voice reprimanding herself. "You're not the same woman he hired three years ago, and you've destabilized his cyclone. Ever since you met Tim, you've been more selfish and scrutinized everything Walter and the other geniuses did. You became short-sighted and impatient with him. All of them." Paige blinked back her tears and frowned deeply. "Good going Paige." She fanned herself to ease the stinging in her eyes as she tried her hardest not to cry.
The one person who put up with everything she had done, said, or been the last year was trying his hardest to reconcile with her, and she blew it by walking away without giving him another chance.
He had given her a second chance in life by offering her a job three years ago. Why wasn't she able to do the same for him?
Paige dragged her feet in the sand slowly, wishing she was home in her soft bed, safe. She felt so exposed on this island as if the world was watching her crumble within.
She was such a hot mess.
She clenched her fists tightly and inhaled a shaky breath as her tears threatened to fall.
Uncontrollably, her lips then quivered, and she instantaneously dropped to the ground as if her world had just collapsed around her.
This must be what failure felt like.
…
Paige didn't remember pulling herself together or starting to make her way back, but somehow, she did. She was like a ghost floating in the silver light of the moon, devoid of all emotion. Her eyes were lifeless, drained from crying.
She couldn't remember how she had gotten where she was, and her throat was too dry to call out to anybody. She turned slowly and squinted towards the woods, just barely making out the rock formation she was sure she passed after her argument with Walter. Not seeing any other option, she sauntered over towards the edge of the woods, but it was too dark to tell how far it was from the beach.
So she turned away and returned to the shore, thinking her best bet to find camp was to keep walking on sand.
And then she saw a figure in the distance, and her heart pulsed faster. Had Walter really been waiting all this time for her? Paige wanted to call out his name, but no voice came out. She wanted to run towards him, but her energy was almost zapped to zero, and she couldn't afford to collapse yet. At least not until he knew she was there.
She felt her cheeks warm and her breath went ragged. Her feet felt like heavy deadweights, and no matter how much she trudged through the sand, he seemed further and further away. Her eyes stung with hot tears as she reached out towards him, but he seemed so unreachable. She began to panic.
She called his name out louder, her head pounding violently inside her mind as everything around her tilted from her body hurling towards the ground.
The last thing she heard was Walter shouting her name in fierce panic before she slipped into darkness.
~ SCORPION ~
DUN DUN DUNNNNN!
Sooooo… whaddya think happened to Paige? ^_^Any theories?
Also please read this important message below:
While I generally do plan to update and complete this story relatively quickly since it's time sensitive, please do not leave a review telling me to update immediately or as soon as possible or demand I have a chapter written and posted the same day you read the previous one.
I'm not a typing machine, and while I wish I could have more time to write fanfiction on a daily basis, I work three jobs and have been ill for the past few weeks.
The updates will come when they come so please be patient if you're waiting on a story that hasn't been updated in a while. I am slowly working on them.
The only story that I might discontinue is "Poaching" because of how different it is from canon. I can't seem to get back into the groove for that story…, but who knows. Maybe my muse will find me again.
