A/N: Thank you for the kind reviews! Here's a new chapter!

Chapter 2

"In… in my dream you asked me what I wanted you know… on th-that cliff edge". Paige locked her eyes on him but this time he was the one trying to avoid the gaze of the other.
"What did you told me, then?" she barely whispered.

"I didn't tell you anything" Walter met her eyes to observe her, examine her reaction. Paige was baffled at first, then she slowly raised her eyebrows finding the answer she was looking for.

"Would you show me again?" she asked unexpectedly.

"Wha-" His lips parted and stared at her "Y-you want me to…"

She firmly nodded.

His ears were burning. "I-I'm not comfortable with this" he whispered as he was afraid of his own voice.

Paige took one step closer always holding his gaze. "It's ok" her voice was soft and calm. She grabbed his hands and the movement remind them both that famous flirtation lesson. Despite the purpose, Paige trying to teach him how to flirt with a woman, she enjoyed the moment fantasizing that she was the one Walter had to seduce instead. It was a cute moment, yet awkward; just the fact he couldn't bring himself to act like a normal guy made her giggle more than once. Obviously he wasn't normal and she would have never change him for anything else.

"This isn't a dream, my emotional level is different when I'm… awake" he chuckled nervous, trying not to freeze at the touch of her warm hands and it wasn't that easy.

"Shhh" she was so close to him that there was no space left. Walter could feel the heat of her body while his heart started racing like a mad horse. What the hell? He didn't know what to do. The woman in front of him asked to show her again what he was experiencing, but the way she looked in his eyes was burning his skull, leaving him with incoherent signals coming from his brain.
When Paige realized that he needed a little push, she guided his hands and placed them on her hips. He never broke eye contact and that intense stare made her blush even more when he finally leaned forward to kiss her. It was a slow shy kiss, but soon it became hungrier and demanding.

Paige unlaced his tie letting it fall on the floor, then she proceeded to undo the buttons of his shirt. He merely managed to move his hands on her lower back pushing her body against his. Paige responded running her fingers on his neck sending shivers all over his body and cupping his cheeks with a soft touch. Walter was a person who certainly hated physical contact and yet that wasn't enough. He broke the kiss just the time necessary to remove her blouse, giving her space to completely undress his torso too.
God, he looked so good. Paige didn't expect to see his body so tonic and Walter was also very pleased at the view he had in front of him. In few second he already calculated every curve of her body and came to the conclusion that she was simply perfect. When she noticed his gaze fixed on her bare skin her smile grew wider. He was in awe.

In his life full of math and science, Walter never imagined to experience a mix of emotions all at once. He was estranged and couldn't even gave a name to whatever he was feeling. He shut his brain and leaned down again to kiss her, unfortunately a phone start ringing. He groaned.

"Oh, no! Ralph." Paige immediately broke the contact and pulled out her phone from the bag. She restrained herself from answering once she saw the name on the light screen and left the room instead excusing herself.

Walter stood there a while before he fully regained the ability to move and his brain was already working fast to process everything that just happened. However the young genius was curious to know who was the mystery caller so, grabbing his shirt from the floor and fast buttoning it up, he approached the stairs to ear better. After few exchanges he figured out it was Drew and they were talking about Ralph. I'm working Drew, I don't have to explain or justify to you what I do in my life anymore… yes... I know, that's why I'm heading home right now… Walter heard her say few more lines before she ended the call with a grunt. Although he hated Drew, Walter thought he was right. She should have been already home and not at the garage doing... this. He felt guilty, after all he was the cause that kept her from being with her son.

Walter saw Paige walking toward the stairs so he moved in quickly and pretended he hadn't heard anything. He grabbed the first object he had close at hand and waited for her to come back in.

Paige stopped right in front of the doorstep and she fought hard to repress a laugh. Walter was standing in front of the couch with a lamp in his hands. "Are you fixated on lights, now?" she joked. The genius put it down and explained her that there was a problem with the contact of a fuse or something like that. She couldn't understand what he was trying to tell her, mostly because her attention was focused on his manners. He was hilarious.

"Fine. You don't have to lie. I know you were listening… I would have done the same" she paused fixing her eyes on his "But now I really have to go home".

"Yeah, sure". He replied looking away "I'm sorry that I…" she kissed him on his cheek and he turned to face her quietly.

"Don't be" Paige had a smile stamped on her lips; then she pecked his cheek and grabbed her things to leave. "See you tomorrow, Walter. Goodnight!"

"Night" he replied before she was out of sight.

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Walter reflected all night. The mess he put himself into wasn't easy to deal with, so he analyzed every pro and cons three times in a row and the only conclusion he reach each time it involved him talking to Paige. Hopefully she would have agreed with him.

"What's up in your mind, 197?" Toby shook him awake.

"Mmm? Nothing". Walter was sat in front of his computer, but all he could see was images of the previous night. And, of course, Toby noticed that his head were somewhere else that morning. He leaned on his table placing both hands on it watching intensely. "You're reading my body language for whatever reason you have and it's upsetting. Stop analyzing me, Toby."

The shrink didn't gave up that easily and intensified his stare. Fortunately Paige opened the door greeting everyone in that very moment and so Walter took advantage of the moment of distraction to slip far from the persistent looks of his friend.

Paige saw Walter quickly sneaking out his desk and going to the back of the garage; she decided to follow. The young mother noticed anxiety in his body language and she questioned if the reason of that behavior was because of what she felt too.

"Walter?" she approached him from behind and he turned very quickly around.

He opened his eyes wide. "Paige. You followed me".

"Yes, indeed. I think we need to…" she watch over the other teammates to see if they were ear dropping, probably they were. Paige decided it was better to go outside, so she grabbed his wrist and guided him out of the building.

Walter saw in that gesture something similar to the previous night and, beside his brain told him to let go of her grasp, he just didn't. Fortunately they were far away from certain ears because he was certain of what she was going to say.

Paige fixed her white shirt to take time finding the right way to begin but Walter preceded her.

"Paige, I thought about the last weeks and the great work you did for the team. And... well, about last night too" he began running his fingers through his curly hair "and I don't want you to waist more of your time working late. It's not good for your healthy and because your a mother and Ralph need you. So... I decided to give you a day off". It wasn't exactly what he planned to say but it just came out that way.

Walter clearly left her speechless, in fact she opened her mouth to say something but she changed her mind immediately. Paige stared at him for a few seconds before she found her voice again.

"Are you kidding me? I'm perfectly fine with the current situation, Ralph is good too and anyway if I had any problems I could have told you immediately. There no need for me to go home, really." her smile died as soon as he didn't reciprocated it. "Listen if you're uncomfortable for-"

"I'm not... actually." He interrupted Paige "I just want to give you some time off to take care of Ralph and yourself. Your presence is not indispensable for this case" he faked a smile hoping she wouldn't notice.

The truth? He couldn't concentrate with her around. Every single thing he tried to do in the last twelve hours didn't manage to take his mind away from thoughts about Paige. And he was quite ashamed about some of them. He tried to occupied his brain with the rocket, with the ferret, he made some experiment and solved some complicated expressions. Walter tried anything but his car, since Happy confiscated his keys after his deadly stunt over the hill, and not once he successfully forget about it. His brain kept playing, rewinding and pausing those moments all night long. He was exhausted.

"If you say so." Paige brought him back to reality. She was disappointed and didn't care to hide it from the genius. "See you, then" with those few words she left going inside the building, grabbing her bag and in the end leaving.

When he walked back in, four pair of eyes fixated on him.

"Why are you watching me ...like that?" confusion was written all over his face.

Toby was the first to speak "Maybe because Miss Dineen just left to, and I quote…" he signed with his fingers up in the air "…go home and get some rest".

"She was tired, I told her to go home". He replied pouring some coffee in his cup.

Happy and Cabe raised their eyebrows, then Sly frowned. Neither of them looked convinced, in fact Toby insisted "She looked more, let's find an appropriate word... ah! Pissed... The only one tired here is you, my friend".
His tone far for friendly and Walter rolled his eyes. The genius walked toward his table and fixed his tie before sitting down and placing the cup, still in his hand, in the only empty space left on the wooden surface.

"Yeah. Whatever" he didn't want to discuss. "Let's talk about more urgent things such as… the case. Sly? How are your calculations on the…".

They discussed few minutes on the case, then they left to catch the culprit of the week. At the end of the day they were all drained.

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In the evening, Walter was in his loft avoiding certain comments by a known shrink, who drove him crazy all day with his assumptions and his commenting on how he was trying to keep distance with "his liaison".

He heard steps on the stairs and when the door opened he turn saying "Toby I already told to leave me alone!". It wasn't him; Happy stared at him quietly. "Listen I don't want any advice from you too."

"Actually, I'm not here for those." She said insecure. "Nah, it was a bad idea, Walt… doesn't mind".

The genius was suddenly intrigued by her statement and asked her to continue.

"You needed to free your mind and since I have your keys, I thought to bring you this" she showed her the keys of one of his favorite car, after respectively Lamborghini and Ferrari.
He got up from the couch he was leaned on, grabbed her keys and ran down the stairs so fast that Happy couldn't do anything but giggle.
Downstairs, there was a red Camaro LT that pleased him to be driven. Walter caressed the cold body and then went straight for the hood. Once he opened it the genius started analyzing the engine in every detail, leaving no space for anything else.

"I knew you would appreciate it" Happy walked near him still smiling and putting both hands on her hips continued "What do you say if we take a drive?".

At those words Walter watch her like a child whose been told he could eat all the chocolate he wanted.

His stare was intense and observed her carefully to understand if she was just making fun of him. "Are you serious?"

"Like a peakfreen" she deadpanned. As Toby would have said.

"Wait a minute. Where is this car coming from?" he asked confused.

"Walt, I didn't steal it. It's from a client of my father, he left it at his garage for repair. I already fixed it and since that man won't be able to reclaim it until tomorrow evening, I borrow it"

"And you trust me with it?"

"Easy, buddy. I'm coming with you".

Walter watch her quietly. He almost forgot the most important thing "What if I'm not able to drive.. yet?"

"I guess we'll never find out if you don't give it a try. I thought you didn't suffer from PTSD anymore... at least, you don't throw up every time you take a sit in the van". And with that she was deadly serious.
Happy was right, he spent two months being unable to stay in a car longer than ten seconds. Toby called that a post-trauma caused by his involvement in a car accident. The genius knew it was a common thing among the victims of a violent event happened in their life. In this case he developed a phobia that caused him unpleasant panic attacks. Now it seemed he got over it and it was time to receive a clear answer, once for all.

Walter nodded. "Come on, let's go. The night doesn't wait!" he exclaimed in excitement climbing on the driver seat. Happy followed him in the passenger seat and with a roar they ran fast out the city.

Finally thanks to Happy he'd been able for a while to keep his mind off everything. When they got back home he was so tired that he forgot to thank her for letting him drive the Camaro.

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The next morning Walter felt relaxed, the drive clear up his mind, and was finally ready to confront Paige on the burning argument he couldn't no longer avoid. But she never came to work. As the hours passed, his concern raised exponentially so, partially even for Toby insistence, he convinced himself to go to her apartment and assure that everything was fine.

With Toby wonder, he asked him permission to take his car and drove down LA. When the genius arrived at Paige's apartment his smile grew wider. Maybe it wasn't the right call sending her home in the first place and now it was time to fix his mistake. Walter missed her presence at the garage and felt guilty for making her angry with his statement too.
He climbed out the vehicle and crossed the street.

It was then, that a Deja vù hit him hard in the chest.
Surely he wasn't prepared for the view in front of his eyes, Walter looked up, through the window, and almost felt a tear escape his orbits. He repressed the urge to scream and clenched his fists instead. Then, he knew very well that he shouldn't, but ran away with Toby's car as he slowly melted in a flow of emotions that took his mind and body over, leaving him completely breathless.

Preview for the next chapter: Paige didn't take well being sent home and felt guilty for putting them in that awkward situation... knowing this, what really happened when Walter looked at her window the next morning? Keep reading to find out!

A/N: There no happy story without an angst twist... but don't you worry. Things will gets better... eventually.
Don't forget to leave a review, it motivates me to continue this story. Thank you!