I planned to upload the new chapter tomorrow but since many of you asked to update soon I decided to give you the new chapter earlier.
Paige left her shoes falling beside her and laid on the sand, looking at the sunset on the calm ocean and listening to the noise of the waves crushing on the shore. Walter was staring at her in awe; she could feel his stare so she turned to meet his eyes, then he cupped her face slowly sending shivers through her entire body. She smiled and, thinking about the words he said few minutes before, she covered his hand rubbing it gently and replied "I love you too... Walter".
Paige remembered that dream vividly like any other dreams she made about him. The only thing she would have never expected to happen was her actually saying those words out loud, or in a whisper or... whatever. All that mattered was that Walter knew, he heard her and now he was waiting for her to speak.
The young woman took a moment to reflect on his question, How can I give him a good answer now? She didn't know.
"It's... complicated." she started.
"Is it?" he immediately replied confused. Walter had no clue where that conversation might lead to, but he wanted so bad to have an explanation. It would have solved the mysterious void in his stomach he was feeling every time she was around.
"Yes. I mean... we are not a couple. We are friends". She nervously stretched her fingers and avoid his stare for a brief moment.
"Oh! So I wasn't supposed to know how you feel about me" he felt guilty for even brought that up. He surely had no memory, but it was like he already knew that it wasn't so good at these kind of things. He was experiencing a mix of emotions, lots of those, but he couldn't comprehend any of them.
"No, it's not that. We actually k-kissed. I kissed you... Ok..." this is getting awkward, Paige thought and continued "...let's just say that nothing really happened between us and-".
Her phone started ringing. Paige stood up and she didn't realize that she was holding her breath until she let out a sigh of relief. She hated the situation. Paige pulled her phone out of the bag. It was the alarm she set to remind her to go pick up Ralph from school and she turned it off.
With all that happened in those days setting alarms was a very useful way to keep everything in check.
Walter looked her as she stared down at her phone while his mind was far away, trying to remember something about that kiss, but he wasn't surprise that it was a blank space. He went to the bathroom and stared at his face in the mirror. Who am I?
Paige spoke but he wasn't listening. He remembered few things till that moment and they were mostly about her, about Baghdad and Cabe, he was angry at the old man and he was now afraid of what he could find out later on, since so far he didn't react very well to all the stuff they told him.
"Walter? I need to go pick up Ralph at school and you need to come with me". She was on the doorstep and he kept staring at the mirror.
"Why? Don't you trust me to stay here alone?" those questions surprised Paige a little. The tone of his voice was exhausted tho.
"I do trust you. I just want you to take a ride and see familiar places. Staying in here won't help your memory to come back and hopefully you'll recognize something else on the ride. What do you think?" she was smiling and he saw her lips curved up through the mirror. He decided to let go of his stubbornness for a while and take a leap of faith out of that woman instead.
"Fine. Let's go".
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She was right. Stuff came back to his mind, things were starting to piece together after four days he remembered many other things of his past and his friends. Megan was really happy at the idea of getting her brother back to normal even if it would have take a while for him remember every sigle detail of his life. He knew who he was and where he came from, and that was a big goal for him; he remembered memories of sister, then he recall those times they went to the beach and the that one time the team saved a boy's life trapped underwater, it was Christmas.
His dissipated relationship with Cabe was slowly regain its lost form. Even if Walter was still far from trust him again the way he did before, they were at ease. The old agent knew that the young genius needed more time, but he was content that he agreed to not push him away recognizing that he acted to protect him.
One day the genius found a box with stuff inside of it.
"Hey that's mine!" exclaimed Toby and pulled off Walter's hand a poker-fish. He stared incredulous at the object "You kept it all this time. Mr 197, you are a sentimental"
"No I'm not!" he replied offended then thought over it changing his mind "well, maybe I don't recall being a sentimental by the way"
Sly intervened "He has something about all of us and that's a good think because they can be useful to remember how we met and... ok. But I don't want to share with everyone my past. We may do it in private"
"Good. I wouldn't like to share either." Happy said.
Paige watched the geniuses stunned and confused while Cabe wasn't so much surprised knowing their histories. The young mother took a step toward Walter sat at his desk and try to look inside of the box "And what do you have about me?".
"Nothing." Toby said. There was nothing about Paige in that box and Walter was perplexed. He met her gaze and she looked disappointed.
"Maybe I misplaced it." she wasn't convinced and went in the kitchen to fill the cup with hot coffee.
"You don't misplace things Walt" the shrink whispered to make sure Paige wouldn't hear it.
Then some images flashed in his mind. "I didn't put it in yet, it's up in the loft and I know exactly where it is." he raised from the chair and walked to the staircase. Paige was still hurt, but curiosity took the best of her and she follows.
Walter didn't think twice and opened the first drawer of his wardrobe; it was there.
He grabbed the object and turn it to see the front side and as he remembered there was her name on it.
"You kept my name tag from my job at the diner?" Paige was standing right behind him and her words made him smile.
"Yes. You were a waitress there and I saw you there sometimes when I was with my ex. Then... one day I broke up with her while a was on a job." he paused perplexed then he recalled "to be more efficient."
"Of course... And I'm not even surprised" she said raising the eyebrows and crossing her arms.
"Janice... She told me that she knew I was trying but I still was miles away from normal. Then when I was fixing the internet connection I saw you touching Ralph's shoulder and he rejected it. I knew from that moment he was a genius... like me.".
Paige was listening to him amazed.
"I told the owner to not yell at the boy and I told you he needed help. And yes now I recall all the events of that day, fast car driving through LA, airport ride under a plane and a job offer from Cabe".
She was silent and Walter stood there watching her and knowing why he was so attracted by her. Paige was a strong woman and a very good mom. He was impressed that day and he was still impressed now.
"Do you also remember everything else?" she suddenly broke the silence.
"No, only the events of that day. But now I remember about Happy, Toby and Sylvester and they're right... better not talk about them in front of everyone" he chuckled and she smiled. For so long she waited to hear him laugh again "As people say... the past belong to the past".
Walter was satisfied with his progress and the only thing that pressed him more than any other was the half explanation that Paige gave him about their relationship. She said they were friends but yet she talked in her dreams saying to be in love with him. She said nothing happened between them and yet they kissed. He was utterly confused, but neither of them had the courage to bring back the argument to conclude it. He took a sip of the coffee that he prepared in the spare time and watched over his friends working on a case of robbery in downtown. Soon he would have been back at work too.
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The team wouldn't let him participate to the action on the cases so he always stayed back at the garage even if he found it boring. Eighteen days after the accident his memory wasn't so empty anymore. He was making progress faster than the doctors, and Toby, anticipated and it was a good thing. It meant his brain worked very well and there weren't long term damages. However he still couldn't recall the day of the accident and Paige told him he probably missed a piece that could make him remember it once for all; so she promised that right after the case they were currently working on, they would have talked about it.
Team Scorpion was out to catch a lawyer that in his double life was a boss who made extra money with a covered organization of human trafficking. He never get caught because there wasn't any kind of evidence that could prove his implication in the felony. Walter hacked into his many accounts and, with Toby and Cabe's help, he managed to find some good proof to finally incriminate him.
Sly was there too, not to keep an eye on him, but just because he wasn't needed on the field.
"Walter, I have to confess you something that you probably don't remember yet and..." Sly was avoiding eye contact knowing that the first time he told him about his relationship with Megan wasn't exactly the best time.
"Perhaps... that you and my sister are a couple?" Walter was cleaning the table ready to prepare a new experiment to share with Ralph once he came back from school. He didn't stop his doings and Sly was taken aback "You know?!" he asked incredulous.
"Of course, I remember every single detail of my life up to the events before the accident. Didn't I told you?" He put down the dirty rag on the table and looked up.
"You didn't say everything, you said most of it. It's not the same thing."
"That's correct. Now I remember 99% of my life. So most of it is the best form to explain it".
A smile appeared on the lips of the human calculator who hurried to say "So we're good!"
"Not exactly. I still not agree on you dating my sister for obvious reasons that you already know, but that won't change the fact that you're my best friend and I want you both to be happy as long as you can". His words might be harsh but they were true and Sly was content with it.
The door slid open in that very moment. It was Drew.
"Is Paige here?" he asked them.
"No, but she'll be back in few minutes." Walter replied the man studying his every move. He didn't like the guy and that wasn't a secret and Drew wasn't pleased to see him either. They never talked after he went to Portland months before and the last time Walter saw him was through the window of Paige's apartment. The genius quickly pushed away those images from him mind.
"Then I'll wait here." the ex baseball player walked toward them and sat down on the couch.
Sly excused himself telling that he needed the restroom, but he just wanted to avoid the tension fallen in the garage.
Walter and Drew stared at each other for a while. The genius wasn't uncomfortable at his presence but when he started talking something moved inside of him.
"I thought that Paige said that she never wanted our son to became you. But looks like she changed her mind".
What was he talking about? He didn't remember any of those words coming from her mouth, but they felt real, like a memory not only an imagination.
He was ready to reply when the team came through the door, Drew smirked at him and then left after he had a little talk with Paige. After he was gone she asked him if his ex told him something that bothered him because he surely looked like it, but he simply shook his head and excuse himself to go get some sleep, even if it was only 2 pm. He probably imagined to feel those words familiar and pushed them away from his thoughts. The next day he would have talk to Paige and everything would have been explained, now he just needed to be alone.
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It was two days that Walter was sleeping alone at night and was dreaming peacefully but suddenly he began seeing and hearing things in his head...
"Hang on son... keep hanging on!"
He was driving fast in the darkness... curve after curve... he was feeling desperate as he shouted more than once behind the wheel.
Paige was standing in front of him. Words were floating in the air. They were fighting.
"Is it so awful being me?" His voice echoed in his ears.
"I appreciate everything you've done for us"
Then again he was in his car, wet in his car teetering on a cliff it was day...
...at night. "Is it so awful being me? Being around me?"...
..."My son nearly died because he wants to be you"...
He made another curve in the dark ...a coyote ran on the street... he stirred to his left to prevent to hit the animal... he crashed down as the car tilted few times...
"Is it so awful being me? Being around me?" ..."I JUST DON'T WANT HIM TO BECOME YOU!".
He jumped awake in his bed. He was hearing a scream and recognized it to be his own voice only after few seconds. He was screaming and crying, wet in his own bed. He was shaking so badly and couldn't stop hearing Paige's voice in his head and those images kept flashing in front of his eyes. Walter wanted them to stop but he just couldn't. He covered his head with both hands and tried to calm himself down and repeating himself to breath and breath... and breath.
"What the hell is going on?" his shaky voice was the only sound in the silent night.
A/N: I'm not sure if I'll be able to update this story before the season finale... in any case let's brace ourselves!
