Chapter 10

It had been a week since Walter found Paige in her catatonic state in the shower. Things seemed to be getting better with Paige; she was slowly transitioning back into regular life. Walter thought she was getting better, and that maybe today would be the day he could see her smile again.

But Paige had different thoughts. Things were nowhere near ok. She didn't feel she deserved to show that.

Still, she was grateful. Walter was trying to help her through things, and it made her feel better to reread Ralph's previous notes about them. She kept it in her back pocket every day. When she felt things were getting too overwhelming, or she felt lonely, she simply felt for the piece of paper and when she was reminded that it was still there she could let of a breath of relief.

She couldn't lie that seeing Ralph progressing made her joyful and hopeful that things were going in the right direction. Yesterday after picking her son and Henry up from school (they have decided to car pool) he asked her if Henry could come over tonight for a sleepover. For once she was beaming with delight and quickly said yes. She followed with questions about where they wanted to sleep, or what they wanted for dinner, but was ignored as Ralph and Henry were engrossed in their newest video game. She was determined to give Ralph a wonderful time; she never wanted him to feel like she does.

After dropping Ralph off at school early to work on a project she went to the store to pick up a few things for later. Walter greeted her as she got back and was putting things away in the fridge.

"Act pleasant," Paige told herself.

"Hello Walter, how are you?" She sounded practically robotic and decided to give him a half smile to be more convincing. All she wanted in that moment was to hold him.

Her response surprised Walter, but he was ecstatic.

He didn't realize he was staring at her; he couldn't manage to pull his eyes away for a second. Paige snapped her fingers in front of him and said, "What is my genius thinking about?"

Walter couldn't overlook her referencing him as her genius.

He liked it.

And she scolded herself.

"I was wondering if you and the boys, when they come over tonight, wanted to break out the old telescope tonight." Walter was hopeful that she would say yes, but he tried to tell himself that he shouldn't expect much. He just wanted things to go back to the way they were.

Memories of their first night star gazing flashed through Paige's mind and she unknowingly smiled at the thought.

"I think the boys would love that, but I don't want to ruin their fun; you know I don't know much about astronomy."

She turned away from his gaze and started to do the dishes from the night before.

"I remember someone once saying 'be determined to have a good time and you will.' What happened to her? I'm sure Henry doesn't know as much as Ralph about astronomy but he will still be there." He swallowed the lump in his throat and said, "I want you to be there."

Paige was mindlessly scrubbing plates, but froze at Walter's last statement. Why did he want her there? Why would anyone possibly want her? She dropped the plate and it shattered as it hit the ground. She was frazzled and quickly got on her hands and knees and started picking up the shards of ceramic. She didn't even realize she cut her hand on the sharp edges until Walter kneeled down next to her and softly called to her.

"Paige."

She didn't look up; a tear fell.

"Paige, it's ok. Look at me." He lifted her chin to look at her.

"It is ok."

She fell back to sit completely on the ground and Walter scooted over to her and took her hand to examine it. Her head was leaned back against the cabinet with her eyes closed. His fingers were light and gentle; something she still wasn't used to.

"It doesn't seem to be too bad. Let me go get the first aid kit."

Paige looked down at the sight of her own blood and just stared.

It didn't take long for Walter to return with some sterilizer and bandages. He took her hand again and wiped away the blood before wrapping it up.

He looked up at her and said, "See, didn't I tell you it was going to be ok?"

"Thank you" she mumbled before going back to cleaning up her mess; Walter stopped her. "Maybe I should clean this up, unless you want me to call Toby because you'll end up cutting up something else."

He gave a slight chuckle hoping to amuse her, but she only nodded and got up to continue washing the dishes.

Walter gathered the fractured pieces and threw them away. He didn't know what else to say to her, but he didn't want to go, so he took a seat at the table just to be in her company.

Minutes passed with the only noise being the running water until Paige finished.

"I will be there."

And then she walked away.

Henry's mom had dropped the boys off at the garage and after she and Paige exchanged pleasantries the boys ran off to go play video games. Paige was only able to get their attention when the aroma of pizza filled the room. It was just the four of them at the table: Walter and Paige seated next to each other and the two young boys on either sides. Toby, Happy, and Sly were at the work bench and watched from a distance.

"They look like a family." Sylvester said as his heart warmed.

"You softy." Happy rolled her eyes and went back to work on her latest project.

"Sylvester is right Happy," Toby interjected, "and I don't think the even realize it."

The boys were talking about their day at school, and how Ralph had asked his teacher if he could correct his math. Paige shook her head in only slight disapproval as she looked at Walter; she knew how he influenced Ralph. She took another bite of pizza.

Walter glanced back at her, "Oh hold on you have a little something there." He gestured toward her nose and she tried to wipe it off, but she only made a bigger smudge.

Walter gave a light low laugh and took his napkin. "Here let me." Neither of them thought much of his action until he finished and they found themselves gazing at each other.

"Mom?"

Paige snapped out of it.

"Yes sweetie?"

"Can you pass me another napkin?"

They finished dinner and Walter excitedly asked them if they wanted to head up to the roof. The boys ran ahead of him and Paige slowly rose from her chair. She felt herself relaxing for the first time in a while.

They opened the door to the roof when Walter bent down to pick up a piece of paper.

"What's this?"

*That's it for this chapter! Tell me what you think, I always appreciate it.**