Wow. The last chapter of the fic I hoped you all would never have to read. I hope you've enjoyed it. I know I said in my last Conflict A/N (which is technically a sequel to this fic) that I've been spending more and more time away from the fanfic world since I saw Wicked, and how the new perspective I have has made me happier, but that doesn't mean I don't love writing and reading (and I am still going to finish reading the WIPs I'm working on, promise). It's just made the cancellation less consuming for me. That said, editing this last chapter so near when our premiere should have been was still hard. Knowing this kind of thing is all we'll ever have is still hard. But I'm okay. I hope you are too, whether it's this fic, other fic, or real life that has helped you get there. We all deserve to be okay.

Including these characters. So, without further ado…

Walter felt the pit in his stomach as he approached Paige. She was chatting with Toby, smiling and chuckling at something he had said. Walter was hit with nostalgia, suddenly back at Kovelsky's, watching her smile and laugh and dance while he worked up the nerve to tell her that he loved her. He couldn't decide if this time was more or less nerve – wracking.

She turned to him when he got close, a smile still on her face, though he couldn't tell if it was genuine or the polite, professional one she used with clients. It definitely was not the smile she used to smile only for him. "Hey."

Hey. Not hi. That was a good sign. "Are, uh, is it okay if I steal you away for a bit?"

"Sure," she said, her smile slightly more relaxed. Behind her, Happy approached Toby, and he wrapped her up in his arms, leaning her backward and kissing her like they were newlyweds. "Gross," Sylvester said with a smirk as he passed by. Walter couldn't help but notice he was walking to where Florence sat, up near the observation building.

"Great," he said in response to Paige's reciprocation. "Uh…" he looked around. There wasn't really anywhere to go that was private. But being out of earshot was what really mattered. "Down this way?"

She nodded, and they walked side by side down the path to a bench that was…Walter cocked his head. The bench was chained to the concrete slab it was resting on. Apparently, people stole benches around here. "Crazy day, huh?"

Paige looked at him like he had three heads. "That's putting it lightly, wouldn't you say?"

He shrugged. "We've had crazier ones. Nuclear weapons, death by island…"

"You've never been so close to dying as you were today."

He disagreed, but he wasn't going to argue. Now wasn't the time to make her think he was invalidating her feelings. "I try not to dwell on that. I'm alive, and that's the preferred outcome." They had reached the bench, and he gestured to it. "Would you like to sit?"

"If you sit next to me."

He smiled, feeling his heartbeat pick up the pace. Another good sign. He thought back to the way they had clung to one another when he and Sylvester had come back up this path. In that moment, he knew without reservation that he was where he belonged, bumps in the road be damned. He was willing to work on whatever was necessary.

He just hoped she was, too.

"I, uh…" he slapped his knees. "I've missed you. And I know we – I know that we've – it's not like I haven't seen you at all. But I have. Everything back from when you worked for Elia, about how things don't feel real if you're not there…I said as much over the coms earlier, but I'm saying it again because I mean it that much."

Paige nodded. "Walter…" she sighed. "It's the same for me." She closed her eyes, her nod turning into a headshake. "You have to know it' the same for me."

"There isn't anything between me and Florence," he said. "I promise. There never was, not like that."

Paige bit her lip.

"I do get mental stimulation from her," he said. "But also from Happy. From Toby, Sylvester…Ralph…" He paused. "I never considered hanging out with any of them as being unfaithful to you, so with Florence, it didn't seem any different."

"But it was," she said, "because you never had dreams about any of them. Subconscious means something."

"In this case, it was because she found me," Walter said. "And my head put me in a place where everyone else was better off but me. I was worse off. Being with her was in a world where everyone else was happy but me."

"I know." She nodded slowly. "It's just hard to shake, Walter."

"I know." He cocked his head, watching her. But there are things…aspects of the relationship between you and I…that I can't get from anyone else. That I don't want to get from anyone else. And just because I'm a genius doesn't mean those things aren't extremely important to me."

She smiled, giving a slightly nervous chuckle. Walter reached over, curling his fingers around hers, much like he had that night that his sister had died.

"I just want you to be honest with me, Walter," she said, her voice laden with emotion.

"This isn't just about the honesty. This isn't just about me."

She cocked her head in confusion."

"I know you have had a lot of people lie to you, and keep things from you maliciously, and I completely understand how I came off. But…you threw out all these things…I'm immature, I'm exhausting, I was a bad date…"

"I didn't mean those things. I was angry."

"No," Walter said. "You did mean them. I know they aren't as big of problems as they may have seemed in that moment, but you did mean them." He paused. "I need you to tell me if something is bothering you. Even if it's a little thing, even if you think you're showing your love by letting it go. It builds overtime. The drains in the lake back there…if they were checked periodically and cleared, things would have continued to work. But they weren't, and so much built up that there was no other way to address it but with dynamite. And that nearly ended in disaster." His voice grew quieter. "It's just like what happened with us. You told me once that relationships are messy. That it's their nature. I know there will be more mess. But if we check in, if we take it all seriously…" He paused again, feeling almost too emotional to continue. He cleared his throat. "I don't want any more dynamite. I don't know if we could survive another blast. And I hate that, because…because I couldn't stop loving you if I tried. And believe me. I tried."

Paige was quiet. He knew that look, when she lowered her eyes slightly and her lips pressed together. She was thinking, mulling over what he said, considering rather than dismissing. He could stand to do a little more of that, too. After what felt like a lifetime, she gave a slow nod. "I hear you. I think that's a valid concern."

"If I'm talking too much about science on a date, just tell me. I always want to impress you and make things interesting and fun but if you're not feeling it…" he shrugged. "I can tailor the subject matter to things that are more strictly romantic. But we can't stop communicating. That's always been what gets us."

She nodded. "I know. That part is my fault. I made you feel like you couldn't tell me things. The effort…the effort we put into dates that aren't our style, that's both of us."

"And keeping secrets from you when your exes have a history of that," Walter said, "my fault."

"Pride, both of us."

He nodded. "I agree."

"Insecurities, me." She wiped her eyes. "I think deep down, a part of me was looking for a way out as soon as anything happened that was less than perfect. That way, if this ended like every other relationship has, then I could pretend like I wanted it to, like it wasn't that good anyway, that it was you, and not me." Paige sucked in a breath. "I spent so many years with people asking me, why don't you leave him? About Drew. And I guess that meant as soon as there was any hint of trouble with us, I was thinking back to that, and thinking I have to do better this time, I have to get out. And what I hadn't really taken into consideration was that just by being with you I had already done so much better. It just worries me. How important intellectual stuff is to you…how will I ever know that you won't get bored?"

"How do you know that when you're with someone like you?" Walter asked. "Compatibility on paper doesn't mean anything. What matters is how we feel and how much we're both willing to fight for it. And I'm not spending another second of my life taking you for granted."

"Good. Because I'm not going to take you for granted either."

He nodded with a smile. "I'm willing to work on all of what we've listed. A – actually," he said, stammering slightly as he corrected himself, "I'm wanting to work on it."

She smiled that smile she wore when he did something with a strong E.Q. He knew his correcting his diction had been the right decision. "I want to work on it, too." She leaned in slightly, breaking their eye contact to briefly look slightly lower. "I missed you."

He leaned in, meeting her in the middle. Their kiss was soft, gentle, committed and yet aware that they were in sight of the others. He lifted his hand up to rest against her jaw, fingers threading into her hair. He felt her hand come up to his neck, and he exhaled through his nose, grateful for her touch.

"Wow," she said with the smallest of giggles, a pink twinge in her cheeks, "I somehow forgot what a romantic kisser you are."

"I'll do my best to be more memorable this time around," he quipped.

Paige nestled her head into the crook of his neck.

Sylvester's heart still fluttered when he looked at her. That part hadn't changed any more than his feelings had. But it was a different kind of flutter now. It was like walking on land versus trying to run in the water, constricting, tiring. Hanging out with her used to be so easy, and now he knew how Walter must have felt when Paige dated other people right after he'd come to the realization that he loved her.

He believed Toby when he told him that Florence had been worried for him, but what if that worry came from her feeling bad for breaking his heart? What if she was focusing on him to try and lessen the pain of losing Walter? There was only one way to find out, but he wasn't sure he had the guts.

She looked at him. Crap. He'd stared just a little too long. "Sylvester?" She asked, lifting her eyebrows and giving him a small smile.

"Yeah," he said, as if she needed confirmation on his identity.

Florence cocked her head. "Can we go somewhere?"

"There's a bench by…" one look in the direction told Sylvester that option was out.

Florence came up to stand next to him. "They're going to be okay, I think," she said. Then, in a lower voice, "I hope."

"They're holding hands and smiling at each other," Sylvester said. "That's generally a good sign."

There was only a few inches of space between them, but it felt like much more with an actual physical barrier. Sylvester sighed. "I know we need to talk. I just don't know if I'm ready for it."

"Oh, I know I'm not ready," Florence said, "but that's why we got this way in the first place, so we should go anyway."

He didn't quite understand, but at least one of them seemed sure about something. "Okay."

"Maybe down in that little room where we were before?"

"Sure."

He let her go down first, and she settled on the bench adjacent to the controls. Sylvester felt a shiver go down his spine. He wasn't used to returning to the site of where his life was saved. He pushed that thought out of his head as he sat next to her. "I want to apologize for letting my emotions get the best of me that night. I acted like a child."

"No you didn't," she said. "I blindsided you."

"No you didn't." He shook his head. "It's not like you knew I liked you."

"No, I did," she said. "What I didn't…I…when you said you were in love with me, that threw me off. But I knew you had…well, I thought it was a crush. And I feel like I encouraged it."

"I didn't view it that way. But I thought you felt the same way as me, so since you didn't…"

"I don't know if I did or didn't," she said. "Ugh." Her head dropped into her hands. "I had an idea of how this was going to go…what I was going to say. And now it's just…the words…the order of the words…"

"Well, here's what I want to say," Sylvester said. "Today has made me and I know others feel like maybe the team can be a team again. I want that. And if you want to be a part of that team, I want you to be there with us. I don't want it to be weird. And it will be. But that doesn't mean we have to let it get the best of us."

"I appreciate that," she said quietly. They sat in silence for a moment, Sylvester not having a clue how to continue and Florence wringing her hands as if, for once, they actually were thinking the same thing. Then she cleared her throat. "That day Ralph and I went to Chem Con, he started going on about how you were so good at so many things, and I remember feeling…something strange. Like I was inadequate. I felt insecure. None of that is new to me when it comes to being with people, but I wasn't used to it from an intellectual standpoint." She shrugged. "I didn't know why then. I thought it was my competitive streak coming out. But it didn't fire me up and make me want to suddenly master other things, and I'm not used to that sort of thing making me feel…down or dejected." Florence looked at him again. "That confused me, and then alarmed me, and…" she dropped her eyes to her knees. "And I just became a mess that almost destroyed everyone."

"I don't follow." He wished he could follow. This seemed difficult for her to talk about. But he couldn't connect the dot that was Ralph telling Florence he was good at lots of things and Florence becoming the main reason the team fractured. He didn't even agree with that point. We had problems before. We just didn't acknowledge them. We pretended that ignoring it would make it go away.

"Walter and I have a lot in common. And he was with Paige. So when I started wanting to be in a relationship, I subconsciously directed my feelings to him, because I would never have the chance to act on those feelings. You know, like how you say you'll do something when pigs fly? You say that because you know that means you won't have to do it. But I didn't know that's what was going on. So when directly confronted, I confessed to my feelings for Walter. I thought they were real. But as soon as he and Paige broke up, as soon as Walter and I started hanging out as two single people, I realized they were gone. I wished I'd never told him in the first place, because now they weren't applicable."

"That's very confusing," Sylvester said. "I mean, it makes some sense, but…it's very confusing."

"Imagine how it felt to be me, working all that out!" She shook her head. "Cabe helped with that. I'm not sure he's aware of how much." Tapping her foot, Florence looked down as if she hadn't been sure where the sound was coming from. "I didn't realize any of it at the time, but I was doing it because I was scared. I don't know how to be in a relationship. I don't know how to be vulnerable in those extra ways. And every time you let someone in, there's a chance they could choose to leave. And if you feel inadequate, that fear is exacerbated. That was a problem for Walter and Paige, and that's a problem with me when it comes to you."

"Me?"

She wrung her hands again. "I think I felt inadequate and sad when Ralph told me all those things about you because I was afraid I couldn't possibly measure up." She let out a breath. "I think I've liked you this whole time and let myself get all confused and misguided and everything could have been different if I wasn't such a moron."

Sylvester's brain wasn't sure what to process first – her guilt or I think I've liked you all along – so he stayed quiet for what he felt was an awkwardly long time. Finally he found words again. "I need to promise you that what happened wasn't your fault."

She sighed. "That's what Cabe said, but…"

"There was always going to be someone who came along that liked Walter. Or Paige. Maybe even openly flirted or actively tried to break them up. If you having unconfirmed feelings did that, they might have been destroyed for good had someone else come along. I was angry, but at him, not at you. The team breaking up was all of our faults, mine included." He sighed. "I don't want you to blame yourself for this."

"I'll do my best. But you have to promise to try to not blame yourself for what had to happen in Arizona.

He felt off balance, even though he was sitting down. Don't topple over. "You know about that?" He felt nauseated. Don't throw up.

She nodded, biting her lower lip. "I know you think you did something wrong."

"I killed someone."

"It was self – defense."

Sylvester blinked. That wasn't what the others had said. The others had come out with you saved us, you're a hero, and you're not a killer. Florence was different. Those four words were different. They were saying yes, you did kill someone. But it's okay. He felt less woozy. He gave her a slow nod. "Thank you."

She calms me.

He'd had that thought before. Years ago.

"So we've talked about that," Florence said. She fidgeted, clasping her hands together. "So now I think we need to talk about the other thing I said."

The other thing. The I think I've liked you all along thing. Sylvester breathed slowly through his nose. "That thing."

She nodded. "I…I, uh…"

Her voice was quiet, lacking substance. Sylvester was again conflicted, between feeling bad that she seemed so anxious and feeling optimistic as to what her nerves could mean. "It's okay. Take your time."

"After Lane Tracker died, Walter and I spent a long time trying to come up with a solution, you know, if the exact same scenario transpired again, this is how we would fix it."

"Walter and I would do that, too."

She gave a small smile. "So you know. When you're not feeling right, you need to figure out why. I focused on why I kept feeling sad when I saw Walter and Paige, and I outsmarted myself and thought I had feelings for Walter, but what I wanted was to be loved the way Paige was – is – by him. And I didn't stop to think about why I was always so happy around you." Her eyes locked on his. "And that was it, right there. I never felt I had to try and figure out why I liked hanging out with you so much. I didn't stop to think about why I was happy. I just was." She shrugged. "It should have been just that easy, but I have to make everything complicated and I hurt myself and you in that confusion."

Her hands were shaking. Sylvester hesitantly reached out, placing one of his over one of hers where it rested on her leg. She smiled – just a little. "I guess a downside to being a genius," he said, "is we think too much."

"Yes." Him resting his hand on hers meant their bodies were closer, angled toward one another. Her eyes lifted from their hands and locked with his. "And that means we miss ob…observations."

"Observations?"

"Yeah, like now." Her voice got quiet again.

Her eyes were putting him in a trance. "What are you observing now?" he asked softly.

He could barely hear her answer. "My heart is beating really fast."

He kissed her, gently, wanting her to know she had the option of pulling away. By her reaction, it seemed she wanted him to know she had no intention of doing so. His hand curled around hers, and he felt her squeeze it right back, her mouth pressed firmly against his. She was inexperienced, but not detractingly so, and his breath caught when she slid a hand up to his neck and ran her tongue along his lip, melting into it like learning how to kiss him was the easiest time she'd ever had acquiring a new skill. His free hand slid around her back, holding her near him. When their lips parted, they stayed close, staring at each other. Her mouth was slightly open, her face flushed, and he was sure she saw the same when she looked at him. "There's one more thing," he blurted. She nodded, and he thought she was going to respond, then realized the nod was encouragement to continue. "I'm in love with you. I know you're not there yet, and that's okay, but – "

"I'm not there yet," she confirmed, nodding again and then cocking her head. "But is it bad that a part of me is so happy that you are?" She reached up to adjust his glasses. "Just give this a little time, okay?"

He smiled. She smiled. Then she leaned in, brushing her lips over his again. Before he could really kiss her back, there was the sound of footsteps, then a thud, and they jumped, scooting a respectable distance apart just as Toby came into view. Florence wiped her mouth. Sylvester adjusted his sleeve.

The glint in Toby's eye told them that they hadn't fooled him. "Excellent," he said with a grin. "This was going to be the harder one."

Dmitry and his brother arranged for them to fly home on what Toby called "a super fancy – ass plane." Happy knew the name of it. Paige couldn't remember what she'd said.

Ralph and Walter were off at the other end of the hanger talking. She'd been so nervous when she and Walter had gone back to the hotel room for her to pack and pick up her son. Their little vacation would be cut short. None of them wanted to stay in a strange new place after the harrowing experience on the case. They'd all had enough of the strange and new.

Well, except for Sylvester and Florence. But that was the good kind of strange and new. They were already on the plane, scouting out sleeping quarters near each other. "You know you can share a bed without doing the do, yeah?" Toby had asked them. They'd both rolled their eyes.

Ralph had recognized, before either Paige or Walter told him, that they were giving their relationship another try. His response had been to wrap Walter in a bear hug, his eyes squeezed shut like he was dreaming and didn't want to wake up. Then he'd kissed him on the cheek before turning to his mother. Is this for good?

I think so, Ralph. I really think so.

She and he had had a good talk. Paige hadn't realized until after Arizona how much her relationship with her son needed repairing as well, but they were off on the right track, even going beyond the fact that she was back in a relationship with the only person that would ever truly be Ralph's dad. Her and Walter might be complicated, but the older genius's relationship with her son had always been one that was meant to happen, both of them always waiting for the other and always ready. She was sure this date would be another that Ralph would work into coding. If she did that sort of thing, she would use it, too.

Because it was also the date that Team Scorpion got back together. That development was less than two hours old, but Paige was sure the feeling wouldn't be fading any time soon. There would be lots of readjusting – Walter and Sylvester had talked before they all made the decision, but they would still take time, as would both she and Happy with Florence and Cabe with all the now former members of Centipede, but they would be okay. There was nothing to make Paige doubt that now.

"Hey everyone," said the pilot, leaning out the door. "Time to board."

They found a sleeping area near the front of the plane – Happy and Toby had taken off toward the back to FaceTime with Aimee Tracker and little Tad, next to where Cabe was already snoring, and Sylvester and Florence bunked up across from each other in the middle. Once they were in the air and able to move freely around the cabin, the fatigue set in. "Come get in here with us," Paige said to Ralph. "You're not too old." Walter scooted in first, and Ralph followed him. Paige lay down next to her son, sticking her backpack under her head for added support.

"I missed you guys," Ralph said, laying on his back and staring up at the tiny reading light bulb. "Like, as a unit."

Walter smiled. "I missed you two as a unit."

"And I missed you two as a unit," Paige added. "So you might say that Walter and I getting back together was pretty efficient, huh son?"

Ralph smirked, then looked at Walter. "She thinks she can just bring up efficiency and get us all gooey."

"Are you saying it doesn't work?" He joked.

Paige reached out across her son to take Walter's hand. "There's a song that talks about not realizing how great things are until they're gone, and then you're gonna miss this, and you're gonna want this back." She smiled. "I'm glad this was something we were able to get back."

"Me, too."

Ralph was quickly falling asleep between them. Paige thought she was tired, but she and Walter didn't fall asleep for hours, not wanting to stop looking into each other's eyes as the world spun below them.

THE END