SCORPION - Jealousy - One shot
I'm so late again on that one but hey, here I am! Post 04x07
Walter's POV.
After making out with Paige in places of the garage I never thought I could do anything else than working, we decided to have a movie night in the installations we made near the airstream. Sure the mission had been intense, but we didn't feel like going to sleep right now, we were more in a cuddling mood. I also would have never thought that I could be in anything but a thinking mood, but watching a stupid movie with Paige lying against me was far better than resolving equations. I realized not long ago that I loved Paige more than I loved science, and that was huge. In fact I loved her more than anything else, and even if I still needed to adapt to that irrefutable fact, I think that I was making good progress and that maybe in the en I wouldn't mess it all up.
The movie was a love story about two people who decided to wipe the memory of the other from their mind because they had some fight, or I don't know, but ended up loving each other again. There were so many scientific incoherences in it that I stopped counting, but Paige told me that it was one of her favorites movie ever so I tried to put that aside and really pay attention. I thought it was a little sad, and I hoped that Paige would never want to erase the memory of me from her brain (even if that was impossible). I saw a tear or two rolling on Paige's cheek at the end, but I didn't make any comment because I knew it would piss her off. Although I really didn't understand why she cried when the story finally had a happy turnout. But instead of opening my mouth, I just held her closer, and she answered by snuggling her head in the crook of my neck.
She was starting to kiss me softly there and I could tell that things were about to get hot again when something, or rather someone, interrupted us.
« Hey. I'm sorry I don't mean to interrupt… what's going on here. »
« Oh. Hi Florence. Was the movie too loud? It's finished now anyway so… » started Paige.
« No, no I didn't hear a thing it's not about that. »
Paige moved away from me to get up and get closer to Florence.
« So can we uh, help you with anything? »
« Well earlier today you said that if I needed to grab coffee I could come by anytime. But I've juste realize that you probably didn't mean literally anytime. Stupid me, I… I'll just go now. Have a good night. »
There was not a lot of place for doubt before, but now I knew for a fact that Florence was a genius. People like us tend to take everything literally, even with my EQ development I still had troubles to read between the lines sometimes. I'm very curious to see how high her IQ is…
« Wait! » I said just before she passed the door. « It's okay, really. Now that you're here you can't leave with empty hands. »
« Really? »
« Of course! So you're here for coffee? »
Florence came back towards me, looking embarrassed but at least she was smiling now.
« Yeah my coffee machine broke and I'll probably be up all night on a new experiment so I thought about your offer and… well here I am. »
Paige's POV.
Walter smiled to Florence and invited her to follow him so he could prepare her coffee. He asked her how she liked it and then he started to question her about her work and they engaged a passionate conversation about things that were way beyond my area of expertise.
And suddenly, I had a strange feeling in my stomach, and my guts were telling me that Florence wasn't so welcome after all. I knew this feeling of course, it was jealousy. He seemed so at ease with her, she was one of his own after all. And I had to admit that she was cute too. At first my brain told me that I was stupid, and that I had nothing to worry about. After all Walter and I had been into each other for almost three years so if I was sure of something it was that Walter would never lost interest in me for another woman.
Would he?
I mean, what if he loved me only because he never got to know any woman who would really take interest in him, besides Happy and his sister? And with the progresses he made with social interactions, he was just becoming more likable, so more incline to be liked by women…
Maybe I was thinking to much now, but if Florence was cute, nice and most of all a genius, maybe she was the perfect match for Walter, and could bring him what I couldn't.
Florence had finished her coffee now and yet their discussion didn't seem to be ending. Okay, I had to stop this myself. I didn't want to be rude with our new neighbor because I was the one who encouraged the others to be kind with her, and also she hadn't done anything wrong to me, so I had to find a polite way to tell her to leave.
I got closer to them and heard that they weren't talking about science at all anymore, but Walter was explaining her how he ended up in America after hacking the NASA and that it had been a while since he didn't go to Ireland. And that was very unusual for Walter to talk about anything else but science to someone he didn't know well.
« Hum hey so… it's getting kind of late and… we had a rough day so… I don't want to be rude but… »
« Yeah I got it, I'll you two get some sleep. I have to go back to my experiment anyway if I don't want this whole building to explode. »
I probably stared at her with a very frightened look because she immediately reassured me.
« Just kidding. Everything is under control. I was just making an attempt to… some humor because I uh… I've read that it can help with uh… people. Not my thing obviously. »
Jesus they were really the same.
« Ah! Very funny. » laughed Walter. It seemed to be honest from him. And under other circumstances I probably would have forced a laugh too but I wasn't exactly in the mood right now.
Florence half smiled before putting down her empty cup.
« Anyway, thank you very much for the coffee. I'll see you around. And if you guys need any chemical product for one of your mission or even for some personal work, you can comme knock on my door. »
And with that she left for good.
Walter then turned to me with a smile on his face.
« You were right about her, she really is a nice woman. I'll try not to judge people too fast from now on. »
« Sure. » I replied sharply.
« You don't agree with me? »
God Walter was getting good at picking up the meanings in one's tone.
« Weeell… I just hope that she's not going to be too invasive. You know what I mean. »
« Uh no I don't. I mean she's a genius just like us, and she probably didn't have the chance we had, of having people support and care for her. So I think that it would actually be a good thing if she spent some time with us, we could help her you know. Especially you. »
« How do you know that she doesn't already have people who care for her? »
« She just told me so. She said that she was first mad about the noise mostly because she envied us for having fun together when she felt so lonely. »
She really shared a lot for someone who was just grabbing coffee.
« Whatever, I'll just go to sleep if you don't mind. » I said before starting to climb the stairs.
Walter's POV.
I could tell something was wrong with Paige, and it had to do with Florence since she was in a pretty good mood before she interrupted us. Was it only about this? Her interrupting us?
« Actually I do mind Paige. I don't understand your reaction, I thought you would be proud of me for wanting to help her. Because you know that I, of all people, know what it's like to feel alone, and I just don't want her to feel the same way I used to. »
« Really, it's nothing, let's go to bed Walter. »
I refused to believe that.
« No, it's not nothing. You're always the first to help people, and to make them feel nice about themselves. You made Scorpion better, and me with it. Why wouldn't you want to… »
« Because I'm afraid you'll end up falling for Florence! » she shouted, cutting me short.
« What? How can you think that? »
Paige sighed before walking back on the few steps she climbed.
« Because… she does seem like a nice woman and… she really is like you. And I'm not. So I'm afraid that if you spend more time with her you… just realize that she has more to offer. »
Oh. I didn't think she could see it this way. And what she said was so stupid, but I knew I had to reassure her.
« Hey Paige, listen to me carefully. I won't fall for her. I already found the woman of my life and she's standing right in front of me. I don't need someone just like me, I need someone who completes me and… and challenges me, and makes me a better person. I just need you. Do you trust me with that? »
Paige nodded and came closer to me so I wrapped her in my arms.
« I'm sorry I'm just… afraid that you'll someday realize that someone can give you more than I can. »
« Believe me, no one can make me happy like you do. »
After a long silence, Paige talked again, without removing herself from my embrace.
« I guess we could really help her. »
Feel free to leave your thoughts! I really like that they brought Florence's character, I think she's good material for some development with Waige and also for Sylvester :)