WriterFreak001:

Sorry I haven't really posted any fanfiction in a week or so; it's been crazy with Comic Con going on along with my internship. Lots of cool, cool things in the future for Scorpion. :) If you would love to know, head over to my Tumblr: a-beautiful-mind-wf001 and see all of the things I posted.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one.

Title | Blood Doesn't Matter

Fandom | Scorpion (CBS)

Description | "Do a Waige fic where Ralph convinces everyone at his school that Walter is his dad and Paige doesn't correct them." Requested by anonymous on Tumblr.

Rating| This fanfiction will be rated T.

POV | Omniscient Third Person

Disclaimer | While CBS owns Scorpion, I am the owner of this masterpiece.

Claimer | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something should be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

Blood Doesn't Matter

Written by WriterFreak001

Part 1 of 3

~ SCORPION ~

"Hey, Mom…?"

At the sound of her son's quiet voice, Paige smiled and glanced up into the rearview mirror, quickly making eye contact with him before returning her attention to the road. "What is it, baby?"

Ralph looked out the window, watching the world pass by him as he calculated the car's velocity relative to the curb. He was silent for a minute before speaking. "Do we have to go to that school function tonight? I don't really want to go."

Paige shifted her eyes between the road and her son in the mirror several times. "Sweetie," she sighed, "I know attending things like Open House isn't something you like to do, but you've done so well in school this year." As she slowed to a stoplight, she turned towards him and issued her son a proud smile as he gave her his undivided attention. "Your teacher told me you have some excellent projects on display. I'd really like to see them, honey." She reached back to hold his hand as she turned back around and refocused her attention to the road. "Tonight will be my only chance."

"But I'll be bringing them home in a few weeks," Ralph blinked, looking into his mother's eyes through the rearview mirror. "It'll be more efficient if you wait until then."

"Maybe," Paige shrugged and squeezed her son's hand, "but then I wouldn't be able to proudly show off my highly-gifted son to the other parents. If you don't want to go to the Open House, I won't force you, but I'll be going, okay?"

Ralph sighed. "Okay."

"But if you do go," Paige inwardly smirked, still squeezing her son's small hand in hers, "I promise to take you out for ice cream afterwards."

Ralph's eyebrows lifted and his stoic expression transformed into excitement. "Scoop swear?!"

Paige threw her head back and laughed as she turned down the alley beside the garage. "Scoop swear." After she parked her car, she unbuckled her seatbelt, climbed out of her seat and opened Ralph's door. He nearly knocked her over as he enthusiastically jumped out of the Chevy and ran towards the garage. As she locked her car, Ralph spun around and ran up to her. She almost thought he was going to hug her, but when he stopped short and only beamed widely at her, she knew it was all wishful thinking. Maybe one day her son will willingly hug her, but obviously, it wasn't going be today. "What is it, Ralph?"

"Can Walter come tonight?" Ralph clenched the bottom rim of his red shirt in his fists as he swayed his shoulders back and forth. "I want to show him my projects too."

Paige's heart warmed as her son practically begged her for Walter to come. Her stomach flipped at the thought of walking down the halls of her son's school with Ralph holding both their hands as they weaved in and out of classrooms. Would people think Walter was Ralph's father? Would they think he was only a friend? And if they did think he was her son's father, what would she say? Would she say anything?

"Mom?" Ralph's eyes were wide as he waited patiently for his mother's response. "Well?"

She smiled. "I think that's a great idea."

"Cool!"

"But let me talk –" she exclaimed as her son spun on his heels and bolted for the garage; he was gone before she had a chance to finish her statement, "to him first…." She playfully rolled her eyes and laughed on her way into the garage to find Ralph at Walter's desk, eagerly talking to him. She caught the super genius glancing at her, and she sent him a soft smile as she strode to her desk. Her smile was returned with an amused grin before the man's attention was zapped back to Ralph.

After the young mother pulled a few documents out of her briefcase and slipped them into her desk, Toby casually walked up to her, also amused by the interaction between Walter and her son. "Ralph's clearly excited about something."

Paige stole a few more seconds watching her son laugh with Walter before turning to the shrink standing next to her and laughed. "Ralph has an Open House tonight at his school. He's asking Walter if he'd like to come."

Toby's eyebrows rose to the ceiling as a smirk played on his lips. "Something tells me it's not the Open House he's excited for, Miss Dineen. No matter how much Ralphy-boy's EQ has grown over the year, there's no way he'd be that excited to go to a school function."

"I may have bribed him by scoop-swearing to take him out for ice cream afterwards," Paige shrugged and smiled when she returned her gaze to her two favorite geniuses and watched Walter ruffling her son's hair; Walter caught her smiling at them and sent a genuine grin her way. This not-so-subtle interaction did not go unnoticed by Toby but he decided not to point it out. "But I think," Paige continued immediately after Walter's eyes left hers but she didn't look at Toby; she kept watching the two smiling faces in front her, "Ralph's more excited about asking Walter to accompany us, tonight."

"Seems like he's not the only one who's excited," Toby mumbled, noting how wide both Walter's and Paige's smiles were; they could deny their feelings for one another all they wanted, but they would never be able to fool Toby. Walter might be a metaphysical turducken 95% of the time, and Paige wasn't always an easy person to read, either, but Toby was 100% certain about one thing concerning his love stricken friends, and he couldn't be happier for them. After everything both of them went through – Paige's second fallout with Drew (which was considered a blessing in Toby's book) and Walter's near-death experience – they deserved to have their fair share of happiness, and the shrink wholeheartedly believed his friends had finally found it.

"Hm?" Paige bit her lip and wasn't really paying attention to Toby, but she figured she should at least give him some sort of indication that she was partially listening.

Toby chuckled. "All I said was I'm sure you guys are going to have fun."

"Oh," Paige lightly giggled, "I'm sure we will." With her entire attention on Walter and her son, she left Toby and circled around her desk, slowly making her way over to them. She and Walter shared a silent smile as Paige touched her son's shoulders. "Okay," she found the willpower to tear her eyes away from Walter's and zero in on her son, "Time to go to school, sweety. If we don't leave now, you'll be late… again."

"Since I'm going to the Open House tonight," Ralph peered up at her with wide eyes, "I don't have to go to school this morning, right?"

Both Paige and Walter laughed. "Nice try, bud." Paige bent down and pecked Ralph's forehead. "To the car. Let's go."

Ralph sighed. "Kay." Walter called for Ralph and Paige to wait before scribbling something down on a piece of paper. Both the Dineens were smiling ear to ear, knowing exactly why the Irish genius wanted them to wait. He knelt to the floor and placed the small, folded strip of paper into Ralph's small palm.

"If you're struggling to connect with the other students during your recess period, read this, solve it and show me your answer after school." Walter folded Ralph's tiny fingers over the note and grinned, "Okay, buddy?"

Ralph beamed. "Okay." He took off his backpack and neatly slipped the strip of paper into the smallest pocket of his book bag. Once he swung his school bag back over his shoulders, he started making his way for the door, knowing his mom wanted to stay behind for a few seconds to discuss the Open House with Walter.

And that was exactly what she did. Both Walter and Paige watched Ralph eagerly leave before any words were said. "So…," Walter was the first to speak, causing the young mother to look away from her son and find his soft brown eyes, "an Open House and ice cream?"

"Yeah," Paige issued a light laugh. "I had to find a way to convince him to go with me… so I scoop swore I'd take him out to ice cream afterwards, and he asked me if you could go with us…. He wants to show you some of his school projects." She shyly looked away from him and bit her lip; her cheeks were warm, and unbeknownst to her, Walter's heart was beating faster than its usual rate. He was sure the entire city of Los Angeles could hear the loud palpitations pulsing inside his chest. Paige found his eyes again. "I hope that's okay…. I don't want us ruining whatever plans you have tonight."

"That's okay," Walter spoke too quickly. "I'm free tonight."

"Weren't you going to g—" Toby started from his desk, but Walter shot him a glare, shutting him up immediately.

He then smiled at the woman in front of him. "Like I said, I'm free."

Based on Toby's little outburst, Paige knew Walter secretly had plans to go somewhere, but she didn't say anything about it. She only grinned and whispered a 'thank you.' "You accompanying us tonight will mean a lot to Ralph." She wanted to add, 'and me, too,' but she was afraid she'd scare Walter away from going tonight.

"And it means a lot to me that he wants me there…," Walter cleared his throat, secretly hoping Paige had wanted him there, too. He counted the seconds as Paige held his gaze; she had this strange power to make him stop everything for her, and despite logic, he liked the strangeness he felt around her. He wanted to feel more of it, but he didn't want to step out of line in case she felt differently towards him.

"A-anyway," Paige blinked and took a step back, "I've gotta get Ralph to school."

Walter also shook himself out of his reverie and crossed his arms to stop himself from reaching out for her hand or curling the loose strand of her honey-brown hair behind her ear. "Okay," he muttered as she spun around and headed towards her son, "We'll, uh, we'll see you when you get back."

Paige flipped her hair away from her face as she quickly turned back towards him and flashed him an acknowledging smile. Silently, she waved and then pointed towards the door as she called out to her son. Walter didn't move as he watched his two favorite members of his cyclone disappear. He bit his lip and didn't notice Toby standing next to him until the shrink said something. "You know that saying that goes something like… as one door closes, another one opens?"

"Yeah," Walter didn't look at the behaviorist. "What of it?"

"That door just closed," Toby pointed to the door Paige and Ralph walked out of. "My advice to you," the shrink patted Walter's shoulder, "don't wait for it to open again."

And like the last time Toby encouraged Walter to take a risk, Walter grabbed his wallet and bolted out of the garage.

He never ran so fast.

~ SCORPION ~

"Bye, Ralph," Paige called out to her son as the boy walked towards the school's entrance, "Love you!" She nudged Walter's arm with her elbow and whispered, "Say something encouraging to him."

The genius blinked. "Why?"

"Because," Paige rolled her eyes and laughed, "you never know, hearing you say something supporting his education may make him look forward to his day; a little boost of confidence goes a long way."

Walter nodded, knowing she was right; he didn't have enough phalanges to count the number of times Paige's little sweet nothings made things suddenly seem better for him. "Hey Ralph!" He shouted towards the young genius, causing parents and other children to look at him. It didn't even take a second for the boy to turn around and direct his attention towards Walter. "Um," Walter paused; he didn't actually think about what he was going to say to Ralph. He never liked school so telling him to make friends or have a great day would be absolutely redundant. "Erm…," He then thought of something and gave the boy a thumb's up, "Excel in your classes and pretend to listen to your teachers! Unless they're wrong!" Paige covered her lips to stifle her laughter as Walter noticed the strange looks he was receiving and realized he didn't do something right. He cleared his throat and gave into the looming superfluous traditions of normals by quickly adding the oh-so overused phrase, "Have a good day!"

Ralph, though a couple hundred feet away, smiled at Walter and reciprocated the older genius's thumb's up with one of his own before turning around and disappearing inside. As people continued to stare at him, Paige gently grabbed his elbow and tugged him away from the bussing parents and children. Walter eyed her fingers firmly wrapped around his arm, but he didn't tense up from her touch like he thought he would. He considered this small tactile exchange an improvement in his relationship with the woman pulling him away from the school. Had it been anybody else grabbing his arm like she had done, he would most certainly object and rip his elbow away. But the way Paige's smooth fingers covered his skin did quite the opposite to him, making his mind wonder to less than appropriate things.

When they approached her car, she handed him the keys, and they separated; he circled around the front of the Chevy, and she climbed into the front passenger seat. Paige let out a tiny laugh once they were both sealed from the world and flashed an amusing smile towards the man next to her. He wrinkled his nose and cleared his throat. He pretended he didn't say or do anything wrong earlier. "Was it that bad?"

"No," she shook her head and casually touched his arm. "It was just…"

"Abnormal?" Walter guessed, unsure he wanted to hear the rest of her statement.

"Unexpected," Paige corrected him with soft eyes.

"I'll, um," he scratched the back of his head and moved his arm away from her hand as he started the car, "I'll work on it…."

"No," Paige's voice was gentle as she touched his shoulder, "As surprising as it was, it was you," her short statement brought back those strange feelings inside Walter again. He stole a glance from her for a split second before directing his attention to the road. He didn't know what to say. Luckily, Paige saved him from saying anything by continuing. "Don't change anything, Walter. It was perfect."

He was lost for words so he pursed his lips and focused on driving down the road. They spent the next few minutes in silence before he finally found something he wanted to say. "What if…," Walter paused, unsure how to pull his thoughts together to a single phrase. He could solve algorithms in seconds, diffuse time bombs and swing over crevasses, but when it came to talking to the one person who constantly made him reconsider his preconceptions over the subsistence of love, he often found himself babbling like an idiot or absolutely clueless as to what to say. In so many ways, she had shown him a world of things he disregarded throughout most of his life, but he still had so much difficulty expressing certain thoughts revolving around her.

"What if, what, Walter?" Paige egged him on, her soft and mellifluous voice giving him exactly what he needed to organize his thoughts and convey them. It was strange, really. She had the ability to make him speechless, but at the same time, she was the one who often gave him strength and courage. He didn't really understand the dichotomy, but he really didn't need to, either. Just knowing she was always listening and always nearby was enough for him.

"What if I want to change?" He caught her eying him with an expression he couldn't read. Perhaps he needed to clarify himself. "Over the past year, I've become a different person…. I appreciate things more, and as I've stated once before, I feel like I'm a better person because of you and Ralph…, what if change is a good thing?"

"Change," Paige fluttered her eyelids as Walter returned his attention to the road and was tempted to interlink her fingers with his, but she withdrew her hand from the man's shoulder and clasped her fingers together. "Change is neither good nor bad, Walter. It just… happens. It's…," she looked away from him and watched the road in front of her, "how you handle changes that's important." All she received was a fleeting glance from Walter so she continued. "People are constantly changing for many different reasons; it could be something traumatic… or it could be because of certain people they meet through their lives… When I say "don't change," I don't mean for you to force yourself to act differently for approval. Natural change is out of our control so I can't ask you to remain stagnant… Just…," she bit her lip and stared at his hand, but she didn't reach for his fingers like she desperately wanted to. "I like you for the fun, awkward intellectual you are…."

Walter's ears were burning, and he wasn't entirely sure he had heard her correctly. He hand been called many different things, but "fun" was certainly a first. "So…," Walter was still mildly confused. "You think I shouldn't change, but you also think I should change if outside forces are causing me to change? Am I missing something?"

Paige laughed. "I can see how you're confused."

"Just… a little bit." He sort of understood what she was saying, but there was just something about what she said that made him scratch his head.

"How about this," Paige collected her hair with her hands and curled it around her neck, allowing it to freely flow over her right shoulder. "You shouldn't change who you are, but it's okay to evolve."

Walter cocked his head to the right, amused by her analogy. "The theory of Evolution involves certain adaptations over time that are heavily influenced by environment and preservation… so applying that theory to what you're saying makes sense." He nodded. "So, what it boils down to is, me allowing the changes in my environment to shape me as a person, but I shouldn't be forcing those adaptations myself; they should be a natural process, so to speak."

Paige shrugged and smiled. "Works for me."

Walter took a right turn, and both genius and liaison spotted the garage in the distance. The rest of the ride was comfortable and silent, but when Walter pulled into the alley and parked Paige's car, he wasn't in any hurry to leave the vehicle. There were things he wanted to say… needed to say…

Paige didn't move either. She noticed how Walter was struggling to say something so she remained still, not wanting to scare him from talking to her. He had a history of clamming up, and she wanted him to always feel comfortable talking to her. And little did she know, talking to Paige wasn't a matter of comfort; Walter was always comfortable talking to the woman sitting next to him. It was more about the subject matter. He could talk all day to Paige about anything that fascinates him, and he could listen to her for hours (her beautiful voice was what made the things she often said worth listening; what she generally shared wasn't altogether intriguing to Walter, but if she was passionate about something, he made it his goal to at least try to understand her view on things. He was generally never successful, but, to him, it was the attempt that counted.

They silently counted the quiet seconds floating around them. It wasn't until Paige slightly shifted in her seat did Walter speak. "You said my environment should shape the person I am…."

"I did." Paige fidgeted with the hem of her skirt.

"Until you and Ralph came along, my environment was the same. My worldview didn't change; nothing adapted for me except for time. The friends I had were also geniuses who had mostly the same worldviews as I did – not the same experiences, but the same outlook on life. I don't…," he paused and inhaled a deep breath, not wanting his overexcited stutter to tamper with his words. He slowed down his thoughts, wanting every word to flow out as strategically and as evenly and as possible. "I don't necessarily think it's my environment that makes me evolve. Facts… and evidence… have proven otherwise – at least for me, that is." He finally looked at her, unsure, really, where he was going with his statement.

Paige patiently waited for Walter to collect his thoughts and gave him a small smile, encouraging him to continue when he was ready. Her smile gave him the motivation he needed to continue. "What I'm trying to say, is…, based on my experience, had I not met you and Ralph in the diner the day Scorpion dealt with the crisis at LAX, I don't think I'd be any different today than I was five years ago. But since I did meet you and your son, both my life and my worldview have substantially changed for the better, and I…, uh, I like these changes; evolutions, per se. And…, um, well, these adaptations in my life can't happen on their own; I… I don't want them to happen on their own…." What Walter really wanted to say was that he couldn't see a future where Paige and Ralph weren't in it, but he didn't know how to tell her. He wanted to… the words were on the tip of his tongue… they just weren't comfortable voicing themselves.

He expected Paige to ask him to repeat things or explain everything he had just said in a way she would understand, but instead (and much to his surprise), she smiled ear to ear. Paige had understood him perfectly and was tempted to climb over the console and grab his face in her palms, but she found the resolve to control herself and settled for sliding her fingers between his knuckles. Both of them stared at their conjoined hands, and she boldly brought his palm to her lips. Walter didn't pull away nor did he freeze upon contact; secretly, he wished it were is lips touching hers instead, but he fought his desire to kiss her.

Walter counted the number of seconds her lips touched his skin, wanting time to pause this moment so he could enjoy it longer.

"Walter?" Paige eventually uttered his name and dropped their palms to her lap.

"Hm?" His eyes lit up, and he pursed his lips, awaiting whatever response Paige had in store for him.

She squeezed his hand, leaned over the console, and gently pressed her cheek against his shoulder. He wasn't really sure how to respond to the unfamiliar gesture so he just sat there and watched her thumb smooth over the back of his thumb, impatiently waiting for her to share the rest of her thoughts.

Paige, for a few extra seconds, allowed the silence around them to consume them, simply enjoying the comfortable closeness between them. Eventually, she closed her eyes and muttered the words Walter had been waiting to hear. "Ralph and I… well, we need you too." She lightly kissed his shoulder, "I… I need you."

Though Paige did not open her eyes, Walter was staring at her. He didn't know if it was out of fascination, confusion or astonishment; perhaps a combination of all three. In spite of the intellectual difference, Paige had understood him. Him. Walter O'Brien. The fourth smartest man ever recorded. Maybe he wasn't too terrible at establishing connections with normals like he had originally thought. Or maybe, it was just Paige. All he knew was that he needed her; she was his connection to the world. She was everything he wasn't… and more.

And… she needed him.

The strange, pleasurable feelings he often felt around Paige surfaced in every cell of his body, and for reasons he could not discover, his lips grew into a goofy grin.

~ SCORPION ~

WriterFreak001:

This had originally started out as a one-shot, but because it was definitely longer than I had intended it, I am going to make it into a two part story. :) The next part should be out by Friday, and then I'll work on the next chapter of Poaching. :D