As always, I appreciate the feedback, and I love hearing from the people reading and enjoying this story I've worked so hard on. Thank you!
So I worked very hard on this half of the chapter, and ended up revising it many times. My goal was to be true to Walter's nature of always doing something unexpected, but try to be as true to the characters and their reactions to the situation I've put them in as possible. I may not please everyone here, but I hope everyone will appreciate it, regardless.
Oh, and I will most definitely answer why Paige had a key to Tim's apartment.
Chapter 39:
Welcome to Scorpion Pt 2
Cabe entered Tim's apartment, and upon seeing the situation playing out, immediately gave his trainee a direct order.
"Stand down, Armstrong!"
At Cabe's order, Tim's military instincts kicked in, and he immediately turned to attention.
Cabe approached the three of them and assessed the situation.
"Well, isn't this a pickle. It seems there's been quite the misunderstanding. Paige, go ahead and help Walter."
Tim jerked a little in their direction, showing he still thought Walter was a danger, and worried about Paige getting near him.
Cabe put a hand on his shoulder. "Easy, son."
"You knew, sir?" Tim asked him, not taking his eyes off Walter and Paige as she knelt down and started to unwrap his bindings.
Cabe nodded. "I was there when he came back last year. We were all there helping him through it. Things have been interesting, to say the least, but he's still Walter, a good person, I assure you."
Paige was almost done removing the ropes from Walter.
Cabe studied the disturbed look on Tim's face. "I take it your own experiences with vampires were much different to reach the conclusions you did?"
Tim nodded, the haunted look returning. "When I was overseas several years ago, my unit and I encountered a small group of them. We were taken off guard when we discovered what they were. They were monsters in every sense of the word. They butchered a whole village in less than a night. Those they turned lost themselves to their bloodlust within days, including a SEAL brother in my unit. When he came back, the things he did…the things they all did…War is Hell, sir, but the few days fighting those things was worse."
Cabe was starting to understand. "How did you make it out?" he asked.
"A few of the locals, elders mostly, knew what we were dealing with. They taught us about vervain and the creatures' weaknesses. At the end of the day, we were still a unit of trained SEALs. Once we had the right tools and knew what we were dealing with, we were able to eliminate them. Our brother, he was the last one we put to rest."
Despite his disturbance with the situation, Cabe found he couldn't completely blame Tim's reaction to Walter, based on the experience he just described. Cabe could see Paige's anger at Tim interject with a hint of sympathy as well as she finished freeing Walter of his bindings.
Tim instinctively tensed and backed away slightly as he saw Walter, now freed. Paige placed Walter's arm around her shoulders to help him stand out of the chair. As they walked towards Tim and Cabe, Walter leaned on her heavily.
"Wait," Walter croaked out. Paige helped him stop in front of the two soldiers. He removed his arm from Paige's shoulders and stood up straight, although Cabe could see it took some effort. Even so, all in the room could see the mixture of strength and resentment that was displayed in Walter's face, and directed toward Tim.
Tim, rightfully so, looked wound tight as a drum. Walter's eyes had remained dark red with red-black veins snaked beneath, and they were glaring straight at Tim.
Walter took a steady step forward, and Tim took a shaky step back, stopped suddenly by the wall behind him. Cabe became very nervous about what might happen next, and his fears were echoed in the worried eyes of Paige, who still stood behind Walter. For a brief moment, Cabe wondered if it had been safe to free Walter until he had a better idea of his state of mind.
"Son…" Cabe said slowly and carefully, not quite sure what else to say yet in the tense moment.
Walter's eyes snapped their intense gaze to Cabe with his single word of attempted placation.
Cabe didn't flinch, and he didn't yield. He held Walter's gaze for what likely was only a few seconds, but felt a heck of a lot longer.
Walter's focus eventually turned back to Tim, and his eyes returned to brown and the fangs disappeared. His eyes narrowed, contemplating the man in front of them. Cabe again held his breath as Walter started to address the man who had attacked him, drugged him, and kidnapped him with slow, purposely spoken words.
"Tim Armstrong, what transpired here tonight has made me reconsider whether you could have a place amongst us at Scorpion, to say the very least." Walter took one last step forward until his face was mere inches from Tim's. Tim held onto the composure of the soldier, but his quick breaths and tension in his jaw and body revealed the unease he struggled to control.
This didn't look promising. Cabe really worried Walter would enact some sort of vengeance right then and there.
Walter eventually let out a long, deep sigh and took as small step back from Tim, although he held his gaze and maintained his stance of strength. He was keeping it clear he was still in control of the situation, and not done with what he had to say.
"My personal…feelings…aside, instead of attacking me outright when you suspected what I was, you collected data, made a plan, and systematically implemented it. You acted in what you thought was in Scorpion's best interest, and tried to spare my team the pain of my overt demise, although I would strongly recommend you henceforth consider what being a part of a team means, instead of taking matters into your own hands." Walter couldn't keep a low growl escaping with the word strongly.
Now no one understood where Walter was going with this, and he wasn't finished.
"When confronted with new information, you listened to the input of your teammates, despite your preconceptions. I fully appreciate this effort, and not least because you decided against killing me, as you originally planned. You allowed logic to reign over emotion."
Tim was still on edge, but his visible tension had eased with Walter's words. "What makes you think I don't still want to stake you where you stand?" Tim countered.
Walter gave a small sniff before answering. "I can…tell. You may still have reservations about me, but I can sense you now accept I'm not a threat to anyone here."
"What's your point?" Tim asked curtly.
"That despite a very…rough start, you have potential." Walter held out his hand. "Welcome to Scorpion."
Tim, seeming to be suffering from some sort of mental whiplash, was too dumbfounded to do anything else, and slowly took Walter's outstretched hand.
Walter, with his point made, and message delivered, let a small amount of the discomfort he still endured from the poisoning show again, and limped out the door. Paige followed close behind, but not before she touched Tim's shoulder and gave a short squeeze, promising they'd talk more later. It was clear she was deeply rattled by what had happened tonight, for many reasons.
Cabe shared in her unease. How close had Walter been to a more violent outcome here tonight? They might never know. But giving Tim a chance as a part of Scorpion? That surprised even Cabe. Was that how Walter truly felt? Or was the kid trying to do what he thought someone else would do? What he should do? Cabe sighed, accepting that the actions of Walter O'Brien would continue to keep him on his toes.
At that resignation, Cabe turned his attentions back to his trainee. Tim's actions here tonight were not exactly something he could professionally reprimand, but he felt some valuable lessons had been learned here, regardless.
Cabe furrowed his brow as he studied Tim. The soldier was still staring at the door Walter and Paige left through moments before. The look on Tim's face was so shocked and confused, it was actually very comical. Cabe suspected the shocked expression hadn't changed since Walter and Paige had left.
"You ok, son?" Cabe asked. He suspected Tim was trying to process what had happened, and trying to figure out how he was still alive, let alone just given a chance as a member of Scorpion.
Tim just pointed at the doorway and turned to Cabe, blurting out his answer. "Ok, maybe I could buy that he's not a threat, like you say, but you have to admit, vampire or otherwise, he's far from normal."
Cabe chuckled. "I know exactly what you mean."
****SVD****
Paige drove Walter back to the garage. There was only silence during the trip, and that extended to after they entered the building. Once there Walter made a beeline towards the fridge and quickly downed two whole bags of blood, which seemed to clear the effects of the vervain from his system. He caught Paige staring at him.
"Something's bothering you, about me," Walter accused, looking over at Paige.
"How was I able to find you?" she asked him, and she looked uncomfortable.
"I was actually about to ask you the same thing," Walter countered. "Initially I assumed you just happened to show up, to see…him, but my theory was proven wrong when Cabe arrived."
Paige looked anxious as she explained what happened. "I heard you, Walter, when I was sitting here, finishing up work for the night. I heard you say my name even though you weren't here, and then I was just, well, drawn to you, and it's freaking me out." Paige said, wrapping her arms around herself.
"That's…perplexing," was Walter's response. "I don't have an answer currently, Paige."
Paige offered more information. "The feeling disappeared immediately when I injected myself with the vervain, Walter, so I'm going to ask once. Did you, or have you ever, compelled me without me knowing?"
Walter's eyes widened. He looked like she had struck him.
"No!" he immediately exclaimed. "No! Never!"
"Because if you have, Walter, I don't know if I could ever forgive-"
He ran up and quickly took her by the shoulders, not wanting her to finish that sentence.
"Paige, I swear on my sister's memory, I have never compelled you."
Paige looked into his eyes and studied him for a moment, then seemed to relax in his hands. "Ok, Walter." She nodded a few times. "I believe you."
Walter also relaxed, relieved she did believe him.
"But then what happened?" she asked him. She still had unanswered questions.
"I have no reasonable theories," Walter answered, "but I'm glad you knew I needed help, or Tim likely would have killed me."
That brought Paige to her second point. "You know, giving him a chance with the team was not a normal response to what he did, right?" She truly wondering if he realized how much of an odd duck he was.
Walter blinked at her in confusion. "Should I not have? I thought refraining from letting my emotions lead to rash actions would be preferable, compared to the alternative?"
Paige was afraid to know the answer as she carefully asked her next question. "And what was the alternative, Walter?"
Walter looked at her after her question was asked, and after a period, looked down, choosing not to answer.
After it was clear her query was going nowhere, she broke the uncomfortable silence. "Well, I guess it was the best outcome, so I should thank you," Paige finally said. "I appreciate you trying to give him a chance, especially after everything."
A subtle grimace passed across Walter's face. "Are you not angered by Tim's actions tonight?" Walter asked.
Paige was slightly hurt by his question. She didn't hesitate answering. "Of course I am, Walter! He hurt you, and believe me, I'm pissed, and I'll be talking to him about it later. But after hearing what he went through, I have to try and understand why he jumped to the conclusions he did, as wrong as they were. Believe me. I'm glad you're ok."
"I'm nothing like the monsters he described," Walter argued quickly. But it almost seemed like he was arguing with himself, not her. She then wondered what he actually had been thinking during his standoff with Tim.
Either way, she fully supported him. "No, Walter. You're not. You've never been, and I truly believe you never will be. And tonight…"
And tonight I'm glad you didn't prove Tim right.
Paige didn't say the last part of that sentence out loud. She just couldn't think of a way to say it without betraying how worried she had been, even momentarily, that things might have turned out differently.
If Walter picked up on what she was thinking, he didn't show it, and changed the subject while giving her an odd look she couldn't decipher. "I had not realized the two of you had gotten that serious."
Paige looked at him with confusion. "What do you mean?"
"You have a key to his apartment."
She blinked at him, then gave a small laugh.
Walter looked at her, confused by her response.
"Walter. He has a fish tank."
Walter still didn't seem to be following her.
"Last week, when he went out of town for a few days? He asked me to feed his fish."
"Oh!" Walter said, now on the same page. "That, uh, makes sense. So you're not, um, serious?"
She pursed her lips at his question. "Not like that no, but we've gone on a few dates, as you know, and I've had a good time. Who knows where things will lead," she answered.
Walter nodded. He said nothing more, but he didn't like it. He was fully aware of that now.
Paige shook her head and diverted back to her original concern. "I'd still feel a lot better knowing how I was able to find you."
Walter nodded. "I wouldn't mind understanding it as well."
Paige pulled out her phone and started scrolling through her contacts.
"What are you doing?" Walter asked.
"I'm seeing if I can get an answer. I'm calling Damon."
"You have his number?" Walter asked, looking surprised.
"Only for emergencies. He's not the type I would want to regularly talk to."
Paige put her phone on speaker as it rang. It rang a few times before the line picked up.
"Not-so-friendly-neighborhood-vampire, speaking." Damon answered, likely knowing it was Paige calling.
Paige rolled her eyes. "Damon, we got into a small situation and something weird happened. Walter and I here were wondering if you could shed some light on it."
"Shoot," he answered, waiting for them to continue.
Paige recounted the events, and what she had felt. She also mentioned the strange pull disappeared when she injected herself with vervain.
They waited for Damon's response.
"Huh. Well, this is awkward."
"What is it, Damon?" Paige asked impatiently.
"Well, I think I have an answer for you, but I'm gonna have to pry just a bit. Walter, perchance did you, I don't know, drink a large amount of her blood, then maybe she drank some of yours as well?"
Only crickets filled the silence that followed.
Both Walter and Paige knew the answer of course. That exact event occurred when Walter was dying in the cell in Cuba.
"Um, something similar to that occurred, yes," Walter answered, shifting side to side and looking extremely uncomfortable.
"Well, there you go, then. Something like that tends to create a connection, granted a mystical one. When you took the vervain, Paige, you nullified it, so you shouldn't have to worry about it anymore."
"Would there have been any more side effects to this connection?" Paige asked.
"Well, maybe a his mental abilities would be stronger with you, if used." She thought back to the beach. "There should be no effect on your free will or feelings. It's more of a physical connection, as strange as that sounds."
Paige nodded and let out a sigh. "Thank you Damon, you were a big help."
"Anytime, beautiful."
Paige rolled her eyes one more time before hanging up the phone.
"Well, that clears that up," Walter stated, followed by a nervous clearing of his throat.
"Yup, sure did," she agreed very quickly, feeling just as awkward.
"Well, I'll just go upstairs then. Might as well stay here tonight, since I, well, live here, sometimes," Walter said, pointing behind him at the stairs.
"And I'm going to go home, since it's dark, it being late and all."
"Great."
"Excellent."
They turned away from each other and Paige left the garage without stopping. She heard Walter quickly go up the garage steps.
She found she had been nervous waiting for Damon's answer, about whether there were no other side effects. Part of her had been wondering that was the reason for her feelings. The feelings she still had for Walter.
But if she had been hoping there was an excuse, why did she feel relief and hope when it was confirmed the feelings were hers alone?
Strange thing was, she thought she saw something similar on Walter's face before he had turned to go upstairs.
General Notes:
1) I think everyone will enjoy the next chapter :)
2) For the anti-Tim readers, this is NOT me trying to make Tim a permanent part of the team, but to use the character to help Walter overcome challenges and grow, while making Walter face his feelings and and indicate he still has inner struggles. It don't know if I succeeded in conveying this, but I hope it came through.
3) As always, reviews make me a happy writer!
