Disclaimer: Scorpion and all its characters belong to someone else. Any similarities to other stories are unintentional.

Chapter Four- At the Garage

Walter stood on the stairs halfway between the loft and the garage. He smilingly watched team Centipede as they each sat at their desks, with the exception of Happy who was welding in the area Walter had set up for her. It was almost like old times he thought, but although he was pleased to see them there, it still felt a little strange and just a bit unnatural and awkward to him.

Paige was at her old desk, shuffling some papers around, with a frown on her face. She didn't have Walter to ask when she was unsure what to do anymore as team Centipede, and she still found it a bit daunting and difficult without his leadership and advice.

Toby was pacing around his desk, a book in each hand. Walter always found that to be fascinating- the way he read two books at once and took in all the information from them both.

Sylvester made Walter's smile widen as he carefully placed his Super Fun Guy toys- or collector's pieces as he liked to call them- on his desk in a specific order. His smile turned to a frown when he thought of the words he had said to Sylvester that awful day- he'd accused him of being a comic book - reading baby instead of a real man, but the truth was that Sly was the bravest man he knew. He was terrified of so many things but did them all the same - like the time he captured a rattlesnake to save Cabe, and when he jumped off a cruise liner to save him. That was true bravery- being afraid yet doing the very thing you were afraid of.

Sly was humming a tune as he sorted out his desk, and turned to no one in particular and said 'This is so much better than that wet, leaky old build... oh no!' he finished as a drop of rain water dripped down onto his newly cleaned desk.

'Oh, I'm sorry, Sly.' Walter said, trotting down the rest of the stairs. 'It's a Ray- repair! Not the best!' he finished, looking up at the pipe wrapped around with duct tape.

'I can fix it!' Happy called from her spot. 'It's just a small job- unlike Centipede HQ!'

'Yeah, it's still much better than Centipede's building!' Sylvester said to Walter. 'Thank you for letting us come here.'

'No problem, buddy!' Walter replied, walking away and stopping by Paige's desk. 'I hope you are finding this is efficient, Paige? Sharing the garage I mean?'

'It's perfect. Thank you Walt...' Paige stopped mid sentence as the door opened and Cabe and a familiar woman entered.

Walter went over to the woman, and to team Centipede's surprise, kissed her on the cheek.

'Hello.' Simone Taylor said, turning to face the others. 'I'm so glad to see you all again, and that Mr Dodd's fully recovered!'

'Oh er... thank you...' Sylvester replied, whilst the others just stared.

'Excuse us,' Cabe said. 'we need to get to work... Walter, Simone...' Cabe motioned to them to go up to the loft, and all heads turned as Simone grabbed Walter's hand as they went up the stairs.

'Do you think...?' Sly began.

'Well, what do you know! Interpol and the nerd! Make a good title for a movie!' Toby said, raising an eyebrow.

'I'm hungry. Wonder if there's any egg bagels?' Paige commented, but inwardly feeling her heart breaking a little more than it already had. She had no right to feel this way, she thought as she walked off to the kitchen area. She'd 'dumped' Walter, left him high and dry, taking all his team with her and started a rival company for good measure. Why on earth would she assume he still yearned for her as she did for him.

That Simone Taylor! She'd suspected the woman fancied Walter when they'd last worked with her, but Drew had been in the picture, and she'd been preoccupied with her own problems.

Her thoughts turned back to the time Sylvester had got badly injured, and Simone - well, she'd actually interfered with Paige's advice to the team! Firstly she'd criticised when Paige said Toby needed a moment to process what had happened to Sylvester, and argued again when Paige said Walter was too focussed and needed to take some time. Simone's responses had put Paige firmly in her place, and she really hadn't liked it- undermining her job with Scorpion, and boxing her out! The more she thought about it, the angrier she got- that woman had actually taken Walter's arm and gone up to the loft with him and ignored Paige at the time- and worse, Walter hadn't complained about it!

She shouldn't have agreed to come here, she thought. It was the first day, and she was already finding it hard to see Walter- well, see him living a life separate from her. He didn't seem to be suffering too much from their split, whereas she regretted it every day! Oh, she'd been so stupid!

~OooO~

A short time later, Walter, Simone and Cabe came back down the stairs. 'Good night, everyone.' Cabe called, waving his hand. 'I'm off to meet Allie for dinner. See you tomorrow.'

Simone looked Paige full in the eyes as she turned towards Walter. 'Good night, lover.' she said pointedly, loud enough for them all to hear. 'I'm sorry you've got to work tonight. Never mind. We'll be able to spend some 'fun' time after this is all over, I promise.'

'Er... Ok.' Walter replied, a crease furrowing his brow as he followed Simone's glance. Simone took her eyes off an obviously effected Paige and gave Walter a thorough kiss.

'Bye!' she said.

'Goodbye.' he responded with a passive look that Paige couldn't decipher. Had he enjoyed that kiss, or was Simone just claiming her 'property'- she just couldn't tell, but she didn't like it. She didn't like it at all.

Simone and Cabe left the garage together as Cabe had offered her a lift back to her hotel, and Toby immediately cornered Walter who had gone over to the coffee pot.

'Glad to see there's no cinnamon in the coffee pot, 197!' Toby quipped.

'Hmmm.' Walter acknowledged, feeling slightly embarrassed about the way he'd tried everything he could to please Paige in the past. That hadn't worked out so well.

He made a move to go back to work, but Toby stopped him when he said 'So... Simone, our favourite Interpol gal, huh!'

'Yep. We're working on a case together.'

Walter tried to move away again, but Toby stepped in front of him. 'Just working on a case, eh? Because all the markers are there...'

'We're just friends, Toby. Colleagues. Why do you still insist on psychoanalysing everything I do?'

'Because you're a fascinating subject, 197!'

Walter frowned, and tried to leave once again.

'And you don't like contact, yet you kissed her cheek when she turned up and she held onto you like her life depended on it. That goodbye kiss wasn't how you say goodnight to a colleague.'

'I told you, she's a good friend. I guess I've evolved a little to greeting my friends in a more... human way. Now if you don't mind...'

Toby stepped out of Walter's path, and went over to where Happy was working. 'I thought the move here might be awkward, but it's going to be more interesting than I thought!' he said, looking from Paige's face back to Walter.

'You think Walt's involved with Simone?' Happy pondered.

'Yeah! Ms Taylor was always sweet on our braniac, and without Paige in her way, she's gone for it!'

'Really, doc?' Happy said glancing over at Walter.

'Oh yeah.' he repeated 'They- be - dating! Bet you 10 bucks our nerd and the lady are like this!' Toby intertwined his fingers, to Happy's disgust.

'Well that's his business, not ours. And don't gamble!' she fired at him, poking a finger in his shoulder. 'Now if you don't mind, I've got work to do!'

'Just saying!' a miffed Toby replied, rubbing his chest and retreating to his desk. He glanced over at Paige, who was very obviously pretending to be engrossed in her work, even though her glances at Walter showed him her true feelings. Being back in the garage was going to be very entertaining, he thought. He was glad to be back to put his behaviourist skills to good use!...

To be continued...