Okay guys, so here it is! First of all I have to say how overwhelmed I am from the answer I have received for this fanfic. Thanks to everyone who has liked and followed the story so far, please if you like it tell me why with a review, or in the contrary, if you didn't tell me why so I can improve it over time. Also if you have any suggestions I'm open to them.
Another thing is that I have already figured out most of the story and is going to have at least 20 chapters, maybe even 30. I will try to make the chapters long but it depends about how I want to flow the story, I know more or less when each one is going to finish and stuff, so please don't kill me if you find it too short :S I will try to do better!
Way2groovey and MetalKyria, thanks for the nice comments :) bobolovesclyde I know, me too ¬.¬ I just feel they need to finish it once and for all with Collins, even though he's not going to appear so much in the story ;)
My tumblr is .com if you want to ask me something in general I will answer them
ON A SIDE NOTE: I watched yesterday 3x11 and I ended up a little bit sad. Bad Walter! I feel he has gone back a little bit to how he was at the beginning. I know you and Paige have to be together but don't be such a mean girl! :( I was expecting something along the lines of my fanfic, oh well, I guess we'll have to wait to the end of the season for that to happen TAT
Enjoy, comment and review!
The garage was silent for a couple of seconds, nobody knew what to do. Usually they would have a plan for a case like that, but without Walter everyone was confused.
"Isn't any way to track Walter?" Cabe's voice broke the silence.
Sly jumped into action, as if he was electrocuted.
"Yes, there is!" He went, sat on Walter's desk and just stayed there. Paige felt something was off.
"What's wrong? Everything okay Sylvester?" She got closer to give him some comfort.
"Oh! Yes, everything is okay." He answered as if he had been daydreaming. "It's just that I don't usually sit here, Walter is very picky about who lets into his personal space." He said nervously.
Sly got to work while everyone watched like it was a movie. Paige could feel the tension oozing from every inch of their bodies while Sylvester worked on the computer. Even Toby was dead silent, a really bad sign. Happy was intensely looking at the screen, like Cabe, who was really focused in it as well.
The liaison didn't know why they were on edge so much, since Walter hadn't been missing for even 24 hours, but she had to admit that the name Mark Collins always brought trouble for everybody. Sly's shout brought paige out of her daydream.
"Yes! I…! Got it?" He shot up with enthusiasm, only to get confused while he stared at the screen. Everyone got closer curiously.
"He's at a diner?" Asked Happy, confused.
Paige though, wasn't. Nobody realised yet, but it was Nemo's Diner, the place she and Walter met for the first time. Just the thought brought tears to her eyes.
"Can you see how long has he been there?" Cabe asked.
"Sure, if he had the GPS open at the time we will know where has he been for the whole day, it will take me a while though, since I'm no Walter." Everyone nodded and occupied themselves with something while waiting. "Occupy" was an overstatement since no one had the energy to do anything. Toby was holding Happy's hand as if holding for dear life, and surprisingly she didn't pull away. Paige looked out on the window with the unfinished paperwork in front of her. She didn't have the strength or the focus to do any of it. Cabe didn't move an inch, he prefered to accompany the stressed guy.
Half an hour passed and Sly was sweating buckets when he announced that he had been able to do it. Everyone almost run over to him.
"It took me a while since he had blocked his GPS signal so one would know where he is, which is rare." "How so?" Asked Paige.
"After his car accident he always leaves it on just in case he disappears again, which means he was missing in purpose."
"Do you know where he went?" Asked Happy stressed.
"Yes, I had to hack his phone, no easy feat since it's Walter's phone, but I have the locations he has been to and for how long." "So…?" Asked Cabe nervously.
Sylvester answered while squinting at the screen. "After he left the garage this morning he went to...the aquarium. He stayed there for half an hour." "The aquarium? Maybe he went fishing." Toby joked. Paige rolled her eyes at him. "Now it's not the time, Toby." "Sorry" He answered quickly while he scurried against Happy, Paige was quite scary at that moment. Sylvester though, was lost in thought. "Maybe he did went fishing." He said to everybody's surprise. "Come again?" Cabe asked looking at him like he had gone crazy.
"Well, yes!" He was pretty excited now. "If he went to the aquarium to pass the time and relax he would have stayed a lot longer, at least a whole hour, since it's how long it would take to see the whole exposition through." Everybody was still looking at Sly like they didn't get it. He sighed. "He was going to a specific spot, maybe to meet somebody." "Can you hack the cameras to see him?" Paige asked hurriedly. "Sure, give me a second." He typed a bunch of commands and a video popped up.
"That's the feed from the time Walter was there." After a couple of seconds of watching the entrance of the aquarium, a familiar silhouette appeared. "Ah! There he is." Sly pointed at him in the screen. He followed the figure through the feed, until it stopped in front of a fish tank. "Just like I thought, he didn't go there to relax and watch the fish, his destination was that fish tank. Which holds...venomous fish of the underworld? That sounds terrifying!" Sylvester jumped a little bit from the computer. Paige couldn't help it but laugh a little bit, he was such a little child sometimes.
"That aquarium holds an amazing large collection of dangerous fish from around the world, it's one of its main attractions." Cabe said. After a startling look from the group he explained. "I use to go there to relax." He said embarrassed. One new trait that no one knew about him. Everyone let out a small laugh, even him.
They continued watching the video, Walter stayed at the same place for 15 minutes and then left, he met with nobody. The group let out a big sigh, but when they were at a loss about what was going on Paige remembered.
"What about the diner?" "What about it?" Happy asked.
"Maybe he met with somebody there." Sly's face lit up at Paige's voice.
"True! Let me see." He pulled a different video, and at image of the diner Paige felt she had gone back in time, when her life wasn't continuous danger.
"Hey! That's Paige's diner!" Toby exclaimed.
"Yes it is." She smiled fondly, remembering their first case together. A moment of silence followed, each one remembering that special case.
"Oh! He's leaving!" Sylvester words made everyone realise that they were still trying to figure out what was Walter doing. They focused on the screen again. "He was apparently alone in the diner." Sly concludes. "Not so fast!" Toby intervened. "Look at that." He pointed at a certain point at the screen. It was a napkin. Everyone looked at him with a "so?" Look, so he elaborated. "There's two napkins, one next to Walter and one in front of him." He paused. "So it means there was somebody with him, but left a long time ago, since the plates have already been cleaned. So..." "Can you find out who it is?" Happy interrupted. Sylvester obliged ignoring Toby, who groaned in the background.
"Damn, I can't, sorry guys." Everybody deflated a little bit. "The feed gets erased after a couple of hours, since there isn't much space in the one camera in the diner." "It's okay Sylvester." Paige patted him on the shoulder. "At least we know where he is."
"Oh yes!" Sly got pumped again. "Let me see where he is." He started to go through the traffic cameras and found him not too far away from where he had lunch with the mysterious person. He parked in a park and they lost sight of him. Everybody stayed alert for a couple of minutes, not knowing what to do. Suddenly a call came through the phone of the garage. Cabe answered it when it had barely ringed once.
"Cabe Gallo here." It was Walter. Cabe positioned the phone in a way everyone could hear it but it was not on speaker so he couldn't hear them.
"Hi, I just wanted to tell you that I'm fine, since I have found out that my phone's GPS had been hacked, I assume you were worried."
"You gave us quite the scare, boy." Paige wanted to talk to him but felt paralyzed as all the tension she had been building up all day was released.
"Sorry about the hacking Walter, that was my fault." Sly intervened. Walter accepted his apology and said that he simply needed time to get his mind of things. Something that really bugged Paige since he would never say that.
Walter said his goodbyes to Cabe with the promise he would be back tomorrow at the garage first thing in the morning.
When Paige had to go pick up Ralph everybody went along, needing some stress-free time. She couldn't stop thinking about what had happened today, everything seemed such a mess that nobody but Walter understood. Realising that she needed some time alone, she asked Sylvester if he could watch Ralph, to what he agreed wholeheartedly, since he needed some fun to relax.
Paige got home still thinking about the whole thing. Everything was a mystery but the thing that bothered her the most was the aquarium. She had gone there before, with Walter and Ralph. They had a great time, and they spent hours talking in front of the same fish tank he had been today while Ralph studied every species of fish that came across them. He would point it out and Walter would give its definition, with its scientific name and everything, it was quite educational. She had been relaxing on her couch for quite some time with the TV on, even though she was not watching it, when someone knocked on the door. It was Walter.
He looked tired and conflicted with himself. She realised when he came to his senses and started to formulate an excuse. But she didn't want any excuses, it had been one hell of a day, and even though she felt totally embarrassed now for spying Walter for no reason except a little bit of paranoia, she wasn't going to let it bother her.
Paige took Walter's arm and dragged him inside, fast. She planted a kiss on his mouth as passionately as she could. He shook from surprise but after a second of accustoming himself, he kissed her with even more passion than her. She took him through the living room kissing the hell out of him, and he complied happily. Paige felt something in the back of her leg, and realised they had reached the ledge of her bed. They stopped for a second to get some air, and they looked into each other's eyes. She couldn't help it, she said what she had wanted to tell him the whole day.
"I love you." It was a whisper, but she knew he heard it when he smiled sweetly and closed the door behind him still looking at her.