Ookay people, first of all: PLEASE DON'T HATE ME. This chapter has been a bitch for ovious reasons (you will understand when you finish it) and I have to say that I was in pain every sentence that I wrote. What goes on here was supossed to be off-camera (I repeat myself) the only part that would have actually happened was the part with the letter (you'll know), but my imagination ran wild and the whole fire building mission came to be (I hate myself right now TnT).
I supose I should have put a warning in the summary for this but I didn't want any spoilers. All that I can and will say is that this isn't over, there's a lot more stuff to go (all good stuff I promise) so please don't leave this story now I promise it will get better :S
Lastly, a bit shoutout to the magnificent eltonjon2001 for talking hours on end about the story, giving me some pointers (it really helped and I really appreciated it) and keeping up with me despite all the ambigousness of my answers, lots of love to you 3
Here it is! Be advised: lots of sadness and angst in this chapter!
Her first instinct was to scream, to yell his name so he would hear her but her body didn't respond to her commands. Sly saw her expression through the cameras.
"Paige, what's wrong?" He asked, concerned for the face she was making. She didn't answer the question, she couldn't.
Paige stood there for a couple of seconds, totally paralyzed. When she came to her senses she ran out of the room, ready to find walter.
"Paige what are you doing?!" Silvester exclaimed. "The fire is getting closer, you have to get into the room and close the door!" He sounded hysteric, but she couldn't care less. Walter was alive, and he was a mere room away.
"Walter…" She murmured. " Walter is here." She said to the team. She heard a group of gasps on her ear. "I have to go find him!" She exclaimed as she went the way the two men had gone.
"Paige don't!" Sam interceded. "You have to get to safety!"
"Sam is right! The fire is almost at you location!" Sly told her.
"But I have to find him." She said absentmindedly.
She didn't have the time to get far though, since a tank of something flammable exploded really close to her, propelling her into the safe room.
"Paige! Are you okay?" Silvester asked, worried. Paige's throat was sore and dry, making her unable to answer him. She nodded into the direction of the camera to make sure he knew that she was okay. He sighed, relieved.
"Okay Paige." He said in a calmed voice despite the circumstances. "You need to close the door. Now."
Encouraged by the whole team she made it to the door gasping for air as it had gotten harder to breath because of the fire. When she was able to totally close it she couldn't hold on anymore.
"Paige!" She heard Sly yell as she lost consciousness.
She opened her eyes and realised she had been staring, embarrassed she looked at the only other place she could, at his lips. They were so close she could feel his breath on her face. Then somehow desire took over them and they kissed, for the first time, with such passion that she felt like flying. They had been discussing how they didn't know for sure that they would work together, but at that second, kissing him, she knew they could definitely work. She felt the exact moment Walter started to pull away, and even though she tried to keep him there, locked on her lips, they ended up separating.
"Okay, yeah, good. Well, we tested that theory." He said in a hurried manner, embarrassed.
"Honestly, I felt nothing." She answered in his same tone. The second she spoke those words she felt a tingling sensation. Oh, she was lying big time. " You?" She asked curious if he felt the same as her.
"Same." His words hurt her, but she took her purse, so it looked like she had intention to leave and put it around her shoulder. He didn't stop there though. "I'm starting to believe that m-my attraction to you is based on the symmetry of your face, which is a vestigial affectation from cavemen. It meant that you were free from genetic malfunctions." He was rambling, she knew it, but there was also a compliment hidden in that sentence as well.
"I guess the assumption of our intense chemistry was off." Paige answered him, following up on his game.
"It can happen with any hypothesis." He said with his smile falling from his face.
"But just to be safe, we should prob-"
"Yes, professional colleagues." She interrupted him. She couldn't risk it if he didn't feel the same way as her, as she knew that with another kiss she would be in too deep.
"See you tomorrow." She continued before waving him goodbye.
"Okay, tomorrow." He answered, stunned.
"Good night."
"Good night."
When she exited the garage all that she could do was lean on the closed door, exhale and whisper. "Oh, boy."
"Paige!" A yell woke her up from her slumber, making her realise she was hurting all over. Even though she felt sore, she was feeling something she hadn't felt in a really long time and realised she had been dreaming about Walter. She asked herself why she had dreamt of their first kiss.
Sam was outside, he had been calling her for quite some time through the coms. She got up and opened the door, using all her strength, since she could barely keep herself up. When the door moved, he was right there, waiting for her. He took her in his arms and helped her stay straight.
"I need to go, I need to find him." She told him.
"Toby and Happy are already searching the building as they speak, they will find him." Sam answered in a calming manner that somehow made all her worries go away.
They moved, slowly but surely though the building, trying to get out.
"Guys, we have something." Happy said through the coms. "It's… Huuugh! What the hell?!" Happy's exclamation made her see something was wrong, terribly wrong.
Gathering all the strength she had in her she let go of Sam and started running the opposite direction they were going, inside the building again. Sam and Veronica called after her, but she paid no attention to their screams, she was going to find out what was going on.
Happy and Toby were easy enough to find, since there was a clear path that the firefighters had made safe. She saw Happy first, on the doorframe of a room. She went there quick, and as she passed her Toby saw her and yelled.
"Don't let her in Happy! Don't let her see! Get her out." Paige didn't expect his hostility, so she couldn't resist when Happy did take her away. She tried to break free but she didn't let her, she was holding on to her for dear life. After struggling for some time Paige realised she was crying. She had never seen the tough mechanic cry in the three years that they knew each other. At that instant she was able to get an idea about what was going on, but just thinking about it scared her to no end.
Happy lifted her face and looked at her in the eyes. Subconsciously Paige started to shake her head, trying to deny what was going on. Happy tried to talk, but she could tell that the mechanic couldn't face what was to come either. Speechless, all that she could do was nod repeatedly. Seeing Happy cry and nod made her unable to hold her emotions. Happy hugged her, and they cried for a long while.
With their cries resonating through the coms she knew that the whole team was aware of what had happened. Paige could hear in the distance some sobs and little cries, but wasn't able to fully process them.
After some time the girls got up and walked slowly to the exit. Her mother's, Cabe's and Sam's look pained her, but she couldn't care about it enough to separate herself from her own pain and try to help them with theirs. Some paramedic took her away and tried to have her take some tests but she refused profusely. All that she allowed them to do was to look for any serious visible injuries and went on her way to the car. The team stayed out for a little while, probably talking to Silvester through the coms, but she didn't know since she had took hers out the second she had arrived outside.
After discussing for some time they all got in the van they had rented for this job and went on their way. Nobody talked through the whole way back to the garage. They had succeeded in their mission but had lost the heart of the team.
Paige could hear Toby explaining to Ralph what they had found with difficulty, but she wasn't sure, she couldn't fully focus on what was going on, all that she saw was Walter after their first kiss. A part of her believed that he wasn't gone, that he would come in through the garage's door any second, but that didn't happen.
One thing was certain, Toby and Happy had found a body. The problem was that with its state it was difficult to ascertain its identity. Paige still held a tiny hope that it wasn't Walter, but someone else entirely. Homeland had made the autopsy of the body his top priority, and it would be sent to the garage in a couple of days tops. She knew that she would be dying inside until she knew for sure who it was, the uncertainty consuming her every second that passed.
Paige had been sitting on the garage's sofa for all the explanation Toby had given to her son, staring blankly into space.
After some time the talking stopped and realised Ralph was in front of her, he had a look she'd never seen before. He took her hand and helped her up.
"Let's go home mom." He said with a voice that let slip through how much pain he was feeling.
She nodded and said goodbye to the team, but no one was really paying attention to them, everyone dealing with their own grief.
The next days happened in a blurr. She would get up in the morning, get Ralph ready for school, they would have breakfast in silence and she would leave him at school. She then would get to work, gladly they had no missions so it was all dull paperwork that suited her just fine, she was able to not think about the letter that would come in the mail any day now.
It was wednesday, three days had passed when the letter came in the mail. Paige felt like it had been an eternity, but it hadn't been even a week since Toby had found that body. She called the team over, simply because she didn't want to be the one to read the document. When everyone was gathered at her table she passed the envelope to Toby, since he was the doctor of the team. He looked around to be sure that everyone on the team wanted to find out that way and opened the white envelope with trembling hands. He took a deep breath with closed eyes to ready himself, then looked at the autopsy document.
"Ookay, let's see…" he started to read the document only saying pieces of it outloud. "Cause of death- I think we can skip this part." He skipped a couple of pages. "It's all technical stuff so…Three degree burns… We don't need this either." He said when he saw the look Paige was giving him."Ah! Here it is! ...the subject was suspected to be one Walter O'Brien. With the state that the body was found it was difficult to ascertain its identity so a series of tests were made, the one definitive being dental records. Only the last mentioned was conclusive, signaling that the body of the subject is one Walter O'Brien." After Toby had read the last sentence the whole garage froze. They spent almost a full minute with nobody moving an inch until the doctor let the letter fall to the ground. Then they all looked at each other and Paige saw her own pain reflected in one of them. She saw Happy how Happy left and Toby followed her, she was about to cry, she was sure. Silvester went to his desk and started sniffling while he clutched to a blank credit card, maybe from a hotel room, Paige wasn't sure but she didn't ask. he held it with strength, like his life depended on it. Sam went to his own desk and buried his face in his hands, probably trying not to break down. Cabe hadn't moved an inch during the whole ordeal, but Paige could distinguish a lot of hurt and pain on his face even though his expression hadn't changed since he had come into the garage.
Paige herself felt numb, not fully able to process those news, she then proceeded to take the forgotten autopsy report that was on the ground and took a look at it. She didn't understand most of it, so she turned to the last page and stared at the last sentence Toby had said out loud. She traced his name carefully hoping to feel something when touching his name but she felt nothing. She felt like a stranger on her own body like she wasn't really there, like she was watching a TV show with bad reception. She left the document carefully on her table, took her purse and left, she needed to see her son. No one in the garage moved a muscle when she left but she didn't care anyway.
It was quite early to pick Ralph up from school, but Paige didn't care one bit, she deeded to tell him before she wouldn't be able to.
When she got him his teacher asked a couple of questions that she brushed off with a couple of polite answers that she responded absentmindedly. Ralph didn't ask the reason she was there, she was sure he knew.
They went to the supermarket to buy food for the next couple of weeks, since Paige knew she wouldn't do it later. As they shopped they barely spoke to each other, either of them too sad to comment on it.
Afterwards they had dinner in silence as well while they got lost in their own thoughts. Knowing they needed some sort of comfort but Paige wouldn't be able to do so, she asked her son to watch some TV with her. They were sitting on the sofa, watching a kid's TV show that Paige didn't know, snuggling together inside a cozy blanket. Usually that closeness with Ralph always reassured her but at that moment was more like she needed that proximity or she would break down.
"Mom is Walter dead?" Her son asked with a whisper while he watched the television.
"Yes, he is." It was all she could bear to answer. as she spoke she remembered his last words to her.
"I love you Paige." A lonely tear ran across her cheek as she watched the TV.
Walter O'Brien, the love of her life, was dead and he wasn't coming back.
Please let me repeat myself before you all decide to murder me in my sleep. I hated this chapter but this is how the story was supposed to go from the beginning :(
Don't get desperate, I promise that good things will happen to the team from now on :D