Case-Sea-NO (Casino)

Part 1 - Gettleman Lobby - Monday May 23rd

Walter had just finished giving their proposal as they were leaving the office of Mr. Gettleman. That's when he saw Centipede Partners in the lobby waiting for their opportunity to win the same job. It had been a struggle for the new company, but they had managed to procure a few jobs. This was the first contact Walter had with the geniuses that walked out on him and Scorpion two weeks ago. They interacted briefly before they started to enter the same office Walter had just given his proposal in minutes earlier. As they were closing the door, Walter turned and said, "Paige…wait", but it was too late; the door closed without a response.

A couple hours later, back at Scorpion, Walter's phone dinged with an incoming text message.

Sorry about earlier. Everything ok? 😊

Yes, I'll call you tonight. Nothing to worry about.

One Week Earlier

A week after the fight that led to the current situation, they found themselves in, Walter was able to convince Paige to talk with him. He had called her and texted her almost non-stop the first couple of days. When she responded through text the third morning to give her a little space, he relented and only called or texted a couple of times a day. After four more days of him continuing to contact her, she decided she needed to at least talk with him.

The first time they talked it was over the phone. She was still very upset with him, and he tried to again explain himself and his thinking. She was able to listen to him without getting angry and they both felt the call was helpful. It lasted for about ten minutes. Walter asked if he could call her tomorrow night around the same time. When Paige agreed, Walter told her he wouldn't call or text her throughout the day and just wait till the evening to talk. Paige thanked him and told him she appreciated it.

They talked again, by phone, each of the next two nights. These calls lasting a little longer than the first one. By the fourth day they decided to meet up in a coffee shop before work. They hugged each other when they first got there. Paige shed a few tears, the sight of Walter with his eyes full of sorrow was almost too much for her to handle. Walter grabbed her hands in his and pulled her towards him for a small embrace.

"I've missed you, Paige. Are you ok?" Walter let go of the embrace but kept a hold of her hands, he didn't want to overwhelm her.

"I've been ok. Not good. But ok."

"How has Ralph been? Are the two of you, ok? I hope he's not upset with you for what I did."

Paige always knew how much Ralph meant to Walter. It was one of the biggest reasons why she started to fall in love with him in the first place. And knowing that Walter was just as concerned about him as he was for her was another reason why she knew trying to work through their problems was worth it.

"Ralph is doing better now. We did have a little bit of trouble at first. He didn't understand what was happening. But I've been able to explain most of it to him. I made sure he knew we are not finished; we just needed a little break. Time to think about some things and work through them."

"I'm glad to hear he's okay. I was um worried I may have hurt him as bad as I hurt you. I'm out of my element with um us right now, and I um I need to know if I am saying or um asking inappropriate questions. I don't want to um hurt you anymore Paige."

"I know Walter, we just have to take baby steps, you know. We can't just say sorry and go back to how things were. We need to work through them. One by one. Do you understand that?"

"I do. I'm glad you met me here, and I'm sorry for all the calls and texts, I just didn't know what else to um to do."

"It's okay. All the calls and texts were a bit much, but I think it was better than no calls or texts, ok."

"Can I buy you a coffee; with cinnamon?" He asked, with a smile.

"Sure, thank you."

They talked a little more once Walter got back with the coffee. Mostly small talk, but they did touch the surface on a few things. Walter walked Paige out to her car and gave her another hug before heading over to his car. They decided to meet again in a few days and talk some more. It was a good step in the right direction.

Walter had asked Paige if it would be ok for him to send her a text message every once in a while, just to let her know he was thinking about her. She agreed to it, as long as they weren't pre-typed.

The biggest thing they had talked about was the formation of Centipede Partners. It was a tricky subject to talk about and Paige wasn't sure how Walter would handle it. At first, when he initially found out he was visibly upset, but as he had time to think through what Paige told him, he was able to calm down. Knowing she wasn't the one who brought the idea of forming a competing firm to Scorpion up was a big relief. But he still wasn't sure what he thought of his closest friends doing this to him. Paige explained she tried to talk them out of it at first, but they convinced her to at least give it a shot, if for nothing else, to help her stay caught up with all her bills.

Paige had some money in the bank, thanks to Walter showing her how to put money away from every check she got while working at Scorpion. He told her he would even match the amount she put away in a separate account that would be set aside for Ralph. This was something he did only for her and didn't offer anyone else the same kind of deal. The accounts had grown well over the four years she was there, but using Walter's logic, she didn't want to dip into her savings yet. That was why she agreed to giving CP a shot.

Five days before Gettleman Pitch

The next time Walter and Paige met; it was at an outdoor food truck pavilion. Paige just wanted to find a place to meet him that was easy to get to and very casual. Neither one of them necessarily liked eating from a food truck, but there were a couple of trucks that served dessert there and they both wound up ordering from them.

They talked about CP at first, but Paige didn't have much to say about it, because there wasn't really much to say honestly. They hadn't gotten any jobs yet and were still trying to figure out all the comings and goings of what they were doing. She told Walter they had to meet at her condo, as it was the only space big enough for them to all sit down in the same room together. She also told him Ralph wasn't too fond of them starting CP, which made Walter happy to hear.

The rest of their conversation was talking about them. How to proceed, and what kind of changes they would expect to go through. It was obvious they still cared deeply for each other. They both knew they had their faults and finding the ways to navigate through them was just going to take time. Being open and honest about things was at the forefront of what both of them talked about. Walter again walked Paige to her car when they were done eating, and this time he gave her a kiss on the back of her hand before hugging her and helping her safely get into her seat.

Thanks again for meeting me last night. I had fun. See you soon.

The next morning when he came down from his loft and sat at his work desk, he made a few phone calls to some of his smaller clients and told them he wouldn't be able to complete the work they had agreed to and told them to contact Paige and to have her put in a bid on the jobs. He informed them that she would be able to fulfill all their needs. He also called one of the bigger clients he had a scheduled meeting with, Mr. Beauchamp, and informed him he would need to drop out of the bid process, and he recommended CP for the job.

Walter was still upset with his friends, but he would always care for them. And if he needed to lose a few jobs to help them succeed, he was fine with it. But what he really wanted, was for Paige to be ok and not to suffer, her or Ralph.

Three days before the Gettleman Pitch

Since the Dineen condo was still CP headquarters right now, they offered to watch Ralph for her when she told them she was going out with a friend of hers to hang out for the evening. Ralph wasn't too thrilled to have three babysitters, and especially the three of them. He hadn't said more than two words to any of them since they left Scorpion. And he decided to spend the night in his room while they watched tv and ate all of his mom's food while she was out.

"So, is this a date?" Toby asked while shoveling some popcorn in his mouth.

"No, I'm just catching up with an old friend. I have friends outside of work you know." Paige said back, both statements true.

"You gonna bring your date back home for some, you know." Toby said while sliding a finger up and down inside his other hand.

"Knock it off Toby, leave her alone. It's her life, stop trying to always butt in." Happy remarked with a pop to his head.

"And you wouldn't want Ralph hearing about his mom bringing men back here to have s-e-x." Sly said trying not to let Ralph hear.

"You too Sly? I've got another hand here to slap you with." Happy said.

"I told you already, this is just a friend of mine that I've known for a while, and we are just going to get something to eat and then catch up."

She wasn't going to engage them anymore, especially on the topic of sex that the two guys brought up. As she thought about it, she realized how Toby always was so interested in her and Walter's life outside of work. Way more than he should have been.

She got dressed up a little for her date… evening out with a friend, and when she arrived at the small, out of the way, Italian restaurant she spotted her friend right away.

"Hi Walter."

"Hello Paige, you look really nice tonight. I mean you always look nice. Thank you for meeting me."

"Thanks for inviting me. Truth be told, I needed a night out from everyone anyway. They have pretty much been living at the condo it seems. And they are getting a little bit much."

"I'm sorry to hear that. They always did like to just hang around. Have um things gotten any better for you guys?"

"Yes, they have, but I'm not sure why you are asking me that. I think you may have already known the answer to your question."

"I'm not sure what you're talking about."

"Walter, open and honest remember?"

Walter blushed a little and his eyes got wide. He wasn't trying to lie to her, but he didn't want her to feel like he was overstepping his bounds.

"Um…I um may have um…"

"Hey, I was kidding a little with you. I know what you did. I don't know why you did. But thank you."

"I didn't do it um for um, I just wanted to make sure you and Ralph were ok."

"I had three of your clients call me personally and tell me you had to cancel a job with them and recommended me to help them out. I didn't tell anyone else yet. I wanted to talk with you first."

"OK. I was just wanting to help a little. I wasn't trying to lie about it, I just want you to be ok."

Paige reached up on the table and held his hand. It was a kind gesture from him, and she wanted to make sure he knew it was appreciated.

They ordered their meals, and then continued talking about their personal relationship.

"I need to start out by saying I'm sorry to you for losing my cool that night. There were a lot of factors I was trying to account for, and I lost control of myself."

"Paige, it was my fault, I should not have kept anything from you. I know that now. I knew that then. I was not ever interested in her as anything more than a friend. And I never will be."

"I know Walter. I shouldn't ever have said she was your girlfriend. That was childish of me to say. What upset me the most that night was thinking that you were losing interest in me and were not satisfied with me anymore."

"Paige, that couldn't be any further from the truth. I could never lose interest in you; you are the most interesting person I have ever met. And I've gotten to meet some pretty interesting people these last few years."

This made Paige smile. He was being honest with her too, she could tell.

"I have some pretty big insecurities, Walter. The biggest of them is feeling like I'm not good enough for someone. Anyone I have been close with has pretty much left me. My mom left me for money and a life of running from the law. Drew left me to chase baseball and other women. Tim left me for a job overseas. And there were a couple of other relationships over the years where I was cheated on too."

"Paige, I never left you, I never would."

"I know you didn't. But I felt like that's where we were heading. I felt like you were distancing yourself from me. Walter, do you know the last week we were together, you didn't spend a single night with me. I felt like you were losing interest."

Walter lowered his head not realizing until right then that what she said about spending the night with her was absolutely right.

Their food arrived at what seemed the most inopportune time. But it did give Walter a chance to think of what he wanted to say.

"Let me say this, then we can eat. Not spending time with you was a mistake, one I didn't realize I made until right now. I was putting too much time into work, and I'm not trying to make excuses, because I would give it all away for you and Ralph. All of it. That is one hundred percent a fact. I will not make that mistake again."

They had a good meal, and they were able to change the subject to casual chit chat which helped to make the evening enjoyable. After they ate, they walked around the nearby lake arm in arm and leaned into each other every once in a while, to lean on a shoulder or to hug.

They stopped for an ice cream cone before calling it a night.

"I'm glad we talked through what we did tonight. That was a big issue for me, and I think it will help as we keep working at this."

"Paige, just so you know, I want this too. And I am willing to fight for us for as long as it takes. You are all i will ever want."

Tonight, after he walked her to her car, she reached over to him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.