Part 6 – Things heat up a little bit

Paige kissed him. Out of the blue. She hadn't really even planned it. It was more of a reaction. Something inside of her said to go for it.

He kissed back. He didn't flinch. He didn't shy away. He put his arms around her and kissed back. He had never done anything like that.

Then it was over.

"Sorry." Paige put her hands over her mouth.

"Uh, um, oh boy." Walter was having trouble completing a thought. He had never felt anything like that before. He thought he would be shaking from nerves or appalled by her touching him. It was the exact opposite, he wanted more. Needed more.

So, he kissed her. Out of the blue. He hadn't planned to kiss her back, it just sort of happened. It was a reaction. Something inside of him saying to go for it. And he listened to it.

And Paige liked it. She kissed him back with passion. She put her hands up to his face and kissed him back.

"Holy hell." She exclaimed as they broke the embrace breathing heavily.

They had a different look in their eyes now. They both felt it. There was something there. More than either of them expected or had ever felt before. Fireworks.

Ralph emerged from the bathroom looking at them both as they were staring towards each other separated by only a few inches.

"Walter was um going to get a ride home in a little bit, so we could um talk some more, is that ok sweetie. Let me tuck you in to bed." She said, still breathing a little heavily; her insides pulsing.

"Good night, Walter." Ralph told him with a smile as he had put on his rocket pajamas.

"Good night, Ralph." Walter was able to get out as his mind was racing thinking about what had just happened.

A few minutes later Paige re-emerged from Ralph's room. She gave Walter some kind of a smile. No woman had ever smiled at him like that before.

"Paige, I'm sorry about before, I got um carr…."

Paige kissed him again before he could say another word. She needed a second opinion. Or was it a third? Was their kiss really that good? Was she going to feel her hairs stand up on the back of her neck again? Was she going to feel her insides tingle again? So, she kissed him, hard.

And he kissed back. He wanted to see if he felt it again. If it made his hairs stand on end. What the hell was that feeling? His insides tingled. Electricity flowed between them. Even more than the first kiss or the second.

Walter was out of his element. He wasn't sure what to do now, or how to act. He thought to himself for a minute and decided he needed to be honest with her about everything. As they pulled back from their kiss, he separated from her and looked right into her eyes.

"I d-don't um know w-what to do. T-This is um new to me. I n-need you t-to um help me know what to do." Walter told her through his breaths, their heads touching each other.

"This is new to me, too. Walter, it's been a long time since I've um, wow." Paige said to him wiping her lips and then wetting them again with her tongue.

"I've um n-never k-kissed someone like t-that before." Walter told her honestly.

"How did you learn to kiss like that, then?" Paige asked, still half panting.

"M-m-me? M-my in-insides feel like j-jello right now. I don't think I can m-move." He told her not feeling ashamed at all.

Paige put her hand over her mouth and was smiling. His kind and truthful words caught her off guard. She asked if he wanted to sit down with her on the couch.

"I've only k-kissed three, well um t-two if you don't count Megan, so yeah um t-two girls before, and it n-never felt anything like that. I um d-don't think I can explain what that felt like, honestly."

"Hey, whatever it was, I can assure you I felt it too." Paige told him to let him know she felt the same way about the kisses.

"In um science, we have um th-theories, and t-to prove or disprove them, we um we d-do experiments and test our theories to see if they are um if they are correct. Multiple times sometimes, to um to see." Walter tried to tell her, hoping to test one of those theories again right away.

"I don't understand, Walter." Paige told him a little confused by his words.

So, Walter kissed her again. Passionately. His hands explored her shoulders first and then made their way down her arms until they stopped around her waist as he pulled her closer, deepening the kiss.

She responded to the kiss. Accepting his tongue as it danced with hers. Her hands running through his hair.

They separated only after needing a new supply of oxygen.

"That was ah, pretty smooth Walter. You sure you've only done that twice?" She told him with a smile through heavy breaths

"Sm-sm-smooth? What wa-was smooth?" He could barely speak at the moment; not very smooth.

"That line, about theories and experiments." Paige told him with a sultry smile on her face.

Walter blushed, hoping she wouldn't catch his attempt to experience another kiss with her.

"Walter, I'm going to ask you something I um never have done before and didn't think I ever would. Do you want to um come to my bedroom with me?"

Walter felt his body start to tremble. Uncontrollably almost. He didn't know how to respond. And before he could, Paige could see it.

"I'm sorry, that was too fast. Too soon. I just feel so safe with you Walter. I'm sorry." Paige told him hoping she didn't upset him or scare him off.

She reached over and hugged him with her still very aroused body. He felt her against him. He had never had so much physical touch in his life before. His brain was on overload. But as she tried to get both of them under control, he could start to feel himself calm down, her magic touch calming his entire body. His brain couldn't process how it was happening, how she was doing it. Controlling his fear, easing his mind.

"That was wrong of me to ask, I'm sorry. I took it too far. Please forgive me." Paige was saying, trying to calm his mind. She could still feel his heart racing.

"That was p-probably the um d-dumbest thing I ever did, not um not saying yes. B-but I um d-don't think my um heart co-could have taken it though." Walter told her trying to explain his reasoning. She responded by giving him a tender kiss on the lips.

"It wasn't dumb Walter. It was sweet. And the right thing too. I shouldn't have asked. I just have never felt like that with someone before. I got carried away, so thank you for not saying yes. I mean it. And I wouldn't want to do anything to ruin today." Paige told him with a smile.

It was getting late, and Walter knew Paige had had a long day. He told her he was going to have an Uber come pick him up.

"Walter?" Paige asked him as they started to separate from their hug.

"Yes."

"Why don't you spend the night here. Sleep on the couch and let me take you home tomorrow morning."

"Paige, I wouldn't want to impose on you like that. I am ok with calling for a ride."

"It's not an imposition Walter. I promise." Paige told him.

"But it's late, and you've had a long day. Ralph has school tomorrow."

"I'm not that tired, and I have really enjoyed talking to you. I've made it on less sleep than this before."

Walter agreed. She was very persuasive. Paige took one of the pillows off her bed and found the one and only extra blanket they had for when it got cold out and gave it to Walter to use. He smiled and thanked her, setting them down to the side of the couch.

"Tell me about your family." Walter asked her.

"My family is a part of my life I don't like talking about much." Paige told him.

"Um, I'm um sorry. I shouldn't have asked; I know the um feeling."

"No, its okay, I will share it with you, just promise me not to judge me."

Walter nodded.

"I was an only child. My parents didn't seem to have the best marriage. My um mom left us when I was young. She was always caught up in schemes and cons. Always more interested in her next money grab than being around. My dad tried to raise me, but he passed away when…" She started to cry and couldn't continue.

And for the first time in Walter O'Brien's life, he wanted to console someone. He wanted to be the shoulder she cried on. To comfort her. To make sure she was ok. He hugged her. Rubbed her arms to soothe her, it had worked on him, maybe it would work on her. This was all so new to him. But he knew he wanted to be there for Paige.

"I'm sorry Paige, I shouldn't have asked." Walter said to her upset with himself for making her cry.

"No, it's ok. It wasn't your fault. It's just hard for me to talk about."

"Wh-what a-about Ralph's um father? I-If you don't want to talk about him, it's um ok. I just wanted to ask."

"No, it's ok. His name is Drew Baker. I met him in college. He was on the baseball team there. We um met and hit it off. Started dating. One thing led to another, I got pregnant with Ralph when I was nineteen. He was um on the road for baseball, and other things, a lot. He wasn't even there when Ralph was born. And by the time Ralph was two, he left us for good. Chasing after women and baseball, in that order probably." Paige told Walter, again breaking down towards the end.

And again, Walter was there for her to cry on. He felt bad for Paige. Her life had been hard. A single mom at nineteen, raising a son she had trouble relating to, on her own. Fighting for everything she had. But never once giving up. There had to be a better way.

They talked for a couple more hours before finally calling it a night. Paige went to her bedroom and slept until her alarm went off in the morning to get Ralph up and ready for school.

Walter laid down on the couch. He never got his eyes closed. He could smell her scent on the pillow and all over the blanket. What was that scent, lavender? He couldn't get enough of it. He was too busy re-living everything that happened to him throughout the day. Meeting Cabe Gallo again, finding out about the problem with the planes, figuring out a way to fix the problem. Lavender. Getting an offer to work for a government agency. Making a difference with his work. Lavender. Bumping into Ralph at the airport. Having an instant connection with him.

But what he thought most about, was how his day started and how it ended. In the diner, on a pointless Wi-Fi setup, he saw her for the first time, and throughout the day he couldn't get her out of his mind. Then seeing her at the airport with Ralph. Spending the rest of the day with her. Talking openly about anything and everything. Hugging her, several times. Lavender. And those kisses. He was never in his life going to forget those kisses.

All the foreign feelings that ran through his body and his mind all evening. What were they? Where did they come from? How was he going to control them? Maybe they weren't meant to be controlled. Maybe for once in his life, he would just follow them. See where they went. See if they took him to a place he was supposed to be. To someone he was supposed to be with.