"Hey, babe." Paige walked up behind the couch and wrapped her arms around Walter's neck.
"Hey." He put down his iPad. "Did you have a good lunch?"
"Mmm hmm. It was weird to see her after so long. It's like every time I think Nemo's is behind me, one of the other waitresses pop up behind me in the grocery store."
"That's happened once."
"Well, still. Odds, and all that."
"Uh – huh."
"It's weird," Paige said, going around the couch to sit next to him. "All of them are still there. All the ones that were there when I quit, anyway. They're all stuck. And I got out." She shook her head. "You swooped in and plucked me from the sad drum beat I would have been marching to forever more."
"No," Walter said casually.
She cocked her head. "You think Ralph and I would have ended up okay without you? Because I call bull."
"Also no," he said. "You and Ralph would have been suffering as you were, just as I would be, too. I didn't come in there and save you. You two haven't saved me. We were just a family unit that finally found all of its people."
Paige blinked. "Wow. That's…that's really insightful. And sweet." She kissed him. "Walter, I can't get over that. I love it."
"And I love you." He kissed her again.
She sighed happily. "Hey, can I talk to you about something?"
Her tone was easy, relaxed, but Walter felt a slight twinge of anxiety. "Did I – "
"Walter." She put her finger to his lips. "Please stop that."
"Stop what?"
"Walking on eggshells around me."
"I just don't want to make mistakes."
"You're going to. So am I. Big whoop. We can't constantly be afraid of messing up. We just have to be conscious of the possibility."
"Okay."
"I want to talk to you about what you said about Tad, the other week, before Florida."
"Okay."
"You were thinking of our future together," she said. "You were always thinking of that. I don't know that I ever realized how much, even after we talked in Europe."
"I still took you for granted," Walter said, "at least a little bit. But that is correct: I was always thinking of us going forward. I don't even know how to process a future without you in it. I tried to figure that out when we were apart, but it didn't work. If I really was a robot, I might have been saying does not compute."
Paige gave a little laugh, snuggling closer. "I love that you think about those things."
"Mmm."
The silence that followed didn't feel uncomfortable, just easy. It was the kind of silence that existed between people who just enjoyed being near each other. But it didn't last. Paige had too much on her mind. Too much she wanted to say. "Hey, Walt?"
"Yeah."
"The thing you told me. About Tad." She lifted her head from where it had been nestled into the crook of his neck. "Do you want children?"
Walter took in a long, slow breath, letting it out just as agonizingly deliberately. "I do. I mean, I have Ralph. Not…not to be presumptuous…"
"You have Ralph," Paige said firmly. "Even if we weren't…us anymore. You would always have Ralph."
"Yes. Well, also, yes, I would like…love…it if we…" He sighed.
"We can."
"I should not have let myself fantasize about Tad," Walter said. "Every time I think about it, my mind goes to him."
"Would you rather adopt? I don't mean now. It's too early. But…one day."
"Paige," Walter said, "I would rather have you than anything else. I got attached to Tad. I don't want you to think I'm fixated on being a parent." He kissed her cheek. "But if we were, it doesn't matter to me. Biological or adopted. Adoption shouldn't be seen as just an alternative to people who can't have children. It isn't lesser."
She smiled warmly. "More people need the heart that you have, Walter O'Brien." She affectionately rubbed her nose against his cheek. "I think I might like to be pregnant again, though, if we ever come to that."
"We should probably be married first."
She laughed, but he saw her blush. "This isn't 1950, Walter."
"No. But I just mean…if children are years off…I would like to think we would be married in a few years. Wouldn't you?"
"I…" she was looking at him intensely, as if trying to decide if he was serious. "I would," she said. She was trying to play it cool. He could tell.
Walter slid off the couch to the floor in front of her, putting both hands on her knee. "I don't have a ring, obviously," he said, "since this just came up. And maybe I'm crazy. Maybe it's way too early for even this. But I know a lot of things, Paige, and we are the most objective fact I can think of. I want you regardless of if kids are in our future. So. Will you marry me?"
She put her hand up over her mouth. "Are you serious?"
Her eyes were shining. She didn't think this was stupid. Walter grinned. "I'm serious."
She dropped down to the floor next to him. "Then Hell yeah."
"I need to cram my purse into this bag to keep it free to bring on board," Florence said, making a fist and repeatedly punching the top of her duffle. "I have so many papers from the past few days. And then when I had breakfast with Chana, she was clearing out her own purse and I managed to obtain some of her crap. She gave me a tube of Chapstick and a condom. I'm hoping she was not suggesting I utilize both those for the same thing."
Sylvester laughed. "We may need the Chapstick where we're going. With the cold and all. Wait." He held up a hand. "Is it…unused?"
"Oh yes. Still with the plastic around it."
"Good. That's acceptable."
A flight attendant's voice came over the intercom, and both Sylvester and Florence fell silent to listen. The announcement was not about their flight.
"We should probably call and let them know we may not be back tonight," she suggested.
"Good idea," Sylvester said. "Let me dial Walter."
Florence uncrossed her legs and recrossed them the other way. Sitting on the floor outside of a gate was not the least comfortable situation she'd ever been in, but it definitely wasn't fun.
"Hey Walt," Sylvester said, and Florence almost jumped when she heard him answer back. "Sly, no speaker in front of all these people."
"No one is that close to us," Sylvester protested.
"Hello?" It was the third time Walter said it, Florence realized. "Sorry. We're here."
"Is something the matter?"
"Not really," Sylvester said. "Just wanted to update you. We're on a delay, and our plane might get diverted. Bad weather, the shutdown, all those factors."
"Just be careful if you get diverted somewhere cold," Walter said. "It's ass eating season."
Florence choked on her water. Simultaneously, Sylvester coughed. "What?"
"It's winter. There's ice everywhere. You don't want to eat ass."
"Walter," Sylvester said. "Who told you that that's what that meant?" He raised his voice. "Paige, are you there?"
"Easy," Walter said. "I'm not on speaker and I would like to be able to hear when I'm fifty."
"Walter," Florence said, "just…just know that's not what that means, okay?"
"Fine, fine," he said. "Not sure what else it could mean, but okay. You will keep us up to date on your travel?"
"Yep," Sylvester said. "Hopefully we will be home by tomorrow evening at the latest."
"Good. Oh – was the…did you have a good time?"
"We did," Sylvester said. "We did."
"We absolutely did," Florence echoed. Her eyes met Sylvester's over the phone. She opened her mouth, and then remembered Walter was listening. She closed it again.