A/N: Hey all. Once again, thank you so much to all of my awesome readers. I'm glad that you have enjoyed my writing and taken the time to journey with me through this vision of a Scorpion continuation. Again, I'm not ready to leave the cyclone behind just yet, so keep an eye out for the sequel, Away from Home, which will star Ralph and feature the younger cast that I have introduced over the course of this story (although our beloved Team Scorpion members will still have roles to play). I look forward to seeing you there and continuing the story of these fantastic characters.
Now, without further ado, enjoy this extremely fluffy bit of Waige. You all deserve it.
Disclaimer: CBS owns Scorpion.
Epilogue: Home
"Oh garage, how I missed thee." Sylvester's words echoed Walter's thoughts as he looked around. He had made clear to the subtenants that there would be no renewal on their sublease, and they had vacated ten days before the expiration, in time for the team to celebrate the holidays at home.
They were finally back home.
But it wasn't home again yet. Walter quickly glanced towards the door. They had maybe forty minutes to get everything ready.
"Alright, the clock is ticking," Toby pointed out. "Let's go."
Walter quickly deposited the box he was carrying on his once and future desk and opened it, beginning to remove the contents.
The door opened, and Cabe came in. "No help from the traffic. It's clear all the way up."
"Then we work a little faster," said Walter, quickening his pace. "Happy, do you have—"
"Yup, I've got it. Toby?"
"Right here, love."
The place came together. Walter began glancing at his watch with increasing frequency as the time passed. They were cutting it close.
Then the door opened again, and Paige and Ralph entered. "Hey guys, I got here as fast as I could. I've got our money, though." She held up the check she had retrieved from a client in Orange County who couldn't be bothered to use the mail, then looked around the room. "Looks like you guys have already made great progress."
Walter went over to her, smiling. "Hi."
"Hi," she replied, greeting him with a kiss.
Now he was home.
"So, I'm flattered by the attention, but you didn't all have to stop working as soon as I entered the building." She walked further into the garage, and Walter fell into step beside her.
He gave a small shrug. "You just have that effect on people." She swatted his shoulder. "In all seriousness, though, you really are such an important person for all of us. You've taught us all such important lessons over the years, and we could never have made it through all of these trials without you."
She stopped walking and turned to him. "Walter, what is happening?" She looked around again, affirming that everyone was still looking at her.
Walter mirrored her. "And as for me, personally…" He paused for a moment, digging his hands into his pockets. "Five and a half years ago, I was one of the smartest men in the world, and I had no idea how little it mattered. I could hack into NASA, but I couldn't hold a conversation with a mailman. I could develop the most powerful antivirus program in the world, but I couldn't decipher the significance of a thank you card. I could stop an ICBM, but I couldn't stand a kiss on the cheek. You changed all of that. You showed me emotion, and empathy, and love. You added the color to my world, when I didn't even realize it wasn't there. As smart as I was before, I learned the most important lessons in the world with you. And as cliché as it is, you truly made me into the man I am today."
"Walter, you're not firing me again, are you?"
"No, not at all." His left hand reached the bottom of his pocket, pressing the button on the tiny remote inside. There was a chime from above, and a small, metal ball dropped from the balcony into a pipe and slowly began rolling.
"Another Rube Goldberg device? Didn't you do that for our first Christmas here?"
"This one's different." The ball reached the end of the pipe and dropped onto a lever, completing the first circuit. The word 'WILL' lit up in Christmas lights suspended above them.
"Who's Will?"
Walter chuckled a little at the question. "See, these past few months, since we've been back together, I've learned a new lesson, and that is that I'm still learning. I'm still learning what it's like to be someone who is happy, who is in love, who gets to spend each day with the love of his life. And I'm still learning more about you, this infinitely fascinating person who attracts me more with every gesture and every word. And I've realized…" He paused for a moment, glancing at the progress of the ball through the machine. He was going a little fast. "I've realized that I want to spend the rest of my life learning like this with you."
The next circuit was completed, and the word 'YOU' lit up above them. Paige stared at it for several seconds, her eyes slowly widening.
"I know it's only been a few months this time around, but our relationship has really been much longer than that, and much greater. From the moment I first saw you in that diner, you have been a giant in my consciousness, a shining beacon to always guide me in the right direction. I love everyone in this room, but you have been the single most important person in my life the whole time, regardless of what the nature of our relationship was at any particular moment. No matter how painful the bumps along the road, you were always the inevitable destination, waiting for me to finally grow into the man I needed to become."
Her eyes were fixed on the ball as it approached the third lever. She knew what was coming.
Soon, the word 'MARRY' was suspended above them, as brightly lit as the others. As Paige stared at it, Walter quickly glanced towards Happy, making sure that she had the final pipe properly aligned. She gave him a thumbs up.
God, he hoped she was correct.
Paige turned towards him, her eyes glistening and her hand over her mouth.
"Paige, I want to spend eternity by your side. I want every day of my life to begin and end with my hand holding yours. I want to be your partner as we tackle every problem the world has for us, and every moment of sadness, pain, and joy. I want to be there for you for every laugh and every tear." He listened for the sound as the ball fell into the last pipe and began rolling.
Happy held the pipe perfectly steady, and Walter assumed position, his knee on the floor and his hand facing upward. He had practiced kneeling so that his bones wouldn't be pressed too painfully into the hard floor of the garage, but he barely registered the sensation anyway as he glanced up at the pipe warily. In the split-second before the ball fell, he redid the calculations in his head a dozen times over, and moved his hand ever-so-slightly.
If he did one athletic thing in his life, let this be it.
The ball fell, and he caught it. He held it in both hands for a moment, returning his gaze to Paige. "I want to be your husband." Then he opened the ball, sending the signal to the final set of lights. Neither of them looked as the word 'ME?' lit up above them.
He let out all of his breath, awed that it had actually worked. He truly had an amazing team.
Her gaze fell to the heavily-cushioned interior of the ball. He had decided on a simple diamond ring, modest but elegant. After surveying all of the options of different metals adorned with colorful and complexly arranged gems, he chose the simplest, least ornate option he had seen. He truly couldn't envision her wearing any other.
Seconds ticked by without her saying anything, and Walter felt an anxiousness rise from deep within. Was she going to turn him down? Was it too soon? Then she finally spoke. "Ralph?"
That was an unexpected response.
"Yes, Mom, I knew about this."
She pulled her eyes away from the ring and towards her son, studying him.
Ralph glanced at the others as their eyes also shifted to him. "And yes, I know that I need to get better at stalling, but I didn't want to be too obvious about it."
"Well, I know the answer that I want to give," said Paige, "but I'm not the only one that needs to give it. Walter isn't just proposing to me. He's also asking if he can be your step-dad."
Ralph's gaze lowered, and then shifted to Walter. For a few seconds, he simply stared at Walter with an unreadable expression, and Walter felt like his every cell was waiting.
"There have been times in the past few years when I've been angry at you. Really angry. And I know that part of that is just adolescence, but part of it is because of all of the stupid things that you've done, and all of the ways you've found to hurt my mom over the years."
Walter felt his stomach drop at the words, and he wobbled a little on his knee, which was starting to hurt more.
"That said, I've also been much, much happier when you've been around, when you've been a part of her life and a part of mine. You were the first person who understood me, the first person who showed me how to be happy as who I am. Without you, I could never have accomplished everything that I have so far, and everything that I'm going to in the years to come. And I want you to be there watching every step of the way.
"What I told you months ago in San Francisco still holds true: If you hurt her again, I'll ruin your life. But as long as you two are together, and as long as you're always there for me just like you were before, I'm happy. So yes, Walter, I will be your step-son."
Walter smiled at him, and he smiled back. Then everyone looked back at Paige.
She was smiling at Ralph, and as the attention refocused on her, she looked down, and drew a breath before speaking. "Walter, you're not the only one who has been learning all this time. I've learned incredible things over these years, both from the team as a whole and from you individually. But most importantly, I've learned what an amazing man you are. And that isn't just how you've developed since we met. You were an amazing man before, even if you couldn't communicate that out to the world in full just yet. I didn't make you into a new person, I only helped to bring out the person that you already were.
"And the truth is that I fell in love with you long before that was fully accomplished. You were far from ready, and so was I, but I knew that when we reached the place that we were going, however long it might take, I wanted to spend the rest of my life with you."
Walter felt like he could float as he listened to those words. He no longer felt any of the pain from the floor.
"These past few months, you have made me incredibly happy. And yes, it's a short time, and we still have yet to fully make up for all of the times that we've hurt each other in the past, but I'm already well past any slightest doubt about what I want. I want to be with you, forever. I want to be your wife."
The smile that just kept spreading across his face must have looked extremely goofy by now, but he couldn't care less as he floated to his feet.
"Yes, I will marry you."
He pulled the ring from the ball and slid it onto her waiting finger. Then he leaned in and kissed her soundly.
"God, that went so much better than my first two proposals," said Toby. Walter and Paige broke apart as both started laughing. Happy smacked her husband's arm. "Ow."
"I never thought you would be one to propose in front of an audience," said Paige.
Walter gave a small shrug. "We're a team, a family, and more. We don't have secrets from each other anymore, and the more a part of each other's lives we are, the better off we all are. Besides, this was most definitely a team effort." He pointed up at the rig above them.
"Well, everyone did a fantastic job today."
"All in a day's work," said Toby. "Just imagine what we could have done if Ralph actually knew how to stall."
"Hey," said Ralph.
"I'm kidding."
"Well, as nice as it is to be with family, I think maybe you and I should go upstairs and resume this in a little more privacy," said Paige, giving Walter a look that made him immediately want to agree with anything she said.
"Right, that's our cue to find somewhere else to go," said Toby, turning to the rest of the team. "We'll finish unpacking the garage later. Come on, Boy Wonder."
As Walter and Paige turned towards the stairs, however, the door to the garage opened, and Candace strode in, looking all business. "Good afternoon, Team Scorpion. I hope you've got your genius caps on today, because we've got a serious…" She trailed off, looking at the scene around and above her. "Am I interrupting something?"
"Well, kind of," said Cabe, looking embarrassed on his girlfriend's behalf.
Happy glanced back at Walter and Paige. "Don't worry about it, we've got this. You two go celebrate."
Walter looked at Paige, and she looked back at him. "No," she said after a moment. "We've got all the time in the world to celebrate."
"Are you sure?"
She nodded. "If you are."
Walter stared at her for a moment, then turned towards Candace. "Team Scorpion is on it."
