Author's note: I think this chapter is the 1st time in I've written from Happy's POV. She's a tough nut not only to crack, but for me to write. Hopefully I did okay.

CHAPTER TWELVE

In a matter of seconds, she was safe in his arms.

"Oh, God, Paige." Walter wrapped his arms tighter around her before taking her face in his hands. "Are you okay? He didn't. . .didn't. . ." If that bastard had hurt her, he didn't care if he put their mission in jeopardy. He was going to kill the asshole.

"Walter, I'm fine," she said, stroking his jaw with her fingers. "Really. Truly." She lowered her hands and pulled the cloning device from her pocket. "I did his phone." She was so proud of herself, he could hear it in her voice, see it in her face. And part of him was proud of her too. Inhaling deeply, he knew it was insane to be upset with her but. . .

He took the device from her. "You took too big of a risk," he scolded. "You should have told me or Happy. If he'd. . ."

"But he didn't." Paige rubbed his upper arms in what she must have thought was a reassuring manner but only served to agitate him more. "He tried but. . ." She smiled, shrugging as her eyes sparkled with amusement. "He tried to drug me but I switched the glasses. He should be out cold for the rest of the night."

Failing to see the humor in the situation, Walter embraced her once again. "Paige, he could have. . ."

She slid her hands up his chest, up the sides of his neck, threading her fingers into his hair. "But he didn't. Walter. . ." He'd opened his mouth to protest but she silenced him with a quick kiss. "Walter, I'm okay. His phone is cloned, it's done and we don't have to worry about him anymore."

She pressed her lips to his again, and he could taste the biting sting of alcohol on her tongue as she entwined it with his. A whimper escaped him as she pulled back, smiling up at him with a look in her eyes he'd come to learn meant she was aroused. Desire surged through him and all the blood rushed away from his head.

"My invitation still stands, you know," she whispered, nipping at his bottom lip.

"In-Invitation?" He was so befuddled, he had no idea what she was talking about.

"You remember earlier, when we were behind those speakers. . ."

Oh, that invitation. "Uh, yes. . ." He stared at her, recalling every wonderful second of what had happened. "So y-you still w-want to. . .? Y-You're not drunk, are you?"

"I could ask the same of you," she replied, reminding him of the beer he'd worriedly sipped earlier. "And, yes, I still want to, don't you?" She smoothed her hands across his chest. "I'd like to take a shower first though, you know. . ." She shuddered a little then nuzzled his neck, then along his shoulder. "I think you could use one, too."

He sniffed himself surreptitiously and nodded. "O-Okay."

"We could share, for efficiency's sake," she purred into his ear. "I know how you love to be efficient."

His mouth opened but he couldn't form any words. Not that any were necessary. He knew what she wanted, and while the thought of engaging in intercourse with her excited him, it also terrified him.

Then her lips were on his, driving any thoughts from his head except how she felt in his arms, her body pressed against his, their tongues tangling in an erotic dance. He scarcely noticed when the breath was driven from his lungs as he landed with his back up against the wall, as he was barely breathing anyway. His hands cupped her bottom, drawing her closer. She snaked her leg around his, a groan tearing from his throat as she started grinding herself on him.

Raucous laughter erupting from inside a nearby room brought them both back to what remained of their senses. "Y-Your room," he managed to gasp out. "Where. . ."

She was panting as heavily as he was. "Around. . .the corner." She pointed vaguely to the end of the hall.

"Good." He didn't think he'd be able to walk very far, his legs seemed to have turned to jelly. It didn't help matters they were still clinging to each other and she was leaning on him, pinning him to the wall.

"W-We should go," he murmured, concerned if they didn't retreat to the privacy of her room soon, he'd take her right there in the hallway.

"I know." She made no effort to move though. "I don't think I can walk."

His mouth curved into a grin. "I don't think I can either."

"Oh, God." She started giggling. "Maybe I am drunk." She shook her head. "Come on."

Somehow they managed to traverse the thirty or so feet to her room. Paige inserted the key card into the lock and pushed the door open. Walter watched as she stepped inside, his heart pounding. They were really going to do this. He was finally going to be with the woman he loved. The thought rooted him to the spot.

She turned around and came back toward him. "Are you getting cold feet?" she asked.

"No, my feet are warm." Too warm. A wave of heat swept through the rest of him and he began to sweat. His state of panic only grew when she laughed.

"It's a figure of speech, Walter," she said, stepping toward him and slid her arms around his neck, stroking her fingers through his hair. His body responded to her caresses, as it always did when she touched him.

"I love you," he blurted out, forcing himself to look into her eyes. Fearing he would see rejection or more laughter, instead he saw shimmering tears and wondered what he'd done to cause them.

He didn't get a chance to think on it for very long as her lips and body crushed his, his worry replaced by lust. The kiss was entirely too short for his liking as she lifted her mouth.

"I love you, too, Walter." She wiped at her cheeks as she pulled back, offering him her hand. "Come in and I'll show you how much."

Oh, boy. He gulped nervously as he entwined his fingers with hers. "Okay."

He followed her inside. "Oops, almost forgot," she said as she was about to shut the door.

Walter watched Paige hang the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the knob before firmly pulling it closed.

ooooo

A persistent buzzing, like a annoying insect, kept interrupting Happy's dream about welding a pair of mint-condition handlebars onto her Harley. She tried swatting the air around her and ended up hitting her nose, startling herself awake.

She heard the buzz again and realized it was her phone. Taking a minute to gather her wits, she glanced around the room. She was still in the suite where the party had been going on, sitting on a couch with Akim's head on one of her shoulders and Anya's on the other. The roadie has his arm around her waist and the backup singer was clinging onto her hip.

As gracefully as she could, the mechanic extracted herself from her two companions. The three of them had spent the evening flirting and drinking and passing a joint, and she vaguely remembered kissing both of them at one point or another. There had been talk of going to Anya's room to party in private but by then, they'd all been too high to actually carry out the plan.

Her head felt like it was floating, her mouth tasted like an ashtray, and she'd almost had a ménage à trois with two people who might be smuggling guns out of the country to start a rebellion. Dammit. Walter was right. She was out of control. Having to turn down Toby's proposal had broken something inside her, unleashing something wild she didn't know if she could tame.

But before she could dwell more deeply on her reckless behavior, her cell rang again. She yanked it out of her pocket, stepping over sleeping bodies lying on the floor as she headed toward the door.

"Happy?"

"Hey, Sly, do you have any idea what time it is?" She walked out into the hall.

"It's 9 am." The human calculator sounded confused. "Why?"

Happy rolled her eyes. The big loveable doofus had no concept of staying up late and sleeping in. "Nothing. What's up?" she asked.

"Where's Walter? I've been trying to reach him for hours." Panic had begun to seep into his voice.

"I haven't seen him since just after the concert. I should be seeing him soon. We're supposed to be back at the venue by ten to load up the equipment." Searching through her foggy brain, she recalled their last conversation. "He was pretty worked up about finding Paige. Maybe he found her and they. . . He did have a pocket full of condoms." She chuckled when Sylvester choked like he was being strangled.

"Oh. . . Ew." Happy laughed again as she heard him pump out a couple of squirts of hand sanitizer. As if he could scrub the thought of Walter and Paige doing the dirty from his mind as easily as washing his hands.

"You didn't call to discuss our co-workers' sex life, did you?"

"No," Sly replied, sounding squicked out. "No, I wanted to let you guys know the roadie's phone was clean. Or at least clean of any info about weapons deal. There was pornography on it so filthy I wanted to take ten showers after I scrolled through it."

"So Akim was just bragging?"

"So it's Akim, huh?"

"Shut up."

The human calculator chuckled. "Yeah, the only outside deals I saw were scoring drugs and arranging for groupies to meet members of the band."

"I didn't think he was in on it anyway. He's a pretty decent guy, just a little perverted."

"Who's a decent guy but a little perverted?"

Oh, shit, she hadn't realized Sylvester had her on speaker. It was too early in the morning to deal with the smart ass shrink. "One of the other roadies. Akim."

"Oh, thought you were talking about me." Toby said with a touch of bitterness in his tone.

"I'm going to let you two talk," announced Sly, his chair creaking over the connection.

"Not much to talk about," Happy said as she paced the hotel hallway. "We're still coming up empty on who's behind the weapons deals."

"I want to hear more about this Akim."

She closed her eyes guiltily. "He's my boss. Kind of like how Walter is my boss. He kept me from being fired."

"What you'd do?" asked the shrink.

"Saved Paige's ass by setting off a firework." A door behind her opened, and she glanced over her shoulder to see the blonde backup singer exit one of the rooms. The one who'd been trying to get her hooks into Walter, still dressed in her clothes from the night before and looking like crap. "Listen, I gotta go."

"Okay," Toby said. "I miss you."

"Yeah, same." She ended the call before the doc got too mushy. Gripping her cell tightly, she started heading toward the elevator, wondering where she could get a cup of coffee.

"Hey, you. Roadie chick." Happy turned to see the singer bearing down on her. "You seen Anya?"

"Uh, yeah, she's still sleeping. Back there." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder toward the suite where the party had been. "Hey," she said as the other woman stepped away. "You know which room belongs to the new girl?"

"Maybe. Why you want to know?"

"Uh, I borrowed a shirt from her the other day and I want to give it back."

"She's in 225. I hope you put big stain on it and it's ruined," the singer sneered before flouncing off.

"Me-ow," muttered Happy under her breath. With a shrug, she headed down the hallway to deliver a not-so-discreet wake-up call to her two team mates.

ooooo

Walter rolled over, waking up when he encountered something soft and warm blocking his progress. Paige. He opened his eyes to see her curled up beside him, looking so beautiful and peaceful as she slept.

Glancing at the alarm clock on the nightstand, he noted it was nearly nine and he was going to have to get up and leave her. Because of their schedules, he wouldn't see her alone again for hours. There would an occasional glimpse across a stage, surrounded by the rest of the band and crew. And even if they could find a few moments together, it wouldn't be enough.

He wrapped his arms around her, frustration building up inside him. Not being able to touch her, taste her, be inside her. . . A low groan escaped his lips, and he stilled as she began to stir.

"You okay?" She snuggled closer, placing a kiss on his stubble covered cheek. He closed his eyes, savoring the feel of her lips on his skin.

"I love you." He grimaced as he said those words again. He'd lost count of how many times he'd uttered them since he'd stepped into her room. It was like they were looping around in his head and were the only ones his tongue could wrap itself around. "I'm sorry. . ."

"No, don't ever be sorry about that." She slid her arms behind his neck. "I love you, too." Raking her fingers through his hair, her mouth curled into a smile. "You. . .this. . .was amazing, " she said before kissing him on the nose.

"You were amazing," he parroted back, mentally cursing himself. He was acting like he didn't have two brain cells to rub together. The previously preposterous phrase 'it blew my mind' made sense to him now as his mental faculties seemed to have been reduced to rubble. "So, uh. . .I don't have much to compare. . . I mean. . . I haven't. . ."

"Walter, it's okay. It's been a long time for me, too."

"Oh, uh. . .so you didn't. . ."

"I didn't sleep with Tim if that's what you're asking."

"It's none of my business," he said, relief she hadn't been intimate with the interloper sweeping over him. "But that's not what. . . I mean I haven't. . .ever."

"Oh." He glanced up to see her shocked expression. Then she bit her lip as tears formed in her eyes. "Walter. . .I. . ."

Whatever she'd been about to say was cut off by three loud knocks on the door. "Hey, unless you two want everyone to know you did the nasty last night," hissed Happy's voice through the thin wood, "you'd better move your asses."

"Oh, God."

"Oh, boy."