PROCREATION SCIENCE – A MISCONCEPTION

CHAPTER 5

AN: Real life has been stupid crazy the last two weeks, so that's the excuse for the delay in updating this fic. But reality isn't usually as interesting as fan fiction, so here I am with my contribution to help us last through the eleven more days until the next new episode. (but who's counting) Oh, the torture!

If this seems a little OOC for Walter, keep in mind he wasn't in the same place a year ago as he is now. He was a little more clueless then. As painful as this season has been, Walter has experienced a massive amount of growth.

Walt-con 2: This chapter has a high angst warning, but I hope to bring it to a nice, fluffy conclusion in the next one.

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He came awake slowly, gradually dragging himself from the pleasant lethargy. It was a rare thing for him to be this relaxed, unless he'd recently been dosed with opiates after surgery or an accident of some kind.

His awareness of the surroundings seeped in as he stretched languidly. He felt… happy. Light. And it was stupendous. A self-satisfied smile extended lazily across his face. He could certainly get used to waking up in this state. And if the Genius 2.0 Project was to be a success, he could count on many more mornings just like this one. He congratulated himself for having such a brilliant idea.

While Walter was mentally patting himself on the back, Paige walked out of the bathroom, a gust of humid air trailing in her wake. He knew it wasn't a logical supposition, thinking she was the most beautiful woman in the world. But in that instant, when he was struck speechless, he would have sworn on his life there couldn't be anyone in existence, past or present, more lovely than her. Even in a thick terry bathrobe with her damp hair twisted into a towel turban, she was incredible.

It took him a minute to realize something was off. She wasn't smiling and she had her arms wrapped around her torso protectively. She wouldn't look at him. He experienced a sinking sensation, the former elation dissipating as quickly as the steam from Paige's shower. He suddenly felt uncomfortably naked.

"Good morning," Walter greeted her cautiously, pulling the sheets up to cover his bare chest as he lounged against the pillows at the head of her bed. Gauging her emotions was a little like deciphering hieroglyphics without the Rosetta Stone.

Paige didn't answer him right away because she had begun to move about the room, picking up and folding the clothing scattered across the floor as if she was hiding the evidence. "Oh, uh, hey," she finally said distractedly.

Still averting her gaze as she rifled through the chest of drawers presumably looking for something to wear, Paige said, "I need to go get Ralph soon, so you should probably get ready to leave. I put your clothes on the end of the bed there." She stepped briskly across the carpet, went back into the bathroom and shut the door firmly behind her. A second later, Walter heard a click as she pressed the lock into place.

Well.

Just like that he was being dismissed?

Doing a quick review of their last 'interaction', his mind scrambled around trying to figure out what he might have done wrong. Did he leave her unsatisfied? That couldn't be the problem. He would swear he'd brought her to completion before he let himself go. Twice, in fact.

Walter would have donated half his brain to science then and there if he could just have a drop of EQ to figure out what the complication might be. She'd promised she would critique him. Tell him if he wasn't doing what she wanted. Hadn't they agreed to that?

He was still sitting on the bed puzzling when she emerged fully dressed a few minutes later, her freshly combed hair hanging lank around her shoulders, the tips leaving darker, wet dots freckling her shirt.

"What did I do?" He blurted, confusion and hurt giving an edge to the clipped words, "I thought everything was progressing according to our plan."

Paige compressed her lips and shut her eyes for a moment as if trying to gather herself. "I think this whole thing may have been a mistake, Walter."

A frisson of fear wriggled its way down his spine, so he buried it in impatience. "But… But you agreed. The project is already well under way. You accepted this experiment would be mutually beneficial. I-I don't understand your reticence now."

Walter watched helplessly as tears filled her already reddened eyes. He was alarmed when he concluded it probably wasn't the first time she'd been crying that morning.

Refocusing her gaze on the floor, her voice gruff, she answered, "See, that's the whole problem. You view this as an experiment, a project, a way to achieve a goal. I just… can't. To be physically," she swallowed hard, "…intimate with someone… someone I, well... I need to have strong feelings for... because it means a lot more to me than that. I can't separate the two. I'm sorry. I never should have done this."

Walter knew his heart didn't really drop, because he could hear his pulse pounding in his ears. But he couldn't logically reconcile the hollow ache he felt in his chest either. If he didn't know better, he would say a heart was fully capable of being shattered. He sat staring at the sad and gorgeous woman standing at the foot of the bed while his mind was whirring in high gear, searching for the right words to say to repair the damage. He needed to fix this. The only thing he could come up with was, "You-you do realize we may have already succeeded in making a child, right?" When she didn't answer, he kept talking, "I mean statistically that's not likely, but the possibility exists…"

"I think you should go," she interrupted in a whisper.

His mouth quietly said, "Okay," while his mind was screaming, "NO! Please! I can't stand to leave things like this!" But he expressed none of that.

Paige left the bedroom while he got dressed. As he fumbled into his clothes, he replayed every nuance, every nanosecond of the last sixteen hours. Did he fail somehow to communicate to her how important all this was to him? Walter had physical encounters with other women before. After which he always left as quickly as possible often to the point of being unintentionally discourteous.

But everything had always been different with Paige. He couldn't get enough of being close to her. Especially now. And not just sexually. In every way. He couldn't stop himself from touching her when she was near, caressing her or kissing her when she was within reach. And he wanted to know everything about her. Everything she was thinking. Everything she was feeling. He found her endlessly fascinating and surprising. Didn't she know how significant that was? He'd never met another human quite like her.

Like a tidal wave, another terrible thought swamped him, the deluge nearly drowning him and squeezing all the air from his lungs.

Love. It was real. Walter was in love.

And it hurt like hell.