Walter had turned to his side and was watching Paige take even breaths as the sun rose and came through the garages windows.

He had barely closed his eyes this night. For once not only his mind but his emotions on overdrive and he was asking himself, how normal people were able to deal with all these feelings on a regular basis. They couldn´t be always feeling what he was feeling now, they would all go insane.

One of his hands was clutching the one of the Woman next to him and the other laid still on his abdomen.

Even though he had found Paige was a side-sleeper normally – whenever they were on cases together one would notice – she had slept on her back due to her injuries.

She had subconsciously moaned whenever she had moved too much during the night hours.

At one point he was convinced she was having a nightmare, since she began to pant and a distressed look on her face started to appear. When a tear had rolled down her cheek, he had lifted his hand to wipe it away, cup her cheek and whisper reassuring words in her ear. Not daring to pull her closer, afraid that he would hurt her.

He heard the garage door open and footsteps approaching. Whoever was here was slowly climbing the stairs to his loft space.

He suspected it to be Toby, coming to look after his friend whom he knew discharged herself against medical advice last night.

He slowly lurked around the corner, assessing the situation when he found Walter´s gaze. 197, as he often called him, motioned for him to come in and slowly pulled herself out of Paige´s grasp before quietly moving toward Toby to stand at the other side of the open space to talk without disturbing the woman he cared for and still not having to leave her out of sight.

"Hey" he greeted his friend while approaching him. Toby smiled slightly and just nodded his head "How is she?" he asked. "She should´ve stayed in the hospital but since I knew she would come here so I was sure she would be taken care of. Still couldn´t really relax so I thought I´d come by and see if she needed any medical care." He said while looking at the sleeping figure in his friends bed. "Thank you, Toby. I appreciate it." He sighed and looked back at Paige as well. " She is alright considering the situation I guess. But she is clearly in pain and discomfort but I assume that is to be expected. She came to tell me, she didn´t blame me." He turned his head and looked at the doctor. "But I still do. And I always will. Now my main concern is to help her get better as soon as possible because for a guy with barely any emotions I´m feeling pretty lousy right now." Walter brought the heels of his hands up and pressed them on his eyes, taking a deep breath. He felt Toby´s hand on his shoulder. "I know that nothing I say at this point will stop your feelings of guilt but I still want you to know, that no one other than yourself thinks it´s your fault. I hope you will come to realise that after some time. But I think finally being with Paige will help you cope. So don´t do anything stupid or leave her again." He stared. Walter looked to the ground "Don´t worry, I won´t. I could barely breathe without her at this point which makes logically no sense at all. And I´m having a hard time understanding all this but I am smart to enough to know not to deny it".

Toby nodded and pulled back his hand from Walters shoulder, pleased with the turn of events regarding the relationship between his two friends, even though he squirmed at the thought of what had to happen to reach this point.

"How about you go and see if Paige is waking up because I´d want to give her some meds and a check-up exam. I´ll be waiting downstairs and you just come down and tell me when you guys are ready, alright?". Walter nodded and the doctor descended down the stairs again.

Walter turned around and looked at the sleeping figure in his bed. He slowly walked back and sat at his side of the bed, lifting his hand to stroke Paige´s hair.

He did so for a couple of minutes when he noticed her breathing had become more irregular and less deep. He watched her legs move first, before the motions reached her upper body and finally her eyes flickered as she tried to open them. At first she squinted them shut again, the light bothering her. But on second try she adjusted and was looking at the worried face of the man she loved. He had been so caring ever since she arrived at the garage last night. She barely recognized him and at the same time felt, like he finally revealed his true self to her. She had always seen his emotional potential.

Her hand went up to his and she held it to her cheek before closing her eyes again briefly and enjoying his touch.

"How long have you been up?" she asked. "Not that long" he responded and sparing her from the truth, that he had barely slept at all last night.

"I must have slept quite some time and I still feel completely drained…" She said, while her eyelids flickered open again. "I think this is normal. Your injuries drain your energy and even though you slept, I think it was an uneasy sleep. You seemed to be dreaming quite a bit. Do you remember?" Walter wasn´t sure if she was aware.

"My sleep felt rather turbulent, now that I think of it..." She said. "I don´t remember being awake but I remember that I felt like I was constantly in action. Running or climbing or… Screaming…". It sent a jab to his heart to hear this but he was careful not to show his emotions. "Like fever dreams…" She concluded.

He looked at her a couple more seconds before he leaned down to press a kiss to her hair.

She pressed his hand as he did this, showing him that she enjoyed his touch.

"Toby is here and would like to examine you once you feel up to it." Walter was now leaning down, being closer to Paige´s face. She slowly tried to pull herself up into a seating position. "That´s very nice of him… To be honest I would actually like to try and shower before that though". The woman sighed. "They did their best to clean me up in the hospital but I still feel like I´m covered in a big layer of dirt and sweat". Walter nodded "Of course. Should I call Happy to help you? I don´t think this will be easy to do by yourself." He stroked her cheek. She looked up at him and seemed hesitant. As if she was contemplating his offer. "I don´t think it´s necessary for her to come all the way here and I don´t want Ralph to see me like this more often than necessary… Would you help me?" She looked at him with her eyes wide open. Not knowing what to expect. His heart picked up speed but he didn´t need much time to think about her question. "Of course." He replied, touched by her trust in him. She was relieved he handled her so well. After all they were both adults, they loved and respected each other so it was not really anything to think about much.

She made an attempt to get up and pulled her legs closer before letting them fall from the edge of the bed.

Walter let her go, went around and carefully helped her stand. They slowly moved towards his bathroom. Paige quietly winced when she took a wrong step, barely noticeable but nothing to slip Walter´s attention.

When they reached the bathroom he let go of her side slowly and stood in front of her. "Can you stand by yourself for a second? I´ll turn on the water". She nodded, after all she had made it up the stairs the night before.

He turned his back to her, adjusted the water temperature and got a towel from the shelf.

When he returned to her, she was leaning on the wall of the bathroom and gave him a small smile.

He looked unsure of what to do next. She made the first move "I don´t think I can cross my arms and lift them to get out of my shirt. Would you…?" He nodded and helped her put her arms up before carefully taking the hem of her t-shirt in his hands and slowly lifting it over her head, trying not to hurt her. Her facial features indicated it was uncomfortable for her but bearable.

He let the piece of clothing drop to the floor and his eyes caught her bandage, right underneath her breasts along with a large band aid below, on the left side of her abdomen.

His eyes couldn´t leave this sight and Paige knew exactly what the man in front of her fixated on. "I think those will have to come off as well." She said and started to detach the end of the gauze. He loosened the fist that had formed and came back to reality. There was no time for his personal sentiments so he quickly took over for Paige and unrolled the bandage. The skin beneath had turned a dark purple. He could see her interest in how her injury was looking as she tried to bend slightly forward to inspect herself. He took half a step back to allow her more space. "Little sucker…" She hissed and he was glad she had some humor left even though there was nothing he found remotely joke-worthy about this situation. She stood up straight again so that he could tend to the band aid on her abdomen. He looked at her for permission to rip it off and she quickly nodded before he carefully and swiftly detached it from her skin. She gritted her teeth and he could only imagine it to be rather uncomfortable. Underneath he found neat stitches from the long and deep cut she had sustained when she had run into a metal pole in the warehouse where she had first been kept. Walter didn´t know everything about what had happened there yet.

He threw out the bloody materials and stood up straight again, unsure how to proceed.

Paige looked more vulnerable to him in this moment than ever before and this feeling left a bit pit in his stomach but he concentrated on her face now. She looked concentrated when she lifted her hands to his shoulders.

"I will hold onto you now." She stated and he knew this was his permission to proceed. So he slowly squatted down and carefully laid his hands on her hips. He gripped the soft fabric of her yoga pants and carefully pulled them down. She was alright but had been in no condition to bend over and do so herself. He concentrated on her tibia and felt her strong grasp on his shoulders.

More slightly swollen bruises covered her shin and ankles but when he slowly lifted her feet to help her move out of the fabric of her pants, his view caught the scratches and gashes on her inner thighs. He froze and looked up at her with a shocked and pained face but she was looking the other way. Avoiding his gaze. "He didn´t… He was close but he didn´t succeed…" she stammered. He still felt a punch to his gut and slowly moved to stand up again and looked her in the eyes. "Are you alright?" She looked back at him and nodded with a slight smile. "The pain is really bearable." She replied but he kept looking at her. "No, I mean, are you alright, Paige?". She looked at him with tears brimming in her eyes but then she pulled out all her strength and looked confident "I will be. And right now I feel safe.". She leaned in for a kiss that Walter had longed for ever since she had opened her eyes this morning. He didn't want to overwhelm her though so he had held back. He kissed her back with all the emotions he was feeling, putting one hand on the hip, careful not to hurt her in the process.

He could feel her longing for him.

Paige felt like she could escape reality when she was this close to the man she loved and who loved her back. Despite everything he made her feel secure.

They broke apart. "Let´s do this" she said. While holding her gaze he comfortably and quickly stripped off his clothes and led her towards the running water.

Paige couldn´t help but think that this really was not how she pictured being naked in front of Walter for the first time.

He tended to her injuries with great care and she didn´t flinch when he touched her wounds and not even when he went down to her legs to wash off the remaining dirt from the pit.

It tore him apart to see her beautiful body hurt like this and once some time had passed and they would find a way back to normality he would worship it the way she deserved it and he had wanted to in his dreams for years.

Paige noticed her muscles relax slightly underneath the hot water and she felt comfortable seeking closeness to Walter.

Once her hair was washed and they stepped out from underneath the running water, the young man reached for the towel and cautiously wrapped it around her.

"Uhm.. What about fresh clothes?" he wondered as he scratched his head and looked around. "Downstairs underneath my desk there is my emergency bag for our unexpected Scorpion trips. Everything I need should be in there" She said. "Okay, let´s get you back to bed then before I get it". So he guided her back to where she had slept and she sat down to wait for his return. He dried himself off and threw on a shirt and sweat pants before running downstairs.

Toby looked at Walter expectantly and shifted his view from his laptop "Everything alright? Should I come up?". Walter reached underneath Paige´s desk and found what he was looking for. "Yeah but give me a 5 minute headstart." He said before taking 2 steps at a time while returning to his loft. Paige was still sitting the way he had left her.

"So, Toby will come up any minute. What do you want to wear?" She leaned forward and took a look at her bag, not remembering exactly what she had put in there. "Maybe just some panties and that loose black shirt for now, until Toby is done." Paige replied. He took out simple black panties and her shirt as requested. He slid the former carefully up her legs, underneath the towel and she moved her hips so that they could slide all the way up.

She then straightened her arms forward to put on the shirt Walter was holding for her. As it slipped over her head, Walter carefully pulled off the wet towel and helped her get back into an upright lying position and lifted the blanked over her legs so she wouldn´t get cold.

A few minutes later Toby appeared at the top of the stairs with a bag containing most likely medical equipment, He smiled at Paige who slightly smiled back while trying to push herself up more. "Hey there Doc" She said. And he sat down by her side as Walter moved around the bed again. "Hey there, love" he said and took her hand in his. "How are we holding up today?" he examined her face and looked at the green and purple bruise underneath her eye. "Good so far, I´d say. I mean I´ve been better but it´s all endurable. Most pain comes from the ribs and the gash. My legs are pretty sore and I feel wobbly on my feet but otherwise…" Toby mustered her wet hair. "You had a shower, that´s good!" he proclaimed. "Yeah, Walter helped me." She said and smiled at the man who had been taking care of her. Toby send a smile over to his male friend and then professionally looked back at the woman in front of him. "Alright then how about I take a look at your ribs and everything else?" Paige nodded and laid down some more before pushing up her shirt. Toby turned into doctor-mode and scrutinized her wounds. He slightly applied pressure and Paige hissed but he let go the second after. "Alright young lady, everything seems to be alright. Ribs are still in place, so no risk of puncturing. The stitches are fine. I´ll just tape everything back up and then have a look at your legs." Paige nodded and closed her eyes, waiting for her friends to finish. When he pulled down her shirt again she reopened her eyes and found Walter staring at her. She sent him a reassuring smile and then pulled off the blanked to let Toby look at her legs. He carefully looked at her cuts and bruises but she noticed that he hesitated for a second. He had not seen everything before either so when he finished his eyes went up to hers, asking an unspoken question. "No, I´m alright. I fought hard and long enough before Homeland showed up and he was forced to flee with me" she looked him in the eyes. "Really, Paige? I know shame is the main issue in most cases, leading to lack of reports and proper psychological treatment after sexual abuse. So please be honest." He sent her a pleading look. Walter´s heart rate picked up and he had watched the doctor closely when he was talking to Paige. No he shifted his gaze over to the woman he loved. She looked down to her fingers and she looked scared in this minute but then she regained strength and looked at Walter and then at Toby. "No, I promise. I have this giant whole in my stomach and feel like I´m living in a parallel universe, because he… He came so close. But nothing happened. I got lucky." Toby sighed and Walter turned away not being able to handle her choice of words. "I would not call this lucky but I am relieved you got spared from this. It´s usually a hell road to recovery. But please promise me, you´ll talk to me, ok? There will be things that you will and should talk about with Walter and the team but there will be things, feelings, reactions you might not be able to understand and I will be there to explain them to you. Understood?" He pressed her hand and Paige smiled at him replying with "Yes, doctor Curtis.".

He put his hand on her arm before getting up, pressing a kiss to her hair and then walking down the stairs again. "I will be back later, just so you know" he called on his way out.