WriterFreak001:

Sorry for the delay. I've been super busy and super sleepy these past few weeks. Since Walter is obviously not someone who draws nude women like Jack does, the drawing scene will not happen in this fic.

A few important notes at end of chapter.

The Scorpion

Written by WriterFreak001

Chapter 11:

Request

~ SCORPION ~

"Everyone else is at the gala so we won't have to worry about intrusions for a while," Paige giggled softly as Walter nuzzled his lips and nose against her throat, distracting her from opening the suite door. She tipped her head back against his shoulder and purred softly, dropping her hand from the handle. She closed her eyes and breathed him in as his arms enveloped her into a gentle embrace.

Walter, with one arm still pinning her against him, leaned forward slightly and tugged on the handle, completing Paige's forgotten task. As soon as the door clicked open, he swiftly whirled her inside and kicked the door closed, and as soon as he was sure they were alone, his lips were on hers again, kissing her deeply.

Paige automatically strung her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his as he consumed her. They clumsily walked in a desperate frenzy towards her bed chamber, knocking over a few of her mother's heirlooms in the process, and tripped over a Persian rug, sending them both to the ground. The moment they hit the floor just inside her bedroom, both of them were laughing hysterically.

Walter rolled off of her and clutched his ribcage as his head fell backwards and smacked lightly against the ground, and Paige turned over slightly and touched her forehead to his shoulder, unable to stop herself from giggling. Her right hand crawled over his torso and linked fingers with his, and she just collapsed on top of him. After Walter's laughter subsided, he brought his palm to her face and tilted her chin towards him so he could see her eyes.

"You're beautiful," Walter whispered hoarsely, his eyes glossed with desire.

Paige blushed fiercely. Gently, she traced the back of her hand along the side of his face and leaned closer to him, wondering where Walter had been all of her life. She caressed his jaw and kissed him once, then twice. "Did you really mean it?"

"Did I really mean what?" Walter muttered as he brought her fingertips to his lips, kissing them delicately.

Paige's hair fell to one side of her shoulder as she eased her free fingers into his curls and traced her thumb over the lines of his forehead. "What you said to me, earlier. In the room off of the deck."

"Hm," Walter mused as his lips cracked a tiny smile, "I recall saying a lot of things."

"I'm being serious," Paige giggled, lightly smacking him in the chest for being a smartass. "'You jump, I jump.' Did you really mean it?"

"I did," Walter nodded slowly as he reached up to cup her cheek. "I meant every word."

Paige smiled warmly and leaned into his palm as she turned slightly to kiss it. Her hazel irises flickered towards his as her nails scratched his scalp just over his ear. "Do you love me?"

The words were out before she could stop herself, but she quickly found that she didn't care when she saw the smile finding Walter's mouth.

With his hand still cradling her head, he guided her face down to his and touched his lips to hers before responding. "I… I don't know."

Paige frowned instantly as tears threatened to spill. "Oh," she replied drily and started to push herself off of him, but he grabbed her wrist and tugged her back down again, letting out a soft chuckle.

"You didn't let me explain myself," Walter latched his arms around her and pinned her against him to keep her from leaving despite her protests. "I don't know if what I feel for you is love," Walter suddenly continued, causing the young woman to still her movements and watch him carefully. Walter's eyes locked with hers, and he eventually added, "I've never been in love before so I don't know what it feels like. I don't even know if there even is a word that describes the crazy feelings I feel for you.

"I… I just… when it comes to you," he cupped her cheeks, "I feel almost too much." He touched her nose to his and fluttered his eyes closed, whispering, "Just know this," he kissed her cheek and nuzzled his nose against her neck, "I can't…," he swallowed thickly, "I can't imagine what my life would be like without you in it, and if that's what love is, then yes, I am in love with you, but if it's not, then whatever I feel for you is infinitely greater than anything I've ever felt for anything… for anyone."

Paige drew in a slow breath and slowly smiled, telling Walter he had said the right thing. She leaned in to kiss him once more and whispered against his lips, "I love you, too, Mr. Walter O'Brien."

~ SCORPION ~

"Checkmate," Sylvester beamed at Toby proudly and grinned widely. "That's three games in a row, Toby; clearly, you're no match for a Grand Master."

Toby sighed in defeat and yawned as he rose his hands into the air. "I surrender. I'm too tired to play any more chess tonight."

"Really?" Sylvester cocked an eyebrow, and Toby nodded slowly. "I could play chess all night and all day if I wanted. Such a great, intellectual game."

"Agreed," Toby gave Sylvester a thumb's up. "It's a great game, no doubt. It just gives me a headache every now and then. Especially after playing multiple games in a row."

"Do you have a headache now?"

"No," Toby shook his head and laughed quietly. "I'm just tired as hell. Didn't get a lot of sleep these past few nights. Been entertaining a certain lady friend if you know what I mean."

"Ew," Sylvester grimaced, causing Toby to chuckle louder.

"Absolutely no regrets though."

Suddenly, something hard dropped on Toby's head, and he groaned as Happy casually placed a glass of beer down on the table before sitting down next to him. "Ow, woman! Why d'ya gotta hit me all the time?!"

"Because," Happy rolled her eyes while taking a sip of her beer, "you say stupid things sometimes."

Toby couldn't argue against her stance so he grumbled something low to himself and rubbed his head, causing the woman to silently grin. Her smile did not go unnoticed by Sylvester, but he chose not to address it.

(He'd rather live to be 70 one day…)

Sylvester suddenly spotted the pretty lady, Megan, making her way to the table. She looked absolutely tired, and Sylvester feared she was working herself too hard.

(He certainly hoped she wasn't.)

"Hi guyyyyys," Megan sighed loudly as she took a seat between Sylvester and Happy, Megan spotted Happy's beer glass and picked it up without saying a word before chugging down the whole thing, warranting stares from the other three. "I swear," Megan slammed the glass down, "those two exhaust me!"

Happy was the first to speak. "Are they still avoiding each other?"

"I don't know," Megan shrugged slowly. "The last thing I knew, Walter was storming out of Paige's suite, and even though I encouraged him not to give up on Paige, I don't really know what's going on between them. They could have made up, but if they did, it would certainly be news to me."

"Rest assured, Megan. Those two have definitely made up," Toby grinned ear to ear, and three pairs of eyes intensely stared at him.

"What makes you say that?"

"Gee," Toby shrugged, "I don't knowww…. Maybe it's because I saw them snogging each other at the bow of the ship earlier tonight."

"You did?!" Megan blinked with surprise. "They were?!"

Toby nodded. "Yup. Totally thought they were going to devour each other with the way they were kissing and freely running their hands all over the place."

"Let's just hope Jerkass Fiancé doesn't find out," Happy replied nonchalantly. "If he does, Walter will be a dead man."

"My brother can take care of himself," Megan replied quietly. "It's Paige I worry for…. Her fiancé is a violent man and won't hesitate to strike her if he believes it's warranted."

Toby touched Megan's arm and squeezed it gently. "I'm sure everything will be all right.

"I hope," Megan sighed way too loudly and closed her eyes briefly before flashing Toby a small smile. "I sincerely hope so."

~ SCORPION ~

"I used to have one of these," Walter muttered as he traced his fingers along the old rolling film camera hidden in the corner of Paige's bedroom. "Of course, the model I owned was older and much more out of style, but the mechanics are basically the same."

"An inventor and a photographer," Paige giggled as she pinned her favorite butterfly comb into her hair. "You are a man with many talents."

"I assure you," Walter chuckled as he stepped away from the camera, "I'm hardly that."

"If you have any photographs you have taken, I would love to see them someday." Paige replied as she rose from her chair and slowly approached him with a beaming smile coloring her lips.

"I have some in my bag," Walter said, and Paige silently encouraged him to fetch them. Walter spun around immediately and located his bag near her door before fishing for his collection of photographs. Once he found them, he clutched the small booklet to his chest and cleared his throat as he turned towards her. "No one knows about these…. Not even Megan or Toby."

Before Walter could explain his photos, Paige grabbed his booklet – much like she did when she had grabbed his notebook the day before last – and started flipping through them. There were photographs of families, children playing, people laughing, sunsets, birds flying, and… nude women? "Oh my," Paige blinked rapidly and then found Walter looking away from her, flooded with embarrassment. "I can see why Megan and Toby doesn't know about these…."

"In my defense, I only took those to gain some extra money…. When I was in France, a woman saw me with my camera after I had taken it to a shop for repairs and asked me to take some photographs of her. I agreed, thinking they would be innocent stills of her smiling and such…. Before I knew it, she was walking into her living room, wearing nothing, and told me to take pictures of her…. She promised to pay well, so… not really thinking much of it, I took them…. Those prints were the only ones I took. After that, it didn't feel right fishing for willing women so I decided gambling was a better pursuit."

"And yet you still had them printed?" Paige cocked an eyebrow, and Walter's cheeks flushed as he scratched his neck.

"I printed those to deliver them to her, but her neighbor claimed she went away to live with her cousin so I didn't bother tracking her down. I just… kept them in the back of my booklet in case I ever encountered her again. B-But," Walter forced a laugh, "it doesn't matter anymore. I can pitch them now."

"No, don't." Paige shook her head.

"No?" Walter was not expecting this reaction. "A-Aren't you offended by them?"

Paige giggled and shook her head. "No. These," she lifted the group of photographs, "are really good. They are a part of your portfolio, Walter. You should keep them."

"A-Are you sure?"

Paige nodded. "You never know," she shrugged and closed the booklet, handing it back to him, "they could be worth something someday."

"I highly doubt it," Walter chuckled as he tucked the booklet underneath his arm, "But if you insist…"

"I do insist," Paige pecked him on the cheek and wickedly grinned. "However…"

"However?"

"However, I want you to do something for me in return."

"What s-sort of thing?" Walter asked, unsure of what he had just walked himself into.

Without answering his question, Paige dashed off only to return a minute later, dangling a large, deep blue jeweled necklace on her finger. "Drew insists upon lugging this thing everywhere," Paige giggled as she held out her palm for Walter to examine the jewel. "I swear it's his most prized possession."

"Is it," Walter blinked several times, unsure if what he was looking at was actually real. "Is it a real diamond?"

"The largest in the world, in fact," Paige chuckled as she curled her fingers around the gem. "He bought it for me several months ago, but he doesn't trust me to keep it so anytime I didn't wear it, he would lock it away, determined to protect it at all cost."

"I don't think I would have trusted myself either," Walter muttered to himself, but Paige had heard his little mumbling and giggled quietly.

"Anyway," Paige swung the diamond side to side, "I want you use that camera and take a photograph of me wearing this."

Walter nodded and smiled, "I can do that."

"Wearing only this," Paige added as an afterthought, and all color drained from Walter's face.

He swallowed thickly as she smirked ear to ear. "I… I can d-do that."

~ SCORPION ~

WriterFreak001:

THIS CHAPTER TOOK FOR FREAKING EVER TO WRITE! Like, seriously, I would have it written and then would hate it and then would re-write it and then would add to it and then would subtract from it, etc.

Anyway, I hope you liked this installment.

Important notes:

1) There won't be another update for a while for any of my stories once I've updated Because of Ralph. My computer is out of sorts and needs to be fixed so I decided to upload new chapters first before dropping my computer off to get fixed. I think I'll be without a computer for a week at least. Hopefully not longer, because that would absolutely suck!

2) Please know that I struggled greatly with my final decision in having Walter die later on in the story. Please do not tell me how to write my story. I've already thought it out, and Walter's inevitable demise will be slightly different than Jack's, making it more believable.

3) If you have nothing nice to say, please don't say anything at all. You don't have to be reading any of my works. You can stop any time you want, and I won't be mad.

Anyway, let me know what you think of the chapter.