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_Scorpion_
"Paige." He says, his eyes wide in surprise.
"Walter." She smiles gently, before her eyes widen. "Your eye!" She exclaims in surprise, her hand swiftly flying to his cheek to inspect the healing injury.
"I'm fine!" He exclaims loudly as he quickly pulls away and Paige retracts her hand and nervously tucks it under her armpit.
"Sorry." She says quietly.
They stare at each other and she bounces uncomfortably.
She's nervous. Very nervous.
Paige stands outside, her arms wrapped around herself.
She's cold.
Walter processes this but makes no move to help her.
Ralph was right.
She looks tired, skinny and pale- very pale.
His eyes notice her pitted finger nails.
"Your anemic." He diagnoses, with little proof.
"Huh?" She asks in surprise.
"You need more iron. That's why your nails are pitted." He states, continuously looking at her nails.
She blinks in surprise. Over the last two months, all she could think about was Walter. How she missed Walter, how she met Walter and on the plane ride over here, all she could think of was how Walter would react to seeing her. She didn't know what she expected but not that.
Not the same words he had said to her when they had met so long ago.
"Your right this time." She admits sheepishly. "Although I don't recall asking Einstein."
He bites his lip. He understands her reference to the first time they met. He didn't realize that he began the exchange.
"May I uh- come in?" She asks again, rubbing her arms for warmth.
"Oh, yeah, of course." He says, though his body hesitates from moving away from the door.
"I just put Ralph to bed now, Toby crashed on the couch, Cabe, Happy and Sly left about an hour ago." Walter explains.
She nods and slowly enters the garage. She had missed this place while she was gone. The place looks the exactly the same, her old work desk was still in its place and as she remembers, it is still a wreck.
She continues to look around, feeling nostalgic as Walter watches her uncomfortably.
He had convinced himself that he hated her. Over and over again, he swore he didn't need her. But, she's standing so close, and she looks so small...
"Are you a waitress again?" Walter finds himself asking, "Ralph told me that you've been working hard."
"Um, yeah. " She turns to face him, somewhat embarrassed, " I work the night shift but I uh- also have a desk job. You know, because I mentioned Scorpion on my resume. Thanks for the recommendation, by the way."
Walter nods in acknowledgement but says nothing. The team had gained a ton of popularity since they saved Owen on Zuma Beach last Christmas.
It's awkwardly silent for a moment.
"I uh, had to drop out of college too." She continues, "It's harder to do both in Maine. I work a lot of hours."
Walter raises a confused eyebrow.
"Doesn't Drew help out?" He questions, slowly beginning to follow her as she walks towards the kitchen.
"Yeah!" She says quickly, he voice raising and octave due to the fact that she was lying. "Portland has been great."
"Good." Walter smiles insincerely. It doesn't reach his eyes.
She stands by the sink and he sits at the table. They avoid eye contact with the other.
A few minutes pass and they remain unmoving, eventually catching the others eyes and holding them there.
More silence.
"Okay!" Walter finically says, standing up and straitening his tie.
"Oh, yeah." The ex- liaison clears her throat. " If it's alright with you, I'd really like to see my son."
"He's in my room." Walter stands up and begins leading her up the staircase. "Better not to wake him up though, he had a long day."
"What did you guys do?" Paige asks, slowly following behind him. Walter stops on the staircase and turns to face her.
"He'll tell you on the plane ride home tomorrow." He responds resentfully.
"No he won't." Paige sighs and Walter knows he wasn't meant to hear it.
"Yeah, well. That's your fault isn't it?" He finds himself responding as he opens the door to the loft. He moves to let her inside but she remains outside the door, her jaw dropped in shock as she looks at the genius.
"Excuse me?" She eventually asks. Her voice cracks.
He knows he said something wrong, but he clears his throat and continues.
"You heard me." Walter says, still holding the door open for her. " Now are you going in or not?"
She blinks and shakes her head.
That hurt.
It was a low blow.
But well deserved.
She enters the room and silently makes her way towards her son.
"You match." She mumbles, her hand lightly running over her son's black eye.
"We iced it for a while, it doesn't hurt him anymore." Walter whispers, still by the door, "He will be fine."
Paige nodded and noticed that her son had fallen asleep in his clothing and Walter evidently didn't have the chance to change him. She runs her fingers through her son's hair and turns towards ex-employer, still standing with a frown by the door.
"Pajamas?" She whispers.
Walter nods and walks over to the closet on the right of the bed, passing Paige a large red tee shirt of his. She nods in thanks and goes about changing her son.
Walter makes his way down stairs and sits by the kitchen counter.
He needed to process the last seven minutes of his life.
Paige is back
Ok.
Paige needs a place to stay for the night
There is only one couch downstairs and Toby is occupying it. There are two couches upstairs, directly across from each other.
No. Absolutely not-
"Walter?" Paige questions coming back downstairs.
"The only places in the garage that are available for us are upstairs, Toby is down here and Ralph is in my bed." He states the fact before she hits the forth step.
"Could we move one of the couches?" She questions shifting uncomfortably. She didn't want to share a room with Walter.
" You aren't strong enough to lift it. You'll wake up Ralph." Walter rolls his eyes. "It's the only solution."
Paige sighs and nods her head, rubbing her still cold arms.
"Thank you."
Should he tell her 'Your welcome' - because that's not entirely true.
'No problem?' - it was a problem.
"Okay." He finally decides and heads up the stairs, passes her, and towards the dark linen closet. He finally hands her a blanket at the sound of her chattering teeth.
She was so pale; she practically glowed in the dark.
"You look awful by the way." He finds himself pointing out.
"Walter!" She hisses at him.
He freezes.
Shoot.
"I didn't mean that the way it sounded." He slowly turns.
She glares at him for a minute and he looks directly at her. She lets out an exaggerated breath.
"I always knew you had issues Walter, but this is," She breaths deeply, " This is way beneath you. You are selfish and you are being a jerk." She hisses, tears beginnings I cloud her vision. Walter only notices that once she begins marching off towards one of the couches. She was fully clothed as she lays down and quickly covers herself with a blanket.
He watches her in shock.
His chest hurt.
He could feel his sympathetic nervous system increase his heart rate and breathing.
He needs to process this- her- whatever.
He glances at her figure one more time before he takes off running-
Like a chayote caught in the headlights.
_Scorpion_
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