Title: Hot Head and Cold Feet

Summary: Waige is having a heat wave. This is a little idea that came into my head as I'm suffering through the first heat wave of the summer.

Author's Note: I got one of the most amazing responses of my life for Chapter 1 of this story, so thank you SO MUCH, WeBuiltThePyramids – you made my year. {hug} I only hope this chapter doesn't disappoint by comparison.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own /scorpion . This story is for entertainment purposes only. I make no profit and no infringement of copyrights is intended.

Chapter 2

"A g..guest…" Sly stuttered. "But you're…you two…aren't you?"

Walter returned from his memories to the question his friend posed. Even Walter, socially challenged as he was, realized that Sly would never ask such a question under normal circumstances. He supposed that the intrusive query from the normally sensitive man was provoked by simple surprise. Still, Walter saw no reason not to answer, although he needed to be sure it didn't open the door for more intimate discussions. He had no idea if his friend and his sister had ever… and he had no desire to know.

"I believe what you're asking falls under the umbrella of gentlemen not kissing and telling; however, the fact is that no, we haven't…. not yet," Walter admitted, candidly. "The um… the subject hasn't been addressed."

"Oh," was the only response.

The two fell silent for a moment, then Sly stood up to return to his own area, where he'd been tinkering with the ever present formulas on his chalkboard. He took only a few steps before he turned again.

"Still… you could sleep on the couch."

Walter looked up once more and nodded. He'd already come to that conclusion himself, and was inwardly thrashing himself for not thinking of it earlier. What sort of boyfriend was he if he allowed Paige to suffer in the heat for three nights when he could provide her a comfortable place to sleep? Even if it meant he spent the nights on either of the sofas, neither of which was quite long enough to accommodate his frame. Surely a thoughtful man would have offered accommodation immediately. Walter determined to remedy the oversight at his first opportunity and endeavor to be more thoughtful in similar circumstances in the future. In the meantime, berating himself about it now was inefficient and distracting.

After a few more minutes of staring blankly at his laptop and accomplishing nothing, Walter stood and walked towards the stairs. He'd been right in his assumptions that this romance business could be disruptive.

He stood at the bottom of the stairs, head cocked, listening for the sound of running water. He didn't want to walk in on Paige if she was still getting dressed, but he also knew from experience over the last few days that she could take quite some time to complete her morning routine. In the future, when the two of them lived together, he would have to make sure they had separate bathrooms. He supposed he'd have to move, which was inevitable anyway, since Ralph would need a room of his own. He'd miss the convenience of living over the garage, though.

Coming to a decision, he bounded up the stairs two at a time. When he reached the top, he paused in the small area that was shielded from the rest of the apartment by a bookcase. "Paige?" he called, not sure what he would say when the answer came.

"Walter?" Paige answered, a note of surprise in her voice. "I'm almost finished."

Walter dithered. Should he wait until she was done and came downstairs? Or should he ask if she was presentable enough for him to intrude? He decided that what he wanted to discuss would be easier in the relative privacy of his apartment, especially since Toby and Happy would be arriving at any moment.

"Would it…um…would it be okay if I come in?"

"Of course, Walter. It is your home."

He hesitated still. Maybe Paige didn't fully understand the real point of his inquiry?

"Come in, Walter. I'm fully dressed. I'm just having a problem with my shoes."

Walter made his way past the bookcase and the kitchen. "There's something…um… something personal…that I'd like to um…to talk to you about," he stammered, wanting to let her know that he was on the way in. He glanced around the living area, and into his corner office, but saw no sign of Paige. It wasn't until he was nearly in the middle of the apartment that he could see into the bedroom where Paige was sitting on his neatly made bed, fumbling with the straps of a sandal.

Without warning, a scene from one of Walter's more vivid dreams came to him. In it, Paige was sitting on his bed – but the bedclothes were rumpled all around her. She sat nearly in the middle, her back up against a pile of pillows, holding a sheet modestly up under her arms. Her hair was wildly mussed, and although his dreams – what he remembered of them anyway – never included the activity that caused her tousled look, he had no misconceptions about it. He woke from those dreams with a mingled sense of elation and disappointment – and sometimes with a rather uncomfortable morning erection. He really hoped his dream memories would give him an inkling of what to expect from the experience, but they never did.

He willed the image away and approached the bed.

"I…I should have done this… asked you… days ago."

Paige was looking up at him now and had stopped working on the strap of her sandal. Walter gulped, reminding himself that he could sleep on the couch. This was nothing more than one friend helping out another. The fact that the friend in question could make his heart pound when she was fully clothed, and he had no idea how he would stay on the aforementioned couch when he knew she was mere steps away in his bed - that was immaterial.

"If um… if you would like to stay here… at night I mean… until your A/C is fixed. Well… that is, I'd like you to… I mean I'll sleep on the couch, you can stay in here. By yourself."

Paige smiled broadly and sighed. "If you're sure you're okay with it," she replied. "I confess I nearly asked you myself, but I didn't know how you would feel about it, and I didn't want to make you feel like you were obliged to…"

"No, no," he insisted, running a hand through his hair. He really was an idiot. Here she'd been suffering because she didn't want him to be uncomfortable. "You can ask me for anything, anytime," he insisted. "I'm happy for you to come sleep in my bed." Walter paused a moment, then his eyes widened, shocked at what he'd just said. "I mean…I didn't mean to imply…"

Paige was grinning broadly now. "No implication taken, Walter. I know what you mean. And thank you. Honestly, I can't wait to get a good night's sleep." She paused a moment, looking up at him; a quizzical look on her face. Then she shook her head slightly and went back to the strap on her sandal. "Now if I can just get this dang thing unbuckled I can get to work. I've got to get the invoices out for that security job we did last week."

Walter watched her for a moment. He nearly turned to go back downstairs, then thought better of it. If there was one thing he'd learned in the last few months from this amazing woman it was that they could talk about anything. She made no judgments. As someone who spent most of his life being judged by other people as "odd" or "weird" simply because his brain worked differently, it was something he still found nearly miraculous. If he believed in miracles, Paige Dineen was one. He sat down on the bed beside her, close but not actually touching.

"Paige," he began quietly. "Does it ever bother you, that I don't… that I haven't… tried to get you into bed?"

Paige settled her arms in her lap, the sandal dangling from her fingers. "It doesn't bother me precisely, although I do sometimes wonder." She looked up at him, turning slightly and setting the sandal beside her on the bed. "I think if you didn't say… or do… something soon, I probably would have asked you about it. I know you're not comfortable with touch, so I was wondering if… have you ever had sex, Walter?"

Walter was surprised to realize that Paige was the uncomfortable one now. Usually, it seemed she could discuss anything without a blink. Curiously, having broached the subject, he found he was not at all nervous about it now.

"I have," he affirmed, "but not often and… not recently."

"I see," was her only reply.

They sat in silence for a short while. Walter knew he should explain things to her more fully, but for the moment he didn't know quite how. He reached out and picked up one of her hands, holding it between his own. "I don't mind your touch, you know. I actually like it, quite a lot, in fact. It feels… different. Ever since we kissed in Lake Tahoe, touching you feels like… like it's where I belong."

She looked up again at that. "Then I really don't understand why…"

Walter took a long breath, hoping what he was about to say would make sense.

"It's because I want to be the same thing for you… I want to be the place where you belong. But my past experiences… well, they relieved some tension but that's the best I can say about them. I'm afraid the same thing might happen with you and… I'm… I don't want that. But I have no idea how to ensure that it… that it's different… for us."

Paige twined the fingers of the hand he was holding with his. She placed her other hand on his thigh. Walter knew she rarely touched him first, nearly always waiting for him to make the overtures. He hoped what he just said would make her realize that she could.

"I don't think we can expect things to be perfect at first," she was saying. "I'm not exactly an expert, but I think things are usually a bit awkward at first, with any couple. I only have the one experience to draw on though."

Walter started. "You mean… you and Tim… you didn't?" Then he flushed. He really had no right to ask that.

"Did you and Linda?" she asked, arching one eyebrow.

"No," he admitted. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have asked that. I was just sort of… surprised. I mean you're… you're beautiful. I just figured someone…"

"Well, there were some opportunities. But after Drew left, I was raising Ralph on my own and working two jobs. Even if there was time, I really didn't have the energy for anyone else. I didn't really want anyone else. Not until 9-22-2014." She smiled. "Ralph isn't the only one who thinks that's a very important date."

"No, he's not." Walter agreed.

Paige gently rubbed his thigh, then patted it affectionately. "Perhaps we can continue this conversation tonight. Or not, if you don't want to. I hear Toby and Happy downstairs and if we don't get down there soon, Toby will turn on the intercom hoping to catch us doing something he's sure we're doing that we're not…yet."

"Happy wouldn't let him."

"No, she wouldn't. But I'd rather not have him injured in the attempt. Try explaining that on a Worker's Compensation form!"

She rose, and Walter reluctantly released her hand. He gathered up the discarded sandal. "What about your shoe?"

"I give up on the thing. I'll just wear my sneaks. Note to self – pack extra pairs of shoes before I come over tonight."

Walter liked the sound of that. He picked the other sandal up off the floor and took the pair over to his closet, where he slid them into an empty slot in the shoe tree. Then he followed Paige downstairs.

July 9, 2016