Cabe's eyes focused for a moment and looked at the screen. He smiled. "Walter, son, how are you?"

Tears ran down Walter's face and he inhaled through his nose and they could hear the sound of air being pulled through the mucus that was gathering in his nasal passages. "Cabe, but you died. I want to believe this but, how, why, what is going on?"

Cabe grinned even as a tear ran down his cheek. "I'm sorry Walter. They didn't tell me they weren't going to tell you. While I did have a heart attack that day they faked my death to catch an old fugitive of mine."

Walter smiled. "I'm so relieved Cabe. I wasn't ready, I'm still not. And while I don't feel as lost now, I'm still so broken. I don't know what to do Cabe."

Cabe nodded his head. "I know son, it hasn't been easy on you and I am sorry about that. But you do know what to do. What I told you before they faked my death. You start by giving the sweet woman in front of you your attention and forgive each other. And then as soon as you can, you get your ass to the Dublin embassy so they can get your passport problem taken care of and get you back to California. You'll probably be on a military transport or cargo plane but you'll have to put up with an ass chewing from Katherine. Homeland needs you back here, Scorpion's days aren't over."

Walter shook his head. "Scorpion is over Cabe. If I come back, I'm not going through that again."

Allie pulled the laptop away from Cabe. "Walter it is so good seeing you. But due to the protocols for the chemicals they used on Cabe I've got to end this call so Cabe can rest. I'm sorry."

Walter shook his head. "I understand. It is good to know he is still alive. Thank you Allie." Walter slowly looked at Paige as she turned the laptop around. "Thank you too Paige."

Paige slowly nodded as she quit the software and closed the laptop looking at Walter. His head wasn't quite so low now but from what she could see in his eyes, he was still haunted. "Is it okay if I go ahead and tell you what I need to say?"

Walter's eyes looked up and he slowly nodded.

Paige took in a deep breath. "If after what I say you still want me to leave, I'll leave first thing in the morning never to bother you again." Paige looked down at her hands. "That night, I was being petty and childish over something that only existed in my head. I know with the words I said to you that night you have no reason to believe me when I tell you I honestly did mean it when I said I wanted to talk with you about it. We could have used your parent's to talk to Cabe but I brought my laptop so you could see my diary. My thoughts of you have filled every page of it since that night." She sat the laptop on the couch between them and reached out and took his hands in hers.

"I know you feel so hurt and lost still, but Walter. I'm right here with you because I feel lost too and I feel so alone because you aren't in my life now. I've counted on you these past few years to be that rock for me. You gave me hope and a chance when I was nothing more than a single Mom working as a waitress at two crappy jobs. Just hoping to make ends meet and that one day I'd meet a Dr who could really help Ralph."

"And as it turned out, no Dr could, only one man could help Ralph, you. I don't deserve another chance Walter. But I'm so lost I'm not sure what I will do if you can't give me another chance. I've never wanted anything more in my life. Other than how badly I wanted to be there for you since Cabe had his last heart attack. Please Walter, can you forgive me? Can you give me another chance to make a life with you?"

Walter's shoulders shrugged. Paige took that as a good sign, it didn't mean no. She let go of one hand as she raised her hand up to touch his chin and she gently raised it up so she could see his eyes. "Maybe our broken pieces could come together so we can grow together and become stronger in and through each other."

Paige could see the pain, fear and the tiniest shred of hope in his eyes. She leaned forward and tilted her head to her right as she brought her lips in and pressed them against Walter's. Walter didn't pull back, in fact he pushed in and the spark she always felt between them seemed to explode inside of her mind and she couldn't help grinning because it was still there. She was surprised Walter didn't pull back as they kissed. That gentle pressure she first pressed into his lips with changed as he pressed further into her which surprised her even more.

That kiss went on for a minute, maybe an hour as far as Paige could tell, she wasn't about to break it first. As Walter began to pull back and their lips parted she saw a tiny smile on his face. It was then that she realized she was lying back on the sofa. Walter had pressed in so hard she'd naturally laid back and he had just followed her down. Her left breast felt warm and then she realized his right hand had gripped it and she felt a tear slip out of her eye and ran back into her hair line.

Walter's right hand released her breast and came up and brushed the tiny path the tear created away from her face.

"Walter, if you would let me, I'd also like to come back to work for you at Scorpion too."

Walter shook his head and Paige frowned. "As I told Cabe Scorpion doesn't exist anymore. I can't go through that again. I invested so much into all of them, into you and all I got for my troubles was heartache. If I was who I was when I first met you and Ralph I could have dealt with this so much easier. I could have just hired new employees."

Paige looked fearful for a moment. "Does that mean you don't want me back?"

Walter shook his head as he helped her to sit back up. "I'm not saying that. But I know my emotional development is still so stunted, it seems to make my pain so much worse."

Paige shook her head. "Walter you really aren't that bad emotionally, you've just got to learn how to express them and how to interpret them better. The way I responded that night was worse than you emotionally. I didn't even give you a chance. I told you I didn't blame you and yet that was a lie, of course I blamed you. How else could I have done that to Ralph, if I didn't blame you I wouldn't have left, I wouldn't have held back when I saw you that day. I'm just so sorry at how much I hurt you, how much I hurt Cabe & Ralph. I can't help feeling guilty. Cabe probably never would have had a heart attack if it wasn't for what happened between us."

Walter looked down for a moment. "So what do we do?"

Paige smiled. "Well what are you planning to do when you get back to the States?" Paige asked quietly.

Walter shrugged. "There are a number of tech companies I thought I could go to work for if things didn't work here."

"What do you mean? Are you thinking of moving back here to Ireland permanently?" Paige asked a bit fearful.

Walter shrugged. "I don't know now, it was kind of my thought to do so. I was going to open a small computer services company. Help people in the area with computer tech and services."

Paige nodded. "Well, I-I could stay here with you for a while if you want. When Ralph gets done with school in a few of weeks I could bring him out here for the summer. But I'd probably have to go back towards the end of the summer."

Walter shook his head. "Ralph needs you there not to mention if Drew found out he was staying with someone else for that amount of time he'd file papers against you and try and take him from you."

Paige nodded even as she worried she might be losing ground with him. "But then there is the question of where will you live? You sold the Garage. But if you really want to get back together and you think you'd like to, you could move in with me and Ralph."

Walter looked into her eyes. "I sold it because I didn't want anything tying me to LA." He swallowed hard as his emotions were crashing again. "Paige, I would really like that. But, I'm scared. I can't take you walking out on me again."

"Walter, if you agree to us getting back together I'm not ever walking out again. I was serious, this separation from you, that I caused, hasn't just hurt you and Ralph. It has hurt me too. I can't go through it again but I can't continue without you." Paige smiled and looked down at his fingers as she felt them they rub the flesh around her hand.

Paige was nodding as she slowly looked back up and saw him looking at her face still. They continued to look at each other. "And, if you want, I know it would be okay with Happy and Sly, y-you could come to work for Centipede."

The look of pain in Walter's eyes as he shook his head tore at Paige. "I can't be around the guys. I could probably go to work for Richard Elia. He almost always reminds me every month that I always have a place in his think tank if I want it."

A tear ran down her face as Paige nodded. "As much as I would miss working with you each day, Richard's might be a good thing for you."

Walter looked off to the side with a slight nod. "With this being his second heart attack my guess is that Homeland will force Cabe to a desk or early retirement. I wouldn't want to work with anyone else from Homeland."

Paige nodded. "You're right about that. Katherine told me she would be forcing Cabe to a pseudo desk job so he could at least finish his time for full retirement benefits. I wasn't going to bring it up but she wanted you to know she wanted to change things with you working with Homeland. She wants you working as a full time support person. Instead of going on dangerous missions for Homeland you'll be piggybacking with a special team that Cabe is going to be in charge of. The two of you would operate out of a special ops center."

Walter frowned. "T-that actually sounds like an interesting idea. But I don't understand, w-why wouldn't you want me to know about it?"

Paige looked down. "So Cabe could tell you about it, but I was also being selfish Walter, there wouldn't be a place for me. I've worked with you everyday for four years. I wanted to keep working with you. At CP I could. If you went to Richard's he might not like it, but I think he'd hire me back to work with you."

Walter nodded. "But if you did that, what about Centipede Partners?"

"They'd just have to learn to do without me. It isn't like my job is irreplaceable. I'm no genius Walter. My skill set can be attained by calling Kelly temp services." Paige explained.

Walter shook his head. "You had far more value as a member of my team then that Paige and you proved it day after day. Do you know how much I enjoyed seeing Toby and Sylvester eat crow because of how good of a job you were doing? It is why Toby and I was constantly clashing. He hated being wrong about you and I took every opportunity to rub it in his face." I know I am sometimes blind when it comes to speaking about normals, I don't often see how something can be rude. It was never meant that way. And it was you who made me see my own words that day at Megan's cenotaph.

"I have an eidetic memory. I have a speed of recall of my memories that until I met Ralph had no rival. And despite that I needed you to think clearly. I can't get that anywhere else Paige, your skill set is beyond valuable." Walter told her smiling the whole time.

Louise stood in the kitchen just quietly listening to the couple. They'd started at such a low point but as they talked it kept rising higher and becoming more positive and personal as they tried to make sure they both were saying the same thing and at the same place and that they understood what the other needed going forward.

It was driving Louise crazy with excitement and finally she needed to do something besides just listen and she grabbed a couple of glasses and filled them with ice and then lemonade and took it in to them. She smiled seeing Walter and Paige holding hands. "It's a hot day, how about some lemonade for the two of you?"

Walter smiled and nodded. "Thank you Mother."

Paige also smiled at her. "Thank you Louise."

Walter left his glass on the coffee table as Paige took a sip. "There is one thing you can do for me Paige, to help me believe in us going forward."

Paige swallowed quickly in surprise but sat the glass down as she nodded. "What is it you need me to do?"

Walter looked at her left hand he was still holding. "While I don't have a ring at this moment, you could agree to marry me."

Paige's right hand flew up to her mouth in total surprise and Louise cried out in joy and she quickly pulled off the ring Sean had given her when he proposed. She shoved the ring into Walter's other hand. "This is the ring your Father gave me, and his Father gave his Mother and on back six generations. Because of how the world was to you I never considered I'd ever be giving it to you to give to another. I had always planned to give it to Megan's boyfriend when he got ready to propose. So I am giving it to you now."

Tears ran down Paige's face as she wrapped her right arm around Louise's neck as she was still bent over. Louise returned her hug. "There isn't another woman I would pick to marry my son Paige."

Paige slowly released Louise as she smiled at her. Walter took her hand again. "So is that a yes?"

Paige nodded her head quickly. "Yes Walter, yes."

Walter slid the ring on her finger. It was a tad tight but they could have it sized easily. Paige looked at the ring for a moment and threw her arms around Walter's neck and they hugged for several moments.

The back porch door banged closed as Sean walked into the house. Not seeing Louise in the kitchen he yelled as he walked towards the dining room. "Louise, love where are you?"

Louise looked crossly at Sean as he appeared in the doorway between the kitchen and dining room. "Sean, you're ruining the moment!"

Walter and Paige both laughed as they wiped at the tears on their faces. Sean smiled seeing Walter. "Walter, it is so good seeing you boy."

Greetings! Hope this finds you all well! This was the final chapter I had written for the alternate story line. So Sunday I will go back to finish Messenger, looks like there are going to be 4 chapters left for it, I'm finished through chapter 11. Then "The Masked Calculator" which will be 3 chapters. And then hopefully going back to "Lady Knight".

Lucy - Thank you! Yep, Cabe got a 30 day suspension for how he went off on Carlson. lol I'm glad she was able to retain you in her memory for so long!

Railman - hehe Thanks! As long as LK talks, you have 2 weeks if you really want to reread LK before I start posting the new chapters.

Franxine - Thank you!

To the Adventure! -Tim