A/N: Some things about the Florence situation that REALLY make me mad.
1. Paige and Walter had previously had the white lie conversation, when they sang together and went out to dinner after. Walter does not forget things. So, this storyline really felt forced to me.
2. When Veronica was helping Walt try to win Paige, HE ended the charade, recognizing on his OWN (no EQ assistance needed 2 years earlier) that lying/deceiving Paige would hurt her.
3. Toby not telling Walt right off the bat to tell her. Immediately. Instead he and Happy almost played a game with him, which was infuriating. The whole team did. All of them, with the exception of Cabe, knew about it. Not one of them told him to do the right thing.
4. When Walter found out about the rocket, and that everyone had known and lied to him, he was so upset by it that he FIRED Paige. So, he can have empathy about being lied to. But when theyre under the bleachers he's so nonchalant about lying to Paige, calling it a beige lie.
5. So he couldn't even lie about her waffle experiment, but could keep up a major lie, with everyone knowing, that could damage the relationship that meant most to him, for WEEKS.
I have no doubt that he would white lie about the lecture. I can even see him innocently taking Florence just being completely clueless as to why that was a bad idea. But, lying to Paige? Absolutely not. The writers failed him and Paige and the entire show by doing that. He never, ever would have lied to her as soon as he realized the implications. It would have eaten him alive.
Okay, that's my rant. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk. Dont forget to tip your servers.
"Walter? Is everything... okay? You don't seem like yourself tonight." She was worried, he had been very quiet, fidgety, distracted all night, all day even. She had effectively had dinner by herself, watched the movie by herself, and now they were headed back to the garage and he hadn't looked at her once, hadn't tried to take her hand, had barely acknowledged her existence.
Was he breaking up with her?
Panic settled in her chest about halfway through the movie, questioning it, but she had tried to mask it. Not that he would notice from whatever world he was in right now.
He had been acting odd all day.
Was it the alligator? Was this some bizarre reaction to her nearly becoming alligator kibble? He had been fine when they got back yesterday.
"Walter..." He hadn't responded, and still was not responding, just intently watching the road, lost down whatever rabbit hole he fell into. "Walter!" Maybe she shouldn't have yelled, but what else was she supposed to do? It got his attention, at least.
He's... smiling at her.
A horribly, horribly fake smile.
"Hmm?"
"Walter, what is going on?"
"Going on with what?" And there was genuine confusion. How could a man with such an impressive IQ have such little self-awareness?
"Seriously?! Walter, you have been on another planet all night."
"Oh, um, no. Everything is fine. Just, uh, happy to be out with you." Walter was a terrible liar. The worst. Well, maybe not the worst, that was Sylvester's championship title, but a solid second, and especially with her.
"Really? Because it sort of feels like I'm alone on this date..." She couldn't deny feeling a bit hurt. If she had known date night was going to be her talking to herself all night, she would have stayed home and watched the latest episode of New Girl in her comfiest pajamas (the ones she's had since high school that Walter referred to as ratty), eating ice cream. But instead, she'd been ignored all night by her boyfriend. She looked out the window, afraid to see his face. "Walter, if you're... breaking up... with me... Well, if you are, please don't drag it out, okay?" The brakes slammed so hard she nearly hit the dashboard, and his head spun so fast to look at her that she thought maybe he severed his spine.
"What?! Wha-- Wh-- Why would you think that?!" Horns blared behind them and impatiently he pulled the car over to the side of the road.
"I don't know what to think. You have been acting so strange all day. You didn't call me back last night, didn't say goodnight like you usually do. You have been completely checked out all night tonight. You haven't touched me today, at all. Not a kiss, or holding my hand. Not even touching my back while we stood at the coffee machine. And you always do that. I mean, there's only so many signals a girl can take." He sighed heavily. The kind she recognized he did when he had messed up. His eyes fixed on his hands in his lap.
"I'm sorry." Somehow that didn't feel very comforting.
"Sorry... for ending things?" His eyes snapped up to hers.
"What? No. Paige. I'm not breaking up with you." And she could finally breathe... for a second. "But you may want to break up... with me." And now he looked like the saddest little school boy.
"What? Walter, why would I break up with you?" He went back to looking at his hands, and she knew whatever it was that was on his mind had been eating him alive. "Hey, whatever it is, you can tell me. We can figure it out. Together, okay?"
"I lied to you." It was barely a whisper, but she heard it, and felt her stomach sink. "You value honesty, and I lied to you. I thought, at the time that I was doing the right thing. A white lie, to spare feelings, like you said, but then I couldn't sleep because of it. You hate deception. So, it was all just very confusing."
Confusing indeed.
"Walter, what are you talking about? Is this about the waffles?"
"The lecture wasn't canceled. I heard you with Ralph last night, talking about how you didn't actually want to go, but were going... for me. So, I lied to you about it being canceled."
"Oh. Walter, that's nothing to be worried about. It's actually kind of sweet. That's what's had you so disturbed all day? Walte--"
"I took Florence." He rushed it out so fast she thought she might be hearing things.
But she was sure she heard it. Heard the man's that had been giving her migraine since the first day she showed up.
"I'm sorry... what?"
Florence.
"No one else was available on such short notice, so I offered the other ticket to Florence. We went together."
Oh boy.
She really hated that woman.
"Together... as in..."
Was it warm in here?
"Drove together. Sat together."
There were rain drops on the windshield, slowly releasing their grasp to slide down. She envied them. Two fell at the same time and she wondered which one would win the race.
"Like... a date." She couldn't breathe.
"Precisely." She felt her heart shattering, and tears dying her eyes. Her breath caught, audibly in the silent car. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she watched as his head whipped up. "Wait, no! Sorry, I realize how that... And I... No. No, not like a date. At all. No. No. Just... two colleagues attending the same educational event."
She was getting a headache.
"Do you... like her?" Never had she felt so insecure. Florence could stimulate his minds in ways she would never be able to, she was young, pretty...
"Strictly as professional colleagues."
Professional colleagues.
She had heard that before.
"Professional colleagues... right... sort of like when you and I were strictly professional colleagues... when you kissed me."
First time all day, she finally felt his hand as it took hers. She refused in her anger, her grief, her shock, her confusion, to hold his hand back.
"Paige. No. I'm sorry, I'm struggling to explain this without making it worse. I have no feelings or attraction to Florence. You are the only woman I see or feel things for. When I said professional colleagues with you, it was an effort to deny how in love with you I was." Not helping. "Florence is very smart. Her knowledge of chemical formulas is impressive." Definitely not helping. "But, Paige, I barely even like her as a human being, nevermind more. Professional colleagues in relation to her is my attempt at being polite. Paige, I love you. I have no interest in anyone but you. Nothing happened between us. Completely platonic. It meant absolutely nothing. But, I realized today how my actions were not in line with that, and that's what has been... troubling... me all day. I didn't want to hurt you, but I couldn't lie to you either. White lie or whatever other colored lie. I can't lie to you."
Why was she so insecure? So jealous?
"Okay."
At the end of the day, she knew Walter well enough to know that he would never cheat on her. Do stupid things to piss her off, absolutely, but never cheat on her, and he would never intentionally lie to her either. Hell, he could even tell her he liked her waffle.
"Okay?"
"Yes, okay. If you say it was nothing, then, I believe you. I trust you, Walter. Thank you for being honest with me." He still looked so unsure, so ready for her to end things, or beat him with a shoe or something. "But, no more dates with Florence. I don't trust her."
That woman was a weasel, inching her way into Scorpion like the noxious gas she unleashed on them the date they met her. And just as toxic.
"Understood. Goes without saying."
"And you're going to make up for this crappy date."
She even wore her uncomfortable heels. Such a waste.
"Absolutely. Whatever you want. No expense spared."
"Okay. Let's go home."
"Thank you. For understanding."
"Pretty stupid as far as boyfriend moves go, Walter. Not your finest moment. But your heart was in the right place." She flipped her hand, lacing her fingers with his. "Now, let's forget about Florence and try to enjoy what's left of our date?"
"How about we stop for ice cream, you can take those shoes off, put on those ratty pajama pants you love so much, and we can watch that show with the girl with the big glasses?"
She didn't need to worry about Walter even noticing Florence. He was too busy, always noticing her.