A/N: Midway through the next chapter of Friends or Otherwise. But my son told me this riddle and I had to use it. Wrote this entirely in about 20 min, so keep the judgment meter low. Lol. Just some Waige fun! (Not maiming Paige in this one!)

Xoxo

--

"Uhh, Paige? What's up with Walter?" Toby slowly drew out, voice laden with concern, perhaps a small tinge of amusement.

"Oh, um… He is… solving a riddle." She offered innocently, laying on the red leather sofa, legs up on a pillow as she flipped the pages of her book, peering back at her husband with devilish eyes.

Walter, down the rabbit hole, three full white boards with letters and equations, scrawled all over, and he stood, scratching at his temple, his wrinkled sleeves rolled up, and a look of frantic excitement on his face, hair tousled, clothes in disarray.

"A riddle… and just how long has our fearless leader been… like that?" Toby watched between the two of them, noting Paige's almost jovial nonchalance.

"Uh, since last night. Don't worry. I fed and watered him this morning." She chuckled, flipping another page.

"Uh, huh." The smirk she was attempting to suppress was caught by him and he chuckled. "Paige… what did you do to poor Walter?"

She sighed with a grin, and moving carefully, sat up to face him.

"He's driving me crazy, Toby. Crazy. Do you understand. Crazy. Won't leave me alone. I just needed some… quiet. And some independence. I can't blink without him panicking!"

Toby nodded, coming to sit beside her, both watching Walter furiously scribble at the board.

"He has been a bit… anxious, yes."

"A bit? Toby, he made this weird basket contraption last night he wanted me to strap around my waist so the basket dangled between my legs just in case I sneezed." The pointed glare she directed his way had Toby squirming, and laughing at Walter's 197 absurdity, taking in the sight of Paige's very swollen belly.

"So, you intentionally sent him down a different rabbit hole to get a break?"

"Yup. Desperate times call for desperate measures, Toby. It's bad enough his child is taking up residence in my ribcage and ignored its eviction notice from six days ago. I am like twenty seven months pregnant right now, beyond uncomfortable. I have to pee every 10 minutes. And I am very worried this kid is gonna have a giant head. I do not need Walter Waltering me. So, I gave him a little riddle."

"Hey, as his friend, I can't condone rabbit holing him, but as your friend and Uncle to that bambino, I say do what it takes." He smiled, taking her hand to squeeze comfortingly. "So what did you fry his brain with?"

"How can you spell candy with only two letters?" She smirked, and she watched as Toby got a perplexed look on his face, mulling over the riddle. "Help me up? I have to pee again."

Silently, Toby acquiesced, pulling her to her feet, watching her waddle her way to the stairs to use the bathroom in the loft, chuckling at Walter's plight as she did.

Several minutes later, Paige, breathless, face flushed, and pained, appeared at the top of the staircase.

"Walt… honey. It's time!" Gripping her abdomen, she watched as both Walter and Toby stay focused on the boards. "Walter!" Nothing. "Toby! Hello? Baby?! Baby is coming. Right now. Giant Walter headed baby is about to exit my gooty…" Still, nothing. "Oh, well that's just great." Taking the steps as carefully as possible, stopping to writhe in pain as a contraction struck her, she finally made it to the ground level, and hobbled her way over to the board. "Honey, the baby is coming…" He looked at her, but she was sure he had heard nothing she had said.

Grabbing the marker from his hand, she wiped off a large section of his intricate scrawlings, and wrote the answer, watching as his face contorted in first confusion, then in realization, then looking over the rest of the boards in slight embarrassment, before finally settling on her in disappointment at having given him the answer.

"Sorry honey, but, your baby is trying toooooo oh god…" She winced, clutching his arm with brute force. Toby immediately grabbed her other arm, steading her. "Coming. Baby is coming. Right now. Let's go. Time to go."

"I'll get her bag, Walt. You get her to the car! Waige baby on the way!" Toby announced excitedly, running to the loft for her hospital bag.

Walter just stood, face of shock, fear, panic.

"Honey, I love you, but if you don't move your ass right now and get me to a hospital with drugs, you will never again experience what got us into the baby business to begin with. Can you figure out that riddle, or do I need to spell it out?"

"Uh, no… no, no. Very, uh, clear. Okay. Car. Baby. We're having a baby. The baby is coming. This is perfectly fine. Everything is fine." He slowly assisted her toward the door, panicking.

"You're going to do great, Walt… not pushing a bowling ball out of your gooty."

Taking one last look at the garage as he opened the door for her to exit, his quiet garage, his very dangerous to a baby garage, all he could do was focus on the white board.

C and Y

So simple, and yet, completely out of grasp for his mind to come to terms with.

He imagined fatherhood would be very similar.