Here's the last part of Haven. Thank you to all who read and reviewed the other chapters. I've got a new story I'm still working on so hopefully you'll stay tuned.
The title for this chapter comes from the song Build It Better by Aron Wright.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
It's been two months since Walter's surgery. He's been going to physical therapy two times a week and is keeping a meticulous schedule with his at home exercises. Walter's itching to get back in the field, since he's been quarterbacking for Centipede on the Homeland cases.
Paige came back from work, fuming when Happy was the only one not wanting to return to Scorpion. Walter was more than confused, but he respected Happy's decision and spent more time talking Paige down from going to confront the mechanic. He plans on talking to Happy, he just wants to clear the air.
"Paige, Toby, you need to go to the guy in gray standing in the corner. He's the only one you haven't scanned yet." He speaks into their coms.
"Thanks, Walt." Paige's voice comes through. He sits back enjoying the vanilla chia tea Paige left at the garage last week. He's gained a taste for tea after the first month of no coffee.
The computer starts ringing, "That's your guy." Walter informs the duo. "Cabe, get in there." He watches the scene unfold over the security cameras.
"Thanks Walter. Couldn't have done it without you." Walter knows with Paige's comment she's trying to prove something to the mechanic over the com.
"No problem. You guys don't need me for the rest of this so I'm going to go ahead get started on the case report." He takes the com out of his ear when they all say their goodbyes.
The garage door opening and closing tears his attention from the report he just finished writing. "Hey you. What are you doing here? You're usually not here until later."
Paige makes a direct line to his desk bending down to place a sweet kiss to his lips. "I just wanted to come see you after having your voice in my head all day." It's been a few days since they were able to spend alone time together with the rest of the team dropping by the last few days excluding Happy.
"You won't hear me complain about that." He pulls her to his lap inviting her in for another kiss.
"I thought so." She leans in with full intentions of starting a makeout session with her man when his tablet dings. "What's that?"
"I don't know." Picking up the tablet from his desk in confusion. He doesn't remember running any test. He nearly drops the tablet.
"Walter, what is it?" Paige stands from her seat in his lap so he can move. He hasn't thought about her in 2 years. He'd hoped he'd find something, but he began to lose hope. Rushing to the file cabinet, Walter finds the case files from 2017. God, he hopes Happy wrote her number down. February 27. Yes, Ada.
"Do you remember Ada? Happy gear head friend?" He's flipping through the files before looking at her.
"Yeah, we had to transport her in honey. How could I forget?" She stands beside him at the file cabinet.
"The program I designed to find her a match, it worked!" He pulls her into a tight hug.
"Walter. That's amazing." She pulls him into a kiss.
"I need to call her dad!" His arms tighten around her waist.
"Go, go." She shoos him off, following behind him to the loft.
"Oh, could you call Happy and tell her? She should know." He looks at the information about the match.
"Ye-" She should agree, this is amazing news. But this should come from Walter, not her. "I think you should tell her."
"Umm… I-okay. I'm just going to call Ada's dad and tell him the news." He pulls his phone from his pocket. He answers on the second ring. "David, this is Walter O'Brien. I found a bone marrow match for Ada."
"So what did he say?" Paige circles her hands around his shoulders, intwining her fingers behind his neck.
"He's ecstatic to say the least. Now we just need to go meet the donor and ask if they would donate. Happy should be involved in this." Walter sits his phone on the island and brings his hands to rest on her waist.
"So, maybe you should call her. Maybe it would help you in finding out what her deal is with you." Paige hints.
"You could be right."
"Here, take your phone, go to the office, call Happy and I'll be in the bedroom." She hands him his phone and throws him a smirk over her shoulder and continues to his room.
"You know that just makes me want to forget the phone call and follow you, right?" He shouts at her retreating form.
"Then you'd better make that phone call fast." She peaks from behind his door before disappearing again.
He smiles entering his office he dials the familiar number and waits. She answers on the forth ring. "O'Brien? Is it another case?"
"No, I just wanted to let you know, I found a match for Ada. I thought maybe you'd want to come with me to meet the donor and try to convince them to donate."
"Wow, I started to give up hope. Thanks, I'd like to come." Walter is nervous about the trip. He wants to fix the situation between the two, but Happy isn't exactly known for willingness to forgive. The time Toby tried to make amends with her after sleeping through their first date comes to mind.
"Great. We'll leave in two days."
"So, since this doesn't require you dodging any bullets, you're determined to go, aren't you?" Toby looks at 197 with disapproval.
"I'm going to see this one through, Toby. If it makes you feel any better, you're more than welcome to join." Walter continues packing his bag, hoping Toby would say yes to coming along.
"I'm just surprised Paige is letting you out of lockdown, is all." He flicks at the tag on his friends suitcase.
"Well, she's coming along and she may think you're coming as well. So you might want to pack your bags." Walter turns his bag so he doesn't have to listen to the annoying thumping sound of the tag hitting his suitcase.
"Hell of a way to dig yourself into a pit, 197. But fine, I'll accompany you." The shrink shrugs standing from his chair in Walter's room.
"How's Happy taking the news?"
"You know her, she'll never let you see her sweat. Or in this case, see excitement."
"Have you talked to her about coming back to Scorpion?" Walter looks up at his friend from his bag to study his reaction the best he could.
"Oh no, even I'm not brave enough to touch that dragon. You're on your own when it comes to solving that mystery." Toby raises his hands in defense.
"Fine. It's probably best I talk to her about it anyway. Given, it's my fault she's not wanting to come back." He continues his task at hand.
"This case will be the perfect opportunity to do that." Toby hints at his friend.
"That's what Paige said. I don't want Happy to feel like I'm ambushing her with this."
"You've got to talk eventually. Might as well talk to her while she can't run away from you." Walter's friend turns leaving him to finish packing. "Alright, I'll see you in the morning."
"Hey, are you all packed up?" Paige walks through his loft greeting him with a peck on the cheek.
"Almost. How's Ralph?"
"Oh you know, a weekend with Sly and RoboCop comics. Those books will do all the babysitting." She smiles sitting their takeout on his island.
"Where are your bags?" Walter takes note of her lack of luggage.
"I went ahead and packed them in your car since we're leaving so early for the airport." Paige shrugs while facing the island. She feels his presence behind her and his hands on her shoulders.
"When did you become the genius?" She turns in his arms, he is just being sweet, she knows that, but anytime he compliments on her brilliance it makes her swoon inside. It's just so different hearing those words from him because of his genius.
"I don't know, after all, I did pick you. Maybe I've been a genius all along." She wiggles her eyebrows making him huff a laugh.
"Well, Ralph had to get it from someone." He loves when she beams. It lit a fire in him from head to toe. She is radiant.
"Hmm, you are quite the smarty pants." He places a kiss to her neck while she takes their food out of the bags. "Come on, we've got a lot to do before we get on that plane tomorrow."
After a 13 hour flight to Sweden, the four team members check into their rooms. It would be a while until they were able to meet with Astrid Larsson. Happy didn't have much to say on the flight over, but Walter chose to believe it was all her nerves. This was the only woman in the world who could save her friend and there was a possibility she could say no.
"I think Walt and I are just going to settle in for the night." Paige pulls on his hand toward to elevators.
"Hey Paige, maybe we could all grab dinner later." Toby suggest while handing the second room key to his wife.
"This isn't a vacation." Happy snaps. "We have a job to do."
"Yes, darling, but we're not able to start said job until the morning and we haven't had anything to eat since the awful plane food." Toby rubs her arms to calm her down.
"Fine." Happy huffs.
"Okay, we'll meet you guys down here in an hour?" Paige attempts to pull her bag on her shoulder, but it's intercepted by Walter.
"Sounds like a plan." Happy leads her husband in the direction of the elevators with Paige and Walter behind them.
"I'm going to go to the bar and get a drink. Paige, you want to join me?" Toby raises an eyebrow at his friend.
"Yes." Placing a kiss on Walter's lips, "I'll be right back." She leaves him at the table with Happy.
"Real subtle, guys." Happy calls to the duo walking away.
"So, how are you feeling about tomorrow?" Walter asks while bringing his water to his lips.
"I'm fine." Happy avoids eye contact by staring at her glass of water.
"Come on, from one fellow robot to another, we both know what that four letter word means." Walter places his glass back down, hoping his staring will force Happy to meet his eye.
"Then why did you ask?" She cuts at his questioning.
"Because I know how important this is to you. Ada was the first person outside of Scorpion that you made a real connection with. There is a lot more riding on this case than a girl being stuck in a bubble." Walter has gotten better with emotions after deciding to continue with therapy outside of couples counseling. He wants to be a shoulder for his friend even if she doesn't see their relationship the same as he does.
"I see Paige has rubbed off on you more."
"It's not just Paige. I'm worried about you, Happy. I respect your decision not to come back to Scorpion, but I thought at the very least we'd still be friends."
"We are friends." She keeps her tone level.
"It doesn't feel like it." Walter quickly adds.
"Well maybe I don't want to base a friendship off whether or not we work together. I thought we'd evolve beyond that."
"Fair enough."
She sighs knowing he wasn't satisfied with her answer, Happy gives in, "Walter, you will always be the first person I made a real connection with. If it weren't for you I'd still be on my own. You will always be an important person in my life, whether we're at Scorpion or Centipede."
"Ditto." He offers her a smile.
"Sounds like a truce has been put in place." Toby pulls his chair from under the table.
"No truce was needed." Happy accepts the glass of wine her husband brought from the bar.
"Good, I'm glad we're on a path back to normal." Paige places her hand on Walter's thigh when he sits back down from sliding her chair from under the table.
Happy stiffens at that word. Normal. Things can't go back to normal.
Toby and Paige decided to stay behind in the car across the street from the café. The best of course of action was to allow Happy and Walter meet with Astrid. They both had stakes in this case so they would do the best job at convincing her.
"We can do this Happy. We're a team." Walter tries to calm Happy. Her nerves are getting the better of her. She keeps glancing at the clock above the counter and bouncing her leg up and down.
"No, we're not." Happy cuts Walter's words of encouragement. Walter looks to her in confusion.
"I don't-" He's interrupted by the bell ringing at the front door. It was Astrid. They both stand and walk to the young blonde. "Hi, Astrid. I'm Walter. This is my friend Happy."
"Oh, hi. I'm sorry I'm late. I missed the first bus." The young woman follows the duo back to their table.
"It's okay, we haven't been here that long." Not unless you count one hour as long, but he wasn't about to piss her off when they need her.
"So, what is it you need from me? I have to say when people claiming to be American government contractors are knocking on my door asking me to save a life I thought you were a little nutty."
"There is a girl in Los Angeles who is a rare blood type. She's been in living in a bubble because she has no immune system for three years. I've had a program scanning for even the possibility of a match and the other day your name popped up in the system. We'd really like to bring you to the US to get some test done. This is her." Walter shows Astrid a photo of Ada from the night they threw her an impromptu winter formal. "Her name is Ada. She's 19 years old. I know her family would really appreciate your help. I can even arrange for your tickets to and from LAX. You wouldn't have to worry about anything."
"Wow, this is…" she is overwhelmed, anyone with eyes could see it, "a lot. Can I have time to think about it?"
"Yes, but every second we wait Ada runs the risk of getting sick." Happy's anxiety is starting to show.
Walter places a hand on Happy's shoulder, "What Happy means is take the time you need. We'll be here for two more days."
"Okay. I'm going to go." Astrid move from her seat to the door.
"We can't leave without her saying yes, O'Brien." Happy cuts a look to Walter with anger written across her face.
"We also can't bully her into flying across the country and going through a painful procedure."
Happy stands from the table and stomps off to the exit. "I guess the truce is off." Toby says to Paige as they both watch the scene unfold before them. Paige bring a hand to her face in frustration. They were so close, on both fronts, with Happy and Walter reconciliation and Ada's donor.
Walter jogs to catch up with Happy, he touches her arm to make her turn around. "Happy, what is your problem?"
"My problem is you basically glossed over how serious the situation is."
"No, I didn't. I laid out the facts for her. She has to make the decision on her own. I can't knock her unconscious and throw her over my shoulder."
"Let's just go." She opens the car door and slams it shut.
"It's not his fault and you know it, Happy." Toby tries to reason with is wife, but she is out for Walter's blood.
"He could have tried harder to convince her." Happy calls from the bathroom.
"I understand you have an emotional attachment to Ada, but so does Walter. He promised her he would find this match for her and you know how he is about his word. Just lay off of him." The knock on the door interrupts the couple's disagreement. Toby moves to the door and looks through the peephole. Walter is standing rocking back and forth on his heels, hands in his pocket.
Toby opens the door, "Walter, I don't know if now is a good time."
"Please, Toby, I need a moment with Happy." Walter pleads with the shrink.
"Alright, I'll be downstairs." He lets Walter in and excuses himself.
"Happy, I'd like to talk." The mechanic enters the suite from the bathroom and stares at Walter.
"Well, I don't want to." She crosses her arms.
"You and I both know this is about more than today." He's met with silence from the mechanic, "Happy, look I'm sorry about that night when everything imploded, but can I ask, why you're so pissed at me?"
"Because I don't want to lose my family again! If you and Paige break up again, that will be it. Everyone will official implode and I can't lose this. I'm not pissed at you. I just don't want to lose you, Sly, Paige, and Ralph."
He moves from his place at the door, "Happy, Paige and I aren't breaking up. She is it for me. And families fight all the time. I get it, you're keeping me at arms length to protect Centipede, but it won't keep me from everyone else."
"I don't want to keep you from everyone. I just don't want you and Paige back together. Because then it could end. I can't lose the only family I've ever known."
"No, it won't end. And you know who you sound like? Me, four years ago, when you and Toby started dating. Look at how that turned out."
"Yeah, well you aren't Toby and me."
"And you aren't Paige and me." He huffs in frustration with the mechanic, he starts digging in his pocket. "Look, maybe this will make you feel better." He pulls the ring that's been weighing in his pocket since he bought it last week. "I want to spend the rest of my life with Paige."
Happy's jaw dropped, "Oh boy."
"She and Ralph are the most important thing in my life. I want to spend the rest of my life with her. I don't care what it is I do for a living, as long as I get to come home to her. I'm not letting her go again."
"Wow. I'm speechless." His friend stares at the ring.
"You can't say anything, not even to Toby. The only person who knows is Ralph."
"I can't believe it, 197 is going to get married."
"She hasn't said yes, yet. But if you being pissed off at me has to do with Paige and me breaking up again, I hope this puts your mind at ease. I'm not going anywhere."
"Alright, O'Brien. You win. No more anger coming your way." She resigns still staring at the ring.
"Swear to me you won't tell Toby." Walter picks the ring up, tucking it back in his pocket.
"I swear." Happy smiles, "I'm happy for you." She pulls him into a surprising hug.
"Thank you." He returns her hug, "So… we're good?"
She releases him, "Yeah, we're good."
"Good because Paige and Toby are waiting on us downstairs for dinner. Shall we join them?"
"Let's go." He opens the door for her to exit the room.
After dinner, Walter helps Paige back to their room. She may or may not have had a little too much wine. "You're so handsome with your stubble growing." She rubs her hand along his jaw.
"I'll keep that in mind before I shave next time." He laughs before getting up from their bed to grab her a water and some painkillers for the morning.
"Where are you going? Come back." She smiles cuddling closer to him when he moves under the blanket. "It's so cold in here."
"I can turn the air down." Walter turns to get out of bed again, but she tightens her hold around his waist.
"No, I'll just use you as a heater." She lays her head on his chest, "I'm so happy you and Happy have worked out your differences. Hopefully, we'll get to be a team again."
"No matter if you're working at Scorpion or not, we will always be a team, Paige, you and me." He places gentle kiss to her forehead.
"You're so sweet." She dust light kisses on his chest. "I love you."
"I love you too." He can feel the weight of her begin to sink in to his chest. "Paige?"
"Hm?"
"Goodnight." He smiles in the darkness of the room.
It's 8 in the morning when a knock on his door wakes him up. He looks down to the figure sleeping peacefully. There's a knock again. Walter removes Paige's arms from around him and quickly moves to the door before the knocks could wake her up, he opens the door. "Astrid? Ah- what are you doin there so early?"
"I thought all night about what you asked of me and I finally came to a decision. I will help you." Walter can't stop the smile that blooms. He uncharacteristically wraps the stranger in a hug.
"Thank you so much. You have no idea how much you're about to change this girl's life. Do you have your passport up to date?" He releases the young woman.
"I do." She shakes her head trying to hide her blush.
"Great! We will book you a flight with us tomorrow."
"Oh, that is soon"
"Is that okay?" It makes him nervous. He knows this is moving quickly, but Happy was right. The longer they wait the more they run the risk Ada getting sick.
"Yes. The sooner the better." The blonde woman smiles before leaving the half dressed Walter in the hallway. He was so excited to tell Happy, but a chill in the air reminded him he was missing his shirt. Returning to his room, he decides to lay back in bed. He'll see Happy at breakfast.
"Who was that?" Paige mumbles, half awake.
"Astrid. She's going to donate to Ada."
"That's great news." She turns in his arms to face him placing a kiss to his chest. "We should go tell Happy… later." She wraps her arms around his middle.
Even though they found Astrid and were currently sitting on a plane right now ready to take off it was still hard to believe that they were about to be back in LA with a fix for Ada. Happy kept in touch with her friend, but rarely had time to visit her. It was weird. They would actually be able to do friend things once she was out of the bubble, but Happy didn't know what normal people did for friend outings. Her leg started shaking, and what if this didn't work?
"Happy, you're thinking too hard." Her husband places his hand on her leg. "This will work."
"I know." She accepts his hand in hers.
"So relax, we can't do anything about this right now, but we will have answers soon." He brings her hand to his lips.
They brought Astrid to the hospital directly from the airport, meeting David, Ada's father. "This is her?" David asks Happy.
"Yes, this is Astrid Larsson. We've got to get some test done to confirm, but it is all very promising." Happy nods to the blonde.
"Thank you so much." David wraps the woman in a hug.
"It's not a problem. Walter explained the situation and I couldn't stop thinking about if it were someone I loved." Astrid takes a second to reciprocate the hug.
"Astrid Larsson." The nurse calls into the waiting room.
"That's me." She moves to follow the nurse.
"Now we wait." Walter sits beside his girlfriend wrapping his hand in hers.
After an hour of waiting for results Walter decides to make a coffee run, leaving Paige in her seat with a kiss on the cheek. Happy stands to follow him. They walk in silence until they reach the elevator, "So have you given any thoughts on when you'll pop the question?"
"I don't think this is the right time to discuss this." Walter looks to his friend.
"Really? Because it's the only thing I can think of that will keep my mind from spiraling right now. So when are you thinking?" Happy meets his eye.
"I was thinking a dinner then maybe going to listen to her favorite singer." The elevator dings allowing them to step off.
"That could work." They make their way to the Starbuck in the hospital.
"What no good?" Walter ask when they step in line.
"I didn't say that."
"No, but it was implied." So he wasn't good with what others were thinking, he still knew Happy better than most people.
"Just not very personal." The mechanic shrugs.
"Well, I haven't given it much thought, yet. I want the moment to be right."
"It will come to you." Her words give him encouragement.
After receiving their purchases they careful balance everyone's coffee in the tray, slowly making their way upstairs. Happy helps him in passing out the beverages. He hands the last one to Paige, just as he sits down the doctor comes out. "We have a match." The weight of the unknown is lifted. He wraps Paige in his arms in celebration.
"Thank you." David says to the doctor.
"We're going to wait a week then perform the procedure." The doctor leaves the group to celebrate. "Astrid will be out until tomorrow then we will release her. She'll need to be here in a week."
"I have no idea how to begin thank you all." David says the geniuses.
"No thanks necessary." Walter says to the father with his arm still wrapped around Paige's waist.
"I need to get home to tell Ada the good news." David bids them all farewell.
"I think we all could use a drink, even you 197." Toby starts toward the exit.
"Alright." Walter grins.
"O'Brien, I'm going to need a new key for the garage because I had to use the last one on a mission and it kind of got destroyed." He won't lie, that definitely put a smile on his face.
"You got it, Happy." Paige tighten her hold on his hand in excitement.
"I guess we should let Sylvester know to start packing his boxes." Toby shouts in the bar.
"To Scorpion!" Happy shouts bringing her glass up to toast her friends.
"To Scorpion!" They all joined her. After one Long Island Iced Tea, Walter decided to switch to water, but it didn't stop the rest of his friends and girlfriend from continuing the flow of alcohol. He figured he would be the babysitter tonight, but he didn't mind. He was just happy they were all here together.
"So, Walt how do you think Carson is going to feel about your new recruits?" Toby slurred swaying back and forth in the booth to the music blaring in the bar.
"I don't know. He didn't really like the one's I had before, so I wouldn't put much stocking him liking the new ones." Walter laughs as Paige leans her head on his shoulder.
"Well, doesn't matter you're still not allowed in the field, mister. So he'll have to get over it." Paige says while spilling some of her drink.
"I think this might be a good time to get everyone home." Happy laughs. She's always been better at holding her alcohol than her husband. Happy and Walter both support their significant others to the car settling them both in the back. Walter moves to the driver's seat while Happy moves to the passenger's side. She looks back at Toby and Paige both leaning their heads against the cool window. "I'm going to need help lugging Sleeping Beauty back there in our apartment."
"Okay." He stops at the red light. "Thank you, Happy. For forgiving me."
"The family isn't complete. Not without you or Cabe." She nods in the direct of the now green light. "You should ask her soon."
"I thought you said I'll know when the moment is right."
"You will and I have a feeling it'll be sooner than later." She smiles.
After pulling into Happy and Toby's parking lot, Walter leaves Happy with Paige who's passed out in the car. Walter decides to just lug Toby over his shoulder. He definitely bumped the shrinks head a few time and he tried desperately to hold in a laugh as to not wake up the rest of their building. He successfully landed Toby in his bed, leaving him to meet Happy downstairs. "Thank you for staying with her."
"Of course. Can't let some weirdo break in and do who knows what." Walter moves Paige to the front seat and closes the door. Happy surprises him with a hug. "See you at work." She leaves him in shock. "Don't forget what I said, do it soon. Oh and the new key!"
"You got it." He laughs at her. Walter doesn't leave the parking lot until he sees Happy safely return to her building. Glancing at Paige resting in his car, he can't help the smile that grew wider on his face. Ten minutes later, he's pulling into the garage and picking her up out of his car. One arm under her legs and the other under back, her head rest on his shoulder. He feels her little breaths on his neck while carefully taking the steps to the loft. Walter manages to change her out of her skirt and blouse into one of his t-shirts before she wakes up.
"Hey. When did we get to the loft?" She squints at the light coming from the table lamp.
"Two minutes ago." He chuckles at the look on her face. Disappearing to the short distance to his kitchen then reappearing with a water for her, "Here, drink some of this."
"Thank you." She takes the water. "Are you coming to bed?"
"Yes. I've just got to change and I'll be right there." He moves to the bathroom before coming out in sweatpants that are hugging his hips. She lifts the covers for him to join her, he slips in with her moving into his arms touching her icy feet to his for warmth. This wasn't unusual. She always warmed her toes with his at this point he doesn't think he could get to sleep without the feeling of her feet defrosting from his warmth.
"I love you." She whispers before drifting to sleep.
"I love you." Happy was right. He needed to ask her soon.
Despite what Happy said, he's going to try to ask her tonight. It was right. He keep repeating in his head. She was so excited when he showed her the tickets to her favorite singer. He planned to ask her after when they were walking in the park. They were walking hand in hand out of the venue when he stopped at the sound of someone shouting, "Paige! Walter!" Oh shit, he knew that voice. He tried to ignore the voice until Paige noticed and turned around.
"Oh, Tim. Hi, how are you?" The damn Navy SEAL was chasing them down to say hello. Really universe? Is this what I get for years of discounting you? Walter rolls his eyes before turning around.
"So, you guys are together?" Tim looks down at their hands.
"Yep." Walter keeps his answer short hoping the interloper would get the hint and leave. Then again, Tim was never good at knowing when he was and wasn't welcome.
"I guess I always knew it would be you two. So uh how have you been?" Tim looks to Paige.
"We've been good. Ralph is starting back in college class soon." Paige is visibly uncomfortable. Walter can tell. He needed to end this soon.
"We actually need to get going. We have to pick Ralph up." Walter cuts the SEAL's next question short.
"Oh, well I'd love to stop by Scorpion. Tell the team hello. I'll be in town for a month." Tim looks back to Paige.
"Uhhh, sure." Paige pulls on Walter's hand in the direction of the car. Well, tonight is shot to hell. He doesn't want the thought of the interloper hanging over their heads. There will be other chances.
"So," Happy stands in front of his desk while everyone else was out grabbing lunch, "I'm guessing by the lack of radiating joy from the waitress and you that didn't pop the big Q last night."
"That would be a correct assumption." He looks up from the computer.
"What happened?"
"We ran into Tim."
"I thought he was still in Jordan."
"Guess not anymore." Walter runs his hands through his hair.
"Damn. Out of all the people in just LA you could run into, you run into her ex."
"Yeah, you don't have to point it out to me." He moves to the kitchen for another cup of coffee.
"Well, don't let this one get you down. Toby had to ask me a bunch. You'll get your chance."
"Mhmm. Say, when are you all moving your things back here?" He pours the brown liquid into his cup.
"Next week. With the case load and Paige having to move all our clients over to Scorpion's payroll now, we've just been so busy." Happy takes the pot from him, pouring into her own cup.
"It'll be nice having everything back. I even missing your loud banging on motorcycle parts." He smiled over his cup. "You haven't said anything to Toby, have you?"
"No, but he's getting suspicious. And he's been asking if I know anything." The mechanic stirs the sugar and milk into her cup.
"Good to know." The duo stiffens at their teammates entering the garage. Toby immediately catches sight of the two before they were able to relax.
"Hey guys, what are you talking about?" The shrink asks as the rest of the group brings the food to the table in the middle of the room.
Happy acts quickly, "Walter, was just asking when we were moving our stuff back into the garage." She wasn't lying.
"Don't worry, sweetie," Paige walks to his side, wrapping an arm around his waist. "we were just making plans about moving back while on the way here."
"Great." He smiles at her, pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Have any of you heard from David about how Ada's doing after surgery?"
"She's responding really well." Happy informs the team. "Ada got to meet Astrid after the surgery. They exchanged contact information. Did you get her off to the airport, Walt?"
"Yeah. She landed last night." He opens his box of food, settling around the table. He turns to Paige, "Hey, so I've got balance the accounts tonight, but I was wondering if after you wanted to hang out around and we could go out to eat?"
"Sounds good." Paige smiles and Happy eyes her boss. No time like the present.
Walter slips his hand in hers as they walk into the restaurant, holding the door for her to enter. They were seated rather quickly. "I can't believe we were able to get in here. This place is usually booked."
"It helps when you've fixed their servers one night on Valentines." The candlelight illuminates her smile and he's left a little breathless. Round two. You got this.
"A regular superhero, you are." She takes his hand on the table.
"As long as you're my Lois Lane." He recalls their conversation from years ago when they had to dress up like comic book heroes.
"Just don't put me back in those tights." She chuckles.
"I don't know, I thought you looked nice." He looks her up and down. He clears his throat, "So Paige, there's something—" Walter is cut off by the phone ringing in his pocket. "Sorry." He looks to her as pulls the annoying device out of his jacket.
Cabe Gallo. Dear God, no.
He huffs swiping his thumb across the screen. "Yes, Cabe?" He looks at her across the table. She can tell he's frustrated. They must have gotten a case. Ending the call he sighs, "We have to go." He puts cash on the table covering the drinks they ordered and offers his hand to her.
She interlaces their fingers together, "It's okay. We can go to dinner another time."
"Yeah." He feels so defeated.
"Third times a charm?" Happy offers as they finish screwing the new reactor in place. Thankful their coms aren't functioning in this room so no one else can hear them. He takes this time to vent to his only friend who knew about his current predicament.
"If I could just keep exes and cases at bay I'd be golden. Paige kept asking what the problem was on the way here, but I couldn't very well come out and say it." He wipes the sweat from his brow.
"I don't know. You could. I mean you two spent so much time just trying to be together maybe it's not about finding the perfect moment. You have to make it. What about the big Q would make it perfect, Walt?" The mechanic asks while packing her tools away.
"Her saying yes."
"Then stop worrying about location or who's around and just ask her."
Happy's word were spinning in his head for two weeks. He couldn't very well just ask her. Turning on his side to look at the woman lying next to him. She is beautiful, he rest his hand on her cheek using his thumb to rub soft circles. Her eyes slowly start to open.
It's quiet. These were his favorite moments with her. Before the crazy of the day started, just being in her presence. No cases, no running for their lives or nuclear explosions. "What are you doing?" She ask with a sleepy smile.
"Just looking at you." He takes a breath, "Paige, I love you." Yep, this was happening. Third times a charm.
"I love you too." She smiles so brightly for an early morning. "What's on your mind?"
"I wish I could tell you the moment it was I fell in love with you, but the truth is I'm still falling in love you, I don't think I'll ever stop." Walter takes her hand in his, "It's crazy because a few years ago, I thought the idea of romantic love was ludicrous and that anyone who believed in it was foolish. Then I met you and you completely shattered that belief. I fought my feelings for you for so long because I couldn't define them. But suddenly I understood why someone would risk the greater good for one person. You are my greater good. Everything is better with you and Ralph and I don't want to go another day without asking you to be my wife." He turns pulling out the ring from he drawer in his bedside table, "So Paige Dineen, will you marry me?"
With tears in the corner of her eyes, she whispers into the morning air a soft, "Yes." He slips the ring on her finger before she can get a look at the diamond she brings her lips to his. "I think you'd better make love to your fiancé."
"Yes ma'am." He pulls her on top of him as her hands come to rest on his chest.
The newly engaged couple come down the stairs greeting the rest of the team. They've officially all moved back in yesterday. Everything was right in Walter's world. He never thought this was possible to have everything he ever wanted.
"Whoa! That's a big rock you've got there Paige." Toby is the first to comment. "I knew you were up to something, 197. Congratulations." He brings Paige into a hug and slaps Walter on the back.
"It's about time. That secret was killing me." Toby whips his head in his wife's direction.
"I'm sorry, you knew?" Happy nods. Toby looks back at Walter, "You mean you told her before you told me? I'm hurt." Toby walks back to his desk crossing his arms.
"Congratulations, kids." Cabe pulls them both into a hug. "I'm so happy for you."
"Thanks, Cabe." The couple smile at the father figure.
"Mom!" Ralph comes barreling through the door. The young genius took note of the ring, "Thank God you finally asked her."
"Wait," Paige looks to her fiancé, "you talked to Ralph?"
"Of course, you're his mother. I had to get his okay." She brings him into a sweet kiss.
"I love you." She whispers when she pulled away.
"Reciprocated." He beams at the love of his life.
"Congratulations, you two." Sly is the last to offer his support of the two,. "So Walter, any thoughts on best man? I mean we are brothers and stuff."
"Ah, I think we're going to enjoy being engaged for now, but you will all be the first to know about the wedding party." Paige shuts down what she knows will soon begin a fight for best man again.
"No time to start that war yet Sly. We've got a case." Cabe comes from the kitchen having ended a phone call from Homeland.
Walter watches his team pack for the field. One more week and he'll be released from medical leave. Suddenly staying behind doesn't bug him as much as it did weeks ago. Maybe it was the joy from this morning or maybe it was that now he had his team all back at home. Ralph comes to sit next to him as they pull out the maps of where the team will be going. "Hey," Paige turns to her fiancé, "be safe." She smiles at his concern.
"I'll see you later." She grabs her bag moving to his desk and kissing her two favorite geniuses before following the rest of the team outside. She gets to the exit glancing one last time at Walter and Ralph sitting at his desk.
"Paige! Come on!" Happy honks the car horn causing the two geniuses in the garage to look at her.
"Be good." She leaves them both.
Walter chuckles at her before the door slams. "You know she was talking to you, right?" Ralph looks to his soon to be father.
"I'm pretty sure it was the both of us."
"I'm not the one recovering from a gun shot wound to the chest."
"Yeah, yeah."
"I'm happy about you and my mom."
"Me too, buddy." He looks to the young genius next him. Walter still wants to talk to Paige, but he already knew who he wanted as his best man. He has a feeling she will approve. Ralph is the obvious choice.
The End.
Keep an eye out for my new story, Constructive Avoidance.
Thank you for reading. In the future, I may be adding some one shots to this universe.