A/N: This is it! The final chapter. This love affair, this whirlwind romance, this painful, wonderful trainwreck journey has officially reached it's finally stop.
It has been an honor and a privilege to write this story, and to have you read it along with me. Your kind words gave me the oomph I needed to continue, and I'm so thankful for you sticking by me!
Love to all! (Except Betty)
Xoxo
--
She willed her leg to stop shaking as she sat anxiously at the table, waiting. It had been over a year since she last looked into those eyes, and she was nervous. The sound of her heart pounding in her ears was so loud, she was certain anyone could hear it. Trying to maintain her composure would be hard. They had warned her not to come, that it wouldn't do her any good.
But she just… had to. She needed to close the door on this chapter, to move forward truly.
A loud buzzing sound rang through the room, followed by a heavy metal door opening, then finally, chains shaking as footsteps shuffled.
"I was sure I'd never see you in that chair." Betty's voice called out, the guard moving her elderly, frail looking body in her beige scrubs, to sit across from Paige, locking Betty's handcuffs to the hook on the table. She had aged decades in the lady two years. Gone was her well-kempt hair and expertly applied makeup.
"Yeah, well, I guess that makes two of us." Paige responded, taking in every detail of Betty, her wrinkled hands with dark spots, her sunken eyes with dark bags. Though, she noted she still had the finest jewelry, the silver cuffs around her wrists and ankles. Matching set. The kind part of her soul felt empathy for the old woman, but the rest of her kept that feeling firmly in check.
"So, is this the day you do as promised? I've been… waiting." Betty wouldn't look up, her eyes locked on the table.
When the guilty verdict, well verdicts, had come back, it had taken every ounce of control she had to not follow through with her threat against Betty. Walter had had to physically hold her back from lunging over the rail in the courtroom. Ralph was the one to tell Paige that night as she was ranting in a firestorm about how she would kill her, that it was over now, and they had each other. That he didn't want to lose her, too. She wouldn't risk that. Wouldn't risk leaving Ralph an orphan out of vengeance. Wouldn't risk becoming Betty.
"No, not… today." Didn't mean she wanted Betty to sleep without having one eye opened, however. Though, as she looked at her, she noted significant scaring down the left side of her face. Walter had informed her that shortly after the trial concluded that there had been an attack inside the prison and she had been hurt. But she had told him she didn't want to know about it. Was moving on. He had respected that, never spoke of it again. "What happened to your face?"
"Padlocks in a sock… I assumed that was your doing." The elder woman, who no longer held her aire of arrogance and intimidation, kept her eyes glued to the table.
"Can't take the credit for that one, I'm afraid. Who did it? I'd like to add some poptarts and cigarettes to their commissary, though." Paige's voice was venomous, cold, condescending. So opposite from her normal, kind hearted self. Betty's eyes shifted toward her, but didn't look up.
"I don't know. Some doors were left open. Woke up to being… jumped."
Paige took a moment to stew that over, making a choice to not think too much about the doors having been left open in a maximum security prison. She knew the odds of that happening without… intervention… were slim. But she also remembered the pained, determined look on Walter's face the night that she decided not to enact vengeance in fear of leaving Ralph. He knew she still wanted to, and if it weren't for Ralph, she would.
So, if Walter had done it or not, she wouldn't ask. Either way, she wouldn't speak of it. And if he ever told her he did, she'd take that to her grave.
"I came to tell you that Walter and I are getting married tomorrow."
Betty looked up, then back down, nodding.
"Congratulations. I had heard you both were doing well."
She would definitely not be asking whom she had heard that from.
"Ralph will walk me down the aisle." Her cold tone was making Betty very edgy.
"That's… lovely."
"Not my dad, though." Betty shifted uncomfortably. "Because he's dead. Because you killed him."
"What do you want from me, Paige?"
"Well, I'd love my father back, but I don't think even you have that kind of pull." Betty didn't move. "You didn't testify. At the trial. You didn't testify."
"It was for the best."
"I want to hear it from you."
"No, Paige… you don't."
"I know you were responsible, the jury agreed, but with all the evidence that was destroyed by your cronies, we could never prove who was behind the wheel. I want to know. I deserve to know."
"Why? Why does it matter? I'll be in this dreadful place for the rest of my life. Paul will still be dead. It won't change anything."
"Because you stole what mattered most to me. I want to know. If it was you behind that wheel, I want to know what happened. If he said anything. If he suffered."
Betty remained silent, staring at the table for several long, painfully quiet minutes.
Finally, Paige stood, pulling three items from her pocket, and placing the first on the table in front of Betty.
"Goodbye, Nana. I won't ever be back. You stole my family from me, but, you almost lost yours." The second item she placed down next to the first. "But I guess in a way, because of you, I found my family, too. So, I'll leave here, and live a wonderful life in spite of you, with my family, my friends. And you'll rot in this place for what you've done, alone. And after today, I won't think of you. But you'll think of me."
Betty looked up to the items, and with shackled hands, picked them up one by one.
The first, an old photograph of Paul, Veronica and Paige who was around three years old. All laughing and smiling, curled up together in an armchair. Just a simple happy, stolen family.
The second, the photo taken of the Thompson family at the reception of Julia's wedding, all the family, cousins, aunt, uncles, Teddy, everyone… except Betty. The family Betty lost in her quest for vengeance.
And finally, the third, another photo, only recent, from the party the team surprised Paige, Walter and Ralph with. Paige, Walter and Ralph surrounded by their loved ones. Sylvester and his girlfriend Florence, Toby and Happy, Cabe and Ally, Patty, Katherine Cooper, Veronica and Richard, and Richard's daughter Zoey, Teddy and his rekindled love Nancy, Julia and Michael and their new - and not ugly - baby girl they named Jenna-Paige, Sean and Louise O'Brien, Josh and Emily and their son, Claire and Leonard, and even Ray. The family Paige found through all of the adversity.
That was a fun night, and Paige, despite her location and the somnolence of the situation, smiled at the photo, reflecting on the memory of what had been its reasoning.
Several months after the trial concluded, seated at dinner, as they did every night, Ralph had asked Walter rather brazenly, but with zero emotional footing, that should he and Paige ever get married, if he would consider adopting him formally, given Drew was out of the picture. Surprising the boy, and Paige who was shell shocked to begin with at Ralph's question which was delivered extremely nonchalantly, Walter, rather than running off or stuttering out some excuse, had answered without any hesitation, almost as if he had been preparing for such a question.
"That's a great idea. However, if it's important to you, and your mom is okay with it, efficiency would dictate that a marriage contract with your mother wouldn't have an effect on an adoption, so there's no sense in waiting." Like they were discussing what movies were playing that weekend. Paige chocked on her potatoes.
"Cool. Mom, are you okay with Walt adopting me?"
She had been absolutely certain she had been dreaming some bizarre dream. Both her boys discussing a life changing event as if they were asking her to pass the cheerios.
"Umm, hunny. That's a very big deal. I think that's something Walter and I would need to discuss. And that's something you should have discussed with me before putting Walter on the spot like this. Walter and I can talk later about it." She had scolded and both of them had looked at her entirely confused.
"There's no need. I'm on board if you are. Regardless of what may or may not transpire with you and I in the future, I am committed to providing Ralph with a successful, fulfilling and meaningful life where he is accepted, loved and meets his full potential. That won't change should things ever end between us, which I do not foresee happening, nor would that change if we were to legally wed. But, um, if that would make things feel more secure for you, we can do that as well if you'd like. We could probably use the same judge, which would be more efficient." Mouth full of porkchop, zero grasp of the weight of his words, as he and Ralph read through an article in the newest physics journal, much to her dismay - she loathed them reading at the dinner table.
"Walter O'Brien!" He looked up, confused, fork mid air with broccoli hanging from it. Ralph, too, looked up, switching his gaze between them both trying to comprehend what her tone was about. "I'm sorry… Did you just… propose to me?"
Slowly, she watched the gears turn in his head, processing the EQ variant of his efficiency.
"Uh…"
"Proposal… as in… marriage? Wedding. Lifetime commitment. His and hers matching towels married, proposal, while citing efficiency?! And adoption?" She was certain it would take weeks to process this conversation.
"Well, yes. I suppose I did. However, I see now, that this was another time that perhaps efficiency was not the best approach, and Fresno Walter would have been a more appropriate one."
She raised her eyebrows, completely bewildered, slow blinking. Things she did not see coming for $500, Alex.
"Paige, I love you. I love Ralph. I love us being a family. I've wanted to marry you since I sat beside you at Julia and Michael's wedding…"
Ralph nudged him, his eyes pointing toward the floor conspiratorially.
"Oh, um, right. Ummm… One moment."
Frantically he scanned the room, his eyes settling on the bagged loaf of bread on the counter, and scurried over to it, Paige left in a heap of perplexity and overwhelmed emotion as to the Twilight Zone episode she had stepped into. Walter pulled the paper covered wire twist tie off the bread, turning back to Paige.
"Uh, I'll seal that… in a minute."
Paige shook her head at his oddity, then gasped as Walter came to kneel before her on one knee, twisted the bread tie into a perfect circle.
"Paige Dineen, I would like nothing more than to spend the rest of my life with you, as a family with Ralph, being a husband to you and a father to him. It's not about efficiency. You, uh, make me very inefficient in most things. It's about how much I love you and our life together. I don't ever want that to end. I want to fill photo albums for years to come that you will look at when you're 99 years old with our blanket on your laugh, surrounded by 60 years worth of giraffes, and hopefully smile. So, um, Paige, my love, will you marry me?"
She blinked. And blinked, and blinked. And looked at the ring he made from a bread tie as their dinner sat unattended on the table getting cold, and then to her son who was beaming with joy, to the three giraffe figurines she had added to her collection from him for the two birthdays they had shared together and their trip to Fresno, and finally, at that beautiful man before her who would literally do anything and everything imaginable just to put a smile on her face. He was different. He was unconventional. He was her misunderstood majestic wolf in a forest of wild animals. He was the one. She didn't need to think about it. Stroking his cheek, she smiled.
"Yes… Yes, I will marry you, Walter O'Brien! I can't think of anything I could want more than to be your wife, for us to be a family." Tears fell down her cheeks, and she laughed at the absurdity of what was happening. "You're on one knee! With a bread tie!" He slipped the bread tie onto her finger with shaking hands, and she leaned down to hug him, kiss him.
"So, is that a yes then on Walt adopting me?" Ralph had interrupted, making them both laugh.
"It's a yes. Yes to you both!! Now come on, forget the pork chops. We're going out for celebratory ice cream!"
Smiling at the memory, she touched the resin pendant hanging from a necklace around her neck. The bread tie that Happy had encased in resin to protect, like she had done for Sylvester's bandaid, hung symbolically on her chest ever since Walter had gotten her a " proper ring" as he called it.
A tear slipped down Betty's cheek, running her finger over the images, stopping at Veronica's vibrant, happy and full of life appearance at the party. Richard's arm wrapped warmly around her, hers on Zoe's arm. She was happy. They were all happy.
Paige walked toward the gate to be let out, walking with her back to Betty, resigned to not getting the answers she sought, but never having expected them anyway. She had come to make sure Betty knew she hadn't won. Hadn't broken her. She was happy, in spite of all she had done to ensure the contrary.
"Tell my Paige…" Paige turned back to the older woman's voice, and froze, a cool running down her spine. "...tell my Paige… she is the best thing that ever happened to me, that I love her more than anything, how proud I am. That I'll always be with her." Betty turned for the first time, making eye contact with Paige. "That's… that's what your father said. Those were his last words."
Tears fell unchecked from Paige's eyes. She swallowed hard, her mouth opening, then closing, her throat swallowing incessantly, trying to form some coherent thought. Some words to say.
"I'm terribly sorry for what I've done, Paige."
She turned her back on her grandmother, and made haste getting to the door. There was nothing to be said.
"Guard!"
Just outside the prison, Walter waited for her. He had been weary about her coming, but was doing his best at keeping his reservations and fears of her backsliding in check. She had been doing well, really well. They were doing really well. Life together had been going really well. He was marrying her tomorrow. He was terrified that coming face to face with everything she had worked so hard to move on from would send her into a spiral backwards, that he would find her again outstretched on the pavement, or on the floor of the shower falling apart.
The door opened and he jumped up, seeing her exit through the barbed wire fencing. Her sunglasses immediately dropped to her eyes as the bright light hit her, and he hated that he couldn't read her expression.
"I hesitate to ask…" He started, as she poured herself into his arms, enveloping herself in his embrace.
"It… went." She looked up into his eyes, a smile playing at her lips and he lifted her glasses to see the remnants of tears, but she didn't appear distressed. "It doesn't matter. She doesn't matter. Not anymore. That chapter is closed now. Let's get married, and start the next one."
"Okay." Leaning forward, he placed a kiss to her forehead, holding her tight for a moment. "I'm really proud of you." She smiled into his chest, feeling the weight of the last two years falling away. "Oh, uh, I have something for you. An early wedding gift of you will." Walter declared, reaching through the open car window to retrieve the gift bag.
"Walter, you didn't have to give me a gift. We've already spent so much on the wedding…."
"I wanted to. Besides, it didn't really cost much."
She smirked at him, always throwing out the I wanted to line at her, and took the bag, nervously looking from him to it, before reaching in and pulling out an oversized leather bound book.
"A book?"
With questioning eyes, she opened it. Not just a book, an album.
The first page had the newspaper clipping photo of the team right after the team had formed, with an article about their work to land the airplanes safely.
Flipping the pages, it was filled with photos of the team, of candids together that Ralph had taken, them dancing the night Tim had broken up with her, news articles and photos, and about a quarter way through the book, were the photos they had taken during their time in Fresno.
"Oh Walter."
"It's… our story."
"I love this. Walter. It's… thank you." Her finger traced over each photo, their happy faces, the way they looked at one another, as if she could turn back the clock to each moment as she did. "Nibbles!" She laughed, as she kept looking. "I didn't realize how many pictures you took of me that day without me even realizing."
"You looked so beautiful. I wanted to capture it forever."
She kept flipping and laughed at the picture of him in the bed, when she thought she was going to lose everything. The photo that Ralph had commented on.
"I like that one. Reminds me how much we overcame to get here."
Flipping more, she remembered it all.
Their first ice cream date as a family.
Cooking together in the kitchen.
He and Ralph working on projects together.
The three of them together at Happy and Toby's wedding.
Ralph's adoption day.
Holidays.
Vacations.
Lazy afternoons at home.
Everything was there.
Flipping the page again, it was blank.
"I had to leave room for the next adventure!" Oh that boyish grin. She would marry him just for that smile.
"I love our story, Walter. And I cannot wait for our next adventure."
"Well then what do you say we head out of here? We could get some coffee? There's a little place near the venue that I hear has the world's best coffee…" He teased, making her laugh as he opened the door for her to get in the car.
"Hey, who knows, maybe the third time's the charm?" She smirked, turning to kiss him before slinking into the car.
--
Staring out at the rising sun, seated on their blanket, in their spot, surrounded by rows and rows of grapevines, Paige leaned back into her husband's arms with a sigh.
"It's even more beautiful than that first day we watched it."
"Oh, I don't think anything can compare to that first day." Walter chuckled. "It's almost time, you ready?"
"Oh yeah." Grabbing his wrist, she watched the second hand tick down. "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2…Ahhhh!"
As expected, the clicking of the sprinklers went off and water rushed over them, making Paige shriek and them both laugh.
Standing quickly, he extended his hand down to her.
"I believe it's customary for the bride to dance with the groom… the day after the wedding while being showered by sprinklers in a field."
"You almost had it there, hunny. So close." She chuckled, taking his hand to stand, closing into his arms, resting her head on his chest as the water soaked them and provided that tell tale harmony they had grown to love so much.
"I'm glad we got married here." Walter muttered.
"Yeah, well, it seemed… full circle." As if on cue, he twirled her in a circle, making her laugh.
"Though, I am glad we did not have a wedding like Julia and Michael's."
"Uh, yeah. That was insane. I think ours was perfect. Everyone we love. Only the people that would notice if we went missing."
"I'm glad my parents could make it."
"Me too. Your dad was laughing so hard at the wolf story with Sly!"
"Was he? I missed it. He did tell me that he loved that we used our figurines as the cake topper. Said there may be hope for me, yet. Whatever that means." Walter's brows turned up, replaying the comment in his mind.
"There is definitely hope for you, my love. I'm glad they're coming around to seeing in you what I've always seen in you. I'm excited to bring them to the underground gardens tomorrow. I think they'll really enjoy it." He nodded his agreement, swaying her to the music they could only hear in their minds, the sprinkler heads and summer breeze giving off the only harmony. "So, husband, what was your favorite thing from last night?"
"Well, wife, the fermented fish was spectacular! Excellent choice."
"Yes, Walter. That's what every bride always dreams of. Fermented fish for her wedding menu. But the chicken picatta was… perfect."
"Not as good as when you make it."
"Do you remember that night when I asked you to be my date? The night that started it all? Seems like a lifetime ago, like 26 chapters of a story ago!"
"I could argue that that was not what started it all, but yes, of course I do. That was a great night."
"You said you'd love to be my date, as friends… or otherwise." She giggled, pulling back some, her hands around his neck, fingers dancing in the hair there, as they moved rhythmically, and she stared so lovingly into his eyes.
"I remember." He chuckled at the memory, he had been so hoping for otherwise.
"That night, making piccata with you, I had no idea what was to come. It hasn't been easy for us to get here, but, I'm really, really glad you decided to be my otherwise, Walter."
Leaning up on her tiptoes, she kissed her husband with such passion, as the water cascaded over them, their clothing soaked through and dripping, both without a care in the world.
Meanwhile, up on the terrace, Leonard laughed.
"Don't worry, I made sure there were plenty of towels before they even arrived."
Claire smiled, leaning into his side, sipping her coffee.
"Oh Leonard, I don't think you were even this happy at our wedding."
"I am simply happy to see love win. They deserved it."
"Yeah, I know, you old softy."
So, together, arm and arm, Claire and Leonard watched as the newlyweds danced in the perfectly timed showers, the same joy and excitement on their faces as that very first morning.
The morning they went from being friends, to being very much otherwise.
-The End-