I got inspired to write this one shot. I'm probably going to be add more voicemail inspired oneshots. I started typing one day and this sort of fell out. We'll see how you like it.

Title of this chapter comes from the song Gold by Penny and Sparrow

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Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Hey Paige, this is the 48th message I've left. I know at this point you're probably ready to reach through the phone and choke me. I just, I needed to hear your voice even if it's your outgoing message." He sighs, "I miss you. There was a case today, I thought I was for sure dead for second and all I could think about was you… You left your favorite T-shirt here. I know you won't come by to get it." There's a pause, "I'm searching for words to say other than sorry because I know those words won't fix things. I wish I could just hold you again. I miss the sound of your laugh, the real one. Not the one you'd use when I would tell a joke you didn't think was funny. I'm talking about the one where you'd throw your head back with your eyes closed. Almost as if you were holding in tears and belting out a classic rock song. Your eyes glistened when they'd finally open. Your smile could have powered all of LA it was so bright coming off of a laugh like that." There's a clicking in the background. "I know you probably delete these as soon as they appear on your screen. But I hope one day you'll listen to these and hear me when I say, I'm still completely in love with you. I always will be. I know there are a million guys who will fall in love you, but I'm so lucky, even if it was for a moment, that you loved me too. I hope the next man who loves you will do it better than I did. He should take you to your favorite singers and dance with you. You deserve to be happy. That's all I want for you. I love you. Goodbye."

Tears fall as she listens to his message for the 12,000th time. She's saved all his messages, but he'd never know now. Her thoughts shift to the night Cabe knocked on her door. The look of pure dread and sorrow etched into his features. They were burned into her memory. So was the smell of fresh mud and rain. "Cabe, what are you doing here? Are you okay?" She'd asked the agent.

"Walter." Is all he said before looking at her. She didn't need him to finish the rest of the sentence, but he continued, "We were working and there was an accident."

"What happened?" She stared at the wall behind the agent in her doorway, suddenly her neighbors Christmas wreath was incredibly useful in distracting her.

"We were hit at an intersection. When I woke up he was missing and we still haven't found him, but LAPD and Homeland are prepared to declare him dead." The tears flowed from the agent before her. She still hadn't comprehended what he said.

"When?" Is all Paige could muster.

"Three days ago." He looked down at his feet.

"Why are you telling me now?" She was so cold to the man who just lost a son.

"Because he loved you. Even if you still don't." That broke her. Of course she still loved him. She couldn't even manage to throw out those stupid damn tickets from all the lectures he dragged her to because even though she was lost throughout most of it, she loved when he would lean over and whisper in her ear explaining what the lecturers were saying. "He always wanted you to know that."

"He can't be gone. It's Walter. He always finds a way out. Someone must have taken him." She managed between sobs.

"Well, I can't be the one to look into it. Carson as forbid it. You and your team are going to have to do it."

They looked. They searched for months before Toby decided it wasn't healthy for them. Sylvester quit soon after, but the guilt still eats away at him. Happy was the last one to hang on with her. The two woman went crazy ripping through all of his cases looking for someone who had a vendetta against Walter. They came up empty. It was just yesterday, Happy knocked on her door. She wore the same look Toby and Sly had when they were telling her they were giving up. "Paige, it's been a seven months. O'Brien would have come back if…"

"Don't say it." Paige left her at the open door. "Happy, you can't give up."

"Paige, he's dead." The mechanic stepped through the door.

"You don't know that!" Paige turned around with fire in her eyes.

"He would've come crawling back here beaten and bruised if he were alive. Nothing would have stop him from coming back to you, unless…"

"I can't believe you're giving up on him."

"Paige, I get it. We're all carrying guilt from that day, but this is not your fault. You loved him-"

"I love him. There is no past tense. He's still out there, I know it. I can feel it."

"Alright, we'll keep looking." Happy resigns she knows there is no dragging Paige from this until she accepts that Walter is gone.

"Good because I won't give up on him."

"Neither will I… Have you heard anymore from Cabe?"

"Nothing yet."

"Well, let's get to work."

Two month passed. They still came up empty on every lead. The team finally bought a headstone for him, even when Paige profusely protested. She didn't go to the funeral they had for him. Instead she stayed home looking over everything they had been through once more. Everyone showed up at her apartment afterwards, to which she locked the door forbidding anyone from coming in. They'd given up on her and him. She wanted no part in closing this case. He was alive.

"Paige," Toby's voice came through the door, "when you're ready, we'll be here. Walter wouldn't want you to be holed up in your apartment going crazy over him. He'd want you to be with friends. You taught him that." She cried on the opposite side of the door, bringing her knees to her head.

It was one month later she finally visited his empty grave. Ralph came home one day from school and told her he missed Walter and her. She realized through all of this grief, her son was hurting, but she couldn't see through her own pain. So, she went to say goodbye. "I love you, Walter. I'm sorry about everything that happened the last time we saw each other. I'm sorry I never answered your calls. I still listen to your voicemail just to remember the sound of your voice. I…" She feels warm liquid fall on her face. "I miss you so much. I wish I wasn't so stubborn. Maybe you'd still be here. I love you." She kissed her hand and placed it on his headstone. Then made herself comfortable sitting with him a little while longer.

Another month passed, Paige and the team moved back in to the garage and Cabe started doing cases with them under Scorpion's name, of course. They left his desk the same. No one touched it. They had a picture of him behind his desk with the word "in memory of" etched into the frame. The ache in Paige's chest was still present, but it eased when she would go to the loft and just sit in his space. Some days she would run her fingers through his shirts and bring them to her nose just to see if they still smell like him.

Today, they finished a case and return to the garage. Paige was ready to be home with Ralph. This was a hard one, one they needed Walter's brain to help them get through, but they managed. Sitting at her desk, Paige's phone begins ringing in her pocket.

Los Angeles General

"Hello?" Paige answers as her eyebrows knit together.

"Hello, is this Paige Dineen?"

"Speaking."

"Yes, I'm sorry to call so late, but earlier we had a patient, a Mr. Walter O'Brien, brought in from…"

She didn't hear the rest, "He's alive?" Is all she got out. The rest of the team turned their heads at her question

"Yes, he's in a stable condition."

"I'm on my way." She grabbed her keys running to the door.

"Paige, what's going on?" Cabe asks the running liaison.

She turns in front of door, "Walter, he's alive."

"I'll drive." Happy takes the keys from her.

The drive to the hospital was a blur of questions she didn't have answers to. All she could think about was her curly haired genius laying in a hospital bed, alive. Walter is alive. She ran to the front desk giving the receptionist his name. "204" Is all she heard before taking off in a sprint. She froze in front of his room.

"Paige, what's wrong?" Toby stands beside her.

"He's alive." She gives a watery grin. "I never thought I'd see him again. What if he doesn't want to see me? After everything…"

"Paige, we don't know what he's been through, but if there is one thing that will always be true, it's that Walter will always love and want you." She pushes the door open at those words.

He laying there looking so peaceful. Tears fall at the sight of him a little beaten, but alive. "Walter?" She whispers and his eyes open, taking steps to feel him beneath her finger tips.

He jumps up from his relaxing slumber, tension radiates throughout his whole body, "Paige? You're okay?" Walter searched her from head to toe.

"Walter, I'm fine." She grab his head to look at her.

"Oh thank God, you're okay." He relaxes back into his bed.

"I'm so sorry. I love you so much. I missed you." She falls onto his bed burying her head in his neck, tears soaking his gown.

"It's okay. I missed you too and I love you." His arms wrap around her back. His eyes follow the movement of his team standing in the doorway. "Hey guys."

"Hey Walt. It's good to see you alive." Happy comes in the room from behind the guys.

"It's good to be alive." He smirks.

"Man, what happened?" Toby ask while examining Walter's condition from the doorway. He had a sunburn everywhere and on his face and arms.

"It's a long story. I'm just happy to be here with all of you."

"Okay, well, we're going to have to talk about it soon." Cabe is concerned whoever took him will come back and finish the job, but by the look in Paige's eye they have to pry Walter out of her hands.

Walter looks to the father figure, "We will."

"Not until you're ready." Paige's hand drift to his while sitting next to his knees on his bed.

"How are you?" Walter's hand slips in her hair with his thumb brushes her jaw. Paige closes her eyes taking in his touch.

"I don't think I'll ever be happier than I am right now." Her head falls on his chest.

"We'll have to see about that." Her tears stain his hospital gown as his words vibrate in his chest filling her ears.

"We have time." She presses a her watery grin to his jaw.

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