A/N: I had to bring in my favorite octopus story from my The Echo of the Hours story. This was a true story (that I adapted to our characters of course) that happened with my daughter! It was the funniest, most mortifying moment as a mom trying to explain why my 8 year old had attempted to steal an octopus from the aquarium. She kills me. But I love the story. A lot of my story details are pulled from my real life experiences!
Hope you're enjoying!!!!
Xoxo
--
Snapping a photo was challenging as he couldn't get this hands to steady, laughing too hard at the sight before him.
"Walter! Stop laughing! Help me! Ow! Stop it! Help!!"
Paige, had attempted to feed one of the giraffes, and had apparently chosen, as the zookeeper referred to her, ' the troublemaker', and appropriately named Nibbles. Now, about ten feet in front of Walter, Paige stood, a stack of lettuce in her hand being completely ignored as an 16 foot tall female giraffe stood beside her, neck craned down, and ignoring her offered snack, proceeded instead to munch on Paige's long brown hair, and lick her head.
"Okay! Okay! Coming!" He shot out through his laughter, quickly taking a handful of photos to document this fine memory, before rushing off to her aid, a chuckle on his lips as he did. Taking the lettuce from her hand as she held tight to the roots of her hair to prevent being scalped, waving them out in front of Paige. "Here giraffe creature… lettuce! Rich in vitamin K, great for your bone health! Come to me! I'm Walter O'Brien and I have a snack for you! Let's leave the hair alone…"
It took a few tries, but eventually Nibbles released her hold on Paige's hair, and came toward Walter, accepting the lettuce treat, her head just inches from Walter's as he extended his arm out. The zookeeper that had scanned them in handed Paige a hair band to pull her hair back with a laugh.
"She'll be back. Nibbles just loves when the ladies wear their hair down! Best to tie it back."
Paige, dumbstruck, accepted it silently watching Walter with pure amusement. Making quick work of her hair, and retrieving her own phone from her pocket to take a few photos, and a video, of her Knight in Shining Nerdiness, who was trying to lure a 2000 pound giant away from her by explaining the health benefits of eating lettuce and not hair. Walter O'Brien was so fascinating she thought he could have had his own zoo exhibit. People would line up from all around the globe to take in the sight of this mystical, handsome, bizarre man.
"That's it, Nibbles. That's it. Follow the lettuce. Good giraffa camelopardalis subspecies… that's it. Gooooood. Paige's hair, while lovely, holds no nutritional value to you. It's entirely keratin, and you likely burned more calories trying to eat it, and would burn more trying to digest it, than it even contains, so even if you were starving to death, it would just serve to kill you faster. Which is illogical, Nibbles. The lettuce on the other hand, is a great source of vitamins to you. Or perhaps you'd prefer some nuts? It's my understanding that you have a fondness for apricots. Excellent choice. Densely nutritious. Did you know they contain a great deal of antioxidants? That helps to fight free radicals in your body. And, the skin is a fantastic source of fiber. The fruit itself is great for your digestion, unlike human hair, and also aids with your vision, being so high in vitamins A, Cand E…" Walter was slowly stepping back, one step at a time, coaxing Nibbles away from Paige and through the wide expanse of the giraffe enclosure, to where there were a few other of the giants congregating, and Paige could not help the overwhelming need to kiss that nerdy boy silly, being such a silly, nerdy boy. He had saved her countless times using his intellect, careful calculations, sheer dumb luck, insane impulsivity, but something about him talking nutrition facts to an 16 foot tall giraffe to protect her lovely hair, took the ultimate savior cake, and she knew for certain she could not love that man more if she tried. Or laugh harder, desperately trying to hold the camera steady as she filmed the exchange. Toby would have a field day with this one.
With Nibbles finally settling in with her friends, Walter made quick work to come back to where Paige was failing to hide her amusement, he gave her a wide goofy grin, proud of himself.
"Is your head okay? Did she pull any hair out?" He immediately checked her head without waiting for a response, only making her laugh more.
"I'm fine. Walter, really, I'm okay!" He stopped his motions, gently smoothing out her hair, which was loosely pulled back in a low ponytail.
"I, uh, admit I did not foresee you being eaten by a giraffe as a possibility with this adventure." He offered sheepishly, cheeks pink, and making no move to remove his hand from her hair, softly stroking a tendril falling loose by her ear.
"Uh, no. No, me neither. But I see now why we had to sign a waiver…" Just as she started speaking, she noticed Nibbles coming back up behind Walter and tightened her smile to suppress her laugh, pulling her camera app back open to record. Just in time, Nibbles leaned her head over right above Walter's shoulder, and with her tongue that seemed to be a foot long, licked Walter from his neck straight up to the crown of his head in a long, drawn out slobbery kiss. Walter shuttered, his face of pure disgust, shoulders tense, body stiff, as he oh so slowly turned to face his new admirer.
"That is repulsive."
Paige struggled to take in a breath through her giggles, so thankful the camera was recording that. But also, inwardly, thinking how this was one more way she could relate to being a giraffe. She would love to run her tongue over that sexy man's neck, too. Was it possible to be jealous of a zoo animal?
"Oh, Walt… Nibbles liiiikes you. She just wants to give you kisses!" She teased him, reaching up to pet Nibbles's head, turning her conversation to the animal, in a conspiratorial whisper that was not at all hushed. "Look Nibbles, I get it. I know, he's a cutie. Smart, too. I can see why you want to kiss him. He's a good kisser, too. But I'm just not sure if you're his type…"
Nibbles rubbed against Paige's hand, and then her forehead, nuzzling her.
"Not the giraffe I would like to be kissing, no." Walter muttered, avoiding Paige's eyes. Paige bit her lip to keep from saying… or doing… anything.
Like running her tongue over his neck.
In comfortable companionship, albeit with a looming excitement and sexual tension hanging in the air between them, they spent another half hour feeding the giraffes, being assaulted by Nibbles, and taking plenty of photos. The zoo keeper offered to take a photo of them together with Nibbles, and getting into their standard pose of the day being side by side, with arms wrapped around each other's torsos, Walter surprised her by not only moving his arm to wrap around her shoulders, pulling her close to his chest, in what she could only describe as a far more intimate, boyfriendly pose, but also kissing her temple in the photo. It was welcomed, warm, wonderful, but also a bit confusing, particularly knowing they were supposedly taking them for Ralph. She could argue with herself that all of their pictures had been far from just friends, but could easily be explained away as just being special friends. But a kiss? There was no explanation that wasn't suggestive that something was going on between them, definitely no explanation that would be accepted by her twelve year old genius son who desperately wished for their courtship.
Would he set Ralph up for heartbreak like that? There's no way he didn't know Ralph's hope of them being together; he wasn't exactly discreet about it. Walter wouldn't set up a situation to get Ralph's hopes up just to end things, would he? What was going on? It didn't make any sense.
She let it go, for now. They wouldn't be sending the pictures now anyway, so she could simply enjoy her time with Walter, enjoy his affections, hopefully find a way to convince him without saying anything that they could find a way to make this work, or, maybe if he was up to something, she could find a way to get him to tell her.
For now though, they exited the giraffe enclosure, bidding farewell to Nibbles, and carried on the path seeing the other exhibits. Walter providing a whole host of facts about each one, and Paige regaling him with tales of Ralph's many visits to the zoo, horror stories of chaperoning zoo field trips and a boy that tried to climb into the gorilla pen on her watch. At the stingray tank, part of their plus pass to be able to touch and feed them, Paige recounted the last time she participated in a touch tank as a child, having attempted to take an octopus home in her backpack, much to Walter's shock and entertainment.
"Well, we have one more stop today, Paige. Want to revisit the monkeys and if there was anything else you wished to see again before we head out?" Walter asked, taking her hand. "Or, I can get the car and be your getaway driver if you want to go grab a stingray? Would make a great story to tell at dinner tonight."
"Oh, I'm sure that would be expected from Nana!" She twinged at the mention of her grandmother, and had to wonder if Walter suspected she knew, as he leaned over to kiss her temple and squeezed her hand comfortingly. "But, uh, no. I think we've seen everything! Very efficient." Walter beamed at her word choice. "This was so fun, Walter."
"Even being eaten by a giraffe?"
" Especially that. It was perfect." The covert smile she tossed him made his stomach flutter.
It was a wash of relief hearing her reflect positively on the day thus far, having hoped a day of showing her love, affection, and all she deserved would push them in the right direction. The immensity with which he was enjoying his time with her, enjoying being close emotionally and physically with her, enjoying their silly banter and subtle flirting and innuendo, was striking him as not only coming so naturally, but also, being so welcomed and coveted. He could easily see his days ahead doing fun outings with her, with Ralph, together as a family, easily assimilating into that role with them. It surprised him with how much it didn't scare him or feel out of place, but rather felt like it was where he was always meant to be.
"Well, the day isn't over yet, still. We have time for a quick lunch before our next stop if you're hungry?"
"I am actually. I don't know where we're going, but we passed a little sub shop down the road before we came here? Or if you have something else in mind. I'm sure they don't have fermented fish subs."
"A delicacy not many can appreciate, unfortunately."
"Ah, yes. Too wonderful for us common folk I'm afraid. Sort of like the U-Dog. Just needs… The right audience."
He shot her a look of feigned annoyance, before smiling.
"A sub would be sufficient."
"Don't worry, I still love your U Dog." She said before realizing how dirty that could be perceived, and could not for the life of her decipher if his smirk was because he was just happy she loved his invention, or because even he was able to hear how that sounded. Regardless, she had no intention of bringing attention to it.
They walked through the gift shop, the masterfully located gift shop which was the only exit for the zoo.
"I feel like this is a scam of sorts. You can't leave without coming through the store. Children come through, want everything, are likely over-stimulated, dehydrated, and facing muscle fatigue, will have an emotional outburst and their parents will purchase overpriced stuffed animals which are not even accurate representations of the actual animal just to appease the child and avert a scene. It's a gimmick." Walter was holding, with a look of disapproval, a stuffed animal of an elephant, with large eyes and odd proportions, including ears larger than the entire body. Paige, looking for a souvenir for Ralph, just chuckled at him.
"You just summed up parenthood, Walt." She looked around the large shop as Walter continued to make glaring faces at the merchandise. "Well, I'm going to look around, see if I can find a little something for Ralph." He nodded to her as he continued eyeing the shelves and watched her as she walked off.
Moving down some, he spotted something and, briefly a glance over his shoulder to locate Paige, smiled and grabbed it from the shelf, hastily making his way to the checkout counter to pay.
"Paige, I'll be outside when you're ready." He called out to her, receiving a little wave of her hand in acknowledgment.
Paige continued to peruse the shelves and racks, finding nothing of interest for Ralph aside from a book about veterinary science. As she made her way toward the checkout desk, she smiled when she spotted something on a shelf, peaking around to ensure Walter wasn't there, grabbing it and heading toward the counter to pay.
Back outside Walter checked his phone, receiving an email that gave him both hope and relief, quickly responding, and sending another text message. Level three.
While he waited, seated on a bench he assumed was put there for spouses waiting for their partner to finish shopping, he scrolled through the photos from the day, each one bringing a smile to his face. Photos had never really had a big effect on him before, but capturing this day in such brilliance was oddly satisfying to him, and brought comfort despite what was happening with Paige's family. They'd get through it, and they'd have many more days like this one.
He didn't hear her come out of the shop, and didn't sense her come up behind him until her hands slipped over his eyes.
"Boo." She teased, her face directly next to his, voice right in his ear. It was thrilling.
"Did you know that the term boo, being used as a means to scare someone, is of Scottish origin?" She chuckled at his Waltery response, releasing his eyes, but wrapping her arms over his shoulders from behind him, keeping her face close with his.
"Uh, no. But I am not surprised that you know that. Linguistic lesson later. I got you something." Her voice conveyed her excitement to give it to him, and he turned his face awkwardly to see her, their faces nearly touching, him being confused as to why she would do that.
"Paige… You didn't need to get me anything."
"I know. I wanted to." Removing her arms, she picked up the paper bag she had placed on the ground behind the bench and moved to sit next to him on the bench, impossibly close.
"I also got you something." He answered sheepishly, pulling over his own matching bag.
"What? Walter… you've already done so much, you didn't need to do that."
"I know. I uh, wanted to." He echoed her words and she chuckled with a nod of defeat.
"Alright. You first." She pulled the book out of the bag and handed him the bag with its remaining contents. "Uh, book for Ralph. They don't have much in terms of cool things for preteen genius kids."
"You sure he wouldn't want a disfigured plush toy?" Walter ribbed, still disturbed by the selection.
"Oh, just open your present."
Doing as asked, he pulled the tissue paper wrapped item from the bag, carefully unwrapping it, glancing several times to her. She was biting her lip in anticipation and looked so nervous. Looking back down, he revealed a wood, exceptionally carved, figurine of a gray wolf, standing atop a cliff, and howling. "To help you keep the stories alive, and the memories of Megan."
Feeling this particular emotion was not one that came very often, in fact it was so rare, he had no idea how to process it, nor how to will his heart to slow down or his eyes to dry up.
Walter O'Brien was deeply moved.
"Wow. Paige. I really don't know what to say. This is… so… thoughtful. Thank you. It's really… exquisite. Very… meaningful." He looked up to see her own eyes misty at his reaction, and needed to lighten the mood before he went into EQ overload. "And also quite an accurate representation of the wolf… unlike the plush toys."
"You're welcome." She gently rubbed his forearm, enjoying the strength and muscle she felt beneath her hand. She would never admit it, but Walter's arms were her biggest turn on. He boasted about his focus on academics and not sports, but his arms told a different story. Muscled, tanned, strong. Those arms had kept her from being sucked into a tornado. A tornado. Watching him write, and the way the muscles in his forearm would flex as he did. The actual task of him unbuttoning his dress shirts to roll up the sleeves would instantly cause Marvin Gaye's voice to pop into her head singing Let's Get It On, and time felt like it was in slow motion. Forcing herself to look away or risk a cold shower. The amount of times she thought about that day in the tornado, or any other time he had physically saved her from harm, then immediately had very inappropriate thoughts of those arms pinning her down was probably concerning. But man, those arms.
Hi, my name is Paige and I am a Walter-oholic.
"Paige?" Walter's voice broke through her dirty thoughts, sounding amused and mildly concerned. "You spaced out there. You okay?"
"Hmm? Oh yes. Sorry, had a… song… pop into my head. I am fine." She could tell he didn't fully believe that story, but would accept it.
"Okay… Well, uh, here." He extended out the brown bag to her, and she beamed with nervous excitement. The last time Walter had gifted her something, it was the laptop that he had built and blocked out Tim's image on.
"Thank you, Walter." She unrolled the tall bundle of tissue paper, and a tear pooled in her eyes. "Oh Walter…" She gasped as she pulled out the object.
"To uh, help you keep the stories alive… and the memories with your father." He again echoed her own sentiment.
She looked up to him briefly, eyes wet, and looked back down. In her hands was a porcelain giraffe figurine, with a birthday hat on its head.
A giraffe every year for her birthday.
"Walter… I…" She was rendered completely speechless. Rather than words, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tighter than he had ever been hugged. He reciprocated, wrapping his own around her torso, rubbing at her back and her hair. "Thank you." She whispered, her voice strained with emotion, to which he tightened his hold on her.
When she finally did pull back, her cheeks were wet with tears, and her eyes red.
"I'm sorry if I made you sad. That was not my intent." He was quick to apologize, while simultaneously wiping at her tear stained cheeks with his thumb, feeling the intensity in which she was gazing at him.
"No, Walter. You didn't make me sad. You make me happy. Very happy." She, feeling slightly more daring, leaned forward to place the most chaste kiss at the corner of his lips. A teaser for what she hoped would come. He sat, intrigued by her action, and her statement.
She made him very happy, too.
Together they packed their gifts back into the bags for safekeeping and rose from the bench.
"Perhaps for your birthday, we could come back, see Nibbles… she'd look… nice… with an oversized party cone hat."
"Sure! Maybe you could even feed her some cake, so I don't get scalped for my birthday. She was getting to second base with you after lettuce, just think of how badly she'll want you if you feed her cake Walt…"
"I don't think I want to think about that." Walter finished with a grimace.
"Probably smart. Alright Wonderboy, let's see what adventure awaits us next!"
Hand in hand, smiles spread brightly across their faces, they departed the zoo which held so much memory, sentiment, and opportunity, ready to take on the rest of the day, and the rest of their relationship, with open hearts and open minds.
--
A/N: updated: thanks railman for catching the 'He'll be back!" when first writing, nibbles was intended to be a boy, but i liked the idea of paige being jealous, so changed her to a female! Great catch!