A/N: Sooo, quick word: this is going to get spicy real fast...

...I have no regrets.

Ralph paced back and forth at the bottom of the stairs, arguing with himself if he should go up as well and after Zilla. He had read her file and found out she was the same age as him. Maybe that had been the reason he felt some kind of connection with the girl? No, he shook his head. He had never had that with other people his age, even though most of them were boys.

Toby strolled over to the young man, noticing his distress. Ralph steeled himself for some kind of lesson he would definitely give about emotion or kindness from the man.

"You don't want to hear it, but I will say something anyway," the behaviourist began, picking up on Ralph's distain of talking to him at the moment. "Go after her. She probably needs someone her age to help her. Even though she has no idea about it herself." he nodded towards the stairs.

Ralph blinked at him. He was at least grateful that he had kept it short, but was a bit pissed that it seemed to work. Without speaking to the man, the young genius went up the stairs, taking two steps at once. He stopped once he was on the loft and immediately spotted Zilla.

She was sitting on the ground, her back towards him and gazing out the window. Her legs were pressed up to her chest and her arms wrapped around her legs. Her head was leaning on her knees. Her dark brown hair hung over her back and he could see it reached the end of her back.

"Zilla…?" he cautiously approached her, not wanting to startle her.

Zilla flinched a bit, but turned her head slightly, locking eyes with Ralph. He sat down next to her, keeping his distance a bit. He didn't want to make her even more uncomfortable then he knew she was. Zilla let him. Not in the mood to argue, or…she didn't know what else.

Ralph said nothing. Not because he didn't have questions, but he knew they were insensitive ones. After everything that had happened to her today, he was about 78% sure, she didn't want to talk about her past. The remaining 22%, was that she would want to talk about it to get it off her chest. He just wasn't sure if she would like that.

So, he kept quiet sitting next to her. Just as a presence for her. She might get some comfort in this. Small chance, but he wasn't taught how to manage his emotions for nothing. He also knew how it was to not really know the emotions that were flowing through the mind. It had been a very sensitive subject for him, but he learned to accept it more. It was difficult, but worth it.

He glanced at Zilla and noticed she was also looking at him. They locked their gazes and just observed each other. Zilla had darker brown hair, long and in a ponytail, her eyes a hazel colour that shone due to her tears. Her face was round and small, her cheeks pink and covered in tear streaks. She was a small girl, her black sweater practically eating her up. Her pants hugged her figure and her Converse were damaged. All in all, she was a pretty picture and Ralph gulped.

Ralph was tall. He had nice brown hair, with matching eyes. He was a bit slim, but she could see the building muscles underneath his shirt and flannel. Face sharpened, but she saw the underlying baby fat in his cheeks. He was a bit…mesmerizing..? She guessed. Zilla wasn't really sure what to call him, but she could find no bad words in her head for the boy. And the way his Adam's apple bobbed as he gulped was cute.

"You're observing me," she said. Ralph startled a bit, but nodded. "What do you see?" she tilted her head, positioning her body more in his direction. He also turned to her and crossed his legs.

"A young girl, broken. But she has not been completely shattered, so I believe it's still fixable. If I can just find the correct pieces, I will be able to put you back together again." he explained. Zilla couldn't help her heart fluttering. She wasn't sure why he was confident that she could be fixed, but she strangely wanted to believe him. His words were sweet.

"You think you can fix me?" was what she eventually asked. Ralph nodded, fiddling with his hands in his lap. Zilla scoffed. "Good luck with that." she muttered and looked back at the windows.

Ralph grew worried. She didn't believe she was fixable. That…hurt him more then it should have. Yes, at this point in time, she was broken. But he was convinced that he could help her. Become a functional human again. Become someone who cares for others and maybe even him.

Whoa.

He needed to take a step back. Why? Why was he so fixated on this girl? What was so special about her that he wanted to hold her and keep her close to him? What was the reason, why he desperately wanted to kiss her right now? A thought that made him shiver and lean a bit forward.

Zilla noticed his shift and turned her head to him. The small intake of breath was the only thing heard in the silence as Ralph had leaned in, real close. He stared intently into her eyes and she stared back. But not with the same nonchalant look she had since he had met her, but she looked like she didn't know what to do.

Ralph knew what to do. In a move that even he could not think that came from him, he softly kissed her lips. What happened to taking a step back? He didn't want to think about it. The kiss was soft and hesitant as Zilla had no idea how to react and Ralph was surprised with himself.

They, however, didn't part. Heck, he even tilted his head and deepened the kiss, just a bit. His eyes had closed on impact and his thumb traced her cheek softly. Ralph had no idea how Zilla was reacting, but was mildly surprised to feel her softly pressing back after a couple of seconds.

Zilla was lost. She was stuck, between letting the fluttering feeling flow through her body, or hit him and run off. But she was so tired. Tired of running. Tired of keeping her emotions locked. She hadn't noticed this before, but at this moment, she just wanted to enjoy…whatever this emotion was. So, after the initial surprise was over, she gave in.

His lips were soft, a little scaffed, but oh, so soft. His hand, too. Even though it was just his thumb, it had been years since she had felt such a soft gesture. So much so, that she started to tear up again. She wasn't sobbing, but a tear escaped her closed eyes without her permission. Ralph caught the tear with his finger, but he had no desire to stop.

Soft little smacks surrounded them as they moved their lips against each other. Slow, but sweet. Ralph's palm was now on her cheek and she leaned into it.

"Ralph?!" he tore himself from her lips as he heard his name, yelled by a voice he had heard all his life. Zilla blinked her eyes opened in confusion and slight irritation.

Paige stood on the top of the stairs and had seen them kissing…making out…? She didn't know the difference, but she really wanted to shoo the woman away to continue kissing Ralph. It was something that she very much liked.

"Uh…mom…" he wasn't sure what to say and stood up. Sure it was a bit embarrassing to be caught by his mother. He just didn't think he was doing something wrong. He was just enjoying kissing a girl he had met not even an hour ago. Geez, it had only been an hour?

"Where you just kissing her?" Paige asked, despite already knowing the answer.

"Yes," he answered. "Is that a problem?" he threw back. Paige sputtered a bit, but soon regained her composure.

"Well, yes. You've only known each other for a short time. And were barely know anything about her as is." she shot Zilla a look. It wasn't as if she was hostile towards the young girl, she was just concerned for her son. Even so, Zilla still didn't like the look she shot at her.

"Mom," Ralph sighed as he rubbed his face. "I love you, but I am no longer a little boy. I can judge a persons character, really good, might I add. Just, please, leave us alone for a bit. Please." the woman was not happy, but she knew he was right. So, Paige reluctantly took a step back and headed towards the stairs. She gave the two one last look before descending the steps.

Ralph sighed once more and turned around. He gave a surprised sound as Zilla was standing behind him. She pulled on his shirt and smashed their lips together again. He melted into the kiss and put his arms around her waist. Ralph was taller and had to lean down, but he wasn't complaining.

Zilla's hand went to his cheeks and she cradled them. She was controlling the kiss this time and it gave her strength she didn't know she had. It was amazing. This was amazing. The onslaught of happy pheromones she got was overwhelming, in a good way. She wanted to smile. She wanted to laugh. She wanted to be her. Who knew all it took was a kiss?

Their lips moved together, no more hesitation. Ralph could feel Zilla standing on her toes and he couldn't help but smile. This didn't stop their kisses and, to his surprise, she shyly introduced her tongue. Ralph's breath hitched, and he accepted the intrusion. He carefully danced with her tongue and Zilla made a soft sound.

Ralph had enough. He put his hands on her thighs and lifted her up, not daring to break the kiss. He marched over to the counter and placed her on top of it. Her eyes closing, after opening them in surprise. They were now on the same level and he stroked her hips. Zilla's hand moved to his neck and she draped her arms over it.

This…had not been the plan. He had just wanted to talk to her, see if she was okay – which, in hindsight, he knew she wasn't – and if she needed someone to talk to. But form the moment he knew who she was, no, from the moment he had noticed her, he felt drawn to her. Like a moth to a flame. And boy, was he burning. Softly, but surely he was burning.

And now, with him between Zilla's legs and her lips almost desperately making out with his, he couldn't help but burn. He couldn't help it. He had crushes in the past, but they never led to anything. He was too much of a coward to ask them out, or sometimes even talk to them. Besides, he was also a teenage boy, with no experience in this kind of thing. She had non either, but that just made this nice.

"Ralph…" Zilla softly whimpered.

"Fuck," he muttered against her lips. He could count on one hand how many times he had sworn. And this girl just brought it out of him. He didn't even care anymore. He just wanted this.

He just wanted her.

A clutter next them, broke them apart with a smack.

Paige walked down the stairs in a bit of a daze. She just wanted to check on them. She had noticed Toby talking to Ralph and had seen him go up. At first, she wanted to follow him, but the behaviourist stopped her. He told her that Zilla just needed someone her age with her.

Paige had sighed harshly, but let it sit for a while. And as Toby was busy with cleaning up, she slipped passed the team and made it up the stairs. She had not expected to see them sitting close to each other, much less be kissing! She didn't like it. Years of missions that almost failed and gave her nightmares. Nightmares of her losing Ralph.

Paige didn't think that her son would lose his life hanging out with that girl, but she was afraid of losing him to her emotionally. She knew that Zilla was not emotionally adept, but that little show from earlier was hard to cast out of her memories. She was proud of her son for handling a crying girl, but it also made her uncomfortable to see them so close. She had to let him go one day, Paige just didn't want it to be today.

Which is also why she left them alone, because she wanted to trust him. And she did! Just not really with Zilla. It was incredibly complicated, the feelings she held for the new girl. On one hand, she wanted to help her. Help her get back with her family and make friends. But on the other, she wanted her to keep her distance from her only son.

Paige knew that it was a lost cause. They were the same age and from what she had seen, already extremely close. She hadn't even noticed that she almost walked into Walter.

"Everything okay?" he asked, slight concern in his eyes. She loved his eyes. Because after all these years together, they had begun to shine. She loved Walter, as much as she loved Ralph. But her thoughts were still scattered and she answered him in a blur.

"Ralph and Zilla were kissing." this immediately caught the attention of the rest of the team and Toby's eyes widened in joy. Before he could run up the stairs, though, Happy had grabbed his shirt from the back and stopped him. He softly whined and gave his wife puppy eyes, but she didn't even look at his face.

"Kissing…?" Walter asked, grabbing Paige's shoulders as she still seemed out of it. The woman nodded and everyone blinked.

"I need to see this," Toby managed to get out of Happy's grip and he raced to the stairs, the rest of the team all hollered their protests and some followed him as well. Even though he was in a hurry, Toby made almost no sound as he took two steps at a time.

Happy was hot on his tail and Walter was behind him, trying to get them to stop (secretly very curious). The three of them made it up the stairs and all gaped at the two who were making out on the counter. In his rush, Toby turned the opposite of stealthy and accidentally tripped over the last step. He managed to catch himself before making a face plant on the floor, but by the time he had regained his footing, the two teenagers were already looking at the small group.

And, oof, the death glares hurt, but it was cute that they both did them at the same time. They were still panting and their lips were freshly bruised from their kisses. Damn, they hadn't been holding back it seems.

"What," the cold tone of Ralph left them all agape, that even more surprising that the position they found the two teens in. Walter couldn't help but gulp.

"W – We've found Casper Kennedy," Zilla flinched, but gave no motion otherwise. "Cabe is already on his way to get him, he'll be back shortly." Ralph gave him a nod and raised a brow.

"Thanks. Is that all?" damn, he really wanted them gone, didn't he?

"Yup," was all Walter said and dragged Toby back with him down the loft. Happy went down without hesitation, since she only followed her stupid husband to stop him.

She sometimes didn't know who the child here was.

Ralph huffed as he watched the disappearing figures of his dad and friends. He turned back to Zilla and to his surprise, she had a small smile on her lips. He blinked again and leaning in closer, making sure that he was not imagining things.

"You're smiling," he said, one of his own smiles crawling on his face. Zilla blinked and the smile fell, but it returned after a couple seconds of her thinking.

"Yes…" the disbelief in her voice was strong, but he could also tell she was happy. Or, at least some form of happiness. This in turn, made him happy. He gave her a soft kiss, different then the ones they shared before.

A long sigh escaped their lips and he pulled away from her, just a little bit. He leaned his head against hers, basking in just being with her in this moment. But he knew, he knew that he had to talk to her about what was going to happen.

"Zilla, we need to talk," he started, looking her in the eyes. "About us and about…who's going to come later." he could see the moment her face turned emotionless. She was back to the girl he had met, but he knew he could get her out of it again. He kept their gazes locked.

"I want to ask you…" he trailed off, readding himself for the next action. "What happened when you were younger that made you run away? I will tell you about my childhood as well." he offered. Her expression didn't change for a while, but she soon scrounged her face up and he could see the literal pain in her face.

"I…" she started, but her throat was constricted. It felt like she had swallowed needles and she scratched her neck at the thought. "When I was born, my parents were so happy," a sad look crossed over her eyes, but there was a small smile on her lips. Ralph listened intently. "They finally had a child, after trying for a couple years." she sighed, averting her eyes from the boy in front of her.

"When my brain was fully grown, they did a test and I came out with an IQ of 200. My EQ was low and while it worried my parents at first, they wanted to take on the challenge. It went well the first few years, but I soon grew more interested in books then toys. I taught myself how to read when I was only three years old." her eyes went back to Ralph as he gave an impressed whistle. She huffed.

"They were surprised and slightly happy, but I quickly started to correct them on facts and pointed it out when they were lying to each other. This frustrated my fath – Casper," she caught herself, physically shuddering at the name. "He turned to verbally abusing my mother, but she wasn't one to shy away from an argument, so they kept having fights. I don't know when, but at one point they realized that it was pointless to keep yelling at each other and they shifted their attention to the one that caused it all." Zilla gripped Ralph's shirt, pulling him even closer, wrapping her legs around him.

"They started yelling, screaming, hitting…" a small sob escaped her after the last word left her mouth and Ralph gasped. She couldn't continue and the boy made no motion to make her keep talking. He wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her tight.

Zilla cried, but not as hysterical as before. She might just be tired from crying and starting to understand emotions. Ralph held her close and let her cry. He had never had abuse like that. His mother was sometimes too overprotective, but that meant that when there should have been bad figures in his life, she kicked them out. Ah, once with Walter when he was a kid and accidentally discovered a few CIA safehouses, and was soon interrogate by said organization, wasn't all that pleasant, but he managed to get back at them.

"My father, left us when I was just a baby," Ralph started, once Zilla had calmed down a bit. She looked up at him, not leaving the warmth that his arms provided. "He told us he was going to the movies, but he didn't return. He suddenly came back years later, just a short time after my mom joined Scorpion. Just showed up and expected us to go with him to Portland." he sighed in frustration, just thinking about it made his blood boil.

"Mom went with it at first, not knowing that Walter was already crushing on her. We almost left, but then he crashed his car and we rushed back."

"With the raven," Zilla joined in, her voice scratchy. Ralph blinked and gave a chuckle.

"Yes, with the raven. I didn't see my father after that. Not long after, a new member joined the team and mom fell for him as well." he rolled his eyes. "Walter was a wuss, he wanted to ask her out, but he was too scared. I even chewed him out for it." a small snicker came from the girl, he looked at her with a smirk. "They dated for a while, but he soon left, thank god. He was a nice man, just not the person I wanted to be my father. And after years, they finally got together."

They pulled apart enough so that Ralph could give her a kiss on her forehead. She closed her eyes with bliss and he could tell that his story helped her a bit. But he still had questions.

"How old were you when you left?" he carefully asked, but Zilla didn't shut off. Her eyes went back and forth for a bit before she answered.

"Ten years old, the abuse started at seven. I had to gather money and find places to stay before I was actually able to leave." she didn't sound as sad as before, but he could tell it was uncomfortable. She shook her head.

"And what about us?" the innocence on her face was adorable and Ralph blushed a bit.

"Well, making out with someone on the first day of knowing each other, isn't really the way it should go. According to the movies and my parents. But the moment we met, I felt…strange." Ralph admitted. "Strange in a good way. I want to go out with you." the colour of his cheeks grew darker and Zilla wondered if she looked like that as well. Because she felt warm. Comfortably warm.

"Go out…as in lovers?" she asked, titling her head. Ralph nodded, not too surprised that she didn't really get it at first. The only reason he knew all the slang, was because he watched romance movies with Toby and Sylvester. Weird combination, but it had been pretty fun.

"Okay," she softly said, another one of this gorgeous smiles on her face. "I think I like you, a lot. So, I want to try it."

Ralph's heart burst with happiness and love for the broken girl. He grinned and cupped her face to give it another kiss. She melted into it quickly and he sighed against her lips.

He did not think that this would happen today, but he noticed that he didn't care. It was probably something like fate, or just meant to be. Those kinds of tropes. Although it was weird that stuff like that happened in real life. Ralph chose to stop thinking about it and to focus on the passion filled kiss he was receiving from his new girlfriend.

Zilla licked his bottom lip and he opened them to let her tongue inside. Their kisses turned hot, but not to the point of immediate arousal. Ralph knew that it wasn't a good idea to go further than this right now, no matter how much het wanted too.

It was just the two of them. In their own little bubble. And it was good, very good. Zilla's hands went to his hair and she softly scratched his head. Ralph took in a sharp breath and showed her how much he liked it, by biting her upper lip. She whimpered and copied him.

Ralph really need to stop this, right now. He didn't want to, but he was starting to feel really tingly down below and he knew what that meant. Zilla had no intention of stopping, it seemed. He really needed to push her away, or things would get even hotter.

A knock on the stairs, broke them out of their kiss, much to Ralph's relief and Zilla's annoyance. Walter had been the one this time to disturb them, and the grim expression he had was enough to pull them both back to reality.

"Casper Kennedy is here,"