Megan watched, a faint sparkle of satisfaction in her eyes, as her baby brother lost his heart for the very first time.
Walter was amazed at the level of trust this woman, this near stranger, placed in him as she allowed him to open the door of his fifth-hand Chevette and helped her inside before hurrying to the driver's seat. He felt a sensation, something he couldn't explain, that made him feel as if he had always known her. The ease he felt in her presence wasn't something he'd ever experienced, not even with Megan.
Without meaning to, words slipped out as they drove toward his intended destination, one of the most relaxing places he knew, Griffith Observatory. "I am surprised that you are willing to go to an unknown location with a man you just met randomly in a restaurant. Even if my sister vouched for me and my intentions. I am curious why you made such an illogical decision."
Paige turned, looked at him, and studied his profile illuminated by the dim lights of the dashboard. After a few moments' consideration, she spoke softly. "I consider myself an excellent judge of character, my dubious choice of male companionship tonight notwithstanding." Paige grimaced at how in a moment her entire existence had become inextricably entwined with Drew's for the rest of their lives. Paige took a deep breath as she pushed those thoughts to the back of her mind. She just wanted to be here in this moment with this surprising man. "It's just something I've always had a knack for, honed by my childhood and my mother's hustles, but that is a story that I have no interest in talking about tonight."
Walter's natural curiosity was piqued, but he could tell by her tone that the subject was off-limits. He had no interest in upsetting her any further than her dinner companion already had, so he kept his mouth shut as she continued speaking.
"I could tell the moment I laid eyes on you that you were an honorable and honest man. But it's something more than that, something I can't even explain in a way that makes sense, even to my own mind." Paige's finger worried at a loose thread on the hem of her t-shirt as she continued shyly. "The reason I threw myself at you and sobbed my heart out seconds after we met was even in that short space of time, I already felt like I knew you. That I could t-trust you. Meeting you felt more like seeing a dear friend again after a long separation than a first encounter. I'm sorry, I know it sounds crazy," Paige apologized, afraid she had said too much, she had been too honest.
Walter compared her words to his own assessment of the situation. He marveled at the ease with which she had articulated her feelings and how closely they matched his own. "No, I mean yes, I mean, it does sound unusual, but I feel the same way."
Paige grinned in relief as Walter reached over and stilled her nervous hand as he took it in his. They rode in silence for a few minutes, Walter relishing the sensation of her soft skin touching his. Finally, he spoke again. "Do you want to know where we're going?"
Paige squeezed his fingers affectionately. "No, I don't think I want to. Surprise me. This entire day has been full of unexpected turns and I think I may be looking forward to this one most of all." Paige smiled a little to herself and placed her free hand on her lower abdomen.
Walter nodded, this woman beside him kept surprising him in the best way possible. "Do you mind if I ask what other astonishing events happened to you today?"
Paige looked over at Walter as her hand moved quickly away from her stomach, and readjusted her seatbelt as if she hadn't just been cradling her belly moments before. She saw no judgment in his eyes, just curiosity. "I had been feeling under the weather for a couple of weeks and went in for an appointment at the student health center today. That's where I learned I didn't have a stomach bug, but that I'm pregnant."
Walter squeezed her hand comfortingly. "That must have been quite unexpected."
"It was," she sighed. "That was the purpose of the dinner tonight. I thought it would be a celebration of our happy news. Instead, it turned into accusations of how I got pregnant on purpose to trap him and ruin his life."
"That's offensive!" Walter slammed his hand on the steering wheel, his breath coming in short bursts. Before speaking again, he reined in his anger with the other man. "What will you do now?" he asked with a softened tone.
"I'm not entirely sure. I hadn't even had the chance to think through what I was going to do when I thought Drew and I would be making plans together, let alone what I'll do now that it looks like I might be raising a baby on my own." Paige lapsed into silence momentarily as she got lost in her thoughts. "But the one thing I do know is how determined I am to be a great mom to this baby, regardless of anything or anyone else."
"I have no doubt you will be an amazing mom. I can already see how much you love him or her already."
Paige scooted a little closer to Walter, mentally cursing the console separating them, and lay her head on his shoulder. Walter was surprised by her action, but quickly relaxed into the sensation, resting his cheek on her soft hair. He inhaled the scent of her, intoxicated by her nearness and the scent of orange blossom and jasmine coming from her hair. Paige sighed contentedly, rubbing her abdomen and talking to it softly. Unfortunately, the position was not comfortable for long, and soon Walter and Paige both sat up straight again, though he still didn't release her hand. The city flew by as Walter drove, Paige staring out the window into the night, lost in her thoughts. Her thoughts moved from her unborn baby to the man who had rescued her earlier that evening. Such happiness couldn't be contained inside her body and Paige began singing quietly to herself.
"Music?" Walter offered. "It's just an old AM radio, factory installed, but it gets great reception and there are a few stations around here. You might find something you like to sing to."
Paige blushed at his suggestion. She hadn't even realized that she had been singing out loud. But Walter hadn't complained and even suggested that she continue. So unlike Drew, she mused, who was not a fan of her impromptu radio singalongs. Paige clicked the radio on and moved the dial for a few moments before stopping on an oldies station that was playing a familiar romantic duet she knew well. Catching the familiar melody, Paige began singing along. Right from the start, I gave you my heart…
Walter marveled at the purity and beauty of her voice as she sang along with the catchy tune. He'd never heard it before and didn't care too much for music generally, but at that moment, this song, whatever it was, instantly became his favorite. He took note of the lyrics to ask Megan about later. As the song ended and another began, and Paige continued singing, a new plan formed in Walter's mind. Though he had originally planned to take Paige to Griffith Observatory to look at the stars, he suddenly had a better idea, one that would be perfect for Paige and her love of music. Instead of continuing on their way toward the park, Walter turned north on the 101. Only a few minutes later, he pulled the beat-up old car into the deserted parking lot at a classic Los Angeles landmark, the Hollywood Bowl.
Paige looked around, confused, as Walter stopped the engine. "Walter, what are we doing here? There's no concert going on tonight is there?"
"No, no concert," he reassured her. "I do have an idea, but I need to check to make sure it will work. Give me a second," he stepped out of the car and walked a few paces in front of it as he pulled out his cell phone and quickly dialed a number, Paige watching him closely the entire time. After a few moments of speaking with whoever was on the other end, he smiled and flashed her a thumbs up as he closed his flip phone and came to the passenger side door. He opened her door. "All set." He took her hand and escorted her toward the back gate. Once there, he stopped at the locking mechanism and typed in a security code. The gate unlocked itself with a click and Walter pulled it open. "After you, Miss Dineen," he encouraged her with a slight bow.
"Don't mind if I do," Paige giggled in delight as she walked past him and entered the backstage area of the amphitheater. Walter followed close behind pulling the gate closed and securely locking it once again. Together they walked through the backstage area and out onto the main stage. This is amazing!" she breathed as she surveyed the rows and rows of seats in front of her. "What are we doing here, Walter? Is this even legal?"
Walter's heart surged at her obvious delight. He had made the right choice bringing her here. "I'm here to listen to the musical stylings of the beautiful and talented Paige Dineen." He gestured to a gleaming grand piano that had been placed center stage before turning and making his way slowly backward toward steps that led into the audience. "Completely legal? Probably not," Walter admitted. "But I do have permission from Renzo, head of the security crew, to be here. I updated some of the software on the sound system a few months back and he found me more tolerable than most. He enjoyed watching me work and asked surprisingly intelligent questions about the upgrade. So when I called tonight and asked if we could use it for an hour or two he agreed to give me the gate code and let us in instead of running the risk of me breaking in."
"Which is obviously what you would have done if he hadn't given you permission, just to show me a good time," Paige marveled.
Walter's eyes darted away from Paige in embarrassment at her correct assessment of his willingness to give her anything she desired. Flouting the law would just have been a bonus. He made a noise of discomfort in the back of his throat and rubbed the back of his neck absentmindedly as his discomfort faded after a few moments. "Nothing is going on here tonight and as long as we're gone before the security shift change at 2 AM, we're fine. We just need to leave everything as we found it. Fortunately for my plan, a famous music producer and composer is giving a concert tomorrow night. His personal piano was delivered and tuned today. Perfect timing for us."
Paige walked toward the gorgeous instrument and opened the keyboard lid. Her breath caught as she surveyed the gleaming keys. She turned to look at him as if to reassure herself that it was real.
He nodded encouragingly. "I assume you play." Paige nodded. Satisfied, Walter turned and climbed down the stage's steps and took a seat in the center of the first row, eyes meeting Paige's expectantly.
After a moment, Paige managed to swallow her nerves and sit at the piano. She ran her fingers gently over the exquisite keys before pressing a middle C that rang out in the night with a clarity and richness of tone that she had never heard from any piano she had played before. The sound from the instrument gave her chills. She looked over at Walter as she played a simple chord progression and her nerves calmed. Music always did that for her. Music and now the liquid brown depths of Walter O'Brien's eyes.
Walter's enthusiasm for the adventure was contagious, and Paige relaxed into her role as Hollywood Bowl concert headliner and world-famous chanteuse. She adjusted the microphone so it sat comfortably near her while still giving her room to move as her fingers flew over the keys. Paige locked eyes with Walter, the man who was giving her an evening she would never forget as casually as he had paid for her dinner after Drew had disappeared. No one had ever treated her this well in her entire life, and certainly not without expecting something in return.
Shaking off any further distractions, Paige committed completely to her performance. "Any requests from the audience?"
"Something that makes you feel alive, something that makes your heart soar when you sing," Walter called out before clapping his hand over his mouth in surprise. Where had such emotional sentiments come from? She had truly bewitched him.
Paige smiled as her fingers moved into a different chord pattern. "There's something of a poet in the audience tonight." Walter blushed with embarrassment as she spoke. "I know just the thing." Paige launched into a medley of her favorites, of music that did indeed make her heart soar.
Paige played music she had sung to herself as a child alone in the darkness of her room when she was supposed to be asleep. Songs she had sung with her father on car trips. The music she and her friends had danced to at sleepovers, while posters of the attractive boys who sang those songs graced their bedroom walls. Music for both her fear and her excitement over the surprise gift life had handed her and her conflicted feelings for Drew. Music of hope for the future and the possibilities of what was to come. Lullabies she would sing for her future child. For well over an hour, music flowed out of Paige's soul as her voice and the piano rang out through the empty venue, Walter clapping and cheering the entire time.
When the last note faded away, fingers still resting on the keys, she dropped her head spent, silent tears of joy and sorrow and fear and longing flowing down her cheeks. For just a moment, everything in the theater was still.
Then Walter jumped to his feet and hurried up on the stage toward her. "That was…I-I have no words. I never knew… I never knew music could elicit emotions like that b-before. Thank you for sharing that with me."
Slowly Paige stood up from the piano as she closed the lid on the keyboard and returned the microphone to its original position. Then she stepped out from behind the bench and stood mere inches from Walter. They were so close he could see the ring of a darker shade of brown that surrounded the lighter brown of the rest of her irises. Without hesitation, she put her hands on his shoulders and pressed her lips to his. Walter stiffened at first, his experience with women was limited and he worried that his technique would be inadequate to convey the depth of his emotion for her. Surprisingly instinct took over and he returned her kiss, his hands finding their way to rest easily on her hips. Paige relaxed into him as he pulled her closer and he deepened the kiss.
After the space of several heartbeats, Paige reluctantly pulled away, her hands clutched at her sides. "Thank you for this, Walter. Thank you for this entire evening. I needed this more than even I knew. Thank you."
Walter removed his hands from her hips as she took another step back. "For you, Paige, anything."
The raw honesty in his voice nearly undid her. Biting her lip, she warred with herself for a moment. It would be easy, so easy to let herself fall in love with this man, to be loved by him. To let this moment last, let it lead to other moments. The man standing in front of her made her feel things that she had never felt before. With him, she felt safe, cherished, adored, protected.
If it was only herself she had to consider, she would have jumped headfirst into those feelings and never looked back. But she didn't have that luxury any longer, to consider only herself. There was another tiny life in the world she needed to take into account. She had to think about what was best for her future child. And that meant going home, back to her old life, back to trying again with Drew.
Paige turned toward the back of the stage. "I'd like you to take me home now. I'm ready."
Walter blinked, stunned. He felt as if he'd just been punched in the gut. His mind ran through dozens of possible reasons for Paige's actions. None of them made any sense to him. But he was nothing if not practiced in the art of moving through confusing interactions with humans as if he weren't affected. "Of course," he replied. "I'll take you home right away."
Walter took Paige's hand in his and led her toward the gate once again. Paige felt the tension radiating off him, every muscle in his body stretched tight. Paige sighed, it looked like she'd hurt more than herself with her request.
They walked slowly back to Walter's car. Once he started the engine, Paige gave him the address of her sorority house, located just a block from the main UCLA campus, and he thanked her for the information. They rode through the night in silence, Paige biting her lip to keep herself from taking it all back. To stop herself from begging him to take her anywhere else but back to her old life, the life she had loved with all of her heart only a few hours before.
Author's Note:
Now that you've likely thrown the device you are reading this on across the room, pick it up, make sure it's still functional, and read this little note I've written for you.
I love Waige fluff to the bottom of my little made-of-pink-cotton-candy-and-rainbows heart. It's the thing I most enjoy reading. It's the thing I most want to write most of the time. Unfortunately, if you've read many of my other stories, you will find I don't write much of it. Despite my best efforts, my stories often seem to take an 'it's complicated' turn. The best ending I can usually come up with is satisfying. Ugh! I kind of want to gag on that word because more than anything I wanted a happily ever after for this version of Walter and Paige.
Before you write me and this story off completely, ask yourself if the Paige we know and love from four seasons of Scorpion would have done anything differently. In my heart of hearts, I know that Paige would have stopped at nothing to try to give her baby the best shot at a family with his mother and his father.
But, dear readers, I give you this glimmer of hope. A reader asked me an interesting question after reading the first two chapters about how this pre-Scorpion pilot meeting would affect their encounter in the diner. I let that rattle around in my brain for a couple of days because I started wondering about it too. And I added one more scene to the upcoming final chapter of this story that will hopefully restore your faith in my ability not to completely break your heart, but to give Walter and Paige a shot at a good old-fashioned, ride-off-into-the-sunset-together kind of ending.