Five Times Walter & Paige Almost Kissed (And One Time They Did) #2

WriterFreak001

Summary: Part 2. Paige is mesmerized by the way Walter is looking at her, and she can't help but yearn for more… Takes place during the events of Episode 1.12 Dominoes. A "5 Things" Fic collaboration by WeBuiltThePyramids, WriterFreak001 and FoxPhile. Cover art designed by WriterFreak001.

Author's Note: This fic is part of a collaboration between WeBuiltThePyramids, WriterFreak001 and FoxPhile, inspired by discussions on the Scorpion FanFiction thread on FanForum. Each Author has written two stories that, together, make up the collection. The stories are best read in order. You can find information on the next story in the series at the end of this chapter. Links to all the stories can be found on my profile page.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Scorpion (CBS). (Though, I wish I did).

Chapter 2 – Dominoes

"All I want is you for Christmas." – Old 97's "Here It Is Christmas Time"

It had been a while since he had stared at her with such intensity. He was smiling, truly smiling, at her, and the curve of his lips…, the happiness in his eyes…, the lilt in his quiet laugh could have been from all of the excitement… all of the festivities… the dinner… the gaudy, green, light-up sweater… the fake snow as it flurried everywhere…, but Paige could not explain the gentle fire flickering in his eyes.

She didn't know if it was okay to try…, or if he was ready for her to understand it… assess it… comprehend it, and yet, here she was, staring at him with the same amount of passion, wanting, yearning, needing to know the story masked by the flaming intensity emanating from his gaze.

His smile had died down some, but his eyes never left hers, and he just stood there, staring at her as though nothing else existed. (Not even math and science, chess and telescopes, nor anything else Walter O'Brien usually cared about seemed more important than her in that moment.) She could feel the slow burn radiating from the way his eyes met hers, and she couldn't deny she wanted more. She wanted so much to properly thank him for everything he had ever done for her and for her son. She wanted to approach him slowly, one step at a time, pausing with each breath, until she was in front of him, weaving her fingers through his thick curls… testing how long he could stare at her without looking away… without turning away… without running away….

But…

She wondered long she could handle him staring at her so intently before she was the one who looked away… who turned away…who ran away…

After all, she had been known to flee from great things, too….

But not because of Ralph or because she had other responsibilities in her life…. She had been burned one too many times, and she was afraid of being burned again… afraid of feeling again…. She was afraid of falling in love with a man who might not love her in return.

Before she met Walter, she had so often distanced herself from the men in her life because her heart couldn't take any more heartbreak. The pain of being scorched by the man she once loved never really went away. (And she didn't think it ever would….)

Through the years, though, she had grown stronger as an individual woman, focusing all of her time and energy being there for Ralph, loving Ralph, and mothering Ralph.

For the longest time, after she realized her ex wasn't coming back, she didn't think she needed a man to take care of her. She didn't think Ralph needed a father figure in his life because he had her, and she was his world as he was hers. She thought they would be okay…, and for a time, they were. Things were hard, and there were times when she spent nights crying her eyes out, but she had her baby boy, and he had her, and she believed, somehow, their lives would be perfectly fine. But she didn't want fine; she wanted more. She wanted security and financial stability, but at the end of the day, Ralph was what mostly mattered to her so she would give him everything – anything she could afford because she loved him with all of her heart and believed he deserved to have what he wanted.

(He rarely ever wanted much, but when he did want something, she would try her damnedest to give it to him).

(Because seeing him smile, seeing her precious son smile when he barely spoke a word would always make her day (and sometimes make her cry), but at least he smiled at her when she made him feel special).

And Ralph was special.

In more ways than she had ever known.

Their lives had been okay.

Simple, but okay.

And then, out of nowhere, a strange, handsome man, who had claimed he was infinitely smarter than Albert Einstein (which, at first, she thought he was just being overly cocky), told her Ralph was a genius, both her mind and heart were blown away. Remembering those years of thinking her son was challenged… that her son would never fully connect with her… washed over her all at once, and she wanted to cry her eyes out.

Her son was a genius. A genius. She couldn't be more proud of him.

And that man – Walter O'Brien – had hired her and promised to help her connect with her son, guaranteeing a better future for both of them.

And their future was better. Infinitely better. And she couldn't ask for more. Walter had given her and Ralph so much already, but… as he continued watching her, smiling at her, staring at her through the flurries of snow, she couldn't help but want more… with him.

But beyond her physical attraction to him, she wasn't entirely sure what that 'more' was. She just knew she wanted it… craved it… desired it.

Whatever it was… or could potentially be.

Walter O'Brien was a great man who adored her son, and though she felt a strong connection with him… possessed a strange longing for him…, she didn't feel worthy of him. There was a big world out there, and the world needed the focus and the undivided attention of Walter O'Brien much more than she did, but her unworthiness still didn't stop her from wanting… yearning… craving to touch him… run her fingers through his curls, hold him and kiss him and become much more with him.

And that was what hurt the most.

But despite her anguish, she couldn't help but want him to always look at her like the way he was staring at her now.

Was it such a bad thing to want to be wanted?

Even by a man she knew she could never be with?

Hell if she knew.

Hell if he did, either.

Paige continued to give Walter her undivided attention; she tried reading him, studying him, figuring him out, piecing his mind together, and at most times, she was actually pretty great at it, but tonight… right now… she couldn't read beyond the spark in his eyes.

And that, for some unknowable reason, bothered her greatly.

Needing to know… needing to understand... needing to hear his gentle voice accompany those beautiful piercing, brown eyes, she asked the one question she knew he would always answer and never completely deny the truth. "What?"

She was smiling at him casually, never looking away, and he took his time answering her question deliberately. "Nothing," he shook his head slowly. "Just, um…," he paused, still holding her gaze, and grinned softly. "Merry Christmas."

She couldn't help but smile wider. His smile, his true smile, was a beautiful blessing. A present she often coveted, and she always, always, always smiled back, wanting him to know how much she cherished it increasingly more whenever he would smile at her.

And as he lit the fire inside of her…, as he silently appreciated her… and made her feel valued, and treasured, and wanted in so many different ways, she suppressed the urge to jump him and kiss him and clutch those goddamn curls, realizing, in his eyes, in his beautiful, dark brown, amorous eyes, that she was far more worthy to him than she ever realized.

And he didn't need to say it nor do anything else to prove it.

His eyes… his gaze… his lips… his smile validated everything.

Perhaps it wasn't a bad thing. Perhaps the desire of wanting to be desired by Walter O'Brien wasn't as wrong as she thought.

Maybe someday, if they had a chance, they could make things work.

But for now, she was perfectly fine waiting.

He was worth it.

…

"Merry Christmas."

End Note: Be sure to check out the next story in this series, written by the talented WeBuiltThePyramids. Links to all the stories can be found on my profile page. Enjoy! :D

(PS. Reviews are welcome! :D)