Title: Observational Study

Summary: Walter finally decides to take Paige out on a date. He takes Toby's advice on how to go about it.

Authors Note: This is the last chapter of this story. I hope everyone has enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed and followed and favorited. The response has been wonderful and has really inspired me to keep writing /scorpion.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own /scorpion. This story is for entertainment purposes only. I make no profit and no infringement of copyrights is intended.

Chapter 6

You can't blame gravity for falling in love. ~Albert Einstein

Walter led Paige around the promenade to the back entrance into the Observatory. Passing through an exhibit room, they came to the central rotunda where Paige spied the rest rooms. Walter decided a quick stop would be wise before they started their program, but when he came out, Paige was not around. He stood watching the pendulum for a few minutes before he heard her heels clicking against the tiled floor.

"What's so fascinating?" she asked as she came up beside him.

"Oh… the pendulum. Its swing remains constant while the earth turns below it." He pointed to one edge of the well. "You can see that every few minutes, it knocks over one of those pegs because the pegs are moving with the rotation of the earth."

"Huh," she remarked. "Uh-oh, there goes another peg!" She pointed excitedly as the pendulum neatly knocked over the next peg in the circle. "I guess it takes 24 hours for it to get all the way around, then."

"Yep," Walter beamed. "The pendulum is kept in motion by a magnet."

They watched the pendulum for a few more moments before continuing up a short stairway into a gallery lined with photos of planets and deep space objects.

"They really are beautiful, you know," Paige commented while examining a print of nebula. "If you didn't know better, you might think these were abstract art."

"I think you're right," Walter teased. "I made something that looked a bit like that on the Paint-a-Whirl machine at the Kilkenny Fair when I was about 8 years old."

Paige turned to playfully swat him on the shoulder, then kissed the spot and laid her head against it. "You've never really said much about your childhood in Ireland. Sometime, when you're comfortable, I'd like to hear more about it. If I'm not mistaken, I think I detected a teeny bit of Irish accent there."

"I suppose it does come back a bit when I think about…about home," Walter mused.

"Do you still think of Ireland as home?"

"No, not at all, really," he responded as he turned them around and led the way to the Planetarium entrance. "I stayed with my parents for a few months after Cabe found me, but it became too difficult, even with the computer he provided, to transmit my code securely. Back in the Nineties internet service on a small farm outside of Callan was not the best. By the time I was thirteen, Cabe brought me to the States and arranged for me to stay with the family of another FBI agent. One of the first things I was determined to do was adopt an American accent. I found that, although people thought my accent was "cute" or "charming", they also somehow thought it meant I was stupid."

Paige was completely silent. Looking over at her, Walter thought he saw sorrow in her eyes for the young boy he'd been. He wasn't completely sure. He still had difficulty reading emotions from facial expressions, but he was better at it with Paige than with most. "Don't be upset," he said. "It doesn't bother me. Within a few months you would never have known I wasn't born right here in the USA. By that time most of the people I was around were the government people I was working with, and they were not under any misconception about my intelligence."

"Didn't you go to school?" she wondered.

"No. It would have been inefficient. The government paid for me to study independently with professors from various universities. I got an excellent education, although I don't actually even have a high school degree."

They entered the planetarium, and were greeted by the presenter, who urged them to take a seat, reminding them that they would be in near total darkness once the show started. With their pick of locations, Paige suggested they sit along one of the aisles, four rows up from the center. Walter agreed and they took their seats. Within moments the lights dimmed, then went out, and a pale light glowed from all around the circular wall. The presenter explained that the light represented the horizon, and they would be viewing the sky as it would appear from Los Angeles if there were absolutely no city lights to disrupt the starlight. He joked that their only hope of seeing the sky this way outside the Planetarium would be a total blackout of the entire Southwest and Pacific Coast power grid. He went on to explain a bit about the projector and other equipment used to create the show.

Stars began to twinkle along the horizon and overhead.

"Over to the right," the presenter began, "you can see the constellation of Perseus."

Lines appeared between the stars and were overlaid by the figure of the Greek Hero, holding the head of a woman, snakes writhing up his arm.

"Perseus was in love with Andromeda, the beautiful daughter of the Ethiopian king and his wife, Cassiopeia. Cassiopeia was very proud and boasted that her daughter was more beautiful than the Nereids, the sea nymphs. This angered Poseidon, the god of the sea, and so Andromeda was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to the sea monster Poseidon sent to punish the Ethiopian king and queen. Perseus killed the Medusa and used her head to turn the monster to stone and rescue his beloved princess."

More lines appeared, with overlaid figures.

"Andromeda is located just below Perseus, while Cassiopeia is off to the side, probably a good position for a meddling mother-in-law."

Paige laughed and Walter felt her take his arm and lean her head against his shoulder. He smiled, glad she was enjoying the show he'd designed with the Planetarium's director.

Suddenly the sky overhead appeared to spin and a new set of lines appeared, superimposed with the figure of a harp.

"Lyra appears on the other side. This constellation represents the lyre played by Orpheus, who sought to bring his lady love, Eurydice, back from the land of the dead."

The presenter continued, telling stories of various constellations, mostly related to mythological tales of love and adventure.

"Walter," Paige whispered. "This guy is such a romantic. Every constellation he's talking about has some great love story behind it."

"Well, it's not him, actually, it's Sly," Walter responded. He wondered if Paige could sense the blush that was warming his cheeks. "Do you remember that he created a projector to display the stars on the ceiling of Megan's room at the hospital?" He felt, rather than saw her nod. "Sly told me that they would sit at night and she would tell him about all the love stories up in the sky. It seemed…. It seemed the sort of thing that might be nice for a… for a date."

"Walter," Paige murmured. "In future I suggest you should pay more attention to Sly's dating advice and less to Toby's."

Walter felt Paige snuggle closer, her arm wrapped around his. Their fingers were entwined. He wasn't entirely sure when that happened, but he found it pleasant. He was annoyed with the armrest between their seats. He would have liked a greater degree of body contact than seemed possible.

As the presenter continued with his stories, Walter felt his arm being raised. What in the world was Paige doing? Before he could ask, she had lifted his arm up and draped it across her shoulders. Then she leaned over so that her shoulder was nestled under his arm and her head was lying on his shoulder. He understood they had been thinking along the same lines and he tightened his arm to bring her just a bit closer.

Acting on a sudden impulse, Walter turned and quickly placed a light kiss on Paige's head, breathing in the light almond scent of her hair. He was a bit amazed at himself. This was only their first date and he'd already kissed Paige more often in one evening than he'd kissed any one woman before her, other than his sister, although he didn't think his sister really counted in this context.

While he was pondering this he realized that Paige was returning the gesture, only she wasn't stopping with a single kiss. She started by kissing his neck, then working her way up his chin to his ear, which she licked teasingly. He wondered what was causing this sudden surge of libido in two people who, prior to this evening, had gone months or years with little or no such activity. He realized the darkened room gave a sense of privacy, but there was still the presenter to be considered.

Then he felt Paige's hand on his thigh. She was gently squeezing just above his knee and working her way up when she discovered the small hole he'd made in the seam of his pants when he'd pulled the thread earlier. The hole was just big enough for her to insert a finger and begin lightly stroking the skin of his inner thigh while she continued to delight his ear with her tongue. He squirmed. He needed to find a way to remind this woman that they were not alone and this sort of thing was not appropriate in public. But it felt SO good. He really didn't want her to stop. In fact, it was all he could do not to wrap his other arm around her and drag her across the armrest into his lap. Then he would start his own exploration of her chin and her throat and perhaps even work a few of the buttons on her blouse open and nuzzle his way down to her…

Walter jerked back, dislodging Paige's teeth from his earlobe and pushing her back towards her seat.

"I'm…I'm sorry. Was that too much? Are you okay?"

He heard the questions as if he'd been asleep and was just coming awake.

"It's fine. I'm fine. I… Paige, how is it that we have barely touched each other for all these months and now suddenly just because we're on a date we can't seem to control ourselves. I was about to… well… you don't want to know what I was thinking."

Paige laughed; the sound coming from just inches away. She must have moved back to her former position. "I think I'd be very interested in what you were thinking," she breathed. "As to the other, we've kept these feelings bottled up for a long time. It's not surprising that things get a little crazy once they finally get out."

Walter's eyes were adjusting to the dark, so he knew when Paige pulled away and sat straight in her seat. She reached over and took his hand, clasping it gently on top of the armrest.

"You're right, though, we really shouldn't be going at each other like this here. It's not like we won't have plenty of time to… explore that part of our new situation." She sighed dramatically and laid her head back on his shoulder. "I promise to control myself if you will."

Walter turned and once again kissed the top of her head. "I'll do my best," he promised.

After the Planetarium show, the director came down and led the pair up to the Observatory, where they spent an hour looking at real stars. Paige was almost sorry that Ralph wasn't with them, and hoped that Walter might be able to arrange another night when all three of them could enjoy this special treat.

On the drive home, Paige asked several questions about the objects they'd viewed. She wanted to be sure she would have plenty of details to tell Ralph about her evening at the Observatory. She also wondered how her son would react to the change in her relationship with Walter. She didn't think he'd be upset about it. On the contrary, she suspected Ralph might make premature assumptions about just how far the relationship might go and how fast. She knew Walter was a surrogate father for her son; she needed to be sure Ralph didn't immediately assume that now that she was dating Walter he would become the boy's father in fact. Drew would never give up his parental rights so even if their relationship eventually became formalized, there was little or no chance that Walter could become Ralph's father legally, assuming he would even want that.

As Walter pulled into the entrance to her condominium complex, Paige gathered her things, making sure that her silver scorpion cup was tucked safely in her purse. Walter's was in the glove compartment and she made a note to check and be sure he brought it inside when she got to the garage the next morning.

They were proceeding slowly past the rows of cars; Walter was turning his head repeatedly.

"Walter, you can just drop me off like you usually do. You don't have to park. It's nearly impossible to find a spot this late on a weeknight."

"But I…" he began, then he quickly turned the steering wheel and glided the Malibu into an empty space. "I um… I want to at least see you to your door. I'm supposed to do that if we're on a date. And besides…I… I would like to… to maybe kiss you goodnight."

The genius ducked his head and Paige marveled that a thirty something man could seem so endearingly innocent – especially after what had transpired on the promenade. In the months that he'd persistently resisted, she'd wondered if his aversion might be linked to some traumatic experience, or that he simply did not feel attraction or desire. She was glad he'd explained things to her, and equally glad to discover that his libido, although it might have been dormant for a long time, was apparently alive and kicking.

"Oh… okay," she agreed and proceeded to exit the car. They met on the walkway and he took her hand, walking slowly toward the door to her building.

Paige realized they would need to proceed carefully, being sure to communicate often and frankly. She also knew she would need to be sensitive to any sign that he might be overstimulated, and not take any move on his part to pull away or slow down as a slight to her personally. It wouldn't be easy, but she felt sure it would be worth it. She recalled the day in the diner when they first met. There had been a moment when she realized he was staring at her. She'd been explaining to her boss why Ralph liked to play with the condiments. She'd glanced up, and although he'd looked away immediately she knew he'd been watching. She'd also been struck by a sudden feeling that this man, whom she barely knew, was going to play a major part in her life. She still didn't understand where that feeling came from, but it had been undeniably true.

Walter followed her up the stairs to the second floor. Paige stopped in front of her door, and turned. It seemed important to Walter that the social conventions of first dates be observed, so she smiled and told him "I had a wonderful time tonight, Walter. I really enjoyed myself. Thank you for a lovely date." Then she got her keys out and turned to unlock the door.

Walter touched her hand to stop her. "I um… just in case Ralph is still awake I should… um…" And then his lips were on hers and his arms were around her. She nearly dropped the keys as he drew her to him, pressing her body close to his. She groaned with frustration. One hand was holding her purse and she had her keys in the other and neither could reach up to grip his head or finger his hair. She couldn't even wrap her arms around him properly or she would dig the keys into his back.

"Mmm…Mwaa…Walt…" she mumbled against his mouth. Walter pulled back, but kept his arms firmly in place.

"Hmmm?" he asked.

"Ralph is… Ralph isn't here," she blurted out. "He's over at Tyler's tonight. They're having a sleepover."

Walter seemed confused. "Ralph isn't home?" he asked, as if that was an incomprehensible development.

Paige shook her head. "No, he's not. I don't usually allow him to have sleepovers on a school night, but its Tyler's birthday, so I figured I could make an exception. After you told me about this astronomy idea, it sort of worked out well, since I didn't know how late we might be out."

Walter relaxed a bit, but kept his arms loosely on Paige's hips. "So… you'll be here…by yourself… all night?" he asked.

Paige smiled. It might take him awhile, but it seemed that Walter was learning. "I will be… unless you'd like to come in for a while… or… for the night," she suggested, hoping she wasn't moving things too fast.

Walter smiled. Then he grinned.

Paige unlocked the door and walked inside, Walter O'Brien following close behind.

THE END

May 1, 2016