WriterFreak001:

I have changed this story to M because of the ending so be sure to change your Rating filters. ;)

This installment is the last of this story, and it will be a short chapter. Enjoy none the less. This part of the story will take place at the end of 2x12 after Megan's tribute, but let's pretend Linda and Tim never existed in this Scorpion universe so that this story can end the way I want it to end. ;)

Once Before

Written by WriterFreak001

Part 3

~ SCORPION ~

Long after everyone else left the beach for the night, Ralph was curled up in the sand, his head resting against his crossed arms, sleeping soundly, while Paige was still standing next to Walter, still holding his hand and still rubbing her thumb over his knuckle. Somewhere along the night after the last few went home, Paige had leaned closer to Walter and had pressed her cheek against his arm, letting the comfortable silence between them speak for her as she closed her eyes. Walter, now many minutes later, still couldn't believe how close she was to him, and though he was only beginning to understand the depth of his feelings for her, he wanted her incredibly closer in every sense of the word; physically, emotionally, mentally – he wanted it all, but… did she?

He couldn't bear the thought of rejection, and Paige… rejecting him… was something he didn't think he'd be able to survive. She was everything to him.

In so many ways, Paige was Walter's foundation. He often sought her strength, her determination, her loyalty and her trust whenever he was lost, and whenever he felt alone, even if he couldn't find the strength to go to her, she knew exactly what he needed and was always there, comforting him any way she could. He was beginning to understand the concept of a soulmate because she was it for him, and he strongly believed he was ready to change his views of the world and consider revisiting his decision to 'let things lie' between him and Paige. He thought he could handle admiring her from afar, but he was in too deep now, and she was his only salvation.

"What you did for Megan…," Paige suddenly muttered as she touched her nose to his arm, "That was a very beautiful sentiment, Walter," she smiled as he found her eyes glimmering at him. "Megan must be smiling from the stars by now."

Walter, even though he didn't believe in an afterlife, simply nodded and slowly grinned, squeezing her fingers gently. "Yeah," he whispered, his breath tickling her ear, "She always loved the stars…." He watched Paige marvel at the stars in the sky, but when she didn't say anything, Walter spoke again. "About the time she started losing mobility in her legs, she asked me to take her somewhere to go stargazing. Understanding the appeal, I agreed and took her to Griffith Observatory for a private viewing in the lawn, and once I had finished setting up the telescope, I couldn't help but wonder why Megan loved the stars so much. I mean, for me, it was astronomy – math and science, but for her, I knew it had to be a different reason because Megan hated science."

Paige glanced at him with curiosity. "Did you ask her?"

The genius nodded but didn't look at the liaison when he answered. "Her response was… not what I was expecting, and though her logic was scientifically incorrect, I wasn't, strangely, averse to her answer."

"And what did she say?"

Walter shrugged, watching Paige mindlessly curl a strand of hair behind her ear. "Contrary to scientific discovery, she loved them because they were always there, unchanging and constant. When she started losing her mobility, her condition became very real to her, and every day gone was another day closer to…," he paused and inhaled a shaky breath before letting it out slowly, "But no matter how much her body was changing, no matter how fast her condition was progressing, the stars comforted her because," his chest began to feel heavy, "because they reminded her of me…."

Paige's nose burned, and her eyes stung with tears as Walter gave her a sad smile, tears threatening to fall from his own eyes, but he didn't let them as he sniffed and then squeezed Paige's hand tighter. The liaison found herself pressing her lips to Walter's arm as another source of comfort, and she leaned as close as she could to him to give him as much emotional support as she could (even if he didn't think he needed it). She inhaled deeply and then offered him a small smile before saying, "You were a good brother to her, Walter. Don't ever think otherwise."

Walter was silent for a moment and then chuckled lightly, in desperate need to shift the focus on the conversation. "She, uh, she often asked about you just about every time I visited."

"Oh? She did?"

The genius nodded. "She really seemed to like you – which, of course, is unsurprising because, well," Walter flushed as he caught Paige cocking an eyebrow and smirking at him, "um," he cleared his throat, "you're you…. W-What's not to like?" Walter waited a beat, and when he saw Paige's eyes light up, he continued. "A-Anyway, she kept saying that she approved of you and that you had her blessing… though she didn't elaborate as to what she was referring to…." Walter clapped his hands and rubbed them slowly together as a small smile colored his lips. "You, uh… You know anything about what she might have meant?"

Paige quickly schooled her features to hide her rosy cheeks before answering Walter's question. "Nope," she shook her head and feigned absolute cluelessness, "No idea."

"Oh," Walter mumbled to himself and frowned when he realized Paige's fingers were slipping away from his. On impulse, before he lost her warmth altogether, he reached out for her hand and clasped his around hers again, forcing her to turn around and give him a surprising stare. But before he tried explaining to her why he desperately needed to keep holding her hand, she somehow understood, and a beautiful smile colored her rosy lips. The genius straightened his back and pursed his lips as he suppressed his desire to kiss her again. "M-Maybe we should start heading back?"

The woman nodded in agreement and stepped closer to him. "Yeah, good idea. Even though the team's gone home," she pulled out her phone to check the time, "it's still early enough in the night to have that Christmas party I spent weeks planning."

"With just the three of us?" Walter lifted an eyebrow as he directed his gaze towards the sleeping boy behind Paige.

"Sure, why not," Paige smiled with a shrug. "After all, I can't let all of that decorating go to waste, can I?"

The man shook his head. "Of course not."

"Then it's settled," Paige grinned ear to ear while squeezing Walter's hand tightly. "You pick up Ralph, and I'll go and get the car started. Deal?"

Walter nodded and smiled slowly. "Deal."

~ SCORPION ~

Though Ralph had only been able to stay up for another hour after returning to the garage to enjoy his favorite Christmas dessert his mother had slaved herself into making the night before, he was thoroughly pleased when Paige said he could open one of his gifts before going to bed. Of course he would choose the biggest box addressed to him from his mother.

Unable to lift the box by himself, Ralph looked to Walter for assistance, the older genius slipped off of the red sofa and helped the boy lift the heavy, rectangular box out from under the tree. Once it was placed on the floor, Ralph wasted no time at all ripping that sucker open, revealing a state of the art telescope to replace the one he lost on the train many months ago.

"Wow!" Ralph took a step back to marvel at the graphics on the box and then smiled excitedly. "How did you manage to get this model? It's not even on the market yet."

Paige, matching her little Ralphy's grin, exchanged a quick, endearing glance at Walter and giggled softly. "Let's just say," she returned her attention to her son and leaned towards him, "I have friends in high pla—Oomph!" The woman was pleasantly interrupted as her son threw his arms around her for a tight hug, something she hadn't received from him in a very long time. Her heart swelled as she wrapped her arms around her little boy, embracing him tightly, and when he eventually wiggled out of her arms, he whispered in her ear how much he loved her – another something she didn't receive too often, but damn did it feel good when she did. Ralph gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before climbing off of her and grinned, his dimples more present than usual. "Merry Christmas, Mom," he then turned towards his mentor. "Merry Christmas to you too, Walt."

"Merry Christmas, Ralph / baby," the genius and the liaison said in unison as Ralph wrapped his arms around his telescope box. Paige rose to her feet and walked up to her son, running her hands through his thick hair. "Okay, Ralphy. It's bed time. Say goodnight to Walter so we can get going."

Walter, suddenly alarmed, wasn't ready for Paige (and Ralph) to leave yet. He still wanted to give Paige her gift (one of many) tonight. "He can sleep in my bed… in the loft," he offered before he could stop himself. "It's late, and both of you are coming back in the morning anyway, so… it would be efficient if you just… stayed the night."

"Walter, we can't impose…," Paige replied, pressing her lips together as she picked up Ralph's telescope box.

"You're not!" He exclaimed louder than necessary. "I mean," he cleared his throat and scratched the back of his head, "you won't be… a-an imposition. B-Besides, R-Ralph's tired, a-and you're exhausted. Driving home would be reckless… Unless," he decided not to make her feel cornered, "if you want, I can take you back to your apartment…."

Paige looked at her son, and was taken aback by his pleading eyes. How could she say no to that? Turning to Walter, she rolled her eyes and smiled. "Well, okay. We'll stay."

For the second time that night, Ralph gave her another hug, almost toppling her over. Then, in a mad rush, he grabbed Walter's hand and tugged him towards the box in Paige's arms. "Help me take this upstairs," Ralph demanded in the politest voice he could offer late at night as he gazed at his mentor with pleading eyes, "And then tomorrow, before everyone gets here in the morning, can we build it together?"

Walter first looked at the boy's mother, and she nodded, still smiling as wide as ever. He then grinned back at Ralph and took the box from Paige before saying, "Sounds like a plan, buddy."

"Cool!" Ralph exclaimed before running up the stairs with Walter in tow. Paige, needing to make sure her son wouldn't forget to brush his teeth, wash his face and change his underwear, followed slowly, not being able to stop smiling up at her favorite pair of geniuses.

As she entered the loft, she half expected her son to start disassembling the box tonight, but the scene she found as she walked towards Walter's bed was much more welcoming and memorable. Ralph, by some Christmas miracle, was already in his blue, flannel PJs, waiting for Walter to prepare the bed. The older genius carefully peeled back the covers and stepped aside as Ralph climbed onto the mattress, and as Walter covered the boy and tucked him in, Paige's heart melted.

This man was truly the one for her.

Once her son was ready for bed, she walked up to him and gave him a brief kiss on the forehead before smoothing his hair to one side of his face. ""Did you brush your teeth?"

"Check," Ralph nodded.

"Wash your face?"

"Check."

"Change into clean underwear."

"Check," Ralph replied, giving her a thumb's up.

Paige beamed and kissed his nose. "That's my boy." She then kissed his forehead. "I love you, baby."

"Same," was all that he said with a quiet, tired voice before yawning, the exhaustion finally settling in. "Good night, Mom." The boy then turned towards Walter and yawned again. "Good night, Walt."

"Good night," Mother and mentor replied in unison before quietly exiting the bedroom. After they made their way back downstairs, both of them headed towards the tree. Paige picked up a thin, small box, and he dropped down to fetch a tiny box as well. Tonight would be the night he was going to tell her he remembered her from all those many years ago. He needed her to know; he needed her to see that their relationship – at least the beginning of their relationship – didn't start at the diner. Because, to be honest, ever since he met her at the bank when Ralph was a toddler, he had never stopped thinking of her.

The young mother and son he helped that night never left his mind, and he needed her to know that.

"Here," Paige bit her lip as she handed him a present. "I know it's not much, but trust me, I have more gifts for you, but I thought this was better given in private."

Walter carefully lifted the top of the white box to reveal a neatly folded piece of paper. Mindlessly placing down the lid on the coffee table, he strolled over to the couch as he unfolded it. And when Paige sat down beside him, nervously awaiting his response, he couldn't help but grin widely at her as he realized what he was holding.

"Is this… Real?"

"Well, it's a photocopy, but yeah," a smile colored Paige's lips. "It's real. As of last week, you are now officially Ralph's emergency contact in case I'm unable to be reached. Because of all of the dangerous cases lately, I figured it wouldn't hurt putting down another contact…."

"Wow," Walter was delightedly amazed. He held the document in his hands as though it could dissolve any moment and inhaled deeply as he tried to wrap his mind around the level of trust this woman had for him with her son. "This is…," he couldn't describe it, but he was greatly pleased. He grinned wider than he thought possible. "Thank you. Truly," he nodded, "This means a lot to me…, but…"

"But you want to know why I didn't put Drew's name down," Paige deduced, and he nodded. Paige gave him a small shrug and leaned back against the sofa as she crossed her arms in front of her. "I know Drew is Ralph's father, but I can't depend on him to always be there when he's needed. If something happened to Ralph, of course I would tell him, or at least try to tell him, but… he's constantly travelling. I needed to appoint someone I could trust completely with Ralph… Someone who was willing to drop everything and be there for him if necessary… And I trust you, Walter. Completely and absolutely, and I see the way you are with Ralph. You'd do anything for him, and that's… that's huge to a single mother like me." She paused and offered him an appreciating smile.

"I also needed someone who knew me well enough to make tough decisions for Ralph in case I wasn't able to…, and while we're on the subject," she hesitated for a moment as she licked her lips and, once again, curled that stubborn strand of hair behind her ear, "I'd like to make you my Medical Power of Attorney sometime in the near future. If we're going to continue to take potentially dangerous cases, then I need to be prepared in all facets, and, again, in the same respect, you're the only one I can trust to know what I want if it ever came down to me being unable to make conscious decisions about my health."

Walter was speechless, truly speechless, but after a moment of silence, he eventually said, "Okay." How could he argue with her on something so sensitive? He wanted to say 'no' and beg her not to think so negatively, but she was right. It was definitely important to cover all necessary bases, but first, he had to take care of a few things before filing the paperwork. Especially if said paperwork would spark suspicion within the USCIS department of Homeland. Not wanting to upset the woman next to him and definitely not wanting to tell her – yet – about that rather large setback, he simply smiled and said, "We'll file the paperwork soon, then."

"Great," Paige grinned to ease the tension, and then spotted the gift sitting on the opposite side of Walter. "Is that for me?"

"Oh! Um, yeah," Walter nodded swiftly as he reached over to the terribly wrapped box and placed it into her soft hands. "It's, uh, it's not really a conventional gift, but… I swear, there's context," Walter said as she ripped off the paper and popped off the box's lid. After placing down everything but a folded piece of paper down on the coffee table, she carefully unfolded the document and took a moment to figure out what she was looking at. The first thing she saw was a statement of an alarmingly high amount of money, just over a thousand dollars, paid to a bank she didn't recognize.

"What am I looking at?" Paige asked quietly as she searched the document for more clues, but before he could answer, she gasped rather loudly, and her eyes widened with recognition. February 27, 2009 – the very day a perfect stranger, who was unmistakably Walter O'Brien as she had discovered many years later, had generously given her two dollar bills to help out as best he could. With those two dollars, she was able to change her life and her son's life around and work towards making a small living, and then realization finally hit her. He was much more generous that night than she originally thought. After staring at the document for a few more minutes in silence, she lifted her eyes as they glimmered at Walter. "Is this… Is this saying that you were the anonymous benefactor who paid off my loans?"

Walter gulped, unsure how the rest of her reaction was going to be like. "Yes," he nodded. "I… I didn't like my coworker for turning you down, and, well, you know me… When I see a problem, I have to fix it. So I did, but since you didn't know who I was, I asked the banker if he could keep me anonymous," he paused when he saw her tears falling, "You're crying. Why are you crying? Was I wrong to help you out back then?"

Paige dabbed her eyes with tips of her fingers and let out a weak laugh. "I'm okay, Walter," she inhaled a deep breath, "This is just… all overwhelming information." She blew out a shaky breath and smiled at him, and Walter swore, she looked more beautiful to him than she did two seconds ago. "But… I didn't realize… I didn't know you had remembered… about the first time we actually met."

"I never forgot," Walter confessed, boldly taking her hand in his and squeezing it gently. "The way you looked at me when you saw me interacting with Ralph in the diner the day of our second encounter made it seem like you didn't recognize me…," he shrugged a little, "I guess I figured that if you did actually remember, you'd approach me and ask me about it."

"Ironically," Paige laughed heartily, "I thought the same thing."

Walter grinned so hard, his cheeks hurt, but he didn't even care. All he wanted to do was throw himself at the woman next to him and kiss her senselessly into the next morning, but he refrained himself by flexing his fingers. Instead, while still beaming at her, he said, "It's amazing, isn't it?"

Paige's eyebrows lifted. "Hm?"

"How our lives have been intertwined for much more than two years, not knowing we would be seeing each other again. When I first started going to the diner, I immediately recognized you, but I kept my distance because I didn't know if you had recognized me, but I'd be lying if I didn't think about our first encounter often after our next interaction. To be honest," Walter blushed deeply, "I, uh, I thought about you and Ralph a lot over the years, wondering how you were and if the two of you had made it out okay." The genius then chuckled. "Who knew I'd actually end up being the one to give you the financial security you were hoping for."

"Life is ironic that way, sometimes," Paige laughed quietly as she licked her lips. "So, not only did you give me a job, officially, but, indirectly, you're the reason I was able to get that waitressing job later that night."

That reminder made Walter smile even more. "And since you got that job, we were able to re-meet approximately five years later."

"Exactly," Paige mindlessly fluttered her eyes at him, still smiling.

"Exactly." Walter repeated, suddenly noticing how much closer Paige was to him. "I g-guess that's what you would call desti—"

He never got to finish his response as Paige carelessly interrupted him with her hands suddenly grabbing his face and slammed her mouth to his in a much unexpected, yet totally gratifying, heated kiss. And when he instinctively threaded his fingers through her silky, brown hair and kissed her back with equal fervor, Paige lowered him backwards along the length of the couch and straddled his crotch as her tongue seized past his lips as soon as he opened his mouth against hers. Humming in pleasure, Paige fluttered her tongue with his own and could feel heat rising between them as he physically reacted to her sudden assault.

Yes, good.

She clutched his curls in short, needy grasps as she slowly rolled her hips over his, gauging a low, arousing growl past Walter's lips as his hands deviously grabbed her ass, wanting to feel that amazing sensation again. So she did, and faster, too, without removing her mouth from Walter's. The less noise they made, the better. She was determined to blow his mind without taking a single piece of clothing off of him – no matter how torturous it might be to dry-hump him when all she wanted to do was strip him naked and go down on him so he knew just how appreciative she was of his generosity.

She would save that present for another day when her son wasn't sleeping thirty feet above their heads. Maybe tomorrow she could convince Sylvester to take Ralph for the night so she could have her wicked way with Walter.

As Paige moaned into the genius's mouth, the gesture emboldened him to flip them over on the couch where he was on the top instead. Paige found the dark look in his eyes incredibly sexy as his mouth claimed hers again, his tongue flitting passionately with hers. She wrapped her legs around him as he pushed his aroused groin against her, pressing against just the right spot between her thighs to elicit a delightful squeak from the woman beneath him. He swallowed her reaction and rolled against her again, prompting the same reaction.

He could get used to this sound.

As his lips finally popped off of Paige's mouth, he leaned slightly backwards to take her in, mesmerized with the way her hair was tousled in various directions, how her lips were pink and swollen, how a mixture of his and his saliva dripped from the corner of her mouth, and he smirked when he felt her roll against him, clearly not finished with him yet. As much as he would like to fulfill all of her wants and needs tonight, he refused to be the cause of any mental scarring her son could procure if he were to come down the stairs and find his mother and mentor christening the garage tonight in the heat of passion.

But damn, did he want to touch and feel the swell of her fleshy breasts against the palm of his hand… Maybe just one feel? No! No, he couldn't. He shouldn't. What if Ralph walked down right now and saw him on top of Paige, doing highly inappropriate things to his mother? This, all of this, needed to stop right now.

But before he moved off of her, Paige grabbed his face with her hands again and brought him down for a deep, loving kiss, and he was a goner again. When she parted from him, with her fingers scratching his scalp, she nipped at his lips a few more times with her tongue darting out to tease his before slipping out from underneath him. Her legs were much wobblier than she thought they were going to be so she took a seat next to the genius as he sat up, and then readjusted her blouse as he crossed his legs to hide his arousal.

He hated the fact that he was going to have to take care of that himself, now, but if it meant saving his prodigy's eyes from something that couldn't be unseen, then he would definitely fix the problem without complaint.

"Thank you so much for everything," Paige's velvety, breathless voice pierced through his thoughts, and he watched her as she scooted towards him, her side pressing up against his leg. She better be careful with the physical contact, or they were going to be more than grinding on the sofa if his libido had anything to say about it. "And I mean everything you've done for Ralphy and me. I…," she pecked his lips once, twice, "really appreciate it."

Walter suddenly had an idea. Maybe he wouldn't have to take care of the problem by himself after all." He rose to his feet and impulsively grabbed Paige's hand as he started tugging her towards the back of the garage. "Where are we going?"

"I don't think you were finished showing me just how appreciated you are," Walter mumbled in a quick mess of words because right now, he only had one thought on his mind, and it had everything to do with doing everything he promised he wouldn't do tonight. Without any more words exchanged between them, Walter rushed her into the Airstream and locked the door.

And after another wave of passion washed over them, it wasn't too long before Paige was lying on the mattress, legs apart and ready for him. Never, has she ever been more beautiful. And as he carefully buried himself deep inside of her, she wrapped her legs around him again and brought him down for a prolonged kiss. Slowly, he began moving against her in small movements, and she moaned lowly into his mouth as his left hand found her breast, rolling her sensitive nipple between his thumb and forefinger, causing her to toss her head back in ecstasy. She begged him to move faster and squeeze her breast harder, and just as he picked up his rhythm and managed to synchronize with hers, she immediately stopped.

So he stopped moving too.

"Is something wrong?" Walter began to panic. "Did I hurt you? Is it Ralph? Was this too soon?" A million questions spilled out of his mouth but when she hushed him with a kiss, her response was everything short of what he suspected.

"After Ray left," Paige flushed, "You did clean the sheets, didn't you?"

Walter bit his lip and snorted as his body shook with an uncharacteristic onset of amusement, and before both of them knew it, he had accidentally slipped out of her and clutched his sides, curling almost into a ball on top of her with his face resting between her breasts as he shook with laughter. Feeling his fits of laughter bounce off of her body made her giggle too, and soon enough, she was grasping her sides and howling with laughter along with him, unable to stop.

It was going to be an interesting night.

~ SCORPION ~

WriterFreak001: I kept changing how I wanted this chapter to end, but I am very satisfied with it now. :)

PLEASE let me know what you think! I need reviews to fuel my writing mojo.