Thank you for the comments on the last chapter! Really, just thank you for the support on this whole story. I hope this will be a satisfying ending. I've got a few one-shots in mind after this…maybe some smut…we'll see. ;)

Three days.

Walter had disappeared before, but not like this. Never like this.

The fact that no one had found him yet was ironically reassuring. Walter could stay off the grid if he wanted, but if he was seriously injured or…or in another condition that she really couldn't consider, someone would have stumbled across him.

But even if he'd been laying low, even if he couldn't face her or the team right now, he wouldn't let them worry. He would pick up his phone, send an e-mail, a text message, anything. For Ralph's benefit, at least, if not for hers.

Where the hell are you, Walter?

She was an affectionate person by nature, physically and verbally, and Paige always thought that if something happened to her or someone she loved, she would have no regrets. After all, she had a dangerous job, and risk was inevitable. When Walter was rescued from that cliff, when she'd gotten a second chance to apologize for their fight, Paige swore to herself that she would never repeat that mistake.

But she did. And if she never saw Walter again, she would have to live knowing that in the end, he hadn't known she loved him. Actually, it was worse that. He actively believed that she didn't.

"Mom, you need to eat."

Paige looked down at her bowl of soup, which she was mindlessly turning over with a spoon but had yet to actually taste. She'd been keeping it together for Ralph, albeit with all the power of a loose thread holding together a sweater. If she was being honest, it was her son who seemed to be giving her strength and comfort, not the other way around.

She swallowed a spoonful of the liquid to pacify him, even though she wasn't hungry. Everything she ate just exacerbated her nausea and Paige could tell by the way her clothes hung from her frame that she'd already lost a few pounds. Ralph, on the other hand, had neatly polished off his bowl and placed it on the table in front of them. He burped softly and Paige smiled in spite of herself. "Nice one."

"Thank you," he answered with a hint of pride. Boys. "Finish the soup, mom. And the water. You're dehydrated."

He was probably right, especially considering how much she'd been crying while he slept. No matter how hard she tried to hide her distress, Ralph knew. Toby had been teaching him about behavioral markers of grief, guilt, and fear for years. "I will, honey. I'm sorry. I'm just distracted."

"I know you're scared, mom, but Walter's coming back," Ralph said with conviction, turning on the couch to face her and tucking his legs under. "He's been in approximately forty-seven life-threatening situations. Of those, he's only sustained significant injuries five times, and he has a 100% survival rate. He's coming back."

So that was how her son had stayed calm and optimistic while Paige was falling apart. Statistics were the best way he knew how to understand the world, and if they gave him hope, she supposed she was grateful.

But they weren't quite as persuasive to her, and Ralph clearly understood that, because he cocked his head and said, "Just have faith in him, mom."

Faith. She trusted Walter with her life and the life of her son. There was no greater faith than that, not for her. Paige hoped that wherever he was, he was fighting for himself as much as he fought for them.

"Ralph?" she said after a moment of silence.

"Yeah?"

"Are you…unhappy?" He looked at her curiously. "Not right now. Obviously. Um, I meant with the way things are. With the two of us."

The young genius scrunched his forehead. "I don't understand."

Of course you don't, because I'm not making any sense. Paige studied her son, taken back once again by how much he often looked and sounded like his mentor. "Walter told me that you wanted a family. I know…" Her vision started to blur as tears collected in her eyes. "I know things haven't always been easy for us. And I know that a family is not something I can promise you, but I would do anything for you, Ralph. If you're unhappy, t-then please tell me, and I'll do whatever I can to fix it…"

She swallowed, her voice embarrassingly choked and shaky, and she watched his shoulders slump as he finally understood what she meant.

"I'm not unhappy," Ralph said quietly, looking down at his hands as they tangled in his lap. "I didn't say that because our life isn't good. It is. And no one else can make us feel like a family. We already are. I just wanted Walter to be a part of it."

Paige used both of her palms to clear the moisture from her eyes. After breaking up with Tim, she vowed that she would wait for the person who could make both her and her son happy. Maybe she'd always suspected that Walter was that person, but she had no doubts anymore.

"Me too," she murmured as she moved closer to Ralph and put her arms around him, pressing a kiss to the side of his head.

Walter had to come home.

Mom, it's Cabe.

Two hours had passed since Ralph shook Paige awake, her cell phone in his hand, and she was very nearly unable to answer when Cabe confirmed that they'd found Walter, alive and unharmed. They had a long drive back and every second dragged on excruciatingly as Paige took a shower and changed, made a snack that she was too nervous to eat, and cleaned up the evidence of her and Ralph's stay in the loft.

She was still up there when she heard the door open and the young genius beat her to the lower level by a mile, racing down the stairs with a wide grin on his face. Paige caught up just in time to see Ralph barrel into Walter, who returned the embrace with an equally beaming smile. "Hey, buddy. It's good to see you."

"I knew you would be okay," Ralph insisted as he pulled back and looked up at his mentor. "I told mom."

Walter glanced around the garage until his eyes latched onto hers. Paige didn't move, temporarily overwhelmed and fixated on the single bruise just above his left cheekbone. Words seem to be flying out of her grasp and she wondered if this was how the genius felt on a regular basis.

"Hey, kid," Cabe said to break the silence, glancing between Paige and Walter. "I'm gonna go pick up some dinner, why don't you come with me?"

Ralph glanced at Paige for approval and she nodded. They ducked out of the garage, murmuring to each other, and then everything was quiet.

"God, Walter," she sighed.

He rocked on his heels, hands pushed deep into his pockets. "I'm alright, Paige. Really."

No, you're not alright. You were missing for four days. Do you know how many times I thought you were dead? But it didn't seem right to yell at him for getting kidnapped, so she motioned to the area on her face equivalent to where his injury was and asked, "Is that from them?"

"Yeah. Just a warning."

Her blood boiled. Walter hadn't lied when he told Cabe that he was taking on a private job, but as self-destructive as he tended to be, she was pretty sure he would have passed if he'd known that the "client" was actually a group of anarchists who needed his hacking skills to bring down the systems of five international banks.

Happy and Toby had delayed their honeymoon to help Cabe and Sly search, while Paige read all of Walter's notes in the office and Ralph used his skills to break through the genius's encryption and access his computer files. But they'd kept coming up empty, and if Walter hadn't managed to sneak out a message inside lines of code, Scorpion might not have found him at all.

"I'm fine," Walter said firmly, noting her clenched jaw. "They were criminals, but they weren't killers. I wasn't in any real danger."

"The hell you weren't."

"Paige…" He stopped, scanning her up and down as if he was only now seeing her. Even with the shower and makeup, she was well aware of how thin and tired she looked. His eyebrows furrowed. "Are you okay?"

Of course I'm not okay. I've barely eaten or slept or had a second of peace in half a week. The liaison laughed bitingly and shrugged. "I don't know, Walter. How would you feel if I was missing for four days?"

He pressed his lips together and Paige knew she'd made her point.

"I'm sorry," he murmured as his eyes went to the floor.

The words dropped on her like a hammer. Walter had nothing to apologize for and she wasn't even angry at him, but that didn't stop her from taking it out on him because there was no other outlet for all of her heartache and frustration and need.

Unless there was.

Paige closed the space in a few steps and curled her palm around the base of his neck before pulling him down to kiss her. The heat from his body was almost overwhelming and he tasted like mint and she pressed harder against him, desperate for a closeness that wasn't physically possible, desperate to keep her with him. Walter reacted instinctively, matching her force, but her low moan when his fingers dug into her hips broke him out of his daze.

The genius tore his lips away and stumbled back slightly, his chest rising and falling noticeably as he struggled to draw in air. "Paige, you're…you're emotional." Walter exhaled loudly, shaking his head. "Go home and rest. Y-You're not thinking straight."

He didn't think she meant it. That was apparent in his eyes. Paige felt his distance more acutely than ever and she was tempted to throw herself at him again, feel him safe and alive against her, but he needed more than that. He deserved more than that. "I'm not emotional. I mean, I am, because you really scared me," she breathed, her voice breaking on the last words. "But I'm not being impulsive. I would have done it four days ago if you hadn't disappeared."

Walter's expression softened but he held back, still hesitating to cross that line they had drawn between them years earlier, the second their feelings for each other became too strong. "You said this wasn't what you wanted."

She'd always wanted this. That, of all things, was never the problem. "Walter, I was afraid of hurting you again. And of being hurt by you again. But staying friends hasn't stopped that." Paige pushed her hair away from her face, tangling her hands in it to stop herself from reaching for him before he was ready. "I know we both keep doing the wrong thing, and I don't know, maybe we'll completely crash and burn together. But I'm already crashing and burning without you."

The genius said her name again, almost under his breath, but Paige knew him well enough to recognize that he didn't have anything to say after that. She continued without acknowledging it, Happy's words a persistent echo in her head.

"We need to stop waiting for some future in which we'll get this right. We are both going to be hurt and disappointed sometimes. It's what happens when two people love each other, but if we're together, we could also be happy. Most of the time. And I think that's more than we're managing apart."

Paige stopped abruptly, a little breathless, and she could practically hear the gears moving in Walter's head as he stared at her. "Love each other?" he said finally.

She blinked, confused by his response. "What?"

"You said…when two people love each other."

"Oh." Paige let out a strangled laugh and stepped forward, knowing exactly how to answer his unspoken question and wanting to touch him while she did. Her palms traveled up to cradle his face, careful to avoid his bruise as he watched her with the focus that never failed to make her weak. "Yeah, Walter. I love you. And now that I'm saying it out loud, I know none of this sounds very romantic, but if you still love me—."

"Yes," he interrupted bluntly, earning an amused smile from her.

"Yes, you still love me?"

"Yes. I l-love you. Yes to…everything." Walter's hands drifted tentatively to her waist, his grip growing firmer as she relaxed into the contact. "I want to make you happy, Paige. You and Ralph."

"I know. You could start by not getting kidnapped again."

The corner of his mouth curved. "Okay."

Paige grinned and tipped her head, recapturing his lips. She'd spent so long fighting, so long denying herself this, that underneath the passion and intensity which marked everything Walter did, there was an unmistakable sense of relief as she let herself fall.

Toby snorted. "You? You're taking a day off?"

Walter frowned, unsure why the behaviorist was skeptical. Okay, so he'd never particularly grasped the appeal of vacations, but spending time with Paige and Ralph was hardly a chore. "Two days off, actually."

"Ha! I give it ten hours before you're begging to come home. Twelve if Paige brings along something sexy," he amended with a wink.

"Shut up, Toby." Walter's tone was less than threatening as the image of Paige wearing something not entirely…work appropriate…flooded his mind. He shook his head to clear the thoughts. With Ralph coming along for the weekend, Walter didn't have high hopes for much alone time. But he didn't begrudge the young genius's presence. This was a family trip.

Family. Was it too early to think like that? Maybe. But Walter suspected that he'd always thought of them that way.

"I'll be fine. Paige said it was to help me recover from the kidnapping, but I've assured her that's unnecessary. I believe the true purpose is for us to work on our communication, uninterrupted." Even though they were together now, that wouldn't erase the past few months. They still had plenty to issues to overcome. He wasn't sure how he would manage a thorough discussion about their relationship—about space, Tim, his disappearance—but if anyone could guide him through it, it was her. "And since you and Happy are finally leaving for your honeymoon, this is an ideal time. Cabe will call us if an emergency arises."

Toby smirked. "Whatever, 197, have fun. And don't blow it." He slapped Walter's shoulder and the genius frowned.

"Blow what?" he called after Toby.

"Whatever he said, please ignore it." Walter turned back around to see Paige and Ralph standing behind him, bags in hand. She rolled her eyes. "You know he's going to give you a hard time for a while."

It had only been a couple of days and Walter wasn't sure Toby would ever run out of innuendos about him and Paige. But that seemed like a small price to pay for getting to leave with her and Ralph at the end of the day instead of watching them walk away.

"Uh, are you ready?" he asked, snapping out of his internal monologue. "I thought we could pick up lunch from Kovelsky's before we get on the highway."

"Sounds good." Paige smiled and grasped his hand, curling her fingers around his. She'd done that often, in the past few days, and even though he knew logically that they would have to separate when they reached the car, he found he didn't object to it.

With them, everything was different, and he didn't mind at all.