I'm totally fine with leaving fics semi-unresolved, which you probably know if you've read some of my one-shots, but I had more ideas, so I decided to spring for a part 2 here. It's still not really "fluffy," but at least there's somewhat more resolution. It's a process.

"I'm really glad you called, Walter."

Her hopeful smile made him ache. Walter had no idea if asking her to talk had been the smart decision. But the things she'd said in the garage…smart or not, he knew he would regret not at least hearing her out.

He wondered if this was like it had been for her to see Drew again after all those years. Trying to move past the betrayal and abandonment to hopefully forge something positive. Their situations weren't identical, obviously, but he needed some frame of reference and that was the closest he could find.

Walter swallowed. He was stalling. "Yeah. I needed some time to figure out what I wanted to say. You know I'm not great with words."

"Well I said most of what I needed to say, so…today I'll try to just listen. I know I'm not always good at that," she said ruefully.

We're not perfect, but we're perfect each other. That was one of those sappy platitudes people often threw around. Walter wondered if it applied to them. They certainly were not perfect, but she had been exactly what he needed more often than not. That's why the not was so painful.

"Do you want to order first?"

Paige shook her head. "No, I don't really want anything to eat."

"Me neither." He didn't want to pour out his heart in between bites of fish. But Kovelsky's had seemed like a safe, neutral place to meet. A lot of good memories. The garage wasn't what he would consider a "happy place" at the moment.

She tightened her hands around her coffee cup, which she'd already been holding when he walked in. He wondered how long she had been waiting. The cup still seemed almost entirely full. If her stomach felt half as tumultuous as his, neither of them would be able to stomach much of anything.

"I wrote down what I wanted to talk about," he said abruptly, reaching into his pocket to pull out the folded paper. "I know that's probably just another one of my annoying genius habits, but it helped me organize my thoughts."

Paige sighed. He knew he already sounded defensive, but he couldn't help it. He was defensive. "I get it, Walter. A lot of what I said to you the other night…I wrote it down as a letter first. It took me some time to work out everything I was feeling too." When Walter didn't respond right away, Paige reached out and placed her hand over his. "Just read it, Walter. I can handle it."

He hoped that was true. Walter retracted his hand and unfolded the paper. "I know that I wasn't always a good boyfriend. I'm sorry. I had good intentions when I lied to you, but I should have come clean when I realized I made a mistake. I just didn't know if you would…l-leave. I didn't want that."

Walter paused to take a breath. True to her word, she didn't interrupt, so he forged on.

"I always assumed you knew that even if I didn't share your interests, I still loved spending time with you. I loved you. It was so intense and…obvious to me that I never imagined you would have doubts about it. Perhaps I should have communicated that better. Our relationship may not have been easy, but I was always happy."

"Loved?" Paige asked in a small voice, her eyes intensely focused on her coffee cup like she was afraid to look at him.

He could see how the past tense might be confusing. It was always so difficult for him to communicate what he really meant. Sometimes he wished she could just feel what he felt every day. She would never question him if she could.

"I still love you too, Paige," he answered, echoing her words in the garage. Her whole body seemed to relax, and she looked up, giving him a weak smile. "I don't think I'll ever fall out of love with you. But right now, trusting you is harder than loving you."

Her smile faded, and she nodded, her fingers absentmindedly tracing the edge of her cup. "I know."

"Scorpion was supposed to be a family. M-My family. I know we fight and we disagree, but after everything we've been through, I just never thought all of you would walk out." Walter pressed his lips together, finding it a struggle to even out his shallow breathing. "I don't blame that all on you. The team made their own decisions. But you could have done anything when you left. You could have gone back to work for Elia or done…anything else. But you tried to take away the only thing I had left. That's not easy for me to move past."

Paige waited, making sure he was finished before she spoke. "You have every right to be angry with me. But you should know…I didn't plan on Centipede. Happy and Toby and Sly don't have a lot of places they can fit in. I felt a lot of responsibility for them leaving, since it started with you and me. I had to help them. But I also…" She exhaled, her voice coming out shaky. "You've done so much for me and Ralph, I wondered sometimes if without you, I would have been waiting tables at Nemo's for the rest of my life. I think part of me wanted to prove that I could do it without you. And it turns out that I could. But it didn't make me happy, so…"

"Here we are," he finished.

"Yeah. Here we are."

They sat in silence for a moment. Paige finally took a sip of her coffee, which had to be cold by now. The grimace on her face suggested he was right.

"I can forgive you, Paige. Everything just won't go back to normal right away." He thought hard before reaching out to take her hand. He'd missed contact with her so much it was making him a little lightheaded. "We've hurt each other a lot. Multiple times. I don't know if it's supposed to be like that. I don't know if it means that we're not right for each other, or if…we just care about each other too much, and that becomes inevitable."

"I don't know either," Paige admitted, squeezing his hand. "All I know is that Scorpion is built on second chances. And third and fourth chances," she said with a little chuckle. "Maybe the fact that this is hard, and we want it anyway, means we'll keep trying until we get it right. We never stay apart for very long. I don't know why I thought this time would be different."

"This has been really hard for me, Paige." Walter felt his voice cracking slightly. He wasn't sure he'd admitted that out loud since it happened.

"Me too," she said quietly. "It was so stupid. I wanted to be with you since almost the day we met, and then I finally had it and I just walked away. I never run away when I'm scared on a mission, but I always run away from you. You scare me a lot, Walter. The way you make me feel scares me. It's always been really overwhelming and when I thought that you wanted someone else, it was the worst thing I've ever felt."

Her eyes were glassy with unshed tears, and he held her hand tighter, lacing their fingers together. "I don't want anyone else. There might be a lot of things we need to work through, but that isn't one of them."

Paige nodded, using her free hand to wipe her eyes. "I loved being with you, Walter. I was lucky to be with you. I just want you to know because I can't take back all that awful stuff I said. You're probably always going to think about it when you look at me and all I can hope is that you'll remember it wasn't true. I was just hurt and humiliated and really, really scared about getting duped again."

"I-I'm sorry for my role in that. I would never make you feel that way intentionally."

"I know. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, right? You didn't date Florence. And you weren't relieved when we broke up."

"Relieved is not the word I would use, no." Paige trapped her hand between both of his, and he couldn't deny that he found her touch just as comforting as he always had. "I want this to work, Paige, I really do. B-But…"

"Centipede?" He nodded. "I know. We can't pretend that doesn't exist, as much as I would like to right now."

"I don't think I'll be alright as long as it's operating," Walter admitted. "B-But you worked hard on it. I understand that you might not be willing to walk away from it."

Paige looked confused, then determined as she leaned forward. "Walter, let me make one thing really clear. Centipede is not more important to me than you are. Yes, I worked hard, but I love Scorpion. I always have. It was my home too, and I miss it. So does Ralph." Hearing the young genius's name stung. His daily absence was just as painful, sometimes more, than Paige's was. "Centipede is…just another company. It's like working for Elia. It should feel good, but it doesn't feel nearly the same as what we did together. All of us."

"And if the team isn't willing to come back?" he asked hesitantly, not sure he wanted to hear the answer.

"Then I will hire them an amazing business manager and wish them luck. But Walter, I think you and I both know they'll come back if you ask. I want to come back if you'll let me. Even if things are still going to be tough for a while."

Maybe trying again with Paige, with Scorpion, wasn't the right choice. Maybe it was. There wasn't a clear answer, but he knew with certainty that one option would make him miserable, and one would give him at least a chance at being happy again.

"Can we just order?" Paige raised an eyebrow, and Walter shook his head. "We have to start somewhere. There's a lot to talk about, and it'll probably go much smoother if both of us have eaten."

Paige laughed softly, nodding as she reached for the menus. "That's a genius idea."