WriterFreak001:

I've been meaning to write this for a while, but this week has been SUPER busy! Hope you enjoy my take on what COULD have happened at the end of 2x01 with Walter and Paige. I thought about taking the story from the ending of 2x01, but I decided to start with a different twist.

Title | Professional Colleagues

Fandom | Scorpion (CBS)

Description | As quickly as possible, she threw her clothes back on and then looked apologetically towards Walter. "I'm sorry," she whispered before tiptoeing out of the loft and racing for the door.

Rating| This fanfiction will be rated T.

POV | Limited Third Person

Disclaimer | While CBS owns Scorpion, I am the owner of this masterpiece.

Claimer | I am human; there are bound to be mistakes. If you feel like something should be changed, you have the power to send me a review/private message. I can't guarantee if I'll change it every time, but I do read all of my reviews and all of my private messages!

Professional Colleagues

Written by WriterFreak001

Part 1

~ SCORPION ~

Paige slowly opened her eyes to find herself not sleeping in her bed and not sleeping on her pillow and definitely not in her bedroom. Seeing Walter O'Brien sleeping peacefully next to her was frightfully alarming, and the fact that both of them were naked made her heart skip too many beats. This wasn't supposed to happen. She wasn't supposed to be there, and she certainly wasn't supposed to be tangled up with her boss, either. They had agreed to remain professional colleagues in spite of their feelings… in spite of their attraction… in spite of everything. They were supposed to stay friends and move on; that was what they decided…, but last night, God, last night was something else.

She remembered every single moment, and just thinking about how he… and the way he… made her blush fifty shades of red. She couldn't count how many times Walter made her toes curl last night, and while everything they did together was way beyond Paige's wildest dreams and crazy fantasies, it shouldn't have happened.

She knew Walter wanted to stay professional, and she would never want to compromise Scorpion for anything; things were supposed to stay mildly awkward for a while, but after all of this? After the insanely wonderful night they had?

She felt sick.

She knew Walter would want to pretend this never happened; it would be the only way for him to process it… and not have whatever they shared last night affect the team. Sleeping with Walter, though greatly warranted and heavily desired, was something Paige should have never encouraged; she should have stopped things before Walter had the chance to lead her up to his bedroom; sure, sharing a kiss would have been awkward to deal with at first, but sleeping together? How was she supposed to get over that? More importantly, how would he process it? Was Walter even ready to process something so emotionally invested?

As Walter quietly stirred in his sleep and twisted away from her, Paige carefully slid off of the bed and silently gathered her clothes (of what she could find, anyway) before sneaking out of his bedroom towards the living space. As quickly as possible, she threw her clothes back on and then looked apologetically towards Walter. "I'm sorry," she whispered before tiptoeing out of the loft and racing for the door.

She never drove home so fast.

~ SCORPION ~

Paige absolutely hated herself for running away this morning, but last night was a mistake. Professional colleagues don't sleep together, and if Walter really cared about Scorpion, then he would see everything they did together as a mistake as well. It would be mutual. It had to be mutual.

But God, why did mistakes have to be so damn wonderful? And amazing? And just plain earthshattering? Even though Paige thought last night shouldn't have happened, it didn't mean she didn't want it again. If their relationship wasn't already so complicated – with her having a son to parent and Walter having a company to run, Paige would be back in that genius's bedroom in seconds.

Oh how she yearned to run her hands all over his body again and to feel him touch her in places that hadn't been touched in many, many years, but… no. She couldn't fantasize like that anymore. It wasn't appropriate. They were just professional colleagues. Professional colleagues who had apparently slept together.

On her drive home, it was like the universe was taunting her. She turned to one station, and a woman was complaining about her failed love life, another station was playing Bonnie Raitt's 'I Can't Make You Love Me,' and the third station she tried was airing a sexy song about licking lips. It was going to be a long day.

She better call in sick.

~ SCORPION ~

Walter was so confused. He woke up this morning to find Paige missing. At first, he thought she could be in the bathroom, but after he noticed her clothes were gone as well, it didn't take long for him to realize she ran….

Just like they all do.

What greatly puzzled him was that he thought last night was… indescribable… unlike anything he had ever experienced. He would be lying if he said he didn't feel something last night, and he thought… well, he guessed, Paige had felt something too. Just thinking about last night made him swoon.

And if last night was as completely and utterly incredible (for lack of a more accurate term) for her as it was for him, then why did she leave? He thought Paige was different…. He thought she would be different. So why? Why did she leave? Was it something he said? Did? Did not do? Did he do something wrong? Was there something wrong with him? He absolutely did not get it, and he didn't think he was going to stop wondering why she left until he confronted her once she came in for work.

He replayed everything they did last night inside his mind, trying to figure out what went wrong. They were talking about theories. She noted how they didn't properly test their assumption out, and she was right. Before he knew it, she was leaning in, and then he was leaning in... The way her lips felt against his as she captured him into a kiss was electrifying, and he couldn't get enough. He remembered leaning into the kiss, towering over her with such passion as she ran her hands through his hair. And then he grew scared… frightened… mortified. He had never been so scared of anything in his entire life, but he wasn't scared of Paige. He was scared of losing her if things progressed. He was scared of not being the person she wanted him to be… not being perfect for her….

Without really thinking things through, he tore away from her, and she claimed she didn't feel anything so he went along and made a ridiculous fib about his attraction to her. But then, as she was smiling at him, he had realized his mistake and wanted, really wanted to kiss her again. With a spring in his step, he started to suggest a retrial, but the next thing he knew, her lips were on his, her fingers were in his hair again, and her legs were firmly wrapped around his hips. And boy did he kiss her; he had one arm holding her against him as the other lightly touched her side, careful not to hurt her with his hand brace. Somehow, he wasn't entirely sure, they ended up on the couch; she was on top of him, and they were kissing each other senselessly. She was loosening his tie, and he was sliding his left hand up her shirt. Everything happened so fast. One minute, they were on the couch, crazily making out and releasing some of their pent up sexual tension, the next, he was leading her up the stairs to his loft. And then the next several hours were… indefinable. How her soft skin felt against his… how she touched him and kissed him and loved him…. There were virtually no words to describe anything Walter felt last night. But the way she made him feel was not something he wanted to forget – nor never experience again.

He knew they had agreed to remain professional, but… after last night… he was greatly reconsidering his thoughts about workplace entanglements…. At least…, he hoped to reconsider.

He really needed to understand what could have possibly went wrong last night. He had to know why Paige left…, and he needed to know very soon. Otherwise, he was going to lose focus on everything today, and that was something he couldn't afford to do.

~ SCORPION ~

When Walter finally made his descent to the office area of the garage, his eyes scrolled to Paige's desk. She wasn't there. Pretending not to notice the liaison's absence, Walter went straight to his desk and collapsed into his chair. He was almost too tired to function completely, but he had no regrets.

"You look wonderful," Toby said casually as he strode over to Walter and then leaned against the super genius's desk. "Trouble sleeping last night?"

Walter rolled his eyes and yawned. "Of course not."

"Surrrre," Toby chuckled as he twirled his hat on his index finger. "Anyway, Paige called."

Walter's ears perked and he gave the shrink his undivided attention. "She did?"

"Yeah. Little Miss Felony's not feeling well; she asked for the day off, and since I'm the team's unlicensed doctor, I went ahead and told her to rest up and get better." Toby casually said as he plopped his hat back onto his head and then folded his arms. "But she didn't sound sick, though."

Walter suppressed the need to gulp. "W-what do you mean?"

"Well, she said she had a headache, but she didn't sound like she had a headache." Toby mused as he lifted an eyebrow. "In fact, she displayed the same distance in her voice as you did yesterday after the embarrassment. So… that leads me to conclude," Toby smirked and clapped his hands together, "that something happened between you two last night."

"Nothing happened." Walter answered way too quickly and quietly as he rose to his feet and marched towards the kitchen. He didn't want to hear Toby's assessment this morning.

"Wow," Toby, unimpressed with Walter's response, followed the super genius and shoved his hands into his pockets. "Never pegged you as a terrible liar, 197. You automatically walking away from me is a marker of defense. You might as well quit the theatrics, O'Brien. Even if you lie, I'll still pick up on your body language."

Walter groaned and rubbed his temples. As much as he hated Toby's psychobabble, he really needed some insight, and since Paige wasn't in the mood to come in today, he decided it was best to give her space. Though, he wasn't too turned off by the idea of visiting her later if she hadn't dropped by the garage by then. "Fine. Back room." Walter said nothing else as he swiftly walked towards the interrogation room. The shrink, smiling from his sweet victory, didn't hesitate to follow Walter.

Once the door was closed behind the two geniuses, Walter stood there with his hands shoved into his pockets, but he didn't say anything.

"Obviously we're in here for privacy, Walt… so… what's going on between you and Paige? I mean, I usually don't like to dive into relationship drama," Toby paused as Walter glared at him, "Hey," Toby rose his hands in defense, "trying to push you and Paige together was a necessity. Anyway, we're not in here to talk about me. We're in here because something's bothering you, and you clearly need some advice."

Walter was reluctant to tell Toby anything.

Perhaps he should wait to sort things out with Paige first before talking to the shrink.

Then again, if he waited and said something to upset Paige, then he'd be right back where he started….

Talking to Toby, unfortunately, was the most efficient thing Walter could do right now.

"I'm not getting any younger, 197." Toby impatiently tapped his foot as Walter fiercely stared at the ground.

"Paige and I," Walter mumbled, "slept together last night."

"Huh?" Toby blinked. "Could you repeat that? I didn't hear you. You were too incoherent."

"Never mind. Forget it." Walter groaned as he stormed out of the interrogation room. What was he thinking? Toby should be the last person to find out about him and Paige. Walter couldn't believe he was actually considering telling Toby about his night with Paige. Before the shrink could catch up to him, Walter said rather loudly, "I'm going out! Don't follow!"

And then he was gone.

~ SCORPION ~

Paige stared at the ceiling of her bedroom as she replayed everything that happened last night. Was she really out of her mind for thinking their night of passion was a mistake? It was so beautifully perfect; how could something so wonderful be so wrong? She wanted to be with Walter, and she was sure as hell Walter wanted to be with her, but was it right? Was it appropriate? Would their relationship, if they were to ever have one, ruin Scorpion?

Hell if she knew.

For hours, all she did was think about Walter. She shouldn't think about him, but she couldn't help it. He was in every essence of her now, and there was no turning back. There was only moving forward… as strictly professional colleagues.

Nothing more.

~ SCORPION ~

WriterFreak001:

This will, at most, be a three part story, but I'm banking on it being only a two-part story. Let me know what you think so far!