_Scorpion_

"Good morning!" Paige sings as she enters the garage early Monday morning. She struggles with several grocery store bags, the plastic weighing down and leaving indents on her arms. "I bought stuff to refill the fridge! Anyone mind helping?"

She doesn't know why she ever really bothers to ask, as usual the geniuses were all enthralled with in their own private projects.

"Oh, good morning!" Walter surprises her, stopping his project and grabbing all the groceries from her and leading the trek towards the kitchen. "And uh, thank you."

Paige smiles at him as he sets the bags down on the counter.

"Thank you, Walter." She smiles pleasantly, putting her hand on his shoulder for only a moment and she couldn't help but feel satisfied when he doesn't freeze up.

Greetings are something she had been working on with him; social cue came next and lastly, was touch. Though all three had improved, Walter still didn't appreciate being touched and still tended to freeze up.

The liaison couldn't help but notice he hadn't frozen up to her specific touch for a while.

His phone vibrates and he sends the call to voicemail with a small, temporary frown.

"Everything okay?" She questions curiously and nods.

"Yeah, thanks again-Oh and here," Walter smiles and hands her a mug of coffee he had made for her. He had added cinnamon to the coffee pot and though he claimed it was to improve brain function, the only person convinced that was true was the liaison herself.

Subconsciously, Walter assumes he had done it because he knew that was how she liked her coffee, just liked he had noticed that he tended to subconsciously reserve his favorite mug for her everyday.

She takes a sip of the coffee and moans in pleasure as it makes her way down her throat.

"Yum...perfect, thank you." She runs a hand over his arm thankfully and he smiles at her proudly. "You know I had my first cup of coffee the night after Ralph was born."

"He cried a lot?" He questions in surprise as he leans on the opposite side of the counter than her. He holds his coffee mug to his mouth, not yet taking a sip. It's uncommon for geniuses- even babies to cry more than usual.

In fact, being a baby is probably the best time of a geniuses life, the mind is constantly stimulated with new idea, words, information and phenomena that make life interesting. Until inevitably, the way of the world all becomes, normal, boring and the farthest from stimulating.

"No, I just loved to watch him sleep." Paige smiles gently, " The miracle of life, thinking of how that baby came out of me."

Walter refrains from reminding her that having a baby was not a miracle, it was biology. They had already fought over what topic several times and decided to agree to disagree.

"What about you?"

"Huh?" He raises an eyebrow in confusion. " I don't have any kids."

Paige giggles.

"I know, I mean your first cup of coffee."

"Oh," Walter blushes, "I was nine. My dad didn't want me to have it but there was a lecture on TV I wanted to be awake for." Walter shifts uncomfortably. "In Ireland."

"Where in Ireland did you live?"

"Callan." Walter answers dismissively and Paige nods, not wanting to push him too hard.

"Okay." She smiles.

They stay silent for a few moments each pretending to be lost in the enjoyment of their coffees as they childishly sneak glances at each other, until Walter finally speaks.

"So, Paige. I was thinking that after school, maybe Ralph could come over and I could take him to the updated space exhibit down town." Walter asks nervously, his gaze shifting between the floor and the liaison as he awkwardly scratches the side of his head with his index finger.

Paige smiles gently towards him and he seems to visibly relax.

"Yeah, sure. I think he would love that." Walter nods and smiled at her for a moment, a special smile Paige had noticed was just for her. She could feel a box of butterflies being let loose in her stomach, even as he began to walk away, sending another phone call to voice messages. She takes another sip of her coffee before finishing to unpack the groceries.

"Oh and Paige!" He quickly turns.

She was reaching for a container on the top shelf when she heard him come up behind her and easily pass it to the liaison.

"Thank you." She practically sings as she gets off her tippy toes and turns to face him. Her breath hitches when she notices his proximity to her and he can't help but notice he was holding his breath aswell.

"Yes?" Paige whispers, her heart rate accelerating as she spoke.

"I-uh, wanted to know if you would come with Ralph and I, I would uh-we would really enjoy that." His figures twitch slightly but didn't move toward her.

Paige glances down and notices the twitch, she gently grabbed his hand and he held it tightly- protectively even, as she nods yes. She bites her lip nervously. This action catches the mans attention and he subconsciously begins leaning toward her.

Her heart races as he leans toward her and she finds her own eyes closing as she raises herself on the tips of her toes. She had accepted after his accident a couple months ago that she cared for Walter more than a coworker should. Especially after they had kissed on his first night back at the garage.

She remembers the fear pulsing through her vain's as she watched helplessly from the top of the cliff as the red sports car began to slide down the side if the cliff with her Walter inside and the relief she felt the moment Cabe set him down on the stretcher. She sometimes notices him wince in pain and he tended to avoid strenuous activities outside of a case.

She remembers the fear when his parachute had fallen off of him when they were high off the ground trying to save the K12 satellite from destroying Southern California and when they kissed that night... She shivers. Professional colleagues. Yeah, right.

She feels Walter moving towards her slowly, and she remains unmoving and patient.

But then she felt it.

He was freezing up, showing too much of his emotional quotient and she opens her eyes as she feels a quick peck on her cheek.

She blinks in surprise; the butterflies in her stomach raked her body and caused a shiver of pleasure. Her face heats up when she realizes he had noticed her reaction.

He takes a step away from her, but surprisingly not to far away.

"I would love to come Walter." She clears her throat, ignoring the tingling in her right cheek.

He smiles at her, a smile more genuine than she could have ever imagined.

She raises herself and kisses his cheek without thinking. Giggling at the lip-gloss it left in its place.

It's then that Scorpions phone rings.

Usually, Paige would yell for someone to get it but she loves this moment she was having with Walter, even if she knows it was coming to an end.

"Hi, you've reached Scorpion! Sorry we missed your call, please leave a message and we will return your call as soon as we can. Thank you!" Paige's voice on the message machine rang through the garage.

"I like your voice." Walter mumbles, glancing down at her fingers in his.

She blushes.

"Walt'r, I tried to reach yer cell phone but you -" Walter's eyes widens at the sound of the Irish accent and he quickly drops the liaisons hand and runs towards the phone, knocking over various objects on his way. He practically ripped the phone off the receiver.

Paige follows behind him as the rest of team scorpion assembles around the machine.

"Mum?" Walter asks, though he knows the response. He sounds younger than the team had ever heard him before. He sounds vulnerable. It was quite the contrast against the dress shirt and coffee mug he had grabbed on the way there. "Are you alright?"

There was a long pause as the woman on the phone spoke to Scorpion's leader and everyone watches on with surprised and confused expressions.

"See that?" Toby whispers beside the liaison making her jump.

"What?" She asks with her arms crossed as she waits from farther away from the group.

"His grip tightening around the cup, a clear indicator of discomfort." Paige couldn't help wonder if that would be how Ralph felt around her if she hadn't met Walter.

Mr. 197 stiffens.

"Okay, I'll tell Megan." He states emotionlessly, smashing the coffee mug in his hand, causing broken glass and cinnamon coffee to spill all over the table floor.

Paige gasps and runs towards him, unthinkingly grabbing his hand and inspecting it for injury.

There was some blood but nothing deep enough that Toby needed to be the one to clean him up. He pulls his hand away from her and she rolls her eyes, grabbing the first aid kit from Sylvester who had run to get it as soon as the mug had shattered.

Walter doesn't fight her when she puts alcohol on the cut, he doesn't even wince. She begins to worry what was happening on the other side of the line.

"How long?" Walter questions quietly. "Seventy two hours?"

His first clenches as she attempts to put on the bandage but she forces his hand open until she is finished.

"Ok, bye."

"Tell her you love her." Paige whispers.

Walter nods his head no. Paige sighs.

"Tell her you care for her."

Walter holds the liaisons gaze for a moment.

"Mum," He says stiffly, " I uh, care about you."

A few moments later he hangs up the phone and sits across from her, his hand still outstretched in her direction as she inspects his hand for more glass.

"She liked that, thank you." He says and Paige nods.

"Dare to share?" Toby intrusively slides into the seat beside him.

"No."

"Is Megan okay?" Sly asks nervously.

"Yes." The two men and the rest of scorpion remain silent.

"Meanie." Toby breaks the silence and sticks his tongue out at his boss before leaving to continue his own private project.

The remaining Geniuses of the Scorpion team disperse and Paige gets up to follow, thinking Walter needed to collect his thoughts.

"Paige!" Walter grabs her hand and pulls her back. She blinks in surprise.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asks in confusion, she almost sounds hopeful.

"Not yet." He frowns, " I need to borrow your car, Happy isn't finished with mine."

"What about Ralph? I have to pick him up in an hour."

"I plan to be back by then but if I'm not, I'll call Cabe."

Paige hesitates and Walter quickly figures out why.

"I'm not racing, I just finished my community service. I just have to speak to Megan."

"Just- just be careful." She nods handing him the key to the red Chevy outside.

He nods and heads towards the door.

"I mean uh- thank you and I'll see you later." He announces as he exits the garage.

"Something bad is happening." Toby mumbles and Paige warily bites her lip trying to figure out how such a good morning can go so curiously wrong in one short phone call.

_Scorpion_

"Hey, is Walter back yet?" Paige questions as she entered the garage with her ten-year-old son, Agent Cabe Gallo not to far behind. Ralph was bouncing on the balls of his feet; apparently Walter and him had been speaking about the new exhibit for weeks and only asked his mother now.

"Not yet." Happy mumbles as she sits backwards on a chair reading a book about anger.

"He should be back by now." Paige points out worrily just as the garage door opened.

"Walter." She sighs in relief until she looks at his face, his eyes were a bit wider and redder than when he left. They shined from the tears he refused to shed. He nods in her direction and heads towards Ralph.

"Hey buddy," Walter says playing with the kids hair, the small boy frowns, looking more and more like his mentor everyday.

"We aren't going are we?" Walter nods.

"No Ralph, sorry. Something came up." The boy sighs I ndisappointment and heads towards Sylvester's chalkboard. The rest of the team watches Walter uneasily.

It wasn't like him to cancel on Ralph.

"Paige." Walter nods towards the liaison and Paige looks at him worrily. "Could I speak with you for a moment outside."

The liaison nods and gestures towards Sylvester to watch her son.

When they step outside the liaison quickly turns to face him.

"What happened to you?" She questions, her voice thick with concern when she puts her hand on his shoulder and begins inspecting him for injury. "Are you hurt?"

doesn't freeze up but he shy's away from her touch. She retracts her hand with a small frown.

"Not here." He tells her and leads her towards the car he had left running.

They remain silent as Walter carefully drives around the block, stopping the car in front of a children's park but making no move to get out.

"Walter?"

"I was just with Megan." Walter begins quietly, his palms press against his eyes and his elbows balance on the steering wheel.

Paige waits for him to continue, careful to keep her hands to herself in fear of him pulling away again.

When he doesn't continue, she bites her lip nervously and angles herself towards him.

"Is she okay?"

"What?" He sucks in a breath and looks at her in confusion, barely registering what she was saying. "Yeah, she's fine. I'm going to send Sylvester to her when we get back."

"You're being evasive." Paige whispers as she catches his eye. She knows something was wrong and she is worried, but it doesn't stop the butterflies reeking havoc in her stomach.

"We were making arrangements, for me go to go back home." He sighs, his head leaning back in his seat. " To Ireland, and I don't know when I'm coming back."

The liaison freezes, her jaw dropping and her heart rate begining to speed up as her eyes widen.

"Ireland?" Her voice cracks.

"Yeah." He sighed, his elbows covering his eyes.

"Forever?" She chokes out her question.

"What? No." He looks at her confused again and her breathing begins to return to its normal rhythm. "I hope, a week at most."

"Gosh Walter." She leans her head back in relief. " You made it sound like you were moving there permanently."

"Sorry." He mumbles and shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

"Why are you going?"

"My father has 72 hours to live. There are no solutions."

"Oh." Is all Paige could manage to say as she carefully watches the genius. He's trying not to show emotion, he's looking up as if willing the tears in his eyes to disappear.

"I'm so sorry-"

"I'm telling you this because I know that you were planning Christmas at the garage next week and I don't know if I will be there." He says quickly, restarting the engine of the car and beginning to head towards the garage. "It's efficient."

"Oh." For a moment, she had almost hoped that he had actually wanted comfort. Maybe he would even share a bit about his childhood, a secret life he refused to divulge.

"I mean I wish you would be here but your place is with your mother, send her my condolences. I'm sure what she is going through is painful. I can't imagine what she is feeling right now." Paige sighs as she leans into the seat.

"That's the other thing." He says pulling up to Scorpion's headquarters and taking the key from the ignition.

"The other thing?" Paige questions warily as Walter exits the vehicle and makes his way to open her door. This being an action he had learned on a case from long ago.

"When dealing with my mother, on an average day, we can't communicate. But with the news of my father, I don't know what to say or do."

Paige leans against the car and listens intently as he nervously continues.

"I'm ill equipped." Walter admits, leaning beside her and scratching his head.

"I could give you a couple tips if that's what you are asking for." Paige tells him reassuringly, " The first would be not to repress your feelings. You smash and break things." She frowns and gestures to the bandage on his hand.

Walter hesitates.

"Right, but that's not what I'm asking-"

"Your asking for advice on communicating with your mother, I get it and I could help-"

"I'm asking you to come with me!" Walter exclaims in frustration.

"Come with me to Ireland." He breaths.

The liaison froze, a shiver of pleasure making its way down her spine.

"Me?"

"And Ralph."

There it was, her most important thing, and her reality check.

"I would love to. But Ralph has school." She sighs.

"But Caltech, his college, isn't in session and he knows everything in elementary anyway, he won't fall behind, and it's only couple days because it's Christmas anyway."

Paige bites her lip and looks into the geniuses eyes.

His eyes looked as though he was begging her though his voice gave off a casual tone.

"Only come is you want to." He mumbles insincerely, but she wants to come and he's right. Ralph wouldn't mind it and he would love to learn more about Walter. He's never even left the United States before and he would love too.

"When do we leave?"

Walter sighs in relief.

"Tonight. I'll pick you up at six." His fingers inch towards her, in fact his whole body does so the liaison reaches out and hugs him. He doesn't hug back exactly, but he doesn't pull away either and she could almost swear he moved his lips to deliver a small kiss to her neck.

She shivers again.

"There is a condition." She whispers and she feels Walter freeze up before she continues. " We stay in Ireland for Christmas, with your mother. It will help her feel a lot better and right now, it's the right thing to do."

Walter sighs against her shoulder.

"K." Is all he says and when his coworkers pulls away, Paige notices a tear had made its way down his cheek and wipes it away.

That was EQ.

Paige can't help kissing him quickly on the cheek before heading inside to get her son, knowing that if she didn't walk away right then, he would probably shut down on her, and she couldn't handle that. His EQ had improved tremendously since the accident on the cliffs edge and she couldn't help but hope that maybe-just maybe- his EQ could make room for one more emotion.

Love.

But she knew she was just being crazy, even if he had admitted to liking her. It wasn't love. It was just an attraction.

She didn't know Walter was watching her walk away, thinking the same thing.

_Scorpion_

"My father is dying!" Walter announces as he enters the garage twenty minutes after watching the liaison drive." Seventy two hours at most."

"That was casual." Toby comments sliding out from behind his desk.

"Id10t." Happy mutters, putting her wrench down and sliding her mask up.

"Listen, son-" Cabe begins and steps towards Walter.

"Drive Sylvester to Megan please. She could use him." The agent nods but makes no move to listen.

"I'm leaving for a week." He says heading towards the loft, " So I'm taking off from work. You can contact us in an emergency, I'll leave you the number."

"Which is basically every case." Happy mutters.

"You said we but Megan can't travel." Toby notices, watching his boss carefully.

Walter hesitates at the top of the staircase.

"Yeah, Paige and Ralph are coming with me." He enters his room, closing the door behind him and begins packing up his stuff.

_Scorpion_

Hi! I wasn't planning on posting this quite so soon but I saw a #SpoilerAlert that Walter's parents were coming in so I wanted to get this out before all attempt at accuracy goes to heck.

So this was written between Season 1 & 2 and I attempted to update it as the show progressed and I hoped that worked out.

I worked really hard on this story so all I'm asking is for a review.

This a was a really long chapter and Took EFFORT so..

Please Review