Chapter Seven
The silence on the way back to her condo was deafening. Paige could think
of several reasons why Walter would be in such a bad mood. But she was positive
she was wrong. It was something other than his failure to get her into bed.
Hell, he could have had her on the couch the night she'd stayed over if all
he had wanted was sex. No, there was something else bothering him. But she
was exhausted, both physically and mentally, and it would take too much effort
to find out.
He walked her to her door. "Good night," he said before turning to go as
she was digging in her purse for her keys. Paige grabbed his arm before he
took two steps.
"Walter, I'm really, really sorry," She glanced up at him, biting her lip.
Okay, maybe she did want to know why he seemed upset with her. "I'm sorry
I ruined tonight. I. . ."
"You didn't ruin anything," he said in a clipped voice. "I'm sorry you got
sick. I, uh, hope you feel better."
"Thanks. I am feeling better already." She nodded her head toward her apartment.
"You could come in. . ."
He stared at her for several moments and she could tell he was considering
her offer. Then he shook his head. "No, I think it's best I go. Good night."
"Good night, Walter." Touching her hand to his face, she kissed his cheek.
She then slowly let her fingers slide away, breaking the contact. For a second,
she thought he had changed his mind, as a look of desire flashed in his eyes
and he started to lean toward her. But then something seemed to snap inside
him and he straightened.
"I should go." He turned and headed for the stairs without another word.
Paige sagged against her door as she watched him walk away. After everything
they'd been though, after he told her he loved her, after they had. . . If
he thought he could go back to the way things had been before, blowing hot
one minute, then coldly going out with other women the next, he was in for
a big surprise. A very big surprise.
With a weary sigh, she unlocked her door and stepped inside her empty condo.
It was a little after two when Walter gave up on any hope of sleeping. Images
of the evening kept scrolling through his head, ones of him holding and kissing
Paige alternating with her being sick then looking pale and sad. He had finally
drifted off for a few minutes, only to be awakened by the recurring nightmare
which had haunted him since they had been taken hostage. He dressed and went
downstairs to work on a facial recognition program he had been developing.
After a couple hours of coding, he ran a diagnostic, using photographs he
has taken of himself and the rest of the team as his database. Pictures flashed
across his screen until it came to the end of the string, a shot of Paige
smiling as she interacted with Ralph.
A rush of emotions overwhelmed him. He'd never felt this way before about
another person. All of his previous declarations; that love was imaginary,
a junk science, a chemical reaction resulting in a temporary euphoric state.
. . He couldn't believe he'd been so full of shit. Love might be an intangible
but it was real. It had variables. Like the love he felt for Megan was slightly
different than what he felt for Toby, Happy, and Sylvester. The love he felt
for Ralph was different than what he felt for Cabe, one was not his son and
the other not his father, but they filled those roles in his life.
And he did love his actual parents, even though he'd treated them badly over
the years. It wasn't their fault he had been born a genius they would never
understand, although their combined genetics were a factor why he was the
way he was. It could have just as easily gone the other way, and he could
have ended up with a double digit IQ, content to be living in Ireland, mucking
out stalls and staring at sheep all day. A shudder ran through him at the
thought.
But Paige. . . What he felt for her, he had no parallel. She had become the
most important person in his life. But it worried him he might not be capable
of loving her the way she deserved to be loved. That she would be better
off with someone else, someone ‘normal.' Someone who wouldn't continually
put her in harm's way. He'd proven beyond a shadow of a doubt he couldn't
protect her.
But the thought of losing her made his chest hurt. Which didn't make sense,
since the heart was nothing more than a circulatory muscle and had nothing
to do with love. But the pain he was experiencing was real. . .and frightening.
He closed his eyes as his breathing hitched.
"Hey, Walter!" Cabe's voice roused him from his distress. A quick glance
at his watch told him he'd been sitting there for at least an hour staring
at the picture of Paige. The edge in the older man's voice told him Cabe
had called out his name more than once.
Getting to his feet, he frowned at the Homeland agent. "What are you doing
here so early?" he asked, running his hand over his face. "It's Saturday.
We don't have a case, do we?"
The older man shook his head. "Nope, just dropping off this report. Why are
you so grumpy? I thought you and Paige had a date last night." He placed
a folder on her desk before glancing upstairs. "She's not still here, is
she?"
"How did you know we had a date?"
Cabe chuckled. "It was pretty obvious by the way you kicked everyone out
of here last night," he said with a grin. "Plus Ralph told us." He looked
upward again. "You didn't answer my question."
"No, she's not here." Walter picked up a pen and started fidgeting with it.
"It. . .It was a disaster."
"What happened?"
"I thought it would be okay to have fermented herring, even though Toby said
not to on a date," he confided. "But Paige has been around when I've eaten
it before and she said she was fine with it. But. . .last night. . .the smell
made her vomit. I had to take her back to her condo."
"You served that fermented gunk at a romantic dinner?" The agent rolled his
eyes, then a serious expression came over his face. "She got sick? Come to
think of it, I heard her throwing up a couple of mornings ago. I went to
go use the bathroom but she was already in there. I thought she might have
eaten some of that yogurt Sylvester tried to get me to eat the other night.
That stuff was almost as bad as your fish.
"You know, son if she's been throwing up a lot lately, it usually means only
one thing."
Walter was puzzled by the other man's words, although now that he thought
about it, Paige had been ill more times in the last week than in the rest
of the time he'd known her. Maybe she'd been exposed to a deadly toxin or
bacteria or something equally as dangerous while they had been running around
in the sewers after the earthquake. Yet another time he should have protected
her, but failed.
"Rebecca had terrible morning sickness when she was carrying Amanda. All
kinds of smells would set her off."
Morning sickness. Walter's knees buckled and he fell down into his
chair. "Oh, shit."
"I'm guessing by your reaction, it's a possibility?" asked Cabe.
Walter nodded. Pregnant. Paige was pregnant. He was going to be a father.
"B-B-But. . .it's im-impossible." She'd been on birth control pills. They'd
only had intercourse once.
"Do I need to explain the birds and the bees to you, O'Brien?"
"No. . .no, but. . ." He had to take several deep breaths. His first and
only time and he had gotten Paige pregnant. The odds of that happening were.
. . He couldn't even calculate them, his brain had stopped functioning. They
had to be astronomical.
"She hasn't told you yet?" Walter shook his head. "Well, I could be wrong.
But if I'm not, I'll act surprised when you two announce it," said Cabe.
"Announce what?"
Walter's head snapped up as Paige strolled into the garage followed by Ralph
and Sly. "Uh. . ."
"Have you seen my marine biology textbook?" asked Ralph, saving Walter from
having to make up a reply. "I don't have it and mom says it's not at home."
"Hey, here it is!" Sylvester picked the book up off the couch. He handed
to the youngster, who stuffed it into his backpack.
"Okay, bye." Ralph started to head out the door.
"Wait a minute," said Paige, kneeling down so she was at her son's eye level.
"You stay safe and listen to Sylvester and have fun. I love you." She kissed
the top of his head before standing. The boy wrinkled his nose before continuing
on his way.
"Thanks for the ride, Paige," said the human calculator. "It would have taken
us over two hours by bus. And I swear I'll return him in one piece."
"Just see that you do." She laughed as she patted him on the shoulder before
he followed Ralph out the door. Spinning back around, she smiled at the two
remaining men. "You're here awful early on a Saturday, Cabe," she said as
she took in the agent's striped polo shirt and dark green slacks. "You know,
I don't think I've ever seen you wear anything but a suit or fatigues."
"If you must know, I'm playing golf this morning with Cooper and some other
Homeland brass," he stated. "Thought it might help to rub some shoulders,
put in a good word for Scorpion and Walter."
"I'm sorry, " Walter began. "I didn't mean to cause trouble for you."
"It's all right, son. Heck, I might even have some fun." The agent grinned
as he addressed Paige. "I finished that report you wanted. Wish me luck."
"Thanks. And good luck." She watched as Cabe walked across the garage and
out the door. "So," she said, turning around to face Walter. "What are you
going to announce?"
"A-A-Announce?" He seemed stunned, like he'd seen a ghost or something. Not
that he believed in such nonsense, but she didn't know how else to describe
his expression.
"Are you all right?" She came over and sat on the edge of his desk. "You
didn't eat the fish last night, did you? I'm pretty sure it was bad."
"N-No, I, uh, threw it away."
"Good. I was worried you might eat it anyway. No point in both of us getting
sick."
He was staring at her in a way which made her feel like the most beautiful
woman in the world, yet at the same time was a bit disconcerting. "Are you
sure you're okay?" she asked again. "You seem. . ."
"I'm fine." He got to his feet. "Uh, we never had, um, dessert last night."
"No, we didn't," she said, unable to suppress a smile. "And I was really
looking forward to dessert."
"I-I bought a salted caramel cheesecake," he replied, the double entendre
completely flying over his head. "I, uh, know you like salty sweet."
"Salted caramel?" She loved salted caramel. "I've been craving salty sweet
lately. And I haven't had any breakfast. . ."
"Uh. . .okay. It's upstairs. We can. . ."
She slid off his desk and held out her hand. He left her hanging for a moment,
then, delicately, as if she were made of glass, took it in his and led her
up to the loft. She snuck a few glances at him as they walked up the stairs,
wondering what had put him in such a strange mood. What had he and Cabe been
discussing before she had arrived?
He went over to the refrigerator and took out the cheesecake, placing it
on the counter. Paige got out two plates, two forks, and a knife. Cutting
it into eight pieces, she slid one onto each plate.
"Umm," she said after taking a bite. "Try it," she urged when she noticed
he hadn't touched his, "it's delicious."
Paige quickly polished off her wedge of cheesecake. Glancing at him, she
noticed a piece of the dessert clinging to the left side of his mouth. "You
have a. . ." She made a wiping motion with her hand. But he mirrored her
move and went for the wrong side.
"Here, let me get it." She was going to clear it away with her finger, when
a more intriguing idea came to mind. Leaning forward, she put her hands on
his shoulders and licked the cheesecake from the corner of his lips.