Author's note: This story begins where the
episode "Little Boy Lost" (3x04) ends.
Prologue
"You've been married to Happy all this time."
Walter winced when he heard the accusation in Paige's voice. They were the
only ones still remaining in the garage. Toby had departed in an unusually
quiet huff. Happy had hurried after him. Cabe had offered Sly a ride home,
and the two men had left shortly thereafter.
"I-I'm sor. . ."
She didn't let him finish his apology. ‘That day at the diner, when you
were there with. . .that other woman. . ."
"Janice," he replied. "I was breaking up with her."
"Right. Did she know you were married?"
"No." Walter rubbed the back of his neck. "Paige. . ."
"And what about Linda?" she interrupted again. "I suppose she didn't know
either."
He shook his head, a little unnerved by the venom he heard in her words.
She was angry. She had every right to be. But he explained. . . Happy had
explained. . . Their marriage had been a means to an end, a way for him to
get his green card. To be honest, he had pushed it to the back of his mind
with the rest of the unimportant data he had no use for.
"And last year," she murmured, breaking through his thoughts, "last year,
when we. . .oh, God. . . When we kissed. . . You were married."
"I'm sorry."
"Why?" she demanded. "Why are you sorry, Walter?" Moving closer, she stopped
about a foot away. Near enough so he could detect the lavender scent she always
wore, feel the heat radiating off her body. Closing his eyes, he dreamed about
taking her into his arms, kissing her until they were both senseless. . .
Her shuddering sob snapped him out of his fantasy world.
"You were never going to say anything, were you? You and Happy. . ." She
paused as she drew another harsh breath. "You were going to keep your little
secret until you got your citizenship, then you and Happy would quietly get
divorced while fools like me and Toby were none the wiser.
"That's the real reason why you disapproved of Toby and Happy's relationship,
isn't it? Not because it would be bad for Scorpion, but because it would expose
your sham of a marriage."
He had no reply. No rebuttal. He couldn't deny it because everything she
said was true.
"Dammit, Walter," she said, breaking the silence. "I loved you. I thought
you loved me."
Pain tore through him. ‘Loved.' Past tense. For him, however, it was very
much in the present. "I do. I-I do love you," he said. Running his hand through
his hair, he added, "It was a business arrangement between two platonic friends
so I could stay in the country. I didn't want to go back to Ireland, Happy
didn't want to lose her only friend. Neither of us believed we'd ever fall
in love with other people because we both denied love even existed. I never
believed in romantic love, at least not until I met you."
Paige stared at him, biting her lip and he could see she was fighting back
tears. "Walter," she said softly, "it's not that I don't understand why you
did it. I do. You did what you had to do to stay in the country." Swiping
at her eyes, she continued, "I just want to know why you thought you couldn't
confide in me, why you thought you couldn't trust me."
She tipped her face into her hands. "I can't deal with this anymore tonight.
I need to pick up Ralph." Taking a step closer to where he stood, she lifted
her eyes to his and he could see just how badly he had hurt her.
"Tim may not be the man of my dreams," she said. "But I know for a fact
he's single. I don't waste my time on married men, Walter. Good night."
Paige spun around, scooped up her belongings from her desk, then marched
out of the garage. The slamming of the door reverberated throughout the building.
The agony gripping his heart, the worthless circulatory muscle that it was,
tightened until he was light headed. Walter plopped down into the nearest
chair and hid his face in his hands. He'd lost her. And he only had himself
to blame.
Paige waited until she got behind the wheel of her car before she let the
tears flow down her cheeks. He was married.
She felt like she had fallen into some kind of alternate reality. A bizarro
world where nothing made sense. One where the man she loved was married to
someone else. Yes, sure it was a marriage of convenience, so he could stay
in the United States, but. . . God, Happy? Never, in a million years would
she have ever guessed the mechanic's husband was Walter.
And poor Toby, blindsided by the double whammy of finding out his best friend
was married to the love of his life, and that she was pregnant. He'd left
the garage without a word, quietly putting his hat on his head and stalking
out the door. Paige had never seen him so. . .well, at a loss for words. Whatever
pain she was feeling, his had to be twice as bad.
Wiping at her damp face with a tissue she had fished out of her purse, Paige
slipped the key into the ignition. What she had told Walter earlier was true,
she didn't waste her time on married men. Besides, she was with Tim now. Nice,
normal, average, blond, bland, boring Tim. And if sometimes she dreamed of
a rude, arrogant, weird, curly haired genius. . . Well, she'd only had herself
to blame.
Resting her head against the steering wheel for a moment, she then started
her vehicle and drove away.