Paige's POV
The girl we saved is hugging Walter, and he looks uncomfortable and awkward. I can't understand why he was OK with her an hour ago. So I walk to the common area and sit on the couch next to Toby. "Hey Toby, do you know why Walter looks so uncomfortable? You were next to them on the way back. Did she say something?"
"Hey, Paige..." he paused, looking confused and looking over at them. "Oh no, she didn't do anything. He just hates human touch," he finishes.
"What, no, he doesn't."
After that, Toby, Ralph, Happy, Cabe, and Sylvester stared at me, shocked and, in unison, said, "YES, HE DOES!" I was stunned and confused.
"You're confused. We'll explain after, but for now, Shhhh, he's coming," Toby whispers.
Toby's right; Walter is walking over. He still looks uncomfortable, "Finally, she's gone," he exhales, "I'm thinking it's early. I can get a tack-out from Kovalsky, and we can watch a movie." The team agrees. "Great, I'll go get my keys."
"Hey, Happy and Sylvester will go with you," Toby said and turned to them. "Ok, it's game time. Sylvester, you have to distract him and keep us updated. Happy you the same, but you also need to make sure Sylvester doesn't screw it up." They both nod their heads at the assignment.
Once they left, I asked, "What the hell is going on."
Toby goes to speak, but Ralph cuts him off. "I'll say it might go better. But we all agree that we must talk to you about Walter. And let's start with the fact that he hates human touch."
"But he hugs me all the time, and I've seen him a couple of times with all of you." Then they all start talking.
"Ya, he hugs you, and sometimes us and..." Toby stared.
"He touches your arm and back constantly," Cabe continues.
"But mostly it's just you, Mom," and Ralph finished the broken-up sentence.
"I'm so confused. What do you all mean?"
"We mean that he hates human touch and can't stand it, except for me, Happy, Sylvester, Cabe, and Ralph, pitty much in that order," Toby explains, using his hands to show the list with him at the bottom and Ralph at the top. "But most importantly, at the very top of that list is you, Paige Dineen!! Ralph is next because he's 50% you and sees himself in him."
"But what about when he was making out with that girl Sima? He was fine with her!"
"Paige, that was because of a case, and you two practised before that, so he was imagining it was you, and you were on coms the whole time. If you weren't, he would have freaked out. Come on. He said, "I love hearing your voice in my ear," and that was not to Sima. It was to you." Cabe answers with a smirk.
"But why!" They make sense.
"Because he's in love with you, Mom! Come on, really! You are supposed to be the EQ of the group, but you can't see that he's in love with you!" Ralph yells at me.
"And your evidence to support this hypothesis!" Hypothesis? I'm spending too much time with them. "Because Walter has no EQ, meaning he does not feel emotions."
"You and I know him may be the best expert for Megan and Cabe to know that Walter O'Brien feels emotions. He just can't process emotions." Toby answers in his calm, psychoanalytic voice. Annoyingly, I know he's right. "But since you want evidence, we can do that."
"Since you met, you treated him like a normal person. You encouraged him not to give up on a problem he couldn't solve. You are patient with him. The only other person to do that was Megan," Cabe says, sounding sad.
