Earning Trust

Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Scorpion, CBS does.

Chapter 2:

"I uh I needed to talk to you." Walter said breathlessly.

"This couldn't have waited until Monday?" Paige asked.

"No, no this is very important to our current situation and I needed to tell you." Walter said.

"Okay so what do you need to tell me Walter?" Paige said, slightly frustrated.

"I realized last night after you left, that I uh I love you. And I have been denying those feelings for so long and then suddenly Toby yelling at me helped me realize that I love you Paige. I always have, and I'm sure I always will. You are the only person who actually understands me, and actually connects with me. And I was such a moron for not telling you earlier. And even though I may have already lost you to another man, I-I just couldn't go any longer without you knowing how I feel about you." Walter said.

"Walter, as sweet as you coming here to tell me this is, and as much as I love you with all my heart, and as much as I would love to explore a relationship with you, I-I just don't know if you are ready for one. Now don't get me wrong, you have improved so much emotionally since the day I met you, and you have no idea how proud I am of you, but I just don't think that you are ready. But because I love you so much I will make a deal with you, if you show me that you are capable of handling yourself in public situations, I will go on a date with you. And I need you to tell me how you are feeling. I don't just want one word answers like 'Fine' I need you to tell me how you are feeling. And as long as you don't constantly push me away like you have been, I will wait for you. Does that sound okay to you?"  Paige asked.

"Uh yes that uh sounds great. And I will try my best to make sure I keep up my end of the deal" Walter responded.

"I know you will. Now let me just go talk to Tim and we can go home." Paige said.

"Okay, uh yeah sure." Walter responded. After a few minutes of talking to a seemingly understanding Navy SEAL, Paige returned and told him they could leave.

"Uh what about Tim?" Walter asked.

"Oh uh since he really does enjoy jazz he is going to stay here for the festival." Paige replied.

"Okay great. Uh should we get going?" Walter asked.

"Sure. But Walter, you drove the whole way here, do you want me to drive?" Paige asked.

"Nope. It's all good." Walter responded.

"Okay. Well let's get going." Paige said to Walter.

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After another 8 hours of driving Paige and Walter finally arrived at the garage. Paige looked at the garage and looked at Walter confused. Walter knowing why she was confused said, "Oh I figured you would probably want to check on Toby before I took you to your apartment."

Paige smiled and said, "Thank you Walter, that was very thoughtful."
"Oh uh before we go in I should warn you, when I left Toby was already half finished a bottle of tequila. And I'm sure he got a hold of more alcohol so the site that we are about to walk into is not going to be very pretty. And I'm sure that we are going to have to deal with a very hung-over and probably still a bit drunk psychiatrist." Walter said worriedly.

"Well thank you for the warning Walter. Once again, very thoughtful, now we should probably go check on him." Paige said taking off her seatbelt. Walter and Paige braced them selves and walked into the garage. They opened the door and saw Toby looking like he has a terrible headache but not caring a downing another bottle of tequila. "Hey Toby." Paige said as she carefully approached him.

"Hey." He responded sounding defeated.

"Uh h-how are you doing?" Walter said trying to be cautious of Toby's emotions.

"How do you think I'm doing Walter? I proposed to my girlfriend only to find out that she's married and I didn't know. I am a world-class people analyzer and I didn't know that my girlfriend, the person I spend all my free time with, is married. So how do you think I'm doing Walter? Imagine that you propose to Paige only to find out she's married. How would you feel if the your girlfriend and the love of your life was married and you had no idea?" Toby said as he collapsed back onto the couch.

"Oh Toby, do you want me to talk to Happy for you?" Paige asked.

"Do you want us, to talk to Happy for you?" Walter asked trying to hold up his end of the deal with Paige.

Toby snorted and said, "Walter just because you are now dating Paige, at least I'm assuming since the both of you are back here, doesn't mean that suddenly you are an expert on emotions."

"Oh actually we aren't dating." Paige said correcting him.

Walter not liking the sound of that interrupted and said, "Yet. We aren't dating yet. And Toby I would really like to help with this."

Toby only hearing the first part of what Walter said, yelled," WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU AREN'T DATING YET? You literally chased her off to Tahoe to confess your love. Then you come back to the garage together. What do you mean you aren't dating yet?"

"Toby that is a long story and he did come to Tahoe to confess all of that but right now is not the time to hear about mine and Walter's relationship, right now Walter and I are trying to help you through yours. So please just tells us it's okay to talk to Happy." Paige said trying to stay calm.

"Okay fine, go talk to her." Toby said taking another swig of tequila.

"Great." Paige said as she grabbed Walter's hand and pulled him out of the garage.

Once they had started driving Walter interrupted the silence and said, "You know that eventually we are going to tell him why we aren't together yet."

"Yes I know, but I figured it might make more sense to him when he's sober. And who knows Walter, we made this deal eight and a half hours ago and you are already making a significant effort to try and understand other people and emotions. So we might not even have to tell him, especially considering that he is very drunk right now and probably won't even remember that conversation." Paige said looking at him and smiling.

"That's true. Oh and quick question, when do you think that I will be ready for a relationship?" Walter asked hoping it would be sometime in the near future.

"Well if you continue at this pace, probably very soon." Paige said smiling once again. This time Walter returned the smile and took her hand and interlaced their fingers together. Finally the pair arrived at Happy's apartment. They took the elevator to the second floor and knocked on the door. After two minutes they knocked again. Finally Happy looking just as drunk as Toby unlocked the door.

"Hey Happy." Paige said carefully. "How are you doing?"

"Oh just great. Thanks for asking." She responded sarcastically.

"Can we uh come in?" Walter asked.

"Nope." Happy said and then tried to slam the door but didn't succeed as Walter pushed it right back open.

"Happy if you don't let us in we can't help." Paige said.

"Well good, because I don't want your help." She said slamming the door and succeeding this time.

"Now what?" Walter asked Paige.

"I don't know Walter. I really don't know." She responded sighing.

A/N: Well there is the second chapter of this series. And just before anyone asks I don't actually know how many chapters this is going to have. But please keep in mind that I am in high school so I don't know how frequent updates will be. I will try my best to update at least every week. Anyways that is all I have to say for right now. So please comment, vote for this story- that really helps encourage me, because then I know that people are enjoying this- and I will see you in the next chapter of Earning Trust.