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Something about the way Paige was arranging the books on the shelf struck him as odd.
Walter couldn't quite put his finger on what it was, but the calmness she usually exuded—and which he had come to appreciate so much—wasn't coming through today. Perhaps it was due to the exhausting day. Even though he was hardly familiar with such emotions himself, he had often noticed that Paige handled stressful assignments differently than he did.
Be that as it may.
"Paige, did you put together the documents I asked for?" he asked.
Paige reached into the shelf, pulled out a stack of documents, and shoved them into his hands without fully turning around.
"Here." She immediately turned her back to him again and continued where she'd left off.
"Thanks..."
Walter looked down at the documents, then back at Paige. Something was definitely off.
What had Toby said? "Short answers, no eye contact, increased activity," he muttered.
Then it dawned on him. "Are you mad at me?"
Paige froze for a moment before spinning around. "Am I mad?"
Walter hated it when people repeated his questions. Yes, exactly. He wanted to know whether she was angry. That was the most logical conclusion based on her behavior.
Paige continued glaring at him before apparently realizing he didn't understand.
"You promised me you wouldn't do something like that again!"
Things were becoming increasingly confusing.
"What exactly? Saving your life? And the lives of a hundred others?" Walter shot back.
Paige's voice sounded strangely strained as she suddenly blurted out, much louder than before.
"It's about yours! You put it on the line again as if it didn't matter."
It took Walter a moment to process her words. Deciphering the additional emotional component always gave him trouble. "Again...?" he murmured.
Then his eyes widened. "You mean the subway."
Paige snorted softly and looked down.
Suddenly, the intercom crackled to life.
"If she's looking down now, you hit the nail on the head, buddy."
Toby.
Without a word, Paige reached for the intercom and switched it off.
I was right? How could that possibly be?
"That was a completely different situation. The probabilities—"
"You're an idiot!"
Walter blinked. Paige looked away and muttered quietly,
"Then and now."
Then she looked back at him. With that look in her eyes. With that tone in her voice.
"You walk into situations like that as if it doesn't matter whether you make it out again."
She took a step toward him.
Uncomfortably close.
"And I just stand there and..."
Her voice broke.
Walter found himself increasingly distracted by her proximity. Her warmth. The familiar scent of coconut and cinnamon.
He looked at her, thoughts racing through his head, none of them quite settling into place. Why compare this to the subway?
"I assumed..." he said slowly, thinking out loud. "I assumed the circumstances had changed."
Paige remained silent.
"Back then, you were very..."
Walter searched for the right word.
"Emotional."
He swallowed.
"And if that's happening again..."
There was really only one conclusion. But that couldn't be right. Could it?
Paige avoided his gaze.
"Paige?" he asked carefully.
Finally, she looked at him.
He actually liked it when their eyes met, even though he couldn't fully explain why. But today there was something different in her expression.
Despair? Hope? He wasn't sure. It felt as though he was missing something important.
Walter wasn't good at deciphering emotional cues. But he wanted to understand Paige.
More than he wanted to understand almost anyone. He took a small step toward her.
The walkie-talkie on the coffee table crackled.
"And if her pupils dilate now, then—"
A loud clatter interrupted Toby's commentary.
The batteries hit the table as Paige removed them from the device without ever taking her eyes off Walter.
Silence.
What had just happened?
It frustrated him that his usually sharp mind seemed to fail him so often in situations like this.
"That... confuses me," Walter admitted.
Paige let out a tired breath.
"What exactly? That feelings don't just disappear because you don't want them?"
She shrugged. Suddenly, she looked exhausted.
"It might be hard to imagine."
Feelings? She still had feelings? That didn't fit with any of his observations.
But how else was he supposed to interpret those words?
Paige turned away and stared out the window.
She thought he couldn't imagine it.
Ironically, she was the reason he could.
"You are right. Two years ago, I never could have imagined it," Walter admitted.
Paige turned back toward him.
"But now..." he continued quietly. "I can."
Surprise flashed across her face.
Walter took another small step closer.
He couldn't look away.
"The only thing I find difficult to imagine now... is that you still have feelings for me."
Paige frowned.
How was he supposed to explain this?
"I thought I'd lost you."
His voice sounded strangely unsteady.
"At least that would have been consistent with my observations."
He hated conversations like this.
Too often he chose the wrong words.
Too often he was misunderstood.
But there was no way around it.
"I know I pushed you away."
He forced himself to keep going.
"Back then, everything was too confusing. Too frustrating. So I tried to ignore it."
A pause.
"To ignore you."
Paige looked at him with cautious hope.
"It didn't work," he admitted.
"And instead?" she asked softly.
Even Walter could sense the shift in the atmosphere now.
Something had changed.
Not just in the room.
Inside him, too.
New sensations coursed through him, impossible to categorize.
His jumbled thoughts—and the fact that he was having such a hard time speaking—led to only one conclusion: he was clearly nervous. It was now or never.
“It’s coming back,” he stammered. “It’s persistent. Somehow… stronger than before…” How was he supposed to put that into words?
“..like a process that keeps restarting no matter how often you shut it down.,” he continued.
Paige rolled her eyes. Oh no! He must have messed it up...how could he express it less technically? "or maybe...like...weeds", he stammered uncentrainly.
Paige suddenly burst out laughing “Oh, Walter,” she said before regaining her composure and continuing in a seductive tone: "You should probably stop talking now."
She came incredibly closer and then he felt her lips on his.
His pulse quickened. His thoughts… didn’t. For some inexplicable reason, his brain seemed unable to keep up this time. He couldn’t have said what he was feeling. He just knew he didn’t want it to end.
Paige’s kiss grew more intense, more demanding, and he suddenly felt strange sensations running down his spine.
Walter realized that he was returning the kiss with an intensity that surprised even him.
"What's happening?" he gasped softly between breaths.
He’d said it more to himself than to her, but Paige seemed slightly startled as she pulled away from him just a little.
“Too much?” he heard her voice echoing somewhere in his head. He'd never seen anyone look at him the way she was looking at him now.
The expression in her eyes stirred something unfamiliar inside him.
Something he didn't understand. Something he suddenly knew he wanted to hold on to forever.
He felt himself shake his head before he consciously decided to do so, and he was still unable to form a clear thought, let alone find the right words.
“No,” he managed to stammer.
Then his lips found hers again.