Every time I do a Five Times fic, either alone or as a collaboration, I swear to myself that I will never write one of these things again. But here I am. This one is not a collaboration, though one of my regular collab parters Heidi (FoxPhile) has helped me immensely in my outlining of this piece. This first chapter will be short since it's taken from an actual episode. The rest will be set in the future.

ALSO I updated Here To Stay two days ago, but it didn't update in the story list and still says that it was last updated May 1. So if the last chapter you read was the team receiving news of the bombing, there is a chapter after that that has been published.

"You did a fantastic job. Really superlative."

A blooper from Friends came to Paige's mind, Matt LeBlanc snapping it's fucking fire. As Toby pointed out, cavemen made fire. People heated their house with woodstoves. Kids lit fires on beaches. Sure, she and Ralph didn't have matches, but with pieces of glass and tissues and other material from the plane, it hadn't taken them long at all to get one blazing. And once they had, there really wasn't much that made it a better fire than most other fires out there. And yet Walter was acting as if she was going to single handedly save them all.

For a fire.

That any one of them could make.

She wanted to snap at Walter to just chill. But she couldn't very well tell him he was being inappropriate in front of their friends without being a hypocrite. Let it go.

Great. Now that song was in her head.

She just wanted to get home. Forget a romantic week in Tahiti. She wanted her son to be safe in their condo and she wanted to get Walter alone without the risk of death hanging over them.

"Don't be jealous that me and my soul mate get along better than you and your soul mate!"

Soul mate. God.

There was a time for that talk. A place for that talk. And despite the fact that they'd been together for less than a day, she had such a good feeling about him, about the idea of him and her as an us, that his words probably would have given her a warm feeling if he'd said them over dinner in Tahiti, or curled up next to her in her bed. But here – now? It all just felt awkward.

She had to talk to him. But down the beach. And she had to do it in a way that wouldn't discourage him, that wouldn't make him pull away again. She didn't think she could bear distance between them, despite how uncomfortable she was feeling right now, with his overzealous pet names and compliments. She had to make sure he knew she didn't think he would always be this awkward – because he wouldn't be. She always believed in him, even during times when it was easier emotionally for her to convince herself that he was a hopeless cause.

But most importantly, she loved him. So she wanted to tell him gently.

"Walt," she managed, hoping her tone sounded firm without intimidating him. "A moment?"

She could tell by the smile on his face that he likely hadn't picked up on her tone at all.

And when he trotted out Dedication Paige...

"Again...just like the flower you gave me in the middle of searching for something that...could have saved a man's life...it's really sweet...but, maybe not the right time for pet names?"

"Oh, okay." With all her annoyance, she was relieved when he didn't shut down. She half smiled as he rambled, explaining that because he'd never felt this way before, and now that they had said what they said to each other, all these feelings were just sort of spilling out of him. She understood.

"Just don't...try so so hard." You love me. You can express it. But you don't have to prove it. I already know. "I know how you feel, you know how I feel, let's just let it...progress naturally." She was smiling again, despite herself. Remember what I told you on the plane. I feel so, so good about this.

Paige wanted to keep talking, but Cabe was calling to them. She gave Walter one last little look. Let it progress naturally. It will. You've never done this before, but I have. I know what feels right.

She told him as much later, after her apology, as they bedded down for the night, Ralph snuggled up between them already asleep.

Walter smiled. The smile was the last thing Paige saw before darkness settled over the island.

She could get used to that. She just hoped they would live that long.