And all that you love will be carried away

To find it again you must be willing to stay

And hope upon hope it will find you again

The same as it left you on that long ago day

Chapter 1: You Believe Dreams Have Meaning, Don't You?

The smell was the first thing she noticed. Or rather remembered. She had been here before. It smelled… warm. If warm had a smell. Her thoughts turned to cinnamon. Maybe not as sharp but it was definitely there. And musty. That was what it mostly smelled like. Warm and cinnamon and musty. Like the place had stood closed and forgotten for ages and only opened now that she was there.

The room was dimly lit. As it always was. Her trained eye scanned the empty tables for a sign of life more than her own. But she knew she wouldn't find it. There was never anybody there besides herself. It was always the same.

Olivia walked in slowly; feeling each step as she went. Nothing was a reflex here. Even her breathing was conscious and deliberate. Her mind worked like a sponge to take in every last detail of the place. She wanted to remember every thing.

Her table. It was just a table. But over time it had become hers. Always on the same spot. She pulled out the same chair she usually did and sat down. Her chin rested lightly on one raised hand while the fingers of the other toyed absentmindedly with a wayward thread from the aged tablecloth. The little glowing ball of candlelight that was ushered through a cracked lamp in the middle of the table – her table – caught her attention. It was dying out. And soon he would come. The faceless voice. As he always did.

He would bend down low so that his breath played warm and ticklish against her ear and he would offer her a new one. She always wondered why he didn't simply re-ignite the one she had but never said this much. Instead, she would nod yes and wait. And wait.

The faceless voice never would replace her dying light. He would merely straighten and drift by her table, making his way toward somewhere she didn't know. And as he walked, no, drifted - that was the right way to describe it because it didn't really look like his feet touched the ground at all. As he drifted, the lamps died out on the tables he would pass. Only they didn't die – he took them. And Olivia would sit and watch until hers was the only one left. Barely burning. She always wondered why he didn't take hers.

A cold draught made its way up her leg and traveled all the way up her spine, making the hair on her arms stand on end. Olivia stiffened. Not at the draught, it always happened that way. But at the thought of what was coming. What the draught inevitably signaled.

She looked around for something she didn't quite know what. Perhaps tonight was planning on being different all on its own. Perhaps she wouldn't have to work very hard to get the answers she was looking for.

She held her breath as the sound of footsteps started behind her. She knew he wasn't really walking but there were footsteps nonetheless. She didn't turn to look at him either because she knew he would come to her on his own. So she sat. And she waited.

And he appeared.

At her shoulder as always; just out of view so that she would have to turn her head to get a look at him. She didn't. She simply sat and waited for him to do what he did every time he came to her. And he did.

"Would you like me to change it for you?" He whispered to her.

Olivia nodded, not lifting her eyes from the dim glimmer as it struggled for life in front of her. But just as she knew he would, the faceless voice straightened and started to drift away. She wasn't sure if it would work or not and before she even knew what she would say, Olivia felt the muscles of his arm tighten under her assertive grip. She was standing now but his back was still turned to her. He didn't move and she didn't let go of him.

"Where am I?" Her tone was inquisitive and calm despite the hammering of her heart inside her chest.

She heard him smile. Was that even possible? Apparently so. It was a cold and heartless smile. So not a smile at all really, but even so.

"You are here," came the cryptic response.

Olivia's brow furrowed as she tried to make sense of it and she felt her heart sink when she failed. Still, the faceless voice did not turn to her and still, she held onto his arm. And tried again.

"What is this place?" Still calm but her words were weighted with somewhat more urgency than before.

"It's a restaurant, Agent Dunham. The same as the last."

He knew who she was. Olivia let go of his arm in the shock of hearing her name pass his lips and then he turned to face her. She blinked quickly in an effort to refocus her gaze. She could see him. The voice finally had a face.

"Have you made a decision?"

His smile didn't reach his eyes. She couldn't see it but she could feel it. There was no face. She knew he had one. She could feel that too. But it wasn't there. He stepped closer to her and Olivia could feel the cold from his body invade her space. Any other person and it would have been warmth. But not this person. If that's what he even was.

"Agent Dunham," her name sounded like gravely filth when he said it. "-have you made a decision?" He repeated himself, still smiling that cold, faceless smile that didn't reach his eyes.

Her skin began to crawl and she shook her head quickly; her gaze now on something indistinct on the floor. She couldn't bear to look at him any longer. It gave her a strange sense of motion sickness when she did.

"Very well," he turned from her and started drifting away again.

Slowly but surely Olivia found herself in growing darkness as he took the lights from the remaining tables as he went. She turned to check her table and was surprised to find her lamp still there. Still glimmering sadly away in the cracked glass. A gust of wind came up from somewhere she didn't know and the light flickered dangerously. This didn't happen before. He didn't speak her name and there was no gust of wind but now it was different. Now he knew who she was and now things were starting to happen.

A panic sprang up in her chest. She didn't know why but it seemed important that the light not go out. It was the first time in all of her visits to this place that Olivia felt afraid. She made her way back to her table with the purpose of what, saving the light? Protecting it from the inexplicable wind? And why? She had more questions now than when she had arrived and was nowhere near to having any of them answered.

The light flickered and swayed. Olivia lunged for the lamp, cupping her shaking hands around it as the light disappeared. And sprang back to life again. A deep sigh of relief escaped her parted lips. A sigh a little too deep. Carried a little too far.

The room went black as the last light in it died out and Olivia jumped as a hand came to rest on her shoulder.

"You believe dreams have meaning, don't you?"

"Sometimes. And sometimes your dreams are nothing more than an exaggeration of what you're feeling."

"You said that if something changed, you would listen to me."

"Yes well you've never been one for good timing, Agent Dunham."

Olivia watched as Walter Bishop shrugged the lab coat from his shoulders and tossed it over the back of his chair. She was at the Harvard Lab before sunrise that morning; the changing events in what had become a recurring dream driving her to get answers. And she came to the one place she could think they would be.

"Doctor Bishop-" she started but was waved to silence by a harried Walter as he brushed passed her.

"The others are on their way. You do realize that we have more important matters to discuss than things that go bump in the night?" His back was turned to her the whole time he spoke and he was almost out the door when Olivia started after him.

"What if the thing going bump is in another universe?"

This last ditch attempt on her part to grab the attention of the absent-minded genius worked as well as Olivia had hoped. Walter froze in his steps and slowly turned toward her.

"A universe that's not ours or theirs," she spoke quickly once she realized she had his attention.

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying, I don't believe that this is just a recurring dream. It feels too – rational," she ended, relieved to finally be heard.

"I think this is something more."

"Like what?" he asked, making his way back to where she stood; fully interested in her story for the first time.

"I'm not sure. But if last night was anything to go by, I think I'm running out of time to find out."

"Our trial project was a success," Walter Bishop's voice reverberated around the room as he spoke and all eyes were focused on his imposing form. "We now know with certainty that the parallels between our two universes are connected on a cosmic level that imbues significant power to synchronicities as they occur."

"And in English that means what?" A sarcastic voice piped up from somewhere behind Olivia and she knew without looking that it had come from an alternate. Agent Lee to be exact.

There was a muffled chuckle from a few others, also alternates Olivia guessed, who found their co-worker as funny as he found himself. Walter's face, however, remained gravely stern as he surveyed them.

"It means that the very basic laws of science are in play here," Walter spoke for the first time that day.

He stood up so that they could all see him and Olivia felt a chill go up her spine as she looked upon the two Walter Bishops as they stood side by side. One, a handsome man comfortably wearing charcoal Armani and an air of authority that indicated they were both part of his nature. The other, less distinguished and much more thrown together in a worn-through green woolen sweater and corduroy slacks that seemed at least one size too big as it bunched under his old leather belt. It was this Walter that had spoken now; her Walter, Olivia thought proudly as she smiled at the disheveled state in front of her. He returned her smile somewhat sheepishly before continuing.

"For every action on our side, there is an equal albeit opposite reaction on yours. But," he raised his voice and a pointed finger at this word, "we have found a way to synchronize these actions so that they become mirrors," he held his hands up with palms facing each other and brought them slowly together as he spoke.

"Instead of opposite reactions, we can manipulate a series of actions that will mirror each other to create a kind of balance," his hands finally met and his fingers interlaced. "Until eventually our two worlds will find one rhythm and the tears and vortexes will cease to be part of our reality."

"Your reality doesn't sound very realistic," Agent Lee said with a bemused tone and Olivia watched as Walter's excited face dropped along with his hands, fingers still laced together.

"Agent Lee if your contributions have no more weight than what you've been offering please be so kind as to spare us," the other Walter said sternly and watched as his words wiped the smile from Lincoln's face.

"I have a question," Astrid's voice rang out clear as she stood.

Olivia looked around to meet Astrid's gaze but found that it was glued to her hands as they rested in her lap. It seemed that she was having as much difficulty as Olivia when it came to interacting with her alternate and preferred not to look at her double as she took the floor.

"Agent Farnsworth," Walter nodded his permission for her to speak. The other Walter had long since retaken his seat next to Olivia by this time, further reinstating the common understanding that this ship was run by one Bishop only.

"After all the damage that has been done up to this point, how long do you think it will take before our worlds become synchronized? And what will it take for that to happen?"

"The details of our next trial are laid out in the briefs you will be getting after this meeting. Your superiors will be taking you through them step by step."

"One other thing," Astrid's alternate continued, "You asked me to monitor the stability or rather instability of our two worlds in order to create a map for the proposed Bi-Universal Synchronization," she looked at Walter and he nodded for her to carry on. "Over the past four weeks I've been noticing some interference in the plasmodic bases."

"What kind of interference?" This question came from the other Bishop.

"And you're only just mentioning this?" Charlie's alternate sat up straight as he spoke.

This time Olivia did look. She stared. Her friend and partner had been encased in amber a year previous and the fact that his alternate was still alive was one of two things that she envied about the other side. She missed her Charlie and often found herself looking forward to the weekly recon sessions because it meant she would get to see him again.

"I haven't been able to localize or identify it yet," the other Astrid's voice brought her back to the matter at hand. "But it's definitely not coming from here, I mean us. Or you," she ended, looking at Olivia and her counterparts.

"Did you say bases? As in it is happening to both universes?" Walter was standing again.

"Yes, whatever it is is affecting both universes on a subatomic level. The instances are always simultaneous and seem to be fixed to occur between the hours of 3 and 5am but never at the exact moment twice. This is all the information I have."

Olivia straightened in her chair at this last bit. The alternate Astrid had placed the unexplained interferences at roughly the same time she had been waking from her strange recurring dreams. She immediately thought that she had found a connection.

"How do you know it's not from here? Or there?" she asked.

"There's a signal or a mix of electro-magnetic impulses and something I can't yet define that is interfering with my monitoring system and it's coming from an unknown location."

Olivia looked at Walter to find that he had been staring at her all this time. She knew that his thoughts were on their earlier conversation and it confirmed her suspicion that there must be a connection.

"So you're suggesting another universe?" Olivia's question started a series of snorts and rebukes from the alternates and worried glances from her own colleagues.

"I don't have enough information to hazard a guess yet. But my initial thoughts are that our work to fix what is wrong with our worlds will be futile if we are vulnerable to other forces."

"Thank you, Agent Farnsworth, you can be seated." Questioning faces turned to Walter as he silenced Astrid. "We don't have the time or resources to be distracted by what is clearly technical errors in your data."

Astrid's mouth dropped in consternation. Clearly her expertise had never been called into question before.

"Sir, with all due respect I-"

"I said that's enough, Agent." The room fell to silence once again and a cool tension filled the air between them. "I think we can adjourn for today and-"

"Wait," Olivia cut in, her voice shaky but loud enough to herald the attention of the leader Bishop.

She felt the eyes of everyone burn into her face as it reddened under their stares but she resolved to continue nonetheless.

"I think I can help you," she spoke to the alternate Astrid. "I've been having this dream-"

"Olivia," Walter's voice came from beside her; a low warning for her to not say what she was about to. She obviously ignored it.

"I don't think it's a dream though. I think I'm somewhere and it's not here… or anywhere I've been. It feels-"

"Like a dream?" Lincoln broke in with a chuckle that Olivia chose to ignore as well.

"It feels like I'm somewhere… real. And there's something I'm supposed to find out. Or know. Or someone. I don't-"

"Let's work together to try and form an actual sentence."

"Let the lady talk."

The jibes from the alternates did little to instill confidence in what Olivia had to say and she fumbled a bit for her next words.

"I have a sense about these things. And I think this could be the answer we've been looking for." This time she turned her imploring gaze to the other Walter who had been silently listening to her with his arms folded across his chest.

"I think that wherever this place is, it has answers that will help us fix what is wrong with both our worlds."

"So your spidey-sense is telling you this is another altverse? How can we go on that? How can you be sure?" Lincoln was hard pressed to give her a break his demanding tone let her know it.

"I don't know. I just am," she replied evenly.

"Ladies and gentlemen, she just am." Lincoln seemed proud that his last remark got a few laughs and he played it up for what it was worth.

"Hey!"

Her voice came from behind her. The word uttered from her lips. Olivia turned to see her face staring down Agent Lee, the only discernable difference being the fiery mane that framed it.

"Would you quit it already? I want to hear what she has to say."

Lincoln seemed to respond to the alternate Olivia the way he hadn't even to the leader Bishop. It was clear to Olivia that he had the utmost respect for her and it made sense that he would be antagonistic toward the woman who looked like her but wasn't. She could definitely relate and her attitude toward him softened a bit.

"So what do you suggest we do?" the deep voice of a Bishop called Olivia's attention but Walter jumped in before she could answer.

"I believe that if we tweak Agent Farnsworth's monitoring system just a bit we can-"

"I don't feel too comfortable with people tweaking… my system," Astrid ended feebly once she realized what she had just said and how it had sounded.

She watched Charlie and Lincoln stifle a chuckle and turned back to Walter.

"Oh not to worry, dear. I completely understand. But we will be able to localize the target of the signals even though we can't yet find their origin. We can set it up to measure the-"

"Or just come to my apartment," Olivia said and once again all eyes were on her. "I'm the target. They've been trying to tell me something. And they're going to do it again tonight."

"Thank you, for giving me a chance."

"No problem. I really was interested in what you had to say. I want this to be done with as much as everyone else."

Olivia gave a pained smile as she surveyed her alternate's face as it lit up so easily. When she smiled, her eyes danced. She seemed lighter, happier. And then her smile dropped, probably in response to being stared at so closely. Olivia couldn't help herself though; her eyes remained locked on a face that should be hers, but wasn't.

"Is everything okay?" her alternate asked hesitantly.

Olivia quickly put on one of her masking smiles and shook her head.

"Everything's fine. It's just… how's Mom?" The question left her mouth before it had even formed in her brain and Olivia immediately pursed her lips tightly in regret.

The other thing that she envied about the other side - her mother was there. And why had she said Mom? As if they shared her. Why hadn't she said Your mom? Because a part of her liked to believe that her mother was alive. Even though it was in a reality other than her own.

Her alternate's gaze softened visibly. She was not thrown by the question, it was almost as if she had expected it a lot sooner.

"She's good," Fauxlivia said softly and smiled. "She started an origami class."

They both laughed at this, somehow both finding the same humor in the seemingly mundane statement.

"Makes the most beautiful things though," Fauxlivia continued. And then her eyes misted over and she swallowed hard before speaking again. "I'm sure your niece would love them."

Olivia's eyes locked with hers and she understood then that there were things that they both envied about the other. Fauxlivia no longer had her sister and never got to watch her sister's baby grow up. And they stood that way for a while, acknowledging the differences between them but finding solace in the things that made them the same.

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow," Fauxlivia was first to speak.

"If Astrid, I mean, your – if she and Walter can find anything tonight then yes."

"They're two brilliant minds so I'm pretty sure they will."

Olivia nodded and watched as her alternate left the room to return to her side, and it was with a lingering sense of sadness that Olivia turned and did the same. She wished she could be as hopeful about their experiment that night. She more than anyone, wanted to get to the bottom of what was happening.

So I am still trying to figure out how to write all of them interacting with their alternates without being too confusing. It's difficult but I hope to get the hang of something soon:) And with that I have my first chapter of my first fic ever! Reviews are obligatory btw:p I need to know what you think3