The Fight for Peter's Affections
"I have a game!" Walter announced cheerfully. Peter groaned out loud and Olivia closed her eyes and looked as if once again she was wishing she were anywhere but here. Only his assistant seemed to not mind the outburst at all, as if she was expecting it somehow. Walter felt as though there was a reason for this but he couldn't remember it.
"We don't want to play a game, Walter. Let's just sit here quietly and wait for the lights to come back on, okay?" Peter said in a tone that clearly meant to dissuade his father of the idea of a game.
"But it's so boring!" Walter was fully aware of how much like a whiney seven year old he sounded, but it was hard to fight the urge. Since the whole of Kresge building had lost power nearly twenty minutes ago, the day had turned most boring indeed. He remembered hearing a sonorous pop out in the hallway and seconds later being in near complete darkness in his laboratory. Agent Dunham had gone out to see what was up and returned a minute or so later with the disastrous news that the place was lights out all around. She had spoken to a few faculty members and they said it was only their building, but that the power would be back on in no time. His son Peter had suggested they take a walk around campus or go to the cafeteria to wait it out, but Walter had stubbornly insisted that they stay. And now he could not for the life of him remember why he made such a foolish choice.
They were stationed in the office, the boring dark office. Asterisk had thought of lighting a few candles, a very resourceful assistant indeed! Walter thought. He was sitting at the head of the low table that served as a desk, his son sitting next to him. Peter flicked the flames of a nearby candle, never burning himself, and all the while toying with his coin, never dropping it, not once. It made Walter rather proud. Olivia sat next to Peter and was squinting at what looked to be very unimportant, boring paperwork. Asteroid had perched herself on the desk, to Walter's other side her legs swinging, her eyes fixed on him. There was queerness in that look, as if she was encouraging him to do something. He thought he saw her mouth the words "the game" but he could have been imagining it. It was then that he got a wonderful idea for a way to pass to the time.
"Okay, the rules are simple—" He began, but stopped abruptly at the sound of his son thumping his head against the desk and jarring the poor assistant girl. "Oh come now, you'll enjoy yourselves! Besides, it's all about you, Peter."
At that, the agent's interest seemed picked and even Peter looked up at him. "What do you mean?" he asked, treading cautiously, Walter could see. It made him smile.
"Well it's called "The Fight for Peter's Affections!" He said in a thunderous voice. He didn't really know where he had come up with such a grand name, but he quite liked it.
"The what?"
"The what?"
Peter and Olivia both asked the question at once and only the other girl remained silent. She is bright. I wonder who she is.
The agent and his son looked at each other and it made Walter go on. He hopped off his chair, fetched a candle, and made his was along the dim-lit room towards a pile of boxes beside the door. He started rummaging through them, searching for a particular key object for this game.
"It's quite simple really, as I stated before." He said, digging into his third box. "All we have to do is pit these two young girls" He motioned to Olivia and Aspirin with his free hand, "against each other" he got an ugly look from Peter, which he didn't notice, "and see which of them will be fit to get a kiss from you Peter!"
"Oh come on, Walter."
"What?"
"It sounds like fun."
Walter couldn't tell who said what but was overjoyed at the fact that he had found what he was looking for. He turned around to face the threesome once more and was amused at the look of shock on two of the faces before him. The agent and his son were looking at poor Asinine, who appeared as if she simply wanted to crawl into a black hole and be sucked into oblivion.
"You can't be serious, Astrid." The blonde said, ignoring Walter and his momentous find.
Peter asked, with a small grin, Walter noticed, "Really?" but he was also oblivious to the object in his father's hand, aside from the candle, which was beginning to feel slightly too hot for him. He set it down.
"Yeah, I mean, why not?" Astringe was saying. He noticed she let out a sort of nervous chuckle. Her eyes searched Walter's face in a plea for help and, although he didn't know why he did it, he came to her rescue.
"Come now, it's flattering!" He clapped Peter on the shoulder and walked over to the scared looking girl. "And you, agent Dunham, must be wary! It seems this young lady is willing to steal my son from you!
Olivia smiled and shook her head while Peter chuckled lightly.
"Walter, I'm pretty sure that neither Astrid nor Olivia wants to steal me." Peter said. It made Walter frown and his head throb to hear his son say this, but he dismissed it quickly enough.
"Sure they do, don't you darling?" He asked Afro, "You're a catch, Peter!"
"What's that in your hand, Doctor Bishop?" the girl next to him asked, and when he looked at it he saw that he indeed was holding something. He remembered now what it was for.
"Ah, yes! The Game! It's rather simple. The object is to use this as a means to decide which one of these wonderful ladies will be allowed the opportunity to share in the swapping of fluids with my son, Peter!"
Peter groaned out loud again and said, "That's a bottle, Walter." Walter missed the point, of course it's a bottle, have you a fondness for pointing out the obvious, you fool? "Please tell me you're not thinking of 'Spin the Bottle'."
"What in the blue blazes is that?" Walter felt himself losing his patience quickly. "All we do is place the object in the middle of you, Olivia and Assignment," he moved the no longer frightened girl over a bit so the three would be placed facing each other, "like so," he placed the bottle on the table, "and spin it. You spin it, of course Peter. Whoever the nozzle points to, be it Olivia or Agent Farnsworth, gets to have the great pleasure of sharing in a long and steamy—"
"Okay, Walter, we get it." His son interrupted him, sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he so often did.
"Walter, I don't think this is—"
"Of course it is!" he chimed in, not letting agent Dunham finish whatever nonsense she was about to go on about. "Go on, Peter, have them fight for it."
"Walter, we are not playing 'Spin the Bottle'."
"What's that? This is the fight for your affections!"
"It won't be that bad." The assistant said and the blonde's eyes got as big as saucers, not quite as big as the saucers he and Belly had once seen while on a trip to an air base in Idaho, but big enough.
"You want to kiss Peter?" she asked the other girl, and the poor thing stammered for a response that didn't come.
"Well don't make it sound so horrid." His son said. He sounded as if his feelings were hurt, and it tore Walter apart.
"No, I didn't mean… I mean, I didn't mean it like…"
"Sure you didn't. See Walter, agent Dunham doesn't want to play your game."
"But…" Walter was very disappointed.
"That's not what I said, I just—"
"Don't worry about it" Peter would not let Olivia finish. The girl can't get a word in edgewise. How rude of him. "Wouldn't want you to suffer through having to kiss me." With that last dramatic statement, Peter rose from his chair and headed to the exit. Olivia called after him, saying his name but the boy would not stop. She followed him out, leaving Walter alone with his assistant in the dark.
"How embarrassing." He said. "Perhaps you'd like to play, my dear?"
"Walter!" Astro gave him a light punch on his forearm. It didn't hurt but it startled him, She's feisty, just how I like them! "Why didn't you just stick to the plan?"
"What? Me? It was you that kept on speaking." He remembered now. The lights going out, the scheme, the game! Only a truly gifted young lady could come up with such a fantastic name for a game intent on getting his son to realize his feelings for the blonde FBI agent. But only a very stupid assistant could foil such a fool proof plan. "If agent Dunham hadn't suspected of you—"
"Don't go making this my fault." She retorted hotly, her face reddening enough to notice in the darkness. She does look beautiful in this light. "Now we have to clean up this mess."
"What mess? It looks quite tidy in here. Bit dark though isn't it? Where have Olivia and Peter gone?"
The girl sighed. If only he could remember her name. It started with a vowel.
A/N I haven't written a fic in a very long time but I just started watching Fringe and like any healthy addiction, I had to take it to the next level. I'm on season three now, about to watch episode nine, but I had to stop and write this. Took me but a few hours so I do apologize for any mistakes. I love writing Walter. I didn't know this, but I do. Thank you for reading and let me know what you thought. -AF