Bittersweet Biology
Chapter one:
Walter's Laboratory:
Olivia Dunhem paced through the corridor, a look of determination was painted on her face, shedding light on the several thoughts that were racing through her mind as she approached the door.
Peter Bishop stared at Walter, 'Walter??'
'Shshsh, Peter shshsh...silence, I need silence...' the old man rambled as he rubbed his forehead in great discomfort.
'Walter-what the hell are you doing?!' Peter demanded as Walter began scribbling religiously on the back of some papers.
'Peter-be quiet-you're distracting me-'
Peter felt his heart begin to pound in his chest as he observed the erratic way in which his father was flinching and scribbling without even looking at the paper. He had to stop this, it looked as if Walter was about to lose control.
Walter suddenly ran to the filing cabinet and yanked out an entire draw, tossing file after file out of its folder-
'Walter! Stop!'
'Let GO OF ME!' Walter demanded his eyes still on the folders, he was looking for a file, that's all Peter could understand from the old man's peculiar behaviour.
'Hey-' Peter said as he put a calming hand on Walter's shoulder-That was all it took to make the elderly genius snap. Walter shoved his son aside, 'GET OUT OF MY STUDY BOY!' Peter fell into the cabinet, staring up in horror at the familiar and yet estranged monster that stood before him.
On registering his son's terror, Walter clutched his head and crouched, trying to gain his senses, Olivia walked in just in time to see Peter climbing to his feet.
'Peter what happened??' she asked with a concerned tone as she ran to Walter's side. Astrid stared in shock, having witnessed the entire encounter all she could do was watch.
'Peter!?' Olivia said loudly, her words demanded an answer, Peter simply scoffed as he straightened his jacket began walking out of the office.
'Peter...where are you going??' Olivia asked.
On being ignored, Olivia turned to Astrid, 'Okay...what the hell just happened?'
Peter and Walter's Apartment:
An hour and a half had passed since Walter's outburst at the laboratory, Peter stared at the bottle of alcohol on the table. He had the doubts and now he had yet another reason to leave Boston. He glanced at the door, it would have been so much easier to just walk out and leave L.A., than it would be to face his daddy-issues with a partially senile Walter. A melancholy smile tugged at his lips as he wallowed in self pity, he had to admit he was proud of himself for not hitting Walter back. Peter had every single right to, based on the childhood he had, no-one in the world deserved more to punch Walter Bishop in the face than Peter.
And yet, Peter couldn't bring himself too.
He found his eyes drift back to the bottle that sat before him, it almost taunted him to take a swig, reminding him how good it felt to let himself lose control like he did a few years back. But all Peter could do was stare at it. Something was tying him down to Boston, he didn't know what it was yet, but thought that if he stuck around long enough for himself to find closure, or whatever it was that his restless heart wanted, he would get it. It was just a matter of time. Then he'd be out of here. Away from Walter, away from Astrid, away from the science, away from Olivia...he shifted slightly as he thought of Olivia, an impressive woman and what was most impressive about her, was that she had no idea just how impressive she was. His heart sank in his chest alittle, Olivia needed him here so she could get her own closure by solving the cases behind her partner's death with the help of the Bishop men. It seemed like everybody lately was in a rush to get closure. Something that they all vied for in their own way, him and Olivia. Then there was Walter, who simply wanted to live free in the science he loved so much.
Peter wondered how Walter could behave so normal around him at times, as if all those years of abuse hadn't happened, as though all of Walter's anger outbursts hadn't occurred, as if the young Peter had never watched his mother leave them.
Three loud knocks at the door drew him out of his thoughts.
'I'm coming...' he replied reluctantly, walking over to the door he pulled it open. Olivia found herself face to face with a depressed looking Peter, her arms were folded and her eyes had the stubborn gaze that met Peter's own gaze full on, never flinching.
'Come back to the lab.' She said firmly.
Peter tried not to roll his eyes at the beautiful but blunt woman, 'No thankyou Sweetheart.'
'Don't call me that.' She retorted, casting Peter a look, she decided he wasn't coming with her to the building. 'Alright...fine, we can discuss the case here.'
Peter opened his mouth to argue but Olivia barged into the apartment, Peter let out an exasperated breath, 'Oh c'mon...' He muttered.
'You can feel sorry for yourself because your senile father lost his temper...' Olivia stepped closer to him, her eyes never leaving his, 'Or you can try and save several lives by helping me find out how it's possible for a man to spontaneously combust.'
This tweaked his interest, 'spontaneously?'
'Spontaneously.' She said with an amused look, Peter was pretty cute for a grumpy smartass she thought for a moment. 'You know what's funny.'
Peter gave her an uninterested look as he picked up the bottle of alcohol and put it on the kitchen counter.
'Walter as only interested by the 'spontaneously' part too.'
Peter turned around to face her as he leaned against the kitchen counter, a sarcastic smile painted on his lips, 'Thankyou, you've just changed my life.'
'Do you often sit in silence and stare at a bottle of unopened alcohol?' she quipped in return, Peter lifted his head slightly, Olivia smiled at the surprised expression she received, 'You should close the blinds if you don't wanna be seen.'
Peter let a genuine smile escape his lips as he shook his head.
'I thought I was the smartass.'
Olivia smirked at him as he took the file from her hands, she followed him to the couch as he sat down. She put her hands on her hips and began explaining what he was reading.
'Three dead bodies were found outside a coffee stand, the one in the middle was giving off much more heat than the other two...at first I thought it was like the electric radiation emitted by one of our old cases...but he emitted electrical impulses when he was distressed, but passersby said nothing was out of the unusual.'
'Maybe he was in a rush and got upset. Boom!'
Olivia frowned at his odd-sense of humour.
'It was a Sunday afternoon Peter. I doubt he was in a rush to go anywhere.'
Peter frowned at the report, 'it says here that he literally caught fire...from the inside.'
Olivia studied his concerned expression as he began thinking, she knew Peter well enough to know that there was something he knew about the case that he wasn't sharing.
'Talk to Walter.' Peter simply said as he handed her the files.
'Peter...'
'Olivia-I think this is one of the things he worked on.'
'He denies any recollection of it.'
Peter smiled slightly, 'Look, last night, I came home and he stared at me for three minutes in silence until saying, 'who are you?'...I left the room and then walked back in and he was perfectly normal again.'
Olivia felt a wave of sympathy and guilt hit her as she listened to him, she was beginning to understand just how much of a burden being the legal guardian of Walter Bishop was.
The instant Peter noticed sympathy brewing in her eyes, he shrugged it off, 'Ask him again later.'
Olivia nodded as Peter walked past her, she paused for a moment.
'What triggered his outburst earlier...did you say anything?' she asked him.
'It's not my words that used to irritate him, it was simply my presence.'
Olivia's heart sank in her chest, she knew she had asked alot of Peter when he agreed to sign the Legal Guardian papers, but she needed him in order to be okay with John's death and all that had happened since.
Peter felt her eyes on him, 'What?' he asked as he turned around to face her, Olivia's softened demeanour changed, she didn't know why, but she felt defensive all of a sudden, it was almost as if by, simply laying eyes on him gratefully had revealed something about her that she wasn't prepared to know.
'I'll see you at the lab in an hour.'
With that she walked out of the apartment, Peter watched her go, wondering what had just happened in the smallest of moments, maybe it was just his imagination...or maybe he had really felt something between Olivia and him for a second...
End chapter one:
