FRINGE

Skip a Heartbeat

No copyright inFRiNGEment intended.
Note:
Peter rant/POV during "The No-Brainer".

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He snapped at her.

How could he snap at her after all she'd been through? After all they had been through together?

She was just trying to help him and to help Walter and provide him with some friendly advice and he snapped at her, dismissing her with contempt when she was not afraid to say out loud that she cared not only for Walter but for him.

He could not shrug off any longer the fact that living with his father had triggered his child affection back into motion, the same affection which was willing to thrive despite his stubbornness at pushing him away.

The more he refused to acknowledge the depth of his feelings for his father, the more he was deluding himself. He couldn't turn a blind eye to their relationship and reject its existence, no matter how dysfunctional it was.

And as much as he wanted to hate Walter for everything he had done and everything he didn't do, he had found it impossible not to curtain him from the real world.

She was right, he shouldn't. It wasn't what filial love was about. By intentionally depriving his father of his free will, he was denying him what makes him human. He could ramble till the cows come home, it didn't change a thing; she was right and he didn't listen.

From where he stood, he might as well come clean and accept that she had been right all along and from their very first improbable meet.

Dragging him back from Iraq had been a bold move and a highly beneficial move for the both of them. Though he would never admit to it, he had missed his father sorely over the years.

Now that he was facing Luke, he realized how protective he had actually turned into regarding his own father. He and that young man had so much in common. But Luke was not as lucky as Peter and even though he had lost his friend over his father tragic vendetta, he was still protecting him.

Peter could read in the boy's eyes his concern and his indecision. He might know that his father was insane, and nonetheless, he was defending him.

Then he heard the shot, and he started running and Luke started running behind him.

That was not happening.

It couldn't be happening.

It was his fault he hadn't chosen the right battle. His mission was to protect her, not to shield Walter from the world. He was supposed to have her back as she intended to have theirs. He was too late.

He heard the gun shot and stopped breathing, his steps echoing in the empty warehouse with Luke in his wake.

He could smell Luke's fear which was mirroring his.

Fear that the worse had happened, that she was gone.

And yet he had not flinched earlier and simply snapped at her, knowing perfectly well that she was going in alone only to prove Harris that she was a good agent and that she was right. She should not have to prove anything.

He should have had her back.