For DesireeArmfeldt. not mine, no profit garnered. title from chris emslie's maybe train. thanks to the jam for beta!
"I really hope this had nothing to do with my singing," Astrid said. She didn't step outside the chalk circle that had followed them to where/when they were.
"While I believe Walter is capable of many things, somehow having his time travel circle triggered by someone singing 'Let's do the time warp again,' is probably not how he would do it." Olivia bent down to look at the circle. It wasn't actually chalk, of course. She bent down and tried to smell the substance but it was apparently odorless. "I shouldn't be surprised, I know Walter built that machine that broke out David Robert Jones, but this is -"
"Extraordinary," Astrid said. "I think it's 1930 out there. That decade at least. I did a course on American Fashion History for fun when I was in college."
"I was going to say intensely frustrating," Olivia said. "We're still looking for Jones and the ZFT, Walter probably doesn't even remember what he did. Who knows how long we're stuck here."
"Peter will figure it out," Astrid said. "He'll notice we're both gone and he'll make Walter recreate it."
"What if he can't?" Olivia stood up and stamped her feet. "Sorry, me being negative isn't helping us at all."
"I don't think there's much we can do that would actually be helpful," Astrid said. "You turned off all those lights in the bomb, maybe if you concentrate enough, you can just get us home. I can sing if it helps."
Olivia smiled slightly. "I didn't turn off those lights. I know Peter and Walter think I did, but it's ridiculous."
"Like Walter making a circle of some sort of substance that got triggered somehow by the two of us and then transferred us through time and space," Astrid said.
"Right," Olivia said. "We're not in the Harvard lab at all."
"We're on the second floor of a warehouse and I think this isn't even Boston," Astrid said.
"Why not even Boston?"
"Listen," Astrid said.
Olivia heard the radio somewhere on the street. She said, "Are you going by the accents? I can't tell anything."
"I'm going by the sports scores," Astrid said. "I think this is New York City."
Olivia said, "You're adapting better to this than I am, thank God."
"You don't spend your whole day in the lab with Walter Bishop, listening to every flight of fancy he has," Astrid said. "I don't mind that part, but I really wish he'd stop telling me about his bowel movements."
"I'm sorry," Olivia said. "If it's any consolation, I've heard Peter say the exact same thing. Not about his bowel movements, Peter's, but about Walter's bowel movements."
"I wish he'd say it, just once, to Broyles, so I could see Broyles's face," Astrid said, grinning.
"Now I want him to, too," Olivia said.
"Actually," Astrid said. "I swear I remember him once telling me all about the time he and Belly built a time machine."
"Of course they did," Olivia said.
"He didn't remember any of it when he sobered up," Astrid said. "But. I think, I bet there is another circle on this floor, in this warehouse, that takes us to the next stop on the circuit."
Olivia took a deep breath and stepped outside the circle. "Okay, I trust you," she said. She walked around the whole length of the warehouse, inhaled more dust than she thought possible but she did find another circle. "Astrid," she called.
"Yup," Astrid said.
"I found the second circle. Should we get in it?"
"We can try, wait for me," Astrid said.
"Maybe Walter recreated his old time machine and was so high he thought he was still working with Bell, so the circle was triggered by just there being two people in the circle," Olivia said.
"I liked the singing theory," Astrid said. "I suppose Walter probably isn't into Rocky Horror Picture Show."
Olivia took Astrid's hand and they stepped inside at the same time. Nothing happened. Olivia said, "Home." Still nothing happened.
Astrid started singing again.
They were in the backroom of a church, Olivia was almost positive. Astrid said, "So it is the singing? That is weird. I can not picture Walter at Rocky Horror."
"I don't want to," Olivia said.
She stepped out of the circle and started casing the place. She cautiously opened the door. She saw an empty church. A very old looking church. Astrid followed her.
They found the other circle in the opposite part of the church, in a recess near the main entrance. Olivia tentatively opened the door a crack and looked out. "Okay," Olivia said. "We should go."
"Where are we?"
"I'm not sure, but outside looks like Colonial Williamsburg except not a reproduction," Olivia said.
They both got in the circle. Olivia said, "Time," and they were in another place.
"So it wasn't the singing," Astrid said, arms crossed tight across her chest. It was very cold wherever they were. Whenever. They were in a forest, dark and green. The circle was on a huge stump. Nothing indicated time or place.
Astrid said, "How about you do the exploring again, the further we go back in time, the more scared I get about how I'll be received."
Olivia nodded. "But you should follow me, I have my gun. I can defend you." She tried to smile. "I know you could defend yourself if you have to, but I'm happy to do it."
"Thanks," Astrid said. "Sometimes the smartest defense is running away."
Olivia nodded. "I feel like Hansel and Gretel."
Which was exactly when they heard movement, feet stomping, someone saying, "Shit" to their left. Astrid dragged Olivia to a sort of bush they could shelter under and see through.
It was Peter and Charlie. Peter said, "I feel safe just calling out since according to Walter's notes, we're in what will become Michigan, circa 500 BC."
Charlie said, "No one else will answer to Olivia?"
"We're here," Astrid said as Olivia said "Hey."
"Apparently," Charlie said, "Walter got every high and decided to remake the first stop of one of his time machines in the lab."
"He has more than one," Peter said. "He was obsessed with it. Which is horrifying. He and William Bell built these circles at about 20 points in the spacetime continuum. So at some point they went to all these places, probably altered history more than once, and we're all living in the last alternate timeline they made through their fuck ups."
"Is this a butterfly thing? We didn't interact with anyone, or leave anything behind," Astrid said. "I've watched the right movies."
"According to some theories just breathing or stepping on grass can alter the timeline, but I guess we'll find out when we get back," Peter said.
"Yes, we need to go back now," Charlie said. "I don't want to meet the moose around here."
Astrid smiled. "You're afraid of moose?"
"Says someone who has never seen one in person," Peter said.
Astrid laughed and Olivia relaxed for the first time in hours. She probably would have gone crazy if it had been anyone but Astrid.
Peter and Charlie led them to a second circle. "Do we have to go through all 20 circles?" Olivia wasn't so relaxed anymore.
"No," Peter said. "Step into the circle. Say 'emit.' Yes, I know, it's time backwards." He shook his head. "Keep saying until you're in the lab. Me and Charlie will be following you."
They only had to say it three times. They immediately jumped out of the circle in the lab as Walter started clapping. "I knew I remembered the way back correctly," he said.
"You weren't sure?" Astrid was now angry. "You make this thing, forget to clean it up, of course, and then send a rescue team after us and you weren't sure? Walter."
Walter looked repentant. Olivia had seen that look a number of times.
Peter and Charlie returned. As soon as Peter got out, he kneeled down and started scrubbing at the circle. "It looks like Astrid is yelling at you, Walter, so I won't do it twice."
"You already yelled at me this morning," Walter said. "I, while I was waiting I decided to make eclairs. I swear, all the ingredients are from the food part of the fridge. Maybe if you all had an eclair, you'd feel better."
Charlie took his. He then said, "So did we change the timeline?"
"Mostly likely not," Walter said. "Belly and I never did."
"Of course you did," Peter said. "Neither of you probably even noticed."
"Would they even be able to?" Olivia munched on her eclair. It was delicious.
"Of course we would have," Walter said. He and Peter began an incredibly technical argument that Olivia chose to ignore.
Astrid and Charlie had decided the same thing and were sitting in the farthest corner from Peter, scrubbing and yelling and Walter was walking back and forth behind his table, also yelling. "I wanted to say, Astrid," Olivia said. "I don't think I would have made it without you. You did great."
Astrid smiled and looked down. She said, "I was really just faking it so you wouldn't think less of me."
"Don't give away your secrets," Charlie said. "Never let 'em know how you did it." Charlie looked around and Gene mooed. "Between my pregnancy and this, I am never coming back to this lab ever again."
"You'll miss the eclairs," Astrid said.
Peter was now standing, waving a scrub brush with purple tinted bristles.
"They do not make up for it," Olivia said.