Spoilers: Jacksonville
Disclaimer: Fringe does not belong to me.
Author's note: This one is really weird, if you don't like I won't blame you.
**********
Improbable ending
**********
Now every time she entered this house she remembers he was not here.
She took the picture of Walter and Peter, they were together and smiling to the camera, Astrid had taken it, they looked so happy, but he was not here, not anymore.
It had been hard to tell him the truth, difficult, he had been angry, he had screamed menancely at Walter, looked at her with all the reproach in the world and left the lab, but he had been here.
He had come back a few hours later, he had said just work and he would only talk to Astrid, she had not even tried to apologize, he deserved better from her.
The other building that disappeared the next day; the one she now could see but could not stop from disappearing, had taken Peter with it. Walter was still not sure if it had been a mistake or part of the original plan, get him back. She had never thought about it, that they would want him back, what for? It had never been their goal, they wanted to open the door not take him back, they could have done that at any given time, but they choose the worst.
He was going to stay, she could see it in him, but now not only was he gone, he was in another world and she had no means to reach him, to reach for him and it hurt like hell. She'll take the screams and the angry Peter any time now, as long as he would be here, but he wasn't.
Walter was still trying to open the door but he just simply could not remember how, maybe Peter doesn't even want to come back she thought once darkly, but no, she knew he wanted to come home (was this home to him any more?); Walter had not left the lab since he disappeared.
Broyles told her to move to more pressing matters, not because he didn't want Peter found but because he didn't know what to do (what kind of search do you order when you know the subject is in another reality?) , there was no destination or way to get there, and Olivia, for once had lost it.
"You have work to do."
"I don't care."
She had mashed the FBI's SVU against a pole in a vain effort to cross, maybe Bell was trying to pull her into the other side, so she had crashed her car, she had only got out alive for a miracle, her face ended up all bruised, she was in a comma for two days and woke up convinced she had visited the other side, but so far she hadn't been able to remember, because she never left this side. This time there had not been Peter waiting for her to take her home, to find solace in, she had woken up to Astrid and Rachel by their side, when she asked for Peter, Astrid seemed ready to cry. She did.
Broyles suspended her after leaving the hospital, she was on crutches this time, she was not helping and needed rest, and there was no fringe division without Peter.
In a very sentimental and vain effort to be close to Peter she had practically moved onto his room, Walter was not here most of the time and when he was home he would smile at her sadly and let her stay. His clothes were still on the room, it smelled terribly to him, there were books and all kind of things he had collected through the years.
She wandered the house on her crouches and pajamas, his pajamas, Astrid tried to make her eat, take a shower, change, she never succeeded.
The door seemed to have closed forever, there were no more incidents, it look like they only wanted Peter. Olivia could have trade her whole side for him right now; she was willing to make that kind of deal. Maybe that had been the trick the whole time, the moment they'll take him Olivia would have no chance anymore, because she will have no more willingness to continue, therefore their side was lost.
Nice trick.
His bed had become home for her. She so much wanted to go back and rewrite their whole story, but she knew it would be futile, there was no way she would choose to stay away from him for the greater good, no, it was too late.
"Agent Dunham" She flinched at the title, she was not Agent Dunham anymore.
Astrid stood at the door, she couldn't contain the pain it produce to look at this so strong woman in the bed, clutching a pea coat, and it hurt. This only probed how much had Peter stopped Olivia from consuming, from stopping, from drowning; nobody could stop her from disappearing. Maybe she could restore hope only for a second.
"Walter says he might found a way." Olivia finally acknowledged Astrid.
"How?"
"He wants to explain it to you, at the lab." Astrid saw the determination fill Olivia's eyes so fast; she almost bolted from the bed.
"Give me a few minutes Astrid."
Astrid could hear the shower running while cleaning the experiments from the Bishop's refrigerator. Olivia, the determinate, strong, tangible Olivia, emerged not half an hour later, freshly showered cladded in jeans, a shirt and the pea coat. All were Peter's clothes.
"Let's go."
Good. The faster they got Peter back the better for everybody.
********
The end