A/N: So, this was inspired by some comments noting OH!Lincoln's first appearance. Some people theorised that because he appeared in 3x17, he may have been a Cortexiphan subject. This would have followed the trend of Nick Lane (1x17) and James Heath (2x17), and really, I couldn't let the opportunity pass so... tada, this story came into being. Unfortunately, the events of this story would most like not happen mainly because of one thing: Olivia remembers the trials. So I've completely disregarded that and made Lincoln NOT remember. So... that's all I have to say. Hope you enjoy it.
Oh, this story is completely un-beta'd so yeah, all mistakes are mine, yada yada.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fringe, never had, never will, no matter how hard I wish.
"You're saying I have what?"
Walter shifted uncomfortably, hands twitching; Olivia's eyes dodged around the lab, basically in any direction but Lincoln.
"Walter, what did you do to me as a kid?" growled Lincoln, voice dangerously low.
"It wasn't me, it was Belly!" squeaked out Walter, backing away. "I was completely against it, but Belly wanted to see if he could improve the mind's capabilities -"
"I was a kid Walter! And you experimented on me!" screamed Lincoln, hands flying in the air in frustration before landing with a force on a table, shaking it and causing a couple of test tubes to fall to the floor. Walter winced as he saw his carefully placed equipment fall to the floor.
"Lincoln -"
"What?" Lincoln spat before realising Olivia had placed her hand on his shoulder.
"Calm down. Look at me, I've gone through the exact same thing. I know how you feel. But you can't blame Walter."
"Olivia, he's saying I have a brain-altering chemical in my body, which could cause me to set fire to stuff -"
"There's only a small trace if anything," muttered Walter. "We only gave you small doses, most, if not all would have been flushed out of your system after 24 hours."
"See? So, calm down," said Olivia, placing both hands on Lincoln's shoulders. "Nothing to worry about."
"What about the side effects?"
"Which side effects?"
"The ones that came with the abilities."
Olivia shrugged. "I don't have any side effects."
"But that guy, Cameron. The one which you met without me. Didn't that case file say that he developed a magnetic attraction?" countered Lincoln, slowly removing Olivia's arms, comforting as they may have been. He turned to Walter. "Do you know what ability I developed?"
Walter seemed to have shrunk even more. "I can't remember..."
Lincoln closed his eyes and sighed. "So it could be anything?"
"Lincoln, look at it this way. You've gone so long without anything happening, it's most likely the case that you didn't retain any side effects."
"But Olivia -"
"Drop it. There's nothing we can do. It's the past, let it stay there."
Lincoln pushed opened the door to a house.
"So I hear you're another Cortexiphan subject?"
Lincoln looked up and saw Peter casually leaning against a door frame, beer bottle in hand.
"How'd you know?"
"Olivia called ahead after you stormed out of the lab. She thought that the most likely place you'd come - barring the hotel - was here."
Lincoln let up a little smile. "I'm that predictable, huh?"
Peter shrugged. "Olivia just has a really good gut. Beer?" He offered out another bottle in his other hand.
"Why not?" Lincoln grabbed the bottle and made his way towards the sofa, dropping himself down on it. Peter soon joined him and switched on the TV, flicking through the channels with little interest.
"Tell me, what happened with Cortexiphan in your timeline?" asked Lincoln, once the beer was practically gone.
Peter froze, and Lincoln could practically see his brain whirling to come up with an answer.
"Bad, huh?"
Peter closed his eyes and sighed, almost mimicing Lincoln's earlier expression. "The Cortexiphan subjects I knew all had their abilities. And they couldn't all control them."
Lincoln looked up and glanced at Peter's face, blank as he thought back to a different time.
"Most them were the cause of the events that we investigated. Spontanous combustion, empathic control..." Peter paused, contemplating on what to say next.
"But sometimes, the abilities helped us. Take Olivia, she's a Cortexiphan subject. In my world, she could see objects from the Other Side, and sometimes even travel between them. It helped us in so many ways."
He glanced at Lincoln.
"So don't look at the bad side of it okay? I've heard that in this timeline, Walter only gave you small doses, not enough to leave any major downsides."
"But -"
"But nothing, Lincoln. What'll happen, if anything, would have happened already. There's nothing to worry about."
Lincoln opened his mouth to speak again, but a stern glance from Peter made him close his mouth.
"So finish up that beer and off you go. If this time's anything like mine, there'll be a case tomorrow. You'll need your sleep."
Swinging the bottle back, Lincoln took a big gulp and stood up. Straightening out his shirt and placing his jacket back on, he placed the bottle on a nearby table. He strolled to the door and twisted it open.
"Thanks for the talk, Peter," he called out.
"No problem."
Lincoln smiled before closing the door behind him.