Get You Through The Night
Fringe doesn't belong to me. I'm just playing with the characters and I promise I will put them back in their box as soon as I'm finished.
Note: This is a missing scene/epilogue to The Cure (s1E06)
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"Three, five… err… --three…"
From his bed, Peter was watching his father's hand draw into thin air complicated arabesques. He was half kidding when he told Livvie that listening night after night to his digital mantra was soothing. Lying in the shadowy light of this impersonal hotel room, his arms resting against his body over the blanket, he pondered that he had never been so close to his father before – not that he could recall anyway. He was not so sure it was a good thing yet, but at least it was a new paradigm. He could feel that Walter had turned into being his visionary demiurge self again. And he was driven against his will into helping him. Pattern shift, he thought.
His cell ringtone resounded loudly.
"Morning, morning, morning…" chanted Walter already sitting on the edge of his bed, "poached eggs and bacon, lemonade and hot chocolate…"
"Go back to sleep Walter, it's my cell phone."
"Oh," Professor Bishop sounded disappointed, "have I not been sleeping? Have I? I thought it was the alarm."
"No, go back to teetering to whatever mark you were teetering to, I've got to take this call."
"Is it Heather?"
"No, it is not Astrid, Walter, now go back to sleep. It's Agent Dunham."
"Olivia, Olivia, Olivia. Can you ask her that she brings some broccoli? Not al dente, I hate it when they are all crunchy…"
"Stop it Walter, we're not having breakfast anytime soon." He stood up and gave him a warning stare. Sliding his phone open, "Peter!" he said urgently.
Why would she call him in the middle of the night? Oddly enough, he never felt such a strong connexion between them until their conversation on the bench two hours ago. It was hardly coincidental that of all nights she would pick this one in particular and choose to call him.
Only static responded to his voice. He has been too slow to pick up and probably missed the call because of Walter's neverending banter. Checking the phone screen, he realised that she had not hung up on him.
"Olivia? Liv? Are you ok?"
"…"
"Where are you?"
"… Home."
"Ok… something wrong? Do you need my help?"
"No." It was the faintest whisper.
"So… There was a letter?"
"Yes."
"Where, at your place?"
"… Someone… my… --he must have slipped it under my door."
"Has he ever done that before?"
"He usually sends it to my office."
"Is it the first time he intrudes in your apartment, house, wherever you live?"
"House," she confirmed. "And yes. How could he…?"
"Well it was only a matter of time, wasn't it?"
"I suppose so, yes," she whispered.
"Liv, you're a federal agent, you're not the little girl you were at the time of the… incident. You don't have to be frightened or to feel at risk…" He paused to give her time to mull over his words and answer, but she remained silent. "Are you sure you don't want me to come over? I can take a taxi. You sound like you need a shoulder. I'm a very good shoulder."
"I… you… --you can't, you're not allowed to leave Walter."
"You know as well as I do that I can leave Walter if you want me too."
"Leave Walter, leave Walter," the professor rapped. Peter silenced him with an ice cold glare.
"I'm not sure," she said.
"You're not sure that I can or that you want me too?" His mouth tweaked up. "Listen, you might come over, if you want. That's not against regulations is it? I could sleep on the couch and you would have my bed."
"And risk to have Walter fall asleep beside me?" she tried. "I'm sorry, it's not funny."
"Where are you?"
"In the living room at the window, facing the street."
"And you've been there…?"
"You're right. I lost track of time. I'm sorry I shouldn't keep you awake."
"And you should get some sleep."
"Yeah…"
"Put the speakers on."
"Excuse me?"
"Just do it. Put the speakers on. Since I can't come over and you refuse to be a valuable addition to our dysfunctional family, I'm going to get you through the night. Deal?"
"Deal," she said.
He sat the phone on his bedside table. Her voice boomed in the hotel room when he proceeded to put her on speakers, eliciting a hectic dance from Walter who glanced startlingly in his direction and began to count faster.
"Six and eight, four, nine, nine…"
"What's next?" she asked, her voice exhausted and croaked.
"Well, now you do whatever you usually do."
"Ok. I'm going to have a shower and change and go to bed."
"I'm listening," he said.
"I'm in the corridor. I enter the bathroom."
"Please, turn the light on, I can't see a damn thing, don't forget I've never been to your place," he joked.
"Right. Here you go. But please, don't peek, I am undressing."
He heard a smile in her voice. "I'll be the perfect gentleman, not to worry."
Water splashing and someone humming 'Danny Boy' echoed in the hotel room and Walter sprung from his bed waltzing, humming along with his head funnily tilted on the side.
"Come on, dance, dance with me Peter," he asked.
"Maybe another time and place, Walter. Be quiet."
Walter closed his eyes and kept on gliding on the floor. Noises and rattles on the speakers didn't interrupt his dancing as he was oblivious of the situation at hand.
"Almost done," she said, "drying my hair with that towel."
"The blue one?"
"Nope, it's qualifies as yellow I would say. Ok, I'm good. I will brush my teeth now."
Walter frowned to the electric toothbrush buzz and retreated back inside his bed, pulling his blankets over his head in a reproval.
"I'm all set. Going to bed."
"You're not going commando on me are you?" Peter teased her.
"Technically no because I don't wear bed clothes," she said.
"I have to warn you that it sounds dangerously like phone sex right now, Livvie."
"I like phone sex," proposed Walter tossing away his sheets, "I remember once when I was in Lening…"
"Walter, not now, please? Don't make me beg."
She laughed on her side of the line. "I'm in bed."
"Turn the light off, close your eyes," said Peter gently. "Walter, close your eyes too. May I ask you to count pi backwards for us?"
"That will be my pleasure. I will start to count to the 150th digit," he announced.
"Perfect Walter, thanks."
"Five, two, two, nine, seven…"
"Peter?" she said after a while.
"Yes?"
"Can I ask you something else?"
"Absolutely."
"May I hold on to you and take your hand?"
"… err, you may. But remember we are just friends ok?" he grinned.
Ok, it's just a fluff, what do you think?