Olivia looked at the door in front of her. Bouncing up and down on her toes, she paced back and forth, not sure if she was really ready. Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself and knocked on the door. There were footsteps from inside, and the door was opened by a blond woman. "Can I help you?" she asked, smiling kindly.
"I'm looking for John Watson. Is he here?" Olivia asked softly.
"Yeah, give me a minute." The woman, who she assumed was John's wife Mary, disappeared back inside. She returned quickly though, with John in tow. As soon as he saw her, his face fell. He looked so much older than she remembered. She wanted to smile at him, but she couldn't bring herself.
"Hi John." She said sadly. His face was white, and Mary was asking if he was alright.
"Why are you here?" he whispered.
"Can I come in?" Olivia shifted her weight.
Her voice was quiet like he remembered. She would never raise it above that decibel unless she was dealing with a threat – or Walter. He John clenched his jaw for a moment, thinking. Then he stepped aside, giving her room to squeeze past. He led her into the living room, where a small girl, John's daughter, sat on the couch. She looked at Olivia when she came in. They took seats across from each other, and Mary sat down beside her husband.
"John, who is this?"
"Olivia Dunham." She said with a smile.
"'Libby, what are you doing here?" John asked, trying to steer the conversation. Mary frowned slightly at the pet name.
"You heard about flight 956, didn't you?"
John nodded. "Yeah engine failure caused the plane crashed. No survivors. Why?"
Olivia pulled a file out of her bag. "It wasn't engine failure, that's just what we're telling people." She pushed the file toward him. He looked down at the file, then back to her, then down to the file again, before, picking it up. His brow furrowed as he read through, and quickly slammed it shut when he got to the pictures. "We've being hearing murmurs from ZFT for a couple months, but this is their first attack." John just stared at her.
"They're opening us back up John," Olivia has quietly, pushing back a stray piece of hair. "I'm so sorry, but we need you back." She could see his jaw clenching.
"I don't want this," he growled, "I have a wife. A daughter. A family."
Olivia looked at him hopelessly. "So do I John. You really think this is easy? No one is happy about this. Well, I shouldn't say no one. Walter is overjoyed." John snickered at that, and the side of her mouth turned up. "Please?" she asked. Mary had been watching the two of them the entire time, and knew something was going down.
"Alright." John nodded.
"John, what the hell is going on?" Mary finally found a moment to break in.
He and Olivia looked at each other. "I think it's about time you tell your wife the real story of how you got the bullet scar on your shoulder John."