There's No Place Else for Me to Be Chapter 1
By: DrKatniss
Disclaimer: I do not own Fringe, or any of the characters. I am doing this purely for fun.
Author's Note: This the first time that I have written fanfiction in quite a while - and my first Fringe fanfiction. I really wanted to write a Lincoln centered fanfic to fill in some details about what is going on in the Red-Verse after 4x20, World's Apart. I hope to make it a multi-part fanfiction, but I think it can also work as a standalone. I would love any feedback.
Lincoln had never felt time move so slowly. In fact, he had never thought much about the progression of time before now. As the moments ticked down and he waited for the bridge to be resolved for good he had a moment of panic - was he making the right decision? He was never one to act rashly or hasty, but then again, he was never one to feel like he fit in. Maybe by making this new, bold choice, he was deciding to be the man who he wanted to be. He had learned that from, well, himself.
For countless nights after the death of his alternate self, he had lain awake in his hotel room, pondering how they had ended up so different. He kept coming back to the same thing in the end - the alternate Lincoln had made a choice. He had decided that he would be confident, and in charge of his own life. After coming to that conclusion Lincoln was still awake every night - but for a different reason. He had started to think about how things could be different for him. And it hit him, maybe he was in the wrong place. Maybe, just maybe, he was meant to be somewhere different.
He had never felt like he had fit in, the only time he really made a connection was with Robert and his family. Then there was Olivia. That night in the diner was what he thought would be the beginning of him having a place to belong, a person to help him figure out where his home was. And then as quick as it had begun it was all gone again.
But then there was Liv. She was so different, but so much the same. He found that he had a great rapport with her. He had been helping her to investigate the shapeshifters and David Robert Jones on her side for nearly a week when it happened the first time. He forgot that it wasn't his side, his universe. He could picture himself here more easily than he could back in his own universe. He felt he had a purpose here, and he felt that he had someone who needed him as much as he needed someone. That's why he did it. That's why he decided to stay. As much as he chided himself for being hasty, he realized deep down that this decision had been weeks, maybe even months in the making.
He glanced over at Liv, and she smiled back at him. He knew he had made the right choice. The questioning look she had given him moments earlier, when he had stepped to her side and told her that he thought she could use some help, had quickly turned into a smile. He knew this was crazy, but it was his decision and he was making his life what he wanted it to be.
Then, the moment they had been anxiously awaiting arrived. The device successfully overloaded. The bridge was severed. Despite all of his reassurances to himself, his panic immediately returned. Until he looked at Liv. She was looking at him like he wasn't real, like if she touched him, he would disappear. Then, she laughed, the shakiness of her voice the only thing giving away that she was not as confident and together as she would like him to believe, "Well, looks like the world didn't end."
He smiled back at her, "Nope, didn't end."
"So, I guess that means you'll be needing to look for an apartment," she paused, as if considering something carefully, "or, I do happen to have a spare bedroom. It's yours for the next few days, if you want it."
His smile widened, "There's no place else for me to be."
She furrowed her brow slightly, as if his words had triggered a distant memory that she couldn't quite place, then she laughed, "Are you ready to begin the first day of the rest of your life?"
His choices had led him here, and he was more than ready to see where they had taken him, "I can't wait."
