A/N: For all those who have seen The Butterfly Effect 1, 2 or 3 understand what this story is about!
Basically, this is The Butterfly Effect with the Fringe characters.
Summary: Peter and Olivia try everything to get Walter and Astrid back from the dead, but they don't realize the consequences.
Spoilers: The series.
I own nothing. The awesomeness that is Fringe is courtesy of J.J. Abrams and others!
"If my calculations are correct, this experiment will allow you two to see in the future. Basically, you will be able to see the consequences of the choices you make." Walter said in his distinct voice as he pointed to Peter and Olivia with both his index-fingers.
"That is of course if this experiment succeeds." He quietly mumbled as he turned around to grab something. Peter shook his head, wondering how it was possible his father could just say something like that when they were about to indulge in a life risking experiment. A life risking experiment he didn't even want to join in the first place, but he quickly realized he had no choice. Walter had made it very clear that this experiment could only be done with two people and Olivia, of course, was determent to participate. He had to admit, she was a little right; it could certainly help them with their investigations. That is of course if this experiment succeeds. But he didn't want to think of the things that could happen if it would go wrong. He decided to just go along and see where it would take him. So he let Walter guide him to the middle of the lab where two gurneys were placed. Olivia followed after him. Peter sat down on the left gurney, he lay down with his head facing the doors of the lab. Olivia took the gurney to the right, next to the tank. She lay down so her feet were facing the door, this because Walter asked her to. When both were laying as comfortable as possible, Walter turned to Astrid.
"Astral, would you grab the drugs for me?" Astrid nodded, not bothering to make a comment on Walter's adaption of her name. She turned around to grab two syringes from a table; she gave one to Walter. He pointed to the syringe she kept in her hand.
"Would you inject that into Olivia's right arm? Right. Here." He placed his own syringe on Peter's arm, clearly indicting where Astrid should inject Olivia. She walked towards her colleague, who was more of a friend, and silently injected only Walter knows what in Olivia's arm. When the syringe was empty, she pulled it from Olivia's arm and walked toward Walter. She pulled him away, placing some distance between them and Peter and Olivia.
"Good." Walter said after a moment, his voice slightly hesitant. "Now, I need you two to hold each other's hand."
"Why?" Peter turned his head to his father. This was not the time for one of his jokes, this was serious business.
"You need to have a stable connection, that's the only way it'll work on you both!" Walter said firmly, grabbing one of his red vines and offering one to Astrid; she politely rejected. Peter and Olivia both lifted their right arms hesitantly, but when their fingers touched their hands locked in a strong embrace.
"Now close your eyes." Peter and Olivia closed their eyes as they both felt the drugs slowly spreading through their bodies.
After what felt like hours of waiting both Peter and Olivia started to feel light headed, it was as if they were falling asleep and yet they were conscious enough to notice it.
"Open your eyes." Came Walter's distant voice. The sound was faint, almost as if it wasn't even there. Peter wanted to say his father's name to verify if he had said something, but before he could he had opened his eyes. He found himself in a white room, if it was a room at all. There seemed to be no walls, no ceiling, and maybe most important, no floor. He looked at Olivia unbelievingly; it was as if they were floating, and they were still holding the other's hand. Just as they realized this they felt an incinerating heat surround them. As if they were in the middle of an oven only the flames couldn't touch them. She wanted to open her mouth and ask what was happening, but then it all went black.
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Hours later Olivia woke up. She looked to her right first, seeing a beeping machine with wires going to it, or maybe from it? She didn't really know the answer to that question, she did know that the wires were going to her arm; the machine was attached to her. She then looked to her left. First thing she saw was Peter moving his head to look at her. He had looked to his left first, making the same conclusion she made; he was attached to some annoying, beeping machine. They looked at each other and opened their mouth at the same time to ask the same question, but no sound came. It was she who found her voice first.
"What happened?" She asked the mutual question.
"I don't know." His voice was hoarse as he shook his head. She saw the annoyance of not knowing what happened in his eyes, he saw it in hers.
Only minutes later the doctor entered their room, a smile which they were sure was supposed to be reassuring on his face, but Peter nor Olivia felt reassured. She tried to sit up but couldn't; she was unable to move her arms, they were weak and couldn't lift her up. The doctor's smile faded when he saw the looks in their eyes.
"What happened to us?" This time it was Peter to ask the question.
"You were found by an Agent Phillip Broyles in a lab at Harvard. He found you unconscious and called an ambulance."
"Where's Walter? And Astrid?" The doctor swallowed hard before answering the question.
"There… There was a fire at the lab. The entire place burned down. Besides you, Agent Broyles found two bodies. Presumably your father Dr. Walter Bishop and colleague Agent Astrid Farnsworth. They were both so severely burned, we haven't been able to identify them. Though Agent Broyles confirmed they are most likely your father and friend." Olivia had moved her head to the right a long time ago, not wanting to look at the doctor or Peter; she heard him swallow hard.
"It is a miracle that you survived. You weren't even touched by the fire." He didn't have to tell them that. Besides, they probably didn't even hear him anymore. When both didn't ask any more questions, or even acknowledged his presence, the doctor left.
They silently sat in their beds for about an hour until Peter found the courage to talk.
"This can't be true, Olivia. It just can't be." She nodded. She wanted to scream at him that she didn't need to be told, but if it wasn't him making the comment now it would be her minutes later.
"All because of some stupid experiment." Her voice barely a whisper.
"That he got us into." Peter agreed with a tiny smile.
"We need to get out of here." She said after a few minutes, he nodded.
It took them both about an hour to get dressed, their arms were feeling weak. The doctor had got them both in a hospital gown, their regular clothing hanging in the closet of their room.
After getting dressed, they went to check out with the nurse, but she insisted they weren't allowed to leave. After minutes of talking to the nurse both Peter and Olivia were highly irritated. Olivia didn't want to use her position as an agent, but after flashing her badge and throwing in some threats the nurse quickly showed them the papers to be signed.
Not too long after that, they found themselves in Olivia's apartment trying to wrap their heads around what had happened. But neither could remember anything from the moment they heard Walter say 'open your eyes.'
They couldn't believe Walter and Astrid were actually dead, they couldn't be dead. This must all be some side-effect of the drugs. They were just dreaming. In a couple of hours they would wake up and be back in the lab, Walter looking at them eagerly to know what they had seen during their time out.
But hours passed and nothing happened. Peter and Olivia hadn't moved from their spot on the couch and slowly the realization that they had really lost their mad scientist and saint of an agent dawned over them. Peter and Olivia faced each other, fear written in their eyes.
"They are really dead, right?" And with tears starting to form in his eyes, Peter nodded.
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The last three months had been difficult on both of them, but after burying their friends, who had become their family, and after coming to peace with themselves and what had happened, Peter and Olivia started to heal. Life had to go on and Walter nor Astrid would want them to mourn every single day.
So Olivia went to the bureau every day, dealing with normal homicides, because Fringe Division had closed when Walter died. There was no one who knew what Walter knew about the things they saw, so there was no use in trying to solve the crimes. Peter moved in with Olivia, because he couldn't live in the house where he used to live with Walter. Everything reminded him of his father and he couldn't deny how much he missed the man. Life was as normal as it could get without Walter and Astrid around.
Olivia came home from work early, she'd had a huge headache all day and Broyles demanded she went home to rest and come back the next day. After a minute of arguing, Olivia nodded and agreed it'd be best if she went home. If arguing was hurting this much, she wouldn't be very useful at all.
So she stumbled through the door and Peter immediately jumped from the couch as he saw her fatigue form standing in the hall.
"You alright?" He asked, a hand on her shoulder.
"Huge headache." She said, her hand holding her forehead, eyes closed.
"Yeah, me too. I'll help you to the couch." She nodded, letting him help her and his right hand reached for her right hand to help her stand up a little bitter. But as soon as their fingers touched, both grunted in pain, feeling as if a knife had cut through their brain. After a few seconds, Peter tried again, this time succeeding and holding her hand. It didn't take one second, when both saw a white flash and let go of the others hand in a hurry. They blinked once, twice and then Olivia realized her headache was gone and Peter understood what he had seen.
"You saw that too?" He asked, just to know he wasn't going crazy. She nodded, she had seen it too.
With no way to explain what exactly they had seen, they sat down. Neither said a word, both thinking of possible explanations.
"Okay, okay, how about this?" Peter started after minutes, standing up from his position on the couch, Olivia looked at him, interested.
"Maybe Walter's experiment worked and we can see the consequences of choices we make." Olivia immediately shook her head.
"That's impossible. If we saw the same thing, and we confirmed we did, then it can't be a consequence of a choice we make. Both Walter and Astrid were alive, so maybe…" she stopped for a minute, wondering how her idea would sound out loud.
"Maybe we had a glimpse into the other side?" Peter sat down, he had to admit, that sounded quiet plausible. So the two sat in silence again, thinking. It could've been 30 minutes, it could've been an hour, but all of sudden Peter jumped up and ran to the bookshelf.
"Walter once read a book about time traveling. Well, not just time traveling, a form of it." Peter scanned the bookshelf until he found the book he was looking for and showed it to Olivia.
"Pure fiction, really. But Walter was convinced that in theory it could work." Peter opened the book and read a small passage in his head as Olivia made her way to him.
"You lost me at the time traveling part." Peter laughed and then moved them both to the couch where they sat down as Peter started to explain.
"In the book, main character Evan goes back to his past where he changes little things and then finds himself in the current time, but not in the way he left it. As he spends a couple of months in his, let's say, altered life, he sees how the lives of his friends and family have changed drastically. So he goes back again and tries to change the future in a way that works out for him and his friends and family." Olivia nodded as she tried to understand, it came gradually.
"So, what we saw was…"
"I think we saw a little of our altered life."
"But that would mean that, in theory, we could go there. But then we have to go back first and change something." Peter nodded, implying she was right.
"How would we do that?"
"Give me your hand."
A/N: This is the start of a multi-chapter story and I hope you like it.
Be sure to expect more!
Please read and review!
14/03/2011