Disclaimer: I don't own Fringe or any of the canon characters within the show itself.

Author's note: This is the first fanfiction that I have written in quite some time, so please go easy on me. I don't really plan on this particular story to go on for very long, but I will post other stories that are connected to this one in the future (if you guys like it). Also I am aware that Walter left behind a VHS tape to explain his disappearance, but part of me keeps thinking that some of it might have been erased when the Observers were erased, so I am operating under that assumption while writing this story.

Chapter 1: Searching For Answers

It had been what felt like years since Walter had almost seemingly vanished into thin air and the Fringe team, along with Massive Dynamics, launched their worldwide investigation to start their search for the man who was more than just a vital part of their team but also a valued family member. However, no matter what idea their team had come up with, they always seemingly managed to turn up short with each of their ideas. He had left almost no traces behind to give them any clues to his whereabouts except for a strange tulip that had been quickly yet neatly drawn out with a black marker on a small, plain white sheet of paper that he had stuffed inside of an envelope and addressed it to Peter to arrive in his mailbox shortly before his disappearance. It was all very unexplainable and seemingly without reason.

In the past, Walter had wandered off to various places for anything from food to having a nice chat with someone else on another floor of the building, more times than anyone could count on just one hand. At first the team had tried their best to remain calm; hoping that he would just randomly show up somewhere like he had normally done in the past, but after a week had passed them by and nothing had turned up, everyone was starting to get a little more than just worried for Walter's safety. Peter's worst fears were starting to set in and what made things even worse for him and Olivia was the fact that their young daughter, Etta, was starting to take notice of the disappearance of her grandfather and he could tell that she was becoming almost as distressed about the situation as the rest of them of them had been. Peter had done his best to reassure the young blonde that they would find him very soon and that the two of them would be able to go to the park to swing again very soon, but Peter could tell that Etta was too smart to believe that he had meant any of that, even at the young age of three.

Astrid leaned back in one of the many chairs that were scattered out across Walter's lab and looked around the big room for what felt to be the last time, half expecting the man to just come bounding out of his office with some sort of new dessert idea that he wanted her to give a try. She had to admit, there were times that she had gotten aggravated with some of Walter's, what she considered to be childish antics, but she had grown very fond of the man that she had worked alongside of for the past eight or so years. What I wouldn't do to hear the sound of his voice again… Astrid thought to herself, knowing that it would probably do her and the others a world of wonder.

Wiping away some of her tears that had managed to slip away out of the corners of her eyes and down onto her cheeks with the back of her sleeve, she stood up from her seat and made her way over to some of the lab equipment that had been left behind to finish up some more of her cleaning before she finally had to cover everything up to leave it just the way that they had found it on day one, for good this time. The small team was going to be giving up on their search for Walter that very day and they were closing down his lab to make it official. The sheer thought of the idea was starting to make Astrid become overcome by the grief that she had been holding back for so long as she tried to be strong for everyone else, hoping that it would buy all of them enough time that he would just turn up, but he never had.

After taking more time than necessary to finish cleaning up the rest of the lab, secretly hoping that if she took her time that it would give Walter even more time to come through the entrance in the lab to announce to all of them that he had returned after being off on some sort of adventure all on his own. But that hadn't been the case. Finally being able muster up some more of her courage, Astrid finally peaked her head through Walter's office door and saw that his bed had been just exactly how he had left it before he had disappeared. It was untidy, just as if he had gotten out of it that morning and went straight to work on a case that day, just like he had any other.

Taking a deep breath, she bent over to begin straightening up each layer of blankets that were laid out on top of the mattress and then finally moved to straightening up the pillows before finally smoothing out the covers with the palms of her hands. It's not that it had really mattered if the bed was perfect or not, knowing that some men from the campus would probably drop by later to haul the mattress out of there, but it had mattered to her to do something like this for Walter, just like she always had before in the past. Peter had already taken most of the things that his father had once held dear to him out of his office and placed them in some sort of storage facility that was nearer to the house that he and Olivia had moved into shortly after Olivia had found out that she was pregnant with Etta. Everything would remain safe there, if they had ever needed it in the near future or if they had somehow managed to find him again, and at the very least, Peter would have something to remember him by.

"Astrid?!" Peter's voice suddenly echoed out across the empty lab, causing her to jump. "Are you okay?" he asked, sounding softer this time as he walked over to the door of his father's old office. "I wanted to come by to see how you were doing… I hated leaving you with all of this, but I had some things that I needed to take care of too."

Astrid nodded in understanding; all of them had had more than their fair share of things to deal with lately, especially Peter who looked as though he had aged a few years during the past few months of searching for his father. "I'm fine; I'm just finishing up in here." She lied to him as she took a moment to just down on the edge of the bed, not being able to stand much longer due to the weight of emotions that she had been carrying along with her all day. Peter took a seat next to her and sat there silently for a moment as he looked around at what was left of his father's office. "You know what I think the worst part about all of this is? We'll never know what happened to him."

Peter shook his head from sided-to-side, "There has to be something out there that we have missed. I know that there has to be. How could he have just disappeared like that? It's impossible."

"Peter, I don't think that anything is impossible with your father." She said as she wiped her eyes once again with the back of her sleeve. "I thought that I had this world figured out, until I met him and saw the things that he was capable of doing… things that all of us probably thought were impossible at one time… and now, hardly anything seems to surprise us anymore. We just keep moving on like we always have…"

"I can't just give up on him like that. Not after all that we've been through lately." He said as he placed his face into the palms of his hands. "We will find him, all of us needs some sort of closer or we'll never be able to move on without wondering if he's still out there somewhere…"

"Peter—" Astrid started but was suddenly cut off by a loud banging noise from the inside of the lab, and almost as always, Peter was the first to react to the noise by jumping up from the bed and quietly wandered over the door to peer through the crack in the doorway

"Do you see anyone?" Astrid whispered as she stood up and made her way over to stand behind him.

"Uh-uh." He said as he pulled the door back a little more and stepped outside. "I know that you're in here!" Peter warned as he walked around the upper ledge of the lab and descended down the steps onto the floor of the lab. "We heard you, so why don't you just show yourself and we'll go easy on you." Peter went silent for a moment and briefly turned his gaze back towards Astrid. "It's probably just some college kids playing a prank on us." Peter said, as he returned his gaze to what he was doing, when he heard the metal clunking noise once again, this time the noise seemed to be much closer to him, so he edged closer towards the sound. "I think that it's coming from inside of the deprivation chamber…" he took another step closer, easing his way over to the metal container that so many of Walter's experiments had taken place in over the years and placed his hand on the door handle, ready to yank it open and pull whoever it was from the inside.

Astrid lingered nearby him as she looked around the lab for something to use against the perpetrator, just in case things started to go wrong and it turned out to be much more than anything that Peter could handle by himself. "Three… two… one…" Peter whispered as he jerked open the door and squinted into the darkness, taking him a moment or two to figure out exactly what he was looking at. "Walter?!" Peter nearly screamed.