References: slugs (Bound), Mona the Bug Girl (Immortality), "naptime's over" (Over There: Part 1), obsolete (Over There: Part 2), "bagged and tagged" (Ability), graveyard fight (inner child), Charlie shoots guy in the leg (Plateau)

Olivia was welcomed back at work by warm, brotherly hugs from Lincoln and Charlie. "Good to have you back, Livvy," Charlie said. "How was Germany?"

"Uhh…frustrating," she replied. "How'd you guys go here?"

"We're getting somewhere on that last infection case – the one with the slugs crawling out of people's throats. ZFT seems to be using the slugs to kill off leading medical researchers so they can start an epidemic of some kind. We might even have enough to send us on a raid tonight. Broyles is getting a warrant processed now."

"Great. How are you guys?"

"Yeah, it's all good."

"Can't complain," Lincoln said, grinning as he munched on a Red Vine.

She just grinned in response. Lincon's smile was always contagious. The three agents started to get to work, but Olivia burst out laughing when she noticed a certain redhead walk in and scan the room.

"What?" Charlie said.

"Charlie, don't look behind you. Maybe she won't notice you're here."

"Oh no. Is it Bug Girl?" he asked in dread, burying his face in a file.

She nodded, trying to suppress her laughter.

Charlie closed his eyes and shook his head in frustration. "Why won't she leave me alone?"

"The girl's in love with you," Lincoln taunted.

"Who could blame her? Nobody can resist that cute little face," Olivia teased, pinching Charlie's cheek just to annoy him. It was true, though. He didn't show it often because of the seriousness of their job, but Charlie did have a really sweet smile.

"Guys, please just tell me she's leaving," Charlie groaned.

Olivia checked. "Nope, she's still looking for you."

"I'll go and send her away," Lincoln offered.

"Thanks, man."

Lincoln winked at Olivia and stood, heading over to Bug Girl. "Hi. You're Mona, right? The girl from forensics?"

"Right."

"You're looking for Charlie?"

"Yeah, is he here?"

This was the part where Lincoln was supposed to say Charlie was out for lunch or something, but instead he smiled and said, "Yep, he's right over there."

Hearing this, Olivia burst out laughing and Charlie's jaw dropped. He threw a quick glare at Lincoln as Bug Girl came over to their desks. "Hi Charlie!" she exclaimed, beaming.

"Uhh…hi."

"Sorry to bother you, I know how busy you must be with work."

"Can I help you with something?"

"You could help me with a lot of things," she replied with an eyebrow wiggle. She was smiling like she was plotting evil things in her head.

Charlie gulped. "Uh…something work related?"

"I took it upon myself to bring these files over from the lab for you."

"Oh. Thank you."

"And I got you a snack. You work so hard and I wanted to make sure you had enough energy to get through the day," she said sweetly, handing him a paper bag from the café down the road.

"Thanks, but that really wasn't necessary."

"Don't mention it. Charlie, if you need anything at all just call me and I'll be right over. You have my card, right?"

"Yeah, I've got it."

"Awesome. Well, I hope I'll get to see you again soon."

"Honestly I'm really busy, and I'm sure you're busy at the lab, too -"

"Of course, you're job comes before your personal life. I totally understand. But I'm sure you can find time for me somewhere."

"Listen, Mona, I'm sorry but I'm just not interested. I really thought I'd made that clear. I told you, I'm a married guy."

Mona shrugged. "Lots of guys are married."

"I'm happily married."

"Somehow I doubt that. It's not like I ever see your wife in here visiting you. She must be kind of dumb to not want to be around a guy like you."

That got on Charlie's nerves. "Hey, that's enough. My wife is perfect, thank you very much, and we're very happy together."

"And he has a daughter," Olivia piped in. "Lucy. She's six months old."

"Excuse me, but I don't believe you were ever part of this conversation, so why don't you keep your mouth shut, lady," Bug Girl snapped at Olivia, who just struggled to suppress her laughter and went back to work. "And you listen to me, Charlie Francis! If you are too stupid to realise what you're missing out on then I'll go find someone else who appreciates what I do for them! I can't believe I ever wasted my time with you! I'm leaving!"

"Fine by me," he said, sitting back in his chair.

Bug Girl huffed and blinked away tears, glaring at Charlie and Olivia before storming off. Lincoln waved to her as she left. "Always a pleasure to see you, Mona!"

Olivia couldn't hold back her laughter anymore and Lincoln was the same. "Did you seriously just make Bug Girl cry?"

"What? She wasn't taking the hint! And Lincoln, I was gonna kill you for sending her over but you just did me a huge favour. You are so my favourite person today." He opened the snack bag Mona gave him and tossed it to Lincoln. "Here, have a cupcake for your efforts."

Lincoln smirked and took a bite. "Mmmm, yummy. Maybe I should date her. She has good taste in snacks."

"Nothing says 'I love you' like a delicious baked good," Olivia teased. "Would've been better if she baked it herself, though – with 'Charlie' written in icing on top. Now that would be sentimental."

"Enough, Olivia," said Charlie. "From what Broyles tells us, I'm not the only one with a stalker."

"Oh, yeah, Liv, we heard about Jones' little crush on you," Lincoln teased. "Jones and Olivia sitting in a tree, K-I-S-"

"Shut up, Lincoln! It's not a crush, it's a weird little deranged obsession. The guy's nuts."

Charlie pulled out a photo of Jones from a file and grimaced. "He looks creepy."

"Pedo face," Lincoln agreed in between munches of his cupcake. "Clearly a registered sex offender."

"You really think he might be after you, Livvy?" Charlie asked, seeming genuinely concerned.

"We're not assuming anything yet. I'm sure I'll be fine."

"He's probably not even here," said Lincoln. "I mean, if I could teleport my way out of prison I wouldn't come to Boston."

"Where would you go?"

"I dunno. That's not the point."

"If I could teleport I'd be somewhere exotic on a beach sipping a mojito right now." Charlie sighed. "That'd be nice."

"Seriously though, Liv," Lincoln said. "Are you worried?"

"No. Why should I be?"

"Uhh…because a terrorist drew 40 pictures of you in jail and then escaped, perhaps?" Charlie suggested.

"Look, it's creepy, I get it. But I met the guy once. I'm willing to bet he didn't get many visitors in prison, maybe that's what it is. He has no reason to want to hurt me. Plus I'm surrounded by FBI agents and a very protective husband all day. Nothing's gonna happen to me."

"I think you're right," said Lincoln. "No use worrying until we actually know he's here. Besides, if he was we'd look after you, wouldn't we Charlie?"

"Amen."

"Thanks, guys," she said sincerely. The part of her that was actually worried felt just a little comforted by their humour and loyalty. Charlie and Lincoln never failed to cheer her up.

"OK people, naptime's over!" Broyles shouted to the whole department from his office. "We've got a warrant for a raid on a warehouse in Allston. Let's go!"

The agents all grabbed their stuff and went downstairs to the locker rooms to get changed into their raid gear. They only had a few minutes to get ready and everyone was rushing. Olivia was still trying to tie the shoelaces on her boots when Lincoln tapped her on the shoulder. "Liv, we have to go."

"Give me a second." She pulled her phone from her pocket but Lincoln shook his head.

"Liv, call him from the truck," he said gently. "Come on."

She sighed and followed him and Charlie out of the locker room and downstairs to the truck to be taken to the raid site. Almost every agent in there pulled out their phones to call somebody. Olivia called Peter and was relieved when he finally picked up after a few rings.

"Hey, Livia," Peter said quickly, panting.

"You OK? You sound distracted."

"Sorry, just give me a sec – Walter! Put that down!" There was some kind of commotion she couldn't decipher on the other end but Peter eventually came back to the phone.

"Everything OK?"

She heard Peter breathe a sigh of relief on the other end. "Yeah, just Walter being Walter. I think things are under control for now. What's up?"

"Uh, Broyles is sending us to raid what we hope is a ZFT lab, so I just wanted to let you know."

"Thanks, sweetheart. You be careful, OK?"

"Peter, I'm always careful. You know my job is dangerous, there's going to be a risk no matter what I do."

"I know. Just come home. The last thing I want is to lose my beautiful wife."

"I will," she said, smiling. That had become his latest nickname for her – my beautiful wife. In almost four months she still hadn't quite gotten used to it. "I'll be back for dinner, maybe we can go out?"

"Sounds nice. It's a date."

"Great. See you soon, Peter. I love you."

"I love you, too. Keep safe."

"I will," she said, hanging up. She took a deep breath and ran a hand through her hair. Most of the other agents were trying to prepare themselves or speak to friends and family. She could vaguely hear Charlie next to her speaking to Sonya.

"Yeah, I know, babe… I'll be home soon. Give Lucy a kiss from Daddy… I love you, too. See you tonight."

Olivia and Lincoln "Aaawwwww"ed at Charlie as he hung up and he rolled his eyes.

"How is Lucy, by the way?" Olivia asked him.

"Crawling like crazy. You can't take her eyes off her for a second or she'll just disappear. She thinks it's funny when you can't find her, but it's scary as hell for whoever's looking after her. She's a cheeky kid - always up to no good."

"Just wait till she's a teenager," Lincoln teased. The expression on his face turned to mock horror. "She'll be sneaking out the window to hook up with some guy…Oh no, what if she starts dating a stoner and drops out of high school…or runs away with him to get married…or gets pregnant!"

"That's enough, Lincoln!" Olivia scolded him. "Don't scare the poor guy, he's just a new dad."

"Yeah, do not even go there, man. My daughter's not dating anyone ever. I'll lock her in the basement if I have to."

"Why not?" Olivia asked, chuckling at his paranoia.

"Hey, I was a teenage guy once. I know how they think. So if some kid from math class or whatever wants to date my princess, then he's gonna have to get through me first. That's all I'm saying."

"Well, she's only six months old, so hopefully you'll relax enough to let the poor girl have a life by the time she hits that stage."

"Never gonna happen," Charlie chuckled, but they knew he was exaggerating. Charlie was already proving himself to be a great father – he simply adored Lucy, and his wife. There was nothing he wouldn't do for the two most important girls in his world.

"We don't know what to expect anymore on these raids, do we?" Lincoln said after a small silence, his tone dark and serious.

"I know what you mean," Charlie replied. "Job isn't what it was ten years ago. You've got biochemical terrorists fighting wars over supposed alternate universes… I mean, it just - just wasn't part of my training, you know? I mean, how are we supposed to fight these people? Truth is, this makes me feel obsolete, you know?"

The others just nodded and waited. The truck started to slow and they all prepared themselves to head out into the warehouse. A couple of the guys said a quick prayer or took a moment to calm themselves. The raids had been getting harder and harder in recent years since ZFT became more active. They never knew what creepy science-fiction weapon they'd come across.

The truck came to a halt and Olivia braced herself, drawing her service weapon and following the others silently into the cold night air. There was nobody around for miles – just a string of warehouses in the middle of some old abandoned buildings and vacant lots. The agents started flicking on their torches, sparking dots of glowing white in the darkness. Silently they split into teams, following their leaders to various entrances to the main warehouse. The only sound Olivia could hear was her heartbeat pounding in her ears. Her palms were sweaty. She loved the challenge of the raids but they had never stopped being scary.

Her team went through each room, clearing it and finding no suspects. What they did find was rooms and rooms of experiments, lab equipment and screeching lab animals. "I want everything bagged and tagged!" Charlie announced in his quintessential FBI voice.

They started sorting through the equipment when there was shuffling sound somewhere down the hall. Olivia whipped around to see a suspect trying to escape. Lincoln saw him too. They both started running. Olivia heard Charlie behind her as her feet pounded the concrete floor, the sound echoing off the walls. The man disappeared round a corner, then down some stairs. He was heading outside. After a while they'd lost him. "Liv, go out the back!" Lincoln shouted. "Charlie, take the right, I'll go left."

She nodded and sprinted along the corridors until she ran through a door, heading back outside into the cold. She saw a flash of movement in one of the vacant lots behind the warehouse and ran after it. There was frost on the ground. She slipped. She ran so hard she got stitches in her stomach and felt like her heart was pumping acid, but she pushed through the pain. The man turned a corner and she followed him to end up in an old graveyard.

Panting, she stopped and scanned the gravestones, some of them large enough to hide behind. Cautious, she raised her weapon and torch, treading through the overgrown grass. "FBI! Show yourself!" she called out, but got no answer. Straining her ears for any sound, all she could hear was her own shaky breath.

And then she was grabbed. Thrown against a wall. He wrestled for her gun. Instinctively she squeezed the trigger but it missed. He knocked it from her hands, sending it bouncing in the weeds somewhere to her right. They struggled. He backhanded her across the face and she tasted something metallic in her mouth. She fought hard, hit him, made him bleed. But he was bigger, stronger. He hit her again and she fell to the ground. He kicked her in the stomach. Hard. Then he did it again. She tried to get up. "Stay down!" he growled at her, and she felt another blow strike her side. She took a panicked heap of air inside her chest in between kicks. Coughed as she struggled to breathe. She lost count of how many times he kicked her. She felt herself start to black out.

"STOP! FBI!"

Even though she was barely conscious, she knew the voice was Charlie's. The man stopped kicking her and made a run for it. Olivia heard a gunshot, then the man groaning and collapsing.

"Move and the next one won't be in your leg, buddy," Charlie called to the man, his gun still aimed. There was silence for a moment. She felt Charlie's hand on her forehead. "Livvy, can you hear me?"

"Uh-huh," she whimpered.

He grabbed his radio. "Agent down, I need immediate medical assistance in the graveyard behind the warehouse. Suspect is apprehended, also in need of treatment for a GSW to the right leg."

Olivia cried out and curled into a ball, cradling herself and seething through her tears.

"You OK? Livvy, what did he do?"

"He kicked me," she groaned. "Charlie, it hurts."

"I know, Livvy. They'll have to check you for internal bleeding but you're gonna be alright. You did well, kiddo. Just hang in there."

"Peter…"

"I'll call him on the way to the hospital, OK? He can meet us there. Shhh, Livvy. Just relax."

She tried to stay awake, but eventually the pain was too much. She vaguely heard Charlie say "You're gonna be fine", but after that she just couldn't hold on anymore.

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