Grunting softly and running his aged hands through his salt-and-pepper curly hair, Walterbegins to roll off of his bed, feet hitting the hardwood floor before he glances down to shift them into his ratty slippers. Quickly throwing on a robe because he was sick of Peter's comments about how he wasn't allowed to roam around naked – what was that, it was freeing! Peter should try it sometime – he shuffles out of the room, hearing Peter's usual banging in the kitchen. Smiling to himself as he remembered his young son trying to make breakfast as a boy, he hears sounds that his ears were not accustomed to. Raising his eyebrows and halting before he rounded the corner, he hears a more soft, feminine noise that he soon recognizes as Agent Dunham's chuckle.
Ah, his favorite member of his species in the form of a shapely female! Well, except for Astrid. And Peter's mother. And maybe Nina… But still! Olivia was here, maybe she had some cadavers waiting for him. Wouldn't that be glorious? Much better than a hearty breakfast. Deciding to turn the corner now, he notices Agent Dunham's ruffled clothes and mussed-up hair as she wiped the sleep from her eyes, turning to smile at him through a face that had just woken up. And hmm, there was a Peter-sized indent in the couch next to her. Curious – did this mean he'd get grandchildren after all? I hope so.
"Morning, Agent Dunham! Why, how good to see you today, did you bring me any interesting bodies?" Walter inquires, and is greeted by the soft smile Olivia reserves only for him, clearly displaying her affection for the older man. "Or perhaps Peter will make us some pancakes, looks like you two had a late night last night." He finishes, and is greeted with a glare from Peter, but the insinuation slips by Olivia, or perhaps she wasn't as openly disgusted with the notion.
"Good morning to you too, Walter. And sure I do, why wouldn't I bring you something interesting?" she asks in return, but he catches the glint of worry in her face as she says her next phrase, though it flits away immediately. "It's a shapeshifter. His box was with him, so perhaps you can look into that. He was in my apartment last night, so I shot him…" she trails off, obviously not wanting to touch on that aspect any further.
Of course feeling care for Olivia's touchiness on this subject, but needing to know the answer, he inquires, "Well, you didn't shoot him in the head, did you? I've been eager to examine one without one of those pesky bullets in there, like you did on the one wearing Agent Francis' skin." He says, harrumphing his frustration at the last body he had gotten. She seemed to underestimate how much of a damper that had put on his research! Noticing Peter walking into the room with a scowl on his face, brow furrowed, obviously due to the sadness he sees on Agent Dunham's face upon mentioning Charlie. Oops. He turns his attention back to Olivia, and notices that she's shaking her head in apology, no doubt to the fact that she had, indeed, shot the shifter through its head. Scowling wildly, he says, "Damnit, damnit! I need these to be untouched – the brain is the most important part? Don't you understand that? Peter, can't you control your woman better?"
Peter lets out an exasperated sigh that snarled at the edges – obviously because of Walter's outburst and his mentioning of Charlie when Olivia was still in such a fragile state about the matter. He also wasn't particularly pleased with Walter calling Olivia 'his woman', and judging by the look on her face, she didn't, either. Perhaps he would indulge that title for her late- Snapping out of that thought immediately, his protective side kicks in, and he says, "Walter, she couldn't help it, that thing was going to kill her. Would you rather have a dead Dunham and no shifter, or a live Olivia and a damaged shapeshifter?" he inquires, and as Walter averts his gaze, he grunts, "That's what I thought. Now go put some pants on, I'm sure Olivia doesn't want to see that after her night before." He vaguely gestures down at Walter and winces, Olivia blushing and following him as he retreated to the kitchen. During his fury, Walter's robe had loosened, and his morning glory had made its appearance. Sighing, he shuffled away and back into his room to prepare for the day.
Mindful of her presence in this house, although with these two in it, it already felt like home, Olivia stepped gingerly into the kitchen, instincts propelling her towards the scent of coffee that wafted through the air, accepting the mug pressed into her hand without realizing that it had been offered. Giving him a small smile in return, she mutters a "Thanks," and yawns into the cup before downing most of the hot liquid in several gulps.
"Never pegged you for a chugger, eh, Dunham?" Peter inquires, after watching her with a smirk of amusement on his face. "Must've missed those caffeine pills last night." He quips, knowing that Olivia was still taking them even when she needed her rest. Still, if she hadn't been awake… He couldn't think of what would have happened.
Ignoring his comment and supplementing one of her own, "I wake up tired after a good night of sleep," she says honestly – this had been the first night in a week or more that she had gotten more than the four hours she thought she got, plus the two in the car she was unaware of- and then adds, "I also tend to drool when sleeping deeply. Sorry about the shirt." She gestures towards his characteristic MIT tee. "But I suspect it's seen worse in the month you were there." Olivia insinuates, and Peter chuckles, opening his mouth to respond before Walter walks cheerily into the kitchen.
With a declaration of, "I'm ready! Bring me the body." He says, rubbing his hands together like a small boy that had just gotten a carton of new Legos. A pensive look reaches his face, and his brow wrinkles. "Or rather, bring me to the body. I imagine it wouldn't do well on our table." He says, and is rewarded with a roll of the eyes from Peter and Olivia's grin. Not waiting for the pair, Walter treks out of the door, noticing Olivia's car, and whines impatiently, tugging at the handle until Peter arrives with Olivia close behind, unlocking the SUV.
Still pulling sharply at the door every second or so, Peter huffs and says, "Walter, wait for Olivia to click it. Then pull." He says, and meets Olivia's eyes as she holds the keychain and deliberately presses the button twice, letting all three out of the cold and into the leather-fabricated interior. Starting the engine and pulling away from the curb, Olivia drives as Peter starts the heater, the tension from the night before returning, even more in its intensity. However, neither of them were going to talk it out, and Walter was oblivious to it, chattering on about something he saw on the side of the road. Olivia smiled at him for the first few minutes of the drive, but her face soon pulled behind its characteristic mask, like Peter's, and the two of them were subjected to his rambling until he trailed off and his voice became a whisper, then nothing more. Sitting in silence for the last few minutes of the drive, nobody else attempted to make conversation until they pulled into Harvard and trailed down to Walter's lab.
Meeting Astrid as soon as they came in, clipboard in hand as she whips out a pencil from behind one of her ears, hidden behind her mass of fluffy black hair, she asks Olivia, "I heard about what happened, but would you mind me asking some questions?" she says, and Olivia shakes her head, moving out of the doorway so the Bishops could pass by. Motioning for the two of them to go down towards the lab, Olivia halts for a split second as Astrid turned away and began to walk down the steps.
The shapeshifter was there. His body, at least. Normally it wouldn't bother Olivia, but she could clearly see the three prongs in its mouth and glimpses a flash of Charlie's face instead. Her forehead creased, and she follows Astrid, eyeing the thing warily until Astrid sits them down, following Olivia's gaze. Normally, the caring agent would say something to comfort Olivia, But right now, 'Don't worry, it's dead', would not help someone like Olivia. She thinks, and opts for a caring smile instead. "So, tell me everything you remember from the night before." Astrid says, and Olivia recounts everything, halting at the part where Peter asked her to come to his house, not thinking it would help Astrid's account of the attack in the least. "Alright, Olivia. I'll let you know when we make headway on this. We've already got the victim identified," she gestures towards the body, and Olivia understands that she means the man who's skin was stolen, "A certain Mark Avery, age thirty-two, wife, no children." She finishes, assured that Olivia would want to know this information.
Instead of looking relieved at knowing who it was, Olivia's brow furrows, and she thinks, So this man died, too. What about his wife? She'll certainly need to know… trailing off in thought, Olivia rises and announces, "I should go inform Mrs. Avery. Astrid, let me know if you or Walter make any headway. Peter, mind going down to the Bureau to catalogue this all with Broyles?" she inquires, offering him a hint at a smile.
He returns it in part and nods, grabbing his coat and following her out the door. He was indifferent to doing lab or office work, lab was more fun, but he had to deal with his father, and usually wanted to leave, but office work was dull. Oh well, an equal tradeoff, perhaps. "Olivia, you sure you're alright?" he inquires, rushing forward to catch her pace and laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. Knowing he probably wouldn't get more than that, he is startled by her response.
"No, Peter. I mean, physically, I'm alright, I feel fine – good, even. But this woman, she didn't deserve this. Her husband was probably just in the wrong place, and if a minute had been off, he'd be alive… Just like that girl," she says, frowning with her mouth in a tight line. Her face didn't display much emotion, but she did feel better after confiding in Peter. Next to Rachel, he was probably her closest friend, and she couldn't even talk to Rachel about stuff like this.
"Hey," Peter says charictaristically, before lifting a hand to skim her jawline, pulling his hand away as he reached her chin. "We can't always be there. Father Time is a real bitch, you know that. And perhaps Walter will make some sort of mad-genius revelation that will help us learn more about him. This man, Avery, won't have died in vain." He says, his words never truly comforting because he spoke the truth, but his honesty did patch up her wounds a bit.
Sighing and lowering her gaze, she thinks for a few moments before meeting their blue and green. "I suppose, Peter. But when will we be able to beat them?" she asks, the question rhetorical, and Olivia does not expect an answer. However, this time it is her being surprised.
"Never." He says simply. "We'll either be late, or we'll be there just in time. Sometimes they die, Olivia. Most of the time they die. We cannot always save them, but we can sure as hell try." Tilting his head to get a better angle at her, she smiles sadly up at him, his brutal honesty bruising her already bettered spirit. Hopefully the drive to Concord where the woman lived would clear her head. Not bothering to respond to him, she turns away and walks off, ready to go talk to the woman, leaving him terribly conflicted. On one hand, he'd love to run after her and force her to explain herself, but then again, it was part of this mystery she kept about her that made him interested. One day, he'd break down her wall, but perhaps she'd be the first to break his.
Somewhat of a filler chapter – just wanted to solidify the four main characters and advance further in what Peter and Olivia are thinking.
I'm not a 'fluff' person, so don't expect this to continue at this pace; things are about to take a turn for the worse.
…However, even I am subjected to bouts of flufflies, so expect in several more chapters for there to be some sort f adorable cute moment.
R&R!
