A/N: Okay, I couldn't resist. This is a Lincoln/Altlivia oneshot, though I could be persuaded to expand on it. I'm honestly not sure who I ship more, Lincoln/Altlivia or Peter/Olivia.
Another world, another twosome. Different, yet the same. These two are a family, a mother, father and child. But the workings of the human mind can be dark and hurtful, and under the surface, trouble lies.
Captain Lincoln Lee was pretty sure this was the lowest point in his life, as he curled into Charlie's hard little couch, staring at the enormous volume on the various types of worms that sat on the coffee table (Mona's version of trying to help Charlie).
How the fuck had this happened? Two weeks ago, he was asleep, not on a tiny couch, but in a king-sized bed with his partner/girlfriend of two years sleeping next to him, their arms locked around their two-year-old son, his son.
His Henry. Lincoln didn't care about biology, (he wouldn't deny that he hated Peter Bishop being the child's father, the worry that he would claim Henry and take him away from Lincoln was ever present). Henry was his son. When Lincoln looked into the boy's blue eyes, they were his eyes. When he passed his hand through the boy's auburn curls, or watched his little smirk, that was all Liv.
For the first time in his life, Lincoln Lee. For once, his best friend was not bourbon, crappy reality TV, and a lifetime of unrequited love for one of his best friends. He had Liv, probably the most amazing woman anyone could ever ask for, the best friend anyone could ask for in Charlie (not that he'd ever tell Charlie that), and a son that he loved so much that he didn't even mind that Henry considered 4am party time.
So who couldn't have predicted that it would all go to shit?
The best he could tell, it had started to unravel the moment that smarmy jackass started worming his way back into Liv's life.
"Christ, Lincoln, he's just a consultant on a case. I didn't ask for him to be here, and he'll be gone soon enough."
But soon, that asshole, shithead incompetent jackass (he's just going by Frank now, was Charlie's oh-so-helpful input) had become more and more necessary on the case, and Lincoln swore he could see the way Frank looked at Liv, he wanted her back, Lincoln was sure of it.
And no matter how many times they fought about it, in the morning, Frank was always there.
He abandoned you and Henry!
Oh my God, Linc, I'm not going to fall back into his arms the second I see him. Do you really trust me that little?
And then the tipping point happened. Lincoln had walked in after a very long day, to find that shithead in his kitchen, holding his son.
He had no sooner ripped Henry out of Frank's arms that Liv had walked into the room, holding a bag of something. She had taken one look at Lincoln's face before quietly ushering Frank out. Lincoln was well aware of the verbal lashing that was coming, so he took Henry by the hand and sat him in his playpen with his toys, turning on the baby monitor.
"Buddy, play with your toys for a little bit okay? Daddy will get you for dinner."
Blissfully unaware, Henry had happily picked up his hippo toy and begun to throw it in the air. Lincoln had quietly shut the door and returned to the kitchen, just as Liv had come back, her face like thunder.
Okay, in retrospect, starting the conversation (if you could really call it that) with, "so did you fuck him goodbye?" wasn't really a promising way to start a civil conversation.
And a civil conversation it was not.
Lincoln couldn't remember the last time they had fought that badly, but he distinctly remembers the lowest blow, the words that hurt the most.
You let come here and hold our son! Shit Liv, can't you see it? He wants to get you and Henry back, that's the only reason he's here?
So the real reason you're angry is not because he wants to be with me again, but that he wants to be Henry's father now?
He's not Henry's father! He'll never be Henry's father.
Neither will you.
She said it softly, but Lincoln heard it just as clearly as if she had shouted it at him.
Ten minutes later, he was packing his clothes into a small suitcase, only the necessary items, wanting so badly to get out of there as quickly as possible.
Except when he came back downstairs, Olivia, and Henry greeted him.
Olivia's eyes were welling, but she was stoically refusing to let the tears spill.
"Linc, come on. You know I didn't mean…"
"But you did, Liv, that's the problem."
He reached out a hand to meet Henry's, as the boy wiggled determinedly, trying as much as his little body would allow, to get to Lincoln. It was time for Daddy to fly him over his head to the dinner table, and he knew it.
Olivia had scoffed the first time Lincoln did that particular trick. "I live with two toddlers." She had retorted, but Lincoln could see happiness shining in her eyes as she watched him and her son.
Lincoln reached over and scooped the boy into his arms, passing a hand over his auburn curls.
"You don't think of me of Henry's father, do you, Liv? You never have. You just keep me around so Henry isn't deprived of a father figure."
"That's ridiculous, Lincoln."
"No, you still think of Peter. You know it's never going to happen with him, not with the other Olivia in the picture, and now that they have kids of their own, you just want the conventional family, no matter who it's with."
He hears her gasp, and it cuts into him, but he refuses to look up. He buries his nose in Henry's hair and whispers to him,
"Daddy's going to go stay with Uncle Charlie for a bit, okay buddy? But you're gonna come visit, and Daddy will come see you all the time. Okay?"
He can feel his eyes welling now, and he breathes an I love you into the baby's hair and wordlessly hands him to Liv. She takes her son, the tears now making her eyes shine brightly, and the picture of the two of them almost makes Lincoln's resolve crack.
Almost.
Behind him, he can feel the confused little boy start to cry, can hear the daddy, daddy come! But he can't turn around, can't see Olivia turn her cheek into the baby's hair, the tear slipping down her cheeks.
Charlie took him in easily enough (would have helped if he hadn't been half-dressed with Mona behind him).
"Christ, Linc, what happened?" he asks, and Lincoln can only ask if he can stay with him for a little bit. He's sure he looks pathetic, but Charlie pretends not to notice.
