A/n: Sorry, for the long wait in update, enjoy the new chapter.
-Pessi Rom
Thanks to:Jasper303 and wjobsessed for reviewing the last chapter , I appreciate your reviews and interest,I hope you enjoy the new chapter.
Chapter Four: Familiarity
Olivia asked James a couple more questions about what happened to him, then about Carter Lewis, so she the FBI could get in touch with his parents. She and Peter then drove back to Walter's lab where they found him examining a piece of the rock.
" Did you find anything out about the rock." Olivia asked as she and Peter walked over to Walter.
"Yes,its composition is quite interesting, it is almost completely organic,but there is a trace of something I can't identify and it seems familiar." Walter said.
"Did you find out anything that can help James?" Olivia asked as Walter added drops of some kind of clear solution to the rock sample.
"Yes..but its not good..not at all." Walter said as he examined the reaction.
"Well,what did you find out?" Peter asked when Walter didn't say what exactly he'd found.
"Right,well the rock substance seems to react by absorbing H20, and since our body's are sixty five percent water, it will continue to absorb the water in James Sterling's body until he is completely covered like the other two victims." Walter explained.
"We can't let that happen, there's got to be a way to stop the process, or maybe slow it down." Olivia said not wanting James to meet the same fate.
"Liv's right, according to James, Carter, one of the victims, was instantly covered by that stuff,but it seems to be spreading slower on James,if we can figure out why, its reaction is moving slower, maybe when can stop it before he ends up like the others." Peter suggested.
"That could be possible, it would give us more time to find the origin of the material." Walter said, then Olivia's phone started to ring.
"Dunham." Olivia said answering her phone. She walked away as she talked on her phone, While Walter began to test other solutions on the rock material.
"Everything ok?" Peter asked when Olivia got off of the phone and walked back over to them.
"Yeah, that was Broyles, they identified the first victim, Steven Fuller, I'm about to go interview his wife." Olivia said.
" I'm going to help Walter with the rock, I'll call you if we figure out how to help James." Peter said.
"Ok." Olivia said walking out of the lab.
Scottsburg Virginia
Olivia stood outside of Steven Fuller's house, according to the information they'd found, he was a computer engineer for a local IT company. He was probably on his way to work, when he'd been exposed to whatever it was that had killed him and Carter and was killing James Sterling. She knocked on the door, and waited as she heard footsteps approaching the door, it opened to reveal a girl between the ages of ten and twelve.
"Can I help you?" The girl asked.
"Olivia Dunham, FBI, is your mother home." Olivia asked showing the girl her badge.
"Yeah...Mom!" The girl called and a older brunette appeared.
"Can, I help you...Olivia Dunham, what are you doing here?" The woman said recognizing Olivia.
" Stacey Martin." Olivia said recognizing her old college roommate.
"Actually it's Fuller now, wow,I haven't seen you since graduation, what are you doing in Scottsburg." Stacey said.
"I'm with the FBI, and I'm afraid I have some bad news." Olivia said tone becoming serious.
"Uh...come in..Molly, why don't you go finish your homework." Stacey said motioning for Liv to come in,then addressing her daughter.
"Would you like some coffee?" Stacey said as they walked into the living room.
"No, thank you." Olivia said politely.
"So, what is this about,what has he done?" Stacey asked.
"Excuse me." Olivia said taken aback.
"This is about Steven isn't it, ever since he started that new job, hes been acting so strange." Stacey said.
"Yes this is about your husband, I'm sorry...but his body was found early this morning." Olivia said trying to break it as lightly as she could.
"What...what happened?" Stacey said taking a seat.
"He along with two others were exposed to an unknown radiation, there was one survivor,but if we don't find out how they got exposed, he might not survive, he's just a kid." Olivia said.
"Ok..but, what can I do, you could have informed me of his death on the phone, why show up here." Stacey asked clearly trying to hide her distraughtness.
" You said he's been acting strange, since he got his new job, did you notice anything specific, that might help us find out how and where he was exposed." Olivia asked feeling for her friend, but she had to ask the questions in order to save James.
"Well, sometimes he would come home, and his clothes would have this strange smell,I'd ask him about it,but he would act like he didn't smell it." Stacey said.
"Did he have any other strange behavior?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah, he would constantly be drinking these protein water mixes, it was like this white powder that he poured into a bottle water,but it didn't have any color once he mixed it in to the water. He drunk it every morning. Molly tried to drink it once and he screamed at her never to touch it, he scared her so much she didn't talk to him for two weeks." Stacey explained.
"Do you by any chance , still have some of the clothing with the strange smell, or know where he kept the powder?" Olivia asked hoping if she did ,Walter could figure out a cure, or at least where the substance came from.
"Yeah, he came home two days ago, and one of his shirts had that smell, I was going to wash it." Stacey said.
"And the powder?" Olivia asked thinking that, that was probably the key.
"Sorry, he never let it out of his sight, I'll go get the shirt." Stacey said walking away.
Olivia felt really bad, she hadn't seen Stacey in years, and here she had turned up at her door and given her one of the worst news you could ever give a person. She couldn't imagine how that felt, or maybe she could, John had almost been her husband and not only did she lose him, he had betrayed her and the agency, which had basically become her whole life. She didn't know if she could ever love like that again.
She couldn't help ,but think of Peter after that last thought. She cared for Peter, she knew that,but, she wasn't exactly ready to give her heart to someone again, not after what had happened with John. She briefly thought back to the light bomb case, Peter was ready to take the chance of dying with her,that wasn't something that any guy would do,Peter was definitely one of a kind. Her thoughts then moved to how he could be stubborn one minute , then caring and understanding another minute, like he'd been with James at the hospital.
She was brought out her thoughts, when Stacey reappeared with a bag containing a shirt, which she handed to Olivia.
"I hope this helps the kid." Stacey said.
"I truly am sorry for your loss, I'm going to find the people responsible for this, I promise." Olivia said to her old friend.
Stacey just nodded and walked Olivia to the door. Once Olivia got back into her car,she called Peter and filled him in on what Stacey had told her about Steven, his strange behavior along with the smell on his clothes and the strange powdery substance. It appeared their FBI information on Steven Fuller had been outdated. Stacey had informed her that he had quit the IT job three months ago and started some secret new position.
This had also been the start of when he had started drinking the strange protein drink, as he called it and when he started coming home with his clothes smelling strangely. Olivia knew the next step was to find out where this new job of Steven Fuller was,because she had a feeling that would lead her to the source of the foreign rock substance , which would enable them to save James.
A/n: Thanks for reading, hope you liked the chapter construct criticism/suggestions/reviews are greatly appreciated,I will try to update again sometime next week,but I just started two new stories,so I've got a full load of stories to update,but I promise I wont leave you without an update for as long as I did from the last update, I have more free time which means more updates, thanks again for reading.
-Pessi .Rom
