Breaking Point
Written by:
Addie Price
Summary: 'It was a war, Peter. And every war has its casualties. I'm just sorry it had to be Olivia who was made to suffer.' Everybody has a breaking point. And Olivia may have just met hers.
Words: 1,598
Note:Quick update, I know! My goal was to get this chapter up before LSD airs and I am very glad to say that I made it! I probably won't have the next chapter up until Monday or Tuesday, so I apologize about that. But, anyways, I hope you all enjoy this chapter!

Rated T for brief language and my own paranoia.
Disclaimer: FRINGE is the property of FOX Broadcasting Company and its associates. I am in no way affiliated with FOX nor do I own any of the characters depicted in this story.


"What we're doing, what you've asked me to do, is push the boundaries of all that is real and possible."
- Walter Bishop


Despite Walter's optimism at bringing Olivia home, his plan fails. And so does his second and his third and his fourth. Peter works patiently with him, neither of them speaking about what transpired during their shared time in Olivia's mind.

Astrid can see that Peter is shaken by whatever it was that he witnessed. He's easily distracted and often zones out, looking out the high basement windows or watching Olivia slumber, still unconscious in her chair.

Walter gets easily frustrated with him, snapping at Peter to focus as he tries to bounce theories and ideas off him. Astrid can tell that neither of them are very focused and that their time in Olivia's mind has had some sort of effect on them. It's rare for Walter to get frustrated with any of them, but especially with Peter and it makes Astrid wonder, not for the first time, what was in Olivia's mind to change them this way.

It isn't until a beaker explodes while Peter is supposed to be watching it that Walter actually yells at Peter. The beaker was heating as Walter tried to stabilize his latest experiment and Peter had gotten distracted once again, causing the beaker to overheat and explode, its contents splattering over the lab. Walter storms over to his son, yelling at him about incompetence and irresponsibility in the lab.

Astrid moves quickly as Peter begins to retaliate, stepping between them.

"Stop it!" she yells, holding her arms out towards each of them. "You both need to calm down and do something more productive than yelling at each other! It isn't going to do anything for you and it especially isn't going to help Olivia!"

Peter and Walter both stare at her for a moment, eyes wide with shock. Lincoln speaks up in the silence, his words a cool, neutral contrast to their emotion-driven ones.

"Astrid's right," he says, standing and walking towards them. "Your fighting isn't going to do anything to help Agent Dunham. We can't be getting frustrated or mad at each other – we need to work together on this."

Walter suddenly straightens and walks away from them as he begins to pace the lab. "Peter, when you were very young, your mother sometimes brought you to the daycare when Belly and I were experimenting with the effects of Cortexiphan on children." He stops to look at Peter, as if expecting him to jump in on his thoughts.

"I don't remember that, Walter."

Walter waves him off, pacing again. "At any rate, we paired children up and assigned them to groups. They were to work as a team to solve problems that we posed to them. They were supposed to learn how to work together, so that when they needed to fight they would be able to do so flawlessly – they would already know each others' strengths and weaknesses."

Peter raises a hand towards Walter, as if trying to get him to stop his movements or to slow his words. "What are you getting at, Walter? Should we bring Olivia's partner or team in here to solve our problem?"

Walter shakes his head impatiently. "No, they all died when we went to the Other Side to rescue you." He stops pacing, looking at them excitedly. "Cortexiphan!"

They wait for him to explain more, but Walter is gone, muttering nonsensical gibberish to himself. Peter sighs. "Walter, what about Cortexiphan?"

The older man looks at him for a moment, a look of confusion on his face before he understands. "Oh, right, Cortexiphan. Our Agent Dunham was exposed to high levels of Cortexiphan at a young age. Because of Belly's absence on the Other Side at this point, it is safe for us to assume that the Other Agent Dunham was not similarly exposed. This would give Our Olivia an edge over Fauxlivia.

Peter watches Walter carefully, realization dawning in his eyes. "So if we give Olivia Cortexiphan, she'll be able to get rid of Fauxlivia?"

Walter shakes his head. "Not exactly. The Cortexiphan will give Olivia strength, but I do not know if she has either the will or the motivation to fight Fauxlivia." He grips Peter's shoulders, his eyes wild with a madness Peter has only seen within his father once or twice before. "We have to go back, Peter. We have to pull her out and bring her home."

Gently, Peter extracts himself from Walter's grip, patting his hand softly. "Okay, Walter."

Walter nods at his son before moving away, working to synthesize more LSD and Cortexiphan for their rescue mission.

Peter turns to Astrid and Lincoln, shaking his head. "Now that that's settled, have you two found anything on a new host for Bell?"

Astrid nods. "Oh, yes, we did. Come on." She waves Peter and Lincoln over as she moves to a computer and sits down. She quickly types in a few commands and brings up a file on the screen. "Potential Host #1: Male, late seventies. He was in an accident ten years ago and has been comatose ever since. The doctors believe he has a very low chance of ever waking on his own."

Peter shakes his head as he reads the file. "He's had significant brain function since the accident. He's not completely brain dead. We can't take away the chance that he'll wake up someday by completely uprooting what little consciousness he has left."

"Okay. Here's another one. Female, mid-forties. She had a stroke a year ago and hasn't had any brain activity since."

Again, Peter rejects the candidate. "She has young children. I don't want to put them through this."

Lincoln points to a third file. "How about Candidate #3? Male, 67. Car accident seventeen years ago. He had seizures before that and this isn't his first coma. His wife passed on four years ago and they have no children. The only reason he's still on life support is because of his brother, who refuses to let him die without it occurring naturally."

Peter reads the file carefully, searching for any possible reason why they wouldn't be able to even talk to the man's brother. Unable to find anything, he give his approval. "Alright, we'll try this guy. If the brother doesn't want to, though, we can't push him. We're talking about a very delicate situation here."

Astrid understands and gets up, pulling out her phone. "I'll call Broyles."

Peter moves away from them, going back to help Walter. He gives Lincoln a nod of approval as he passes the agent. "Good job, Agent Lee. You may just have a job with Fringe Division once this is finished."

"Peter!"

Peter sighs, going down the steps into the main area of the lab. "What is it, Walter?"

Walter turns the screen he is looking at towards him, his mind working to make sense of what he's seen.

Peter looks at the screen impatiently, wondering why Walter can't simply tell him what's happening. Although it takes him a few moments, he finally realizes what he's looking at. It's a chemical composition and, if Peter's right, it's the composition of a toxin.

"Walter, why did you synthesize a new poison?"

"I didn't mean to. I simply added 50 milligrams of LSD and the Cortexiphan, just to see if they would have any adverse effects on each other. And when I ran it through the mass spectrometer, I found that, when combined, the two form a highly potent poison."

"Walter, we cannot put this in Olivia."

Walter turns on him, wide-eyed. "We have to son. It's our only choice."

"It'll kill her!"

"Not immediately!" Walter's voice takes on a hushed, urgent tone, one he often uses when he's trying to explain a new theory. "Within an hour of exposure, the toxin will have no adverse effects!"

Peter stares at him for a moment. "That means that once the two are administered, we'll only have an hour to find Olivia and convince her to fight for control of her mind? And she has to win before the poison can kill her?"

"Well, we'll have a little less than an hour since our brainwaves will have to sync first and the poison won't kill -"

"Walter."

Guiltily, Walter looks at Peter. "Yes, that's the essentials."

"And what happens when she wakes up?"

"I'll have to find a sort of anti-toxin, something that will neutralize either the LSD or the Cortexiphan, yes, but once it's administered, she'll be fine, Peter. And she'll be home."

Peter nods at his father. "Alright, Walter. But if she dies, I will never forgive you."