I know I promised this yesterday but I got caught up at hockey Thanks to all who reviewed the last chapter, please keep it up! They make me smile so much hehe. Enjoy this chap, because the story is only just getting started :D
Reference: "…you go ahead…" (Pilot), "…thanks sweetheart…" (Pilot), "…not being able to trust their (your) own mind(s)…" (Bad Dreams), "…possible help…" (Pilot), "…mentally unstable…" (The Equation), "…guardian..." (Pilot)
Chapter 8 – Anger
Olivia sat in her kitchen awaiting the inevitable knock on the door from Peter, she had been awake since 7am unable to sleep anymore after knowing that today was the day she would be meeting his father. "Hey, you're up early today…" Frank came in from the bathroom, his pajama top slung over his shoulder telling her that he had just woken up. Olivia passed him a piece of toast that she knew he would enjoy before shrugging and going back to reading the paper in front of her. "Hey, what's going on? You've been very quiet the last few days…" Frank took a seat next to her, waiting for her to look up at him and give him some indication of what was going on.
Sighing Olivia finally did look up at him, knowing he deserved to know what was going on inside her head, and so she decided to start at the beginning, "You know how I told you about that guy I knew when I was at high school, the one I was dating…anyway he is helping out with an investigation, thanks to Charlie and now I have to baby sit him because Charlie is off…it's just hard having him around and now that he is I wish he could go away, I never wanted to see him again, I never thought I would see him again, it's just…different…" She looked away from him, thinking that he would be upset but what he was hearing but instead he lifted her face back up to his and stared into her eyes, "Peter…the guy I met the other day…it's him isn't it?" She slowly nodded in his hand, the movement was subtle but he felt it, something that he answered with a sigh, "Is he making you feel uncomfortable or something? Is he doing anything or saying anything to you?" Frank, always worrying about her safety, he just didn't get that that wasn't the problem. "No nothing like that, it's just strange having him around again, asking for his help, you know calling him and asking for his opinion, I haven't seen him in years so this is all strange…" Frank nodded again although his silence stretched.
"Liv, I was hoping we could talk about me going away, I leave next month and I was wondering if you had made you decision about - " a couple of swift knocks at the door caught their attention and Olivia pulled away from Frank, leaving him to become increasingly frustrated. "Frank I'm leaving now, can we talk about this later please?" As she moved towards the door Olivia heard Frank sigh, something he had been doing more and more of recently. "Please Liv, it's been a week and I need to let them know…" He knew she wasn't listening anymore as she pulled the door open while he spoke, never noticing that Frank had moved away from the couch as he spoke to her, closing the door to the bedroom to close himself away from her.
The next few days was a blur, Peter had resined himself to the fact that he was going to be meeting up with his estranged and abusive father for the first time in more than 8 years and also that he would be doing it because of his ex girlfriend, if he was completely honest with himself he would agree that it was for her not because of her that he was meeting his father. It was definitely not something he was planning on doing anytime soon and yet here he was standing outside Olivia Dunham's front door waiting for her to take him to this meeting he wished had never been set up. It was over a week since he had showed up at her door, confessing to her that he was going to allow her to meet his father, but he had never known it was going to be as hard as it had been that week. Olivia had been in a bad mood, always snapping or just giving him the Dunham glare, he always wondering what was going on but he knew that he wasn't going to ask because he knew she wouldn't take to kindly to that.
"Frank, I'm leaving now…can we please talk about this later?" Olivia's voice rang through the door moments after he had knocked, waiting patiently for her to come to the door. "Liv please its been a week and I need to let them know…" Frank's voice was not far behind hers but instead of an answer the door swung open and Peter was greeted with the similar face he had seen when he first saw Olivia back at the FBI building. "Hi, um…come in a sec, I just need my gun." She turned her back on him, allowing him to let himself in, although he moved no further than just inside the doorway, not wanting to push the boundaries. Frank's head came around from another room, Peter guessed to be the bedroom, considering he was keeping the door closed as he exited it. "Hi Peter…you and Liv going out?" Frank extended his hand to Peter much like he had done when they had first met, "Yea, we have to go and…interview someone, just to do with the case…" Peter didn't both going too much into detail about it and he also didn't want to give him the truth about where they were going.
"Frank, I'll see you tonight ok?" Olivia came back out of the back room pulling her hair out from under her jacket and pulling the side of her jacket to cover her gun, something Peter found to be rather sexy as he watched on, shaking his head to stop those thoughts. "Peter, Broyles wanted me to say thank you from him, he is away at some board meeting or something and won't be here for this…" She looked up at Frank before looking back to Peter, unsure of what was going on between them but Peter only gave her a shrug of the shoulders before turning back towards the door, still not thrilled with the idea of going to see his father, but as he moved towards the door and then through it, he heard the tell tail sound of the closing and locking of the door behind him. "Peter, are you sure you're going to be up for this? You know you don't have to come, you just need to get me through the door…" Olivia watched as he ignored her as she drove, opting to stare out the window and watch the world go by.
Pulling up along side the long pathway Peter followed it up along with his eyes, finding that it wound up towards a large gated building, barbwire fencing lining the tops of the fencing. St. Claire's Mental Institution read the large old metal sigh above their heads, Peter let out a long sigh he had been holding in since he had gotten into the car, Olivia on the other hand had been very calm about what was happening. They were greeted by staff and a couple of security guards who insisted Olivia check her gun, which she was none to happy about, before they could move any further, but as they both moved towards the large gated cage door, Peter slowed, "You're in now, you go on ahead, I'm going to wait here…" Olivia had pulled up only a few steps in front of him before turning, "You sure you don't want to come? He's going to want to see you, regardless of what you say, he is going to know you are here…" Peter's face hardened as he crossed his arms over his chest, "Thanks sweetheart, I really appreciate the thought but I don't want to see him, ok…" He turned his back to Olivia and leaned his head against the window, staring out into the misty midmorning. "Don't call me sweetheart." It was a short answer, one that Peter should have been expecting but as she spun on her heels to walk away from him he dropped his shoulders in defeat.
Standing in the empty room, Olivia noticed that the solitary window had been barred up as well as anything else that could have been removed and used as a weapon, it was unsettling to her, that these people, who were once among the world with her, were now unable to trust their own minds because of what this place had done to them, she wasn't a dumb person, she knew that not all of the people who went into places like the one she was in right now started off as being insane, places like this had a way of turning sane people insane and the insane people worse. "Agent Dunham?" A voice caught her attention and she turned to find an orderly walking towards her, a clipboard in hand. "Agent, I need you to sign this please, its just to say you are not carrying anything dangerous on you…" As she nodded mutely and sighed the paper, another orderly shuffled into the room, someone following behind with his hands and feet in restraints. "Dr. Bishop, this is Agent Dunham, she is here to speak to you, you think you can handle that?" Olivia looked beyond the orderly and towards the man who she knew as Peter's father, immediately seeing Peter in the old man's face, granted he was unshaven, the resemblance was staggering.
"Hello Dr. Bishop…" she took a step towards the table that had been set up in the middle of the room, a chair on either side of the table and a pile of folders with information in it. She watched as he shuffled towards the table, wondering if it was because of the restraints or if it was because of other reasons. Olivia slowly sat slowly, moments after he had done the same, his hands resting on the top of the table, shaking slightly as, what she expected, a nervous tick took over and his hands fiddled with each other. "Dr Bishop, I was wondering if you could help us, we are investigating a robbery and we - " he didn't let her finish as he reached out to grab for her hands, "So familiar…he whispered and within moment's he was being pulled away from her, but it was not the orderlies who had pulled him away but Peter, he dragged Walter off of the chair, hearing it clang against the concrete floor. "Peter no, don't, stop! Stop!"Everything happened so quickly, Peter was pulling at Walter and Olivia was pulling at Peter. And just as suddenly as it had all started it died down, Walter sat against the table, his hands shaking uncontrollably from fear, Peter shaking uncontrollably from anger and Olivia caught in the middle.
"You never touch her again, you hear me Walter…" Peter's low voice broke the silence after a few minutes, the deep rumbling in his chest sending more jolts of anger through his body. "Peter, I'm fine." Olivia had turned back to Walter, watching as his head dropped lower than she though possible and he pulled something, something that both Olivia and Peter didn't understand. "What was that Dr. Bishop?" Cautiously Olivia stepped closer to the old man, taking in the beard and the wrinkles around his eyes, the sadness that shone through them when he looked up at her, "Horrible butterscotch pudding, they have it here on Mondays…"Groaning Peter turned away from them both, his shoulders hunched over showing not only his annoyance but also how tired he was. Olivia smiled slightly at the old man, "You're in luck Dr. Bishop, its Thursday." She watched as he looked up suddenly, a slightly crooked smile forming on his face before he turned away from her and reached out for the folder with both hands, granted that were chained together, Olivia had noticed that he had a tendency to keep his hands together, something she assumed he had learnt while in the hospital.
"I do not recognise these…" his fingers brushed over the top photo before flicking to the next one, "…but this, this is amazing. This is how they got in and out of the vaults, yes?" he looked up at Olivia with expectant eyes, hoping that he was correct. "Yes Dr. Bishop, Peter has been able to tell us how they did that but we need to know what they took, are you sure you don't remember paying for these safety deposit boxes or maybe what you might have put in them?" He only shook his head and stared at the photos in his hand. The silence stretched between them. "Argh! Olivia this is useless, what possible help could this man be to you!" Peter spun around on his heals with his hands in the air, clearly annoyed that they were still having a conversation with Walter. Olivia looked between him and Walter, clearly debating her options but in the end she could not deny that Peter was right, Walter was being no help to them and they still had a long way to go with the case. She watched as he slowly closed the file and placed it back onto the table, just in stretching distance for her to reach, "Thank you for your time Dr. Bishop." She took the files from the table before turned away from him, taking a step towards Peter.
There was only silence as the both moved towards the door, the orderlies meeting them, half way, intent on taking Walter back to his room for the rest of the afternoon but as both parties moved a soft, sad voice broke the silence, "233, 377, 610." Olivia spun around on her heals to look at Walter, Peter had stopped just a step in front of her wondering what she was doing. "What did you say Dr. Bishop?" When he didn't speak, she took a step close to him until she was toe to toe with him and has her hands resting on his shoulders. "Dr. Bishop? What were those numbers your were reciting?" He still didn't speak, apparently too terrified to move because last time he did, and he was close to Olivia, Peter had lunged at him. "Olivia, he isn't going to say anything, let's go," she shook off Peter's voice, knowing she was on to something right then. She watched as Walter opened his mouth a couple of time before speaking, "233, 377, 610." Olivia's mouth dropped a little, stunned at what was happening in front of her. "What is it Livia?" Peter voice was now closer to her, she knew he must have stepped closer, wanting to see what was happening. She smiled a thank you to Walter, who returned it just as shyly, he didn't have cause to smile much anymore so being able to do so was enchanting to him.
Olivia moved away from Walter, not too far but enough so she could speak to Peter without Walter hearing. "Peter, those number's, the first couple are the ones of the safety deposit boxes. They are Walter's, he doesn't remember it but they belong to him." She could tell Peter was sceptical, he had crossed his arms over his chest and raised his shoulders, as thought he was protecting his neck from some invisible creature. "Olivia, what are you talking about? He could have seen those numbers on the pictures, or in the file you gave him." There was no way Peter was actually going to believe her. Sure he had been the one to notice the pattern with the names and tell her about it but he never though it was going to bring them here. "Peter the numbers are not in the photos and the file has no information, they are just copies of the photos, no data. Please, he is the best lead we have…" Peter glared towards Walter and then glanced back to Olivia, "What do you want to do? Dissect his brain? Olivia he isn't going to be able to give you any information, you know that."
He really wasn't understanding what she was trying to say, so she figured being blunt would be the best way to get her idea through. "I want…to get him out of here. Bring him into the investigation, maybe being out of here will be the best way of getting that information out of him." Peter staggered, she wanted to get him out, take his mentally unstable father out of the mental hospital, the government and the FBI wouldn't allow that though, "Olivia you would never be able to do it. The government wouldn't let you do it and I'm sure the FBI wouldn't be able to have the clearance to allow it." He watched as her face dropped, he had burst her idea bubble but he had no choice, there was no way they were going to get his out of there. "Possible…" Walter's voice caught their attention and they would him facing them but still looking away, "Legal guardian's are allowed to take custody of a patient, all is required is that they are immediate family…"
His voice trailed off as the idea bubble formed once again in Olivia's mind, Peter catching on very, very quickly. "Guardian? No. Olivia, no way…" He went to move away from her, pushing passed roughly and making a break for the door, or at least that was the intention until Olivia's hand on his arm stopped him. "Peter, please, we need your help... I need your help…" he turned to face her slowly, taking in the look of desperation in her eyes before glancing over to Walter and taking in the look of just complete sadness that surrounded him. Closing his eyes, Peter knew he was going to live to regret this, "Where do I sign?"
Coming home that night, Olivia was unable to lose the smile that had formed on her face, she had gotten Peter to agree to being legal guardian of Walter and now they were well on their way to solving this case. Walking into the apartment, she found a couple of suitcases packed and sitting by the door, Frank moving around the bedroom and bathroom, bringing items in and out, seemingly missing Olivia every time he went in and out of each room. "What's going on?" her voice carried through the apartment, until it reached Frank's ears. "They called me in early, I have to leave tonight." He didn't even bother to look at her and she knew they were definitely going to have that conversation tonight. "Frank…" she began, wanting to explain herself but he had cut her off before she was able to continue, "Liv, just don't ok. It's been more than a week and you haven't been able to give me an answer either way and you won't even talk to me about it. You have been avoiding me, I don't remember the last time you kiss me let alone when we had sex last. We have been together 2 years Olivia, do you ever love me?" He had stopped moving now and turned to face her, wanting to be able to read her facial expressions and her reactions to the question he asked.
Olivia was unable to answer him, if she said yes, she couldn't be sure she was saying because it was true or because it was what he wanted to hear, but if she said no then the last 2 years would have been a waste of her time and his, she thought about when he had told her he was leaving and the lack of sadness she felt, she assumed that if she did feel the same she would have at least felt something when he said he was going away, and yet she didn't, no sadness or anger, nothing and so she said nothing, which wasn't the best idea either. "You know you say a lot when you don't say anything at all. I'll be gone for a while. Good luck Olivia and please be safe." He picked up his bag and moved towards the door, where the others were already waiting for him. After looking into her eyes one last time, part of him hoping she would tell him she was going as well and the other part of him wanting to yell and scream, he moved through the front door, with no intention of coming back.
Olivia stood in the middle of her lounge room, staring in all directions, silence swallowing her whole, the void of sadness was welcomed.
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