A/N: If the weather forecast is to be believed, I will be cooped up indoors all weekend updating this story. Heavy snowfall combined with storm winds and -17º C making it feel -31º C... I'll stay inside, thank you very much!
Thank you for reviewing: killmotion, cyn23, AguiD, Skate-815, Lixie87, wjobsessed, hoellenwauwau, GoodDifferent, Andi J, Observer101, ellethom and Bryn Elizabeth. I hope this chapter will keep you entertained:)
Chapter 10.
Here
They stood in silence, until the noises of the city invaded their consciousness.
Olivia looked down at her feet, shoulders hunched over, trying to make herself as small as possible. All the previous bravery was gone, leaving a hurting and grieving woman behind.
She was vaguely aware of Astrid and Walter behind her and of the silent presence of Nina and Broyles slightly further away. However, she felt more alone as ever before. An abyss had taken hold of her and she was falling fast.
Then she felt an arm around her shoulders, tentative and gentle. Olivia didn't need to look up to see who it was. Sweet Astrid was offering support and in her crippled state, Olivia wasn't able to decline.
Olivia leaned against Astrid, unaware that hot tears were cascading down her cheeks. Unaware of anything that was going around her, only being aware of the pain and the searing coldness of loss that she was feeling.
Astrid could tell that Olivia was going into a shock and that finally spurred her on. Nina took over to look after Walter, who seemed to have descended into a catatonic state. Broyles was seen hovering just at the entrance to the alley, probably getting the car as they needed to get somewhere private.
Astrid encircled Olivia's shoulders and was relieved when the woman didn't pull her gun and shoot her, but only blinked once and leaned against her. It also made her worry as Olivia wasn't one to show her emotions, but then Peter's departure had affected them all and it had probably been the hardest on Olivia.
She could hear Broyles driving the car as close to the alley as possible and started leading Olivia that way. She saw Nina doing the same to Walter. Broyles helped them to strap both Olivia and Walter into their seats as they both seemed to be unresponsive, and they took off.
"Where should we go?" Broyles asked looking at Nina who for once wasn't being driven around by Massive Dynamic employees.
It was Astrid who answered.
"Wouldn't the Bishop's house be OK?" she asked in a teary voice.
When she saw Broyles looking at her from the rear mirror with a sceptical look, she defended herself, "It's familiar to Walter, so it should help him to recover, even though it will remind him of Peter. And I don't think Olivia will mind as long as it's somewhere private and warm. She's freezing."
Broyles glanced at Nina, who gave a small nod.
"Bishop's it is."
XXX
By the time they arrived at the Bishop's house, it was already late and the streets were dark. When they came out of the car, they could see no one around. Astrid took the lead, leading Walter by hand, as she had the key.
Astrid opened the door, switched on the lights and led Walter in to sit on the sofa. He didn't seemed to notice that he was home, but when Astrid pulled the blanket from the sofa to cover Walter with it, he reacted by looking up at Astrid, who gave him a watery smile.
Olivia had come in after the pair as she had regained most of her composure on the way over and she was trying to slip back to her tough Agent persona as quickly as possible. She didn't know how else she was going to survive.
Nina and Broyles followed them, Nina looking around her with keen interest while Broyles closed the door. They all took places on the sofa and arm chairs, instinctively gathering together in search of support and answers.
Astrid slipped to the kitchen to make some coffee. It was too bad that there wasn't anything stronger in the house. Unless you counted Walter's stuff for self medicating, but that would have been quite inappropriate for the moment.
When Astrid came back with the steaming mugs, everybody was still sitting in contemplative silence. She gave out the drinks, digging Walter's hands from under the blanket and placed a coffee mug on them. The aroma of strong coffee seemed to stir something in him as he looked slightly more alert. Astrid herself took a seat next to Walter and nursed her mug in silence.
Olivia was staring at her mug, swirling the coffee around, watching the waves that emerged, hypnotising as the swirls went around and around... She snapped herself out of it and took a deep breath.
She had managed to salvage some of her defences and self control but her hold was still tentative at best. She just wanted to get the explanations out of the way and go home to curl up in her bed, hoping that Peter's scent would still linger on. It was all she got. The thought made her choke up again and to feel the prickling of tears, but she brutally forced them down.
"When I came over here after the last case, to go out for drinks with Peter..." Olivia started, immediately capturing the attention of the other people in the room. Even Walter seemed to be listening in, although he didn't look at her directly.
Olivia told her story of what had happened here and after they had crossed over to the Other Side. Her account was halting in parts, sometimes she slipped into a prolonged silence and she received unexpected help from Walter in terms of him adding words and phrases to make Bell's explanation understandable without actually interrupting Olivia's tale.
When she was finished, silence descended into the room once again. Everybody was digesting what they had just heard and they were still too raw with emotions and with the shock of Peter suddenly leaving to think of any questions.
Olivia was slowly losing the battle with her tiredness and with it, the rest of her seem to also give up. Astrid saw this and wanting desperately to help and coming up with no other ideas, she suggested gently, "Why don't you go to Peter's room to sleep?"
Olivia's tired mind was trying to bring up excuses to go home, but the opportunity to sleep in Peter's bed, surrounded by his things and his scent finally made her resolve to crumble.
She stood up without a word and ascended the stairs, to disappear in Peter's room.
Astrid started tugging at Walter to get him to bed, but he didn't budge and in the end she gave up. She managed to remove his shoes and found a pillow for him to sleep on the sofa. She was suddenly overwhelmed by sadness and pity and couldn't help smoothing Walter's hair from his face, like she would to a small child.
Nina and Broyles had stood up and were looking at Astrid.
"Will you be OK with both of them?" Broyles asked looking worried.
"I will be fine. I will sleep in the guest room and make sure that Walter doesn't wander off," Astrid said tiredly.
"Thank you," Nina said, sounding genuine.
"We will come by tomorrow. Maybe then we can talk about what happened and the initial emotional shock has worn off. We also have to think what our plan will be from now on," she continued looking troubled.
Broyles took her by the elbow as they walked out of the door. Astrid locked the door behind them, only fleetingly wondering why the two of them had arrived in a same car and were now leaving together with the same car.
XXX
Olivia had stumbled into Peter's room as she was so tired that the directions from her brain to her feet seemed to take forever, making even the simple task of walking tiresome. She shuffled further into the room.
She reached Peter's bed that was still unmade. Removing her jacket and her shoes she sat down on the edge of the bed and just sat there in silence. Her brain had gone silent and numb, giving her a moment of relief. But it wasn't to last for long.
She settled down on the bed pulling the covers over her and inhaled Peter's heavy scent that had infused the linen. She couldn't help the tears that finally overwhelmed her. Hugging one of Peter's pillows close to her chest she sobbed herself to sleep.
XXX
There
Peter stepped back to the gloomy alley to find the car waiting, the man in the suite standing next to it. He looked relieved when he saw Peter. He held the car door open, as Peter stalked towards him. Peter stepped into the car without a word, grinding his teeth. They silently took off.
Peter pushed with a surprising ease all the feelings of loss, grief and love to a small corner of his brain, locked the door and threw away the key. He returned to his old self from the time before meeting Olivia, which translated into an angry, shifty and aggressive Peter Bishop. A man who had not just survived in the underworld of criminals, but had been like a fish in water.
It should have scared him how easy the transition to his former self was, but he wasn't capable of feeling fear any more. He had one goal in his life and he would stubbornly, without wavering achieve that goal or die trying. Giving up wasn't an option.
He let himself hold on to the memory of Olivia as that gave him strength and conviction to carry on, but he wouldn't allow himself to go into it any deeper as that would have hindered his new/old persona's working. He would reserve all the feelings and sensations to those late night hours, when he couldn't sleep.
He would use every trick and threat he could think of to find a way back to Olivia. He would put those pheromones to work, they were engineered to influence people in the first place, right?
Before he was finished with this world, William Bell would regret what he had done. Peter would make sure that he suffered.
While Peter was immersed in his dark, murderous thoughts, the car was speeding back to New York in silence. The man in the suit glanced at him from time to time, deeply troubled, but didn't disturb the silence.
XXX
When they got back to the World Trade Centre Towers, Peter purposefully walked into the lobby and took the lift up to Massive Dynamic. When the receptionist saw him, she let him walk past without resisting, only calling William Bell in advance to warn him.
Peter burst through the doors to find Bell sitting behind his desk. At least he had the decency of not looking smug, but Peter couldn't have cared less. Before Bell could say anything, Peter beat him to it.
"Is Walter alive here? I need to speak to him," Peter demanded leaning his knuckles against Bell's desk towering over him.
Bell was clearly surprised that he would want to talk to Walter, but recovered quickly.
"Yes, he's here. Working in a lab just below us," he responded starting to get up.
Peter held up his hand to stop him.
"Just tell me how to find him. At the moment, I don't want to spend a second more in your presence than I have to," Peter growled.
Bell gave him the directions and Peter left the room, leaving Bell to look after him worryingly. However he had to put all the thoughts about Peter aside for now as they had more imminent problems in carefully observing the parameters now that Peter was safely home and hope that he had returned in time to prevent the collision of realities.
Peter walked along the empty corridors, seeing no one. He found Walter's lab easily and opened the door stepping inside into a well lit room.
A familiar figure was hunched over a bench, studying something intensely.
"Walter," Peter said calmly causing the figure to stand up straight and turn to look at him.
"It was time for you to return," Walter said without any other greeting.
"I need your help in getting back," Peter said tersely.
"What nonsense are you sprouting? There is no going back, son. You are here to help in my experiments," Walter dismissed him looking annoyed.
"First, I will not help you and second. I am not your son," Peter answered with a cold voice trying to keep most of his fury under control.
"Of course you are my son! You carry my genes. You are mine. What have those fools been telling you on the Other Side?" Walter said disdainfullly, a sneer etched onto his face.
Peter lost it.
He moved fast and before Walter realised what was going on, Peter slammed him against a wall, pinning him up so that his toes barely touched the floor. His breath was coming in gasps and Peter could see a hint of fear in his arrogant eyes.
"I am not your son," he growled with a low voice.
Peter suddenly loosened his hold causing Walter to slide onto the floor. He turned around and walked out of the lab.
Peter was furious. This Walter had never learnt any humility. Maybe it hadn't been a bad idea to have parts of his brain removed and to lock him up in an asylum for a number of years, he darkly mused to himself. Maybe he could do the same to this Walter...
The game was not lost yet. He was sure that he could get Bell to give him a lab to work on his own.
As he was stalking along the corridor, a door opened to his left and a man hurried out with a steaming mug in his hand. He was startled by Peter and spilled his drink while trying to manoeuvre his feet around him,swearing out loud.
Peter stopped and looked at the man's attempts to shake the hot liquid off of his hands. It didn't seem to be coffee, but more tea like. The man looked familiar.
"Brandon?" Peter asked eventually.
The man looked up in surprise like he was just now remembering that he had indeed bumped into someone.
"Yes?" he replied looking at Peter and his eyes widened in an instance when he saw who it was.
"You must be Peter Bishop. From the Other Side. Walter's son," he excitedly babbled.
"Whoa there," Peter said lifting his hands to try to stop the flood of words from the man.
"Yes, I'm Peter Bishop and I did indeed come from the Other Side. About 5 hours ago to be exact," Peter said and couldn't resist smirking. This world's Brandon seemed to be as clumsy geek as the Brandon on the other side.
"But I'm not Walter's son," he said seriously.
Brandon looked back at the door to Walter's lab and said nervously, "Hmm, you met Walter?"
"Yes and I want nothing to do with him," Peter confirmed.
"He's rather difficult to work with... So I understand where you are coming from. Luckily I don't come across him that often" Brandon seemed to think aloud.
"What are you working with?" Peter asked curiously.
"Quantum teleportation," Brandon answered.
Peter perked his ears. This sounded promising. He might have stumbled across something important here.
"The kind where the act of teleportation destroys the original?" Peter asked probingly.
"Yes, it is the problem at the moment," Brandon agreed and was on the verge of launching into an explanation as a seemingly willing audience had presented itself.
Before he could get his mouth open, Peter had wrapped his arm around his shoulders, turning him around to head back to the door where he had come out.
"Show me."
TBC