Disclosure: They're not mine, I promise to put them back when I'm finished with them!
Just as Peter, Astrid, and Walter were finishing their walk through the hospital to stretch their legs and a slow dinner in the hospital cafeteria, Astrid's phone rang. She eyed Peter knowingly. The only time her work cell rang was if it was something to do with a case, and it usually meant they had to get back to work. "Astrid Farnsworth," she said when she answered her phone.
As Astrid spoke on the phone, Peter noticed the expression on her face. Something was up. It made the hairs on the back of his neck instantly stand on end. He had become really good at reading Astrid's facial expressions, as well as Olivia's. They both had this tell-tale quirk of their mouth when they were on the receiving end of bad news.
"I understand, sir. I'll get the Bishops together." When she hung up the phone she glanced over at Peter apprehensively. She wasn't sure what to make of the new information Broyles had just given her.
"What is it, Astrid?" Peter asked her. The burning desire to know what the phone call was about had become so intense he wasn't sure he could stand not knowing for any longer.
"It's about the other body they found... this one is less decomposed than the first one, but according to Broyles, it looks just like Olivia," the last part came out in almost a whisper.
"What are you talking about, Asparagus? Olivia is sleeping in her hospital room..." Walter admonished.
"Walter, it's obviously not Olivia... just like the first body wasn't her." Part of him was afraid. What if the Olivia they found wasn't really her either? If she were a clone it would explain why she had no specific memories of her life. What if the new body really was her. He pushed those thoughts aside, unwilling to dwell on them any longer. He had to hold onto hope. Peter turned towards Astrid. "What else did Broyles say?"
She eyed Walter warily before addressing Peter, knowing that Walter wasn't going to like the news that the body was again being taken to a lab that wasn't his. "He wants us to meet up with Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan at their lab and see if we can make heads or tails of this. The body is already on the way to the Jeffersonian Institute."
"Blasphemy! There is nothing wrong with my laboratory! Why do they insist on taking the body over 400 miles away when I have a perfectly good lab here in Boston?" Walter was very irritated with this new discovery.
"Dr. Brennan seems to be a lot like you, Walter. She likes to work in her own lab. We're just going to have to deal with it for now. Once this case is solved I'm sure things will go back to normal and you'll get all the gruesome bodies filling up your lab once more." Peter said with a smirk.
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"So, you're telling me that biologically this body, the woman in the hospital, and the first victim are all the same person?" Booth was pacing back in forth in front of his wife's desk.
Brennan nodded. "Essentially, yes. How that is even remotely possible? I have no idea, Booth." She tilted her head to the side and gave him a reserved smile. "I know this is hard for you to believe, Booth. I'm having a hard time believing all of this myself... in fact, if I hadn't double checked Cam's results four times myself, I wouldn't believe it either."
Booth stopped pacing and sighed. He put a hand on his hip and ran the other hand through his hair in a frustrated gesture. "I don't even know where to begin with those case files Broyles sent me... I mean how am I supposed to believe there is a such thing as 'shapeshifters' and alternate universes?!"
Brennan got up from her desk and approached Booth, laying a gentle hand on his arm. "I understand, Booth."
Booth sighed again. "I guess you do understand... your whole life has been about science and knowing the fundamental principles of physics, but everything in that file... everything about this case..." Booth trails off and his wife finished for him.
"It's turned Newton's laws upside down. I don't even know how to begin to understand any of what we've read, Booth." She lightly squeezed Booth's arm.
"Maybe it's time we did some talking with the Bishops and see if they can shed any light on any of this, but something tells me that talking to those two isn't going to be a walk in the park..."
"Of course it won't be, we're not even in a park..." Booth gives her a look, the one that tells her she's missed the colloquialism he just used. "Oh, you were being metaphorical." She nods in understanding. "Do you want to give Peter Bishop a call and find out when they're coming in?"
Before Booth could answer her, Peter responded from the doorway. "You looking for me?"
Booth and Brennan spun around on their heels to face the younger Bishop. "You have a way of sneaking up on people, Bishop, and I don't like it."
"My apologies. Angela said you two would be in here, so I assumed you'd like to speak with me about the case," he explained.
"I read through the files your boss sent me... how exactly do you expect us to believe that anything in those files is even remotely true? I mean, come on... alternate universes?" Booth rolled his eyes with a slightly amused scoff. How could any of this even be funny, he wondered. It must have something to do with his lack of sleep, because everything was starting to become twisted like a fun house at the carnival.
"I promise you that everything in those files is one hundred percent true. I've been working with Olivia for two years solving incredible cases like the ones you've been reading about. We've witnessed some things that have made me question my own sanity, and believe me when I tell you that it never gets easier... but you learn to accept it to a degree. May I?" Peter motions to the seat in front of Dr. Brennan's desk.
Brennan nodded at him and walked back to her seat on the other side of the desk to sit down as well. "Is your father here? I'd like him to be here for this discussion."
Upon hearing his name, Walter spoke up from the doorway where he and Astrid stood. "I'm right here." Walter shuffled into the room and sat down in the chair next to Peter and Astrid remained by the doorway in case she was needed.
Peter spent the next couple of hours describing the nature of their work to Agent Booth and Dr. Brennan. At some point, Dr. Hodgins appeared in the doorway with some test results and his eyes went wide in shock as he listened to the tail end of their conversation. "Dude, you're from an alternate universe?!"
Everyone turned and looked at Hodgins. He had a huge grin plastered all over his face. "When I studied Physics in college I did my thesis on Quantum Physics. This is so cool!"
"The study of alternate realities was one of my favorites, too." Walter giggled.
"Of course it was," Peter remarked. "Which was proven when you crossed over into another universe and stole me from my home."
"Just stop." Booth was becoming increasingly impatient. Not only was he still not a believer, but he was becoming frustrated because not one ounce of proof had been supplied to prove any of these theories. "Alternate universes or not, we have a murder to solve. Is it possible that Agent Dunham was the product of a multiple birth? I mean, the other two could have been given up for adoption, right?"
That actually amused Peter. Booth was trying to come up with any explanation that he could grasp onto. Even Dr. Brennan could tell he was grasping at straws by this point.
Dr. Brennan cleared her voice to get her husband's attention. When Booth looked at her, she gave him an uneasy smile. "There is no evidence that supports monozygotic twins, or identical twins. We have found no evidence in Agent Dunham's records that indicate she could be monozygotic. In fact, her birth records indicate that she was born full term at 39 weeks and weighed seven pounds, two ounces. Children from multiple births tend to come early and have a lower than average birth weight due to sharing a cramped uterus with another fetus. Monozygotic twins do share the same DNA, but they have different fingerprints. The body that just arrived today has the exact same fingerprints as Olivia Dunham's FBI personnel file, so unless the Olivia Dunham at Boston General Hospital has different fingerprints, there is absolutely no way that they could possibly be monozygotic."
"So, if the fingerprints of the corpse brought in today match Olivia Dunham's file, then maybe the Olivia Dunham in the hospital isn't the real one?" Booth paused to gather his thoughts before continuing. "I mean, she can't remember anything to confirm or deny her identity..."
Peter took that moment to speak up. "I spoke with Agent Broyles just before we left Boston. I had the same thoughts as you, Agent Booth, so I asked him if we could get a set of her fingerprints analyzed. When we landed in DC he informed me that the fingerprint analysis had been done and the fingerprints matched Olivia's; but you're right, that still begs the question, which one of these Olivias is the real one? We may have found one alive, but it doesn't mean she's even OUR Olivia and not just another one of these doppelgangers. What if none of them are the real Olivia and the real Olivia is still out there being held captive?" That thought chilled him to the bone. How would they determine if the Olivia they found in the tunnels was his Olivia? The more they learned about this case, the more Peter was afraid that he would never find his Olivia. She could be one of the dead bodies lying in the Jeffersonian's lab or in another dumpster somewhere.
Dr. Brennan shook him from his thoughts when she reached across the desk and gently touched his hand. "We'll figure it out. I'm going to get back to work examining the first set of remains and see if we can come up with some way of identifying which one is the real Agent Dunham." She glanced over to Walter and asked, "Would you like to assist me, Dr. Bishop?"
"Oh, yes! I would love to!" Walter cried out in excitement.
Peter shook his head and lightly smirked. At least his father would be enjoying himself. He was sure that once those two scientific minds melded and worked together, anything was possible. He had read up on Dr. Brennan, and her resume was quite impressive. "I'd like to assist where I can as well, if that's alright?" Peter asked Dr. Brennan.
"Of course, although I don't know how much help you would be... I mean, you don't have an advanced degree of any kind, so how would you be able to help?" She immediately wanted to take her words back once they came out of her mouth. She realized how rude they must have sounded when she saw the look of disdain on his face. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to imply that you weren't intelligent, Mr. Bishop."
He laughed nervously and waved his arm to dismiss her comment. "No harm done. In fact, you're correct, I do not have a degree, but I still may be able to help. After all, I have the same IQ as you, I just don't have a fancy degree or two to back it up." He smirked, slightly amused.
She seemed shocked by this revelation. Why wouldn't a man obviously as smart as Peter Bishop not attempt to get a proper education and use his intellect in a more beneficial way, instead of squandering it away in shady deals around the world? She nodded at him, realizing she hadn't given him a response. "You're more than welcome to join us."
With the great minds of Dr. Brennan, Walter Bishop, Peter Bishop, and the rest of the Jeffersonian team (most of them also boasted doctorate degrees of some kind), Peter was sure it wouldn't take them long to get answers. He had to get answers.