Chapter 10

Olivia awoke suddenly, instantly alert as she felt Etta's weight leave her arms.

"Shhhh, it's just me," Peter whispered. "I'll put her to bed, then you can sleep through the rest of the movie." Their sleeping child was nestled against his chest, and as he stood, Olivia felt a chill as his body moved away from hers.

She pulled the afghan a little closer and closed her eyes, waiting for his return. After a few minutes, she felt his familiar warmth surround her as he pulled her into an embrace. "Never even woke up," he whispered, and thumbed the remote to restart the movie.

She couldn't even remember what it was; the low drone was background noise, purely incidental and an excuse for the three of them to snuggle together on the sofa on one of the first cool evenings of the fall. Peter built a fire in the fireplace, Etta picked out a movie, and Olivia popped popcorn. Now, the fire was dying down, reduced to glowing embers; the popcorn bowl was empty, with more than a few kernels scattered on the floor from Peter and Etta's challenge to see who could catch more popcorn 'hands-free'; and the Mighty Ducks were skating to victory.

Olivia snuggled closer to Peter and buried her face in his neck. The heat from his bare skin against her face warmed her, and as he tucked her back into his side and pulled the afghan around her more securely, she felt cossetted and drowsy again, secure in his arms.

"Sure you don't want to go to bed, hon?" he murmured. "I think you know how the movie ends…"

"Mmmhmmm," she mumbled, never opening her eyes. She breathed in the essence of Peter; the aroma from the cherry wood burning in the fireplace, a hint of spice from his cologne, and something that was undeniably him. Sometimes the upper notes changed…. the earthy smell of freshly ground beans in the morning when he made coffee, the sharp scent of sweat after he'd been out for a run, the sweetness of the whisky they sipped in the evenings after Etta was in bed… but underneath it all, there was always something that was uniquely him.

She nuzzled his shoulder, pushing the t-shirt aside and relishing the contrast of soft skin and stubble against her cheeks. She felt content within the circle of his arms; the warmth of his skin against hers, the steady rise and fall of his chest, and the knowledge their daughter was safe and sleeping in her bed upstairs – all was right in her world, for a change.

"I think…. I could stay right here forever," she whispered into his chest, then drifted back to sleep. If she noticed that Peter's arms tightened their embrace, or that his body tensed at her words, she gave no indication that he could see. He shifted their positions so he could stretch out on the couch with Olivia still in his arms, and pondered her words as he watched the dying embers.

ooo

First thing Monday morning, Peter, Olivia, and Astrid were huddled around a video monitor; looking back at them were Brandon Fayette and Nina Sharp.

"The compounds are being created in a space where the laws of physics don't apply?" Nina asked with a frown.

"That's right," Peter answered. "The molecules are being 'loosened', for lack of a better word, and the atoms are more receptive to alteration in that state."

He tapped Astrid on the shoulder. "Can you bring up the Loeb file, the part about the bank robberies?"

Astrid's fingers flew over the keyboard; shortly, the schematics for the device that Mitchell Loeb used to 'walk through walls' was displayed on a split screen alongside Nina's face. Brandon could be seen in the background with a tablet, stroking and tapping, muttering to himself.

"I think they're using some sort of device that's either immune or compatible with this, and they're using that to manipulate the compounds while they're in this state." He paused for a moment, watching Brandon's face for confirmation. When Brandon's eyes widened and he nodded his head furiously, Peter continued.

"From your analysis, we know that the polonium and technetium elements would never unite because of the disparate atomic weights, but if you suspended that theory and blended the two together while atomic weight was irrelevant to the process…" Peter looked up at Brandon again before continuing. "My theory is that once blended, the atoms have melded, even if that combination is counter to what we normally expect."

"Absolutely, and if you made enough combinations of this type, you would eradicate the original barriers to creating the compounds." Brandon was practically bouncing up and down with excitement.

Nina, Olivia, and Astrid moved to the background while the two continued their discussion, although Nina and Olivia exchanged bemused glances at their total immersion in the technical details of their conversation.

"There's a tremendous amount of energy required to sustain this process, however, and that may be the key to determining the location of their labs. We need Massive Dynamic to monitor grid fluctuations – Nina, is that possible?"

"Of course, Peter, our resources are at your disposal. But what makes you believe they have multiple locations?"

"I don't believe they'd be able to conceal the power spikes if they had more than one process running at the same time… and the compounds would be highly unstable while in their transitory states."

Nina nodded to Brandon, who continued to tap furiously on his tablet. "Got it, Ms. Sharp," he replied. "I can get teams on this right away."

Olivia stood up and rested a hand on Peter's shoulder. "I can touch base later today and give Broyles a status report. Do you need anything else to get started?"

"Actually…" Brandon looked almost awestruck as he gazed into the monitor. "How did you come up with this, Dr. Bishop? This is genius, determining how the base elements were combined."

Peter's shoulders tensed. "Just looking over old case files and put a few things together…" he replied crisply. "And it's just Peter. Dr. Bishop wa - is my father." He stood abruptly. "If there's nothing else…" Without waiting for a reply, he strode to the back of the lab.

"I'll…. I'll just get started on all this," Brandon stammered.

"He's so much like Walter," Nina remarked, while at the same time, Olivia said, "He's really missing Walter." Nina smiled at the younger women. "You'll have to fill me in on the details of Walter's… 'sabbatical', my dear. It was a bit unexpected, wasn't it?"

Before Olivia could answer, a loud metallic crash from the back of the lab echoed through the room. She turned to Astrid with a questioning look on her face.

"It's just Peter. When he's frustrated, he kicks the door on the bathroom stall," Astrid explained.

"Nina, I'll talk with you later today." Olivia hurriedly ended the video conference, then looked pointedly at Astrid.

"How often does this happen?"

"Oh, two or three times a day," Astrid said nonchalantly.

"Astrid…" Olivia fell silent and tried to arrange her face into a neutral expression as Peter walked out of the bathroom. He'd changed into sweats and an old t-shirt, and he was carrying a pair of running shoes.

As he passed Olivia, he leaned over and pecked her cheek. "Back in a bit. Need a break." Heading out the door, he called, "Astrid, got my phone if you need me."

After the door slammed behind him, Olivia turned to Astrid again. "And how many times does he do that?" she queried.

"Oh, two or three times a day," Astrid turned to her and smiled. "At least once a day. He says he needs something mindless to clear his head."

"At least he's not sneaking off to the tunnels anymore…" Olivia said, then glanced quickly to Astrid for confirmation. "Is he?"

She wouldn't admit to the sense of relief she felt when Astrid shook her head. "He's really feeling the pressure, isn't he?"

Astrid nodded sadly. "He puts a lot of it on himself, feeling like he has to live up to Walter's reputation." As she gathered up the papers spread in front of the monitor. "It's harder when people compare him to Walter…even if they don't mean to."

"He IS a lot like Walter." Olivia drummed her fingers on the table. "I wonder..." Olivia headed to her office. "Let me know if you need me, I've got some calls to make."