Destined
Spoilers: All Seasons, mainly 6B and Subject 13 promo
Disclaimer: I do not own Fringe, wish I did.
Olivia stood behind the newly built New York branch of Fringe Division. She was nervously pulling at the hem of her skirt. Broyles had wanted her to wear a dress to seem more open to the public but she flat out refused to when everyone other than her, Broyles, and Peter were going to be in Fringe Division attire. She'd gotten him to settle on a skirt suit, but even that was making her nervous.
If today went wrong, it could be catastrophic. Aside from a portion of the population of Brooklyn, none of America knew about the threat. When Fringe Division was developed on the other side, the threat had already become apparent to the public.
"Calm down boss, it's just a skirt," Lincoln said, walking over to her in khaki cargos and a black tee-shirt with the Fringe Division logo on the right side.
"Easy for you to say, you get to wear that," She said gesturing to his attire.
He chuckled, "I do have to admit, it's nice to be out of the suit."
Olivia shook her head at him, "How are you so calm with all of this? You just got pulled into a unit of the FBI you never knew existed, told that one of your team members is from another universe, and trained in how to quarantine a worm hole. How does none of that phase you?"
"It takes a while to build a building. I've been in training for 7 months, longer than anyone else here," He said, gesturing to the cluster of other Fringe agents who had come out top in their group. The people who would become the new team leaders in Fringe Division.
Olivia still shook her head, "Have you seen Peter?"
"Right here," Olivia turned around and saw Peter walking towards her in his cream suit.
She smiled at him, "Well don't you look classy."
"I forget you've never seen me in this suit," Peter said with a smile, barely able to remember anymore when he'd worn it as he kissed Fauxlivia on the steps of Capitol Hill.
"Could you guys get anymore adorable?" Lincoln asked sarcastically.
Olivia laughed lightly, "You're just jealous."
"Psh, am not!"
"Haha but I know you are. You're alternate had a crush on me. That and they had some sort of partner telepathy which I'm starting to feel come on right now. You can't hide anything from me Lincoln," Peter snorted at the word telepathy. Over time, the telepathy between him and Olivia had faded slightly to a more normal connection. Although in times of heightened emotion, not just fear or anxiety, but any heightened emotion from either of them, they could still feel that connection and speak to each other without words.
"Bishops, Lee," Broyles called from across the field, "Let's go."
"Looks like it's our time to shine," Peter said, walking towards Broyles, "no pun intended," Lincoln and Olivia looked at him in confusion, "glimmer and all." Olivia started to follow him and smiled.
A few minutes later the four of them were standing at the bottom of a flight of stairs leading up to a stage where President Obama and the Secretary of Defense stood in front of the building.
"As the President of the United States of America, I would like to introduce to you, the Americans, a new division of the FBI known as Fringe Division. I would now like to introduce to you the people who have designed Fringe Division, and already, under the surface, done so much for this country.
"The Head of Fringe Division, Colonel Phillip Broyles, Head of the Boston Division, Agent Olivia Bishop, and her team, Fringe Agents Peter Bishop and Lincoln Lee, Fringe Division's lead analyst, Junior Agent Astrid Farnsworth, and Fringe Division's lead scientist and Owner of Massive Dynamic, Dr. Walter Bishop," Each of them moved up onto the stage as their name was called and lined up in a semi-circle behind the president, "I'd now like to hand the microphone over to The Head of Fringe Division, Colonel Phillip Broyles."
President Obama and the Secretary of Defense stepped to the side of the stage and allowed Broyles to step up from where he stood in the center of the line of Fringe Agents, "Ladies, Gentlemen, Friends, Colleagues, Citizens of America; I come before you today bearing both good and bad news. What I am going to tell you is going sound insane, and I am willing to bet that at first, many of you are not going to believe me.
"Our world is in grave danger, from things you could not even imagine. As Dr. Bishop once explained it to me," Broyles began, gesturing to Walter, "science and technology has advanced to such a point, that it is out of our control. This is what Fringe Division was created to deal with. We handle many cases from biological attacks to strange and unexplainable deaths.
"The very first case Agents Bishops worked for Fringe Division on was the Hamburg flight in '08, a biological attack unlike anything we could have imagined. Over the past three years, we have handled many other cases that went beyond the believable. Verstus Flight718, the bombing at south station, and many more, but none of these compare to the threat we are facing now.
"The fabric of our universe is literally tearing apart. Due to these, what we call 'Fringe', events there have been cracks and ripples in the integrity of our universe causing 'soft spots' which can eventually turn into a tear. If these tears go unchecked, they can turn into a vortex, a black hole that would swallow up anything and everything within reach.
"For us, luckily, the tears have just started, and with help from Massive Dynamic, we have the technology to track and prevent the evolution of them into vortexes. Fringe Division was set up to understand and use these things to protect our world. The things you may see in these coming months will be shocking, but rest assured, we will be there.
"I will now give way to Agent Olivia Bishop, Head of the Boston Division, and Agent Peter Bishop, Head of Field Operations and Studies to further explain to you how Fringe Division works," Broyles stepped away from the microphone and Peter and Olivia stepped up from where they'd been standing on either side of him in the line.
Olivia looked at Peter and he nodded encouragingly. Olivia took a deep breath and smiled, turning towards the crowds of people with their cameras, "Hello, and thank you everyone for being here today. As Colonel Broyles said, I can understand if this is difficult for you to take in or understand, but I promise you the threat is real. I have been fighting it for three years now, and I have seen the worst parts of this battle. But I am not here to talk about that. I am here to tell you how we are going to keep you safe.
"The people behind me, as well as several other Fringe agents who I will introduce to you later, have been trained over the last several months to deal with the problems we have presented to you today. They are some of the best agents in the FBI and they were selected for training because of their excellent skill in field duty or their vast knowledge of biological science and/or quantum physics. The most important training they have had though is how to stop a vortex once it begins to form. This protocol is strictly regulated, but it is the most controversial thing we do," Olivia took a step back and Peter stepped back up to the microphone.
"In the event that a serious tear or a vortex should form, the location of the breach would be encased in quarantine amber," A man on the back of the stage pulled a sheet off of a block of Amber. Suddenly cameras in the crowd started flashing like crazy, "This is a compound that cannot be affected by the gravity of a black hole. Under Fringe protocol, if a quarantine were ordered, as many people as possible would be evacuated from the area, a perimeter would be set, and the amber would be dispersed in the form of a gas and within seconds, solidify."
Olivia stepped back up to the microphone, "this protocol, we hope, will be very rare. With help from Massive Dynamic, Fringe Division promises to do everything in their power to prevent these events. We want you, as the citizens of America, to know that we will always be there."
"Now, we have a few minutes, we'd like to open up the floor for questions," Peter said, stepping in.
Most of the reporters in the crowd raised their hands. Olivia picked the one at the closest to the stage, planning to just go through them systematically, "Oh, yes, thanks," The man said as he was handed a microphone, "What is the quarantine amber composed of? Could it pose any health risks to people who live or work near a place that has been quarantined?"
"No, I promise you nothing like that will occur. The amber has been through extensive research," not in this world necessarily Olivia added as a mental note, "The most risk the amber poses is getting caught in it if you don't evacuate before protocol is initiated and we will do everything in our power to make sure no one gets caught in amber."
"Yes sir," Peter said, pointing to another reporter.
"How likely is it for one of these… soft spots to form?"
"There are already soft spots all over the world, unfortunately there's nothing we can do about that, but the likeliness of it turning into a tear can't be kno-"
"17% chance," Astrid said, stepping up, "There is a 17 percent chance that any given soft spot will turn into a tear. Once a tear has formed there is a 37% chance it will turn into a vortex within the following twenty-four hours. A 56% percent chance in the following three days."
Olivia was speechless for a second. She'd reminded her of the Astrid from the other side, "Thank you Astrid."
"How can we believe what you're saying? Your Fringe Division is heavily tied with Massive Dynamic. How do we, as Americans, know this isn't just a… corporate espionage within the government?"
"Ask any of the people who witnessed the Brooklyn earthquake 9 months ago," Broyles said, stepping up, "they will tell you this is not a lie. We almost ambered that building then. We thank all of you for your interests and concerns, but I have just been informed that we are running short on time, so we have to move on to the last part of our ceremony."
Olivia smiled and took over the microphone as Astrid and Lincoln moved side stage and Walter came to stand next to them with a stack of certificates. "Now I would like to introduce to you, the agents of Fringe Division, starting with our team leaders, from the top of their training group, in the black shirts with red Fringe Division logos." The names played across the screen behind them as the agents received their certificates.
Zander Alandos, Head of the New York Division, team 619, New York
Mikayla Alexander, team 834, Washington D.C.
Joseph Handle, team 522, Washington D.C.
Adrian Hill, team 617, New York.
Ari Holand, Head of the West Coast Division, and Marshal Evans, Team 1216, Seattle
Kathleen Jaden, team 604, New York.
Amy Jessup, team 845, Boston
Damon Lander, team 503, Boston.
Christopher Peril, Head of the Washington D.C. Division, team 814, Washington D.C.
Michael Steffeth, team 512, Boston.
Each person walked across the stage, shook Olivia's hand, then Peter's, received their certificate from Walter, then shook Broyles' hand, and went to stand behind Astrid and Lincoln on the left side of the stage.
Peter stepped up to the microphone now, "Now our Fringe agents, in the red shirts with white logos, who have completed their training in under four months, huge accomplishment trust me," Olivia nudged him for being an ass, but he went on, "New York Teams."
Aria Landos and Keneth Williams, team 604
Mark Valley and Smith Williams, team 617
Melissa Fargo and Adrianna Queens, team 619
"Boston Teams." Peter once again announced and this time added nothing on.
Gabrielle Crono and Sam Hopkins, team 503
Benjamin Rends and Elizabeth Knite, team 512
Alexandria Falts and Max Horanger, team 522
"Washington D.C. Teams." Olivia was the one to speak and she was swift about it.
Jeremy Bourne and Frank Cirsco, team 814
Jamie Rite and Hender Phel, teach 834
Kaylie Morano, Mitch Talcmen, and Serena Beverly, team 845
"And for our starting team on the west coast in Seattle."
Steven Manners and Heather Caul, team 1216."
As the agents crossed the stage they went to flank their leaders.
Olivia stepped back up to the microphone, "my team, along with all executive Fringe Agents, in the black and white shirts, Agent Peter Bishop and Agent Lincoln Lee."
Lincoln and Peter both received certificates before Walter stepped up to the microphone, "And our Massive Dynamic liaison and brilliant young scientist in the purple and white shirt, Mr. Brandon Fayette."
Olivia held Peter's hand and smiled, for a second forgetting why it was that these people were here, why they were necessary. It felt like a happy occasion without the dark undertones of the truth.
Broyles stepped up to the microphone, "Welcome to Fringe Division."
The agents remaining center stage went to join the new Fringe division and pictures were taken of the full group before Olivia and Peter cut the ribbon with Walter standing excitedly next to them since they wouldn't let him touch a giant pair of scissors. The ribbon fluttered to the ground and for the first time, Peter and Olivia entered the new Fringe Division.
Partway through the office party going on inside, Olivia's phone rang and she stepped out of Central Operations and into the hallway where it was quieter.
"Olivia!" Rachel enthused into the phone, "I saw your speech. You did a great job. Completely blown away by what's going on but… wow I don't know how to finish that sentence."
Olivia laughed, "you and the majority of the world. How's little Caitlin doing?"
"As adorable as ever. She never sleeps, but I can get through that," Rachel told her, and Olivia could hear Ella giggling at her cousin in the background.
"I'm sorry Rach," Olivia apologized, putting a hand on her forehead, "We're almost done here. Peter and I will be back in a few hours."
"Don't worry about it, Liv, I'm fine. And judging by your daughter's personality in the last 48 hours, you haven't gotten any sleep since she was born," Rachel retorted.
"Longer," Olivia groaned.
"Then stay up there, Liv. I can take care of her for another night. You and Peter get some rest, have a date night, whatever," Rachel encouraged. "Gosh you two didn't even have a honeymoon, one moment she's born then a week later you two are tying the knot at City Hall and the next you two are opening a brand new government office…you need a one night honeymoon."
"We couldn't…"
"Yes you can. I'm forbidding you from coming home tonight."
Olivia sighed, "thank you Rachel," They said their goodbyes and Olivia said goodnight to Ella before she hung up.
Peter came walking towards her, one hand in his pocket, a drink in the other, "Who was that?"
"Rachel, giving me an update on our adorable angel of a daughter," Olivia told him, wrapping her arms around his waist. Peter put his free hand in her back pocket, as she had changed before the party, began and kissed her softly, "and we get to stay in New York for the night, just you and me."
Peter chuckled, "This could be fun," and leaned down to kiss his soul mate one more time.
Note: This Chapter was contributed by Caithrine Glidewell.
A/N: The need for help comes from an unlikely source and Olivia finds a friend in the most unlikely of places.