Astrid watches Peter with mild amusement. He's sitting next to her in the van, a dark disapproving look on his face, chewing his nail nervously, watching through the windshield as Etta talks to a couple of her black market contacts, his gaze intense enough to burn a hole through the glass.
"So you're saying there's nothing?" They hear her through the walkie-talkie. "No info on who raided the amber or what they did with it?"
"Nothing I know about." The man replies.
"Oh come on Joe, I think we both know that's not true."
"What makes you say that now?" He moves a little closer to her, and Peter's hands tighten over the steering wheel noticeably.
"Because I know nothing moves in this part of town without you getting a cut of the action." She says.
"For someone so damn cute, you know a lot of things you shouldn't baby doll." The younger man standing next to Joe says, giving her an admiring look.
She turns to him with a disarming smile. "I could say the same thing about you. Who's the new guy Joe?" She asks casually, almost flirtatiously.
"Oh God." Peter sighs, resting his head on the steering wheel. "Why do I have to watch this. "
"Relax Peter. she's just trying to get information." Astrid says, unable to stifle a smile at his distress.
"I am Joe's nephew." He says eagerly.
"Well, hi Joe's nephew." She says smoothly holding out her hand. "Do you come with your own name or should I just call you that."
"It's Mark baby doll… and you can call me anything you like."
"I'll keep that in mind." Etta says giving him another bewitching smile. "Any chance you can get your uncle to help me out here."
"I might, what's in it for me?" He says moving close enough to her, his face now inches from hers.
"What does he think he's doing?" Peter says, trepidation in his voice. "And why is he standing so close to her."
"Shut up Mark." Joe says tersely. "Think with your head for once wouldcha. The one that's on top of your shoulders."
"Finally, the sleazebag and I can agree on something." He mutters angrily. "And why is she not moving away from that slimy jerk."
"Peter she's just doing what she has to. I doubt she's enjoying any of this." Astrid tells him.
"Oh come on Joe. Where's your heart man? We gotta help this pretty little thing."
"Yeah come on Joe." Etta echoes his words, winking at Mark. "Aren't you gonna help a girl in need. I'll make it worth your while."
"She better not be talking about what I think she's talking about." Peter says shaking his head.
"What do you have in mind?" Joe asks her, mild interest in his voice.
"Level two tech. You can have it. Just as long as you tell me, who raided the amber and where we can find the stash."
Peter sees the way his eyes light up in anticipation even as he nods curtly trying not to be show outward signs of interest.
"Wait here. I'll be back." He says and walks away.
Etta turns towards the van and nods almost imperceptibly and Peter sighs in relief.
"She's quite the closer isn't she?" He says then in a somewhat disappointed voice.
"She reminds me of you actually." Astrid says smiling at him.
"That's exactly what I was afraid of." He says wryly. "Of all the things we could have had in common, our shared experiences of making shady deals with shady men is not something I wanted for us to bond over."
"I was actually talking about her ability to talk people into giving her whatever she wants. She's quite the charmer when she wants to be."
"Oh yeah…she's smooth." He says unhappily.
Etta's now turned towards Mark who was still standing there.
"Aren't you gonna go with him?"
"Naah, thought I'd stay here. Keep an eye on you. It's a dangerous place. Pretty girl like you…not safe by herself."
"Thanks." She nods, a hint of annoyance in her tone. "But I can take care of myself."
"Why don't you let me take care of you." He says in a suggestive voice moving closer to her.
"Show you a good time. Buy you a drink." He puts his hand on her shoulder
"Oh kid… you did not just do that." Peter says furiously. "If he touches her again. I swear I will kill him."
"Peter... she's just."
"She's just nothing..." He cuts her off. "I know that look on his face. He is not allowed to look at my daughter that way. That is not okay. I mean, on what planet is that okay?" He says incredulously.
"She's not four years old Peter." Astrid reminds him gently. "She's a grown woman. You honestly think men wouldn't be interested in her."
"That's not the point." He grumbles. "I don't want her to be pawed at by creeps like him. You know Olivia would have pulled her gun out by now." He points out, folding his arms across his chest, like a petulant child.
"Olivia had a badge and the force of the law behind her to be able to do that. Etta has to make the best of a bad situation." She reminds him. "And she's not exactly helpless. Look."
Etta is stepping away from him, laughing a little. "Maybe another time okay." She says noncommittally.
"Oh come on gorgeous. I don't get anything for helping you out?" He moves close to her again, his face inches away from hers, a hint of danger in his voice. "Where's your sense of gratitude now?"
She laughs at that again, though the discomfort is evident in the way her body tenses slightly and she folds her arms across her chest defensively. "I don't recall you doing anything yet that would invoke my sense of gratitude." She says lightly.
"I have a few ideas how I can change that…" He says in a salacious voice.
"Ok that's it. I am going to kill him now." He says, reaching for the car door.
"Peter…' Astrid grabs his arm. "You're going to ruin everything. Just stay put. Etta can handle this." She tells him sternly.
"What if she can't?" He almost whines at this point and she has to resist the urge to roll her eyes at him.
"Peter you have to trust her." She tells him.
"It's not her I don't trust." He says pointedly. "I shouldn't have let her go alone. I should have gone with her."
"And done what? You are an unknown entity. Nobody knows anything about you. You really think it would have helped if you stood next to her glowering at the very people who can help us."
He scowls at her but doesn't say anything.
"So what do you say sweetness?" He can hear Mark say.
"I say no." She says firmly in a voice that didn't invite further discussion, moving away from him. "And word of advice Mark… your uncle's not a big fan of mixing business with pleasure and neither am I. Try that with someone else, you might just find yourself short a few fingers short. Just saying you know." She shrugs.
He looks pissed at that. "Jeez…you're a stuck up little bitch aren't you? Fucking tease…"
"Peter…" Astrid puts a hand on his shoulder immediately, seeing the way his face tightens with anger.
He closes his eyes as if he were in pain, the steering wheel in a deathly grip at this point. "It's fine…just part of the job right." He says tonelessly.
"Aww…" Etta says in a mocking tone. "No more baby doll or gorgeous? What happened to all the love Mark?"
She shrugs with a thin smile as he simply glares at her standing in silence as Joe comes back and hands her a piece of paper.
"Here you go. When can I have the tech?" He asks in a business like tone.
"Next week. I'll have someone run it for you. Pick it up at the usual place and time." She says in a blasé voice, though Peter can make out the tremor of anticipation, as she clutches at the piece of paper.
"You better not be messing with me." He says in a threatening voice.
"I know better. Thanks for this Joe. And nice meeting you Mark." She says in a fake-sweet voice, and then she turns and walks to the corner, signaling for them to meet her there.
"I got the location." She says triumphantly as she climbs into the van, giving them both a wide smile.
"Good, your father was about to have an aneurysm." Astrid says giving him a meaningful look as he starts the ignition and drives.
"Why what's wrong?" Etta asks, noting the dark look on his face.
"Oh it's nothing honey. For some strange reason, watching my only daughter cavorting with thugs and criminals is not very entertaining to me. Crazy right." He says not looking at her.
"What can I say dad? I try and keep a busy social calendar and cavorting with criminals is on top of my fun things to do right next to knitting and bible study." She rolls her eyes.
Astrid laughs at that, ignoring Peter's expression. "I knew a day would come when someone would make Peter Bishop shut up. Never thought it'd be you."
Peter's foot comes down on the break so hard that both Etta and Astrid jerk forward from their seats.
"Jesus… dad are you trying to get us killed?" She says, rubbing her forehead ruefully.
"Sorry." He mutters, accelerating a little more.
Etta gives Astrid a purposeful look as if to know what had gotten into her father.
Don't ask. She shakes her head in exasperation.
"I think he sees too much of himself in you and for some reason that doesn't sit well with him." She tells her later in the night after Peter takes off to the roof to brood some more and they find themselves alone.
"Why would that bother him?" Etta finds herself puzzled.
"I don't know." Astrid shrugs. "Your father's past was always a mystery to everyone except maybe your mom. Seeing you like this….with those men really unsettled him."
"Seeing me like what?" Etta asks in disbelief. "He thinks I enjoy dealing with people like that? I just went from being a Fringe Agent to becoming a fugitive on the run to get you guys out. I am doing everything I can to help him find mom and he actually has the nerve to sit in fatherly judgment of me?"
"Etta it's not like that. You have to understand."
"No I don't want to understand." She holds her hands up. "He was gone for twenty years. He doesn't get to question my methods or my actions. He lost the right to disapprove of me a long time ago."
"Peter…" Astrid says and Etta turns around to find him standing there.
She meets his eyes defiantly, looking at him with something close to disappointment before shrugging and walking away.
"Kudos… we just got ourselves some daddy issues." Peter says looking at Astrid in sad, dejected way. "Wouldn't be a Bishop family reunion without it."
"For the record I don't disapprove of you." He says as he walks into the room and finds her cross-legged on the floor examining the blueprints of the building they were going to break into the next day.
"For the record, I don't care if you do." She says not looking at him, as she stares at the blueprints in front of her.
"Guess I deserve that." He sits next to her, watching in silence as she ignores him and continues to gaze at the drawings in front of her.
"You're upset. I get it." He says after a couple of minutes unable to help a smile at her stoic expression. "You know you can stop burning a hole in those blueprints and actually look at me."
She cocks an eyebrow at him in a look which told him she wasn't amused.
"Okay go back to staring at the blueprints. I feel like you might burn a hole through me." He smirks at her.
"Is this what you always do... make some snide witty remark when things get uncomfortable?" She asks.
"Yeah… and from the looks of it, it's what you always do too. In case you were wondering where you got that from." He says giving her a grin.
"Well... I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree." She shrugs.
"No. Clearly not." He nods. "Even though I was kinda hoping for this apple to roll away a little bit at least. Sweetheart, I know what you're trying to do. The whole I am angry and I hate my father act…" Peter says humorlessly. "Been there, done that."
"I don't hate you." She says sighing with exasperation.
"Oh yes you do. Walter was gone for 17 years of my life and I hated him for that. I hated him for not being there for me and I am hard pressed to believe you feel any differently about my absence in your life." He says in a knowing voice.
"You can believe whatever you want." She says dryly. "But you have no idea about how I feel about your absence in my life… or anything else for that matter."
"I know what it's like to be let down by a parent." He says, touching her hand gently. "I know how disappointing it is to feel that aching need for them in those important moments of your life and to turn around and look hopefully only to find nobody who looks at you with pride and happiness."
Etta looks at him then, to meet his eyes, only to see them lost somewhere. "At least I had my mother. But I had never had Walter in my life. For a very long time, I never had him. Even before he was locked up, He was always busy, never around…"
"When you were born, I promised myself that I would be there for you. That I would be the kind of father that I had missed having when I was growing up. But the truth is I wasn't there for you. And knowing exactly how that feels like, I can tell you it doesn't go away. Not completely."
"But you got past it didn't you?" She asks, a little warily.
"I don't know. Maybe I did. Or maybe I realized I couldn't hold this version of Walter responsible for things that he didn't. Sometimes it's almost a blessing that we had the opportunity to rebuild our relationship on a clean slate, without any of the resentments of the past. But you and I, we'll always have this between us. We don't have to let it define us. But we can't pretend it didn't happen. Nothing will ever make the fact that I was gone for twenty years of your life completely okay… no matter how much we move past it."
"You're terribly pessimistic you know that?" She tells him, a slight smile playing on her lips.
"I know. Your mom once referred to me as a card carrying cynic." He gives her a slight smile which falters immediately. "See that's really the thing. What happened today… it wasn't even about you. It was about me."
"What do you mean?
He sighs. "Etta, there are things in my past that I wish I could get away from. Things I am far from proud of. I have tricked a lot of people in my life, manipulated them into suiting my ends. Left them high and dry to save my own hide. The truth is for a long time; I was a terrible excuse for a human being. But then something happened. A beautiful and strong woman came into my life and challenged me to be more than that. She saw something in me that I never knew I was capable of. And because of her, for her… I tried to be a better man. To be the kind of person that she would want to have anything to do with." He says thinking back to that day in Iraq.
"I have messed up a lot you know." He shakes his head sadly. "I have let down everyone I love at some point or the other. Everything in my life including my relationship with your mother has always been tainted with the knowledge of my past, my own weaknesses. There is nothing which is undamaged. Except you… you were the only truly good thing I did with my life. But what I saw today scared me Etta. It reminded me of the things I was capable of once, of the darkness inside me and even though I know… our motives and reasons are completely different, I am scared that I am responsible for putting that darkness in you. I am scared of what that could mean…"
"Dad..."
"But that's not fair to you. You are your own person. A person capable of making her own choices and decisions and I don't have the right to hold you responsible for my issues. Especially considering I didn't play any part in the person you grew up to become." His voice trails off.
She doesn't say anything for a few seconds, finding it hard to look at him.
He sighs and gets up then, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Anyway I just wanted to say I am sorry for my behavior today. It was way out of line. I understand that I can't just walk into your life and be your dad like nothing ever changed. I do hope we can be friends… if nothing."
She grasp his hand before he leaves, without looking at him.
"I waited really long to have my dad back. You can't just… you can't just quit after one day."
"Etta that's not what I meant." He says, but she shakes her head, not letting her grip on his hand loosen.
"I know what you meant and no…I don't want you to be my friend. I mean, I don't want you to be just my friend." She looks up at him, her face nervous but her tone firm, unwavering. "I want…I need you to be my dad."
He gives her a sad smile, bringing his hand to her chin. "Thank you for saying that but that's not true and I think we both know that. You've done great on your own. You don't need me for anything."
"You're wrong." She says with force, though she bites her lower lip anxiously, in a gesture so like her mother's that Peter's heart clenches painfully at the memory. "I know I am not the easiest person to care for or love…but don't give up on me okay. At least not so soon."
"Whatever gave you that idea?" He bends down on his knees once again, bringing both his hands to rest on her face. "Loving you is so easy honey,easy like breathing and just as necessary. I couldn't do without it. And I am not giving up on you." He says, his tone mirroring the same determination as hers. "I am just trying to find my place in your life again. I don't really know what that is anymore."
"I don't either." She shrugs. "But I know I need you. I may not need you to take care of me, or do things for me but I still need you… in every way a person needs their father. We can figure this out together. Can't we?"
He nods warmly, and then gives her a sly look. " Can we start by me beating up that bastard hitting on you earlier? Because that would just really validate my role in your life and give me immense amounts of fatherly satisfaction."
She cocks an eyebrow at him in amusement. " I bet it would. Though I have a better idea. Tell me everything about...how this beautiful and strong woman changed you from such a terrible excuse for a human being as you like to think. Must have been some story."
He chuckles at that. "You have no idea sweetheart. Its the stuff of dreams... really scary sci-fi nightmares at that. "
She rolls her eyes at him. "Don't exaggerate. I bet, your eyes met across a crowded room and it was love at first sight?"
"Far from it." He laughs shaking his head. "The first time I met your mother, it was in Iraq. There was a war going on, I was trying to run a scam on two businessmen, she was in love with somebody else and she blackmailed me into helping him."
"What?" She exclaims, her face completely in shock.
"You see honey... it all started with flight 627 Hamburg to Boston..."