I hit a little roadblock while writing this. Hope you guys like it none the less!
Act IV
Back at the lab, Walter and Astrid were running tests on the patch they had pulled from Olivia's shoulder. Astrid was carefully entering data into the computer, and Walter was fuddling with the patch, via tweezers and a small dropper.
"Now Olivia, I'm going to need a blood sample, while the hormones still have a possibility of being in your system."
Olivia was still in her black dress, drumming her fingers nervously on one of Walter's workspaces.
"Astro, would you mind, dear?"
Astrid turned from the computer, sighed and responded, "Alright Walter."
"What's going on in there?" Came Peter's far off voice. Walter had told him to go sit in the office, as the pheromones in Olivia's body would excite his testosterone levels. Peter had taken the news unsurprisingly, with a jolt of anger. He was pacing back and forth in the office, looking out the blurred window.
"Peter, I'm fine, I promise," Olivia said. Astrid prepared Olivia's arm and extracted a vial of blood. "Walter's just taking a blood sample."
"No experiments, Walter!" Peter yelled, exasperation in his voice. In defeat, he sank down at the table, placing his face in his hands.
"You're just lucky we didn't make you go home, son!" Walter responded, cheekily.
"How long are the effects going to last, Walter?" Olivia said, worry peeking through her voice.
"Not to worry, my dear. I suspect within the hour they will begin to wear off. Though, it may be difficult to tell, as we all know Peter's feelings involving you and my experiments."
"So you need to do some tests?"
"Oh, the blood sample should suffice. But Peter has always worried about you."
In the office, Peter had stood again, this time leaning against the door. "I know this is going to sound insane, seeing as you're standing in a separate room," he yelled. "But I can smell Olivia."
"What do you mean?" Olivia called back.
"I can smell you, as if I were standing right up close to you."
Olivia looked at Walter, slightly confused.
"Hmm. That must be the pheromones. They are clearly still enhanced. Because Peter is so familiar with you, in a romantic sense, they pheromones must have a particularly strong effect on his testosterone levels."
Olivia rolled her eyes. She rubbed the spot where Astrid had drawn blood. "Alright, I'm going to call Broyles, see how he's coming along with the witnesses from the bar."
She pulled out her phone as she walked out into the hallway. With a heavy sigh, she dialed Broyles up.
"Broyles." Came his deep, velvet voice.
"Hi, its Agent Dunham. I was wondering if you've made any progress with interviewing the witnesses from the bar? I know you took them all in at the scene."
"They all say they have no idea what happened. They'd seen you enter the bar, and briefly thought you were attractive. However, something seemed to take hold of them. Before they knew what was going on, I was pulling them off the floor and placing them under arrest for public disturbance."
"Hmm," Olivia said, nodding her head. "That seems to be consistent with what Peter said happened. He said he came in because he wanted to break up the fight but once he got within sight of me, he saw Lee and just lost it. He said it was as if all his animal instincts went into overdrive."
"Does Walter have any more theories?"
"Well, he said that since Peter knows me so well, his reaction was stronger. He drew some blood to run some tests but other than that, nothing new." There was a pause on the phone, in which Olivia inhaled deeply. "How's Agent Lee?"
"He's alright. Has a black eye and a bit of a bruised ego. He says he doesn't know what came over him. Does Walter know why it only effected certain men in the bar?"
"Well, he said that whatever drug I got dosed with works to enhance my pheromones, meaning if somebody had the slightest bit of attraction to me before the drug, then afterwards their testosterone levels would shoot through the roof. It works as kind of an aphrodisiac or a love potion."
"Interesting."
"Alright, well, I'll keep you updated, sir." With that, Olivia snapped her phone shut and returned to the lab.
Walter had entered the office and was currently in a bickering match with his son.
"There has got to be something you can give me to counter the effects of the pheromones." Peter half yelled.
"Unfortunately, son, there is no cure for attraction."
Olivia rolled her eyes a bit, becoming exasperated with the situation that presently engulfed them. Instead of worrying about Peter, she turned to Astrid.
"I know Broyles sent you the security tapes from the bar. Are you having any luck identifying the man who bought my first drink? He was the only one that had any physical contact with me before the… scuffle, so it had to have been him."
Astrid, eyes focused clearly on the computer, replied, "He keeps his back to the camera the entire time. He must have known where they were located in the building. I also couldn't find him in the bar when Webster was there. So we can't connect them through the security footage."
"Okay, well, I'm going to go work with a sketch artist, maybe that will give us some luck. I'll send you a file of the drawing when I'm done. Can you keep searching through the FBI databases to see if Webster had any known accomplices or anything?"
"Sure thing," Astrid said.
"And," Olivia said, motioning with her head to the office, "keep an eye on them. Make sure Peter doesn't accidentally kill Walter."
Astrid smirked and nodded in response.
In her FBI office, Olivia sat down next to her computer to do some searching on Webster. She'd just finished with the sketch artist, who had sent the computer rendering to Astrid.
She searched for pheromone enhancement and military projects. They hadn't found any records that Webster had served, but perhaps he had worked as a consultant. Yet, after about a half hour of searching, she still came up with no conclusive results.
It was late, so Olivia began to pack up some of her research to bring home. As she was sorting her files, a knock sounded at her door.
"Come in."
"Agent Dunham," said Agent Lee, whose left eye bore the unmistakable mark of the earlier event of the night.
Olivia immediately felt awkward. Given what Walter had told her about the way the pheromones worked, she knew Lee had been attracted to her before she had been dosed. She didn't particularly want to confront the issue, but clearly, Lee did.
"I uh," Lee paused, biting his lower lip and adjusting his glasses. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier today. It was completely inappropriate and I'm severely embarrassed."
"It's okay," Olivia nodded. "It was just a chemical reaction. Nothing much left to be said."
There was an awkward silence.
"Did anyone explain to you Dr. Bishop's findings?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah, Broyles briefed me. And he sent me the computer rendering of Webster's accomplice."
Lee looked at the open files on Olivia's desk, that she had yet to pack in her bag. A printout of the unidentified suspect was visible. "I see you're looking into the accomplice too. Maybe we could bounce some ideas off each other. Go grab a drink or something while we have a think…"
Olivia, who still couldn't believe the events of the night, wanted nothing more than to return to the safety of her apartment. She was in disbelief that Lee was actually asking her out, given the denouement of the nights earlier situation.
Exhausted and extremely annoyed, Olivia , perhaps more bluntly than she intended, said "I'm dating Peter."
Lee raised his eyebrows in a look of comprehension. "Oh," he said softly. "That would explain the eye thing."
Olivia pursed her lips and shoved the remaining files in her bag. "Pretty much. I'm going to go now.."
She let her voice trail off, and left the office, leaving Lee standing embarrassed in her office.
In the wee hours of the night, Olivia sat alone in her apartment going over the case files, trying to find a motive for Webster to be dosing cortexiphan women. It bothered her immensely. Usually she could so easily find a motive, understand what her suspects wanted. But with Webster, she was falling short. The events of the night seemed to throw her for a loop. The extra attention had disoriented her, and she felt determined to find a lead, wanting so much to put the entire ordeal behind her.
A knock at her door interrupted her focus. She slipped off her black-framed glasses, leaving them atop the stacks of paper.
When she opened her front door, she found a peacoat clad Peter, leaning against the door frame.
"Peter," she said.
He looked at her guiltily.
"Didn't Walter say we shouldn't see each other for at least a few more hours?"
"I snuck out. Walter, despite having many hours to observe the practice of babysitting, is not very good at it."
She motioned him to come in and they made their way to her couch, sitting down in quiet.
"What are you doing here, Peter?" Olivia asked, very aware of the space she was placing between Peter and herself.
"I, uh, couldn't sleep. As it turns out, having my testosterone levels increased tenfold means I couldn't quite get you off my mind."
"Peter, if you're thinking—" Olivia said, getting a little exasperated at the ideas he was putting in her head.
"No, no, no," Peter laughed, putting his hand up to stop her thoughts. "That's not what I meant. But nice to know you're thinking so kindly of my current troubles."
"Okay, then what?" Olivia seemed tired.
"I'm sorry, 'Livia." He sighed heavily. "I've been crazy this entire case. Even before I had a hormonal reaction to blame."
He waited for Olivia's response. She looked at her hands, then at him, as if to give him permission to go on.
"You see, I've never been with a woman like you. I've never been with a woman who could save herself. And let's just say, most of the women I was involved with in the past had less then legal dealings in place, so it's not the danger that's new to me. It's more than just worrying about you though. You're just so different from everyone else. So strong on the outside, but inside—I just don't want to be a reason for your pain anymore, physical or emotional or—I just don't know why it's making me so crazy lately—I just—I…"
He was stuttering now, unable to articulate what it was that he really felt inside. Olivia moved closer to him, bringing her arms around him.
"Believe me, Peter," she said, lying her head against his shoulder. "I know."
She looked up at him now, as he held her. "But you belong with me. I know that. If I know anything for sure, it's that." She smiled as his words, the ones she once said to him. Peter leaned his forehead against hers, exhaling tentatively. "Maybe that's why you make me so crazy."
There lips met gently, as Peter brought his hand to her cheek, feeling the warmth of her blush.
Olivia awoke, several hours later, to feel heat beneath her face. She was comfortable, cozily entangled up in Peter's long limbs. But they were not in her bed, she realized as she opened her hazy eyes. They were on the couch, still in last night's clothing. They'd fallen asleep on the couch, exhausted from the emotional ups and downs of the day. Peter had covered them with his wooly coat. She felt peaceful, for once, unaware of the macabre in this strange reality, if only momentarily.
Peter sensed her movement and opened his eyes.
"You were supposed to leave last night," Olivia taunted. "You're going to get us both in trouble."
"Eh," Peter said breathily. "Totally worth it." He kissed her forehead and rubbed his hand against the small of her back.
"So I have a question," Olivia mused.
"Mmm?"
"Yesterday you said you could smell me, as if I was standing right up close to you. What exactly do I smell like?"
"I don't know how to explain it, Liv. It's your scent. It's warm, a little sweet. Sunny, too. It smells like home."
Olivia laughed, emerging from the tangles of Peter's arms, coming to a standing position next to the couch.. "We need to go, we have a case to solve." She tapped his legs with her knees.
"Can we shower first?" said Peter, his mouth cocked in a devilish grin.
"Seriously, Peter?" Olivia said, rolling her eyes.
"Increased hormone levels, 'Livia. Its like the worst case of blue balls I've ever had."
Olivia laughed and padded to the kitchen, leaving Peter sprawled on the couch. Olivia's phone buzzed from the end table, so Peter picked it up.
"Hello?"
"Olivia?" a confused Astrid sounded from the other end.
"No, sorry it's Peter. What's up?"
"Well I spent last night scanning all the FBI data bases for our suspect. And you're never going to believe this."
"Yeah?" Peter asked.
"He grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, on a military base."
A/N: This is sorta disjointed—I got super busy and wasn't able to sit down and right this all at once. So if the flow's off, I apologize. Please review!