'RIIIIIIIIIING! RIIIIIIIIIING!'

Astrid tried to pull the covers over her even tighter but that didn't stop her cell phone from ringing. She reached an arm out until she felt it and didn't even bother to check the caller I.D.

"This is…," she yawned. "Farnsworth."

"Agent Farnsworth, this is Nina Sharp of Massive Dynamic."

"Huh? Oh…um…how can I help you?"

"Well," said Nina. "You can start by bringing Dr. Bishop to Massive Dynamic today. My team has made a breakthrough in opening the portal."

"What? Really? But it's been so long..."

"Yes, Agent Farnsworth. I can tell time just as well as you. Now then I will expect to see you and Walter in New York this morning?"

For many reasons, some more obvious than others, Astrid felt iffy about Nina wanting Walter and Astrid to come in and check out the new portal so quickly, especially given how so much time had passed. But Astrid nervously agreed to bring Walter and drop in.

She was living in the Bishop house by this point, having taken the former guestroom. Peter's room had remained untouched since his absence. His bed remained unmade as it was the day he left, and Walter even put his old teddy bear on his bed as though Peter was just his little boy he was waiting to come home from school.

She couldn't help but be a little nervous when she told him the news. Not so surprisingly, Walter became incredibly thrilled like a child realizing it was Christmas Day.

"I've never been so excited in my life!" said Walter whom at one point even picked up Astrid and whirled her around with glee. "Like a young lad on Christmas Day! Speaking of which, we should prepare Peter's presents for the upcoming December…"

"But it's…" before Astrid could say anything, the pair had already arrived at Massive Dynamic and Walter gave Ms. Sharp the hugging of a lifetime…one that she did not take very fondly but she held it in.

"Yes, hello, Walter." She took Walter and Astrid up to her lab to show them the new device. "This experiment has been nothing but sweat and tears for my team. We've analyze and took in every little detail from your research and from William's but I think we finally have a satisfactory result."

Walter studied the machine, even poked around with it a little. "Mmm…yes!" said Walter.

"Getting any triggers about your original machine?" asked Astrid.

"If only those triggers had re-emerged in my frontal lobe sooner," said Walter. "But I suppose that is what happens when you keep the greatest secrets of science to yourself. Now…where is Belly?"

"Um…," said Nina. "He's presumed dead, Walter. You don't remember?"

"Oh…uh…I guess I've forgotten. Have we not taken into consideration that he could still be on the other side?"

"If he was, I would've heard from him."

"Oh then I must go visit him over there," said Walter. "Surely he would have some sort of idea as to the whereabouts of my son and Agent Dunham. I just hope they hadn't run afoul of our alter-selves…" Walter's mood turned somber. "Knowing what they did to those poor children…"

Astrid sighed. "Okay, well…when should we begin testing this thing on Walter? A couple of weeks maybe?"

"Tonight!" said Walter. "We test it tonight!"

Both women were surprised. "What?!"

"I will not waste anymore time when I could be looking for my son, ladies. This is the closest prototype to my original creation and if it works then allow a few hours for Agent Farnsworth and I to pack for the journey so that we may leave as soon as possible."

Walter was clearly become jumpy and insistence to the concern of Astrid. "Walter, don't you think you're planning this too soon? We don't even know if…HEY! What do you mean Agent Farnsworth and I?!"

"Are you not my assistant Miss Aspen?"

"Astrid!"

"That's enough both of you," said Nina.

But to Astrid, this was completely insane. She was not nor ever was a risk taker like Olivia but when she informed Broyles about what was going on, he seemed insistent that she would agree to go with Walter on the expedition.

"We don't even know what's going to be on the other side! Not even Walter knows!"

"He might know more than what his memory serves him," said Broyles. "You have his research from his first trip. It should allow you to get a better picture of what to expect."

"And what if they've been long dead? You have Walter and me go, we could be dead too! I can't lie when I say I'm scared sh*t about doing this!"

"Agent Farnsworth, I wouldn't normally allow you to go on a mission like this, but Walter's a clever man. He's determined to go back over there with or without our assistance. You've been trained well enough to fulfill your task of protecting Dr. Bishop while you're over there. All things come with risk. I can only wish the two of you luck."

And with that, Astrid was screwed. The Fringe Division had been lifeless since Peter and Olivia's disappearance. Little-to-none cases with the exception some X-File types that were easily solvable. She had to be the unlucky one, the only one who knew Walter better than he knew himself. Broyles was right. She was Walter's only chance at surviving whatever would lie on the other side.

Once all the survival gear and research was packed, Astrid and Walter were taken into a large white room where the machine would be tested. If the two of them found themselves in a different place without losing any limbs or getting fried…then it would be a success.

"I hope that in the process of testing this thing…you provided some sort of way for us to get back," said Astrid.

"This is the best we could come up with," said Nina as she handed Astrid a small remote device. "It's made from the same technology that William used to communicate with me in separate realities. Just set the remote and we will activate the our machine to bring you back from your coordinates."

"Oh so it's like a beamer," said Astrid. "I don't think that makes me feel any better." And then she thought 'thank goodness I'm not wearing any red shirt.'

"Enough of this," said Walter. "My son is waiting for me!"

Astrid didn't know whether to kill Walter or to hold his hand while a strange humming filled the room. The two of them seemed to be staring at the face of a ray gun looking machine on the other side. She opted for closing her eyes.

"Hang on Peter," said Walter. "We're coming."

A strange shivering and suddenly Astrid and Walter found themselves in a dark room. The room was exactly the same as the room they were just in. Only it wasn't painted white but everything seemed beige with age. Water damage consumed the walls and everything seemed rusted.

"We did it, A—"

"SHH!" Astrid whispered. "We're not in our world anymore, Walter. Remember?"

She went over to the exit door and carefully opened it. The hallways looked dark and empty. "I think this building's abandoned," said Astrid. She was already becoming terrified of the trip ahead of her and wanted to take out the device that would call on Nina back from the other side to bring them home. Why the hell were they doing this? They've been gone for so long that it was now hopeless!

"Come on," she told Walter. He followed her down the stairway stepping on her heels all 12 flights of steps until the reach an exit door that seemed to have loosened with age. They were in a VERY seedy part of New York City where all the tall buildings were boarded up and there seemed to be NO ONE in sight.

"Now this may be hard to believe," said Astrid. "But according to Nina, the World Trade Center still exists in this reality and that's where Olivia said she met William Bell, so we'll…"

"What on earth?" said Walter. "This isn't where I wanted to…"

"Yes it is, Walter!" Astrid had a tint of sarcasm in her voice. "We're in the other reality, just like you wanted."

"No, no! This is all wrong! We were supposed to go to the place where Peter and Agent Dunham originally went to. The coordinates were 5 miles away from the Westwood Facility outside of Boston. You do remember…"

"Walter, I highly doubt they would still be there after…"

"BUT THAT'S WHERE I LOST HIM!!!"

"Keep it down, Walter! Someone might hear us!"

Sure enough there was a crashing sound and some footsteps. 'Just great!' thought Astrid. She pulled her gun waiting for the intruder to approach.

The gruff male voice called out. "Whoever's out there…have your hands out where I can see them!"

An authoritarian figure? This was just getting better and better.

Astrid nervously kept one hand on her gun. The other was shoving Walter to make sure he was safe behind her.

She wasn't ready for the man to approach. Just like her, he had his gun ready and aiming. They eyed each other before even realizing who the other was.

It couldn't be though. He was supposed to be dead.

Then she remembered that this was not the same reality.

"I…do I know you?" the man asked.

"Um…knew anyone name Astrid Farnsworth?"

The man smiled. "Astrid Farnsworth?" He laughed. "I don't believe it!" He lowered his gun and went to hug Astrid. "It's me, Charlie Francis!"

She had to play along. "Charlie! Yes…I remember!"

"You used to live down the street from me when we were kids."

She paused for a moment and then said, "yes…yes I did."

"Yeah, but this doesn't make any sense. I mean…," alter-Charlie trailed off when he noticed the other man with Astrid. His look changed to one almost seeing a ghost. "Who's this?"

"Ah, I am Dr. Walter Bishop," Walter said happily, shaking alter-Charlie's hand. A big NO was screaming in Astrid's head. "You might not know me because you have never met me. Though…you have so…it is a bit complicated. I'm terribly sorry about that monster pregnancy that affected you. Are you feeling better now?"

"Wait, did you say you're Dr. Walter Bishop?"

"Yes, I am the Dr. Walter Bishop from the other reality."

"Another reality?" He started to get really suspicious of the two. "What the hell is going on?"

Astrid gulped. There was no possible way they could explain this.

"You're not the Astrid Farnsworth I knew, are you…"

"No…" said Astrid finally giving in. "I'm not…I…know this looks bad, but I swear to you that I really AM an Astrid Farnsworth and this really IS a Walter Bishop. You have to believe us!"

The close grip that alter-Charlie had on his gun finally loosened. "What is this about an alter reality?"

"Oh I can explain that perfectly," said Walter. "It all began about 30…or was it 40 years ago when Belly and I were working in the basement of Harvard…"

"Bell? You mean as in William Bell?"

"Yes. The very same. Would you mind taking us to him?" Astrid really wanted to get at Walter right there and then.

"There's only one problem with that," said alter-Charlie. "He's dead." He pointed to Astrid and Walter. "And you're dead…and you're dead. You're all supposed to be dead."

"Whoa," said Astrid. "Really?"

"It's a good thing I know about this alter-reality business," said alter-Charlie. "Otherwise you two would have bullets in your head right now for being imposters."

"Well gee, that's comforting," said Astrid. "But how do you know?"

"I was part of a military operation to hold back William Bell's takeover of the world," alter-Charlie explained. "Some of our spies uncovered a lot of research and even actual evidence of another reality, one where the White House wasn't destroyed but the World Trade Center was. We did everything to work undercover, to expose Bell and keep him from gaining power but he kept getting too strong for us. Luckily his most powerful experiment CRONUS was completely destroyed and Bell's splatter guts were all we found of him."

"What the heck is CRONUS?"

"We don't really know," said alter-Charlie. "But we do know that Dr. Bell and his partner Dr. Walt were harvesting unwanted children to develop deadly abilities and once their abilities were matured, Bell was going to use CRONUS to take all the abilities and use them for himself. If he had lived, Bell would've been unstoppable."

Lights were going off in Astrid's head. Olivia. Peter. The Westwood children. Was that was William Bell was using all of them for?

"So what happened to CRONUS?"

"No one knows," said alter-Charlie. "Though some people say that one his subjects may have fought off the machine and in the process destroyed it."

"You'll have to pardon me," said Walter. "But I must ask, were there by any chance TWO William Bells residing in this reality?"

"I don't think so. We've done a worldwide search for any clones, blood relatives, or anyone with any genetic similarities to William Bell but Bell himself was unique. There was no one else on the planet like him."

Walter began to develop a sense of extreme disappointment. There was no way that the William Bell he knew would posses this kind of evil. If that had been the case then Belly had hurt HIS SON! The William Bell he knew couldn't have been the same monster!

"You said, we were both dead," said Astrid. "How did we die?"

"I can show you," said alter-Charlie. "But I'll have to take you two someplace safe. You're friend, if he really is a Dr. Bishop from another reality, is not considered very welcome around here."

Astrid and Walter followed alter-Charlie through the dark corners of the city until they approached more signs of civilization, mostly military, businessmen, and scientists. Alter-Charlie led them in the back of a building that hosted all the records kept on the war.

"It's a bit like Iraq you might say," he explained to them. "We got the bad guy but it's gonna take years for everything here to rebuild and get back together again. And anyone who sided with Bell is considered enemy #1. So you might have a little trouble looking for your friends."

Alter-Charlie pulled out a box of records as well as a videotape. He pulled out a photograph of a deteriorating dead body. "This," he said. "..is Dr. Walter Bishop. Died of a gunshot wound to the head. We found his body in November of 1990, in the basement of a country home owned by David Robert Jones. His body was also found in that house along with one Mitchell Loeb. The creepy thing is that those two were found with there heads burst open, as though something in their body compelled their skulls to come open and burst."

"That is rather…wonderful!" said Walter.

"The bodies had been there a very long time. At least for several years. We found signs that small children may have been living in that but we never found any other bodies so we assumed that they ran away."

Astrid was afraid to ask. "Okay…well…what about me?"

"Your alter died in 2001."

"Wow…that long? I couldn't have been older than 17 or 18 around that time."

"You were executed."

Astrid did a double-take. "I was…what?"

"I think if I showed you the video. It will explain things." Alter-Charlie popped the videocassette in. The footage showed a large courtroom were people in military uniforms and lab-coats were standing around a square. There were three people in the center square: Astrid's alter and two other people that looked like Astrid's parents.

In one large chair sat William Bell, the bastard himself.

He began the hearing.

"Miss Astrid Farnsworth. You have been charged with harboring two escaped subjects of Westwood Facility, wanted by the State of Massachusetts, in your residency for an unknown period between 1986 and 1987. Your parents Professor and Mrs. Farnsworth have been charged as accomplices. Astrid Farnsworth…how do you plead to the following allegations, which have been placed upon you."

The alter nervously but confidently spoke. "Not guilty.

The man who was sitting by Astrid asked, "Where's our attorney?"

Bell announced. "There will be no attorneys for individuals who have committed treason against the state and its scientific institutions."

"But we had no idea what she did!!!"

Bell banged on the gavel. The crowd became restless. As Astrid was watching the video, she swore that she could see her alter mouthing 'I'm sorry' to her parents as they stood by her just as frightened.

Then the woman spoke. "Have you no mercy?! My baby was just a child back then…She couldn't have known any better!!!"

"The evidence against Miss Farnsworth is overwhelming and DNA of the escaped children was found at your residence."

Professor Farnsworth yelled out. "Who are you to rule over this trial?!"

"You used to work for me, Farnsworth. I must give punishment to those who commit treason where it is due. I sentence all three of you to death in the radiation chamber."

William Bell banged on the gavel once more making the sentencing official. Guards immediately went after the trio in the center. They were dragged out of the room through a cold metal door screaming and kicking away.

Even long after the tape ended and the screen went white, Astrid just stood there watching the screen. She knows that man and woman who were just dragged to their were not HER parents. Her parents were just fine and dandy back in Boston though she couldn't help but feel a little bit shaken up at what she had just seen with her own eyes.

She had no idea that Walter was watching with her. Alter-Charlie had gone off into another room somewhere to look up a few more things. Walter placed a light hand on Astrid's shoulder and said a bit saddened, "It will be alright, Asped."

She reached over to the hand and smiled "Don't worry Walter…we'll find them."