Title: Son of Men
Chapter: 2
Rating: T
Summary: When a message comes through the typewriter, it's going to turn everyone's life upside down.
Author's Note: Okay, the cat is out of the bag. As if you couldn't have guessed ;) I know there's a bunch of baby Dunham fics out there but mine's going a slightly different route... at least I think it does! Therefore I hope you'll stick with me till the end. Again, thanks to everyone who has reviewed and favorited this story. I really appreciate that.
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Peter sat crouched down against the wall in front of Nina Sharp's office. His head was resting between his knees, his breathing shallow and labored. He had a son on the other side. A son with the other Olivia Dunham. A son that resulted out of the biggest mistake of his life. A son that should never have existed.
What the Observer had told him suddenly made sense. It must be very difficult being a father. Peter had pondered a lot about why he would say this to him. After all, he was no father. And he needed no reminding about what Walter had done or why he had done it. The outcome of a decision a father had made was still changing universes, and not for the better. But the Observer had not meant Walter, or even Walternate. He had talked about him. Peter Bishop. A father.
There, on the other side, was a little boy who needed help. His little boy. He was a father. And whatever had prompted not only one but three messages within twelve hours, it had to be grave. What had just happened was so surreal, he couldn't quite comprehend if he was really at Massive Dynamic or if he was sleeping in bed next to Olivia, having a nightmare. Because a nightmare this really was, dreaming or not.
He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder, only to see Olivia standing next to him. From the look on her face, the sadness, hurt and desperation that he could see in her eyes, he knew that she knew. She crouched down next to him, her hand immediately reaching out for his. Her touch was warm and comforting as they sat in silence in the empty hallway. She wasn't turning away from him, wasn't screaming at him, wasn't accusing him. She was just there, sitting next to him on the cold floor, and holding his hand.
"They're waiting for a response," she finally said, waiting for any kind of reaction from him to her words.
Peter just shook his head silently and turned away from her. He didn't know what to say or what to feel, let alone feel himself fit to think at that moment. The ground had just caved in around him and while he was desperately holding on to Olivia's hand, he felt like falling, deeper and deeper and deeper. Just when he had thought he had found his one true place where he belonged, the world around him was spinning out of control once again.
"Hey," he felt her fingers brushing against his jaw as she gently turned his face towards her, "don't pull away from me now."
"There's a kid in the other universe that's mine," his admission was a mere whisper against the cold air in the hallway, "and I have no clue in hell what to do about it."
"Me neither," she took a deep breath, "I do know though that whoever sent those messages sent them for a reason. We have to figure out who sent them and why they sent them."
Once again, Peter shook his head, "It doesn't matter."
"Of course it matters."
"No," his voice had turned bitter and cold, "it doesn't."
He sprung to his feet and had vanished down the corridor and around a corner before Olivia could even react. He was doing the only thing he knew to do when things got too rough for him to deal with... he ran. Just get away from everything as far as possible. Why was it that every time he had found just a little bit of happiness in his life, something, or someone, from the other side had to come and screw it all up. Nothing had affected him so deeply since he had found out he was from the other side, not even the machine. Because with that doomsday device, he at least was able to learn and to fight. But with this... there was not one freaking thing he could do. Except run. So he did.
He got as far as the almost empty street outside of Massive Dynamic Headquarters when Olivia caught up with him. She was just walking next to him, matching his fast pace, not saying a word. Her hand had slipped into his sometime after they had turned onto 10th Avenue, and he held onto her closely, as if he was asking her to keep him steady, to keep him from falling. But he knew that just as much as he was holding onto her, she was holding onto him as well. It wasn't just his world that had come tumbling down only minutes before... hers was crashing as well.
Desperation slowly turned into anger. He was furious at her, furious about what she had done to him. He was furious at Walternate, for sending her over here with his pretty little agenda, but even more furious at him for what he had intended to do with Olivia. Most of all, he was furious at himself though... that he had fallen for her ploy, had not seen through her, and had been stupid enough to let it come this far.
"I think Walternate's only intention seems to be to make my life miserable," he said while his thumb absentmindedly brushed over the back of Olivia's hand, "He wants to stick me into this machine to destroy this universe which most probably is gonna kill me in the process. And because he couldn't just have me, he tortured you, sent her to manipulate me and now he's using a child to blackmail me into coming back."
"Is that what you think?"
He shrugged, "What else should I think?"
"What if she sent the message?"
"No."
It was the only answer he was going to give her.
"Don't you think we should at least find out?"
"And how do you think we should do that other than crossing over?"
"Send something back that only she will know how to respond to," Olivia slowed down her pace and finally stopped, forcing him to come to a halt as well when she didn't let go of his hand, "There's a child in the other universe that's yours. Don't you even care a little?"
He hung his head, looking down at the gray asphalt beneath his feet. Of course he cared. He cared so much it made his head spin and his heart ache. He had made a mistake... a mistake that had not almost ruined Olivia's life, but also his. They had finally found a way to move on from that just to have everything smashed to pieces. Yes, he did care about that little boy in the other universe, but also cared about the woman who stood only a step behind him and whose hand was tightly holding onto his. He had seen what his betrayal had done to her and he didn't want to see her like that again. Not ever. So what was he supposed to do?
"I know you care."
He turned around to face her, but what he saw wasn't what he had expected. Her eyes were shining with so much love and devotion, and her lips were curved into a small, but reassuring smile. It was her way of telling him that she was strong, that she wasn't going to break. But most importantly it also told him that no matter what, she would stand by his side and be there for him.
"I have so fucked up, Olivia. How can I fix this?"
She just shrugged her shoulders at him, "Find out what they want for a start? Then we can decide what else we want to do."
With a weak smile on his face, he leaned in to rest his forehead against hers, "Do you have any idea how much it means to me that you just said we?"