Title: Son of Men
Chapter: 9
Rating: T
Summary: When a message comes through the typewriter, it's going to turn everyone's life upside down.
Author's Note: Happy Easter everyone :) My Easter gift for you? A new chapter, yay! Hope you enjoy it! If you do, drop me a note, as a review or in private. I'm always just a PM away :)
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They had made their way to the carousel at Forest Park shortly after nine. For half an hour, Peter and Olivia combed through the immediate vicinity of their meeting point, making sure that even though Henry had corroborated the story they had pieced together on their own, they were not walking right into a trap. But with the dead trees and undergrowth surrounding the old and decaying carousel in an area of the park that was sitting right next to a huge Amber restriction area, there wasn't much space for anyone to hide. Neither for Walternate's men, nor for them.
Cover was sparse, so whoever had chosen that place as their meeting point had to have known that it was so far off the radar and outside of any area frequented by people that it was safe to meet. Otherwise it would have been a rather stupid idea to meet in such a wide open space.
The feeling was still nagging at them both though that this was nothing but a trap. The nearer it got to 10PM, the slower the minutes seemed to tick by while they sat waiting halfway hidden behind a wooden horse drawn sleigh on the carousel. Peter nervously fidgeted with the gun in his hands, constantly double checking that the clip was full and working perfectly. Olivia sat next to him, legs drawn up, letting her rest her head on her knees as she watched him dully while her fingers were tightly clutching her own gun.
The last rays of sun were reflecting off the big Amber dome that encased the old Visitor Information Building behind them, casting the spot where they sat hidden in a rather orange glow. They both knew that it was going to be dark within the next few minutes, and once that was happened, their last advantage - light - completely gone.
The faint sound of a car broke them both out of their almost dazed like state and caused both their heads to pop up in the direction of the sound behind them. A black SUV pulled into what once obviously had been used as a parking lot. The car's headlights were off as it came to a complete stop not far from the old rusty posts that separated the lot from the park area.
For a moment, Peter and Olivia just sat crouched behind the sleigh, their guns drawn, waiting for what was about to happen. From where they were hiding, they could easily make an exit through the back of the carousel and then, once in wide open space, attempt to cross back over if things threatened to go South. But for now, everything lay silent around as them as the driver's door of the SUV was pulled open and a man with short light brown hair, dressed in black, exited the car. He rounded the car and stopped in front of the hood, observing his surroundings.
Still holding tightly onto her gun, Olivia moved to the side of the sleigh, trying to get a better view which caused Peter to reach out for her arm and hold her back. She quickly shot him a glance over her shoulder, then he let go off her and allowed her to move over to be only partially hidden by one of the wooden horses in front of the sleigh.
The man in front of the car obviously seemed to have noticed the movement inside the carousel as his head immediately turned into their direction. Olivia waved two fingers in the air, indicating for Peter that she was going to leave cover. There was a mixture of shock and worry on Peter's face when he watched her stand up, gun dropped to her side.
"Lincoln," she called out loud, which caused the man at the car to raise his arm and wave at her before he turned to the passenger side of the car.
"Olivia," Peter started, still crouching behind the sleigh, but she cut him off immediately, "He's a good guy, Peter."
Slowly, she left the safe cover of the carousel, walking into the exposed, open space outside. Cautiously, Peter followed her, his gun drawn and aimed at Lincoln. About halfway across the open space, they stopped just as Lincoln closed the passenger door, a wrapped bundle now in his arms. One arm raised in defense, he slowly approached them.
"Olivia Dunham," he said as he stopped right opposite them, clutching something wrapped in a blanket tightly to his chest, "Definitely can't see a difference. Except for the hair. Takes a little getting used to."
"Always the charmer," Olivia replied, "What's going on here? Why are we here?"
"Because of him."
Lincoln slowly pulled the top of the blanket down, exposing the blonde hair of a baby who slept soundly against his shoulder. When the boy flinched slightly, Lincoln reached up and placed his hand on top of his head, soothing him with gentle strokes.
Both Peter and Olivia's gaze immediately fixed on the small child that Lincoln Lee held so protectively in his arms. He wasn't the newborn that both of them had expected, but rather already a baby of about half a year old. Something was wrong here, something didn't fit.
"The Secretary has made him his personal pet project. Liv has always been a bit suspicious because he only wanted to see him at Liberty Island and never anywhere else. First, it was just little changes in his behavior whenever she picked him up from a visit. Then she discovered rashes all over his body and needle marks on the soles of his feet. His pediatrician found some unknown substance in his bloodstream. God knows what they've been doing to him. He's not safe here."
"Hang on a sec," Peter cut in, his fingers tightly curled around his gun, ready to use it at any moment if needed, "If you wanna take us for fools, you're out of luck, buddy. That kid is how old, five months? Six months? You should have been more careful. The timeline doesn't fit."
"Liv went through an accelerated pregnancy. One day she wasn't even showing, the next she'd been kidnapped and had a kid by the end of the day. I know it's hard to understand, but he is your son. You can get all the tests done that you want, they'll all say the same thing. He's got your DNA. Which is why he's in danger if he stays over here any longer."
Despite Lincoln's attempt to calm the fussy baby down, the boy, who had finally awoken, was struggling to twist his head around to see who exactly was causing all the commotion. A moment later, a pair of big blue eyes were staring back first at Peter before they moved and fixed on Olivia.
The way the baby looked at her, eyes shining brightly in the evening light, caused Olivia to smile, "What's his name?"
"Henry," Lincoln replied while he turned the baby slightly so he had a better view of the pair standing opposite them.
"Hey," Olivia tapped the baby's nose with her finger, then tickled him under his chin which resulted in baby giggles from Henry, "you're a sweet little boy, aren't you?"
"You gotta take him," Lincoln shifted the baby from his arms and held him out for Olivia to take, "As long as he is somewhere over here, the Secretary will find him and he will use him for whatever he needs him for, no questions asked. You need to take him back with you. You need to keep him safe."
The baby boy hung midair between them which obviously seemed to be much to his liking when he started to giggle with delight. He flashed Olivia a toothless grin while his feet wiggled in each and every direction.
"Where's his mother?" Peter asked, ignoring the baby that was so happily dangling from Lincoln's grip, "Does she know about all this?"
"She didn't want to be here. She already said goodbye to him earlier," Lincoln noticed that he wasn't getting anywhere, "Look, Henry needs to be safe and he can't be safe over here. You can take him with you to your universe safely but the Secretary won't be able to bring him back with our technology. He'll be safe over there. Please."
Olivia quickly looked over to Peter before she reached over and took the baby, who was now getting slightly impatient and had extended his arms in her direction, from Lincoln's arms. Henry went willingly, immediately placing his head down on her shoulder and snuggling close to her.
"Please take good care of him," Lincoln reached into the back pocket of his pants and pulled out an envelope which he handed over to Peter, "From Liv."
The awkward moment was ended suddenly when a spotlight from above was turned on, casting them in a bright white light. They all looked up and found a helicopter hovering above them in the air. The Secretary had found them.
"Shit! He shouldn't have been able to find us," Lincoln quickly ruffled Henry's hair one last time, "Go towards the light rail. There's an underpass. It's protected from above so whatever you need to do to cross back over, do it there. I'll try to buy you a few minutes. Now run."
Fidgeting with his earpiece and barking out orders into the darkness, Lincoln turned and raced back to his car, leaving Peter, Olivia and the baby standing in the spotlight. For what seemed like an eternity, Peter just stared at the little boy that Olivia cradled in her arms protectively until she turned away from him and just ran. The light followed them wherever they ran until they reached the lightrail a few minutes later.
They both came to an immediate stop, breathing heavily. Henry, startled by all the sudden commotion and movement, had started to cry which, by now, had turned into loud wailing. Olivia tried to soothe him the best she could but she knew that if she was to cross them back over, she would have to focus and concentrate on that instead of Henry.
Silently, she pressed the baby against Peter's chest. At first, he just shook his head at her, not willing to take the boy but he knew he had no choice. Reluctantly, his arms wrapped around the small body, taking him completely from Olivia. For the first time ever, he held his son in his arms. He couldn't linger much in the moment though as they both heard the sound of the chopper touching ground not far from where they were.
Olivia reached for Peter's hand, their fingers intertwining tightly before she closed her eyes and lowered her head to the ground. She was doing what she had done before. Concentrate and think. Concentrate and think. Her body started to tingle again, with such an intensity that she had never felt before. Concentrate and think. Concentrate and think. The prickling sensation inside her was intense, as if a thousand needles were being thrust into her body but she couldn't stop. Concentrate and think. Concentrate and think.
And then the loud sounds of the chopper behind them were gone and the night lay around them in silence. Olivia opened her eyes, seeing Peter in front of her, holding on protectively to Henry who was still wailing loudly.
And then everything around her went black.
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Author's Note #2: So that's it for the Altverse. I've had a few people ask for more Over There stuff. Truth is - I thought about writing a companion piece to this one solely dealing with the Altverse. But thruth is also that I think I just can't channel Over There as well as Over Here. Fauxlivia is just way out of my league XD Maybe I'll enlist some help (if you are looking for a job as a co-writer, applications are open LOL).