Chapter 3:
The three of them arrived at the lab and Walter seemed not to notice the tension. He barely even noticed the entire city was affected by a blackout that he somehow might have been unintentionally involved with many years ago.
Olivia had managed to find a few candles and lit them in the back office as she sat at the desk with Peter beside her. Together they were going through the boxes of files that Walter had been involved in. It wasn't putting either of them in the best of moods. Walter had fallen asleep after two hours of insistent rambling about peaches and the reason they were covered in fuzz. Olivia had worked extra hard to ignore his pleas with Peter to go out to the grocery store at this very moment and buy some.
Peter glanced at his father, seeing him asleep on the sofa, his mouth open as he seemed to be snoring and possibly drooling? Peter didn't move from the chair beside Olivia. His eyes moved from his father to the beautiful woman sitting beside him. The candlelight offered a dim glow to the room and would have made the atmosphere romantic if the circumstances had been different.
"You're staring." Olivia noted, not even glancing up from the file she was looking at.
"I like the glasses." Peter acknowledged with the hint of a smile. "Looks good on you."
She gave him a peculiar look and then a smile, not used to him staring or any compliments. "Thanks. You find anything yet?" She just as quickly changed the subject, not wanting to be the center of it. Her eyes glanced at the files in front of him.
"Not really," Peter admitted, "but I've been thinking about what could have caused Mr. Miller to exhibit any sort of electricity and pass it through the power grid. It would take a lot Olivia. I'm not sure how it would be physically possible to just flip a switch and cause the damage he did. Even if he could conduct electricity or better yet create it—the amount that would have had to blow everything—would have killed him or at the very least stopped his heart."
Olivia sighed, "he should have been electrocuted." It made sense and yet the case was lacking specific details. She wondered if Broyles knew more and was keeping it from her. He had a tendency to tell her only what she 'needed to know'.
"At the very least, yes." Peter nodded. "What I can't understand is how a man in his mid-thirties could have such an ability and this be the first insistence of something this big happening."
"Maybe it's not the first instance?" Olivia countered. "Or maybe his ability was recently activated. We've seen it before with the Cortexiphan trials." She reminded him.
"I know and I considered that but this is different." Peter shook his head. "Everybody has an electromagnetic charge. Some people can't wear watches or handle any electronics without essentially burning out the device."
Olivia nodded as she tried to keep up with Peter. "So you think this man's electromagnetic charge is higher? I don't understand how he would be capable of blowing out a power grid? I mean you're talking a watch stopping not turning on a light switch and blowing the grid." To Olivia they were two separate things.
"I can't explain what Walter did to Mr. Miller. I also haven't figured out a way to reverse the process because I'm not sure how it happens. I'm not sure it even is reversible. Either the man has lived a very secluded life the past seventeen years or there is much more than he's letting on."
Olivia shifted the chair back, hearing it squeak but not caring. "We should wake Walter. Find out what he remembers or what he can tell us about any electromagnetic experiments on people he might have conducted."
Peter held out a hand warning her to wait a second. "Why don't we all go home and get some sleep for the next few hours?" He suggested. "I know Broyles wants this case to be a top priority but none of us have slept for at least forty-eight hours. They barely had time to eat dinner before Broyles was calling them in on another assignment. I know I could use a few hours of sleep and by the looks of it, you could use a couple hours yourself." He saw the dark circles under her eyes.
"Peter," Olivia sighed knowing he was right but also knowing she had work to do.
"Think of it this way-a few hours later might help us out. We can't work in the lab in the dark all night. There's not enough candles in here and even if we found enough—do you really want to take the chance Walter might catch the place on fire?" He tried to reason with her any way he could.
She removed her glasses and rubbed at her eyes. "I suppose you're right. A few hours won't put us too far behind." She stood up, fumbling for a moment, her body much more tired than she'd realized. Peter jumped from his chair as he watched her wobble, a hand reaching out to her shoulder to steady her. "I'm okay." She smiled weakly, "just overtired. Come on. Let's get your father to the car and I'll drive the two of you back."
"How about I drive and drop you off at home first?" Peter suggested watching her closely. "I can go quite awhile without sleep."
"And I can't?" Olivia tried to fight a yawn as she watched Peter walk over, gently waking Walter up. Olivia closed up the files they'd already sorted through and blew out the candles before handing her keys to Peter. "Please don't make me regret this." She told him, half-teasing. She hardly ever let him drive the Bureau's car. It wasn't that she didn't trust him, it had more to do with Olivia wanting control of the situation and giving up the keys meant she was relinquishing control.
"You don't have to worry." He assured her as he unlocked the car and they all climbed in. Peter pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards Olivia's apartment. He glanced at her after a few minutes realizing how quiet it was and saw she'd fallen asleep. He eyed the rearview mirror, Walter was still awake but he didn't say a word, his eyes locked on his sons. It was as though in that moment, he knew not to say anything and Peter was silently grateful.
With a heavy breath he turned towards his own apartment, hoping Olivia wouldn't be upset with his decision. H
He felt himself growing tired and knew he could always take the couch. Besides they'd have to be up in a few hours and it would be easier if they could leave from one place, not worry about carpooling. At least that was the excuse he was telling himself over and over again.