A/N: Okay, I'm going away visiting rellies over the Christmas period so this is an extra long chapter for all my readers.
I'll be writing while I'm away but my parents live on a farm, so internet isn't too good. But that means that by the time I'm back to civilisation, I'll have two or three chapter's done to upload Yay!
Hope you enjoy, read and review
Chapter Seven
March 2012
The bean bags had made Charlie's sleeping arrangements much more comfortable. They now had [though barely] comfortable sleeping arrangements for everyone. The creatures hadn't backed off completely, they still appeared now and then, but the group only felt the need for one of the guys to stand guard during the night, swapping over halfway through. Olivia and Peter shared shifts, Olivia not wanting to give up her normal routine because she was pregnant. She hadn't given up going outside, much to Peter's annoyance over her and the baby's safety. Peter kept trying to convince her to tell the others, at least Broyles. Olivia had already admitted she was a little worried of how John would react. He was a strange man, happy one moment (well trigger happy at least), and then angry three seconds later.
Walter and the other hand, they had agreed on just waiting until he found out in his own way. If they told him, he'd make a huge deal about it, BUT if he found out on his own, it would be a surprise and he would focus his attention on the baby, rather than the 'how' of its conception.
Peter held Olivia's hair out of her face as she, for the third time this morning, threw up into the toilet bowl. She hadn't left the cubicle since daybreak, literally hugging the bowl.
"Rachel had said that it goes away after the 12th/13th week," she spluttered, managing to catch her breath again. "So . . . soon." She tried to put on a reassuring smile. Peter as usual, could see right through her.
Charlie sat outside the bathrooms, waiting for one of them to tell him Olivia was alright. When Peter emerged, Charlie caught a glimpse of the blonde haired women, sitting on the floor of the bathroom, her hair stuck to her face from sweat, pale faced and looking exhausted.
"She doesn't look to good." Charlie stated, standing up to meet Peter.
"She's been throwing up every morning for the last three weeks and she can't keep any type of food down."
"When's the last time she ate something?" Charlie asked,
"Ah, she ate some rice and bread yesterday, lunch time."
At that moment, John walked out of the lab, carrying a bottle of water and some type of soup Walter and Ella had cooked for lunch.
"Hey, Ella asked me to give this to Olivia. Is she okay now? Is it the flu?" he asked, completely oblivious to awkward tension in the air.
"Yeah," Charlie agreed quickly,
Olivia exited the bathroom, having washed her face, her hair in a messy bun.
"Hey, Liv, Ella made soup." He held the bowl out to her,
The instant the smell hit her nose she quickly pulled her hands over her mouth and ran back into the bathroom.
"Bad flu." John concluded, "I remember having that kind of flu when I was a kid. Mum said I refused to eat anything but bread and sugar water. I'll go see if we have any sugar, make her one. See if it helps."
John left, taking the bowl of soup with him. Once the lab doors were shut, Charlie spoke,
"I'm guessing you haven't told him yet?"
"No. But I think he's becoming more . . . accepting, that Olivia doesn't want to be with him. I just hope that he's not armed when he finds out."
They both laughed.
Olivia eventually left the bathroom. Paler than ever, her blond hair clung to the moisture on her face and neck, with dark circles under her green eyes.
Peter tried every food and what-not that they had. Canned, liquid, solid, fruit, vegetables, meats, breads. Everything. And every time she either threw up or started crying.
Peter was completely baffled as to what to do. Her hormones shouldn't be this out-of-whack.
John had been convinced that it was the flu, up until he overheard Charlie talking to Olivia. She had been crying and was still pale. Charlie had found a can of tinned spaghetti. At the moment that was all she could keep down. She had scoffed four tins in the last 2 hours.
Sitting in the office, she laid on the couch, trying to relax, Charlie sitting with her until Peter returned.
"Okay, once Peter returns I am going to go with Ella to the park, Astrid isn't too excited to go again after her last brush with the creatures."
Peter came back through the lab doors, carrying a large collection of tinned spaghetti, stacked up his arms and stuffed in his pockets.
John was playing with the tennis ball again (was there really anything better to do) and counting in his head backwards from 1000.
"Look after yourself and the baby." Charlie said, stroking her face as he left. Ella took Charlie's hand and practically dragged him out of the lab, Broyles in tow with two semi-automatics (just in case).
John had thought he had misheard what Charlie had said, but it was only confirmed when Peter closed the office door, handing Olivia a tin. She opened it and ate it eagerly.
John could hear Peter telling her to calm down and to eat slower. John watched through the blinds as Peter placed his hand on her stomach, rubbing it softly.
"Livvie, you got to take your time, spread out your eating." Olivia pouted when Peter took her second tin from her before she could open it. Never, had Peter seen her eat so much at once. Either she was addicted to spaghetti or the baby was addicted to spaghetti, one of the two. "Come on, can you at least try and eat some bread. Did John give you the sugar water?"
She nodded, "It went down but tasted too sweet."
"Well at this rate, the baby will be fat on spaghetti."
Olivia looked horrified at this thought. She and Rachel were naturally skinny. They had extremely good metabolisms which meant they could eat a lot and be able to exercise it off easily. But the thought of their baby being fat scared her. She had never once been overweight.
Peter could only laugh at the horrid looked spread across her face. "Come on, fresh air and a walk will do you good." Peter leaned over and kissed her softly, pulling away before she could deepen the kiss (definitely hormones). He took her hand and pulled her out of the office.
The first thing John said stunned both of them,
"You're pregnant? That's why you've been sick?" his voice wasn't accusing, it wasn't angry or violent, it was full of concern.
Olivia stopped dead in her tracks. Stunned into silence.
John saw Peter squeeze her hand either in fear or reassurance. Seeing this, the connection between them, John didn't know what to do.
John had always loved Olivia whether or not she loved him back. Before their break up, he knew something was off, he could only watch as Peter made her laugh. Made her smile. Made her carefree. She wasn't the same Olivia Dunham he had meet years ago.
Even before their break up, when their relationship was becoming rocky. She would be coming home later, she'd be happy until she walked in the door, seeing John and her smile would fade.
Whenever the two department groups ended up working together, she was always distant, avoiding. She (as usual) would spend her entire day with Peter, talking, going out to the bar for drinks after a successful case or going to the Bishops house for movie night which Walter held weekly. John didn't know it then, but he had already lost Olivia to Peter, even if she didn't know it yet.
John couldn't find an angry bone in his body. She was pregnant. She was happy, he could see a certain glow about her. For some reason John wasn't angry or upset. He felt . . . Glad.
Something good has come of the disaster the world has become. In death there is life. In a world full of so much evil, so much hate, a child would be born to two happy loving parents with friends who would all love him, or her.
It surprised Olivia and Peter when John walked calmly up to her and pulled her into a big hug. Olivia laughed; relieved he didn't get angry or try and pick a fight with Peter. Peter smiled at her over John's shoulder.
Things were starting to look better.
**A Few Weeks Later**
It hadn't taken Walter long to figure it out himself. Broyles picked up on it early, but kept it quiet till they decided to tell everyone themselves. Walter had danced around the lab happily, singing 'I'm going to be a grandpa' over and over again. Days later, his smile hadn't left his face. They could only laugh as Walter began making all these plans, where the child would go to school, university, where they would live, (in Walter's mind: all after the world was restored back to normal, of course).
Charlie had never seen Olivia so happy. No secrets weighing her down, no job to keep her distracted. Even Charlie had to admit that she did seem to glow slightly. Always happy, bubbly even, her mood was infectious.
Ella had been slightly confused as to how Olivia is having a baby when she and Peter were 'friends'. Peter had given her the corny 'If you love someone very much, you can have a baby' speech which caused an uproar of laughter in the lab. But nonetheless, Ella was excited about having a cousin to play with.
Olivia had Peter had much more alone time now, everyone giving them space. No one would question where they went during the day; Astrid was more than happy to cook extra food when the baby starved Olivia. Over time she managed to keep down rice and most tinned soups. They had yet to try meats.
It was nearing night again and the boys were all waking from their day-time catch-up-on-sleeping naps, preparing and locking the lab.
Ella sat in the office with Olivia, both curled up on the couch, watching the boys close windows, bolt them, and sealing the lab doors.
"Aunt Liv? What are you going to call it?" she asked innocently. Ella was looking up at her, bright eyes gazing at her, waiting for a response.
"Well, I don't know, sweetie. Uncle Peter and I haven't really chosen a name yet." Olivia stroked the child's brown hair. "We were thinking of Rachel, if it's a girl."
"Like mummy's name!" she said excited, but her smile faded away quickly.
"Yes, like mummy's name." Olivia whispered,
It was only then that Olivia realised the impact of her words on the child. Ella's body had become ridged,
"Mummy's gone." She whispered solemnly. She buried her face into the crook in Olivia's neck, hiding behind her blonde hair.
"Yeah, sweetie, Mummy's gone."
Trying to change the mood, "Do you want to know what Peter wants to call the baby if it's a boy?"
Ella nodded her small head against her neck, "what?" came the soft reply,
"Sequoya."
Ella instantly sat up, her face scrunched up, the same way Olivia's had when Peter had suggested 'Pepper'. For a seven year old, at least she knew better than for a baby to be called Sequoya.
"Uncle Peter's being silly, Aunt Liv." She stated, matter-of-factly,
"I hope so. Otherwise you'll have a cousin Sequoya to play with."
Ella shook her head, refusing to have a cousin named that before it was even born. Ella, settling back down neck to Olivia, asked, "What about Sam or Liam? I went to preschool with them."
"Yeah, maybe. But we'll have to ask Peter."
Ella moved her head so she looked up at her Aunt. "What if he names it Walter?" She asked shocked,
"Do we really want another Walter running around? He's a bit of a handful don't you think, sweetie?"
"Uh, huh. He made some gooey pink stuff yesterday and it smelled re-ally, REALLY bad." Ella waved her hand over her nose as emphasis.
Ella talked about all of Walter's experiments and the games he would play with her when Uncle Charlie or Aunty Astrid weren't around. Olivia could honestly see that Walter made Ella happy but at times, even Ella knew when Walter had taken things too far. She was indeed a bright young girl, just like her mother.
Sleep eventually took the small child and Olivia was left with her own thoughts for a while. She began to worry, 'would she be as good of a mother to her child as Rachel was to Ella?', 'Would the baby be healthy, being born in a wasteland, in a lab full of chemicals and god-knows-what-else?',
Olivia hadn't really worried about these before, but as reality hit her, she was having a baby, a baby, in a world were no child should have to grow up, she couldn't stop the worrying thoughts form invading her mind.
Olivia moved Ella so she lay fully on the couch and Olivia was free to leave the office.
Olivia couldn't sleep that night. The howls outside had decreased, but over the last few months, she had become use to them. Peter, Charlie and John were all out cold on the floor of the lab, Charlie snoring as usual. Astrid had stuffed tissues in her ears and was sleeping peacefully against the tank, wrapped up in blankets. Broyles had taken up watch duty, peering out the barred windows now and then, but had settled down on a stool.
Walter couldn't sleep either and had put his genius mind to use trying to make an ultrasound device so they could see the baby in Olivia.
Olivia moved a stool and sat next to Broyles, both in silence for several minutes before Broyles spoke,
"In any other situation I would be telling you to take leave, to rest, be normal. But this isn't any other situation. Congratulations, Dunham."
"Peter's been at me for normal too." She smiled at the memory,
"He's right. A woman in your condition shouldn't be wielding a gun and running around chasing creatures. You should be sleeping, caring for you and your child."
"I know." She looked at the floor, she knew that she was putting the baby at risk but what else was she to do, "I can't just sit down and let everyone else around me take the fall. We're in this together. We started this by letting the first hybrid-creature escape, I can't just not do anything for something we caused."
"You don't need to plead your case to me, Dunham. I've known you long enough to know that when you set your mind of something, you won't give up until you get it. You're stubborn and that's why you're a good agent. You never give up, you stand your ground. But sometimes, especially in our current situation, you need to let others help you, you need to relax and let everybody else do their jobs, let Peter care for you."
"I don't want to be taken care of. I can do it myself."
"Olivia." Broyles turned and looked at Olivia, "You have a wonderful man who loves and adores you, who is willing to do anything for you.
"Even before the creatures, I could see the way he looked at you. Everyone could. It was obvious that he cared deeply about you. You were always happy when you were with him, on a case, at the Bureau, at the lab. He's loved you for a long time, Olivia. You just never saw that till now."
Olivia was about to protest when Walter jumped up from his seat, knocking it over.
"Agent Dunham! I've done it!" he cried excitedly,
"Walter, shhhh, people are trying to sleep." She walked over to Walter so he could speak quietly, "What is it, Walter?" she asked in a whisper,
"I've finished it."
"What is it?"
"Why, the ultrasound device, Agent Dunham. I had to build it from parts of the old portable x-ray and I think Peter's old stereo." He mumbled on about other nick-knacks he used.
"Dr. Bishop?" Broyles, interested in why he was over excited,
"We can see the baby!" he exclaimed, clapping his hands together and jumping up and down. Walter turned to Olivia, taking her hand and pulling her towards the machine,
"I would like to test it, if you consent."
Sure, Olivia was nervous, but she nodded anyway.
Walter guided her to the chair. She leant back into it so she faced the ceiling, it was like a real dentist's chair, similar to the one she sat in whilst in Jacksonville, of course this time she wasn't pulled full of drugs.
Walter pushed a few buttons, pulled a few levers and the machine whirred quietly to life. He took out a small object,
"Walter, is that an iPhone?"
"Yes, Agent Dunham. The touch screen and the camera make it ideal for capturing the image once the x-rays penetrate the skin." he explained. Olivia looked at Broyles, not concerned but confused, Broyles just shrugged, be damned if he understood anything that came out of the old man's mouth.
The iPhone flickered to life, "I'll have to make some sort of solar powering device, for when the battery on this device runs out." He made a mental note. Walter was big on solar power, he liked having lights on at night, so he could work.
"Agent Dunham?" Walter asked, turning away from his machine, "Can you please lift your shirt?"
Olivia reluctantly complied and Walter placed the iPhone against Olivia's bare abdomen. The image on the screen of the machine behind Walter was fuzzy, covered with static. Fiddling with some of the dials and buttons, Walter managed to clear up the image.
And there it was. A small head, barely visible. Walter held the iPhone in place, taking a screen shot of the image.
Olivia just stared in bewilderment at the screen. It was amazing. They were having a baby. Olivia couldn't help it, her emotions flooded through her, a single tear escaping her, running down her cheek. She sucked in a sharp breath, gathering her thoughts.
"Agent Dunham?" Walter was worried, she hadn't spoken since they had started,
"Ah, yeah, Walter?" she snapped back to reality, her eyes not leaving the screen, watching the baby.
"Are you alright?"
"Yes, Walter." She smiled, another tear streaming down her face. Taking Walter's hand, she squeezed it reassuringly. He beamed at her enthusiastically, no doubt in his mind he was singing again.
Broyles watched the emotions played through her face. He knew her well enough to know that she never showed emotions, but in this moment, he saw more emotions from her then he had in the several years they knew each other.
From what Walter could tell from the image his device produced, the baby was fine.
She sighed, comforted sightly. Olivia relaxed into the chair, her hand holding her stomach protectively.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed, don't forget reviewing is the best Christmas present for a fan-fiction writer
Merry Christmas everyone, enjoy your holidays,