A/N: So I was able to upload this, thank goodness for McDonald's and their free wifi :)
Note: In case anyone was wondering, I wanted a Walter/Olivia moment and Broyles/Olivia moment in the last chapter with her and the ultrasound (rarely do we see moments with those three with just emotions, and not their tough exteriors)
References to 2x15 Jacksonville.
BTW this is my second attempt at Walter's full-on scientific stuff. If you don't understand, just message me or say so in a review and I'd be happy to clear it up in non-Walter English :)
Chapter Eight
April 2012
"No, Walter. It's final!" Peter shouted across the lab as he walked away from his father. Walter was having one of his lucid moments (well lucid week). He had found a full bag of Cortexiphan they had brought back from their visit to Jacksonville. Along with Walter's exploration of the rest of Harvard, he had found (and dragged all the way back to the lab) several needles, IV wires and several types of anaesthetic. When questioned about it, Walter just ignored them. It wasn't till several days later did Walter's true motives become known. He wanted to reactivate Olivia's abilities, her pyrokinesis.
"But Son, those creatures are 'allergic' as such to sunlight, UV light, fire even."
"What does this have to do with Olivia?" Peter was becoming impatient with his father. A genius man, but sometimes he dawdled, taking longer than needed to get to the point.
"When Olivia, was a child," Walter mumbled, gathering his thoughts, trying to place things, "when Belly and I, experimented" he choked on that word, "on her, she developed a pyrotechnic ability. Well, you saw the room, she did that."
"I will ask once more, what does this have to do with Olivia?"
"If I can help her unlock, that ability again, we can use her to stop the creatures. If these creatures are developing, maturing at the rate we believe, they will be able to 'see' Olivia as a mortal threat and will not venture near. Just as though they have deemed this lab impregnable, they have not tried in many months to enter. They 'know' that they cannot enter and therefore do not try."
"You may be a genius, but you are an arrogant man. All you ever think about is your experiments, you never think about what your experiments do to everyone else. I will NOT let you touch Olivia or our child. Stay away from her." Peter yelled at the feeble man.
Olivia watched from the door of the office, Ella hiding behind her body as the two men yelled at each other. Charlie, Broyles and Astrid sided with Peter, while John couldn't help but wonder 'If there were no risk to Olivia or the baby, would it help their situation?'. No one could deny, the thought had crossed all of their minds, but they all knew that with Walter, there would be side effects of some sort. John was the only one brave enough to speak it,
"Can you guarantee that Olivia, and the baby will not be harmed?" John questioned,
"Yes." Walter nodded strongly, completely certain, "she will only feel slightly tired for a few hours, I would recommend she take a sleeping pill, and I will give her an anaesthetic so that neither she nor the baby will feel the first signs of her ability."
"What are the first signs her ability is returning?" John continued to ask,
"It's not so much returning as it is awakening." Walter explained this in his 'I know exactly what I am doing' voice. His (as Peter and Ella called it) Grown Up voice.
"Just like when we needed her to unlock her ability to see objects from the other side. It was fear that was holding her back then, now it's the lack of Cortexiphan."
They had crowed around Walter now as he rambled on, Olivia too had walked silently, unnoticed from the office towards Walter, so she, too, may hear.
"The Cortexiphan has very slowly, over time, been reduced to the amount it now is. There is only less then 20mls in her system, it remained because the body didn't see it as a virus or foreign liquid anymore, her body is use to it being there, especially now since she has used it.
"There are three stages to her 'awakening' and controlling her ability. First stage will be the sudden fever; her body will heat up, her hands will possible catch fire or cause whatever they touch to catch fire. Then, will come to cold sweats, and finally she will be able to 'click' her fingers," Walter clicked his fingers as he spoke, bouncing on his feet, "and flames will appear. This will happen in the course of 24 hours. By the next day, Olivia will be in complete control of her fire ability."
"And once she has her ability again, what will that do to the baby?" Broyles had become interested now. With limited ammunition, they needed to consider any and all safe options for fighting the creatures that stalked them as food.
"Not you too!" Peter exploded, "No one is touching her or the baby. There will be no experiments on anyone."
"The baby will not be harmed, but with Olivia nearing her third trimester, the baby may inherit the ability from Olivia."
"No, Walter. For the last time, No."
"I'll do it." Everyone turned, looking at Olivia with either confusion or amazement that she had agreed.
"No, Liv, don't do it. It's not worth you and the baby's life." Peter pleaded,
"Peter, how long do you think we can stay in here? How long before we run out of bullets and the creatures come? We need another way to defend ourselves. Life is full of risks, and even I we weren't in this situation, I'd still be working, I'd still be risking my life to protect others." And with a quick kiss, Peter knew that with Olivia, being stubborn-as-hell Olivia, nothing he would say would change her mind.
"But I want you to watch the baby, through Walter's ultrasound device, make sure it's okay." Peter spoke to Astrid. Astrid nodded in agreement.
Olivia had joked to Peter that if anything went wrong, that they could feed Walter to the creatures. Walter made all the preparations and once Olivia was comfortable in the chair, he attached the IV with Cortexiphan to her arm. It was similar to the tank, a drowsy sleep-type feeling. That feeling like you know you're on the verge of sleep but just by thinking that you wake up.
"I don't want to use the sensory deprivation tank with Olivia in her condition, so I'll add a few other drugs to induce a dream like state to get her to find her 'trigger' before introducing fresh Cortexiphan." Walter explained, as he injected another needle into Olivia's arm.
He turned his attention back to Olivia, "Now, Agent Dunham, I want you to think back, to when you were a child. What do you remember?"
Olivia moved in the chair, her eyes fluttering open and closed.
"I see, I see you, and Nick's there too. It's Monday afternoon, we're being given our daily injections. Cortexiphan. Nick's crying, we all start crying."
"Nick was the first to develop an ability, projecting his emotions. As the eldest, the others looked up to him, he helped keep them calm." Walter explained to the others as they all watched. Charlie looked a little squeamish. Needles reminded him of his painful treatment to rid his body of the worm/offspring.
"Olivia, do you remember the fire, in your bedroom?"
"Yes."
"Tell me, how did you feel?"
"Hot. My hands, are burning. I can feel the heat but there are no flames. I smell the smoke be see no fire. It was there one second and gone the next. The room blackened ash."
"Can you remember how you were feeling before it happened?"
"Happy. Nick and I were playing hide and seek. He hadn't found me because I had never hidden in my room before, he didn't know I was there." Olivia suddenly shifted in the chair.
"Olivia, my dear, what is wrong?" Walter's voice full of concern.
"I hear footsteps. They're not Nick's. I know his footsteps, as I know Doctor Bells and yours." Olivia moved her head, "Someone walks past the door, looks in. They see me, but they don't enter. They wave at me. Their eyes are a hollow black. No soul inside. The person glimmers, like the objects in the play room. He disappears seconds later. I sit in the corner, I'm-I'm crying. I'm scared. I'm always scared. I feel the flames around me. You and Doctor Bell say it was an accident. That I didn't mean too."
Olivia didn't remember what she had seen, what she had said. Peter had told her that it was fear. Walter was confident that once she unlocked it that first time, that she would be able to control it without having to be afraid every time.
The fever and the sweats came on fast, lasting on a few hours.
Night fell and Astrid had put Ella to bed, telling her that her Aunt Liv was just unwell. John and Broyles had finally agreed to sleep instead of keep watch, letting Peter and Charlie do so. Peter not wanting to sleep in case of something with Olivia occurred.
Olivia sat in the bean bag, stroking her belly. Peter had taken to talking to the baby, Charlie singing nursery rhymes.
Every now and then Olivia would click her fingers, Walter said that clicking would be the easiest way to tell, flame or no flame. But, for the last 4 hours, nothing.
Olivia was going to give up. Peter was slumped over asleep next to Olivia, his hand resting on her stomach. The baby had been kicking for an hour straight, so Peter had taken up residence next to Olivia, talking to it, calming it.
Charlie sat, gun safety on placed on the table as he played cards. It was the usual, a few howls and cries from the creatures, nothing that woke the group anymore. They had become accustomed to it.
Olivia clicked her fingers, a small bright yellow and orange flame flicked just above her finger tips. Olivia waved her free hand through it, it didn't burn her, she felt no pain.
She could control it. Maybe there was hope.