Chapter 10: Waif

Anonymous, Wakan Roei Shu 85:

Seeking out the cherries
The rain began to fall;
Yet as I came to hunt those flowers
Now I would take shelter
In their shade.

Olivia glanced frequently into the rear-view mirror.

Peter and the woman who looked like her had not spoken much. Just after being shoved into the back of the van, Peter had murmured comforting reassurances to her, but now they just held each other in silence.

Olivia had been surprised but not shocked when she heard Peter had managed to hotwire and drive away in an FBI-issue SUV. She was mostly perplexed by his choice of vehicle: he had to know it was equipped with a GPS locator.

She had been disappointed in him, but when the stolen vehicle was tracked to Reiden Lake, she concluded he had some kind of scheme to go back to his own universe, and she just wondered why he hadn't asked for her help.

The woman—the other her—just raised more questions. Peter at least believed it was the Olivia from his universe, but how had she gotten there? And how had Peter known she would be there? They both had a lot of questions to answer.

Olivia hadn't heard the woman say anything. She seemed out of it.

The way Peter held her, the woman he loved and had never expected to see again...Olivia couldn't deny feeling a twinge of envy.

When they first met Peter had looked at her like that.

It was morning by the time they arrived at Fringe Division headquarters. They led Peter and the mysterious other Olivia into the building, where they were met by Broyles.

Broyles stared at the other Olivia for almost a minute. She still looked dazed and bedraggled, and stared back at him, waiting.

Finally he turned to Olivia—the familiar Agent Dunham who had been working for him for over three years. "What happened?"

Before she had a chance to answer, the Olivia in front of him spoke. "I understand this is a complicated situation, sir. My name is Agent Olivia Dunham, and I'm from another parallel universe. I came here to find him." She pointed her eyes at Peter.

"I haven't had a chance to question Peter about it," Agent Dunham said, "but when we tracked him to Reiden Lake, she was there too."

Broyles looked at Peter, then back at the other Olivia. When he spoke, the words were obviously meant for his Agent Dunham. "Could she be a shapeshifter?"

"It's possible," she answered. She had been considering that.

The woman who looked like Olivia Dunham spoke again. "Test my blood; I'm not a shapeshifter."

"They have shapeshifters here who don't rely on mercury. They're genetically indistinguishable from humans," Peter explained to her.

Her eyes widened, suddenly more concerned.

"We're going to need to test her extensively. And Peter, you have some explaining to do," Broyles said. "Take her to the lab, take him to the cell."

"No," Peter implored. "Please, don't make me leave her. I'll answer any questions you have, and you can run whatever tests you want, but don't make me leave her."

Broyles didn't consider it for a moment. "Take them," he repeated.

An agent grasped Peter's arm. The woman who looked like Olivia said nothing, but clung to Peter until they were pulled apart.

"It'll be okay, Olivia," he told her. "It's going to be okay. You can trust them."

She didn't look convinced, and kept her eyes locked on him as he was led to the cell where he'd spent his first few days in this world.