Fringe - What Can't We Do [1/?]
1984
“Hello,” she smiled and she tried not to puke. “I’m Wendy Wesson.”
She was the new one on the team, the rookie. She was also the woman, which didn’t make matters much better. Even though there was another woman, Dr. Warren was a veteran of science and well known by the others. Wendy, on the other hand.
Wendy was fresh meat.
“Wendy Wesson?” one of the other scientists crowed. He was handsome in that lazy, debonair way that ensures he’s an asshole. “Sounds like a kid’s cartoon.”
“It’s my name,” Wendy bit out without venom. She was used to it. “What’s yours?”
“Carl Emerson.” Carl Emerson smiled and she was struck by how warm his expression was. It didn’t seem quite fitting for a researcher. “This is Han.”
He gestured at the Asian man in the corner, the only one not in a lab coat but dressed instead in a very impressive suit. His hair was slicked back as well and a large briefcase was weighing down one arm.
“Forgive his appearance,” Carl drawled, “he just came back from a briefing.”
“Oh!” What was it like? Who did you meet? Was the president there? What did they want to know?
Did they ask about me?
“It was pretty standard,” Han told the others. He set down his briefcase and quietly unlocked it with a small click. Files and files and papers poured out into his hands. “They wanted to see our progress with some projects.”
“Bet they weren’t happy about the baby soldiers,” a blonde scientist muttered. Han’s mouth thinned.
“It was doomed from the start. There’s no way we could have controlled the aging process -”
“Yeah, yeah,” the blonde sighed. He flapped his hand in a way to end the conversation. “I heard it the first time.”
“That’s Sean,” Carl whispered conspiratorially. “He’s insufferable.”
“Oh,” Wendy said weakly. She glanced at Sean and said, “Nice to meet you.” Sean gave her a sneering look before nodding curtly. She felt like she’d been metaphorically pushed out in front of a bus.”
“Don’t worry,” Carl smiled, and he slung his arm across her shoulders. “You’ll get by just fine.”
“Sexual harassment,” Han muttered.
Lab work was nothing like she’d expected. She had thought that her work would be with medicine, with animals and drugs. Instead, she found herself running out the doors as subjects caught fire and administering Lysergic acid diethylamide to smiling college students.
“Is this…safe?” she hesitantly asked Sean as one blonde woman, laughing hysterically, declared she could see the door to another world. Sean gave her a look and said, “It’s for science.”
It wasn’t an answer.
Soon she was reluctantly used to it, making strange chemical concoctions without questions and eating lunch with the men. Carl was still obnoxious but it was comforting now. When things were difficult he would subtly hand her a file or loudly recall an old experiment regarding their project.
“Thank you,” she told him after he found her William Bell’s notes on the human brain. He grinned and held her face in his hands, squishing her cheeks together like she was a child.
“You’re adorable,” he laughed. Han passed by and muttered, “Sexual harassment.”
“It’s called being friendly!” Carl called after him. “You should try it sometime!”
Han mimed throwing his jar of sheep eyes at him and Wendy laughed.
Then she was assigned to the Cortexiphan trials.