Pieces - Part Two I
All art work by faberrys2
Part Two I
Tense and frustrated, he drank himself into oblivion before he stumbled home, only to find his worried father shuffling around the living room in a house coat, clinging to a cold cup of hot milk. Peter buried his head in his hands as he leaned against the front door, closing it with his back, waiting for his father to say... something and when he didn’t, all of Peter’s memories, everything he remembered about Olivia from over there and Olivia from here came crashing back and the sheer weight of the guilt flooded him, making him crack, breaking down to the floor.
She was exactly the same as what he remembered - her touch, her smell, the way her nose crinkled when she was truly happy - but it wasn’t her, and his mistake had cost them dearly. He was devastated for her, for himself, and for the relationship that would never be. This love, their love, was supposed to set him free, turn him into the man that he desperately wanted to be, the man that she could count on, call on, and trust in every way. A love that would have healed her of all her wounds and let her live the life that she deserved, that was stolen from her by her father and his partner’s selfish actions. He wanted desperately to be the one that took away all of the pain his family had inflicted on her and so many other children. He thought he was: he thought that he was helping her, that when she came back from the other side, she was finally ready to receive that love. He lay next to her in the deepest, darkest of nights, fully prepared to give his full heart to her, thinking that she would have accepted it and him, entirely.
But it wasn’t that she wasn’t ready, it wasn’t that she wasn’t ready for him or that she wouldn’t have accepted him - it was that it wasn’t her at all and that he failed to protect her, to notice her and to do anything to help. At the end of it all, Olivia rescued herself and the title of White Knight went to someone much more deserving, someone who had more practice than he would ever have in his lifetime. It went to Olivia, the Olivia from this side, reaffirming that once again, she was alone. The realization hurt, just as much as the sound of shuffling slippered-feet against the hardwood floor Peter heard. He raised his head, if only to wipe the tears from his eyes and relieve the pressure building up in this head, and saw his father slowly approaching.
Walter crouched down in front of him and for a moment Peter thought that he could accept his father, accept anything that the man had to offer him, but it was too much too soon and too little too late all at the same time and the anger in him burst into a solid rage. He was on his feet, throwing himself across the room, in anger and fear and utter defeat, but he was still too drunk to coordinate himself correctly, and he fell over his own feet and on to his knees. Peter stopped for a moment and closed his eyes and breathed, letting the storm quiet down. Tears spilled out in solid, never breaking streams from beneath closed eyelids as he mourned for his loss, for Olivia’s, and for a love that was never to be. Something touched him and a sudden warmth crept through his shirt and into his skin, traveling through his bloodstream to his heart. His eyes shot open and slowly Walter came into focus. as a force that was surprisingly stronger than it seemed, pulled Peter upwards to his feet.
“Now Peter,” Walter said, pausing for breath and collecting his thoughts. “Agent Dunham isn’t gone for good... she just needed a change... you understand how she would have felt...”
Peter could feel his father’s gaze scraping over the layers of self-loathing he managed to cake on in the last few hours and although would have liked nothing more than to let him in but the last of the walls wouldn’t go down and he refused to hear what Walter had to say. Peter shook his head violently, like a child who disobeyed the simplest of orders from a concerned parent. He needed to hear everything that Walter was trying to tell him, but the pain was so difficult to get through that Peter was willing to let himself choke on every mistake he had made, but he knew that his father would never accept that.
“She’ll come back to --” Walter continued to fight but stopped mid-sentence when his son finally looked at him. Peter’s heart was breaking in front of Walter, and although Peter was desperate for something, for anyone or anything to fix it for him, there was only one person with that power, and she was gone, without a word, leaving him at the crash site to fend for himself. Peter looked back down at the floor and tried not to crack in front of his father, who was growing more and more desperate to heal all of his son’s wounds and fix the look of anguish on his face.
“It’s not your fault, son... You didn’t know, none of us knew... none of us could see the truth...” Walter swallowed but Peter didn’t respond and he didn’t move. He was anchored to the ground, trapped in an alcoholic veil combined with a weight of sadness hung around him like a heavy cloud, obstructing his vision and penetrating his ears. He could hear Walter, good and clear, but he just couldn’t understand him. The sigh his father released was filled with disappointment and it mixed with the rest of the air’s toxicity.
“She’ll come back, Peter... she’s not gone for good...” Walter continued. He was repeating himself, but this time the urgency in his voice was apparent, and he stepped forward, trying to wrap his arms around his son, but Peter’s reaction was opposite from what Walter had hoped.
“Don’t! Just don’t!” Peter pushed Walter’s arms away from him angrily. Walter’s cup flew across the room and milk spilled on to the hardwood floor amid shatters of broken clay. Walter stepped back and put his shaking hands down. Walter swallowed and tried to follow Peter’s eyes, but he stumbled away from him and towards the staircase, fumbling up to his bedroom. He could hear Walter from down the stairs shuffle from that spot on the floor to the couch; it’s springs squeaked as he sat down. Peter paused at the top of the stairs as endless thoughts circled around his head. They were still clouded in too much alcohol, fear and anger; he couldn’t understand anything any more and there was only one solution left for him.
He didn’t pack much and he didn’t think about what he needed, aside from a few basic necessitates. He didn’t want to run again - especially since his first departure took him back home and ended with her being held prisoner over there, while her exact double took her place over here. It wasn’t his fault, it wasn’t her fault. Subconsciously he knew that and knew that Olivia knew it too, but if she could run, then so could she and he could not shake the feelings of regret. The strings that pulled him away the first time were yet again tugging at him, but this time it was with a force he had never felt before; he succumbed to her siren call and now he was at the mercy of the swirling aftermath that consumed him whole.
He stumbled back downstairs and found his father sitting on the couch staring at the broken cup on the floor; the smell of milk permeated the air. Peter looked at his father and waited for him to look up at him, but he didn’t: he just sat there, staring at the milk, at the broken cup, at the empty space that surrounded it. Saying anything else would have been moot and Peter suddenly realized that everything Walter had to say, that he tried to say, had all been said and there was nothing left for either of them. He waited as long as he could; moments before his insides burst from him in attempted escape, Peter marched his sobering-self out the door and slammed it behind him.
The front door closed with a harsh bang and as he drove off to the middle of nowhere, he wondered how long it would be before Walter was on the phone, calling Astrid and asking her to come and help him clean up the puddle of milk seeped through the hardwood floor.
//
“Do you mind if we swing past my house? I just need to grab my other laptop.”
Olivia laughed and shook her head. “You’re the driver.”
“That’s true,” Erica said smiling. “But I want to make sure you’re doing alright.”
“Yeah, I feel fine.”
“Okay, I’ll take you home after I grab my things.”
“Are you going back to the office?”
“Uh... yeah... I have some work to do.”
Olivia was slightly annoyed by Erica’s seemingly habitual offering of just enough, but not too much information: if Erica was a suspect, Olivia would automatically assume her guilty, but she left the ambitious answer and watched the trees pass by. They were quiet until they pulled into Erica’s driveway and up to the house.
“Do you mind if I use your washroom?” Olivia asked, in genuine need of the facilities.
“No, of course not,” Erica said as she unlocked the front door and Olivia followed her inside. “It’s upstairs, first door on the left.”
“Thanks.”
Erica’s house was cold, as if no one had been in it for days. The staircase creaked as Olivia ascended to the second floor of the house. Old picture frames caked in delicate gray dust aligned the hall way; faded pictures of old family members once filled this house with joy but now, its sadness figured into even these still images.
Washing her hands, the mirror cupboard door was ajar and nothing but curiosity controlled Olivia’s hand as she pulled the door open just enough for its contents to spill out and the truth to start its ugly unravelling.
They were laying there, on its side, mocking her: an open box of circular Spider Man band aids laying on the first shelf, the same one that she peeled off of her skin the morning after her incident at Anna’s press conference and a question suddenly burst into her mind: “who else would have this?” The indictment already forming in her mind, Olivia ran through the events until she was lying on her back, staring up at Erica’s face.
Something silver caught her eye before Erica forced her head away and a sharp pain cut into the back of her head. She cried out, she clenched her hands and tried to get up, but a heavy weight held her down and as a voice tried to calm her, something pressed up against her skin and soaked up the sticky wet.
She touched the back of her head with two fingers and with aid of a hand-held mirror, she saw the V-shaped cut behind her ear for the first time and understood exactly what had happened. She didn’t hit her head when she fell, she had been cut, deliberately, intentionally and the only person who had the opportunity was her partner... her partner.
An intense anger that threatened to pull her apart at the very seams consumed her all at once and she shook so hard that the box fell from her hands and spilled all over the porcelain sink; the realization that her happy new life was neither happy or new hit her and the same pain of disappointment and self-doubt resumed its familiar seat in her heart.
Why on earth had they been left out in the open, in such a disarray that made them so easily discoverable? It was as if... as if they were left there on purpose, as if a grater force compelled them from their hiding place, as if the truth needed to assert itself and another familiar truth crept back into Olivia’s mind.
The truth was that love had always broken her heart somehow, in some form and so often so that she had come to expect it as being a part of her life. She was always left hanging, emotional threads that once linked her to something beautiful and wonderful were always cut in half, leaving her unanchored and broken, fraying at all ends and every time she thought this one will be different it wasn’t and the cycle of disappointment and hurt repeated its angry cycle.
Trapped in the swirling damnation of her own mind, Olivia sat on the edge of the bathtub, fingering the circular band-aid with one hand while the other cradled her burning forehead, remembering how to breathe. She held in her hand an inditement of truth and the permanent bruise that lived on her soul grew darker.
She floated out the door and back downstairs to the kitchen, like a displaced ghost looking for its home. She found Erica gathering her things and putting them in her bag; she smiled at Olivia, bright and happy, eyes like a clam day at sea.
“Found everything okay?”
The question was simple but the answer was loaded and Olivia could feel the weight of it pressing down and squeezing out everything that she was expertly containing; the pressure hurt. She looked up at Erica and nodded her head slowly.
“Yes. Everything. I found everything.” I know about everything.
She walked towards Erica, foot over foot, tiny steps that closed the distance between them faster than she had originally anticipated. Silently, she took the band aid from clenched hands and lay it on the table in front of Erica, who paused slightly before she looked up and asked “What’s this?” as lightly as humanly possible.
“This,” Olivia said swallowing, her voice raised with each word, “is the same band aid that I had behind my ear this morning.”
Everything around them dissolved like questions, disintegrating and becoming part of nothingness and the realization dawned on Erica’s face, clouding her delicate features and darkening her eyes. She blinked rapidly as if she couldn’t see all of a sudden but Olivia went on.
“Is this cut going to scar?” Olivia looked up and held Erica’s eyes with hers and waited for an answer that never came. Erica looked away and suddenly, breathing heavily, but Olivia didn’t need her to say anything at all.
“I told you everything. Every detail, every crazy thing that happened to me because I thought I could trust you. Erica, tell me why you did this. Tell me why you cut a V-shape into my head,” Olivia’s voice was calm but hard and determined yet, underneath, she was shaking, terrified and betrayed.
“I have an army of space aliens threatening to take over Earth, the leader of which have enchanted my son, and, oh yes, two of my most recent partners turned out to be Vs in disguise. So you’ll have to excuse me if I didn’t take the time out to ask you who’s side you were on,” Erica yelled, her voice growing higher and higher with each word as if something inside of her finally snapped.
“So you had to prove to yourself who’s side I was on?”
“It was the only way to know for sure - the skull bone...”
“The skull bone means I’m human.”
Erica nodded and finally looked up at Olivia, waiting for her response.
“Are you satisfied now?” Olivia’s tone was deadly; she had the sudden urge to pull her gun and demand that Erica answer for what she had done, but she didn’t. Instead, she held her ground and refused to give in.
“Olivia, I had to be sure...” Erica trailed off, not needing to finish her sentence.
Unsympathetic and without regard for her partner’s predicament, the swelling rage consumed Olivia once again, despite her best efforts to contain it and it moved up her body at a lightening fast pace. She was unable to control it and her body moved with the force until she was able to contain the outbreak in her throat; its size choked her and she sputtered and gasped for air as her eyes widened in ire. The fury carried her out and away from the woman who could do nothing but stand arms crossed and head bent in a freezing cold kitchen, listening to the sound of a heavy door slamming closed.
//
Olivia Dunham walked out of her apartment building to find Erica sitting on her steps, holding a large Styrofoam coffee cup with a folded piece of paper tucked into the cardboard sleeve sitting on her steps. She narrowed her eyes and almost slammed the door shut before Erica jumped to her feet.
“No, please. Just wait, please?” Erica reached out and grabbed Olivia’s elbow with enough force to make Olivia stop and pay attention. “I have this for you.” She handed Olivia the cup of coffee making sure that she could see the folded paper. Even though Olivia took it from her, Erica didn’t let her arm go.
“Are you going to hold me here while I read this?”
“If I have to, yes.”
“Does it say everything you said to me last night?”
Erica pressed her lips together into a straight line. “Yes, it does but --”
Olivia almost laughed. “Then why should I bother reading this?”
“Because you need to understand the truth. I owe you that much.” Erica’s grip on Olivia’s arm loosened to a softer touch using just the pads of her fingers. “Please, Olivia, give me a chance.”
She was going to protest but something stopped her and she nodded, taking the note out of the cardboard sleeve, she let Erica hold the cup in one hand, the other still gripped her arm. Olivia sighed when she was finished reading. Erica was right. The note didn’t say anything new, nothing that she hadn’t expected or even thought of on her own and had she been in Erica’s position, she might have done the exact same thing. She had to relent, put her personal feelings aside and focus on the job, the task at hand, the invading army of Vs who were hell bent on taking Earth for their own.
Erica let go of her arm then. “I need to take you to a meeting.”
Olivia nodded but didn’t say anything.
“I understand that this is going to be difficult for you and I respect that --”
“Erica, please. Just... let’s just do our jobs.”
Erica nodded. “I’ll wait for you... just grab whatever you might need for a few days.”
Olivia looked confused. “What kind of meeting is this?”
“It’s a training session,” Erica answered honestly. “I’ll explain more on the way.”
Olivia nodded and retreated back into her apartment building to collect some things before coming back down a few minutes later; she joined Erica in her SUV.
“Who are you texting?” She asked, throwing her bag into the back seat.
“Hobbes. I’m letting him know we’re on our way.”
Olivia looked out the window as they sped out and away from the city together. “So this is the day you’re going to teach me the secret handshake?”
Erica pulled out into the busy street and headed away from the city. “Olivia Dunham, welcome to the Fifth Column.”
//
Peter stood lurking in the shadows, watching Olivia as she got out of her car and into the door of her new apartment building. There was someone with her - a woman he didn’t know or recognize but assumed was her new partner. There was something odd about them. They were standing with a noticeable distance between them. They were awkward around each other, neither talking in anything longer than one word replies to short sentences. Olivia moved to leave but the other woman grabbed her by the arm suddenly and he almost bolted from his hiding place to rescue her.
“Easy there turbo,” a slimy voice pulled Peter back from his panic and he turned apprehensively, until he realized who it was - Kyle Hobbes stood behind him, smirking.
Rolling his eyes, Peter turned back to Olivia. She was still standing in the doorway and the other woman still had her by the arm, but Olivia didn’t look uncomfortable. She was leaning into the other woman and Peter narrowed his eyes wondering just what their relationship was all about.
“I never thought I’d see you again, Hobbes,” Peter said, turning away from him and back to Olivia and her new apartment building.
“What? Save your life and this is the thanks I get?”
“Why are you here, Hobbes?” Peter asked, ignoring the delight in Hobbes’ voice.
“Same reason you are,” he answered shrugging, motioning to Olivia; Hobbes leaned against the opposite wall of Peter’s.
“You don’t have to stay,” Peter said as dryly as possible.
“You’re probably right, but I think a show might begin soon.”
“What show, would that be, exactly?”
Hobbes didn’t answer. He ran a hand off of his chin, pursing his lips together and waited for something to happen. “Which one do you know?”
“What?” Peter finally turned his head away from Olivia towards Hobbes.
Hobbes jutted his chin forward. “Mine’s the taller blonde. She’s beautiful, determined, fool-hearty. She rolls her eyes at me, but I’ll get her one of these days,” Hobbes smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. “Which one is yours?”
Peter looked away from him and back towards Olivia’s apartment. Hobbes’ taller blonde had dropped her hand, releasing Olivia from her grasp. Neither of them were speaking and Olivia crossed her arms over her chest. Her eyes started darting around the place and she refused to look at the other woman. She took a step back into the building and the other woman went to follow.
“Olivia... Olivia is... was mine,” Peter sounded faraway, distant, as if saying her name took him back to a place that was much happier, much better, a place long forgotten in this dystopia. He finally looked away from her as Olivia shut the apartment building door and the other woman turned away slowly and headed back to her vehicle. “You work with her?”
“With who?”
“With Olivia,” Peter was getting exasperated by Hobbes’ answering with questions that did nothing but prolong their conversation. He looked directly at Hobbes, who’s smirk fell and he nodded.
“Yea... in a manner of speaking. I’ve been working with her,” he gestured towards Erica who sat unmoving in her SVU, “for a little longer.”
“You must be close with her if you’re spying on her from the shadows.”
“I could say the same thing about you and your Olivia. Have a lover’s quarrel or something?”
“In a manner of speaking... is there a specific reason as to why you’re here?”
“I’m spying on your Olivia.”
Peter turned wide-eyed at Hobbes, staring at him, debating on whether he should punch him or ask a follow up question. Hobbes caught the look and laughed mirthlessly, as if it offered some sort of futile protection.
“I gotta make sure she’s one of us... that she’s not working for them. We’ve lost a lot of people and lizards lately, on their side and on ours.”
“Lizards?”
“Don’t you know? Your Olivia is working for the Fifth Column now. She got roped in by her new partner -” Hobbes gestured to Erica, who was sending text message after text message in her SVU - “had to make sure she’s not one of them first. She didn’t take too kindly to that.”
Peter narrowed his eyes, but didn’t say anything.
“Guess you didn’t know about that.”
“I haven’t talked to her in awhile...”
“No, otherwise you’d be up there in her apartment with her, instead of down here in an alley way, wouldn’t you?”
“How is she?” The question slipped from Peter’s lips so silently that Hobbes barely heard him speak at all. He shrugged in response, expecting a curt insult from Peter and when he didn’t get it, he thought maybe an answer might be more appropriate.
“Fine, I suppose. As fine as one can be having just found out that their world is upside down and a bunch of space alien lizards are trying to take over.”
“I guess it’s no worse than her last job.”
Hobbes laughed again, only this time, he sounded rather amused. “That’s what I figured. She said something about crossing over to a parallel universe. Bunch of bull if you ask me.”
“I don’t think anyone did.”
“Did what?”
“Ask you.”
“So it’s true then?”
Peter paused for a moment, struggling with his answer. He wanted to protect Olivia, protect her now, even though she would never know about it, as if this act would make up for all the other times that he wasn’t there for her. But it wouldn’t, of course.
“What exactly did she tell you?”
Hobbes shook his head. “Just that.”
Peter cocked his head to one side and ran a hand over his face. “Yeah, yeah it’s all true.” He wasn’t being sarcastic, but he didn’t elaborate and Hobbes didn’t press the issue.
Olivia came out of the apartment building suddenly, opening the SVU’s door and strapping her seatbelt on. They said something to each other and then Erica finally started her engine and pulled away from Olivia’s apartment building; Peter kept his eyes fixated on Olivia’s bedroom window.
She hasnt bought curtains yet.
“Anyway,” Hobbes shifted his feet and pulled Peter away from his thoughts. “I guess there’s not gonna be a show here after all.” He turned down the alley and didn’t stop walking, even as Peter called after him.
“Hey! Don’t you still owe me money.”
Hobbes laughed but didn’t stop walking. “Mate, as I recall, our last adventure ended up with you owing me money.”
//
Erica pulled up to Hobbes’ basement and led Olivia down the stairs into the basement cell where Hobbes, Ryan, Jack and Sydney all hovered over top of a body, partially dissected.
“What you got?”
The men eyed Olivia carefully but turned their attention to Erica and her question.
“Well,” Sydney cleared his throat, getting up from his computer screen. “This was a Fifth Column member.”
“We found his body in a field. A V tracker definitely got a hold of him.”
“A tracker? How?” Erica asked as Olivia descended the staircase and took position beside her.
“The communication devices that the Vs have given to humanity all have personal trackers in them. Every conversation you have, every contact you have, everywhere you go, all of that information gets sent back to the V mothership. Apparently, this one here,” Hobbes gestured to the body that lay on the table. “Had some Fifth Column sympathies that Anna didn’t agree with.”
“So this is how Anna’s been able to discover more Fifth Column Vs,” Erica said, almost to herself, but Hobbes nodded and continued.
“They’re tracking suspected Fifth Column members - not just Vs, but humans too and there’s something else. There have been reports of Vs... disappearing.”
“Disappearing?”
“Into thin air - a bright blue light, like from a Blue Energy bomb - and they’re gone. Any idea what that could be all about?”
Erica shrugged and looked at Olivia.
“Don’t look at me. I’ve only just walked into the club.”
Erica considered Olivia for a moment and then turned her attention back to Ryan. “Okay, anything else?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Okay,” Erica said. “Hobbes, I want you to work with Agent Dunham. I want you to show her every tactic that they use. I want her to be prepared for anything.”
“What do you have in mind?” Hobbes asked, eyeing Olivia in a different way, as if he was suddenly happy he had something new to play with.
“We’re going to step up a Fifth Column meeting and hopefully attract as many Fifth Column Vs as we can. It’s time we got some answers to our questions.”
“And a leg up in this war,” Ryan nodded his agreement.
“Set it up,” Erica motioned to Ryan. “I want us to be ready.”
//
Some random warehouse filled with people and aliens disguised as people. No one said anything to each other, everyone was afraid of making eyecontact. Despite this being a “friendly” Fifth Column meeting, no one had any idea who was working for whom. Danger was all around them and the least no one said, the better. Olivia, Erica and Ryan all arrived separately; they circled the concrete basement waiting for something to happen.
Olivia kept her eyes on a man she had never seen before, hidden partially by shadows. Another moved towards him and the two stood face to face when the man reached his arm out and injected the other with something. Olivia narrowed her eyes and tried to make it seem like she wasn’t watching them. She turned her head for a moment, until a flash of light caught her eye, and when she looked back, they were both gone. Alert and worried, Olivia realized what was going on: the drugs, the light, one second they were there, the next they weren’t - they all disappeared at the blink of an eye.
“Erica!” Olivia hissed and nearly grabbed Erica as she walked passed her.
Erica didn’t answer. Instead she side stepped around Olivia, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning against the brick wall, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible. “What?” she asked, directing her question to the floor.
“I... I think they’re crossing over,” Olivia stuttered, trying to keep her voice down. She was excited and agitated - everything was starting to make sense. Olivia took a deep breath, trying to keep her composure.
“Well, how are you able to do it?” Erica pushed herself off of the wall and made it look like she was leaving Olivia standing alone.
“From the drug cortexiphan I was given as a child, but I don’t know how to control it - these Vs seemed to have figured it out though.”
“They must have gotten a hold of some somehow,” Erica said looking up at her finally.
Olivia nodded, tipping her head to the side, trying to catch Ryan’s eye.
“But you can’t crossover at will,” Erica continued as Ryan made his way over to them.
“No. It has to be the right... conditions for me to do it.”
“You two are starting to look a little suspicious,” Ryan said quietly as he joined Erica and Olivia against the wall.
“Olivia seems to think that the Vs are crossing over to the alternate universe. I think they got a hold of some cortexiphan --”
“Massive Dynamic,” Olivia said softly and the others went quiet, waiting for her to explain. “Nina Sharp has access to all of William Bell’s research and all of his equipment at Massive Dynamic, and if she’s aligned herself with Anna, they have all the test subjects they could ever need.” Olivia shrugged and looked at Erica, who was resting her head on her fingers, thinking. “It could have gotten to the point that they were synthesizing it,” Olivia added.
“But what’s in it for Anna?” Erica asked and the others looked at her. “Why would she want to get involved with a third party?”
“Erica, think about it,” Ryan turned to Erica directly, while Olivia eyed the two figures on the other side of the room. “The Vs believe that their potential is limitless and if there’s a drug that actually makes them limitless, they’d be unstoppable. That’s what they’re here for: Anna knows about the other side, and she wants to invade.”
Before Erica could respond, the whole room lit up with blue light and screams filled the air. A seeker bomb... no... maybe... a seeker bomb and a Blue Energy bomb... bright blue light and shrapnel soared through the air hitting everything, knocking everyone off of their feet. A sharp pain hit Olivia over and over again and suddenly she thought her head would explode. The pain was unbearable, but she couldn’t tell if she was bleeding or not. She staggered around the floor, trying to get her bearings back; instinctively, she raised her gun, intending to fire at anyone that might threaten her in this state. Terrified, she fired two rounds into the light and missed the figure that was charging at her.
Hobbes was right... I do have terrible aim...
She missed entirely and the figure took that to knock her off of her feet. She hit the hard cement with a thud and her gun went flying out of her hand and a foot was on her both of her hands, keeping her down. His eyes weren’t human - they were that of a lizard’s, two black diamonds staring back at her and he smiled down at Olivia, as she stared wide-eyed at his smiling face. He cocked his gun, a loud pop and his body fell down over Olivia.
//
The last time Erica held Olivia’s head in her hands, she had taken a small pocket knife and sliced the delicate skin behind Olivia’s ear, revealing blood and skull bone and the truth that Erica had always known but had to prove to the rest of the world. This time, she struggled against a flailing Olivia, who tried to pull away from Erica at every opportunity, proving strong against any force that overcame her, but Erica was stronger and eventually got Olivia to settle, resting her bleeding head in her lap.
//
They made her wait, outside, as doctors and nurses poured into the emergency room bay. Paul stood overtop of her, demanding answers, but she just sat in an arm chair, shaking, with Olivia’s blood caking on her hands.
Paul finally stopped and he sat down beside her and they waited together, until a doctor finally came out.
“... She’s lost a lot of blood...”
Erica rested her fingers against her forehead.
“... Internal bleeding...”
She squeezed her eyes closed.
“... All we can do is make her more comfortable...”
Erica stood, suddenly, ignoring the “Evans!” that demanded her attention. She walked to the nearest deserted corridor to make every phone call imaginable - to Boston, to various members of the Fifth Column; Jack even offered to come and sit with her, offered to come and to take her home, but she refused leave.
“It’s alright, Erica. Why don’t you go and get some rest. I can come and stay with Olivia. I can call you if anything changes...”
The idea was absurd: she wasn’t about to leave her partner here, in this unfamiliar hospital room, so she could die on her own, without anyone she knew... Erica took a deep breath. Olivia didn’t know her, she had never given Olivia the chance to get to know her. She had always kept her new partner at arm’s length. She couldn’t take that chance. Not again, not after Dale... So she sat next to a dying Olivia, who lay in a pristine white sheet, covered in bruises and stitches and tubes. She lay dying and it was her fault, the bomb was meant for Erica, but somehow, Olivia had got caught up in its fire and now Erica sat in a quiet vigil, stroking Olivia’s hand, waiting for the inevitable.
Erica watched as the machines breathed for her, wondering what it would be like if Olivia would just opened her eyes again, if she would smile up at her. She would say: “Hey, there,” and try to keep the tears out of her cracking voice, as Olivia’s eyes would say “It’s okay darling, I’m going to be fine... you’re going to be fine...”
Their set up was a set up: Anna had been on to them the whole time, sending soldiers into a room full of Fifth Column members and even though they had the answers to the questions that they were looking for, there was few left from the latest blood-soaked battlefield that could do anything constructive with them. Erica shook her head at the loss of life, at the loss of potential, at the loss of her partner...
Footsteps behind her made her jump and she turned around gasping, her hand on her chest, the other moving instinctively to her hip, making her wonder what happened to her gun...
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.”
Erica shifted her body sideways so that she could cover Olivia if need be. “No, that’s alright,” she said absently. She wasn’t in the mood to accept anyone’s company, let alone a stranger’s.
The woman took a step towards Olivia’s bed but Erica stood, blocking her path, keeping a hand on Olivia’s leg. She stopped, this short, red head woman, and put her black-gloved hands up in a defensive position.
“I’m actually a friend of Olivia’s.”
“I know who you are, Ms. Sharp.”
“Yes, I thought you might,” Nina paused for a moment, watching Olivia, listening to all of machines in the room. Her tone softened and she watched Erica as her attention returned to Olivia. “I understand that the damage to Olivia is quite severe.”
“Yes, she’ll die soon...” Erica trailed off absently, sitting back down. She was beyond the point of tears and every time she went to cry, nothing but a dry heave clutched her chest. To combat the nothingness that claimed her, Erica stroked the side of Olivia’s bruised face, with the back of her hand. “I called Astrid Farnsworth from Fringe division in Boston but I don’t think that she’ll get her in time.”
“What if I tell you that we have the technology to save her, that Olivia’s life is lost in conventional medicine, but that the technology does exist and that Massive Dynamic is willing to offer its services?” Nina offered, circling around Olivia’s bed.
“I would probably ask you what you’re asking for in return,” Erica said lazily, not caring about the red head who stood behind her.
“It’s not me who’s asking,” Nina said taking a step forward, coming up behind Erica. “It’s Anna, the V Queen,” there was a small pause and her tone changed to something harder, more serious.
Erica didn’t say anything; she pressed her lips together and stroked Olivia’s hand with her thumb. Of course it was Anna, of course Olivia’s life depended on the Vs and all the wonder that they had to offer humanity. Of course.
“And what do I have to do for Anna?”
“Anna wants the leader of New York’s Fifth Column faction.”
Of course she does. “And what does that have to do with me?” Erica asked, feigning ignorance.
“As a member of the FBI’s V Task Force, you have more access to information, to databases, than anyone else, maybe even more than Massive Dynamic. You’re in a better position to secure the location of the Fifth Column’s leader and bring him... or her to Anna,” Nina spoke quietly, allowing the weight to sink into Erica fully, hoping that she would understand her meaning.
Olivia laid limp and dying in a hospital bed with tubes and machines hooked up to her, keeping her alive, slowly making her more machine than person. Erica grazed her tired and sad eyes over the body that never heard her apologies, the body that never realized how sorry she really was, the body that lost consciousness before it could hear No, Olivia... don’t leave me yet.... Erica squeezed Olivia’s lifeless hand, almost expecting... something, something encouraging that would allow her, just once, to take the easy way out. Of course, nothing happened and Nina Sharp was growing more and more impatient; she opened her mouth to say something when Erica cut her off.
“Yes, fine,” she said, never taking her eyes off of Olivia. “Tell Anna that she has her deal. Tell her that She can expect the leader of the Fifth Column to surrender himself in exchange for the technology that will safe Olivia.” Erica squeezed Olivia’s hand again; she was cold and Erica pulled the blanket up higher over Olivia’s body, not minding the look that Nina was giving her.
“Anna is expecting that leader tomorrow on the New York Mothership,” Nina kept her gaze fixed squarely on Erica. There was something about her look that made Erica wonder and suddenly she realized: she knows... that’s all she was looking for all along... and now she knows...
“Does Olivia have that long?” Erica smoothed Olivia’s hair off the side of her face, tracing her jawbone with the back of her fingers.
“I’m told she that does, yes,” Nina wasn’t lying: the deal would fall through instantly if she had been.
“There’s no deal if Olivia is going to die.”
“I’ll give you my personal guarantee that Olivia will survive, providing that Massive Dynamic can help her sooner, rather than later.”
Erica resisted the urge to close her eyes. Instead, she kept her gaze fixed on Olivia as the machines breathed life for her broken body.
“I better go track down the Fifth Column leader.”
Careful of the wires and tubes that penetrated her body, Erica leaned in and gently pressed her lips to Olivia’s temple, never letting go of her limp and listless hand. Olivia’s skin still tasted like blood and Erica licked the coppery taste from her lips sadly before she turned and, never looking back at Nina Sharp, she left the hospital room for Anna’s Mothership.
//
End of Part Two I