Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
Title: Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
Fandom: Fringe
Characters: Olivia, Charlie. Mentions of Altlivia, Alt!Charlie, Peter.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers up to 3x09.
Disclaimer. The characters belong to Fox and the title and cut tag belong to Phantom of the Opera.
Summary: Written for angeldylan628 at the Fall Fandom Free For All. (Sorry it's late!) Olivia wishes for a second chance with Charlie.
Olivia had had the dream most nights in the first few weeks after she’d shot the stranger with Charlie’s face, or a variation on the same theme. Sometimes she’d keep firing at the shapeshifter, only for him to keep getting up again and coming after her. Once, he had turned into her stepfather before her eyes.
She’d even had the dream once when she was Over There, believing she was the other Olivia, and she hadn’t been able to understand it at the time. It had seemed so real that she had actually called Lincoln Lee fearing for their Charlie, and had felt relieved to hear that Charlie had been with him all night. Now, of course, she understood that it had been the memories of who she really was attempting to force their way through her consciousness.
The night after she’d told Peter she couldn’t be with him, Olivia dreamed of Charlie again, except this time she knew it was the real Charlie standing before her. “You’re upset with Peter right now, because he couldn’t tell the other Olivia wasn’t you. But you couldn’t tell for a long time that the shapeshifter wasn’t me. You didn’t recognise me, Liv.”
Charlie Francis. Beloved husband and friend. June 22, 1976 - October 8, 2009.
Olivia wasn’t even sure why she was sitting beside this graveside. It wasn’t even Charlie buried there anyway, but the mercury-soaked remains of the shapeshifter that lay beneath this headstone. And the date of death, October 8, wasn’t even Charlie’s real date of death, but the date when Olivia had killed the shapeshifter. Olivia had railed at Broyles at the time, but he had insisted that that be what happened. There would have been too many questions asked if the truth had been told.
You did so much for me, Charlie, and I can’t even give you the memorial you deserve?
It was true, he had done a lot for her, from the day they’d first worked together and Charlie had reassured her that everything would be fine on that sting operation, and now Olivia felt that she’d let him down by not realising that that thing hadn’t been Charlie.
But she also felt that she’d let him down in other ways as well. Whilst she was Over There believing she was the other Olivia, their Charlie had made a casual reference to his mother sending him out to buy her cigarettes. It was only after she’d returned home that Olivia realised she didn’t know whether her own Charlie had had the same experiences, and now she was never going to be able to find out. Why was it that they had never talked about their families? She remembered too how Charlie had been surprised when Rachel had turned up that day after she’d been kidnapped by Jones, because he hadn’t even realised that she had a sister, and yet the Charlie Over There had been on first name terms with their Marilyn Dunham, and had mentioned that he’d known Rachel, too.
And they’d never been on a trip to Coney Island like the one the other Olivia and Charlie had taken, where Charlie had thrown up all over some guy on the roller coaster. Why had they never done anything like that? Why had Olivia never spent any time with Charlie outside work, developed the kind of relationship the other Olivia had with her Charlie, before it was too late?
Charlie appeared to Olivia in a dream again the next night. “I’m sorry I was hard on you for not recognising me. Sonia didn’t know either. Nobody did. And Peter wasn’t the only one who couldn’t tell that she wasn’t you, either. Most people didn’t know. Forgive him, Liv. Give him a second chance.”
“But Charlie,” Olivia whispered, “the only person I want a second chance with is you.”
Fandom: Fringe
Characters: Olivia, Charlie. Mentions of Altlivia, Alt!Charlie, Peter.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Spoilers up to 3x09.
Disclaimer. The characters belong to Fox and the title and cut tag belong to Phantom of the Opera.
Summary: Written for angeldylan628 at the Fall Fandom Free For All. (Sorry it's late!) Olivia wishes for a second chance with Charlie.
Olivia had had the dream most nights in the first few weeks after she’d shot the stranger with Charlie’s face, or a variation on the same theme. Sometimes she’d keep firing at the shapeshifter, only for him to keep getting up again and coming after her. Once, he had turned into her stepfather before her eyes.
She’d even had the dream once when she was Over There, believing she was the other Olivia, and she hadn’t been able to understand it at the time. It had seemed so real that she had actually called Lincoln Lee fearing for their Charlie, and had felt relieved to hear that Charlie had been with him all night. Now, of course, she understood that it had been the memories of who she really was attempting to force their way through her consciousness.
The night after she’d told Peter she couldn’t be with him, Olivia dreamed of Charlie again, except this time she knew it was the real Charlie standing before her. “You’re upset with Peter right now, because he couldn’t tell the other Olivia wasn’t you. But you couldn’t tell for a long time that the shapeshifter wasn’t me. You didn’t recognise me, Liv.”
Charlie Francis. Beloved husband and friend. June 22, 1976 - October 8, 2009.
Olivia wasn’t even sure why she was sitting beside this graveside. It wasn’t even Charlie buried there anyway, but the mercury-soaked remains of the shapeshifter that lay beneath this headstone. And the date of death, October 8, wasn’t even Charlie’s real date of death, but the date when Olivia had killed the shapeshifter. Olivia had railed at Broyles at the time, but he had insisted that that be what happened. There would have been too many questions asked if the truth had been told.
You did so much for me, Charlie, and I can’t even give you the memorial you deserve?
It was true, he had done a lot for her, from the day they’d first worked together and Charlie had reassured her that everything would be fine on that sting operation, and now Olivia felt that she’d let him down by not realising that that thing hadn’t been Charlie.
But she also felt that she’d let him down in other ways as well. Whilst she was Over There believing she was the other Olivia, their Charlie had made a casual reference to his mother sending him out to buy her cigarettes. It was only after she’d returned home that Olivia realised she didn’t know whether her own Charlie had had the same experiences, and now she was never going to be able to find out. Why was it that they had never talked about their families? She remembered too how Charlie had been surprised when Rachel had turned up that day after she’d been kidnapped by Jones, because he hadn’t even realised that she had a sister, and yet the Charlie Over There had been on first name terms with their Marilyn Dunham, and had mentioned that he’d known Rachel, too.
And they’d never been on a trip to Coney Island like the one the other Olivia and Charlie had taken, where Charlie had thrown up all over some guy on the roller coaster. Why had they never done anything like that? Why had Olivia never spent any time with Charlie outside work, developed the kind of relationship the other Olivia had with her Charlie, before it was too late?
Charlie appeared to Olivia in a dream again the next night. “I’m sorry I was hard on you for not recognising me. Sonia didn’t know either. Nobody did. And Peter wasn’t the only one who couldn’t tell that she wasn’t you, either. Most people didn’t know. Forgive him, Liv. Give him a second chance.”
“But Charlie,” Olivia whispered, “the only person I want a second chance with is you.”