Fringe: Not What Teacher Said to Do (2/2)
Apr. 7th, 2011 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lotus0kidRating: PG-13 ish. You know, Fringe stuff.
Word Count: 2,602
Disclaimer: Recognize anything? Then it ain't mine.
A/N: And the other chapter.
Summary: "Brown Betty"-verse. Olivia and the gang get a strange new case just in time for an old friend to come into town.
Spoilers: For "Brown Betty."
Chapter One
The eel creature lay still at the bottom of the aquarium that had formerly held goldfish prototypes. Walter, Peter, Olivia, Esther, and Charlie watched it with varying expressions of curiosity, distaste, and fear. Everyone jumped at the flicker of a gill.
“Okay!” Olivia declared over her suddenly racing heart, “There you go, Walter, a live specimen.”
“Yes, thank you, Detective Dunham. Now I would like to see Peter’s wound, if I may.”
“Sure thing,” replied Peter, hobbling to a thankfully corpse-free examination bed (Walter had never been quite satisfied with the harmonies of his post-mortem choir and had scrapped the idea). “Still hurts like hell. I think it might be infected.” Relief filled his face as he lied back on the bed.
Walter rolled closer to his foot and moved his sock and pants leg out of the way. Olivia, looking over his shoulder, suppressed a gasp. The area around the bite was swollen and discolored, streaks of red radiating out to his foot and calf.
“That bad, huh?” Peter had caught the look on Olivia’s face, and the glib question held an undercurrent of fear.
Olivia did her best to smile, “It’ll be fine. We’ll figure this out.” She turned away, “Charlie, can I talk to you in private?”
Charlie blinked, but nodded, following Olivia out of the lab and into a back room she had claimed for her office.
Olivia leaned back on her desk, crossed her arms, and said, “Okay. This isn’t a game anymore.”
“Wasn’t aware it ever was, Liv.”
Olivia held up a finger, “Strike one, Charlie, and that’s the only one you get. Come clean right now- what is this?”
Charlie’s face hardened. He jammed his hands in his pockets and shifted uncomfortably. “This is... beyond classified, you understand?”
Olivia said nothing, just fixed him with a glare as stony as his own.
“The military branch I work for... it’s new. They’re calling it Fringe Division. Basically, when stuff happens- stuff the public doesn’t need to know about... we take care of it. You and your little gang stumbled right into an ongoing investigation.”
“Oh, excuse me,” Olivia snapped, “I only got hired to find out what killed a man. Now my- Peter’s got some kinda crazy eel monster poison in him. I didn’t ask to crash your party, Charlie, but you better have a way to fix this.”
A shade of earnest sympathy softened Charlie’s face. “I’ll call my team, bring ‘em in here. They’re smart- smartest folks I know. Now we’ve got a live one, they’ll be able to fix Peter up.”
Olivia didn’t let the wary mistrust leave her expression, but she nodded, “They better.”
Charlie smiled then, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder, “You really like this Peter guy, huh?”
She shrugged, not meeting his eyes, “I guess.”
“That’s good, Liv. I know it hasn’t been easy gettin’ back on the horse since... Well, I’m just glad you’re givin’ it another shot. That’s all.”
Olivia shot him a tiny smile. “Just get your team in here, okay? Think I’m ready to let the experts handle things.”
Charlie took out his phone, “Lincoln... Yeah... Yeah, listen, cat’s outta the bag. ... No, look, just get in here. Bring everyone... It’s fine, I promise, now go.” He hung up and cast a longsuffering glance at Olivia, who raised an eyebrow, “Lincoln Lee. He’s a bright kid, too bright for his own good.”
Olivia barely had time to warn the others before the so-called Fringe Division trooped into the lab. She leaned toward Charlie, “Were they outside the building this whole time?”
He gave a sheepish shrug.
A pale, worried-looking young man approached them, “Colonel Francis, this really isn’t in the parameters of our assignment.”
Charlie smiled wearily, “If you expect the parameters of any assignment to stay the same, you’re in a lot of trouble, kid. Liv, allow me to introduce Major Lincoln Lee. Lee, this is Detective Olivia Dunham. Consider her and her associates civilian consultants, if it makes you feel better.”
His cheeks turning an abashed pink, Major Lee shook Olivia’s hand, “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“Charmed,” Olivia replied, unable to hold in a grin. She glanced around the lab- Fringe members had already converged on Walter and his aquarium, and Peter and his wound.
“See?” Charlie told her, pride in his voice, “Like I said, we’ll take care of this. Y’know, I really oughta thank you, for snagging the live one. That’s more than we’ve achieved, so far.”
“What have you achieved? Do you know who’s behind this? What’s it got to do with Ernest Bloy, and Massive Dynamic?”
“We’re still puttin’ the pieces together, Liv. I’ll tell ya’ now, Bloy’s death was a surprise. We thought we were tracking down the theft of some chemicals and equipment from Lassen, with the potential for something more serious.”
“Well your potential’s been realized.”
“You said it, sister.” Charlie stepped out into the middle of the lab, back straight and hands held up, “Okay, people, listen up!”
Every Fringe member froze in his or her tracks.
“Priority one: fix Mr. Bishop here. I will not accept another fatality on this assignment. Priority two: work your magic on these specimens and we will find out where they came from. Talk to Detective Dunham and her team, they know more than we do. Let’s get to work.”
The next few hours passed in a blur for Olivia, Esther, Walter, and Peter. Esther watched in amazement as her computer did things under the guidance of Fringe Division she hadn’t known computers could do. Walter collaborated with the Fringe scientists to unify their separate findings into one comprehensive picture of the eel creatures. Information flowed in to Charlie, Lincoln, and Olivia in her office to be analyzed by their investigative minds.
Trace elements found within the muscles of the creatures allowed the team to pinpoint their origin- along the bay north of the city.
“Great,” Olivia said, standing and clapping her hands on her thighs, “Let’s go get the creep.”
Charlie frowned, “Liv, we can’t exactly bring you along on the arrest. If we were real sticklers we wouldn’t’ve let you see this much.”
Olivia just smirked, and brought her face close to Charlie’s. “Hey, remind me when’s the last time I didn’t see a case through to the end.”
Charlie sighed, “You’re a piece of work, Dunham.”
“It’s what makes me the best. Get your guys together and I’ll be with you in a minute.” She left the office and made her way over to Peter on the examination bed. “Hey, how you doing over here?”
Peter’s face was waxy and drawn with pain, but he managed a smile. “I’m okay. These guys of Charlie’s,” he nodded at the five Fringe members who were single-mindedly working on his injury, “They sure know what they’re about.”
“I think you’re in the best hands you could be.”
Peter reached out and took Olivia’s, “Now I am.”
She smiled, running her fingers through his hair. “So, uh, Charlie and me- we’re gonna go get who did this. So even if these fellas can’t figure this out, we’ll bring in the person who can. I promise.”
“Okay, Dunham.”
Olivia leaned down to kiss Peter’s forehead, leaving a trace of red lipstick behind.
***
It was full dark by the time Olivia and the Fringe team arrived at the eel creatures’ place of origin. It was an old farmhouse a few hundred yards from the bay’s shore. Its aged wood was almost invisible in the gloom- lighted windows carried the task of giving it shape. They watched silently from the woods as a door slammed open and a male figure emerged, dragging an agitated goat behind him on a rope.
The man picked his way down to the water’s edge, fighting the goat for every inch. When he made it, he dug in his pocket for a moment before extracting what looked like an eye-dropper. Two or three drops fell from it and into the water. Within seconds the water became a boiling mass of gray bodies, giving Olivia unwelcome flashbacks of the sewer.
“Go,” Charlie murmured, and the entire team sprang to their feet, guns drawn. Charlie led the charge, shouting, “Freeze, by order of the United States military!”
The man jumped and spun around, dropping the goat’s lead and the eye-dropper.
Time seemed to slow down for Olivia as she watched the eye-dropper tumble end over end toward the water. “Charlie...?” she said a bare half-second before the ploop of the dropper’s impact.
The man spun back around as he realized what he had done. “NO!” he screamed as the gray bodies’ already frantic thrashing gained even more strength. More creatures came to the surface, a field of them stretching twenty feet out from the shore. Their screaming filled the air and pressed on Olivia’s eardrums. And then they started flopping onto land.
“Fall back!” Charlie commanded, “Everyone get away from the water!”
The creatures weren’t coming at them exactly, but there were hundreds and they lashed and writhed with such force they surged over the dirt, their jaws snapping all the time. The man was already up to his knees in them, screaming in pain even as he tried to wade out of the flood. The goat had proven its superior reflexes and was already a small shape disappearing into the woods. All the Fringe team could do was back away and keep themselves safe.
“Charlie,” Olivia said, grabbing his arm, “We have to get him outta there, he might be Peter’s only shot!”
Charlie couldn’t hold back a grimace of reluctance, but nodded, and the two of them edged as close as they dared to the pool of crazed eel creatures.
“They didn’t bite through my trench in the sewer,” Olivia said. She held out her hand to Charlie, “Grab on, I’ll pull him in.”
Charlie did as Olivia said. Lincoln, seeing their plan, came down to hold Charlie’s arm and keep him balanced as Olivia stepped carefully into the squirming mass. She could feel dozens of jaws attempt to bite, but none pierced through her trench coat and trousers. “Take my hand!”
The man’s face was a twisted mass of fear and agony, but he managed to focus on Olivia and her outstretched hand and deduce that this was his one chance to survive. He snatched it with both of his hands and took one step before his legs gave out, forcing Olivia to lunge forward as far as she could and wrap her arm around his chest to keep him from sinking into the waiting mouths.
“Pull me back!” she cried to Charlie and Lincoln. She was beginning to feel the creatures’ vicious teeth sink into her flesh. Her own legs faltered with the combined strength of the men when they yanked her backwards onto the ground. The rest of the Fringe team surrounded them. Someone hauled Olivia further away from the creatures while someone else took the man from her grip- she was too distracted by the burning pain in her lower legs to tell who.
The pain continued to be a distraction as someone carried her to a car, someone drove her to the lab, and someone set her on an examination table. She made out Walter’s worried face and Peter’s slack one, and fear became a new distraction entirely. Someone came up to her and put a mask over her face. They told her to breathe and that was easy since she was already gasping. Then there were no more distractions, but everything was black.
***
Olivia’s eyes slid open to see Esther’s frowning face. “Dunham,” she said, “When are you ever gonna be careful?” The frown tried to hang on, but couldn’t hold its own against a burgeoning smile. Esther looked away, “Guys, she’s awake.”
Olivia heard someone take four running steps, and Peter was there, taking her hand and running a hand over her hair and grinning the grin that made his eyes crinkle at the corners. “Olivia...”
“Hey... did they take a chunk outta me?”
His laugh sounded a lot more like a gasp of relief, “No, no, just several dozen nasty nips. You- you’re okay.”
“What about you? And if the eggheads figured it out five minutes after we left, do me a favor and lie to me.”
“Well, they did figure it out. Not in five minutes, but they did. But you saved the life of John Heeley, the scientist Lassen fired ten years ago who’s been plotting his revenge ever since. He’ll never walk again, on accounta’ losing his legs below the knee, but he’ll face justice for killing Ernest Bloy.”
Charlie appeared behind Peter, “Turns out ten years ago Bloy caught him stealing from the Lassen labs. He was instrumental in getting Heeley fired. So siccing the worms on him was kind of a revenge act slash science experiment.”
“Sounds like a real prince,” Olivia said, “I’m glad he’s gettin’ what’s coming to him.” She sat up, and looked down at her legs. Her trousers had been cut off at the thigh and bandages covered almost every inch from her knees down, “Aw, my slacks- I liked those.”
“I’ll buy ya’ new ones, crazy dame,” Charlie growled good-naturedly.
“You better, since I helped solve your case and nab your bad guy.”
He shot her a crooked grin, “It was good work you did, Dunham. You and your gang. Fringe Division could use good eggs like you all.”
Olivia lifted her eyebrows, “All this and a job offer? You flatter me, Colonel Francis.”
“Okay, well, you change your mind, just let me know.” He stood, “One thing Fringe doesn’t have to recommend it is the paperwork. We’ll be on our way, Liv.”
“It was good to see you, Charlie.”
“Likewise, always.” He leaned in for a tight hug, pulling Esther in as well, “Miss Figglesworth, you’ll keep an eye on this little hellion, won’t ya’?”
“That’s what I put on my resume, Charlie.”
He chuckled and released them, then looked to Peter, “That goes double for you, Bishop, understand?”
“I could think of worse things to keep both eyes on, colonel. Take it easy.”
Charlie released Olivia and Esther and shook hands with Walter, “Great to meet ya’, sir.”
“A-and you as well. Here, have a lollipop for the road.”
Walter passed the candy to him, and he put it in his mouth. His eyes widened at the flavor, “Wow, strawberry-coffee, yeah. That’s- that’s somethin’ else.”
Lincoln said a quick good bye and hustled after Charlie as the rest of the Fringe team filed out, leaving the lab suddenly very empty with only four people.
“I didn’t want to answer without asking everyone’s opinion,” Olivia said, “but what do you think of Charlie’s offer?”
“Well,” Peter replied, “I can’t say the case of the crazy eel things was fun, but it was definitely more interesting than cheating husbands or insurance fraud.”
“You should’ve seen what they did with my computer,” Esther said, eyes slightly glazed and tone wistful.
“I did enjoy the intellectual challenge of it, to be quite honest,” Walter admitted guiltily.
“Not sure how much I wanna give up being my own boss, to join the army no less,” Olivia mused. “Still, who knows? Might be fun.”
Walter tapped at his aquarium where the live specimen swam, “Do you think I could teach it to sing?”
***
Ella sighs happily, sitting back in her desk chair. The chapter is sitting pretty at fourteen pages. She’ll send it to her beta in the morning.
Word Count: 2,602
Disclaimer: Recognize anything? Then it ain't mine.
A/N: And the other chapter.
Summary: "Brown Betty"-verse. Olivia and the gang get a strange new case just in time for an old friend to come into town.
Spoilers: For "Brown Betty."
Chapter One
The eel creature lay still at the bottom of the aquarium that had formerly held goldfish prototypes. Walter, Peter, Olivia, Esther, and Charlie watched it with varying expressions of curiosity, distaste, and fear. Everyone jumped at the flicker of a gill.
“Okay!” Olivia declared over her suddenly racing heart, “There you go, Walter, a live specimen.”
“Yes, thank you, Detective Dunham. Now I would like to see Peter’s wound, if I may.”
“Sure thing,” replied Peter, hobbling to a thankfully corpse-free examination bed (Walter had never been quite satisfied with the harmonies of his post-mortem choir and had scrapped the idea). “Still hurts like hell. I think it might be infected.” Relief filled his face as he lied back on the bed.
Walter rolled closer to his foot and moved his sock and pants leg out of the way. Olivia, looking over his shoulder, suppressed a gasp. The area around the bite was swollen and discolored, streaks of red radiating out to his foot and calf.
“That bad, huh?” Peter had caught the look on Olivia’s face, and the glib question held an undercurrent of fear.
Olivia did her best to smile, “It’ll be fine. We’ll figure this out.” She turned away, “Charlie, can I talk to you in private?”
Charlie blinked, but nodded, following Olivia out of the lab and into a back room she had claimed for her office.
Olivia leaned back on her desk, crossed her arms, and said, “Okay. This isn’t a game anymore.”
“Wasn’t aware it ever was, Liv.”
Olivia held up a finger, “Strike one, Charlie, and that’s the only one you get. Come clean right now- what is this?”
Charlie’s face hardened. He jammed his hands in his pockets and shifted uncomfortably. “This is... beyond classified, you understand?”
Olivia said nothing, just fixed him with a glare as stony as his own.
“The military branch I work for... it’s new. They’re calling it Fringe Division. Basically, when stuff happens- stuff the public doesn’t need to know about... we take care of it. You and your little gang stumbled right into an ongoing investigation.”
“Oh, excuse me,” Olivia snapped, “I only got hired to find out what killed a man. Now my- Peter’s got some kinda crazy eel monster poison in him. I didn’t ask to crash your party, Charlie, but you better have a way to fix this.”
A shade of earnest sympathy softened Charlie’s face. “I’ll call my team, bring ‘em in here. They’re smart- smartest folks I know. Now we’ve got a live one, they’ll be able to fix Peter up.”
Olivia didn’t let the wary mistrust leave her expression, but she nodded, “They better.”
Charlie smiled then, reaching out to squeeze her shoulder, “You really like this Peter guy, huh?”
She shrugged, not meeting his eyes, “I guess.”
“That’s good, Liv. I know it hasn’t been easy gettin’ back on the horse since... Well, I’m just glad you’re givin’ it another shot. That’s all.”
Olivia shot him a tiny smile. “Just get your team in here, okay? Think I’m ready to let the experts handle things.”
Charlie took out his phone, “Lincoln... Yeah... Yeah, listen, cat’s outta the bag. ... No, look, just get in here. Bring everyone... It’s fine, I promise, now go.” He hung up and cast a longsuffering glance at Olivia, who raised an eyebrow, “Lincoln Lee. He’s a bright kid, too bright for his own good.”
Olivia barely had time to warn the others before the so-called Fringe Division trooped into the lab. She leaned toward Charlie, “Were they outside the building this whole time?”
He gave a sheepish shrug.
A pale, worried-looking young man approached them, “Colonel Francis, this really isn’t in the parameters of our assignment.”
Charlie smiled wearily, “If you expect the parameters of any assignment to stay the same, you’re in a lot of trouble, kid. Liv, allow me to introduce Major Lincoln Lee. Lee, this is Detective Olivia Dunham. Consider her and her associates civilian consultants, if it makes you feel better.”
His cheeks turning an abashed pink, Major Lee shook Olivia’s hand, “Nice to meet you, ma’am.”
“Charmed,” Olivia replied, unable to hold in a grin. She glanced around the lab- Fringe members had already converged on Walter and his aquarium, and Peter and his wound.
“See?” Charlie told her, pride in his voice, “Like I said, we’ll take care of this. Y’know, I really oughta thank you, for snagging the live one. That’s more than we’ve achieved, so far.”
“What have you achieved? Do you know who’s behind this? What’s it got to do with Ernest Bloy, and Massive Dynamic?”
“We’re still puttin’ the pieces together, Liv. I’ll tell ya’ now, Bloy’s death was a surprise. We thought we were tracking down the theft of some chemicals and equipment from Lassen, with the potential for something more serious.”
“Well your potential’s been realized.”
“You said it, sister.” Charlie stepped out into the middle of the lab, back straight and hands held up, “Okay, people, listen up!”
Every Fringe member froze in his or her tracks.
“Priority one: fix Mr. Bishop here. I will not accept another fatality on this assignment. Priority two: work your magic on these specimens and we will find out where they came from. Talk to Detective Dunham and her team, they know more than we do. Let’s get to work.”
The next few hours passed in a blur for Olivia, Esther, Walter, and Peter. Esther watched in amazement as her computer did things under the guidance of Fringe Division she hadn’t known computers could do. Walter collaborated with the Fringe scientists to unify their separate findings into one comprehensive picture of the eel creatures. Information flowed in to Charlie, Lincoln, and Olivia in her office to be analyzed by their investigative minds.
Trace elements found within the muscles of the creatures allowed the team to pinpoint their origin- along the bay north of the city.
“Great,” Olivia said, standing and clapping her hands on her thighs, “Let’s go get the creep.”
Charlie frowned, “Liv, we can’t exactly bring you along on the arrest. If we were real sticklers we wouldn’t’ve let you see this much.”
Olivia just smirked, and brought her face close to Charlie’s. “Hey, remind me when’s the last time I didn’t see a case through to the end.”
Charlie sighed, “You’re a piece of work, Dunham.”
“It’s what makes me the best. Get your guys together and I’ll be with you in a minute.” She left the office and made her way over to Peter on the examination bed. “Hey, how you doing over here?”
Peter’s face was waxy and drawn with pain, but he managed a smile. “I’m okay. These guys of Charlie’s,” he nodded at the five Fringe members who were single-mindedly working on his injury, “They sure know what they’re about.”
“I think you’re in the best hands you could be.”
Peter reached out and took Olivia’s, “Now I am.”
She smiled, running her fingers through his hair. “So, uh, Charlie and me- we’re gonna go get who did this. So even if these fellas can’t figure this out, we’ll bring in the person who can. I promise.”
“Okay, Dunham.”
Olivia leaned down to kiss Peter’s forehead, leaving a trace of red lipstick behind.
***
It was full dark by the time Olivia and the Fringe team arrived at the eel creatures’ place of origin. It was an old farmhouse a few hundred yards from the bay’s shore. Its aged wood was almost invisible in the gloom- lighted windows carried the task of giving it shape. They watched silently from the woods as a door slammed open and a male figure emerged, dragging an agitated goat behind him on a rope.
The man picked his way down to the water’s edge, fighting the goat for every inch. When he made it, he dug in his pocket for a moment before extracting what looked like an eye-dropper. Two or three drops fell from it and into the water. Within seconds the water became a boiling mass of gray bodies, giving Olivia unwelcome flashbacks of the sewer.
“Go,” Charlie murmured, and the entire team sprang to their feet, guns drawn. Charlie led the charge, shouting, “Freeze, by order of the United States military!”
The man jumped and spun around, dropping the goat’s lead and the eye-dropper.
Time seemed to slow down for Olivia as she watched the eye-dropper tumble end over end toward the water. “Charlie...?” she said a bare half-second before the ploop of the dropper’s impact.
The man spun back around as he realized what he had done. “NO!” he screamed as the gray bodies’ already frantic thrashing gained even more strength. More creatures came to the surface, a field of them stretching twenty feet out from the shore. Their screaming filled the air and pressed on Olivia’s eardrums. And then they started flopping onto land.
“Fall back!” Charlie commanded, “Everyone get away from the water!”
The creatures weren’t coming at them exactly, but there were hundreds and they lashed and writhed with such force they surged over the dirt, their jaws snapping all the time. The man was already up to his knees in them, screaming in pain even as he tried to wade out of the flood. The goat had proven its superior reflexes and was already a small shape disappearing into the woods. All the Fringe team could do was back away and keep themselves safe.
“Charlie,” Olivia said, grabbing his arm, “We have to get him outta there, he might be Peter’s only shot!”
Charlie couldn’t hold back a grimace of reluctance, but nodded, and the two of them edged as close as they dared to the pool of crazed eel creatures.
“They didn’t bite through my trench in the sewer,” Olivia said. She held out her hand to Charlie, “Grab on, I’ll pull him in.”
Charlie did as Olivia said. Lincoln, seeing their plan, came down to hold Charlie’s arm and keep him balanced as Olivia stepped carefully into the squirming mass. She could feel dozens of jaws attempt to bite, but none pierced through her trench coat and trousers. “Take my hand!”
The man’s face was a twisted mass of fear and agony, but he managed to focus on Olivia and her outstretched hand and deduce that this was his one chance to survive. He snatched it with both of his hands and took one step before his legs gave out, forcing Olivia to lunge forward as far as she could and wrap her arm around his chest to keep him from sinking into the waiting mouths.
“Pull me back!” she cried to Charlie and Lincoln. She was beginning to feel the creatures’ vicious teeth sink into her flesh. Her own legs faltered with the combined strength of the men when they yanked her backwards onto the ground. The rest of the Fringe team surrounded them. Someone hauled Olivia further away from the creatures while someone else took the man from her grip- she was too distracted by the burning pain in her lower legs to tell who.
The pain continued to be a distraction as someone carried her to a car, someone drove her to the lab, and someone set her on an examination table. She made out Walter’s worried face and Peter’s slack one, and fear became a new distraction entirely. Someone came up to her and put a mask over her face. They told her to breathe and that was easy since she was already gasping. Then there were no more distractions, but everything was black.
***
Olivia’s eyes slid open to see Esther’s frowning face. “Dunham,” she said, “When are you ever gonna be careful?” The frown tried to hang on, but couldn’t hold its own against a burgeoning smile. Esther looked away, “Guys, she’s awake.”
Olivia heard someone take four running steps, and Peter was there, taking her hand and running a hand over her hair and grinning the grin that made his eyes crinkle at the corners. “Olivia...”
“Hey... did they take a chunk outta me?”
His laugh sounded a lot more like a gasp of relief, “No, no, just several dozen nasty nips. You- you’re okay.”
“What about you? And if the eggheads figured it out five minutes after we left, do me a favor and lie to me.”
“Well, they did figure it out. Not in five minutes, but they did. But you saved the life of John Heeley, the scientist Lassen fired ten years ago who’s been plotting his revenge ever since. He’ll never walk again, on accounta’ losing his legs below the knee, but he’ll face justice for killing Ernest Bloy.”
Charlie appeared behind Peter, “Turns out ten years ago Bloy caught him stealing from the Lassen labs. He was instrumental in getting Heeley fired. So siccing the worms on him was kind of a revenge act slash science experiment.”
“Sounds like a real prince,” Olivia said, “I’m glad he’s gettin’ what’s coming to him.” She sat up, and looked down at her legs. Her trousers had been cut off at the thigh and bandages covered almost every inch from her knees down, “Aw, my slacks- I liked those.”
“I’ll buy ya’ new ones, crazy dame,” Charlie growled good-naturedly.
“You better, since I helped solve your case and nab your bad guy.”
He shot her a crooked grin, “It was good work you did, Dunham. You and your gang. Fringe Division could use good eggs like you all.”
Olivia lifted her eyebrows, “All this and a job offer? You flatter me, Colonel Francis.”
“Okay, well, you change your mind, just let me know.” He stood, “One thing Fringe doesn’t have to recommend it is the paperwork. We’ll be on our way, Liv.”
“It was good to see you, Charlie.”
“Likewise, always.” He leaned in for a tight hug, pulling Esther in as well, “Miss Figglesworth, you’ll keep an eye on this little hellion, won’t ya’?”
“That’s what I put on my resume, Charlie.”
He chuckled and released them, then looked to Peter, “That goes double for you, Bishop, understand?”
“I could think of worse things to keep both eyes on, colonel. Take it easy.”
Charlie released Olivia and Esther and shook hands with Walter, “Great to meet ya’, sir.”
“A-and you as well. Here, have a lollipop for the road.”
Walter passed the candy to him, and he put it in his mouth. His eyes widened at the flavor, “Wow, strawberry-coffee, yeah. That’s- that’s somethin’ else.”
Lincoln said a quick good bye and hustled after Charlie as the rest of the Fringe team filed out, leaving the lab suddenly very empty with only four people.
“I didn’t want to answer without asking everyone’s opinion,” Olivia said, “but what do you think of Charlie’s offer?”
“Well,” Peter replied, “I can’t say the case of the crazy eel things was fun, but it was definitely more interesting than cheating husbands or insurance fraud.”
“You should’ve seen what they did with my computer,” Esther said, eyes slightly glazed and tone wistful.
“I did enjoy the intellectual challenge of it, to be quite honest,” Walter admitted guiltily.
“Not sure how much I wanna give up being my own boss, to join the army no less,” Olivia mused. “Still, who knows? Might be fun.”
Walter tapped at his aquarium where the live specimen swam, “Do you think I could teach it to sing?”
***
Ella sighs happily, sitting back in her desk chair. The chapter is sitting pretty at fourteen pages. She’ll send it to her beta in the morning.
