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fringe_exchangeTitle: "Where the rift is, the break is"
Author: to be revealed later
Characters: Lincoln Lee, Alt!Olivia Dunham
Genre: Gen
Warnings: None
Summary: Set in the Red!verse, before things changed. Missing scene for "6:02 AM EST." Lincoln and Henry wait for Olivia to return.
She'd invited him over for dinner, as an excuse for asking for his help with Henry as it turned out. Over spaghetti and meatballs and a couple of glasses of red wine, she'd finally told him about what she'd done when she'd been on her undercover assignment and how long she'd been gone.
"I thought I was doing the right thing. But the piece of tech I stole, they used it to build something, something so powerful it can destroy a universe," she said sadly.
"But you didn't turn the machine on, Liv. You're a foot soldier in this war. We all are." He wanted to find the words to make her give this up.
"I helped make that happen which makes me responsible. Now I have to try to stop it."
He felt better knowing she'd had feelings for the guy. There was no doubt about it, Liv and Peter Bishop, they made fantastic looking kids. Henry was a really cute baby. And now he knew how on earth she'd managed to get knocked up. Apparently, in the other universe, male contraception was not initiated routinely at the onset of puberty the way it was on their side of divide. This crucial bit of intel wasn't part of her orientation, probably because sex wasn't part of the plan.
What he couldn't seem to let go of was that he'd been duped. He'd had no idea that his Liv was gone, replaced by the other Olivia, the woman Liv been impersonating in the other universe. Charlie had suspected something was up, and Lincoln should have listened to him, not told him he was nuts. It was looking more and more like Lincoln was in way over his head where Liv was concerned. He wasn't acting like her boss, or even like her best friend.
"You're the only one that I trust," she'd told him, as she prepared to walk away. God, how he wanted to believe her. If she trusted Lincoln so much, why hadn't Liv told him about her undercover mission? He suspected, no, he knew he wouldn't have been able to keep it from her.
He didn't like to think about what had happened, about how she'd nearly died, right there in his arms, but being here with Henry was making it unavoidable. They still hadn't talked about that, or about what he'd said to her. Maybe it was better that way. His cards were on the table. The next move, if there was going to be one, would have to be hers.
Lincoln had finished snooping through Liv's medicine cabinet and was starting on the cupboard underneath the sink when the sound of a crying baby intervened.
"Hey little guy. No need for this. Let's get you out of that thing."
Lincoln picked up Henry out of his bassinet and carried him into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, he found the bottle of Liv's breast milk (don't think about it, that way lies madness) into the bottle warmer gizmo and walked around with him while they waited for the buzzer to go off.
This was only the second time Henry had woken up during the long night of waiting, when Lincoln could have used the distraction of caring for a cranky infant. He settled onto the couch in her living room to feed Henry, who guzzled the bottle down in record time. After burping him, Lincoln took him back into the bedroom to check his diaper, hoping for the best case scenario. Placing him onto the changing table, he gingerly opened the diaper. Thank God. After putting Henry into a dry diaper, he wrapped him back up into his blanket cocoon. Carefully, he placed the infant on his back in the bassinet. Newborn babies like to feel snug because it reminds them of the womb. Okay, so he'd done a little research after he'd found out Liv was pregnant. Of course, he wasn't expecting to use his new knowledge base quite this soon.
He peered out the nursery window at the still darkened sky. Restless, he sat down in the squeaky rocker and got up again almost immediately. The wall clock over the changing table read ten minutes to Pooh Bear's left paw, so nearly four a.m.
Close enough. He touched his ear cuff.
Hello Lincoln. What number are you...
"Charlie Francis," he said quickly.
He couldn't afford to wait until Charlie got into work.
Thank you, Lincoln. I'm connecting you.
He'd nearly lost her and he'd still let her head off on a mission that was at best treasonous, at worst suicidal. Now she was gone again. And damn it, she knew he'd already have started after her, if she hadn't made him promise to keep Henry safe.
He spotted the gray duffel she used instead of a diaper bag. `
"Pick up, Charlie...," he muttered. Sliding open the dresser, he stared down at the neat piles of tiny white shirts, pastel nightgowns, white cloth diapers and soft hooded bath towels. All that to take care of one little baby.
She'd refused to have a baby shower or even to take much time off work. It had been only three weeks since the accelerated birth and she was already back at Fringe Division, with a nanny and her mother to help out with Henry. But in a world where so much could and did go wrong with Nature, a healthy baby was a cause for celebration. The gifts had arrived, whether wanted or not.
Why the hell wasn't Charlie answering?
He couldn't wait any longer for Charlie. Quickly, he finished loading the duffel-bag. He found the infant carrier, and put Henry into it, latching the safety straps in place.
As soon as Lincoln stepped outside the apartment, he knew something wasn't right. He pulled out his pocket oximeter, flipping it on while juggling the duffel and Henry's carrier. Oxygen levels were borderline here now. What the fuck? He quickly pulled the portable infant unit out of the duffel, slipped it over Henry's face and switched it on. Henry barely stirred. He needed to get to Fringe Headquarters immediately. Normally he'd take the subway, but Liv didn't live that close to a stop, which meant he'd have to get a cab.
In the meanwhile, what was he going to do with Henry? Why hadn't anyone called him about this atmospheric change? If his portable monitor was picking it up, he knew the instrumentation at headquarters had to be. This wasn't looking good. The question was how widespread this event was already and what, if anything, they could do to stop it.
"Hey little guy, I think you're going to have to come with me. Your grandma can come pick you up at your Mama's work." He searched his brain for the name of whoever was in charge tonight at headquarters. And he still needed to go after Liv.
He touched his ear cuff again. "Fringe Night Squadron Leader," he told the autodialer. That should get someone's attention. "And keep trying Charlie Francis, too."
He decided to go back inside to conserve their oxygen reserves for the journey. The street looked eerily deserted. There should be some cars on the street by now, buses, foot traffic, even if they were all wearing breathers. If her apartment was near ground zero for an event, where were the sirens? Where were his teams?
The autodial kept ringing but no one was picking up, not at headquarters or at Charlie's place. He wasn't getting their voice mail either, which spoke to a widespread service disruption. Damn. It was a long shot, but just in case whatever was going on was confined to Manhatan, he dialed Liv's mother's number. There was no answer there either. Next, he tried switching on the television viewer screen. There was nothing but static, even on the emergency band. The satellites all had back-ups to their back-ups, so what the heck was going on up there?
He switched the apartment's air system to conservation mode. It had the requisite 48 hours of reserve oxygen capacity, but no more. He'd need to figure out a plan long before that ran out.
As soon as he made contact with headquarters and got an update on what the fuck was going on, he'd dispatch someone to pick up Liv's mother and bring her to help take care of Henry. Fringe Division had at least three months of emergency supplies, including oxygen, stockpiled on site. Somewhere there had to be some baby milk and disposable diapers. It was only a matter of time before communications were back on line. In the meantime, he was going to have to cool his heels and hang with Henry.
If he was being honest with himself, he'd known there wasn't a chance in hell that Liv would be home by morning. He shouldn't have permitted her to go in the first place, let alone without back-up. But Liv had always been the one person Lincoln couldn't say no to; although he tried his best to keep it from her, it was clear she was on to him.
Finding her wasn't the issue. He'd have to tread lightly where the Secretary was concerned, but he was getting her back.
Hell, Liv was probably counting on it all along. He wasn't going to let her down. Henry was sleeping soundly so there was no reason to move him back to his bassinet. He sat back on the couch and set the infant carrier on the rug next to him. What was that song that he'd overheard Liv singing to Henry?
"I see the moon, the moon sees me, shining through the old oak tree, please let the light that shines down on me, shine down on the one that I love."
Author's note: Title is from "Persephone the Wanderer" by Louise Glück.
Author: to be revealed later
Characters: Lincoln Lee, Alt!Olivia Dunham
Genre: Gen
Warnings: None
Summary: Set in the Red!verse, before things changed. Missing scene for "6:02 AM EST." Lincoln and Henry wait for Olivia to return.
She'd invited him over for dinner, as an excuse for asking for his help with Henry as it turned out. Over spaghetti and meatballs and a couple of glasses of red wine, she'd finally told him about what she'd done when she'd been on her undercover assignment and how long she'd been gone.
"I thought I was doing the right thing. But the piece of tech I stole, they used it to build something, something so powerful it can destroy a universe," she said sadly.
"But you didn't turn the machine on, Liv. You're a foot soldier in this war. We all are." He wanted to find the words to make her give this up.
"I helped make that happen which makes me responsible. Now I have to try to stop it."
He felt better knowing she'd had feelings for the guy. There was no doubt about it, Liv and Peter Bishop, they made fantastic looking kids. Henry was a really cute baby. And now he knew how on earth she'd managed to get knocked up. Apparently, in the other universe, male contraception was not initiated routinely at the onset of puberty the way it was on their side of divide. This crucial bit of intel wasn't part of her orientation, probably because sex wasn't part of the plan.
What he couldn't seem to let go of was that he'd been duped. He'd had no idea that his Liv was gone, replaced by the other Olivia, the woman Liv been impersonating in the other universe. Charlie had suspected something was up, and Lincoln should have listened to him, not told him he was nuts. It was looking more and more like Lincoln was in way over his head where Liv was concerned. He wasn't acting like her boss, or even like her best friend.
"You're the only one that I trust," she'd told him, as she prepared to walk away. God, how he wanted to believe her. If she trusted Lincoln so much, why hadn't Liv told him about her undercover mission? He suspected, no, he knew he wouldn't have been able to keep it from her.
He didn't like to think about what had happened, about how she'd nearly died, right there in his arms, but being here with Henry was making it unavoidable. They still hadn't talked about that, or about what he'd said to her. Maybe it was better that way. His cards were on the table. The next move, if there was going to be one, would have to be hers.
Lincoln had finished snooping through Liv's medicine cabinet and was starting on the cupboard underneath the sink when the sound of a crying baby intervened.
"Hey little guy. No need for this. Let's get you out of that thing."
Lincoln picked up Henry out of his bassinet and carried him into the kitchen. Opening the refrigerator, he found the bottle of Liv's breast milk (don't think about it, that way lies madness) into the bottle warmer gizmo and walked around with him while they waited for the buzzer to go off.
This was only the second time Henry had woken up during the long night of waiting, when Lincoln could have used the distraction of caring for a cranky infant. He settled onto the couch in her living room to feed Henry, who guzzled the bottle down in record time. After burping him, Lincoln took him back into the bedroom to check his diaper, hoping for the best case scenario. Placing him onto the changing table, he gingerly opened the diaper. Thank God. After putting Henry into a dry diaper, he wrapped him back up into his blanket cocoon. Carefully, he placed the infant on his back in the bassinet. Newborn babies like to feel snug because it reminds them of the womb. Okay, so he'd done a little research after he'd found out Liv was pregnant. Of course, he wasn't expecting to use his new knowledge base quite this soon.
He peered out the nursery window at the still darkened sky. Restless, he sat down in the squeaky rocker and got up again almost immediately. The wall clock over the changing table read ten minutes to Pooh Bear's left paw, so nearly four a.m.
Close enough. He touched his ear cuff.
Hello Lincoln. What number are you...
"Charlie Francis," he said quickly.
He couldn't afford to wait until Charlie got into work.
Thank you, Lincoln. I'm connecting you.
He'd nearly lost her and he'd still let her head off on a mission that was at best treasonous, at worst suicidal. Now she was gone again. And damn it, she knew he'd already have started after her, if she hadn't made him promise to keep Henry safe.
He spotted the gray duffel she used instead of a diaper bag. `
"Pick up, Charlie...," he muttered. Sliding open the dresser, he stared down at the neat piles of tiny white shirts, pastel nightgowns, white cloth diapers and soft hooded bath towels. All that to take care of one little baby.
She'd refused to have a baby shower or even to take much time off work. It had been only three weeks since the accelerated birth and she was already back at Fringe Division, with a nanny and her mother to help out with Henry. But in a world where so much could and did go wrong with Nature, a healthy baby was a cause for celebration. The gifts had arrived, whether wanted or not.
Why the hell wasn't Charlie answering?
He couldn't wait any longer for Charlie. Quickly, he finished loading the duffel-bag. He found the infant carrier, and put Henry into it, latching the safety straps in place.
As soon as Lincoln stepped outside the apartment, he knew something wasn't right. He pulled out his pocket oximeter, flipping it on while juggling the duffel and Henry's carrier. Oxygen levels were borderline here now. What the fuck? He quickly pulled the portable infant unit out of the duffel, slipped it over Henry's face and switched it on. Henry barely stirred. He needed to get to Fringe Headquarters immediately. Normally he'd take the subway, but Liv didn't live that close to a stop, which meant he'd have to get a cab.
In the meanwhile, what was he going to do with Henry? Why hadn't anyone called him about this atmospheric change? If his portable monitor was picking it up, he knew the instrumentation at headquarters had to be. This wasn't looking good. The question was how widespread this event was already and what, if anything, they could do to stop it.
"Hey little guy, I think you're going to have to come with me. Your grandma can come pick you up at your Mama's work." He searched his brain for the name of whoever was in charge tonight at headquarters. And he still needed to go after Liv.
He touched his ear cuff again. "Fringe Night Squadron Leader," he told the autodialer. That should get someone's attention. "And keep trying Charlie Francis, too."
He decided to go back inside to conserve their oxygen reserves for the journey. The street looked eerily deserted. There should be some cars on the street by now, buses, foot traffic, even if they were all wearing breathers. If her apartment was near ground zero for an event, where were the sirens? Where were his teams?
The autodial kept ringing but no one was picking up, not at headquarters or at Charlie's place. He wasn't getting their voice mail either, which spoke to a widespread service disruption. Damn. It was a long shot, but just in case whatever was going on was confined to Manhatan, he dialed Liv's mother's number. There was no answer there either. Next, he tried switching on the television viewer screen. There was nothing but static, even on the emergency band. The satellites all had back-ups to their back-ups, so what the heck was going on up there?
He switched the apartment's air system to conservation mode. It had the requisite 48 hours of reserve oxygen capacity, but no more. He'd need to figure out a plan long before that ran out.
As soon as he made contact with headquarters and got an update on what the fuck was going on, he'd dispatch someone to pick up Liv's mother and bring her to help take care of Henry. Fringe Division had at least three months of emergency supplies, including oxygen, stockpiled on site. Somewhere there had to be some baby milk and disposable diapers. It was only a matter of time before communications were back on line. In the meantime, he was going to have to cool his heels and hang with Henry.
If he was being honest with himself, he'd known there wasn't a chance in hell that Liv would be home by morning. He shouldn't have permitted her to go in the first place, let alone without back-up. But Liv had always been the one person Lincoln couldn't say no to; although he tried his best to keep it from her, it was clear she was on to him.
Finding her wasn't the issue. He'd have to tread lightly where the Secretary was concerned, but he was getting her back.
Hell, Liv was probably counting on it all along. He wasn't going to let her down. Henry was sleeping soundly so there was no reason to move him back to his bassinet. He sat back on the couch and set the infant carrier on the rug next to him. What was that song that he'd overheard Liv singing to Henry?
"I see the moon, the moon sees me, shining through the old oak tree, please let the light that shines down on me, shine down on the one that I love."
Author's note: Title is from "Persephone the Wanderer" by Louise Glück.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-28 09:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-30 08:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-28 11:01 pm (UTC)Okay, so he'd done a little research after he'd found out Liv was pregnant. Of course, he wasn't expecting to use his new knowledge base quite this soon.
<333 Oh, Lincoln. The ending works so beautifully. There's still the tension and things unresolved in the greater scheme, but it feels perfect.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-30 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-29 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-30 08:42 pm (UTC)I remembered from season two that unexplained oxygen loss appears to be a commonplace in the Red!verse, so they'd have to have some safeguards in place.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-29 04:53 pm (UTC)Thank you for this!
no subject
Date: 2012-12-30 08:48 pm (UTC)And yes, Lincoln holding the baby at the end of the universe is a sweet irony.
Someday I hope to write him the happy ending he most certainly deserved.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 03:28 am (UTC)"Apparently, in the other universe, male contraception was not initiated routinely at the onset of puberty the way it was on their side of divide."
Anon, I love you so much for this. More than chocolate, more than pumpkin pie. <3
Your Lincoln is wonderful, smart and caring and, yeah, very much in love. I dig how you made the earphone work too: cool stuff.
I won't lie, by the way -- the portable infant oxygen unit broke. My. Heart. Oh, Alt!verse…
(The whole story is choking me up: so well done, this dying universe, and Lincoln at its center with a sleeping baby. A Christmas fic for sure, of a darker shade.)
no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 06:24 am (UTC)Thank you. *g* Well, come on. There had to be a logical explanation for her pregnancy. It stands to reason that in a world as highly regulated as the Red!verse, with limited resources, and where medicine was so far advanced, that male contraception would be the standard of care.
Yeah, he's in love with her.
And yes, just under the surface what is unfolding feels like a tragedy. I still miss this universe. It makes me a little weepy to think about who and what was lost in the Red!verse side, as well as everything and everyone lost in the Blue/Amber verses. It's been a hard couple of seasons.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 03:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 08:38 pm (UTC)HOWEVER, if you wanted to rewrite the history of the redverse a la Kim Stanley Robinson (without the epic heartbreak), I would love you forever :)
(I loved those books, but they left such an impression on me - every time I read articles about climate change and terraforming, I just want to cry because it all ended so tragically)
no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 08:58 pm (UTC)There is a lot of tragedy in the trilogy, just as with real human history, but that's what makes it so compelling a read for me. It's the War and Peace of Mars scifi. The other thing I love is all of the research he did to write it. I love how detailed he gets describing the space flight and their habitat, and yes the crazy-ass terraforming and its tragic consequences. Really, I love everything about it. My favorite character is Nadezhda "Nadia" Chernyshevski, the Russian engineer, because she goes everywhere and she fixes things! See, hard scifi geek.
no subject
Date: 2012-12-31 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-01-01 02:13 am (UTC)