FLUFF BREAK

[acautionarytale]

Astrid hadn't been kidding when she said this house had plenty of room. It's a big, sprawling, two-storey... thing on a corner in a residential district that's slowly putting itself back together. Sure the place looks a little worn on the outside....

...But on the inside she's managed to make it an actual home. The place used to belong to a Loyalist couple who, sadly, no longer need it. Astrid has, interestingly, made a habit of appropriating abandoned Loyalist property, mainly because the current provisional governmant considers them forfeit. First come first served, and it seems the Fringe team won't ever have to pay for anything again in this area. So she moved out all the Loyalist propaganda and managed to get in some real furniture and decor. It's a warm and inviting and roomy place that needs explored.

Comments

[acautionarytale]

This gets Astrid thinking, looking about at their surroundings. Hospital rooms always struck her as depressing--the light was the wrong colour, the windows were always in the wrong place, everything just seemed... bleak.

"Maybe I can find some to bring here. This place could use some colour."

[tookhishand]

"Oh, that sounds nice." He's been lucky enough to be given a private room, but: "For everyone?"

[acautionarytale]

Something about the compassion in those two simple words makes Astrid smile, a warm feeling growing in her chest. He's very sweet.

"I can certainly try," she answers. Already she's wondering just how many flowers and balloons and similar things are available to buy right now. Maybe she should make a few things. The place really could use some brightening up.

[tookhishand]

Adorable. It was just a goofy thought, really. All his thoughts are goofy right now.

"I wonder what else will make a comeback."

[acautionarytale]

"Hopefully not skinny jeans."

What. She may be thin, but skinny jeans for someone only five-foot-two are an exercise in awkwardness. She'd rather not relive the 90s and rolled-up trouser cuffs....

[tookhishand]

Skinny jeans...?

Blink blink.

"You'd rather fat jeans?" What.

[acautionarytale]

Astrid has to giggle at that. "If it means that they aren't too long, for once, sure."

She moves the tray table out of the way and pulls up a chair next to the bed. "But I think people are going to want a lot more colour in their lives." A beat. "And hair."

She's thankful for the curly fluff adorning her head.

[tookhishand]

AND HAIR.

He's trying not to laugh, because that seems like a bad idea when there's a hole in you.

Hair.

"Are balding men going to be persecuted now?"

[acautionarytale]

Go on and laugh, Donald, it's good for you. And if it hurts, well, that's what the drugs are for.

Astrid giggles as well. "I dunno about that, but I see Rogaine sales skyrocketing." A beat. "And toupees."

[tookhishand]

Once he starts, he won't be able to stop. For. Ever.

"And beards."

[acautionarytale]

They can giggle and laugh all day.

"It'll be like the sixties all over again."

Well, technically more like the 20's or the 50's, but neither of those post-scarcity decades were sufficiently hirsute.

[tookhishand]

"You aren't that old." Walter is.

...Where is Walter?

[acautionarytale]

"No, but I've read enough history, and heard enough stories...."

She pauses, seeing the change in his expression. "What's wrong?"

[tookhishand]

"...Where is Walter?"

[acautionarytale]

Oh, no.... He must really be drugged. She curls her fingers around his hand.

"Walter left, remember? He went through the wormhole with Michael. They saved us."

[tookhishand]

"...Did they?"

By the time they did, he was unconscious. Not even able to say goodbye...

"They're gone?"

[acautionarytale]

Astrid wants to kick herself. He was very unconscious by the time they'd reached him, after the wormhole had sealed up and the Invaders vanished, leaving a roaring silence behind.

And here she is breaking the news in the worst possible way, not even considering that she was breaking the news.

Instead, she nods, her eyes huge and sad. "Time was running out. It had to be done. I think... they thought you were dead. I'm so sorry...."

[tookhishand]

Michael gone, Walter doomed to be alone the rest of his life and die unhappily... because he was careless and shot in the back like a coward.

If only he'd been faster.

He can't be anything but speechless, in shock.

[acautionarytale]

Astrid would contest that it was whoever that shot him in the back that's the coward, but there isn't anything for it, now.

Seeing his expression, she truly feels like a heel, now. "I'm so sorry... I wasn't thinking."

[tookhishand]

"They're all alone now."

'Oh, please no' pretty much is all that's running through his mind.

[acautionarytale]

Blinking back tears, Astrid places her hand on Donald's shoulder.

"Knowing Walter, he's probably made a home for himself in one of their labs." She offers a tentative smile.

[tookhishand]

His mind is so full of fuzzies he can't remember if she knows this or not: "I was going to go instead, you know."

[acautionarytale]

She didn't know, but once she hears it, it makes sense. She goes back to petting his hair, hoping to comfort him.

"I... Is there anything I can do?"

Probably not, but she'd feel horribly remiss if she didn't ask.

[tookhishand]

"It's too late, isn't it?"

Walter's gone and so is his son, forever.

[acautionarytale]

Astrid nods.

It's breaking her heart to see him like this. She wants to hug him, to tell him it'll be all right even though she knows that, in a way, it won't, that nothing will bring them back.

She can't know what it's like for him, or for Peter and Olivia. She doesn't want to know what it's like. Her mind shies away from that kind of pain. But she wonders if she can even help him with this lack of reference.

She just stays quiet, holding his hand.