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

[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.

[tookhishand]

He takes a deep, shaky breath, trying to get a hold of himself. Not really fair to dump this on her, she lost her friend too. All her friends, after being trapped for two decades.

But he can't look at her.

[acautionarytale]

Her friends are gone, her own father is long dead, and there they are, together but utterly alone, in the same room but miles apart.

She hasn't let go of his hand, though, even though part of her mind tells her she should leave him be. Because maybe he shouldn't be alone right now. Maybe she shouldn't he alone right now, either.

A tear falls from her eye and hits the sheet with a tiny plop.

[tookhishand]

What can he possibly say? He can't think clearly to think it all away.

No one's come to visit him but her. Does he even have friends?

"This wasn't the way it was meant to be."

[acautionarytale]

Oh, damnit.

Astrid gives up and sits on the edge of the bed.

"I know it's not. But..." and here her natural optimism takes over and words just seem to fall out. "...we're still here. And we have to make the best of it. Neither of them would want us to give up."

[tookhishand]

"No." he says, rather tiredly. "Walter did what he set out to do, or the invaders would still be here."

Without him. He supposes he's jealous.

[acautionarytale]

"That's right. The invaders are gone. At least some kind of good has come out of this. It's another chance to live."

Please please please let some optimism rub off? Please? She carefully reaches around the tubes and wires to hug him.

[tookhishand]

He's huggable, even now. All in all, the hole in him isn't that big. And he's beyond pain, woo woo.

"What are you going to do?"

[acautionarytale]

Hug snuggle hug.

"Maybe I'll get a regular job," she muses, half-smiling. "Cashier or pizza delivery. And then implode from boredom in a month."

[tookhishand]

"Those are beneath you." Honestly, former FBI agent, smarter than most of the world, plenty of training and education... she can do better.