Crossing over into Canada, the land was inches deep in snow, but the roads were very icy. Astrid didn't think that they were going to make it back to Boston by mid-afternoon.

"Here, here." Walter pointed at a small-unpaved road off the highway. The path had been shoveled and could barely be seen between all of that heavy snow.

"Walter, I don't think that's even a real street."

"I said turn here," Walter kept saying insistently. Astrid didn't have time to reconsider. She learned quickly that if she didn't listen to Walter, then bad things would happen...mostly to her.

So she made the turn.

Sure enough the small road was paved with ice causing the car to slide. Fortunately, the large snow banks on either side lodged the car in putting an end to the sliding.

Astrid turned off the car for a second to calm herself.

"Ah yes, this is it," said Walter. Astrid was confused. They were in the middle of nowhere with their car stuck in the snow. How could they possibly be there already?

She couldn't even talk Walter into staying in the car. He broke free of his restraints and started walking out in a random direction.

Astrid had no choice but to follow him.

The good news, however, was the Walter did seem to know where he was going after all. She could see Walter struggling through the snow in the direction of a wood cabin down the hill. Astrid was relieved, as chances of receiving help with getting her car out of the snow were more in her favor now.

The deep snow made it hard for her to catch up with Walter who was already making his way inside the cabin. She figured as much, that Walter would lack the decency to knock.

Astrid finally reach the cabin five minutes later and was surprised to find the people inside were greeting Walter happily. They did the same for her when she approached. Where the heck were they?

"Welcome to the sugar house!" The strangers greeted her.

"I thought this was a cabin," said Astrid.

"We made just in time," Walter said happily.

"Just in time for what?" Astrid asked. The confusion was filling her head with so much frustration.

The group of happy people in the cabin lead her and Walter outside. They were carrying pots and buckets. They went out to a clearing in the snow and started setting up a grill. They were grilling the pots that were filled with an unusual substance.

"At last," said Walter. "It's worth the five hour trip."

"What are they doing?" Astrid asked him.

"They're heating the maple sap," explained Walter. "When it heats to the right temperature, that is where the fun begins."

Astrid didn't think there was anything fun about sitting outside in the cold waiting for pots of maple sap to boil.

After nearly half an hour or so, the sap was finally ready. Walter joined the strangers in gathering long spoons to scoop up the heating maple. Astrid only stood back and watched as Walter began to spill the maple sap across the snow.

Was this insane? Apparently not, as the others were also just dumping the maple sap into the snow.

"When the sap reaches 234 degrees Fahrenheit, it is poured onto the snow and the cold will solidify it for the sticky chewy-ness that I adore a bit too much," Walter explained to Astrid.

They watch the substance in the snow dry up and Walter went about picking a small string of the sticky substance with his own hands, and handed it to Astrid.

"Are you not going to try it?" Walter asked as he picked up his own piece of sticky maple.

Astrid reluctantly lifted the dangling maple over her mouth and took a bite. It wasn't bad, quite sweet actually, and not to mention sticky.

She found Walter was already gobbling a second piece in his mouth.

Eventually Astrid found herself attempting to make her own pieces of maple with great precision. She made her strands of maple to be the exact size and thickness she desired.

"And there you have it," Walter said to her. "Maple Taffy."

They couldn't spend the whole morning there and Walter understood. She would check her watch with concern as to whether or not they would make it back to Boston before nightfall. They were treading on water as they took the trip with the assumption (from Walter's opinion anyway) that there wouldn't be a new case for a few more days. Walter continued to consume more of the maple taffy. The sticky treat was getting all over his face and mouth.

"Um…Walter," said Astrid. "Why don't you wash your face? I can collect some of the taffy to take back to Boston."

"Of course," said Walter cheerfully. He gave her two large buckets to fill with maple taffy as he head to the bathroom to clean himself off. Astrid thought to herself, 'at least I don't have to help clean Walter off.'

The happy and cheerful strangers at the cabin felt more than obliged to help push Astrid's car back onto the paved road. She felt very grateful for that.

With the backseat loaded with buckets of maple taffy, Walter was now content which more than relieved Astrid. A happy Walter was a cooperative Walter, and now that meant they could focus on getting back to Boston…hopefully without any more trouble.

* * * * * * *

In between the awkward conversations of comparing maple taffy to the sticky effects of human tissue that Walter used to experiment with, a couple of thoughts occured to Astrid.

"Did you know those people, Walter?"

"Of course not," he said. Astrid was not surprised by his response.

"And do you mind if I ask why we had to drive all the way in Canada, when we have plenty of maple trees growing in outside of Boston?"

Walter laughed and said, "oh you silly girl, it had to be Canadian or it wouldn't have tasted so good."

"Really?" she asked. "There's a difference in taste?"

Walter insisted there was, but Astrid was not convinced.

It had to be Canadian.

"Stop this car!" Walter cried suddenly.

Astrid stepped on the brakes as carefully as she could on the icy roads.

"What's wrong?"

Astrid saw Walter looked at the large cup in the cup holder that held the pond fish Walter carried. It was dead.

Poor Blinkles was unable to survive in water that had gotten colder overnight.

"I'm really sorry Walter," she said.

A saddened Walter replied. "It is quite alright but…"

"But what?"

"This fish deserves a proper burial doesn't it?"

Astrid looked into Walter's somber eyes. He was dead serious about giving the fish a burial…and it wasn't going to wait until Boston.

They drove a little ways till Walter found a perfect hillside. They dumped the water out of the cup that Blinkles was in and buried him in the ground with that.

Determined to keep the moment quick but decent, Astrid decided to ask, "So should we say a few words?"

"Yes," said Walter. "Blinkles, you were hoped to be a success when it came to the natural reanimation of fish but mother nature is a cruel thing. Perhaps you were meant to die and be tossed in the garbage bin behind the Japanese restaurant. I hoped you enjoyed your extra hours of life though."

Astrid couldn't think of anything else to say except "and I'm sorry we forgot that you were freezing in the car with us for most of the trip."

They got back to the car with no problem. Walter didn't want Astrid to see that he was still a bit teary-eyed over the lost of Blinkles so he wiped his face with his glove.

Big mistake as Walter still apparently had some of the maple taffy still stuck to his face.

"What the?" Astrid was a bit surprised, not to mention agitated to find the glove stuck to Walter's face. Astrid took off her own gloves to carefully remove the one on Walter's face.

"This is going to hurt," Astrid warned him. After too much hesitation, the glove on the old man's face was finally removed. Walter rubbed his own face with a few fingers tracing the rough remains of the maple taffy and said "well, I suppose I can't tend to my skin like I use to. The taffy still keeps quite a hold on my skin."

Astrid then searched her purse for a wet wipe. She was not at all comfortable about what she had to do, but it had to be done . She took the wipe to Walter's face and cleaned off the rest of the sticky maple, trying not to scrub it off out of fear that Walter's skin might just peel off in a way.

She closed her eyes once or twice as she was doing this, nearly cringing as if having to touch Walter was like having to touch an electric fence.

But sooner or later, much to her surprise, she got through the process and barely succeeded in cleaning his face off. "There, you're clean now," she said to him sighing.

"Perfect," Walter smiled. "Cleanliness makes for less stress on the brain. That has been my theory."

Astrid wasn't responding. All she could think about was how much she needed cigarettes again. Pushing the discomfort and awkwardness of having to clean off Walter's face (as if he were a messy 5-year-old) out of her mind, she put her focus into getting back to Boston.

And fortunately, Walter was in agreement.

* * * * * * *

They arrived in Boston, with their goals met perfectly. Arriving in mid-afternoon so Walter could sleep through the rest of the day and a couple of bucket loads of maple taffy that Astrid went to the lab to store before she went home to get some much needed rest.

When Peter asked her how everything went, the only response she could think of was "like being stabbed with a thousand syringes."

* * * * * * *

The next day Walter arrived in the lab ready for another day of experimenting with the lab animals and playing with foreign devices he had still yet to figure out, like the Internet. These kind of days could NEVER be complete without Walter consuming something sweet and now he had bucketloads of Canadian maple taffy to indulge in.

"By the way, Walter," said Astrid. "I got something for you."

Astrid brought onto Walter's experiment table a small fishbowl with a large gold-colored pond fish swimming around in it.

"What's this?" Walter asked curiously.

"Something to make you feel a little bit better," she said smiling. "I knew Blinkles never had a chance when you found him on the trip yesterday, so I got you a new fish."

"I had a fish yesterday?" asked a confused Walter.

Astrid was stunned at Walter's forgetfulness of yesterday's events but said anyway "yes, you did".

"Oh how wonderful. Thank you very much, young lady." Walter marveled at the fish with fascination. "Would you like to name it?"

"Me?" Astrid was quite surprised at Walter's suggestion. She shook her head smiling as she thought of one. She had only one idea for a name in mind and it was a bit of a sarcastic suggestion in it's nature.

"How about Astrid?"

"Astrid. Yes, that is an interesting name, a wonderful one for this fish. It sounds quite familiar too. Astrid the pond fish. I can't forget that one. Thank you for the suggestion."

She walked away with a smile as if to scream 'I don't believe it'. Walter found a place to keep his fish safe on his shelf of lab animals. He would always remember that the fish's name is Astrid, which was a wonderful name...a wonderful suggestion.

Now if only he could remember the name of that woman in the lab who gave it to him.

END

That's it folks! Story's over!

Pardon if this chapter seemed rushed but I wanted to be done just in time for the return of Fringe...w00t! So what did you think of that weird moment I put in with Astrid having to clean off Walter's face? I felt a bit awkward writing it but I hoped to add more comical points doing that. I can't believe how much of this story was just so...weird funny. I must love writing Walter more than I thought.

BTW I really know nothing about Canadian maple taffy. It's real but I had to research some of this stuff so dont kill me if you're Canadian and this was unrealistic to you.

Thanks for reading.