Disc: I'm just a fanfiction writing loser. People like me can never own shows like Fringe in a billion years. Though I think I could if I had a billion dollars. Ha!

A/N: Man can you believe my Fringe fic muse fuse has been dry for over a month? I guess the hiatus is having the opposite effect on me. Oh well, one more week to go!

I.

"I'm afraid I can't honor that request," Broyles replied.

Astrid stood before him shaking nervously, but it was more than because this was her first personal meeting with the man of great classified superiority.

"Look, I know it's a lot to ask but I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't fearing for my life. I don't care if you want to put me behind a desk for the rest of my life. But I really don't think I can do this anymore."

She tried putting so much of her desperation and fear of the stabbing incident in the lab into her plea. It had been an attack on her of an unusual fashion, which only indicated the severity of Walter's unpredictable…possibly dangerous…behaviors.

"Is Agent Dunham aware about your concerns?"

"Yes sir," she addressed Broyles in desperation. "She said if I had your permission…maybe…you'd understand…"

"It won't be that simple, Agent Farnsworth," Broyles argued.

"You know this stuff regarding…"Astrid realized she was talking a bit too loud and leaned closer to Broyles hoping to preserve the secrecy. "…the Pattern? I swear I really don't know much about it. Wouldn't understand it in a million years. I swear I won't tell anybody about it. I've only helped out with Walter…"

"And that's exactly why you need to stay on this assignment."

"Wha…what do you mean that's why?"

"I've been hearing how closely you've been working with Dr. Bishop, Agent Farnsworth."

"I was only doing my job, sir. I was told to help him with anything he needed."

"And you have done an extraordinary job with that. That is why we cannot transfer you. Your association with Dr. Bishop allows us to keep a better eye on him."

"But…but…what about Peter?"

"Peter maybe his son, but you have gotten closer to the work he's been doing in the lab. Whether you believe it or not, you have greater access to his mind, how he thinks and how he strategizes and most important you have complete access to his experiments and studies. That is what we're looking out for. We're looking to see what his next move will be. You keep this up, Farnsworth, and you'll be graduating ahead of everyone on your level."

It became clear then that Broyles was not going to let her off this project so easily. She had to take to chance though. Not having the decency to remember her name was bad enough but the syringe attack was just brutal. What if was just the beginning of Walter's unpredictability? What if there was a purely malevolent side to Walter just on the verge of explosion? And what would happen is said explosion occurred with Astrid standing by his side?

All of these questions could not be easily answered and she couldn't count on Broyles for any more information. She would have to do some more research on Walter herself...if only to understand what more she could possibly be in for.

She knew that Walter was released from St. Claire's, in fact, that really didn't surprise her. She knew that someone got killed…perhaps Walter drilled into someone's skull a bit too far back.

It only took her five minutes to look up Walter Bishop on the computer. It was the standard "brilliance scientist" comments until she got the information that her mind had to absorb with such horror and atrocity.

The lab incident.

One assistant killed in explosion.

Assistant? Astrid was aware that she was becoming more Walter's assistant and much less Olivia's by the day. In fact it didn't bother her at all at first. The strange machines that Walter had laying around in that cold dark basement intrigued her. And when Walter asked her as part of their first introduction (and most certainly not the last) if she wanted to see what he was doing, the first thought that went through Astrid's mind was "hell, why not?"

Famous last words.

Now it seems between getting any food that Walter demanded during unusual hours of the day, and making sure Gene's feed was delivered to the basement in the morning, and having to rent movies or TV shows that Walter missed out on during his incarceration, she found herself asking Walter questions about the dangers of drilling a hole in a man's head, or putting Olivia in a tank of water wearing a massive net of wires. It was more doubt building up inside of Astrid's mind. Her curiosity was the cause of these risks…that she knew. And she knew all about risks in her training as an FBI Agent.

But this was different. This was a personal association she was (much to her own horror) developing with Walter. And now (ever since that syringe went into her neck) she knew that Walter had very little regard for the safety of those around him for the sake of science. And even THAT had not changed after all the years he spent being punished for that crime.

If she worked with Walter anymore…she really was going to die.