Aren't all the best love stories tragedies?

Part One: Charlie

When Charlie was a teenager his father sat him down and told him now that he was really starting to notice girls (this was not a conversation 14 year old Charlie wanted to have and was silently praying for the house to catch on fire) he should know some things about Francis men and love.

"We," his father started, sweeping his arm wide to represent all of Charlie's male relatives, "are happy victims of love at first sight."

Teenage Charlie rolled his eyes. He was quickly rewarded with a cuff to the back of the head.

"Hey, this is important." The older man sat back in his chair and donned a very serious expression. "You may not believe it now but every generation of Francis men have known the woman they're going to spend the rest of their lives with the moment they see them. It's how it was with me and all your uncles and your grandfather and all your predecessors. You can try to fight it but you should know that once it happens you're doomed."

Charlie responded with a simple: 'Yeah, ok', anything to end the conversation before it turned into a discussion about the Playboys stashed under his bed that he bought off of Nick McCarthy.

The night Charlie graduated from the Brooklyn Police Academy is the night he sees Sonia Pace for the first time. He can hear his father's voice in his ear, as if the man was standing in the room, clear as day: "You're doomed."

She's behind the bar pouring shots for a group of fellow celebrating recruits and one of them says something that makes her laugh and she's perfect.

His friend Jackson nudges him from the next seat, a shit-eating grin on his face, and that's when Charlie realizes that he had been in the middle of a sentence and had stopped talking to dumbfoundedly stare at the bartender.

"You had a stroke or something, Francis?" the other man says through his sniggers. Charlie is still reeling from the sudden gravitational force that's steadily tugging him towards the love of his life and so can only muster up a glare at his friend. This only makes Jackson laugh harder. "Why don't you, I don't know, talk to her instead of staring at her like a psycho."

The recent graduate doesn't even bother to respond because he's already out of his chair and moving across the room. He grips the edge of the bar and notices the slickness in his palms and that he's actually nervous. When the bartender notices him she makes her way over with a smile. Charlie's first instinct is to blurt out: "Please bear my children." but he doesn't think that'll go over very well so he begins with the safer: "Hi, I'm Charlie."

Her smile turns sweeter (if that was even possible- and fuck, did he really just think that? He father should have warned him that this 'love at first sight' thing turned you into the kind of sap that he used to make fun of) and she extends her small, perfect hand.

"I'm Sonia."

He somehow manages to have an actual conversation with her though most of the time he's too busy keeping things like 'I love you' and 'will you marry me' from tumbling from his mouth to give substantive responses. He learns that she's from Virginia, runs cross country, is working her way through nursing school and thinks the most horrible puns are hilarious. And she's sweet, really, really sweet; the kind of sweet that rarely survives in this world and Charlie is overcome with the need to protect her from everything.

He doesn't notice the passing of time until last call is announced and he realizes most of the bar is empty. Charlie is hit with a sudden rush of guilt for basically ditching his best friend during their celebration but then Sonia gives him her phone number and all guilt dissipates in the face of joy.

(Years later after the coroner has removed Jackson's body from the floor of that fucking house and Charlie's lying in a hospital bed with a bullet wound in his chest the only thing that's keeping him from completely loosing it is the fact that Sonia is holding his hand.)

Their first date is a disaster. He wants to impress her by taking her somewhere nice even though he knows he can't afford it. Half of the menu is in French (he took Spanish) and their waiter looks down his nose at Charlie's hand-me-down sport's jacket that he's had since high school and he can't think of anything to say.

Charlie's never been a very romantic guy. He can't write poetry (and wouldn't if he could) and thinks flowers are for holidays and funerals. He's a straightforward, down to earth kind of guy, always has been. But he really wishes he hadn't stuttered through his 'you look beautiful' when Sonia met him outside her apartment building.

Sonia's wearing a blue dress that's doing something amazing to her skin so most of his cognitive functioning is concentrating on that.

This is stupid. Things were so much easier at the bar and he probably should have picked a venue where he didn't so jarringly stick out.

He lets her order the wine because she's more qualified to know what's good and what's not. She asks him why he decided to go into law enforcement to try to get the conversation flowing. He shrugs and responds that his father was a cop, his brother is a cop and he just never considered doing anything else. It's a short and rather uninteresting story so their table goes silent again.

Charlie wants to know everything about her so he lobbies question after question at his (future wife) date. Later he realizes he's transitioned from being politely interested to interrogating her. Sonia looks alarmed and a little intimidated and he wants to smack his head on the table. Lucky for him their food arrives soon after that (she ordered something in French because apparently she speaks the language, he got the steak). The rookie cop looks down at the tiny piece of meat on his plate adorned by some sprig of something and what might have been a vegetable at some point and immediately blurts out:

"This is it?"

Charlie becomes distracted from his uncensored outburst and the laser-like glare of disapproval the waiter is aiming at him by the sound of Sonia choking on her wine. She swallows before his brain can register the event as and emergency and starts coughing loudly, the force causing some wine to spill on her dress. She doesn't even seem bothered by it because now that her coughing fit has subsided (mostly due to the glass of water the waiter swiftly provided for her as he looks at her with both concern and pity and shoots Charlie another dirty look) she's taken to laughing at him.

Charlie can feel his face heat up and he can't even remember the last time he blushed but this is just so not going the way he imagined. Sonia, the wonderful, amazing, compassionate girl that she is, is desperately trying to apologize.

"I'm (laughter) so sorry! (laughter) I (laughter) don't mean (laughter) to make fun (laughter cuts off the rest of her apology)…"

Charlie is caught between being mortified and melting at the sound of her glee and so his face has no idea what to do with itself. He attempts a smile but he's pretty sure it comes out a grimace.

They continue their meal in relative silence with Sonia bursting out into quiet fits of giggles every once and a while. He pays (and damn, he's going to have to live off of peanut butter and jelly for the next week or so) and drives her back to her apartment. He has no idea what he's supposed to do if she never wants to see him again, or worse, wants to just be friends because he's totally gone on her and knows all the way down to his bones, no matter how irrational it is, that she's "the one".

He walks her to her door (because Ma raised him right) and before she puts the key in the lock Sonia turns to him like she's going to say something (please, please, please don't say you just want to be friends). But then she's really, really close and she's kissing him. Charlie isn't quite sure how it happens (because he's pretty confident that his higher level brain function had short circuited the second her lips touched his) but once his brain reboots he becomes aware that he's got Sonia pinned between him and her door. Her fingernails are digging into his scalp where she was gripping his hair and he's got a good bit of the material of her dress bunched up in one hand while the other is cupping her jaw, keeping her just where he wants her. Sonia lets out a small, needy noise that vibrates around in his mouth and he just about looses it.

It's only the deliberate cough from down the hall that stops him from doing something stupid, like getting them arrested for fornication in a public space. He detangles them and they both look down the hall at the elderly man who's sending out waves of disapproval before he disappears into his own apartment.

Charlie laughs nervously and runs a hand over his mussed hair. "So…"

Sonia just smiles up at him looking a little dazed. "So maybe next time we should just go out for pizza or something."

(Their second date goes markedly better. He takes her to his favorite pizza place and they spend the first half of the evening trading childhood war stories and making each other laugh and the second half making out in the back corner booth until the owner kicks them out.)

Two months into the relationship Sonia's adorably frustrated, determinately trying to recreate her Nona's secret family recipe for lasagna in his kitchen, and he can't help himself anymore and Charlie proposes. Sonia responds enthusiastically. It's not until later when they're sprawled on the floor naked and panting (lasagna completely forgotten) that he says: "That was a 'yes', right?"

Sonia lets out a loopy, happy laugh and kisses him. "Of course."

Their wedding is simple as they both come from working class families but as long as they get to put rings on each other's fingers they could be getting married at the Y for all they cared. They find an apartment the size of a shoebox that's a reasonable distance from her school and his station house and fill it with their second hand furniture. Charlie's so happy his partner has to constantly remind him to stop looking like an idiot. ("Yeah, you're in love, we get it, I was there when it happened. Now stop smiling like a moron or the perps will never take you seriously.")

For a while everything goes smoothly. Sonia's graduated and working at a hospital downtown and their combined salaries finally allow them to buy some new furniture (Charlie's surprised their rickety bed had lasted as long as it did. Housing a pair of life-long athletes really tested the structural integrity of that thing.). And he and Jackson have always clocked out with at most a few scrapes and bruises on them.

And then they get that domestic disturbance call.

Charlie's lying on the floor and he can actually feel the blood seeping out of him at an alarming rate. He's positive he's going to die.

He can hear male and female voices beside him, they're yelling but it sounds muted to him, he can't even make out what they're saying. And to be honest, he doesn't even care about them right now. That probably makes him a bad cop.

But all that's running through his head right now is: Where's Jackson? Is Jackson ok? What's going to happen to Sonia? I wish Sonia were here.

The world continues to dull and he doesn't even register the two other people in the room anymore- or maybe they're gone. He knows it's a cliché but he really does to feel cold. If he could choose he'd rather the last thing he saw in this world be Sonia rather than the dingy, water-stained ceiling above him but apparently he doesn't get much choice in this.

Then there's only blackness.

Charlie hates physical therapy. Well, he hates everything these days so his disproportional dislike of physical therapy may have little to do with the activity itself. Sonia drives him to and from the hospital and he stalks into the house the minute the car's in the garage. He's in the master bathroom, leaning over the sink, hands gripping the edge of the counter, water from his shower dripping down his shaking arms, silently raging.

He hasn't let go since Jackson's murder. He's so angry that he knows that if he let it out he'd be just like him, that abusive, sick bastard that hit on his girl to make himself feel better. So he keeps it all inside because he can't be like him, he just can't. But he is. It's all his fault.

At the beginning Sonia tried to get him to open up- get him to cry, scream, she didn't care, just let it out. Every time she asked he would look at her and see what would happen if he did- see the bruises on her skin, the blood marring her perfect complexion. Eventually he stops touching her all together. Eventually he starts avoiding her.

While he was in the hospital she was the only thing keeping him alive, now all he wants to do is keep her alive.

Charlie manages to push the rage down far enough for him to leave the bathroom for a glass of water. He ambles down the stairs (he remembers when he couldn't even walk up these stairs his chest was so tight and in pain) and waits around the corner to the kitchen because he can hear Sonia in there. He waits until she goes into the garage for something before getting what he came for. He turns to leave when he spots the table set for dinner. For one.

The image stuns him a little. It shouldn't, they haven't eaten together for months. He spots movement from the corner of his eye (his hand immediately goes to his hip) and turns to see his wife, standing in the doorway staring at him like he's a stranger. Charlie breaks eye contact and turns his back on her.

"I should…" he gestures with the lean of his body that he means to leave.

"Don't you dare." Her voice is quiet and shaking but there's steel under there- enough to still him. He hears her put whatever it is she needed from the garage on the counter and march to face him. "This has to stop."

"Sonia-"

"Stop!" She grabs on to his arms and he jerks away but she follows him and grabs at him again. He can feel all the turmoil bubbling up inside and he's powerless to stop it. "Look at me!" She sniffs and when she speaks again her voice is full of tears. "Please, baby, look at me."

He does (because the sound of the woman he loves crying will make him do anything) and her eyes are pleading with him through the tears spilling over. There's a screaming in his chest like a train going at full speed, everything he needs to suppress trying to get out and at his wife.

"It's not your fault. Jackson's death is not your fault. You're not him. I'm not her. It's not your fault."

He jerks away more harshly this time and she doesn't grab at him again but she doesn't back down either. There's a deafening noise in his head threatening to split it apart and he chest is on fire and he can't stand to hear her lying to him. Everything inside reaches a fever pitch and he just… breaks.

"YES IT IS!"

He's on his hands and knees fists hitting the tiles on the floor over and over, breaking skin and staining the white tile red. He doesn't feel the pain or see the blood or hear the inhuman sound of pain coming from him.

He vision begins to blur and his body begins to shake and all that's left is the guilt and the pain and he's suddenly so exhausted he can't hit anything anymore. Then Sonia's on the ground with him. She tentatively touches his shoulder and he just as tentatively puts one trembling hand over hers. Their first real contact in months makes him aware of this unbearable ache for her in his heart and they just fall together. He's crushing her to him as hard as his worn out body can mange and she's stroking her fingers through his hair soothing him through both their tears.

When they can't cry anymore they crawl their way to the couch and fall asleep wrapped around each other.

(Things were better after that. He still had things to work through but now he wasn't trying to do it alone. Months of physical therapy and only now he was staring to heal. Charlie didn't know what was beyond soul mates but he knew whatever that was is what Sonia was to him and he was never going to be so stupid as to try to ruin that ever again.)

Sonia takes the move to Boston with stride. When Charlie was accepted to Quantico she was proud of him of course (though she wasn't all that happy with how long he would be at the Academy, and honestly, he wasn't looking forward to being apart from her either) and supportive but he always secretly worried that Sonia wouldn't be as accepting if he was assigned somewhere across the country after graduation. Lucky for him Charlie never had to find out.

The Bureau sets them up in temporary housing paid for up to six months until they can find a permanent residence. They decide to buy a house in a quiet neighborhood near good schools.

He meets Olivia Dunham a few years in on a raid. He can tell she's green and terrified and looking for an exit. He gets her attention (and he knows this is Sonia's influence) and says low enough so the others won't hear: "You're gonna be fine."

Later he finds that the junior agent he met is being partnered with him and John Scott. Olivia is driven and eerily competent (when not tossed so completely our of her element as she was before) and tough as nails and Charlie already likes her.

Sonia insists that he invite Livvy (as he's taken to calling her) over for dinner. He's given up the idea that he has any authority in his own home a while go and does as he's told. Not even Liv can resist Sonia's charms and very soon after arriving she's more relaxed and happy than Charlie's ever seen her. Sonia openly threatens Charlie with couch time if he doesn't treat his new partner right and all he can do is duck is head and say: "Yes, ma'am." Said new partner is trying not to laugh at him.

He walks Livvy to the door and says: "I've lost all authority, haven't I?"

Olivia does let out a laugh this time and responds: "Sorry Charlie."

Charlie rolls his eyes and playfully pushes her out the door telling her to amscray.

Sonia's loading the dishwasher when he enters the kitchen and clears his throat. She turns and has that look on her face when she's trying to look innocent but is enjoying the trouble she's got him in too much too pull it off. She must recognize the look on his face because she lets out a squeak and bolts. It doesn't take him long to catch her (she's fast but this is what he does for a living). He pins her to the couch, her arms trapped under her and bites at that one particular spot under her ear while tickling her ribcage until she cries uncle.

(Even in the aftermath of Flight 627 when everything he knows about this world is blown to pieces and one of his partners is a traitor and the other has put herself at the mercy of an insane, dangerous scientist and his equally dangerous criminal son he can still come home and hold and breathe in his wife and it's the only thing that makes sense anymore.)

Years of marital bliss apparently makes Charlie a little too smug in his happiness. The universe or whoever (after some of the things Fringe Division has shown him he doesn't know what he believe in anymore) decides to knock him down a few pegs by letting him know it can all be taken away in a second.

This is the second time he's been this close to death (though having monster larvae explode out of you is infinitely more horrific than bleeding out) and his best friend along with the Bishops (he's much more fond of Peter and Walter than he was at the beginning) are off to try to bait what ever it is that decided he was it's type. He doesn't want them to go. It would be so senseless if they got hurt or killed for him and he died anyways.

He has faith in Liv and faith in the Bishops' combined genius and but he knows the score and doesn't want to go out without talking to his wife one last time. He didn't have that opportunity before.

He's shaking as he dials home and when it rings more than twice he's worried that Sonia's out and that neither of them will get the small comfort of talking to each other one last time. But she picks up- thank God she picks up.

Charlie fights through the pain because all he wants to do is bask in the sound of her voice and the heavenly peal of laughter that comes through the phone. She breaks his heart when she asks if he'll be home for dinner and he gives the only answer he can. He's lied more to Sonia since joining Fringe Division than he has the rest of the time he's known her.

He wants to talk to her for longer but he knows if he does she'll pick up that something's wrong (it's a miracle that she's distracted enough at the moment that's she's not demanding an explanation from him). He doesn't say goodbye when he hangs up. Charlie collapses back on to the chair, his failing body not able to support him any longer and desperately doesn't want to die.

Time moves differently when you're in pain. He's been in pain before, he's knows this, but this agony feels different. He doesn't know if it's been hours or minutes but suddenly Liv's blurry face is back in his vision and even though she sounds like she's a million miles away he's pretty sure she's telling him they got the Franken-monster's blood.

Livvy drives him home and before he gets out of the car she puts a hand on his arm and squeezes. Charlie knows what she means and puts a hand over hers and squeezes back.

"See you tomorrow, kiddo."

The lamp is still on in their bedroom and Sonia is sprawled on her side like she does when she tries to wait up for him and falls asleep anyways. She kisses him sleepily before pulling him over her like a second blanket.

"You feel good."

Charlie wants to do so much more than this. He wants to strip them down to their skins and celebrate and take comfort that they're alive and together. He wants to burry himself in his wife and never ever leave her. But his body is so tired and Sonia is so warm and soft that all he can do is mutter: "You feel good, too." before drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

The day Charlie Francis dies starts like this: He wakes up in a room that isn't his. All he knows is he's alone in bed and the ceiling is the wrong color so he must be in a hotel. But it's not his hotel room in Quantico. Then his brain catches up with him and everything that's happened in the last 48 hours come rushing back to him. Hearing about Livvy's accident, hearing that she was going to die (he wasn't there, couldn't protect her), and then she miraculously wakes up. And she's terrified and trying to hide it but Charlie knows that kind of fear and she doesn't have her own Sonia to hold her hand. He tries to comfort her anyways. He had called his wife later that day to tell her what happened and she insisted he stay up in New York to be with Olivia (he was planning on doing so anyways but hearing the worry and compassion in Sonia's voice made him fall in love with her all over again).

The first thing he does this morning is call home. Now that Sonia's pregnant (It happened almost immediately after the worm infestation incident. He insisted they shouldn't wait another day to start their family and well, he could never really keep his hands off his wife.) his protective instincts have kicked up a couple notches into borderline paranoia. He finds himself calling her at every opportunity to just "check in".

Sonia thinks this is adorable (and completely unnecessary) and laughs at him every time he calls. She's a few months along and the only evidence is that her flat stomach is almost imperceivably rounded. The doctor assured him the a lot of first time mothers don't show very much and it's nothing to worry about. He worries.

She picks up on the first ring.

"Good morning, Charlie." Her voice is filled with amusement and it makes him smile even though she's making fun of him.

"Morning." His voice is still rough (well… rougher) with sleep and he tries to clear it which only makes Sonia laugh.

"Oh, babe, did you just wake up?"

"No."

"You did! Couldn't even wait ten minutes to talk to me. I don't know if that's sweet or stalkerish."

"Ha-ha, you're hilarious."

The conversation turns more serious when she asks how Liv's doing. Charlie gives her an update (doesn't tell her everything of course, some things are just between partners) and she orders him to give Liv her best. Then she asks if Livvy would want a care package. How Liv reacts to those things varies too much for him to give a definitive answer. Apparently that doesn't matter because his wife informs him she already made and sent one out. Charlie just shakes his head and tells her he'll call her later.

"I'll be waiting by the phone with a restraining order."

Charlie laughs. "I love you."

"Love you too. Bye."

The day Charlie Francis dies ends like this: The shapeshifter twists the wedding ring on its hand. There's a tan line where it rests on its finger and a slight indentation in the flesh and muscle that fits it exactly. It's been given a file about the person its form is in. Background, work history, names of important people, and then a long detailed account of Charles Daniel Francis' relationships with those closest to him. The file comes with footage of Agent Francis for it to study and analyze.

Its mission is to find out what Olivia Dunham knows and then terminate the target.

It starts studying.