A/N: This one is a prompt that I recieved on Tumblr - a lot of people wanted to see a back story (how Liv and Linc met), also mentions of Charlie, and the vortex mentioned by Lincoln in "6:02AM EST". I had a lot of fun writing this one, hope you all like it! Please review if you read!

She looked in the mirror and smiled to herself, admiring her work. Red hair was definitely different than she was used to, but she was starting her new job tomorrow, and she felt like with such a career change, she needed to change something else as well. This was her chance to start over, and make people saw the side of her that she wanted them to see.

She knew she was going to be working with at least one person from the academy, and while that made her a little nervous, she also knew that she was going to prove it to everyone that she was more than capable of doing this job. Getting a call-up to Fringe Division wasn't just any job. This was the toughest job she was ever going to have to do.

Looking in the mirror one last time, she took a deep breath, and prepared herself for what might happen today. Crazy things happened in Fringe Division, and she had no idea what was in store for her.

"New girl's here." Charlie's gruff voice greeted him when he walked in the room, and he rolled his eyes.

"So?" He asked, taking his jacket off and hanging it on the back of his chair.

"So… you're our leader, you're supposed to make her feel welcome." Charlie said, smirking at Lincoln.

"Shut up. I'm not doing anything until Broyles asks me to, okay? We have a case to get solved and just because someone new is here doesn't mean I'm going to drop everything."

Charlie mumbled something about Lincoln being full of himself, but Lincoln stopped paying attention. Sure, he was a bit bitter that someone was coming to join their team. It had always been Charlie and Lincoln, partners and best friends, and not only was someone disrupting their partnership, but it was a girl. Lincoln was aware of how terribly sexist that sounded, but he tried not to dwell on it.

The door to HQ opened and Broyles walked in, with a redheaded woman behind him and it took everything Lincoln had not to shout at the top of his lungs. He knew this woman. Not well, granted, but he remembered her from the Academy. "Lee, Francis, this is Olivia Dunham. She'll be partnering with you." He said, and without another word, he left the three of them alone.

Charlie was the first one to introduce himself, and Lincoln noticed how Olivia's eyes flicked to him every few seconds as though she was trying to figure out where she recognized him from. He moved forward to introduce himself, but just as he got close, another agent from across the room took it upon himself to step right in front of Lincoln and offer his hand to Olivia, who shook it warily.

Lincoln rolled his eyes for the millionth time that day, and waited patiently for his turn to meet his new partner. When he finally got closer to her, he thought for a second that her eyes were an unreal shade of green, but then she spoke, and he forgot all the nice things he had been thinking.

"Ah, Lincoln Lee. I remember you." She had said, in the confident, sure-of-herself way that she always spoke with, and Lincoln was taken aback for a second.

"Um, you do?" he asked, and she nodded.

"From the Academy. I remember you. You're a science nerd, right?" She asks, and he frowns for a second.

"I don't know if I'd put it like that…"

"No, she's right." Charlie said, and Lincoln shot a glare in his direction.

Two weeks went by, and the team was slowly learning how to work with each other and make the day go by smoothly. Charlie and Olivia got along really well, and they were the first to form a solid friendship with each other. Sometimes Lincoln felt jealous. He knew it was ridiculous to feel that way, but he couldn't help it sometimes.

Lincoln and Olivia were civil to each other, but they weren't rushing to be best friends, either. It seemed like right when they were starting to get along, something would happen that would cause them to argue. Lincoln thought Olivia was the most stubborn person he had ever met, but Olivia also thought the same about him. They argued about this fact, as well.

"Today we've got a vortex. Class 4. I need all hands on deck, immediately." Colonel Broyles stood in front of them, addressing Lincoln next. "Agent Lee, I need your team down there first. Quarantine protocol needs to be initiated."

"Sir, that area is full of families, we can't possibly - " Lincoln started, but stopped when Broyles held up a hand to silence him.

"We've ordered everyone to evacuate. Whether they do it or not is not something we can worry about right now. We need to get down there and stop this thing from getting any bigger, or it's going to swallow half of this city."

Charlie put a hand on Lincoln's shoulder as a sign that they just leave without any other complaints from him, and Lincoln shrugged him off. "We'll take care of it, sir." Lincoln said, although not without attitude.

The three Fringe agents stormed out the door, almost the entire Fringe division following suit, all piling into the vans that were waiting to take them to the site of the vortex. "Dunham, you ever seen a class 4 vortex before?" Charlie asked her, watching as she re-laced her boots.

"Nope," she replied, "but I'm looking forward to getting up close and personal with this one." She said, grinning.

"We're not getting that close, Olivia. Don't get your hopes up." Lincoln said, and Olivia frowned.

"We're initiating the amber, how the hell are we going to do that if we don't get close enough?"

Lincoln sighed, "There's only so much we can do, Olivia. If we get too close, that vortex will swallow us and most of the city block whole, and we're not going to let that happen."

Olivia rolled her eyes, "Yes sir."

Lincoln opened his mouth to respond, but was immediately stopped by the van screeching to a halt. They had arrived, and he didn't react right away, taking a deep breath to steady himself before facing this thing. The back doors flew open, and the team shuffled out, starting to assess the situation.

Olivia was immediately overwhelmed. There were people everywhere, some were crying, and some looked angry. The police tape was barely holding people back, and she watched in awe as Lincoln and Charlie took off towards the vortex site, ducking under the police tape to get there.

"Dunham! Let's go!" Lincoln called, and Olivia snapped out of her trance, following her partners.

"I need a full scan of this area, someone figure out how long we have!" Lincoln shouted. The wind was picking up, and Olivia definitely noticed.

"Here, go put this on that mark," Lincoln pointed at a blue 'x' made out of tape on the floor, "but don't press the button until I give the signal."

"I know how amber protocol works." Liv remarked, and Lincoln looked like he wanted to snap at her, if his tense jaw was anything to go by.

"We've got about 10 minutes before this gets really out of control, Agent Lee," A junior agent told Lincoln, "Amber needs to be put out now."

Lincoln sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, something Olivia noticed he did when he was thinking, and trying to make a decision.

"We don't have a choice." She said to him, quietly, and he looked at her with something like surprise on his face, "We have to save the rest of those people who live around here, Lincoln." She said, and he was still staring at her.

"Amber protocol in 60 seconds." He said, speaking into his earpiece so the other agents could hear.

Olivia smiled at him briefly, happy that he had taken her advice, before pressing the button on the amber canister. The countdown started, and the motion around Olivia started to pick up. People were still streaming out of the apartment building, and Olivia's heart clenched as she watched a mother struggle to get her two children out of the front door. On impulse, Olivia rushed over to them. "Hey kids," she started, looking at the mother quickly, "what do you say you guys get outside, and then I'll show you my badge later?" She asked, and the little girl nodded. "Alright, out you go!" She said, smiling when the mother sent her a grateful look.

Turning back towards the scene, she saw Lincoln watching her again, that surprised look still on his face. She didn't get a chance to say anything before the countdown got louder, and Olivia started to panic a little. "Lincoln! Let's go!" She called out to him, and he nodded, but something out of the corner of his eye got his attention. There was a little boy in the corner of the room, his knees pulled up to his chest. "Lincoln!" Olivia called again, her eyes wide with panic.

"Just give me a second!" He said, and made his way over to the boy, ignoring the countdown that was already at 60 seconds.

"Hey, little man. You need to get outside with your parents!" He said, smiling and trying to keep the sheer fear off of his face.

"I don't know where my Mommy is…" the little boy sobbed, and Lincoln tensed.

"Is she outside? Did you get lost?" he asked, ignoring Olivia's calls from the other side of the room, and Charlie's voice in his earpiece asking where the hell they were.

The little boy shook his head, "I don't know where she is!" He cried, and Lincoln bent down to pick him up, "No! I want my Mommy! I can't leave without my Mommy!"

Lincoln frowned, "Alright, it's okay, I'm with Fringe Division, okay? I'm going to help you get out of here and then we'll find your Mom, okay?" He spoke in a soft voice, and he noticed that Olivia had gotten closer, close enough to hear the conversation.

"Lincoln, we have to go." She said quietly, so as not to scare the little boy.

"I can't leave him here, Liv." He said, and Olivia faltered – he had never called her by her nickname before.

"We need to get out, Lincoln, we have less than 50 seconds."

The little boy started to stand just then, and Lincoln glanced out the door, seeing a woman crying and pointing inside the building to where they were. "Is that your Mom, pal?"

"Yeah! I can see her!" He said, almost jumping up and down.

"Listen, I want you to run out the door to her as fast as you can, okay? I'll race you…" Lincoln said and that got the boy running, straight out the door to where his mother was.

"Lincoln!" Olivia's voice broke him out of his thoughts, and he nearly puked when he saw the amber gas filling the upstairs level. "We need to go, now." She said firmly, and he nodded.

Lincoln ran to the door, and pushed, but nothing happened. "What the…" he said darkly, shoving at the automatic doors with all his might. "They're supposed to open by force if the power is disconnected…" He muttered, and Olivia's panicked voice caused him to turn around.

The gas was filling up the elevator, and when he glanced through the doors, he saw Charlie, wide-eyed, shouting orders at junior agents who were trying everything to get Lincoln and Olivia out without getting too close to the vortex.

"Alright, brace yourself," Olivia said, and before Lincoln could react, she whipped out her gun and shot the glass to his right, which she immediately kicked through. She kept kicking until there was a space big enough for her to crawl through. "Come on, hurry up!" She said, looking exasperated.

Lincoln let out a disbelieving laugh before pushing through the glass, shoulders first. He got to his waist before he let out a groan, and stopped moving. "Shit." He cursed, and Olivia looked back at him.

"What are you doing? Come on!"

"I'm stuck." He said, "I think I'm cut too."

Olivia ran back over to him, and saw that he was bleeding, "Oh no… okay… Okay. This is fine, it's going to be fine…"

"What? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"You need to pull that piece of glass out, Lincoln." She said, "And hurry up!" She said, "we have 30 seconds!"

"I can't pull it out… Olivia, pull me through."

"Are you out of your mind?"

"Just do it! I can't… I have a thing about blood, okay? I can't pull it out, I need you to just pull me the rest of the way through!"

"I'll just make that cut worse! There's got to be another way out."

"Dunham! Just do it." Lincoln said firmly, looking into Olivia's eyes. He saw the fear there, and spoke quietly, as the amber countdown rang out in his earpiece, "Pull me out. Please."

"It's going to hurt," she said just as quietly, and he nodded.

"Just do it."

She didn't count, didn't give him any warning whatsoever, she just pulled with all the force she had left, and he grimaced, tears springing to his eyes as the piece of glass stuck in his side deepened.

They both fell onto the sidewalk behind Olivia, and barely got up in time before the gas was seeping out of the crack that they had just created. "Go!" Lincoln yelled, and Olivia grabbed his arm, literally pulling him behind her. They just got behind the quarantine line just as the amber started to solidify.

"Jesus, what the hell happened in there?" Charlie shouted at them, and Lincoln glanced at Olivia, who was laughing, and laughing hard.

Lincoln couldn't help it; as soon as he saw her laughing so hard, he started to laugh as well, the both of them lying on the sidewalk. He was practically bleeding out, but he didn't even feel the pain.

"You guys are a pain in my ass, you know that?" Charlie said, shaking his head as he walked away from them, rounding up the rest of the Fringe team.

Lincoln calmed down, taking a few deep breaths before turning to Olivia, who was standing, brushing the dirt off of her pants. "Hey, Dunham." She turned to him, a glimmer of a smile still on her face. "Thanks." He said, and she nodded.

"Anytime, pal."