nightcathedral | Put one foot wrong and I'm gonna fall...

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Put one foot wrong and I'm gonna fall...

It's nearly three in the morning when Olivia slips out of her room and heads down to the lab where Tony Stark had a sensory deprivation tank set up for her. She moves quickly and quietly, and doesn't bother switching on the lights when she enters the lab, leaving the blue glow of the monitors around the room to light her way - she's hoping that the less she does, the less JARVIS will take notice of her, and maybe he won't wake anyone to tell them what she's doing before it's too late. There are letters on her bed to Steve, to Jane, to Tony and Bruce, and between that and her absence, and whatever security cameras she's sure are monitoring this room, that'll have to do to explain where she's gone.

She eases the door quietly shut behind her, and crosses the room to the bright steel table where the syringes full of Cortexiphan Dr. Banner managed to synthesize are already laid out. Olivia picks one up, grimaces a little, and slides the needle into the big veins just below her wrist. Maybe this is what went wrong the last time. Maybe she needs a dose of the drug to get her to the right place. She's praying that's what it is, because otherwise, she's running out of ideas or other plans.

The empty syringe makes a soft ringing sound as she tosses it back into the tray. Olivia's already all but running up the stairs to access the tank. There's a breathing apparatus dangling over the top, just like in Walternate's lab. She grabs it, fits it into her mouth and takes a breath, and slides into the water with hardly a ripple.

For a minute, nothing happens. Olivia floats in the tank, eyes closed, just breathing and thinking of letting the universe pass through her, just like Walter told her the first time. Thinking of home.

Between one breath and the next, she vanishes, with only a swirling disturbance in the water of the tank to mark that she was there at all. The room stays silent, the tank empty, for another minute or two.

Then the tank explodes in a roar of heat and light, a ring of fire spreading outward and taking hold anywhere it can, blackening what it can't. Olivia tumbles out of the tank along with the water and lands with a crunch in the shattered glass from the tank, choking and gasping while the fire that wasn't put out by the flood dances up the walls.

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Olivia shakes her head, forcing a little smile. "Sorry, I was just... It's nothing." She can't even come up with a believable lie for what interrupted her train of thought - a part of her feels like he'd know, somehow, if she did lie, and the rest of her doesn't want to lie to him.

She'll tell him if he needs to know. When she decides it really is a legitimate concern. But until then... There's no reason to give him one more thing to worry about.

They reach the end of the hall and the door out onto the street, and Olivia pauses just outside, taking a moment to take in the familiar scene. Her home. Her universe. She smiles. "Welcome to Boston, Captain."

It's good to see her smile. He can't imagine the relief of being back where you started - back where you really started. He inhales, expecting somehow that the taste of the air on another world will be different, but it's no stranger than the interior of the building or the view of the street.

The cab pulls up to the sidewalk, and Steve automatically steps forward to open the door for Olivia - before realizing that she might not appreciate it. He lets go and steps back, scratching his nose, before rounding the cab and installing himself in the back seat on the other side.

"...thank you." She sounds surprised, more than offended - it's hard to be offended by that kind of gesture when it comes from Steve, and she's still smiling as she slides into the cab.

She gives the driver her address and settles back, pointedly ignoring the odd looks the man keeps casting Steve in the rearview mirror. If she pretends there's nothing strange about two people catching a cab from a lab in Harvard in the middle of the night, one in a shirt that doesn't fit him at all... maybe the driver just won't ask. She can hope, anyway.

It's a short drive from Harvard to her house - fifteen minutes on a normal day, less at this time of night with next to no traffic - but Olivia all but vibrates with tension the whole way, drumming her fingers unconsciously against her thigh as she stares out the window. The last time she saw Rachel and Ella, she wasn't sure she would see them again, and now even a fifteen minute wait seems like an eternity.

Steve, for his part, is focused out the window, wondering if he should be trying for conversation. That particular thought fades as he starts to marvel at just how similar this city looks to his Boston. Well, his new Boston. It's almost easy to forget that he's not just riding with her to the airport to head back to New York after a press meeting.

They're pulling up to her place before he's ready to lose the companionship, silent though it is. He climbs out and hesitates before going back around to Olivia's side of the car, though he's half expecting her to be out before he gets there. He would be, if home was that close. He wouldn't be able to help it.

Olivia manages to restrain herself from bounding out of the car and up to her apartment, but just barely. She stays put long enough to pay the man - Astrid, thank God, had the presence of mind to hand her cab fare along with the information on Steve's hotel - and by then Steve's opening her door for her. She slides out, and hesitates for a second, glancing from him to her building.

"Would you like to come up and meet Rachel? Or... you can just head to your hotel if you're tired - I'll drop by in the morning with some clothes, and anything else you need..."

He looks down at himself and gives a little cough. "Um. I'll walk you up, at least. But I don't really think I'm fit to meet anyone at the moment."

A pause as he realizes something else. "....Did anyone tell her you were coming?"

That... is a good point, and one that probably should have occurred to her before now. "Probably not, unless Astrid or Peter thought to call her after they left... But I don't think she'll mind the surprise."

She leans back in to the cab to tell the driver they'll be just a minute, and then starts for the building without waiting for an answer, moving at something just short of an actual run. At the door, she forces herself to stop and take a breath for a second before knocking.

After a minute, the locks click open, and Rachel opens the door - just a crack at first, but that doesn't last long once she sees who's outside. "Oh my god, Liv!" She throws the door open and lunges out to hug her, so fiercely it's almost difficult to breathe. Olivia can't say she minds.

Steve thinks he should probably make tracks and let the two of them have their reunion, but he also doesn't want to just vanish without a word. Lord only knows what she'd think at this point - he's probably going to be paranoid about people disappearing on him for months after all this is sorted out.

"Agent Dunham, if you'll excuse me- I guess I'll see you in the morning?"

Olivia manages to pull away from Rachel enough to turn back toward Steve, and nods a little. "Of course. Try to get some rest, okay? Tomorrow's going to be-"

"Aunt Liv, you're back!"

Olivia has just enough time to bend down and lift Ella up, rather than letting her plow into her legs at top speed. She's a lot heavier than Olivia remembers, but she manages to settle her on her hip, Ella's arms around her neck. "Hey, baby girl. You should be in bed right now."

"I wanted to see who was knocking!" Ella protests, and leans around Olivia a little to peer at Steve. She's obviously wide awake and not about to go back to bed any time soon. "Hi! I'm Ella. What's wrong with your shirt?"

"I'm Steve. I tried to wash and dry it while I had it on," he says, not missing a beat, and suddenly feeling far more comfortable in this situation than he had a moment ago. Kids, he can handle. He likes kids, and by and large he finds they like him. There's a refreshing lack of judgement now that he's not one of them any more. "Wasn't the best idea I've ever had."

Steve winks and offers her the button he accidentally pulled off, which he'd been fiddling with during the taxi drive. "I should let you and your Aunt Liv catch up. It was very nice to meet you, Miss Ella."

Olivia laughs softly in surprise at Steve's response to the question, while Ella takes the offered button with a perplexed little frown.

"...thanks," she says with a dubious look at Steve, which only makes Olivia bite back another laugh.

"Thank you, Steve. For... dropping me off." Whether or not she needed it is irrelevant. It's nice of him to do it anyway, when the last thing he should be concerned about is her. She hesitates for a second, and then sets Ella down reluctantly and ducks past Rachel to grab a pad of paper and a pen off the table near the door and scribble down her home phone number. She assumes it hasn't changed while she's been gone. "If you need anything before I drop by, call me. It doesn't matter what time it is."

He ducks his head, a touch of self-consciousness returning when he remembers the situation. He takes the note and gives a little nod, knowing he won't call her unless something particularly dire happens. Then something else occurs to him, and he pauses again before turning away. "What should I do about... Um. Clothes?"

Because Rachel needed more reason to question his presence at Olivia's apartment.

"Oh! I think... Wait here just a minute." She steps back inside, squeezing Rachel's should lightly as she passes to reassure her that she's not going anywhere, and heads quickly for the bedroom.

Rachel just eyes Steve uncertainly for a moment, quietly trying to come up with an explanation for her sister's sudden reappearance with this man, who for some reason doesn't seem to have his own clothes. It's not working.

"So... do you work with Liv?"

"Y...es...?" Steve winces at how that comes out. "Our areas overlap. Our areas of expertise- Yes, we work together."

Deep breath, awkward not-quite-shuffle. He's suddenly very aware once again of the fact that he's basically half-naked at someone else's door. He's wishing he'd just forgotten to ask, or told himself not to. "I've been working with Olivia while she's been away. Agent Dunham, I mean."

Rachel frowns at him. That explanation helps nothing, Steve. "My sister fell off the face of the earth, her coworkers had no idea where she went, and all this time she's been working with you? What-"

Olivia clears her throat as she comes up behind her. "Rach. It's okay." She knows her sister's going to take issue with that comment, but letting her interrogate Steve isn't going to help anything.

She steps back out into the hallway, a T-shirt in hand. It's obviously too large for her, one of John's she used to sleep in; she hasn't worn it since he died, but she couldn't bring herself to throw it out either. Olivia offers to Steve with an apologetic smile. "This should fit you a little better. I'm afraid I don't have anything else, but it should do until we can go out and get you other clothes."

Once again, relief. He accepts the shirt with a little bob of his head, distracted by Olivia's sister but not quite meeting Rachel's eyes. "I'm sorry, but that's all I can really say. Agent Dunham knows better than I do in this particular instance what- um. What you have clearance for."

He throws a salute with the hand holding the shirt, managing to smile at Olivia with real warmth despite the awkwardness. "This is perfect. Thank you, O- Agent Dunham. I'll just."

He gestures to the stairs and beats a hasty retreat.

Rachel manages to stay silent until he's gone, but only just. "Seriously, Liv, I'm... ecstatic to have you home, but what the hell?"

Olivia sighs as she turns to go back inside, and offers Ella her hand, which Ella eagerly takes. She's going to need some time to think up a few believable lies... or a way to phrase the truth so it sounds plausible to Rachel. "I promise I will tell you everything I'm legally allowed to know, just... Can I put Ella back to bed first?"

There's no chance Rachel could say no to that request, and they both know it. She shakes her head, but she's grinning while she does, and so is Olivia as Ella tows her eagerly inside.

It's tempting to sleep in. It really is. If Broyles is ever going to give her a pass on taking an unannounced personal day, it's going to be now, but she can't justify that to herself. She has a report to write, things to explain to her team... and she promised Steve she'd come find him in the morning.

It's still late in the morning when she arrives at his hotel, on the off chance he managed to sleep in. He deserves a little rest before she subjects him to Walter again. The walk up to the room is familiar - just like old times, when she used to stop by to wake Peter in the middle of the night so she could talk to Walter - and before long she's juggling coffee cups so she can knock on his door.

That he managed to sleep at all is something of a miracle - but old habits have him up before the sun and, since there's not much else he can do, he goes down to find the hotel's gym and find that it's woefully under-equipped for his needs. He allows himself a moment of disappointment, scolds himself for being spoiled, and does what he can on the equipment that's there before deciding to walk around the city for a bit until he thinks Olivia might be awake herself.

He hopes she slept in, but as he's arriving at his floor as she knocks, he sees that particular hope would go unfulfilled. "Good morning," he says, surprising himself at how cheerful it sounds - but then, he's always liked early-morning walks. Getting to see the character of a city itself, without the motion of anyone but its essential parties. "Um- here, let me-"

He takes one of the cups and slides his card key into the lock, and shoves the door open so she can go inside. "Sorry, I was just... sightseeing, I guess."

"Good morning." Her greeting is almost as cheerful as Steve's. She's home. Her family's here, and she fell asleep with Ella cuddled up against her side. Except for worrying about Steve, she has every reason to be happy right now.

She steps inside with a nod of thanks, and grins at his explanation of where he was. "There's no need to apologize. Though I am glad you got back when you did. I'd hate to panic and send out search parties, but I can't promise I wouldn't..."

Steve winces. "I had thought of that- I didn't mean to be out as long as I was. It's just..."

He shrugs, taking a careful sip of his coffee, then a longer one as he gets the temperature of it. "It's kind of strange, not being recognized. I guess I was enjoying it."

His tone takes a turn for the guilty at the last part, and he can't help but feel a little ashamed. It's not like enjoying anonymity lessens his need to get back, to get home - but he did enjoy it. "Anyway, what can I do for you?"

"I'd be enjoying it too, if I were you." Having seen what he has to deal with any time he's out in public in his home universe, she's surprised he deals with his fame as well as he does. In his place, she thinks she probably would have punched someone by now.

"And... well, first, I thought we might go out and get you a few changes of clothes. Hopefully you won't be stuck here that long, but... just in case..." She shrugs a little and smiles, fighting down the guilt at keeping certain details from him. There's a chance that even if they can find a way to send him back, she might have to break her promise to him. If what Peter thought he knew was right...

"After that, I need to stop by the Federal Building and then the lab. You don't have to come if you don't want to - I'm sure Walter will need you at some point, but he can make do with just running tests on me for the time being."

"It's not so bad," he says, guessing at least in part what she's thinking. "Took some getting used to, but..."

Steve frowns. Okay, it's difficult to justify what the reporters who hang around the mansion do. Finally, he just says, "It's their job."

As for the rest of it, he bobs a quick nod and looks around, half-thinking he needs to grab a jacket or a file or something, but he's wearing the only clothes he has - the shirt Olivia gave him mercifully fits a lot better that Peter's did - and ends up standing there, feeling like he's mentally missed a step. "I'll come. I don't know what I'd do otherwise - though." Steve sighs and scratches his nose. "I don't want to... to leave it all to you, figuring this out, but I'm still not comfortable with him testing me."

Olivia snorts at his comment about the reporters. The fact that it's their job doesn't excuse them intruding on his life, but she's not going to argue with him about it.

"It's fine. I'm used to Walter experimenting on me one way or another." She manages to say it with only a faint hint of bitterness - she's more or less come to terms with what he did to her as a child, but actually thinking about it too much still unsettles her.

She sighs, her eyes fixed on her coffee cup as she goes on, "But... I'm sure you understand this already, but there's a chance whatever this is - the reason you're here with me - does have to do with you somehow. With... what you are, what was done to you. And in that case, figuring out how to send you back will require some kind of tests or..." She shakes her head a little. "It's still your choice. And I am willing to exhaust every other option before it becomes an issue. But I just want you to be aware of that now."

Steve nods, slowly. If in seventy years, with samples of his blood, his own government couldn't work out what Erskine had done-

Different world, different rules.

"Once it's done, I'd like it destroyed. Once I'm home. The samples, the notes, everything." He drags in a deep breath and goes back, coffee in hand, to hold the door for her again. "I've seen what Dr. Erskine's work can do. I've seen what abusing it can do. And I won't let that happen, not to y- Your. World."

He takes a too-long drink of coffee and ends up burning and choking himself at once.

"Of course," she says, and starts out the door as he holds it open for her. "I'll make sure of it myself."

She was about to lead the way down to the car, but she doesn't get far before the sound of him choking makes her turn back around, frowning. "...are you alright?"

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