We leave our own universe, and the problem of Olivia's consciousness swimming to the surface of her own body at the end of last week's episode, for an adventure on Earth-2, with a pregnant Fauxlivia worried that the "viral propagated eclampsia" that killed her sister during childbirth over there is going to strike her too -- and then she's abducted. Walternate's concern for the fate of his future grandchild ensures that it's not too much of a surprise to find out that the person behind Fauxlivia's kidnapping is Walternate himself -- especially since Lincoln Lee and Charlie have determined that the kidnapping had to have been an inside job. Walter's sent a bunch of creepy medical types in to accelerate the pregnancy -- it works, even though Fauxlivia frees herself, and she gives birth in Chinatown, with the help of Lee and Henry the cab driver, whom Lee and Charlie came across as they tracked Fauxlivia down. His explanation of how he knows Fauxlivia revives the agents' earlier suspicions of the Olivia-switch, which are then confirmed by Walternate. He doesn't reveal his part in Fauxlivia's kidnapping, but Charlie and Lee are understandably a little bit suspicious of him now. And it's easy to spot the Observer this episode, because at the end, after Brandon has finagled a blood sample from the brand-spankin' new baby boy to give Walternate for some nefarious purpose, the Observer gets on his iPhone 7 and says, "It is happening."
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Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. Fauxlivia's pregnancy was difficult, but at least it was over quickly. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or email him at danieljdaniel@gmail.com.
The previouslies this week remind us all that Fauxlivia is pregnant -- an episode I missed recapping whilst on vacation but watched later -- and reacquaint us with Walternate's creepy proud-grandfather leer. So that means we're back on Earth-2 this week with Fauxlivia -- and, frustratingly, we're going to have to wait a few weeks to find out what happens with Bell's consciousness briefly losing control of Olivia's body, since the show's taking a couple of weeks off. In better news, Fringe has been renewed for a fourth season, so yay!
Anyway, Fauxlivia's getting a blood test down in an ob/gyn's office, while she watches some sort of shifting soothing-pictures-screensaver-as-artwork in the doctor's room. Fauxlivia's mom is there too, and the doctor says they'll have the test results by the end of the day. Fauxlivia's not expecting good news, as she points out that Rachel was a carrier for whatever, but Marilyn's having none of it, reminding Fauxlivia that she's not her sister and nothing is set in stone. She asks the doctor, Rosa, to talk to her, and Rosa tells her that "viral propagated eclampsia" is dormant until pregnancy and undetectable before eight to 10 weeks, which seems like something they obviously know, and that's why they're getting tested. "So until we get the results of today's screening, nothing is certain. You may not be a carrier at all," says Dr. Duh, like, again, THAT'S WHY THEY'RE DOING THE BLOOD TEST, and Fauxlivia points out that it's 80 percent likely that she does have it, and Dr. Rosa says that's the average. Yeah, so it could be even likelier that she has it? Which part of this is supposed to make Fauxlivia feel better? Marilyn looks like she didn't actually know the statistical likelihood that Fauxlivia has VPE. Dr. Rosa just tells the both of them to take it one step at a time, which must mean that she has other patients to attend to so the two of them need to take the mother-daughter arguing elsewhere.
Which they do, in the car driving back to Fauxlivia's place, with Marilyn saying there's still a chance Fauxlivia doesn't have it, but Fauxlivia reminds her of the odds against that and tells her there are only a handful of cases where either a mother or a baby survive delivery. I initially missed the "a mother" part of that statement when I watched the episode the first time, so I didn't catch Fauxlivia's "Mom, I'm getting an abortion" subtext (Marilyn's glare clearly conveys what she thinks of that option), and I thought that her pointing out her job being all-consuming and not conducive to parenting was mostly about Fauxlivia trying not to get her hopes up.
Anyway, then Marilyn asks about the father, and we learn that Fauxlivia's cover story was that she met a man in a bar while Frank was out of town. Marilyn says that it doesn't sound like her. "I never said that it was one of my finest moments," says Fauxlivia. They argue about not being judgmental, and Marilyn insists that she just wants Fauxlivia to have all the support she needs, and Fauxlivia says she does, and she jokes that Marilyn and Lincoln should get together and commiserate, since he's not happy about this, either. "That doesn't change the fact that you'd make a wonderful mother someday," says Marilyn, her mother's sadness breaking your heart just a little, and softening Fauxlivia's annoyance just enough, and they drive on in silent détente.
Marilyn drops Fauxlivia off at Fauxlivia's apartment, with Mom wanting to make sure she's fine and daughter assuring her she is, and Marilyn drives off with Fauxlivia's promise to call as soon as she hears anything good or bad (but probably bad).
As she walks up the path to the front door of her apartment building, she starts looking around, like she feels like she's being watched. She taps her ear cuff because Lincoln Lee is calling, and her distraction comes through in her voice, so he asks if she's OK, and she slides her entry card in the apartment door lock thing and tells Lee that she's probably just being paranoid and didn't actually see anybody. Except as she enters, we see across the street, someone in a sharp suit... let's say observing her.
Lee reminds her that she said she saw someone yesterday, and she admits that she thought that she did, and he says he's sending over a security detail, and she kind of protests but not really, and he says that if she's concerned she's being followed, there's probably a reason. "They'll be there within the hour," he tells her, and my 24-loving brain to this DAY still hears "within the hour" as a signal that means "during this episode." She thanks him, locks her door and drops her bag on a coffee table, and then notices her tablet computer displaying a page for viral propagated eclampsia, like did you ever hear of screensavers, Fauxlivia, and she just has time enough to turn the computer face-down before she's tasered and we see a couple of dudes standing there and then she's unconscious.
After the red credits, we're at New York's Fringe Division, and I've been informed that the building used in the establishing shot is actually the Vancouver Public Library. Inside, Lincoln Lee is breaking Charlie's balls for going out on a date with someone he calls "Bug Girl," and Charlie says at least he's making "attempts" while Lee doesn't even try to go out. Lee says his new position demands the majority of his time, and Charlie makes fun of his excuses.
Then some junior agent who looks all of 14 years old tells Lee that the detail he requested has "reached the location," and he wants her to inform him when they're in place, and when she says, "Yes, sir," Lee pointedly -- for Charlie's benefit -- says, "Thank you, agent," and Charlie says he already told Lee he's not going to call him "sir," which sounds like insubordination to me. Lee accepts that only if Charlie tells him about "Bug Girl," and so Charlie says her name is "Mona" -- I bet it is, amirite? -- and they had tea and Charlie's not going to tell him any more than that and then turns things around and starts busting on Lee for having a thing for Fauxlivia.
Lee calls that ridiculous, but then proves it by starting to say something about how he would've thought that if Fauxlivia were going to cheat on Frank with someone... he doesn't finish that thought, and Charlie gleefully says he knew that was driving Lee crazy. And then Lee gets a call. "What? When?" he says.
Over on Liberty Island, Brandon is rehashing plot points with Walternate about how Peter is uniquely suited to power the machine and they need to find a reliable way to cross between worlds. Walternate angrily says, not for the first time, that they're not experimenting on children. I've come to think that it's not THAT bad an idea. I volunteer the girls in my daughter's daycare who recently informed her that she's not their best friend anymore. Experiment on them!
Then Walternate gets a call from Lee telling him that Fauxlivia's been kidnapped, and Walternate's all, "What do you mean, 'kidnapped'?" so Lee has to explain to him what "kidnapped" means. Walternate asks if anyone has made contact with demands, and Lee says they haven't but he spoke to Fauxlivia just 40 minutes ago, so it hasn't been long. Walternate asks if Lee has contacted something called Echelon, which Lee did as soon as he heard, and they're "activating the satellite." Walternate icily reminds him that it's crucial that this matter be resolved safely, and he wants information as soon as Lee receives it, which Lee promises to do.
And then the Echelon system is up and running without getting that annoying multicolored pinwheel going on in the middle of the computer screen, and Lee leads a team out into the field to track Fauxlivia down, whose signal indicates that she's on North Moore Street, moving east toward the harbour at 50 kilometres per hour. She's a great shot, and she's a really fast runner!
In the windowless van shooting down the street, the driver radios to his colleague in the back and tells him to make the transfer and to let him know when he's ready. In the back, the kidnapper opens a briefcase containing a single vial of a sky-blue liquid, and looks at Fauxlivia, still unconscious.
Meanwhile, Fringe is still tracking Fauxlivia's signal, which has stopped moving and is at the corner of Mason and Tobey, but we all know how this is going to end -- Lee finds a vial just like the one the kidnapper had, stuffed into a plant outside a florist's. "They knew she had a tracker," says Charlie, clearly on Obvious Patrol today.
Elsewhere, a team of four people transfer Fauxlivia from the cot that she's on onto a proper hospital bed, strapping her down inside a makeshift surgical theatre inside some sort of warehouse. Everyone's wearing blue-grey scrubs and stylish black surgical masks and caps, because there's no reason they can't look chic whilst they prepare injections and hook up IVs for kidnap victims. One of the... surgeons? ...asks one with glasses what's , and Four Eyes says, "Phase one has disrupted the regulatory process. By now, all inhibitory proteins should be blocked." I was just going to say, it looked like all her inhibitory proteins were being blocked.
Fauxlivia groans. "She's a fighter, like they said," says the head doctor, approvingly. He swabs her stomach and injects her with what looks like the stuff they sterilize combs in at the barbershop. Fauxlivia groans slightly, and then the doctor decides to put her back out. Nice of him to do that after he gave her a giant injection. The nurse sticks a pill in a groggy Fauxlivia's mouth and says she should start feeling it right away. The doctor tells her to let them know when she's ready, and they leave, while the nurse flips on some kind of machine that paints a light target on her stomach, and positions some sort of vertical glass screen in front of her. "What are you doing," says Fauxlivia weakly, and the nurse tells her to get some sleep, and she'll come back to check on her. Yes, what could be more relaxing than what's happening to her right now?
The nurse turns off the other lights and leaves, and on the glass screen we see a picture of what appears to be a tiny fetus waving its arms and legs around. Fauxlivia doesn't seem to have the energy to look too horrified before she loses consciousness again.
Back at Fringe, Lee and Charlie are griping about the waste of time it was to go after that tracker, but Lee points out that the trackers are distinct in every person, and untraceable without the Echelon protocol. "So there's only one way that the kidnappers would know about the trackers: either this is an inside job or someone sold the information." That's two ways!
Agent Farnsworth shows up for her instructions, and Lee tells her to construct a database with the names and background of everyone who has clearance high enough to know about their tracking protocol. "Yes, sir. In the meantime, I think that you will want to look at this," she says, and brings him to a computer where she says she reviewed the traffic for a three-block radius around Fauxlivia's residence and found an anomaly: the same commercial vehicle has cruised past her building six times in the past week. "The chances of that are one in 756,000. It is a clear statistical outlier," she says. I kinda feel like there should be more information than that, don't you? That sounds like a rather ridiculous statistic, but it's enough for Lee and Charlie to spring into action. "It's registered to a livery service," says Farnsworth. "Livery service"? Is it near the blacksmith's?
This particular livery service vehicle is the one driven by Henry Higgins, who's reading alt-Berkeley Breathed's alt-comic strip, "Opus the Peahen." "Yo, he's crazy," says Henry, chuckling, just before Lee and Charlie are pointing guns at him and ordering him to A) put his hands on the wheel, and B) get out of the car. "Which one is it?" he says, freaked out, and Lee pulls him out of the car while Charlie goes for the Show Me in Henry's cab. "Where's Agent Dunham? You've been driving by her building -- why?" says Lee, and Henry at first tries to protest that he's a cab driver and has fares all over, which makes it seem pretty plausible that the same car might drive by the same apartment building six times in a week, but Lee's not having it, and Henry finally admits that he was worried about Fauxlivia, so he drives by once in a while to make sure she's OK.
Charlie learns Henry's name -- and the name of his wife, Jasmine, and daughter, Laura -- from the Show Me, and Lee wants to know how Henry knows Fauxlivia. Henry's reluctant to explain despite Lee's threat that Fauxlivia's a very good friend of his -- "Sure don't seem that way. Not from what she's told me," says Henry -- but he tells Charlie that this is the second time Charlie has pointed a gun at him, the first being the day he met Fauxlivia -- well, Olivia, really -- and Charlie recognizes him as the cab driver who helped Olivia get away. Lee asks where Fauxlivia is now, and Henry says he doesn't know: "I didn't expect she would come back here," and Lee's all, "What do you mean 'back here'?"
Meanwhile, over in the operating room of Dr. Caligari, the doctor shows up to shine a light in Fauxlivia's eyes. "Don't move, please," he says, annoyed, and I imagine Fauxlivia is very sorry that her discomfort is so irritating to the kidnapping doctor performing some sort of weird procedure on her. The doctor tells the nurse to "up her to 50 milligrams. That should keep her knocked out." The nurse is mildly shocked at the doctor wanting to use fifty milligrams of whatever it is, so the doctor is all, "Is there a problem?" and the nurse says, "No, not now that I've established that my moral compass isn't completely absent." Then the doctor asks how he is doing, and the nurse refers to a tablet computer and says he's doing well: abdominal circumference 160, head 170, biparietal diameter 40. Jesus, these college football scouts are starting to get out of control. The screen shows a fetus that is much larger than before, and the doctor says it shouldn't be long now, so the nurse says she'll administer the sedatives. Fauxlivia tries to see what's going on, but her vision's blurry. The nurse tries to give her a pill, but Fauxlivia fights her, making the nurse threaten to get the orderlies. Just put it in a block of cheese and she'll eat it and never even notice! The nurse puts the pill in Fauxlivia's mouth, and she swallows, and the nurse says "Good girl," and then tells her to relax.
As soon as the nurse leaves, though, Fauxlivia turns her head and spits the pill out onto the floor.
Meanwhile, Henry is spilling his guts to an increasingly confused Lee and Charlie, telling them that Fauxlivia keeps saying people were trying to convince her that she was someone she wasn't. What people, Lee wants to know. "People she was running away from. You guys, I guess," says Henry, adding that she said she wanted to go home, to some guy named Peter. "I didn't want to get involved in any of this. But she... she got to me," says Henry, who adds that he ran into Fauxlivia a few weeks ago on the street, only she acted like she didn't know him, like her mind got wiped. He says that he's not trying to ruffle any feathers. "There's some things a guy like me shouldn't know about, I get it. But you start hearing things about some other universe, it's hard to ignore." That gets Lee's attention.
And the thing we know, Lee's in the back of the Fringe vehicle. "What about my taxi?" he asks, but the agents just shut the door on him. Rude! He's just trying to help! Lee thinks Henry knows way too many details to be lying, and he reminds Charlie of when Charlie asked if he thought it was possible for Fauxlivia to be switched with the one from the other universe. "You said I was crazy," says Charlie. "What if you're not?" asks Lee.
Elsewhere, Marilyn's walking the dog when she gets a call (via her ear cuff, which is more technology than either of my parents in this universe or the other would be willing/able to use) from Dr. Rosa, who says that she's left several messages for Fauxlivia but couldn't reach her. Marilyn says something must have come up at work, and then asks for the test results. And the doctor just gives them to her rather than saying she should wait for Fauxlivia. Although I suppose she'd only feel the need to say that if it were bad news, so it would be a giveaway anyway. And it is bad news: Fauxlivia has VPE. Dr. Rosa says she'd like Fauxlivia to meet with a trauma counselor on staff: Beau Amaral, and Marilyn, sitting down on a bench, distractedly says she's sure that would be helpful. "Tell Fauxlivia to call me when you talk to her. I'd like to schedule the procedure as soon as possible before there's any risk to her health." Marilyn says she'll do that, and hangs up, and then sees -- of course, a mother with her grown daughter and grandchild playing in the park. Well, that's what you get for walking the dog in Apropos Park!
Back over in Sick Bastard Hospital, the nurse comes in to check on Fauxlivia, who feigns unconsciousness until the nurse leaves, and then she manages to reach over to the surgical cart and snag a scalpel. Flipping it around in her left hand, she starts to work it into the buckle that's got her arm strapped to the bed. She's making good progress until she screams in pain and drops the scalpel to the floor. In rushes the nurse, who takes a look at Fauxlivia and then pages the doctor on the intercom, saying they're ready. "What are you doing to me?" wails Fauxlivia, and we can see, in her belly, the limbs of her baby pushing against her skin.
After the commercial break, over on Liberty Island, Lee has apparently just filled in Walternate on what they learned from Henry Higgins. "And all this from a cab driver," says Walternate quietly. Lee says yes, and then adds that if there's any truth to what Higgins is saying, it could be a lead: "I need to know. Was our Agent Dunham replaced with theirs?" Walternate, who'd been facing away from him, looking out the window, turns and slowly walks towards Lee, taking a full 15 seconds to answer: "She was. Yes. And during that time, our Agent Dunham infiltrated their Fringe Division." Lee swallows, looking a little surprised by both the answer and Walternate's frankness. But still, he manages to summon up enough courage to say he wishes he had been told sooner.
Walternate says Lee wasn't told because it was classified, and he tells Lee that each Olivia was returned to her proper universe weeks ago (although he fudges it when he says that our Olivia was sent home instead of escaping). Sitting down heavily in his chair, he says he's starting to think that not sharing this information may hinder Lee's ability to find Fauxlivia and then quietly spills the beans about Fauxlivia carrying his grandchild. Lee wisely says nothing. Not even a "Congratulations, sir!" Walternate explains that getting knocked up wasn't part of the mission, but while she was on the other side, Fauxlivia and his son got close. Yeah, that's one way of putting it. "I believed the child and Olivia would be safer if no one knew the truth." Lee, looking completely stunned, asks who else knows about it. "As far as I know, just Fauxlivia and I," says Walternate, and then Lee asks what is an entirely logical question, knowing what he knows, for him to ask: Does Walternate think Fauxlivia might have been taken by invaders from the other side?
Walternate says it's possible, or it may be, as Lee already suggested, an inside job: "None of us is without enemies," he says. Aww, who doesn't like Lee or Charlie? Or Agent Farnsworth? Speak for yourself, Walternate.
Actually, Lee does see through that and asks if Walternate is suggesting this is about him. Walternate, looking like he might break down, steels himself and tells Lee that his son was taken from him, and the idea that he might lose his future grandchild is impossible: "I will answer your questions. I will give you complete access to Fauxlivia's mission files. Whatever it takes, find her." Typically strong performance by John Noble, and by Walternate, as it turns out. I'd spoiler-alert that, only I didn't think it was all that huge a surprise. Anyway, Lee promises to do his best, blah blah blah.
Over in General Kidnapper Hospital, Fauxlivia is being wheeled from where she was through the warehouse to the operating tent, quietly taking in her surroundings: the papered-over windows, the old "Is your typhoid shot up to date?" poster, the neon light coming in from outside.
Once she's in place, the doctor asks how Fauxlivia's ligaments are doing, and the nurse says they're "supple" and that the chemicals seem to be working. "OK. Calibrate the joint expander to 18 degrees," says the doctor. Is a "joint expander" a tool that's used in non-alternate universe, non-kidnapping-necessitated deliveries? Or did this guy earn his medical degree from the University of Watching Dead Ringers Over and Over Again?
The doctor notes her hemoglobin count is low, and she's got inadequate uteroplacental blood flow. He asks if Fauxlivia's "pain management" is on schedule, and the nurse says yes, that Fauxlivia was given her last sedative 20 minutes ago. Did you check the floor? Because that's where your sedatives are going, lady. She protests the doctor's orders to give her another 12 units of plasma, pointing out it will be her fifth transfusion, but the doctor's not brooking any dissension, while Fauxlivia lies there, feigning unconsciousness and clenching her fists. "We have the timetable. There will be no adjustments. Initiate Phase Two," says the doctor. He leaves, and the nurse checks Fauxlivia's IV drip, etc.
Soon, Fauxlivia's sitting on a toilet with the nurse hovering outside the bathroom stall, exhorting her to empty her bladder, ignoring Fauxlivia's complaint of dizziness. So Fauxlivia goes the guilt route, pointing out that given she's an obstetric nurse, she must feel some kind of calling to do something so selfless: bringing babies into the world. Nurses do get paid, Fauxlivia. She says she probably has VPE, which killed her sister and niece/nephew when their hearts gave out. "You cannot be OK with what they're doing to me. If you don't make them stop, then they're gonna kill me and they're gonna kill the child that I'm carrying." Fauxlivia even tries telling the nurse that she doesn't have to do anything, just leave her alone for a minute. Given that she's dealing with people who have kidnapped her and are performing crazy fetus-acceleration technology on her -- seemingly without regard for Fauxlivia's own health -- does she really think they wouldn't come up with some sort of consequences for the nurse if she lets Fauxlivia escape?
Still, Fauxlivia's speech looks like it's gotten to the nurse, at least for a few moments as she stands there, back to Fauxlivia. Then she turns and coldly tells Fauxlivia that they're starting the phase in 22 minutes. "And believe me, you don't wanna be standing when it happens, so stop wasting time. Empty your bladder and let's get on with this."
Back at Find Fauxlivia HQ, also known as Fringe, Agent Farnsworth is explaining to Lee and Charlie that all employees with Level 5 clearance had access to the biometric tracking protocol, so the list of possible suspects is a fairly extensive one, unless they have another variable. Son of a gun, they do! Lee tells her that what they're about to tell her requires Level 10 clearance, which Farnsworth nervously points out she doesn't have. "Concerning this matter, you are now," says Lee, and then he tells her that Fauxlivia is pregnant with Walternate's grandchild.
Farnsworth barely reacts and then, like the pro she is, calmly says she'll cross-reference agents with clearance with those who also had access to Fauxlivia's medical records.
And then Fauxlivia's mom shows up; Lee tells Charlie that he thought it was time she knew. Not that he wants to be the one to tell her. Charlie offers to break the news, as long as Lee goes to deal with Travis Bickle. Good God, I just referenced Taxi Driver last week! Anyway, Lee has no idea what Charlie is on about, and Charlie's "You talkin' to me?" doesn't help matters, but that could at least be due partly to the fact that it's an absolutely terrible De Niro impression. [Also, in this universe, Coppola directed the movie, not Scorsese, so it may not be as much of a classic. - Zach] Charlie finally just spells out that Henry Higgins is probably done with his statement, so Lee should look after that while he deals with Marilyn."
Marilyn, understandably upset, says she knew something was wrong because Dr. Oporto said Fauxlivia wasn't returning her calls. Charlie tells her there's a possibility that the kidnapping relates to her pregnancy, and Marilyn vehemently says that there's no way Fauxlivia can have the baby.
Back at St. Kidnappers, the nurse is helping Fauxlivia get back into her bed when Fauxlivia spots the scalpel she dropped on the floor earlier. It only takes her a couple of moments to overpower the nurse and point the scalpel at her neck. The nurse yells for help, and Fauxlivia takes out the orderly who comes running, and then hauls the nurse to the door, which has a keypad on it. "Either I leave or you bleed to death," she tells the nurse, who presses in the code to unlock the door. Fauxlivia runs through it, leaving the nurse behind, which seems kinda foolish, given that the nurse pushes a couple more buttons that set off an alarm.
The alarm brings one of the doctors or an orderly or whatever the hell running, and he doesn't ask how the nurse is doing, just where Fauxlivia is. The nurse gestures outside, and the doctor says, "Don't worry, she won't get far" and runs out after her. Yeah, I'm FINE by the way, THANKS FOR ASKING.
Outside, Fauxlivia finds herself in an alley in Chinatown, barefoot and pregnant. Unfortunately, the first person she sees is wearing some kind of creepy ceramic mask or something, like WHAT IS GOING ON HERE, and Fauxlivia shies away and then heads out in the street once the crazy mask-wearer has passed, holding her belly. The shop right to her is a Chinese restaurant -- or, as they're known in Chinatown, I suppose, a restaurant. It's closed, but there's a woman sweeping up inside, so Fauxlivia pounds on the glass and yells for help, and then she's forced to the ground by a painful contraction. So far, this is the worst Year of the Rabbit ever!
Apparently giving up on the sweeping woman, Fauxlivia elects to go for the payphone across the street, but to get there she has to get by the creepy store window, with what looks like animé mannequins wearing cheongsams (?) that seem to unsettle her.
Back at Fringe, Lee is discharging Henry Higgins with a warning that what they've talked about is restricted information, with Henry promising not to talk: "Not that anyone would believe me anyhow." And then Fauxlivia gets through on Lee's cuff and she tells him she's in Chinatown, although she's not sure where. He tells her to look around and tell him what she sees. "OK. I see a dragon. It's red. And there's a noodle store," she says. Well, THAT should narrow it down. She tells him she needs a doctor because the baby's coming. He's all, "What you talkin' 'bout, Fauxlivia?" and she tells him that her kidnappers accelerated the pregnancy. She starts to say that she wants him to speak to her mother, but she can barely get anything out before she's seized by another contraction. Worse luck: she sees the doctor looking at her from down the street, so she ditches the phone and heads off in the direction of some people down the sidewalk.
Back at Fringe, Lee, having lost Fauxlivia, starts yelling that he needs a trace on the call in Chinatown. He heads into the elevator, and Henry's there, saying he knows a shortcut: "I'm a cabbie. I know every shortcut." Of course you do. You just prefer to go the long way, though, don't you?
Fauxlivia's made it into the crowd of people, who respond to her distress by asking, disdainfully, "What's wrong with you?" and staring at her, looking disgusted, as she collapses in agony.
Fortunately, Lee and Henry are on the way, with Henry's cabbie skills coming in handy. "We're close," he says when Lee finds out the call came from Canal and Market. Make sure you find the place in Chinatown where you can see a red dragon by a noodle shop! Also, there's a medical team en route, and Lee tells Charlie to let them know Fauxlivia's in labour, since the pregnancy was accelerated. Charlie tells Lee about the danger to Fauxlivia if she goes through delivery, but by this point they're already there. "Fringe Division! Out of the way!" yells Lee, and Henry wants in on this action, too, so he yells something incomprehensible about being in Fringe as well.
Henry and Lee carry Fauxlivia into a nearby store, where the clerk just stares impassively as the three crazy people get ready to deliver a baby on the floor. Henry introduces himself and tells Fauxlivia that he delivered his daughter in the back of the cab. "It's not exactly a medical degree, but I can help out until the ambulance arrives," he says. Provided she has insurance. Fauxlivia looks at Lee, who tells her she can trust Henry, who seems a little disconcerted to have it confirmed that she really doesn't know who he is. Anyway, he tells her to get her knees up. It's baby-delivering time! Hilariously, the clerk is STILL standing behind the counter, not reacting AT ALL, looking like she's thinking, "Are you guys going to buy something, or...?"
Fauxlivia asks Lee if he talked to her mother, and instead of answering he just stares at her with his puppy-dog love eyes, and she gets a big ol' blast of adoration, and kinda cuddles in with him a little bit. They share a tender moment -- just a moment, mind you, because then the contractions start again, and Henry starts telling her what to do while Lee tells Fauxlivia to squeeze his hand as hard as she needs to. "You don't think about an hour from now. You don't think about a minute. We're gonna focus on this moment, OK? It's you and me." Fauxlivia makes him promise that he will stay until this is over. "There's no place else for me to be," he says, laughing a little. Yeah, now wouldn't be a good time to say, "I got tickets for the Rangers at the Garden tonight."
And while Henry tells Fauxlivia to push, Lee says, "I love you." Fauxlivia clutches him and says, "Promise me you'll save the baby." Oooh! Isn't that the worst? When you get up the nerve to tell your girlfriend "I love you" and she responds with "Promise me you'll save the baby"? I hate when that happens!
Lee promises, and Henry tells Fauxlivia he sees the baby's head, and tells her to keep going, and just like that, the baby's there. "He's OK! He's OK!" says Henry, and Lee laughs, and then sees Fauxlivia's not moving, and the newborn baby has the good sense not to cry, what with his mom apparently dead and all. "He made it," says Lee, almost crying. And then Fauxlivia stirs -- of course she does -- and he gives her this massive baby, so I guess they accelerated the pregnancy into the fifth trimester. She cradles him, and looks at Henry, and looks at Lee, who tells her she has a son. "He's beautiful," she whispers, and everybody smiles and laughs, and now there is APPLAUSE, and then you realize that the crowd of gawkers is still staring in through the shop window like this is some kind of performance art piece, and then we see the ambulance arrive -- and there behind the crowd is the nurse, looking pissed. The scene ends before Lee can say anything awkward like, "I don't know if you heard, but I said 'I love you.'"
In the hospital, Lee and Charlie are talking about what Fauxlivia's going to name the baby, and God-love-Charlie says, "I'll give you a hint. It's not Lincoln," and Lee can't believe Fauxlivia is a mom. "Listen, you did a good job, sir. Broyles would be proud," says Charlie, and Lee jumps all over the fact that Charlie just said "sir." Charlie advises him not to get used to it.
In the hospital staircase, they meet up with Walternate, who's carrying flowers. He asks them if there's any news. Lee says they found the location where they were holding her, an abandoned building on Bayard Street, but techs haven't found anything yet. Walternate wants security assigned, because until they find who did this, Agent Dunham and the baby are still at risk. Lee says he's arranged for Secret Service, and there's an agent outside her room now. Walternate gruffly says Lee's hard work will not go unrewarded, and then he's off to see his grandson. "He should have told us," says Charlie, after Walternate leaves, and Lee says, "Which part?"
In Fauxlivia's room, Marilyn is weirdly staring at the baby like she's not even sure what it is, and then she calls him a miracle. Fauxlivia "explains" that the doctors said it was the acceleration that did it: "The virus couldn't replicate as fast as the pregnancy." Marilyn sums it up thusly: "Whatever the science is, he's still a miracle," like she's angling to be on some kind of Texas textbook committee.
Meanwhile, Lee and Charlie are still grousing about being kept in the dark: "They put an imposter on our team to protect their mission. And do the math: Olivia, when she came back... wasn't it around the time Broyles disappeared?" says Lee. It was, says Charlie. "Makes you wonder what else we don't know," says Lee, and he and Charlie exchange grim looks.
Back in the hospital room, Fauxlivia talks a lot of blah-blah about how as soon as she found out she was pregnant, all she thought about was whether she had the condition, and didn't even spend any time thinking about being a mom. "Now, I just, I don't know if I'm ready," she says, and I think I can speak from parenting experience, if not mothering experience, that A) even if you'd spent all your time thinking about being a mom, you'd still be feeling right now that you weren't ready, and B) you will probably spend the rest of your life wondering if you're ready. Right now all you need to know is how to feed him and clean him, and before long you are going to look back on the early days as the EASY days. Marilyn: "To tell you the truth, all you need to do is love him." AND FEED HIM AND CLEAN HIM, Marilyn,G!
Marilyn says she can figure out the rest as she goes on, which is true enough. "I'm gonna need your help," says Fauxlivia, and Marilyn laughs and says she hopes so, and this tender mother-daughter-grandson moment is interrupted by the nurse, who comes in for the baby. Fauxlivia hands him off. "I'll be right back," says the nurse, and Marilyn asks to tag along.
The nurse gives the baby a little needle-poke thing on his foot, smears the blood on a card and gives it to the technician, telling him it's for the lab. But the scarred eyebrow (and the accompanying musical sting) lets us know he's one of the evil kidnapping doctors. Marilyn brings the baby back over to Fauxlivia, all three of them unawares of the shitstorm that's still enveloping them.
In the stairwell, the tech hands the blood sample off to someone, but we're not allowed to see who it is yet, even though there's just like a minute left in the show and obviously this is all going back to Walternate anyway. But before we get to that, the Observer strolls out onto the landing after the two nefarious evildoers have departed, and he's already got his special phone out. "It is happening," he says, ominously. Actually, ominously is the only way those guys ever say anything, so never mind. And now he is tilting his head! That's bad, right?
Walternate, through the window in the door to Fauxlivia's hospital room, watches Marilyn and Fauxlivia coo over the baby. Brandon shows up. "Why did you tell Lincoln so much?" he asks. Walternate says Lee is a good agent, and smart. "The lie would have made him grow suspicious. And I trusted you wouldn't fail," says Walternate. Brandon says, "We didn't," and hands over the blood-sample card he just received in the hallway. Well, it appears that the vengeful man who will stop at nothing to protect his family is... stopping at nothing to protect his family!
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Daniel is a writer in Newfoundland with a wife and a daughter. He thinks Fauxlivia got off easy with her severely shortened pregnancy. Follow him on Twitter (@DanMacEachern) or e-mail him at danieljdaniel[at]gmail.com.