Disclaimer: Don't own them, never will unless that elusive lottery ticket finally comes through…then me and Mr. Joshua are gonna have a talk! ; )

When Olive Met Peter

Chapter One

Jacksonville, FL 7:30 am

They day started out like any other, and neither Walter Bishop nor William Bell had any reason to suspect that it was anything else. And as smart as Walter Bishop liked to think he was, and there was no denying the book smarts; he would recount many, many years later to his son that at the time he understood very little of things like foreshadowing; and that often times it is the most innocuous of actions that set off cataclysmic results; that once set into motion could not be undone.

It was classic August Florida weather, hot, humid, miserable.

The air clung to the back of your neck and filled your lungs with a heavy dose of humidity and car fumes from the local highway that issued traffic to and from the military base; and since it also served as one of only two main highways that headed into and out of the city, there was no such thing as rush hour traffic; because the noise and cars never really stopped; it was rush hour traffic here all the time. Rush hour traffic filled clogged with rednecks, and suburban house husbands and wives as they trekked back and forth to the better paying jobs in the city. Trucks had big mud flaps and various military bumper stickers and emblems, accents were quant, and on a scorcher like today Tempers were short, and hand gestures one might typically associate with more northern cities flew frequently from car windows.

It was not a day that Walter Bishop wanted to be escorting his young son with him to work. But Elizabeth's sponsor had called and announced the night before that since Elizabeth hadn't been making it to the weekly meetings she would be coming over to pick her up; and Elizabeth had tried to blame missing her AA obligation on not wanting Peter to realize his mother was a raging alcoholic.

If the pathetic redneck excuse of a town that bordered this base had had a half-way decent year round school this would not have been an issue; but seeing as school would not be back for at least another month there was nothing to be done.

Not that Peter didn't know that his mom more than occasionally nipped from bottles in the pantry that were certainly not soda pop, or kool-aid. Peter also didn't need to see his mother popping anti-depressants every morning to know that something was wrong. It didn't take a genius to see your family fraying at the seams; and while children had a rather uncanny knack for surviving even in the midst of such chaos they also often found a way to place the blame upon themselves for such events; even when no one was pointing fingers.

No, Walter could not leave his son at home today where he would not be in the way, so Walter had instead given him strict instructions on what he was and was not allowed to do; the laundry list of restrictions coming out more and more like drill sergeants orders and less like a father the closer they got to the clinic.

Not that Walter Bishop had ever been much of a father to Peter; he was much too preoccupied with work and its implications.

Before….he wouldn't think about that now…

Before he had been obsessed with finding a cure; with fixing the mistake the universe had so harshly dealt him. And now, as he and Billy were truly beginning to understand the possible implications of what his prior actions might mean; he had found a new obsession.

Allowing it to consume once again every aspect of his life until he was reduced to once again ignoring the child he'd risked the very fabric of the universe to save; watching his wife reduce herself to an empty shell of alcohol and Prozac pills.

But Walter Bishop could not stop now to save his family; they would have to save themselves from their own petty issues.

Walter had much larger problems to deal with; like preparing his soldiers for the coming war that would determine the end of all life as they knew it.

He was already saving his family yet again; this time with the added weight of the entire world rested on his shoulders; and the strain was slowly driving Walter Bishop towards madness.

But Peter being just a boy, could hardly comprehend all the reasons his family was in disarray and his father seemed put out by just his very presence; oftentimes his father would babble onto him about things he didn't remember; or try to insist that foods he disliked were his favorite; Peter Bishop was already quite certain that his father was insane.

And his mother Elizabeth could hardly stand to look at him, let alone spend time with him in her room; which is where she was most often these days; popping pills; uppers and downers right and left until she was so zoned out she might as well have been dead; and when she was awake, if you could call it that, she stumbled through the house with the pungent odor of Jim Bean and Jack Daniel's following in her wake.

Some kids mothers smelled like fresh baked cookies and clean laundry; Peter's mother smelled like a brewery and staggered like a drunk.

She locked herself in her room most days crying for hours and Peter would be left to his own devices. Mostly he read books; anything he could get his hands on; mystery and sci-fi were his favorites, but also he ingested technical manuals and military war-far and combat handbooks that he found in his father's office…the science and physics papers that always covered the walls and floor held little interest for Peter…not because they were foreign symbols and pointless computations; he understood them fine; but they were also boring; and represented everything that kept his father away all day and sometimes all night; and made his mother cry endlessly and drink with her prescription pills.

Peter was well aware that his father did not appreciate his presence today of all days; and while Peter did not understand why it hurt all the same.

Very short chapter, especially for me O.o But as this is a different kind of writing that what I usually supply…lol obviously I thought shorter chapters would be okay. Let me know if you like it and I should continue, Thanks for reading! -KEC