Hello, everybody !
This is quite an old story that I started to write a long time ago. Exactly, just after 2x14 Jacksonville. This is exactly the time this stroy begins. So you have to think that anything after never happened yet. Yes I know it's not easy. But I hope that you could still enjoy this fic.
English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for any grammatical mistakes (or any other) you could find.
Disclaimer: I don't own Fringe and blabla.
Enjoy, and please tell me what you think !
As he was catching his coat on his bed, Peter looked at himself in the mirror. He was feeling like he was 15 again, when he had asked the most popular girl in high school out for the prom night. Except that the girl had laughed at him. Bitter humiliation. Ridiculous, he thought. It was totally different tonight. He was no longer 15 years old. And Olivia Dunham had nothing in common with this girl he had tried so desperately to impress for weeks at the time.
But in spite of what he had told Walter, it wasn't just about going out for a drink with a friend like normal people do. First because anything they did was "normal" in a common sense. The events of the last few days proved it. And also because it was Olivia. If it had been anybody else, he might have used this word, normal. But it was her, and she was really special. It was beyond the abilities she had developed thanks to, or rather because of the Cortexiphan.
He felt his heart beating faster thinking about what had happened in Massive Dynamic. They almost kissed. Well if he had to be entirely honest, he would admit that he was the one who almost kissed her. He was feeling like he had taken advantage of a moment of weakness from Olivia, and he felt terribly guilty for that. She rarely showed this side of her, so vulnerable, and he couldn't stand seeing her like this. He didn't really understand why he had done it. He had wanted to comfort her, let her know that she was not alone. He had done it instinctively, without thinking.
And there it was : she had been scared, had saved hundreds of people, and now he was standing in front of his mirror like an idiot, wondering if he was well dressed for this night. Ridiculous, he thought again. He shook his head, trying to clear his ideas. This is not a date.
But deep inside, he would have liked it was.
"Olivia, please don't tell him."
The young woman looked at him, horrified, and then up the stairs where Peter had just disappeared.
"Walter, what did you do?" she murmured.
"I'm begging you agent Dunham, he has to not know."
Walter's look only made her hate him just right now. She felt sick, disgusted. She took a step back when he wanted to approach her.
Slowly, as pieces of a puzzle, everything was going to set up in her head. She understood suddenly the meaning of all these details she had never really paid attention to. Peter's medical file which didn't mention any health problems, though Walter had often talked about the time he was always sick when he was a kid. His remarks about "losing him again" when Peter had been threatened or kidnapped. Amongst other things.
It was impossible. She couldn't believe it. She didn't want to. It was a nightmare. She would have liked to say something else, but the words were stuck in her throat. Then she heard Peter's steps coming back, and in a few seconds he was by her side. And the glimmer around him seemed brighter.
When Peter went back down, he knew immediately that something was wrong. Olivia, who was smiling when she had arrived a few minutes earlier, was now looking at Walter with horror.
"What's going on?" he asked.
Olivia jumped and turned towards him. He saw her eyes widen and she took a step back.
"What? Olivia, what's wrong?" he said with concern, faced with the panic-stricken look on her face.
"I… I have to go… I'm sorry… I had forgotten that… I'm sorry Peter." She stuttered.
Before he could do anything, she turned back, opened the door and rushed outside.
"But…"
He didn't have time to finish that he already heard start up her SUV. He tried to get this straight in his mind and turned to his father.
"Walter, what did you tell her?" he said.
"Nothing son. Nothing." he lied.
"Really? I leave you alone with her for two minutes and when I'm back she runs away just like that. She was fine when she came in, so tell me what you did to her!" he said angrily.
As Walter didn't say anything, Peter went on.
"For God's sake Walter! What did you say? You didn't talk to her about weddings or stuffs like that, did you?"
"No. I absolutely don't know why agent Dunham is gone." Then he went back to the kitchen, ignoring the furious look of his son.
But what the hell was that? Peter took his keysand left the house, slamming the door shut behind him. He wanted to be clear in his own mind about it. He had to talk to Olivia.
Twenty minutes later, he was knocking at her door.
Olivia was literally shaking from head to toes. Surely because she had run into her bathroom, and jumped on a cold shower without even taking all her clothes off. She wanted to forget. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare.
She had run to return to her car when she had left the Bishops' house, and had realized her hands were shaking when she could hardly catch the key of the SUV in her purse. She had come back home like she was on automatic pilot.
Once inside her apartment, she had gone directly in the kitchen, opened the liquor cabinet and caught a bottle of Jack Daniel's. She had poured herself a glass and drunk a big sip. She had felt the liquid burn. She didn't want to think, and alcohol helped. But not immediately. Not enough. Peter still glimmered.
That's why she was now freezing on her bathtub. But her brain was not registering it. The water dripping on her hair, her neck, or under her t-shirt, nothing mattered to her. Her face was soaked with tears. And she didn't wake up.
Peter.
How is it possible?
Peter was from the other side. And Walter had asked her not to tell him. But how could she lie about that, pretend everything was normal? How could she lie to him?
Suddenly she heard her phone ring. It was on the pocket of her jacket she had let fall on the floor before she entered the shower. Mechanically, because she was not used to not answer, she stretched out her hand to take it, but kept it far enough to not get it wet. She was not surprised when she saw the name of the caller. Of course it was him. So for once she didn't pick up.
Less than a minute later, she heard the bip that meant she had received a text message.
Where are you? Peter was asking.
He could have asked if she was okay. Easy to lie in that case. But he was too smart for that. If now she told him she was home, he would surely come. And she didn't want to see the glimmer anymore. If she lied and said that she was somewhere else, he would go there, and wouldn't find her. She couldn't go this far. And if she didn't answer at all, she knew he would insist. She finally made up her mind.
Busy.
She only had to wait for thirty seconds to have another text : Liar.
And before she could try to write something that would make him stop, he sent : We need to talk. I'm on your doorstep. I'm waiting for you.
Great… So she had no choice. She turned off the water and heard him talk from the corridor outside her apartment.
"Olivia, open up. I know you're here."
When he got no answer, he started again. "You know I won't leave until you speak to me, right?"
And suddenly the door opened. Olivia was standing there with an unreadable look upon her face, but she didn't let him in. This fucking gleam was still surrounding him. And it was brighter than sunshine.
"What?" she asked.
When she saw the incredulous look on Peter's face, she realized she hadn't even taken time to dry herself a bit.
"But Olivia… What did you do?" he said, his eyes wide opened.
She didn't answer and started to shake violently. Within a second Peter came in and put a hand on Olivia's cheek.
"My God, Liv you're freezing! You're chilled to the bones, you need to take these clothes off!"
He took her by the hand and she followed him. He easily found the bathroom, and when he saw her jacket on the floor, he understood what had happened, even though he didn't understand why.
« What was on your mind? You went in there all dressed? What were you thinking? How long have you been in there?"
He was so mad and afraid to see her like this that he was almost yelling.
"I… d-don't… know… I'm… I'm so-sorry." She said, her teeth chattering.
She couldn't stop looking at him, even though it was what she wanted the most right now. She couldn't focus on anything else than this damn glimmer. It was so blinding that she couldn't move.
"Please Liv…" his voice got softer. "We need to warm you up."
Peter started to lift her t-shirt and she tried weakly to push him away, but he took both her hands in his.
"No Olivia, let me do it. I won't hurt, I promise. I just want you not to turn into a block of ice, okay?"
It was almost just a whisper now. So she let him. He rolled her up in a towel he found near the washbasin and rubbed her arms and her back. After a few minutes, she began to calm down and closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. And when she looked at him again, he was smiling at her, she could see it through the light trembling around him. She put her hands on his face and did the first thing that came to her mind. Something really stupid, but that she couldn't help doing. She leaned over and kissed him.
It was a kiss full of needs and despair. A kiss to make him feel and understand. A kiss to hang on to some hope.
When the need for air became too overwhelming, they broke apart and she rested her forehead against his. She kept her eyes closed as he wrapped his arms around her and held her tight.
"Would you mind please explain to me what the hell is going on? Because obviously I must have missed an episode…" Peter said with a little smile.
She stayed silent for a minute. Olivia, please don't tell him.
"Nothing." Don't tell him. "I'm sorry, I… I didn't feel very good." Don't. "Headache… I was just about to go to bed." she finished.
"Headache? Really? So you thought that a freezing shower with your clothes on would help?"
"Well, you don't really think when you have headaches."
"I can see that." He chuckled lightly. "Okay, now you're going to change, and I'll wait for you on the living room."
He released her from his embrace and left the bathroom.
Peter's heartbeats were echoing in his whole body. He was knocked out. The evening had not turned like it was supposed to. The truth was : how was it supposed to turn, actually? What had he imagined? He didn't know. Well, not that for sure. He really needed a drink. He noticed the bottle of Jack on the kitchen table and didn't hesitate. He took a glass on a cabinet and poured himself a big one. He swallowed it in two gulps.
"Make yourself at home."
He turned round when he heard her voice. He put his glass down.
"Feeling better?" he asked, not paying attention to the irony in her tone.
"Yeah…" No.
She was trying to look at him in the eye, and it seemed to her that it was the hardest thing she ever had to do.
"So…" He folded his arms. "May I have an explanation now?"
She shrugged. "There's nothing to explain."
"Oh come on Olivia! You're kidding, right? Do I look that stupid?"
This man was going to make her crazy. She was angry at and because of him. And she couldn't tell him. Holding his gaze was harder and harder as the glimmer intensified each second. She didn't remember if she had ever been so scared before. She had never imagined that it was humanly possible to be so afraid of something.
And it was of a thing she couldn't even identify exactly. Because she didn't know what was frightening her the most. Was it the fact that she knew Peter was from the other side? Or what it really implied : that he could leave and go back to the world he came from. That he could just leave her.
Peter took a deep breath, trying not to completely lose his temper.
"Look, I don't know what Walter told you but I'm sorry. You know him, sometimes he's still totally insane! So please, please, don't take it the wrong way, because whatever he said to you, he didn't mean to upset you this much."
Olivia couldn't believe it. She had run away without a word and he was apologizing! His eyes were pleading her.
"No Peter, Walter didn't say anything, he just…" He just stole you from your real family 25 years ago. "Nothing. This is nothing about him. It's me, I'm just feeling sick."
He watched her, not convinced at all. God, those blue eyes who were scrutinizing her. She felt like he could see right through her. And she wanted to cry.
"So is it me? Did I do or say something wrong? Is it because of what happened in New York?"
"No! Of course not!"
He sighed.
"You do realize that I don't believe a single word of that bullshit?" he finally said. As she didn't speak, he went on. "You know it was just a drink. It's not as if I had asked you to marry me or something. You could have just said no, it was no big deal."
"So what are you doing here?" she snapped.
Why was he so stubborn? Why couldn't he just stop and forget everything?
She wanted to forget but she couldn't.
He could forget but he didn't want to.
He ignored her question. "And then you kissed me."
Oh yeah, there is that too.
He rolled his eyes. "You don't want to tell me what happened earlier in the three minutes I've been gone to take my coat. Because something happened and God only knows why you don't want to tell me what it is."
She bit her lower lip. "It's… complicated."
"If you say so… I should get going then."
He went past her but stopped at the door to look at her. "I thought you knew me well enough now. You can trust me."
"I know that, Peter." she said.
"You have a funny way to show it. Good bye Olivia."
And just with that, he was gone.
Suddenly something terrible crossed her mind. An awful and unbearable thought. Something he had said. Good bye. He had said good bye. Not good night or see you later. Maybe she was getting paranoid, but these two little words sounded all at once like a farewell to her ears.
Without a second thought, which anyhow might have been worse than the first, Olivia went after him. In the street she spotted him on the sidewalk as he was about to get on his car.
"Peter!" she screamed. "Peter, wait!"
She ran towards him and stopped before throwing herself in his arms. He didn't speak and just looked at her. She felt really stupid, standing there looking for what to say exactly to the man she was so afraid to lose forever. So she did once again something stupid. She took his face on her hands and kissed him. It was just her lips brushing his. It was light, delightful, wonderful. And it was powerful. It gave her the strength and confidence she desperately needed now. It made her believe in them.
"Peter, I… understand that you can be a little confused. And angry. And you have all the reasons to. I know I've been acting weird, but I don't want you to go away. You can't leave. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry… Please Peter, you have to stay."
She was out of breath and felt the tears in the corner of her eyes. Peter gave her a puzzled look as she continued.
"I can't explain to you right now, there are some things I have to figure out, but…"
He caressed her cheek and she stopped talking. He was glimmering and she was crying.
"It's okay." he whispered. "It's okay Liv. I'm not going anywhere, I'm not leaving. Everything's fine. You just need to calm down and go back home to get some rest."
Yes, maybe that was just what she needed. And maybe tomorrow she would wake up and find out that Peter was just Peter.
Not Peter from the other side.
Not Peter who was brighter than sunshine because of a damn glimmer.
But just because he was her Peter.
Fin