Slowly Moving Forward

Spoilers: Season 1, Season 2, Season 3(Olivia, The Box, The Plateau, Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep, Amber 31422, 6955 kHz, The Abducted, Entrada, Marionette promo).

Disclaimer: If I owned Fringe...Olivia would have made it home with Peter in Over There Part 2 instead of this insanity.

Olivia Dunham sat at her desk in the Harvard Fringe Lab Office, she was flipping through apartment brochures as well as looking apartment online tours on her computer.

The door opened and immediately she ignored who entered the room, continuing on with what she was doing. No words were exchanged but when a coffee cup and a bag was placed on the desk beside her, she caught a brief glance of Peter.

He leaned down and kissed her head, whispering only four words to her as he did. "I'm so sorry 'Livia."

The door closed after he left and Olivia looked at the bag to find it was from her favorite Indian restaurant that was across town. He'd gone to get her favorite food across town even upon having Walter in tow...it was a very sweet gesture and very unexpected.

She began eating as she continued to look for an apartment, her phone rang and she wiped her hands before answering. "Dunham?"

"We have a lead but take Bishop with you."

Olivia noticed Peter outside in the lab going over something with Walter, she smiled. "What's the address?"

She hung up after getting the address and threw away the trash from her food before pulling on her coat and placed her gun at her side before grabbing her coat and keys. She exited the office and made her way out, she'd been on leads by herself for a week, two days of rejecting Peter's company and he got the hint not to ask her if she wanted him to come with her.

"Bishop," both men turned and she chuckled, "the younger one, let's go...we have a lead."

Peter grabbed his coat and pulled it on as they left the lab, both silent. The ride to the address was filled with silence, Olivia reached over and turned on the radio, Gravity by Coldplay was on the radio and as it was one of her favorite bands she allowed it to play.

"You like Coldplay?" Peter looked at her and she nodded.

"Yeah, I like their variety."

It was the most they'd spoken about anything personal in nearly a week since he'd told her the truth. Everything else had been about a case or about Walter's findings...since that day in the Massive Dynamic cafeteria, they had not spoken about anything personal.

"I know a guy, legal connection not one of my 'weird' ones. Since I've been helping Nina run Massive Dynamic, I've caught a few connections. Anyways, this guy does real estate for Massive Dynamic and is currently working on trying to sale apartments that are about five miles from the FBI Building.

"I asked him for the info on his building and he sent me the stuff, I emailed it to your account. They're nice and as a shareholder or future shareholder to Massive Dynamic, the rates would be negotiable. They're there if you want to take a look."

"Thanks." Olivia tightened her hand on the steering wheel, Peter noticed this and turned back to the window and was silent.

Olivia noticed this and wondered if he'd always do that, become silent when something irritated her. "Will you always ignore me when I say thanks?"

"You're angry or irritated or upset," he looked at her, "one of them and if I have learned something, talking with you while you're in any of those three moods is like waking a hibernating bear...not a good idea."

"I'm sorry." Olivia looked at him, "sorry that I snapped at you."

Peter shook his head, "I've grown used to it over the past week." He looked at her, "I mean, I know things won't be the same and I knew that even as I sat waiting for you to wake up...I just want us to find some type of stable ground...some civility. The guilt is enough to make me want to shoot myself, that's what Broyles said when we went on that capture 'don't shoot yourself' and I think he knew that but now this...this distance, this...whatever it is, it makes me want to cross over and kill both Walternate and her. I mean, they both tore up our lives...our future and I thought perhaps the truth would be better then a lie but it just made things worse."

"No, there have been enough lies." She looked at him, "but I haven't been truthful either...things happened over there, things like what happened over here. Unlike you, I don't want to face them."

He nodded, "so who did you sleep with?"

"I don't want to talk about it!" She snapped and instantly the car stopped midway through an intersection and Peter turned to see a car coming right at them but the car crashed into something a foot from the SUV, an invisible wall. "Oh God!"

Peter looked at her, "Liv?"

She shook her head, "I never meant for..." she got out and so did he, he watched her walk to the car and check on the driver. He nodded that he was fine and she called 911 before calling Broyles. Peter watched in wonder as she did so...he checked the car's front and found it crushed in two inches but it hit virtually nothing...no wall and defiantly not the SUV. Attempting to move the SUV from the intersection, Peter found the car wouldn't start at all. He checked the battery and found it dead.

He found Olivia on the curve and sat down beside her, "what happened?"

She looked at her feet, "my technopathy and forcefield."

"Technopathy and forcefield?" He looked at her and she waited for his anger but all she got was a gasp and a head shake. "Your abilities, there are more then just crossing over and the occasional telekinesis isn't there?"

"Multiple, I couldn't trust you or Walter so I just dealt with it. I'm tired of lies and especially tests, I had enough tests done over there that the injection sites can still be seen with a black light, weeks later. I tried to keep myself calm, I busted a pipe and blacked out my building the day you told me everything...anger and heavy emotions set them off. I thought..."

"You thought you had it under control didn't you?" Peter looked at her and he nodded.

"Dunham, Bishop?" Broyles came over with a police officer behind him, "what the hell happened?"

"The battery just died." Peter stood beside Olivia, "died in the middle of the intersection, the other car hit us."

The officer looked at them, "there's no damage to the SUV you were driving, there should be some damage."

Peter noticed Broyles looking at Olivia, "who was driving?"

"I was," Olivia's head shot up, Peter had admitted he was at fault. "The battery died as I was running a red light due to a comment made by Agent Dunham. Look, I'll pay the fine and take the mark on my record."

"I'll write up the ticket, excuse me." The officer left and Broyles looked at them both.

"Was that really what happened Dunham?"

Peter nodded, "Olivia had nothing to do with it, in fact she was out of the car checking on the guy in the car while I recovered."

"Mr. Bishop," Broyles looked at him before looking at Olivia. "Olivia what happened?"

She noticed Peter looking at her and caught a glimpse of his thoughts when her mental shield went down for a moment.

Come on 'Livia, trust me Sweetheart. Trust me please...he'll take you off the case. A ticket and fine, something so simple versus your independence again...trust me Baby, please.

"We got in an argument and Peter forgot to stop at a red light, the battery died in the intersection and the car hit us. We were all lucky not to be seriously injured."

Peter noticed her lying had gotten better, really better...almost as good as her alternate, that frightened him.

"Understood, Bishop since you were the one driving..."

"I know, I know."

After they arrive back the lab, Broyles saw to the lead for them with Amy Jessup, Peter found Olivia in the office on the couch holding a cup of coffee. Starring at it and he saw the material swirling in the cup, he walked in and shut the door before laying a blank journal beside her.

She picked it up and looked at it, "what is it?"

"Therapy...sort of. If you won't tell Walter and don't want tests run...use that. Every ability, every time you use one, every ache and pain you feel, even the smallest hint of something...write it down. I'll track your progress and at the end of each week when I read it, if I find something...something I even suspect could cause you danger...Broyles and Walter will know." He bent down and placed a hand on her leg, "I'm trying Olivia, I don't want your independence taken away after you just gained it back but I won't have you in a medicated coma...do you understand?"

Olivia nodded and looked at the journal, "thank you for earlier...I caught your thoughts for a second." She stood as he did and placed the coffee down before placing the journal in her bag and picked up to leave the office after a long day. She turned at the door, "call me Sweetheart or Baby again and I may shoot you."

He chuckled, "you're back, my Olivia is back."

"Maybe, I'll see you tomorrow."

A/N: I thought it was appropriate, they're not there yet. She's still angry, he's still guilty, they're only mildly civil and now a big bombshell which becomes a secret pact between them...but atleast she's starting to trust Peter again.