Something I've been working on for a while, just never got up the willpower to finish until this morning.

Her eyes were closed.

That was the first thing he noticed when he saw her in the hospital. It made his heart lurch, terror freezing him in place. The doctor noticed his state and chuckled softly. "She's just asleep, sweetie," she murmured softly. He relaxed a little. "She was awake earlier when the anesthesia wore off from her surgery. Apparently she hasn't gotten any sleep lately, so we gave her some sedatives to help." She smiled at him, relieved he cared so much for who she assumed was his girlfriend. Some of the people who came through here really do need the support. And the woman on the bed is one of them.

He nodded in understanding and felt the doctor's arm brush his slightly as she left the room. Taking a deep breath, he crossed the room and sat down in the chair positioned next to her. A gentle smile pulled at his lips when he took her hand in his and her fingers twitched back in response. So long. It had been so long since he had really seen her. Technically he had seen her the other day, but that wasn't her. It was the other one, the one who deceived him and everyone else.

Subconsciously, he knew it. Didn't he? He hadn't distanced himself from her alternative –not even close- but somewhere… hadn't he noticed the signs? No. Of course, he hadn't. He was too happy and excited to finally get to know her romantically that he hadn't even noticed all the differences between them.

God, he was an idiot.

He closed his eyes and leaned his head against her hand. He hadn't really been sleeping recently either, since he woke up four days ago and couldn't find the person who had been asleep next to him the night before. The alternate. He hated having to make that distinction. While she may not have been his Olivia, she was still a person. A likeable person. The relationship had only been natural-

Stop. Stop right now. It had all been a lie and now she's dead, killed by her doppelganger that had just saved herself from the other side. Because he was too stupid to realize and go save her himself.

Which brings us back to: God, he was an idiot.

Her hand twitched again, this time more violently. His eyes flickered to her face, where her features where screwed up in terror and pain. It was his fault. He could have saved her from these nightmares. But he stood up and gently shook her shoulder. While her eyes fluttered open in fright, his hand gently cradled her face. A gesture he had done so many times before the universe-crossing, yet bringing no recognition to her face.

Fear started to set in again, fear that his Olivia may have had memories stolen, that she couldn't recognize him. But as she registered his face, her nothingness turned to confusion.

"Why are you so scared, Peter?"

Relief made him completely relax against the hospital bed and he smiled a little. She did remember him. "I'll be fine. Are you scared?" He didn't ask if she was okay, because it was obvious that she wasn't. He didn't ask how she was feeling, because he didn't want her to have to deal with her emotions quite yet. He just wanted to know if she was scared.

She frowned in thought. When she figured out a good answer, she looked into his eyes. "Not anymore." The words were shy and coupled with a light blush. It looked good on her pale skin. "You told me not to be scared. Remember?" If there was any doubt about which Olivia she was before, it was gone now. He never told the alternate about that because he assumed she knew. But of course only this person would know about that almost kiss, so long ago.

He brushed his thumb over her cheek. "I remember." He hesitated. He didn't want to ask her right away, but it seemed there was no choice. "'Livia… Do you remember about what happened over there?"

She looked at him curiously. A minute or so passed before she whispered, "No. I don't. I remember needing to get you back because we knew the truth. But I can't remember crossing over or anything up to being sent back over. I don't know who helped me cross over either."

He swallowed, staring at her in concern. That wasn't right. It's good that whatever form of torture they had used on her was absent from her memory – well, good for her anyway. She couldn't lay awake, scared at night if her mind couldn't recollect all that information.

But he had a gut feeling that his true father was behind this. That he tortured Olivia for secrets and then took away the memories of being tortured. That way he couldn't be held responsible. And killing her would just be too messy and he had to make sure that his position as Secretary of Defense was protected. But if you can keep the connections from ever forming, there's no cleanup needed. Therefore, no harm done.

He doubted it was permanent though. No, that would be way too easy for Olivia. He would want her to suffer years and years of nightmares of what he did to her. Punishment, for helping the man who stole his son and then stole him again. She deserved it.

His gaze flickered to the blank monitor, which had once beeped with her heart rate but now had been disconnected. Then he looked back at her with a strained smile. He wouldn't tell her until later, when they weren't being watched so. Instead, he asked another question. "Do you remember the nightmare? The one I woke you up from?"

She shook her head. "No, but that's not really abnormal. A lot of people can't recall their dreams." She tentatively reached up and held his hand in place. "Peter, I don't want the shapeshifters to find me. Like they did last time I was in this hospital." Her eyes were pleading and her fingers tightened around his. "Peter, please."

"I'm not going to leave you alone. I promise I'll be here until you can leave." The corners of her lips twitched upward and she relaxed. He had a way of calming her whenever she was scared. The little wavering glimmer around him was fading, something that flared up whenever she was really afraid of something. She had seen it since she woke up but hadn't really thought about it until now.

Her eyes started to droop and he let her go ahead and fall back asleep. He reflected on the events of the previous day, when Olivia showed up, bruised and beaten, sending a bullet through the skull of her counterpart. Alt-Olivia, as he decided to call her now, fell to the ground and was pronounced dead on the spot. Olivia just walked up to him, took his hand, and whispered in his ear, "You don't just belong with me, you belong to me." He had to laugh out loud at her attempt at humor. It was still debatable which one she was then, however.

A while went by, with her being asleep and him holding her hand while watching her. She was so peaceful, so perfect. How did he ever come to deserve someone like her? The truth is that he didn't; no one was so pure as to deserve her. But he hoped he at least came close.

When her eyes fluttered back open, he smiled. No nightmares.

Later that night, after he had dropped her off at her apartment and drove home, he received a phone call. Middle-of-the-night calls and visits were typical with Olivia, so he didn't think much of it. But when he answered, he could hear the overwhelming panic in her voice.

"Peter? Did I wake you up? I'm sorry, it's just-"

"Liv," he interrupted. Her fast flow of words didn't make much sense, since she always talked so calmly. "No, you didn't wake me. I was just about to hop in the shower." The lie was smooth and easy. While he hated lying to her, it was better to ease her guilt than make her feel worse.

His deep, soothing voice on the other line made her smile just the tiniest bit. Calm down, sweetheart. Everything's going to be okay in the end. You're gonna be fine. She had slowly started to associate that term with Peter, instead of Charlie. Because there's while an alternate Charlie, there's only one Peter. Her Peter. And ever since her Charlie was killed, Peter had been the one who helped her. Especially when she's scared. "Um… Can you come over? I really don't want to be alone right now."

He smirked just a little, because he had a feeling this phone call was inevitable. "Of course. I'll see you in fifteen minutes."

"Okay. I'll see you then. And Peter?"

"Yeah, Liv?"

"Thank you."

This is a oneshot - I'm not writing another chapter. It's just that she has Peter now to protect her and they're gonna live happily ever after :)

Please review! Love, your neighborhood Berry tree.