A Lot like Christmas
Summary: Olivia/Peter. It's Peter's first Christmas with his father in seventeen years and he's dreading spending the holidays alone with Walter, so he decides to invite Olivia to join them.
For Bex. Merry Christmas honey! LY Xx
With every day that passed the Homeland Security office was emptying a little further. People were heading home to spend the holidays with their families and very few of the officers would be working over the holidays. Olivia Dunham had already book her Christmas leave months ago but back then she had planned spending the holiday period with her partner and lover Agent John Scott. So much had changed since then and it had all happened so fast. One minute he was telling her he loved her and the next Olivia had found he had not only betrayed her but also his country. Part of her still loved him and she hated the thought of spending Christmas alone with her memories of their time together. She had tried to convince Broyles to let her come to work anyway but he had insisted that, after the stress and the changes of the past few months, she took a break anyway.
"You'll call me if a case comes in, won't you?" Olivia had asked, aware that her tone was halfway towards desperation. Broyles had just smiled humourlessly, not giving her a straight answer.
It was the day before Christmas Eve and Olivia had just arrived home from work, it had been her last shift before she finished for her week long Christmas break. As she pushed open the door to her apartment she could hear the phone was ringing. Olivia rushed inside and answered the phone just before the answering machine cut in.
"Hello?" She asked a little breathlessly, holding the phone between her ear and shoulder as she shrugged out of her heavy winter coat.
"Hi Olivia, its Peter Bishop here," The voice on the other end of the line replied. "Did I catch you at a bad time?"
"No, not at all, I've just got home from work actually." She explained, tucking her long blonde hair over her free shoulder. "Is everything okay?" She paused. "Is Walter okay?"
She could almost hear the wry smile in Peter's voice when he replied. "I'm fine, Walter is, well Walter."
Olivia smiled too, but truthfully she was never less than impressed by the way that Peter cared for his father. She wasn't sure if she would have been so patient if she was in the same situation.
"The reason I'm calling," He said, after a beat of silence had passed between them. "Is because I wondered if you have any plans; plans for Christmas?"
Olivia sighed, thinking of the lonely few days that sat waiting for her; days she could have been spending with John.
"None at all," She told him. "Broyles won't let me work; he's determined to give me a break even though it's the last thing I want."
"Spend it with me," Peter said softly.
"I'm sorry?" Olivia replied, truly believing that her ears were deceiving her. "Did you just ask me to spend Christmas with you?" Although she could think of a million and one excuses why she could not and should not spend Christmas with Peter Bishop not one of them would come to mind right now.
Peter laughed lightly on the other end of the line. "I guess I just did." He paused, his voice a little softer now. "As much as I should relish the opportunity, after seventeen years, to spend Christmas with my father, I think I'm going to crazy being locked up here with him for days on end."
Olivia smiled at his words. "We've only known each other a few months Peter, are you sure this is such a good idea?"
He sighed. "Please Liv, I would really appreciate it and I would owe you." He pleaded and Olivia felt herself caving, maybe it was something to do with the way that her nickname sounded coming from his lips. Her reluctance to accept Peter's offer was nothing to do with a lack of feelings for him, in fact it was quite the opposite. Without even really realising it, Peter had been her rock, her touchstone since John's betrayal and taking this step meant far more to her than he probably realised.
"Thank you for the invitation," She replied. "I'd like to spend Christmas with you, and Walter." She paused. "Mainly you,"
Peter laughed at this. "Thank you Olivia, I'll see you tomorrow."
They both hung up and Olivia now felt much better, it was a relief not to have to spend Christmas alone thinking about John and what could have been. Walter may be an annoyance at times but this Christmas was sure to be an entertaining one.
That night before Olivia went to bed she packed her bag. She wasn't quite sure what kind of a Christmas it would be, knowing the Bishops it would probably be something informal but she wanted to be prepared just in case. She slept far more easily that night, knowing that lonely hours were not stretching in front of her and that, although this Christmas would be far different to what she had been expecting, at least she would have company.
When she arrived at the Bishops apartment the next day she was greeted by Walter and a wonderful aroma coming from the direction of their small kitchen. Olivia slipped off her jacket, which Walter took about to hang up, and went through to the kitchen where Peter was sliding a tray back into the oven.
"You can cook?" Olivia asked as Peter straightened up and noticed her presence. He raised one shoulder in a casual shrug. This man is a mystery, Olivia thought to herself, and every day I'm learning something new about him. She thought she was through with mystery and secrets after John's betrayal but none of the surprises about Peter had been bad ones, at least so far.
"Thanks for coming," He said, throwing his oven gloves onto the counter and pressing a swift kiss to Olivia's cheek. She felt the skin grow pink where his lips had touched her skin and willed the blush away.
"Thanks for inviting me," She smiled.
"Even if it was for purely selfish motives," He finished for her with a chuckle. "Seriously, I haven't spent a Christmas with this man for seventeen years, and never have I spent a Christmas with him alone."
Olivia reached out and laid her hand over where his was resting on the counter.
"You are so great with him Peter, don't give yourself a hard time. And anyway, I'm more than happy to be here."
He led her through to the sitting room, his hand guiding her at the small of her back. Olivia began to wonder when their relationship had become so tactile. Maybe it was because, if they had met outside of work and she had not been suffering from losing someone she loved, the inevitable probably would have occurred between them by now. Olivia was pretty sure that Peter was aware of this too.
"Where's Walter?" Olivia asked, noticing that the small room, dominated by an oversized Christmas tree, was empty.
Peter sighed, scrubbing his face with his hand. "Walter is," He paused. "Rather excited by the prospect of celebrating the holidays, apparently such festivities were not allowed at St. Claire's."
"Oh," Olivia nodded. Although she had been invited, part of her still felt that she was intruding on precious father/son time between Walter and Peter. The younger Bishop seemed to sense her hesitation and smiled.
"Can I get you a glass of wine, Olivia?" He asked, gesturing towards two glasses and a bottle of Merlot sitting on a small coffee table.
Olivia nodded again and sunk down onto the sofa, gratefully accepting the glass that Peter offered her. He poured himself a glass too and sat down beside Olivia, grateful for Walter's absence at the moment. If he didn't know his father better, he would have said that he made himself scarce on purpose.
Olivia sipped at her wine, enjoying the peacefulness of the evening so far. The fire flickered in the corner, Peter's body was warm beside her's and the wine warmed her system. They sat largely in a companionable silence, occasionally exchanging memories of Christmases gone by. Peter excused himself as the oven timer beeped, disappearing into the kitchen to finish preparing dinner. Once he was gone, Olivia decided she should probably go and round up Peter's father.
"Walter?" She called pushing open the first door she came to. "Walter?" She repeated, peering around the door into what seemed to be a bedroom. She flicked the light switch on so she could see better and found the room was empty; empty except for a small deep green jewellery box that sat on the bed, next to card with her name on the front. Fuelled on by curiosity, Olivia opened the small box, letting out a small gasp and nearly dropping the box. The necklace inside was a beautiful, a thin gold chain bearing a gold floating heart set with a single diamond. Although she didn't know a great deal about jewellery, Olivia knew enough to know that this necklace had been expensive. She was pretty certain that Peter wasn't short of money but still this meant a lot, especially seeing how short a time they had known each other. Another realisation hit her; John had never bought her gifts like this. They had been so concerned with keeping their feelings a secret from their co-workers at the FBI that their relationship had strayed from the normal. Suddenly feeling guilty, Olivia put the box down and left the room, turning off the light and shutting the door after her. When she went back into the living room she found Walter was already there, sitting at the table. She gave a small sigh of relief and went over to join him.
Just as Olivia had slipped into her seat, Peter came in with plates of their steaming dinner.
"This really does smell wonderful, Peter." Olivia complimented as he placed her meal in front of her.
He smiled and handed Walter his plate too. Olivia noticed that Walter had been overly quiet for him and wondered if he was under strict instructions from Peter to behave himself. Peter disappeared back into the kitchen and returned with his own plate and a dish of vegetables. He took his seat across from Olivia and smiled at her while she helped herself to broccoli and potatoes.
"It tastes wonderful too," She added as she took a mouthful of the tender chicken breast.
Peter grinned at her. "Just wait until you sample my Christmas dinner tomorrow."
Olivia relaxed and tucked into her meal. This had definitely been the right decision and the atmosphere, the good food and the wine was almost making her forget about all the Christmas plans she had made with John.
After dinner Olivia helped Peter to clear up the dishes while Walter disappeared into his own bedroom to do God knows what. Olivia wondered if he was giving them so space and some privacy but she wasn't sure he would have been that subtle about it.
"You don't have to do this, Liv," Peter said as Olivia picked up a towel and began drying the dishes. "I've got this under control, go and sit down."
There he was, calling her Liv again and her heart raced just a little at how comfortable he was getting around her. "It's fine Peter, you cooked us a wonderful meal, the least I can do is help you clean it up."
Hours later Olivia said goodnight to Peter and Walter and retired to the guest room. Her eyelids felt heavy as she undressed and slipped into her nightwear, the mixture of food and glass after glass of red wine had taken their toll on her. For the first night in a long while Olivia fell asleep almost straight away inhaling the scent of the sheets that was faintly redolent of Peter.
Olivia was awoken on Christmas morning by a soft tapping on her bedroom door; she saw Peter's face appear in the doorway a sleepy grin on his face and a mug of steaming coffee in his hand.
"Thanks," She smiled, rubbing her eyes and pushing herself up to a sitting position. She took the coffee from Peter and sipped at him before setting it down on the bedside table.
"Merry Christmas," He smiled, taking a small box out of his pocket and handing it to her.
"Merry Christmas." Olivia echoed, taking the gift from him and opening it carefully. "It's beautiful Peter, thank you so much." She said, leaning forward to hug him. This felt strangely intimate, with her in bed and him perching on the edge of it. Suddenly it felt far more like they were lovers than co-workers. Olivia wondered if she was strong enough to risk crossing that boundary again.
Peter smiled, taking the necklace out of the box and holding it out. Olivia obliged, lifting her long blonde hair out of the way so that he could fasten the necklace around her neck. She tried not to let her body, or her eyes, show the effect he was having on the sensitive skin of her neck.
"It suits you," He said, stroking hair out of Olivia's face.
"I have a present for you too," She smiled at him, reaching down to where her bag, and her gift for Peter, was sitting on the opposite side of the bed. Peter caught her hand before she could make a grab for it.
"There's time for that later," He moved closer to her, effectively trapping her in the bed and made his move. His lips touched her's gently, almost uncertainly until he felt Olivia respond, her mouth moving slowly under his. He settled in bed next to her and kissed her again, deeper this time, his hands tangling in her silky hair. "Why waste what time we have before Walter wakes up." He took Olivia's kiss as confirmation that she agreed. He pulled the covers up around them and she snuggled into his side, their hands and tongues exploring previously undiscovered territory.
As her head rested over Peter's steady, constant heartbeat Olivia realised that maybe this Christmas would be far better than anything she had planned with John.