Damn, I wish I knew how to make these "rants" much shorter than they are but I am in a hurry to get to work so take what you can get for now, and I will fix all typos later. Clear?

Peter POV, 1x06 "The Cure"

Disc: No owns.

Even Peter, for all of his confidence and optimism in the face of extreme difficulties, knew that you couldn't always win your fights. And when it came to justice, sometimes the bad guys WILL win.

And this was a very difficult case to tackle. He knew this. For all of Walter's genius in finding out how Claire and Emily's mysterious illness functioned, the balancing factor in the equation still remained with the Bureau finding the bad guy and bringing him to justice. But Peter knew the Bureau would always be the weaker half of this special crime-solving unit. Walter's smarts, much to Peter's disturbance, always got his formulas and always got his scientific solutions. How was it even possible for Walter to solve cases before the true crime-solvers did? Peter didn't know. All he knew was that if Walter was capable of functioning like a normal human being, he could easily run the special unit without him or Olivia. Heck, he could even do it all without Astrid, though Peter suspects that he would probably keep her around for the sake of getting his favorite soup for lunch.

So he kept reminding himself, the whacky science team won't always be victorious. Innocent people would die. Bad guys would escape. Cases would go completely unsolved.

Already there's been much of that here and there, but the cases would always have a win…a victory of some sorts. They've gotten too lucky, he thought. Five cases solved (though the whole thing with the beacon could hardly be considered an actual case in his opinion), and all of them were mostly Walter's victories.

He wonders if Olivia was a sore loser in sports at school. Everytime they met a roadblock, it was always her who would react badly. Perhaps she was just born a very impatient person, he thought.

But her behavior that day felt a bit out of sync with the Olivia he was already familiar with. He tried to tell himself he still had much more to learn about her.

But when she snapped at Walter that morning, that became his first sign of non-Olivia like behavior. He was sure of it. Olivia was ALWAYS tolerant of Walter, and yet she beat him to the punch of getting Walter to shut up before he did and that was what truly stunned him.

Walter's theory of Olivia possibly suffering from true psychological torment was too true to ignore, but Peter wouldn't dare push the subject. He sensed all over her face that if he asked Olivia if she was okay for the thousandth time…she was going to rip something out of him mercilessly.

But sneaking into a deceased person's in the middle of their wake? That was quite a low for Olivia herself. She always sympathized with those who lost a loved one ever since John Scott died. Had she already forgotten about the funeral and the emotions that he saw her helplessly suffer from after his death? This was too extreme just for a bigger lead in the case.

Still, there were more roadblocks in the way now, and even Peter was beginning to accept that chances are, they won't be winning this battle. Claire Williams will not likely be saved in time, and David Esterbrook would still continue being the corrupt head of a multi-billion dollar corporation that Peter always believed him to be. He supported Olivia's suspicions of Esterbrook, but even this guy intimidated Peter enough to believe that the team could be in for their first real loss…ever.

But life goes on, more cases were still out there, and more wins were always imminent.

He tried to get that point across to Olivia in his own Peter Bishop way…

…and she snapped at him.

That was the last straw. She had some nerve to take out all hell on him when he was only there to give advice, or to keep Walter under control.

And Walter had even less to do with her cold attitude today than he did.

Surely there were wars he would fight with Olivia along the way. Wars involving ethics, strategies, and the like. But he never thought he would have to fight a war with her regarding emotions, and he never thought he would have to fight one so soon.

In an instant, Peter went from standing up to Olivia to mentally struggling to absorb the words that came from her without a single bit of emotion.

And damn…was it a lot to absorb.

He was shaking deep inside, not because of the story or how horrible it became with every word, but how Olivia managed to speak of these terrible events in her past to him without as much as a high or low to her voice. Not a tear or a shake came from her. She was absolutely emotionless when she confessed "everything".

****

The words "today's your birthday" may have come out of his mouth but that wasn't the first thing that entered his mind once she finished telling her story. Nor was it the feeling of horror and sympathy he felt that she had such a terrible mess in her life (such a thought would be spared for until this case was over).

The first thought was, 'this is it. This is why she needs to solve this case so badly'.

His mind kicked in like clockwork. He had to have overlooked Esterbrook's weak points somewhere and it struck him then…Massive Dynamic.

At the very moment, Peter knew that Olivia needed that information more than anything…more than a comforting hand on the shoulder or a warm embrace, though God knows she needed alot of both right now.

But now, he knew how she worked, what motivated her. He knew now that top priority to Olivia was to solve this case and to save Claire in time. Finding happiness on the darkest day of her year was shoved somewhere downstream. Peter would respect that...for now.

Still though…

This woman remained too damn good at keeping her walls up…even when she bitterly surrendered her darkest secrets to him.

And still, after giving Olivia a little bit of hope to solve this case, she coldly rejected the information he shared with her…about Intrepus' link with Massive Dynamic and the possible break that could be made to bring Esterbrook to justice.

Dealing with corrupt corporations without a single chance of winning made Olivia truly bitter. And she was bitter than anything Peter had ever tasted in his life.

That was enough for him. He left her to her bitterness and went out of the lab with one thought on his mind.

He had to get Olivia a victory today…no matter what.

*****

He must have gotten back just in time.

Olivia was surely about to break when spoke to him of the world gone to hell, of corrupts CEOs who knew more than the true protectors of society. She was about to accept defeat that Claire would die, Esterbrook would walk away but would turn back around to sue the Bureau, and she would be in greater trouble with Broyles than she already was.

Peter drew the photos and the information out before Olivia could lose herself. Like hell, was he going to let that happen today.

*****

When she comes to see him and stares him in the eyes, he felt like a teen who was caught committing a felony. Before she spoke, he knew that she had caught on about the fake friend he got his information from. Olivia knew right away that he had made the deal with the devil herself...Nina Sharp.

He wonders if Nina would have been lenient enough to give Olivia the information. Maybe she would have played nice for her like she always suspiciously did, but Olivia didn't have enough faith in her world to call on Nina Sharp again. This one Peter had to take on all by himself.

Peter shrugged off her concerns. He's made deals like this before, those that carried great debt, and those that carried a few beatings for punishments. Heck, he still owes too much to Big Eddie that Peter could be instantly killed for. Of course, there was still the matter of Big Eddie not knowing where Peter was at the moment.

There was one thing different about this debt that he had never done before and could never confess to Olivia. This has been the first deal he ever made without knowing what price he would one day have to pay to Nina Sharp.

The price would be small for a few radioactive-sensing photographs...if it were money. But Peter knew that Nina sensed a greater motivation for agreeing to take on such a risky undetermined debt without Olivia's knowledge, but she wasn't going to shake any answers out of him…

…not yet anyway.

But soon, Nina would know that this wasn't about saving a life, no matter how ethically righteous it was to do so.

It was about finally seeing Olivia smile for the first time that entire day.

Somehow that meant more to Peter than bringing down Intrepus and saving an innocent woman from blowing up more innocent people.

The longer he sat there with Olivia finally basking in the glow of true victory, both what she won and what he won…the longer he thought, damn, was he going to pay a huge price for this.

So he made a point to keep this memory of him and Olivia sitting outside his hotel room etched in his mind forever, because when the day comes that Nina collects her debt, it would be vicious, it would be merciless, and it would be uncompromising. But God, would it have been all worth it.

Because today had been her birthday and Peter had finally given her a win she could really smile about.

Hurray for my Fringe fic muse returning and for the hiatus soon ending! I think you all know what to do from here. ;)