"Sweetheart," he says, venomous, and her clit pulses before she remembers this is not a happy moment on his doorstep. Not this time.
"Peter," she tries to sound angry like him, but what comes out is instead desperate and embarrassingly breathy.
" 'Livia," his heart breaks on her name for a second before his voice goes rock-hard and cold again. "What are you doing here?"
"Please, Peter," she's half a step away from begging, on her knees before him, "Just come home. Walter needs you."
He beings to turn away but stops to tell her in profile, "Walter can find his own way."
"Honestly, Peter, he's at his breaking point."
"Honestly, Olivia," he mocks, "I don't care."
"Why not?"
It's so direct, he almost doesn't expect it. But he recovers and laughs hollowly, all traces of playful banter eradicated, "Why not?"
"Yeah," Olivia counters, "Why the fuck not?"
Peter starts to say something, but Olivia cuts him off, "Why don't you care about Walter anymore?"
She doesn't let him speak, "What difference does it make that you're on this side and not that one?"
"This isn't where I belong."
"Bullshit. You're alive because of this side's Walter. You know you would have died had he left you over there."
"You don't know that."
"Damn straight I don't. But I do know that you're alive because of what happened. You were saved, and then raised by a man and a woman who loved you like their own."
"Who were then driven insane with the guilt of it!"
She ignores him, "Had he left you over there, who knows? Would you still be alive now? Would you be any happier?"
He's silent.
"What would have happened if Walter didn't save you?"
"He wouldn't have torn a hole in the fragile fabric between our universes. If he hadn't ripped me from an alternate universe, there would be no Pattern. All of those people would still be alive."
"Maybe."
"What do you mean,' maybe?'"
"None of that is certain. But you would have died."
"So what? I'm just one person."
"Doesn't matter. You're one hell of an important person. You can not give up on us now."
"Us?"
"Us. The FBI, Walter, Astrid…all of those innocent people hurt because of the Pattern."
"That's not us," he gestured between himself and Olivia, "That's they." He looks at her. "What about us?"
She looks to his hands. "What about us?"
"Exactly," and he moves to slam the door in her face, but she wedges her foot up against the doorjamb and wrestles herself inside before he can object.
She falls back against the door, "Peter, what do you want me to say?"
"I want you to stop avoiding what's here. I want you to stand up to what's between us."
She's bewildered.
"And I want you to give me a real reason to stay."
"I told you!"
"No you didn't."
"Now you're just acting like a child. I did. I told you, Peter."
"What did you tell me?" He picks his eyes up off the ground and stares her down. "Go ahead, tell me what you said."
"You can't give up on us."
"Why? Who needs me?"
"We need you! We all need you!"
"Who needs me, Olivia, who?"
"We all need you, Peter. Walter, Astrid, Broyles—whether he'd admit it or not—"
"Goddamnit, 'Livia. Who needs me?"
They're practically nose-to-nose when she finally gets it, what he needs to hear.
"I need you, Peter. I need you to stay."