Lies
Sequel to 'Lashes'. She stands there and burns, but she likes it.
Now it can stand alone, but it always helps to have read lashes.
He hadn't intended to end up here, at least not consciously. Sub-consciously maybe, but never in a thousand years would he have willingly walked into the Bureau's building. And here he was, not willingly in the building, but in handcuffs, in an interrogation room sitting still and waiting, just waiting. He knew exactly who was coming in the room too. Last time he'd seen her was five years ago when he so easily choked her into unconsciousness before telling her just exactly why he had too. He hadn't expected to see her again, yet there was that subconscious part of his mind begging him to be caught, begging to see her beautiful face again. He wondered if it would ever be as soft as it once was for him. Maybe he'd get lucky and see her eyes smile. Maybe.
But the door remained closed, at least for now.
Because she was there, but just not in the room. She was behind the glass, watching him. She was waiting for something, she just didn't know what. It'd been five years, five long and pain-filled years since she saw him last. When she first saw him her throat closed and she choked on a sob, feeling the twisting of the permanent steel blade lodged in her chest by him. But she'd been in that room now for five hours, just watching as if she were waiting for him, for something from him. Stupid for her to think that he was different. He was different, just not in the way she so silly-ly hoped. With a sigh she grabbed his file and exited the glass room and stood outside the door of his room. This was it. The old sting of his lashes of betrayal sat readily on her back. She sighed loudly.
He watched the knob turn slowly. It was almost to slowly for him. But the door slid open and in she came. She looked horrid. At least as horrid as the beautifully strong Olivia Dunham could look. The five years hadn't done her justice. But he's probably in the same boat as her. Her blonde hair was pulled into a bun and he liked it like that, he hardly ever saw it that way. She was still beautiful it was just her eyes that made her ugly. Why? Her eyes were full of cold, heartlessness, emotions he'd never seen before. The stabbing hole he'd put in his chest the night he left twisted and clenched as he realized he did this to her. This new, cold Olivia was his fault.
"Mr. Bishop," she said impersonally, "You've been charged with accessory to grand theft auto, three counts of grand theft, four counts of arson, one count of attempted murder and not to mention the selling of government secrets to terrorist operations. We have almost everything do you want to confess for a lesser sentence? We could put you in protective custody-or-
"I don't want that Olivia," he whispers, looking at her. He watched her eyes tighten at the sound of her name coming from his lips. Her eyes shot to his and he could see the cracks, he was making her crack. Somewhere inside her she was broken and he could make her that way.
"It's Agent Dunham, Mr. Bishop," she said composing her again. There it was in her eyes, the shield had been returned.
"Olivia," he said, shaking his head. He watched her before he moved to stand. In an instant she drew her gun and pointed it at him.
"You need to take a seat Mr. Bishop." She spat out his last name as if she couldn't take saying it anymore. He watched her as the cracks in her eyes became larger. He was getting through, but it was going to be a tough and messy process.
"All right Agent Dunham," he spat back at her, "I want my lawyer now."
She holstered her gun when he had settled in his seat. She mindlessly collected the papers she had shown him and didn't look up to meet his eye when she spoke.
"He's on his way."
She had just reached for a photo when his left hand stopped hers by his covering it. That's when she saw it. It was gold and thick, a band around his ring finger that was looking comfortable there. She froze. It had been five years, but now it felt like she never knew him. Her eyes lifted to meet his gaze, cold and mean and she wrenched her hand away and grabbed everything up before closing the file and racing from the room quicker than he'd ever seen a human go before.
He had felt her freeze under his touch. He felt all her muscles tense before she met his eyes. That was the last crack. She looked like she was about to cry. He retreated his hand and watched her leave before he stood up and swore loudly, knocking over his chair and turning his fist to the wall. He pounded his fist against it before resting his forehead against it. She had seen it, the ring on his finger. He felt so ashamed of himself. He was disappointed, angry and hurt, all because he couldn't do anything right. He had seen her eyes crack and it didn't even take a single word from him, all it took was the silly gold ring on his finger. Now she was gone, forever. There'll be no hope to win her back, not that he had any before. So maybe just a little, but now, none. He had really made himself a world here, and he was doing a great job of bringing down everyone else. He swore and pounded his fist into the wall again before ripping away from it.
"Olivia," he whispered his fingers tracing the cool steel table where she had been. If he didn't know any better, the strangle sound that came from his throat as he repeated her name sounded like a sob. "Olivia."
He dropped to his seat in a defeated position. It was a mistake to get caught. It was a mistake to see her. Everything had been a mistake. If only he never had owed Big Eddy, if only he had never broken her like he had, then maybe things would have ended better. But it was his fault and he had to live with his mistakes. He's made his bed, chose his side and now he's paying to consequences. In all respect, it was better this way. He'd been addicted to her –he still was addicted to her- and this life, this marriage, world, the fake and disgusting place he's made for himself kept him from thinking about how perfectly perfect she had been. She had completed him-still completes him- and he had been foolishly frightened. No woman had ever held that power that she holds over him and he doesn't like it. Distance seemed perfect.
Now perfection had fled, in a wind of tears, green eyes and beautifully spun blonde hair.
She watched his actions from safely behind the mirrored wall. It was probably safer for both of them that way. She had fled at the first sign of the wetness that was threatening her cheeks. It wasn't supposed to happen that way she wasn't supposed to feel so betrayed. But she wasn't supposed to love him either. She'll never admit that she does-or did- love him aloud, but that wedding band had been the thing that drove her over the edge. And then he choked her name out and pounded the wall and she knew that at one point, somewhere at one point, he'd probably felt the same way.
An agent opened the door to Olivia's room and handed her the file she asked for. She opened it and looked down at the pretty petite brunette woman that smiled up at her in the photo. Her name was Katherine Malone-Bishop and she had been Peter's wife. 3 months ago she had mysterious disappeared. Never to be found again. But it wasn't the fact that she was beautiful, amazingly so, or the fact she had been the lucky one for Peter, but the fact that there, on the front page, was a family photo, of Katherine smiling, Peter laughing and her. It was Peter's daughter.
She set the file down and took the photo in her hands. The girl must have been maybe four in the picture. That meant he had left her and got married in the same year. The pain was so great now it was numbing her from her head to toes. She felt herself detaching from her body. She had lived this way for those five years and her body and mind had attached when she saw him again. But this news, this…news, it just made her return to her safety, to return to the world she had known. She watched him in her room, wondering how a brilliant man like him got caught.
Peter had been staring at his hands in the interrogation room when he heard the door open. Olivia was back. He looked up at her, green eyes meeting a disconnected FBI agent. She had returned to a world she had built and this time, Peter doubted he could draw her out again. He opened his mouth to speak, but she beat him to it.
"You didn't get caught on accident Peter," she said placing both hands on the table and leaning over it to look at him. "I was your partner for years, I know your every move. You're too smart to get caught. You wanted to get caught, but what I don't understand is why."
"It was a traffic stop," he said maliciously, "I didn't plan on the officer recognizing the standing warrants for me. Trust me, I never wanted to get caught."
"Liar," she said angrily, she threw herself up off the table and turned her back to him to face the wall. "You wanted to get caught."
"Believe me sweetheart," he said angrily, "I don't want to go to jail just so I could see you again so don't flatter yourself."
She whirled around and stared at him. There was disbelief written on her face.
"You arrogant bastard!" she swore, "You think this is about me wanting to see you? You're the one who left! You're the one who so easily demonstrated that you could move on! You're the one who left me behind without an ounce of remorse! And you think it's because I wanted to see you?" she laughed, "You left me. You were my partner. I cared about a monster, not once, but twice. And now you're here because you want something. You know, you're not as smart as you look. If you wanted help finding your wife then you file a god-damn missing persons report, not come to me!"
"She's dead!" Peter shouted, standing up, "Big Eddy killed her. And you want to know why? Why he killed his own daughter? Because she was sleeping with a cop! She was telling him everything! She never loved me she always loved that damn cop. So Big Eddy killed her. You'll never find her, chopped into little bits and dispersed in the harbor-"
"Should I charge you with accessory?" she snapped. He looked at her- her stance, her eyes and her hair-he took in everything about this new Olivia.
"Olivia," he whispered, reaching for her. She shied away.
"Don't touch me," she snapped at him.
"Olivia," he repeated, looking at her. "I know what I did was wrong. I can see that, but this isn't you."
"You did this to me!" she barked at him. Peter recoiled from her outburst. It was true, but it still stung to hear.
"I should have never," he mumbled.
"Shouldn't have what?" she asked, "Left or come back? Which one was the worst? You've caused so much damage in this world and you just waltz back here-"
"Shut up!" he shouted, pounding his fist into the wall.
"And you just think everything's going to be all right now you've seen me again. The world is just going to be great. You're going to go back to your life of crime, back to your family, back to your daughter and it's going to be like I wasn't there, like I never mattered because you never cared-"
"I never cared?" he said, turning to face her. She watched him come closer but she wasn't scared, "You want to know what I named my daughter? Olive. That's right, because I don't care. You know she has these green eyes that are so familiar. They're too dark to be mine and her mother's are blue, so they must be yours. Your eyes are the same green as hers. From the day she was born her eyes looked like yours. So everyday I'm reminded of what I did! Everyday I look into my daughters eyes and I see you, I see you broken and hurt, and why? Because I fell in love with you! Do you hear me? I fell in love with you, but you, you're Special Agent Olivia Dunham, miss open-up-for-no-one, miss shut-the-world-out-because-I'm-so-broken, and I fell in love with you!"
"You left," she pointed out lamely, "You left me. How can you love somebody so much and just leave?"
"I knew you'd never love me back. I knew you'd never want me. So I broke into the file, I planted the evidence for you so you could find it, so I could leave you. You were so much more broken than I thought you would be though, I mean, watching you walk in here and see that you had changed and it had been my fault. It was my fault everything was my fault. So yes, I came back here to tell you that I loved you and that I still love you. You're Agent Olivia Dunham, broken heart extraordinaire, strong and powerful all woman and that I love you for everything you are. And yes, jail is worth everything, it's worth coming back to see you, coming back to tell you that I regret everything I did, to tell you that you're the one I love. You're Special Agent Olivia Dunham, miss don't-let-anyone-in, miss no-one-can-love-me, but I want you to know I do."
"Peter," she whispered, the disconnect of her soul connecting in a swift motion. Her whole being shook now and her eyes watched him. "Peter."
She turned her back on him and nodded to the window. Peter watched and waited for her to turn back around, to face him again.
"Peter," she repeated, as if the only thing she could say was his name, "I loved you too."
"Loved?" he said, looking at her. He could feel the pain in his chest building. The door opened and two agents entered. He looked at them and then at Olivia. They grabbed his arms. He fought, trying to see Olivia again.
"Olivia?" he called. No response. "Olivia! Olivia!" he called to her as they dragged him away. He was going to jail. But it was worth it. She loved him. Maybe she didn't love him now, but she had, and that was worth it.
Olivia remained in the interrogation room, listening to him cry out her name as they carried him away. She collapsed to the ground and let the tears fall. She loved him. The tears on her face fell faster as she realized something else.
"I still do."
Sequel is possible?