being stitched into their fabric

by callmesandy

Olivia closed her eyes and pictured the list, not just the first names and last initial, but the class list. She only knew the Jacksonville kids, not the ones from both sets of experiments. She had 19 people to find. (set two years pre-pilot.)

Title and opening quote from Christian Drake's The Spider Farm. not mine, no profit garnered. Thanks to the Jam! For the GWYO setting bingo spot seen below.

---

It is hard work, to keep from being stitched into their fabric.
The web will blindfold and swallow you if you sleep too long.

In 2006, Olivia actually took Charlie's advice and took a two day vacation. Charlie had said take a week; she'd compromised. She'd killed someone. Two days should be enough to find peace with that, she thought.

"But you took six days," Charlie said. "Good for you."

After the second night, she'd needed four more days to get her head on straight. She'd seen Rachel, sat in a chair while Ella fell asleep in her arms. With Ella asleep, Olivia had said, "Do you remember anything from when you were four or five?"

"No," Rachel said. "Not really. I remember you being angry once. So angry. I said something I don't even remember and you said you didn't remember that happening and you shouted. You never shouted at me."

"I shouted at you all the time," Olivia had said, holding Ella closer.

"You were a brat," Rachel said.

"You were a bigger brat," Olivia said.

She was sitting at her desk in the Federal Building and she concentrated on that one perfect memory of Ella sleeping in her arms, her perfect little face at peace.

Olivia did her work at work. When she was done, she went to internet cafes and searched through her list of names without FBI resources. William Bell and Walter Bishop had worked for the government, Massive Dynamic had pull with every government agency. She wanted her anonymity.

She closed her eyes and pictured the list, not just the first names and last initial, but the class list. She only knew the Jacksonville kids, not the ones from both sets of experiments. She had 19 people to find.

To her surprise, Olivia found not one of them had died.

When two of us gather together, she thought. If she actually sought out the other kids, it would be noticeable. She didn't want to draw attention to herself or anyone else.

Olivia looked out the window while she and Charlie drove somewhere. She remembered it perfectly, a field of white tulips and a boy with brown hair. That could be her next step.

!

She entered the garage and stood at the end of the car. "Peter Bishop?"

She said it quietly but she knew at least some of the people standing around the garage saw her and heard her. Peter wheeled out from under the car and got up from the board. He was in overalls, grease on his hands. He looked like an average auto mechanic except for some sort of soldering tool in his hand and then in his pocket. It had looked homemade. He didn't recognize her, of course.

"Can I help you?"

She was overwhelmed for a split second, surrounded by people who undoubtedly worked for a mobster, no allies nearby. In that second, Peter glimmered.

This was getting worse. She took out her ID and said, "Agent Olivia Dunham, FBI." Peter's charming smile flickered. "I wanted to ask you about your father, Walter Bishop."

"Why?" Peter closed her ID badge and steered Olivia by her elbow out of the garage. She let him because she was still blinking against the glimmer. "Why are you interested in my father?"

They were outside on the sidewalk, but Olivia still felt eyes on them. Peter had to feel it, too. Olivia said, "I'm interested in your father and I'm interested in you. I thought I'd wait until we were outside to say it."

"That's sweet," Peter said, glaring at her. "I'm not interested."

"I am," she said. "Walter Bishop and William Bell experimented on children in Florida and Ohio in the early 80s. Do you know anything about that?"

His jaw was tight. She had surprised him and he was reacting visibly. She wouldn't be so lucky next time she talked to him. Peter said, "I don't. I wasn't even aware my father worked with William Bell. Massive Dynamic William Bell, really?"

"Really," she said. Her head hurt. She just wanted to hit Peter in the head and get past his stupid defenses. She wanted one person on her side.

He stepped back, blinking. She was horrified. She said, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, just kinda felt like the whammy hitting me. Secret Massive Dynamic tech you brought to give me a migraine? That seems unfair." Peter blinked again.

"No, no," she said. She handed him her card, he looked at it and handed it back. She said, "If you need help, I would help you."

"I don't need the headache," he said.

She was embarrassed at her loss of control. She just didn't know everything she could do. Maybe there weren't even limits to what she could do. It was frightening. She practiced. She laid on her bed and lifted the bed and lowered the bed while she floated, she did it over and over again. She turned off all the lights in her apartment. She turned them back on. She turned them off one by one and then back on.

Olivia sat up on the bed. Peter had glimmered. He'd glimmered. She remembered what that had meant. Maybe he'd glimmered back in Jacksonville and he didn't scare her so she didn't see it. She concentrated on nothing and opened her eyes. She could see the other side. It was nothing but amber everywhere. Her lack of knowledge was killing her. She needed help. She needed to know.

She got a visit, but it wasn't Peter. She was at work and it was two FBI agents she didn't know and two Boston PD detectives. "Why specifically are you fucking up our operation with Big Eddie?"

"I'm not," Olivia said. "I was talking to Peter Bishop because his father's work is connected to some chemical weapons we discovered. I wondered if he knew how that had happened."

"That's why Dunham went alone," Charlie said, looking up at the other agents. "It was supposed to look like just what it was, following a lead on something else."

"Bishop's a con man, I'm sure he convinced everyone it was just what it looked like," Olivia said.

"They don't trust him," the BPD guy said. "We have an inside person who is very close to Bishop who might be jeopardized by your interest."

"We can't ignore chemical weapons," Charlie said. "Thanks for the visit."

After they were gone, Charlie said, "Chemical weapons."

"I'm so sorry," Olivia said. "I really was looking into a connection into his father."

"Did this father actually make chemical weapons?"

"He did worse," Olivia said. "He experimented on children."

Charlie nodded and didn't bring it up again that day.

Peter did find her, a week later. She was only slightly freaked to see him on the other side of her door at her apartment. He said, "I know how to get the information about Walter you're looking for. But first you help me."

"Help with what?"

He looked at her. She said, "Okay." She opened her door.

"My girlfriend is informing on Eddie to the FBI and Boston PD. I'd like to keep her safe," Peter said.

"You need a way out," Olivia said. "You can't figure one out yourself."

"I can," he said. He sat back on her couch. "Maybe I'm having trouble with this."

"How did you even get into this?"

"Let me lay it out for you," he said. He grabbed one of her blank notebooks and started with a diagram. Big Eddie ran two underground casinos, a growing identity theft business and the usual loan sharking and chop shops. Peter had tried to scam the underground casino, had met Tess the girlfriend in the process, and was now trying to find ways to get out of his debt or get away. He said, "It was a dumb idea, I know. I was a little, you know, I've had better days."

He was not interested in any of the actual legal proceedings that would put Big Eddie in prison. It wouldn't be effective enough, he argued.

They spent two days figuring out a plan, one that Peter kept trying to make more elaborate while Olivia pulled him back and tried to make less illegal. A little less, at least.

Naturally, the first week everything went fine and the second week everything went sideways. Charlie put a bulletin on her desk when she first got in. He said, "You think this was the person BPD had on the inside?"

Tess had been shot, stabbed and her dead body set on fire. Charlie looked at Olivia and said, "Why do you look like you feel responsible?"

"Maybe I am," Olivia said.

"Tell me what you have going on, Liv," Charlie said.

"Can I tell you while we find Peter?" They drove to Peter's apartment first.

"This is where they left the body of the girl," Charlie said. "Do you think they were trying to frame your friend?"

"Probably," Olivia said. She had been vague on the drive over, but she was sure Charlie saw through her. She looked around the neighborhood, trying to put herself in Peter's shoes. They had successfully undermined both casinos which were now closed, the chop shop had declared its independence and was under new leadership. "All Mako needs is a nudge," Peter had said.

She wondered if she could just look and see Peter's glimmer somewhere, which seemed insane. Instead she got back in the car and went to the industrial park where the identity theft ring was headquartered.

"Shit," Charlie said. They'd arrived at the end of what seemed to be an internecine war. They could see blood spatter and unmoving bodies splayed at unnatural angles inside. Charlie immediately called for the police and Olivia ran inside.

"Peter," she called. "Peter." She ran carefully, checking each body as she passed, kicking away weapons. She ran past a corpse she was sure was Big Eddie. She heard something, some sign of life from the very back. "Peter," she said as she opened the door.

He was naked with some bruises that looked bad and a cut on his forehead like he'd been pistol-whipped. He also appeared to have a bomb strapped to his stomach. His hands were handcuffed behind his back to a table bolted to the floor. His ankles were cuffed together, too. "Hey," he said, weakly. "Good to see you."

"Is it a timer or remote detonation?"

"Timer," Peter said, glancing down at it. "I'm supposed to clean up all the bodies."

Olivia squatted down near him and looked at the bomb. "Do you know how to defuse it?"

"Theoretically, if I had my hands free and my feet and a pair of pants at least," Peter said. He was looking at the ceiling.

She couldn't see a way to uncuff him. "What happens if I just rip the bomb off you?"

"Uncomfortable tape burns," Peter said. "Also, it's a timer but it's pretty motion sensitive. Maybe you should just let me be." His voice quivered a little at that last one.

"Well," she said. "Thanks to your father, I have superpowers. He experimented on me." She sounded like she didn't believe herself.

"Really?" He didn't sound hopeful.

She concentrated on undoing the handcuffs. They sparked and broke open. Peter moved slowly and said, "Shit. What else can you do?"

She undid the cuffs on his ankles the same way and then helped him shift to a more sitting position. "Let me," she said. "It will probably still hurt."

She concentrated and floated the bomb up and away, placing it on the table. "Do we defuse or run?"

"I have no idea," Peter said. He was looking at her with wide eyes and then back at the bomb. "I vote run, frankly."

She was already moving. She found a small throw rug near one of the bodies and threw it backwards towards Peter. "How much range does that bomb have?"

"We don't care about the range so much as the - fuck, the parking lot should be safe enough," he said. When she looked over her shoulder, he had wrapped the rug around his waist as he ran.

Charlie was about to enter as they both barreled towards him. "Bomb, Charlie," Olivia said, waving him back. Three seconds later, when they had nearly reached the car, the explosion came in noise and fire and Olivia felt the concussive force pushing her backwards.

She blinked and tried to self-assess but she'd landed on Peter and he was saying "Ow" loudly. She got off of him and stood up, still shaking. The sirens from the arriving ambulances and fire engines and police were almost louder than the ringing in her ears.

Olivia let Charlie turn this disaster into something that wouldn't get her fired. She would never have a better partner. She picked up Peter at the hospital when he called. He came out wearing scrubs. "You really did that," he said, looking over at her.

"I really did," Olivia said. "I'm sorry about your girlfriend."

Peter swallowed. He looked out the window. Olivia said, "I can take you in for a little while, I guess all your stuff is gone."

"I didn't keep all my stuff there," Peter said. He directed her to a computer store. She waited outside for about ten minutes and then Peter came out with a heavy backpack. "I'll take you up on that couch. I owe you, right?"

"I don't think so," Olivia said. "You wanted to protect Tess. I didn't do that."

He shook his head. "Not your fault. Let me owe you. I know a couple of places to look for Walter's records. Worst case scenario, I can get you into to see him."

She gave him two days to get his bearings back. He slept on the pullout bed. She went to work, came home, ate late takeout dinners with him. After two days, she said, "Okay, Walter and Bell's experiments."

"I can't believe you didn't ask me the first night," Peter said. "So tell me first, why did you wait so long to come for me?"

"I didn't remember," she said. "I went on vacation to Galveston a few months ago. I don't even know why I picked Galveston. I killed someone, that's why I went on vacation. It wasn't the first, but it was, she had been abused. So I guess my memories are already stirred up. But I got drunk and this psychic standing at her door said I had to come in right then as I was walking home."

"You should always listen to that," Peter said, half mocking.

"She made me sit down and she said she recognized me. She pushed her hand, the palm of her hand right on my forehead. I remembered everything. I woke up two hours later," Olivia said. She rubbed her hands together. "I remembered the experiments, being given the drugs. I remembered you, too. The woman, she told me that Bell was incredibly dangerous and she would never see me again. I went back to the hotel and decided to fly to Chicago to see my sister and my niece. Two hours later I had booked my flight. I went out and she was gone."

"So you want to find out, what?"

"I want to warn the other kids, the ones who were experimented on like me. I want them to know dangerous people might come after them. I've located the other 19 kids from Jacksonville. I need to find the kids from the Ohio ones. I thought maybe you could do the visits," she said.

"And do what? Say, hey, watch out for Massive Dynamic and associated boogeymen?"

"Basically," Olivia said. "It's not just Bell, what if other people know these kids are out there? Or Bell told someone?"

"Since you're so scared of Bell, why send me instead going yourself?"

"Well," Olivia said. "You're used to covering your tracks and hiding your identity. I bet you could do all these visits without anyone but the other kids knowing who you are." She smiled.

"You're appealing to my ego as a criminal," Peter said. "I bet that's new for you."

She nodded. "I can't necessarily pay you -"

"I've got money, and Walter did this. So consider it covered." Peter went into his backpack and pulled out a phone and thumb drive.

"Please tell me the money isn't from Big Eddie or some other criminal enterprise," Olivia said.

"Of course not," Peter said, a small smile on his face. "Three years ago I designed a little gadget with supporting software that help makes a car impossible to break into. At least, very very difficult. I sold it to a security company, and now, they've finally released the entire car security system so my perfectly legal money is flowing in. It's a very expensive system that people buy for their very expensive cars."

"Oh," Olivia said. "So that's a nice income stream."

"I won't even have to dip into the accounts you can't know about," Peter said.

"I'm going to assume you're joking," Olivia said.

"You do that." He was already engrossed in her list.

Peter took two week trips, covering three at a time. He would report back to her how the others were doing. A few were doing fine. A few were scarred and scared and didn't even know how. "Nick Lane -"

"The one in the mental institution," Olivia said.

"Just like my father, only Nick went in voluntarily," Peter said. "He remembers a lot. He remembers a lot that sounds like some kind of manifesto. He talks about Walter preparing you all for a war. Do you remember any of that?"

Olivia frowned and looked up at him. He was tall and she forgot until he was looming over her. "I honestly don't. Maybe Walter didn't talk to me about it."

"Also Nick has managed to amass quite a collection of articles and books. He might have found something that helped cement the war training in his head." Peter must have sensed her reaction, he stepped back and sat down. Then he said, "I'd be happy to visit him again. Some of your fellow experiments grew up very attractive."

"You think Nick is attractive?"

Peter shrugged and smiled. "Except for the mentally disturbed part. There was also a lawyer I wouldn't mind seeing again."

She filed that away. "You should see Nick again, but wait until you've visited all of them and then go back. Maybe someone else remembers."

"Thanks for the permission," Peter said.

"Why are you upset about this war?"

Peter relaxed back into the couch. "I honestly don't know." He looked up at her and for once, his fear was open on his face. "I don't remember much of my childhood or even before Walter was sent away. I don't want to. I used to have horrible nightmares and Walter helped me stopped remembering them. I don't want to know more. Maybe you enjoy all of this, but I don't."

"I don't enjoy it, but I can't just coast by not knowing what was done to me or why," Olivia said. She thought she had a good idea why Peter was so resistant. She remembered the glimmer. She said, "Did Nick mention an alternate universe?"

"You do recall some of it," Peter said. "Yes, the warriors from the other side are coming to get all of us."

"There is an other side," Olivia said. "A parallel universe."

"Theoretically, that's absolutely possible."

"I can see it," Olivia said. "I've been there. When I was a child."

Peter just stared at her. Then he said, "Nick is going to feel so validated."

"Things and people from the other side, sometimes when I look at them, I see them glimmer," Olivia said.

Peter just kept looking at her. She couldn't do it. She chickened out. She said, "I'm going to bed."

Peter went away again. The next day, Charlie came by her desk and handed her a file. She said, "What is this?"

"It's weird. And you're into weird now apparently," Charlie said. "It looks like actual chemical weapons, like your boyfriend's dad makes."

Olivia frowned, flipping through the file. It looked like someone had thrown acid on the victims, but the acid was green and bubbly and a little mucus like.

"You let him live with you rent-free so I assume boyfriend is the right word," Charlie said.

"He sleeps on the couch. I got his girlfriend killed," Olivia said.

"No, Big Eddie killed his girlfriend, you were trying to protect her," Charlie said.

Olivia had yet to tell Peter what she knew about him, she felt guilty every time she looked at him. Charlie said, "Admit you're attracted to him."

Olivia looked up. "Why are you so interested in this?"

"So you are hot for him," Charlie said.

"When did we start talking like we're in middle school?"

"I'm waiting for you to finish that file so we can go back to being FBI agents."

"Why are you trying to turn me into Spooky Mulder?"

Charlie said, "I met Agent Scully once." He smiled at the memory. "And you like weird."

Olivia called Peter. "If I send you pictures and a chemical analysis from our lab, could you tell me where it might come from?"

"Yes," Peter said. "Hi, how are you?"

"I'm fine," she said. "I'll email you. Which email should I use?"

He rattled it off and she sent the file. The next day Peter called before she left for work.

"I could tell you more if I had done the analysis, but I emailed you a list of the component compounds and where someone could get those supplies. Look for someone who ordered more than one of them. It wouldn't be that hard if you knew the chemistry to figure out how to weaponize it, but the delivery system is the problem. It's incredibly corrosive, so you can't exactly put it in a water pistol. If I were doing it, I'd be putting the effort into creating that. I looked up some recent papers published in the relevant journals, and nosed around some of my ex-friends you wouldn't like, so I also sent you a list of people to check on there. If any of the people on that list match the compound buying list, you've got your suspect. And you should probably arrest him fast, because if he's close, that's not someone you can protect yourself from in just a vest."

"Hi, how are you?" Olivia smiled. "This is really good work. If it pans out, I'll see if we can pay you as a consultant."

"More legal money," Peter said. "This poor guy just got diagnosed with cancer, so we had a really fun conversation. He's the only one of your cohort that's sick, though, so don't worry."

They found a man on both lists and then set out to arrest him. She and Charlie brought him in when he went to a local coffee shop. A quick search of his house yielded a frightening lab that smelled curdled and awful. "We're leaving this to the techs," Charlie said.

"Absolutely," Olivia said.

Olivia and Charlie's supervisor was actually effusive in his praise. Olivia said, "We had help from a consultant."

"Peter Bishop," Charlie said. "You remember from the Big Eddie case."

Their supervisor shook his head. "Next time you use him, run it by me first. We can make a budget."

When Peter got home, she updated him on everything. "Next time I might get paid?"

"Hopefully," Olivia said.

He looked at her for a few minutes, like he was thinking about a question, but then he went into the bathroom to shower.

!

He'd been living with her for over three months and she had adapted to him. It was nice to see him when she got home. It was nice doing things with him, watching tv, playing Scrabble, sometimes just talking. They talked about a lot of things, just never touching on anything from either of their childhoods.

"Two successful cases as an FBI consultant, 19 people warned," Peter said, as he ushered her into a bar. "The food's not too bad here and I'm paying."

"Now we just need to figure out how to find out who the kids from Ohio are," Olivia said.

"Can we put that off until tomorrow?"

She smiled. "Yes. Speaking of consulting, I have an appointment tomorrow with a Philip Broyles from Homeland. I'm worried I'm about to become the next Fox Mulder."

"The alien guy?" Peter chuckled. "I've heard a lot about him. I can't believe he's real."

"He is, Charlie met him when he was back working in New York City as a cop," Olivia said. "Of course, if you ask him to tell the story, all he wants to talk about is Agent Scully. He has a little crush."

They drank too much and walked home. Peter fell asleep on her bed next to her. When she woke up, she heard him swearing, looking for her phone to turn it off.

"Don't, I have work." She grabbed the phone and turned the alarm off. "Go back to sleep."

"I had an idea about Ohio," Peter mumbled.

"Tell me," Olivia said.

"I was talking to Nick about locating other recruits and soldiers, that's how he talks about it. I realized they didn't wipe the parents' minds. They probably lied to them, but they didn't wipe them. I think I can research, I have an idea," Peter said.

"Are you going to forget it if I let you fall back asleep?"

"No," Peter said.

"Did you have sex with Nick?" She wasn't sure why she asked or cared.

"Just the once," Peter said. He opened his eyes slightly. "We're just friends. Do you mind?"

"No, of course not," Olivia said. "Go back to sleep."

She felt unsettled. She tried to sort it out as she waited for Broyles. She didn't mind that Peter had sex with men and women. She didn't mind that it was Nick. She minded that it was Nick, she thought. He was supposed to be helping her. Which he was.

She wished fervently for Charlie so he would shake her out of this spiral.

Instead she got Broyles calling her in. He was imposing and she immediately sat up straighter. He said, "Agent Dunham, I see you've been working extensively with one Peter Bishop, son of Walter Bishop."

"Yes," she said. She kept her demeanor relaxed.

"Walter Bishop worked for many years with William Bell of Massive Dynamic. Massive Dynamic is one of the most important defense contractors in the United States, probably the entire world. I've worked closely with Nina Sharp from Massive Dynamic for many years. She knew Walter Bishop back in the day, she even met Peter a few times," Broyles said. "She was surprised you'd bring someone with his history into the FBI."

"I didn't bring him into the FBI, he's just consulting," Olivia said.

Broyles stared at her. "You've taken on some particularly interesting cases recently. Are you developing a special interest?"

"I have the same interests as ever, sir."

"Truth, justice, the American way?" Broyles didn't smile.

"Basically," Olivia said. "Sir, if I might ask, what is the purpose of this meeting?"

"For many years now, I have been in charge of investigating certain cases. Cases of a scientific nature," Broyles said. "I wanted to ask you, your partner, and Mr. Bishop, to help out with that."

"But you're not talking about the x-files," Olivia said.

"I don't give one single damn about urban legends and little grey men," Broyles said. "We can track these events back more than 20 years. Actual documented events."

"You'd have to ask Mr. Bishop yourself about the position," Olivia said.

She wondered if she was on the verge of keeping her enemies too close. If Nina Sharp knew about all of Bell's experiments, she very well might have recognized Olivia's name. She might even know why Peter was from the other side.

Broyles had her transferred within the week. Olivia heard from Peter that Broyles had summoned him to lunch. Peter said, "He doesn't know about the other kids. Or that you were one of the Jacksonville 20. I dropped some terms from Nick about recruits and soldiers and he seemed puzzled. So I think you're safe."

Olivia sat on the corner of her bed and took off her shoes. "I bet Nina Sharp will have a reaction."

"Oh, yeah," Peter said. "I went to see my father."

Olivia reached out, she hesitated. Then she took Peter's hand. "How was it?"

"Horrible," Peter said. He smiled like it was a joke and it was the least convincing smile she'd ever seen on him. "They have him drugged to the gills. And he could probably grow gills on someone if they let him near enough equipment. But he recognized all the talk of recruits and soldiers. Every word. I asked him about Bell and Nina Sharp and he was incoherent, but he knew them, of course."

"Even Nina?"

"Nina especially. He doesn't like her," Peter said. He hadn't let go of her hand. He sat down on the bed beside her. "So, go ahead, tell me."

"You glimmer," she said.

He pressed his lips together and let go of her hand. He laid back on the bed and then turned away from her. She laid down next to him, almost spooning him. He said, "Don't tell anyone."

"I won't," she said. "This is all connected. We can figure this out."

He didn't shrug her off when she put her arm around him.

Olivia wasn't sure which of them fell asleep first. She'd gotten home close to midnight already exhausted.

When she woke up, Peter was facing her. He smelled like toothpaste. He had a genuine smile this time. "Broyles also asked me if we were sleeping together."

She blinked a few times and got out of bed. She went into the bathroom and started a shower. She held the door open slightly and said, "Did you tell him you had a boyfriend in New York City?"

"Not my boyfriend, one time friends with benefits thing," Peter said.

She closed the door.

She came out of the bathroom wrapped in a towel, holding her dirty clothes in front of her. Peter was still on the bed, just wearing sweatpants. He said, "How do you feel about leftover chinese for breakfast?"

"So you're saying you didn't do the grocery shopping yesterday," Olivia said. "Sometimes you're a lousy roommate."

"I know," he said.

"You're in a good mood this morning," she said. She put her clothes in the hamper. She turned around and said, "Are you planning to watch me get dressed?"

"Sorry," he said, springing up.

"No," she said. She reached for his hand before she could think too hard about how stupid she was being.

He cupped her face and kissed her. She held onto his waist and pressed herself closer.

It felt like a feverish blink but then they were both naked back on her bed, she had her hand on his dick and his mouth was on her left breast. He looked up and said, "I take it we're going to have sex."

"I'm not your friend with benefits, though," Olivia said. "To be clear."

"I'm clear," Peter said. "Absolutely."

It had been a while, so maybe Olivia wasn't the best judge, but the sex was great.

She said, "Chinese leftovers it is."

"Don't make me get up," Peter said. "Hey, use your superpowers."

"I've gotten out of practice," Olivia said. It felt weird practicing when Peter could see her. She only did it when he was away.

"Aww, try," Peter said. His hand was warm on her stomach.

She closed her eyes and tried. The whole trip was incredibly wobbly so she was grateful the containers were sealed. "Now chopsticks," Peter said, sitting up.

"You don't get to order me around," she said. She managed to bring them over, though.

!

It was surprisingly easy going from friends and roommates to lovers. They barely even talked about it.

"That sounds really healthy," Charlie said. "I'd keep that up."

"Did you and Sonia have long relationship talks, is that what you're saying?" Olivia smiled. They were driving to the latest case Broyles had assigned them. Peter was meeting them there.

"We actually acknowledged we were dating, and yes, when I proposed we had a whole conversation about what we wanted from our lives, what our future would be," Charlie said.

"We had a conversation. We're not friends with benefits, we're not just roommates," Olivia said.

"Okay then," Charlie said, laughing. "Never mind, you're great."

"He's not having sex with anyone else and neither am I," Olivia said.

"Yup, everything taken care of there," Charlie said.

"You know we're going to a crime scene that involves a corpse that is possibly half man, half goat," she said.

"And you said we weren't the new x-files," Charlie said, sighing. "Explain to me again about the parallel universes. And why we're not telling Broyles."

"Broyles probably already knows. Because Nina Sharp definitely knows," Olivia said. "You should ask Peter again, I don't explain it well."

Luckily, the goat half of the corpse had been attached after the man died. "Then this idiot ran current through it to reanimate it like Frankenstein, only more goat," Peter said, laughing.

"The idiot being the dead guy 30 feet away," Charlie said.

"I know, it's not really funny, but it really is an entry in the Darwin Awards, honestly. This guy used so much current he electrocuted himself. I wonder if the man-goat lived, like just for one beautiful minute but he was too dead to see the brief miracle." Peter laughed again. "It's the goat part I find funny."

Olivia just looked at him. Peter said, "Goats, come on, it's inherently funny."

"To you, apparently," Olivia said. "I'm a little disturbed."

"It's probably because he was a goat farmer and tried to genetically engineer his herd," Charlie said.

"He was just so bad at it," Peter said, almost giggling.

Olivia took his arm and guided him away from Charlie. "Are you drunk or high?"

"No, neither," Peter said. "I really find goats that funny." He inhaled deeply. "Fine, I'm probably a little high. Along with the goats, the idiot was growing some high grade pot and when he electrocuted himself, it started a fire. Which was still smoking when I went into his lab. So fine, contact high. Sorry."

"Oh my god," Olivia said. "I'll explain to Charlie. You can't drive home by yourself."

By the time they wrapped things up, Peter was only slightly less high. "This is fun," Charlie said. Peter kept laughing.

"You know," Olivia said as she walked with Peter into their apartment. "Charlie and I were just talking on the drive up about defining our relationship."

"Oh my God, you and Charlie are just the best. You're BFFs," Peter said.

He sat down on the couch and pulled her onto his lap. "Three days ago I went to visit Walter again," Peter said. He rested his head on her shoulder so she couldn't see his face but she knew this was going to be bad. "I asked him why I glimmered. He said I died. So he made a door and took me from the other side. That's why they hate us, we take their kids, I mean, you take our kids." She hugged him close.

"Peter," she said.

"Don't tell Charlie," he said. "I always thought even with my childhood, that Walter had been the worst to you. I was wrong."

"Turns out you were," Olivia said. She rubbed his neck. "Come on, let's go to bed."

"I was going to tell you when I wasn't high," Peter said. "I like you a lot."

"I like you, too," she said. "We can, Peter, we can stop this. All of this. If you want."

He laughed again. "You are totally going to quit the FBI for me, I believe that one. Thank you, I needed that."

"Okay, I won't," she said, smiling. "But what do you want to do?"

He sighed. "I'm hungry. I've had sex when I was high before, it was awesome. It would be incredible with you."

"Sex first, then food," she said.

After both those things, Peter fell asleep, his head on her stomach. It was all her fault, she thought. She rubbed his back. She had gotten his girlfriend killed, she had brought him back into this nightmare of a life, and she had made him miserable. All so she could get her stupid questions answered and try to protect people who didn't need it.

Peter rolled over so he was looking at her. He said, "Stop thinking like that."

"You can read minds now," she said.

"I know you," he said. "You're not responsible for everything. You didn't cause any of this. It's not your job to clean it up. You have me and I have you and you have Charlie so you're doing better than me, frankly."

"Charlie likes you," Olivia said. She sniffled a little. "You don't mind being sucked into our new x-files office?"

"Broyles likes to call them fringe files," he said. "Go with that. We're the Fringe team. We do Fringe stuff. And I don't mind. You sent me on these missions and I liked those people and crap, Walter fucked up a lot of things."

"Are you saying you want to do good?"

"For you," Peter said, pointing at her. "But I'm pretty high. This is why I don't smoke pot. Not just because Walter smokes so much. Smoked so much. I prefer being drunk. I was drunk for three weeks straight once."

"I believe you," she said. "Are you going to use me as a pillow?"

"Fine," he said. He sighed. He shifted slowly and ended up next to her, looking at her from his pillow. "Don't worry."

"Worry about what?"

"Everything," Peter said. "I got you." He patted her shoulder.