This is just a short little ficlet taking place in S1, before the ep where Olivia moves on from John. Proud to be a Season 1 Supporter!

Enjoy the shortness :)


He narrows his gaze in accusation. "You can't seriously be going in there again." The words are said with such anger, such contempt for that machine, that she almost stops cold in her tracks. But she carries on anyway.

"Peter, I have no choice. He knows something, which means I know it too. I'm tired of information being just outside my reach when all I have to do is try a little harder to get at it." She is walking around aimlessly now, trying to find the salt that had already been added to the water, the robe already shrouding her body. She steps past him, her blonde hair brushing his arm. "You can't stop me."

"Oh really?" he mutters. He grabs her shoulders to make her stop. For the first time since the case began, she looks at him, truly scrutinizes him. She sees the dark circles under his eyes mirroring hers, his hair disheveled from running his hand through it too often, and the expression of frustration on his face. "Olivia, you're not the only one who is tired of not knowing things. We all are too. Just because you feel like you're more than that doesn't mean you need to go around on suicide missions all the time." He lets go of her and folds his arms. "I worry about you sometimes. Walter doesn't exactly love being your little lab monkey. We have ideas better than this."

She shakes her head furiously. "You don't get it! I know that John knew those men! Maybe I-"

"I don't get it?" he cuts her off, his voice dropping to little more than a whisper. "Liv, are you really going to resort to condescending me? Is that what the world has come to? It doesn't matter if John knew them. We have solid leads to follow. Astrid found them, which you would have known already if you weren't so busy with this freaking machine! If you die in that goddamn tank, then we have nothing. Less than nothing. This whole life we've constructed around us? It will be gone. You are the keystone that holds absolutely all of us together. And you want to go throwing all that away on a hunch?"

Her ranting thoughts have dulled to simply repeating "He's right." Because he is right. She has said all the words she needed to hear to keep from going in. At least for today, but that's enough. It's enough for her to have a glimpse at his perspective, how he sees everything she does.

Walter pokes his head out from the back. "Agent Dunham? I can't find the blue wires. Can we use the red ones instead?"

She smiles. "You know what?" she replies with a glance at Peter. "Never mind, Walter. I just found out on some leads that are more promising than this."

Walter seems both disappointed at the chance to make LSD and relieved that another death won't be on his hands. As she walks past to get dressed, she glances at Peter. His relief is practically tangible.

Because sometimes, he is just enough.