All standard author's notes and disclaimers apply (see profile.) 1st and 2nd chapter both written post Olivia, pre The Box.
Title: Broken Mirror
Summary: She didn't belong in this world; it's a truth Olivia is beginning to remember and a truth her alternate is beginning to forget. In the middle is a man stronger than both of their wills... and two worlds that hang in the balance. Olivia/Peter/Fauxlivia
He looks at her like he sees straight into her, like he's no fool to what she's thinking and what she's feeling, and she has the feeling that he's telling her she doesn't have to be so strong but he understands why she won't change her mind. How is it possible for a simple glance to say so much? Is it all in her mind? She wonders briefly if he knows the truth- that she isn't his Olivia- or if unconsciously through the shared energy of their reality he senses that she doesn't belong here, like him. Is that even possible?
But he smiles and she tentatively dismisses the paranoid concerns. No, if he knew, he wouldn't be playing coy, of that she's sure. He'd demand to know where his Olivia was and then move the heavens and earth to save her and bring her back home to him. Because he loves her, with a passion and devotion Dunham could never have imagined and it stirs jealousy within her. No; that's wrong. She can't get tangled up in her alter's life, can't get confused. But that smile makes her heart flutter and fear paralyzes her. In the back of her mind, a traitorous voice that she can't quiet repeats for what must be the hundredth time, he's supposed to be mine. She tries to correct that thought by telling herself she meant he's supposed to be on her side, be a part of her reality, and that he shouldn't be here having a love affair with another version of herself. The litany fails to convince her of the meaning of her thoughts, the warm weight in her chest not abating.
She looks away, focusing on the crime scene, and tries to clear her head as she crouches down. Of course, the crime scene isn't much of a distraction since she already knows more than she's supposed to about what happened here; it was part of the plan. Whatever was happening with her and the senator's son, however, wasn't part of the plan. Her self control was slipping, her barriers failing as he slipped around edges and cracks she'd never believed were there, and without those defenses she wasn't sure what to do to stop the invasion. He was getting closer. Too close. She was losing objectivity and it was becoming harder to view these people- this reality- as the bad guy. She'd already lost that perspective of Peter Bishop, if she'd ever held it at all. He was, after all, from her side and a victim of the machinations of this reality, now lost and confused and hurt, and he'd expressed to her more than once his understanding of the destruction Walter had unintentionally caused to her- to their- reality and his desire to somehow fix things for everyone.
No- no matter how she tried, she couldn't view Peter as an enemy and she'd given up trying. There was no point. But she couldn't let him get under her skin like he was starting to, couldn't let him confuse her. She knew what she was doing. It was important. More than important; it meant the lives of everyone in her world. She couldn't lose focus of that.
But, as Peter walked up next to her and her gaze flickered from the blood-covered concrete to his dark and haunted but so very compassionate eyes, she felt her conviction stall within her as she wondered the price? Because, if saving her world meant destroying this one, then it meant destroying Peter Bishop as well. And he wasn't the enemy.