This was written after I spent like half an hour learning Just Like Heaven by The Watson Twins and at two in the morning. I'm tired... so here. It's extremely short because, again, I'm tired and didn't have much muse left in me at this hour. Enjoy while I sleep at my desk. ZZZZZzzzz...
He lived underwater, only getting gasps of breath and clarity every once in a while. The rest of the time his life was hazy and disconnected. Sometimes his clarity was found after a night with a woman he had picked up at a bar or even right before an encounter with Big Eddie or someone of the like.
It was the life he lived. Moving to a new state or country would satisfy him for a while. Money made it into his pocket. Reputations would be established at the businesses he frequented, good or not. Trouble came his way. The comfort he had once found was gone after several months so he moved on to another place, taking on a new name, becoming a new person. Then the cycle started all over again.
He hated himself. He hated the way he abused people before leaving them forever. He rarely even left mementos to the people he claimed he loved. Had they just dreamed of the mysterious Peter Bishop? Peter Knight? Peter King? Whatever name he had assumed in this forsaken town? It sure seemed like it sometimes. He didn't like being remembered. It was dangerous, to be loved. To be tied down.
Then, he met her.
Maybe he was being overdramatic. But there was something about her that seemed so familiar to him, to his heart and the soul he never knew he had. He immediately had an intense need to protect her from all the bad in the world, from the life he lived every day. She had a subtle vulnerability in the wall of strength she put up. It didn't work. He wanted to take her from that hotel and run away somewhere where no harm would ever come to her.
Somehow it was her that ran away with him, pulling him to the nightmare she called home. Reunited him with his father, who he grew to love again. He had once said it was dangerous to love and be loved in return. But he found he was oddly comforted by this family dynamic.
Unfortunately, he was actually starting to fall for her. This was bad, very bad. He tried to distance himself, but kept gravitating into her atmosphere closer and closer until he knew he would break. She was warm and pleasant to be around to the people she cared about, including him. She acted on impulse and on emotion. Maybe her actions and reactions were too headstrong or she would bite off more than she could chew. That was when she fell back on him for support, something he was more than willing to give. She didn't do so consciously and would only ask him to help her when she was in desperate need.
Once he saw her falling to pieces. His solution was a hug, long overdue but exactly what she needed. Her actions after that were so much calmer and she didn't blame herself for what she knew wasn't her fault anymore.
He didn't want her blaming herself for things out of her control. And he'd go to the ends of the earth to make sure she was as happy as she'd ever be. Because let's face it – Olivia Dunham needed him. Just as much as he needed her. It was out of their control and they realized they needed to stop fighting it.
You can't fight fate. And they were always fated to meet and fall in love. The question is where to go from here?