WORLDS APART

Based on Episode 4 of Season 4.

This time, it was different. She opened the door slowly and looked around carefully. For some strange reason, the silence enveloping the place was not what she wanted; not what she needed. She knew that a hard day at work was always followed by a relaxing return to her quiet apartment, but this time she did not enjoy it. The feeling that something was different, missing and even painfully hidden from her did not allow her to smile, even briefly, as she always did once she locked the door behind her.

She kicked off her shoes and slipped off the coat. She washed her hands and undid her hair. She lay down over the carefully made bed and closed her eyes. She was tired. Tired and scared and uneasy.

The strangest thing about it all was that she knew she was dreaming. The same place, the same bed, the same clothes, all belonging to a dream. She felt for a moment as thought she had crossed over, not into another universe, but well within her own subconscious mind. She shifted on her other side and suddenly she was beneath the silken sheets, their softness caressing her bare skin. She rubbed her eyes slowly and then blinked. A pair of brilliant blue eyes stared back into her green ones.

'At last!' said a voice that was both familiar and unknown to her. She looked back, confused.

'What's going on?' she asked, confused. She felt she knew what this was, she felt she knew him, she felt this already happened. At the same time though, she could not remember who he was, when this was happening, where they actually were and why.

'At last, you're remembering,' he said and his large hand caressed her bare shoulder.

'Remembering what?'

'Remembering what they most wanted you to forget.'

'They?'

'The Observers, Olivia…'

She looked at him intensely again. The way he said her name made her feel something pleasant deep within.

'I don't understand. I know, and yet I don't,' she said. He pulled her closer and she felt his warmth against her skin.

'I don't know where I am, or how to get back, but I swear I will find a way. I know you don't remember me... Your conscious mind doesn't remember, but your heart does… Your subconscious never forgot…'

'What did I forget? Howmuch did I forget?' After years of working as part of the Fringe Division, things like waking up naked next to a man she knew but could not remember were part of a daily routine. She was not surprised.

'The world is different now. Some things are the same, some are not, and parts of the world I know are gone. But deep down, you kept its memory alive… All you have to do is wake up and remember…'

'I've seen you before,' she said, and he smiled.

'Yes. You have. I kept trying to get close enough to tell you this, but your mind is a very strange place. You are making this very difficult.'

'It's probably why people aren't able to read each other's minds…' she smiled, and for a moment, there was something, something that felt so familiar, that she could not help laughing. How long and when has she last looked into his blue eyes and felt safe, entertained, at ease, loved? He laughed with her and his hand gently sliding along her spine triggered another memory, a flash, half a second's worth of an image. 'We've done this before… Sometime,' she said, suddenly.

'Yes. We have. In a time and space that no longer exist' he said.

'How?'

'You very well know how,' he said playfully, twirling a strand of her blonde hair between his fingers.

She smiled, amused. Again, she felt this was something she had done countless times before, though she could not remember a single second of it. 'I meant how is it possible?'

'Alternate Universes, Observers, Doomsday Machines, Time Travel… Are you really asking me this?' he smirked. She tried to push him playfully, but he pulled her closer and kissed her, kissed her like he wished he had plenty more times than he ever did.

'Peter…' she whispered. The memory hit her like a ton of bricks.

'Yes. It's me… And you remember me. That will help' he grinned and wrapped his arms around her, holding her tight.

'But… But what happened? What is going on?'

'Listen, as long as you have a shred of memory, I can hang onto it. Hang so tight that eventually, your mind will bring me back. You probably won't remember this when you wake up, but it is a start. I knew. I always knew you would.'

He kissed her forehead and she smiled.

'I love you' she said.

'I know. I know you do, even if we're worlds apart at the moment…'

'How am I to remember you? If this is my subconscious, then when I wake up…'

'Don't worry about that… As long as you remember me here, there is something tangible I can hold onto.'

'Tangible? Seriously?'

'Tangible for me, in this state… Don't worry… I'm safe. I'm always safe with you.'

She looked at him and smiled at the irony of it all. She too felt safe with him. He kissed her again and her body relaxed in his arms.

When she woke up she jumped off the bed and grabbed a paper and pencil. As if in a dream she desperately wanted to remember, her hand glided over the paper, covering it in lines and swirls and shadows. When she looked at her finished work, her mind offered her another glimpse. A young man, blue eyes, strong arms gently kissing her awake. She put the portrait in her briefcase. She would show it to Walter the next day.