A/N: Hello my pretties! Before you get to read this, there're some things you should know.
This story is set after the creation of the bridge. It's a O² story, and this is the M section, so this fic will contain adult language and situations (smut!). I think that won't be a problem; you are on the M section by choice, but also remember this contains some explicit situations between two women who are in fact 'the same woman,' so if you don't feel comfortable with that I recommend you skip some parts of chapter two (I'll probably type the 'graphic smut' part in between '***', I'll let you know).
Also this is not your typical O² story. There are some differences; for one, Peter never disappeared. That makes this a OPO story, actually. So expect to read some O² and some P/O too.
It's a little graphic (not this particular chapter) but not as graphic as Kadyn' stories. Of course if you happen to have read them, then you'll do more than fine.
Another thing: For a matter of convenience, I decided not to include baby Henry...
Please note that 'Liv' means AltLiv. Our Olivia is just 'Olivia.' Also 'her' and 'hers' (Italic) mean Liv's...
This is just the prologue. It's short but I felt like separating these two pages from the rest. I'll be posting the -quite long- 'Chapter Two' in a few hours. Enjoy.
MIRROR IMAGE
"A mirror image is a reflected duplication of an object that appears identical but reversed."
'I can do this. I can do this. I can do this.'
Like a mantra, Olivia repeated these words she felt the great need to hear, these words that were soothing and calming; she wanted to believe it. Because even though she always used to act strong and almighty in front of others, she could also be the most sentimental, emotionally fragile being on the surface of this planet in solitude.
Something she had never had a single problem with, to be honest.
'It's what makes you so good at your job,'
she was tired of hearing from Broyles, from Peter, from Astrid, occasionally even from Walter, in between random crazy thoughts; and sometimes she would even believe that; some other times, however, she would just mentally punish herself for making emotional decisions instead of rational ones. And it is just that some particular subjects and situations tended to affect her in a major scale.
Child abuse, for instance, was one of them, since she had experienced it on her own skin; another one, and the one that was specifically perturbing her at the moment, was having any kind of contact with her alternate.
Thinking of her was enough to carve a deep hole in her heart and tear it to pieces, but at least a simple thought you could just shake away, you could escape from it, run from it and hide in another corner of your mind until it decides to stop stalking you and you are free again.
Sadly this time, she was not given that chance.
She was forced to be, once again, face to face to this woman, because her job was something she forced herself to do, and because it was not just the important part of her life it had always been; right now it was the only one. All the rest, she had taken it.
And now she was part of the only thing Olivia had left.
All she could do was mentally get used to the idea of having her around, though one thing was for sure: she knew she would never trust her.
Six months had passed since Olivia managed to cross herself back, six months since the day she came back home in hopes of finding everything the way she had left it. Of course nothing was the same, everything around her felt wrong.
The day she left the hospital was the hardest of all, and also the first of many lonely days and nights.
Olivia got rid of the dreadful red tint in her hair first thing and tried to get back to work as soon as possible, which quickly became her only distraction, one she wished consumed her whole day so that she would not end up drinking alone at night or thinking of what might have been going on in her apartment the time she was there, and with him, no less.
The dark atmosphere that seemed to swallow her up at times was not something she could control, but being alone was definitely by choice, one she did not regret.
Peter had always been more than kind and willing to listen to her in several occasions; but even though he had been her pillar during the time she was held over there and the only thing that got her through, he was now someone she could not really stand, and not because of something he did –or didn't do, to be more precise. It was not because he didn't know he had been sleeping with someone else. No, it wasn't that; she could never blame him for that; she was not one to judge; not when he had been just collateral damage; an unforeseen victim. No. He had always meant well.
The real reason she couldn't stand being around him was that he was hers. And Olivia didn't want anything that was or had been hers.
In six months, the only relief she had found was knowing that she had gone back to her universe for good. And time had even started to work its magic, but tonight, after receiving Broyles's orders… tonight was going to be one of those dark lonely nights, threatening to become a part of her routine again.
Once again, she would lose herself in Scotch and see everything in retrospective. She would see the long dark halls, the man that turned out to be as loyal as her real boss running away with her; she would see herself at the hospital then, and feel Peter's cold lips on her forehead and all that happened next. She would remember his face when he told her about her, the night she found his clothes in her house, and that other night in New York, too. She'd remember saying 'I want what you want,' and kissing him, his skin against hers, two naked bodies alone in a hotel room; but she'd also remember how sickened she felt afterwards, the urge to sneak out of his room while he was still sleeping, and the urge to avoid him like all the other days before that night, before anything happened between them..
She would revisit that night and some others like that; an absorbing flashback, and getting lost in its vivid details she would fall asleep, only to wake up just as exhausted and drained the morning after.
But unlike every other night, her train of thought was interrupted by the piercing sound of the doorbell this time. An unexpected visit; and Olivia wondered if she should get it at all.
Reviews are always welcome! And remember the best is yet to come. This was just an introduction.
