Knock, knock, knock…
Peter Bishop opened his door as soon as he heard the small and hesitant knock, and set his eyes on a frantic, soak-wet Olivia. It had been a long time since Peter had seen that image in his own eyes. And the last time it happened, Olivia wasn't all nervous or scared or constantly checking all the corners, panicked.
"I lied!" Peter heard Olivia say in a breath.
"Olivia, what?" Peter said, not knowing what to say or think or do.
"That man, the bold guy, the observer, he did make contact, he came to me! He told me something Peter!" Olivia said and Peter could see the panic in her eyes.
So the Observer had made contact after all. He knew it. He could see it all over Olivia's face when she first asked him about him. He could always tell when Olivia was trying to lie to him, he knew her so well, and it turned out he was right. But why was Olivia acting like the end of the world was coming? Had the Observer said something she didn't wanna hear? Whatever it was, how bad could it be? Nothing was worse than death. Peter had learned that the hard way. Anything else he was pretty sure he could handle like a piece of cake.
"You better come inside." He said and made a gesture to let her in. Before he could take a step back, Olivia grabbed his arm and locked her green eyes with his blue ones.
"Peter, I'm scared." Olivia said and Peter saw the same vulnerability he'd seen on her eyes only once before. And he knew how that scene had almost ended.
He had to remind himself twice that this Olivia was not his Olivia. This wasn't the woman who had loved him and he had loved back. This was someone else. A different version that looked like his Olivia and talked like his Olivia but wasn't his Olivia. He had to remember that. That was the only thought that was gonna get him through. That was the only thought that he had to hold on to. Somewhere, very very far from here, Olivia Dunham, the Olivia Dunham he was in love with, was waiting for him and probably crying over him and getting desperate by the thought him. And Peter Bishop knew that he had to get through, he had to get through to her.
So with that thought in mind, he took a deep breath, and answered to the Olivia from this timeline.
"Don't be." Don't be, because I am too. And I think one person scared to death is enough in this house.
"You want something to drink?" Peter asked as soon as Olivia had sat down. He could see how nervous she must have been. She couldn't stop shaking.
"I'm not here for chit-chat, I'm here because…" Olivia started saying, but Peter approached her and put his fingers on her mouth to stop her.
"Wow, wow, Olivia, stop." Olivia stopped talking but the shaking continued. "Calm down." Peter said and put his hand on her arms to make her stop shaking. "Relax, okay? I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I'm gonna hear you out, and I'm gonna help you, okay? It's okay. We're gonna figure this out just like we always do, just calm down." Peter said in a barely hearable whisper.
Olivia's eyes were filled with tears within a second. Peter's heart broke when he saw that. Olivia never cried. Whatever happened in her life, she never cried, and she never cried in front of him either. She must have been either really scared or really stressed out or both.
"Hey, what happened, what's going on?"
"I've been holding this in since you and Lincoln crossed over…" Olivia said in between her sobs. "I thought… I thought that he might wrong, I thought that… that it was all just a false alarm or something. And I asked Amanda about it and she said that she saw it too." Olivia said without stopping the sobs.
"What did she see?" Peter managed to ask in the mean time.
"De… death." Olivia whispered in horror.
Peter's mind went blank. Had she just said death? Did she mean her own death? No, no that couldn't be it. He didn't even want to think about it. No, he was just assuming things without evidence. Olivia had just said death, she hadn't said her own death. She couldn't mean that, could she?
"What?" He asked.
"The Observer said that he'd looked in every future and that I had to die in all of them and I asked Amanda about it, and she said she saw my death in the future." Olivia didn't even try to wipe the tears that were now all over her face.
"Well of course she saw death, everybody dies at some point. That doesn't mean you're gonna die right now." Peter said in a soothing voice. He didn't know who he was trying to calm down, Olivia or himself.
"No, that's different. They say I had to die, and I'm not scared of death, I mean I never was. I just…"
"Just what?"
"I don't wanna die alone!" Olivia said and her sobs became louder and harder.
Peter couldn't believe it. No, this couldn't be happening. He had changed everything, he had turned the world around, he had created a bridge between the universes just so that Olivia Dunham could be alive. God, he had probably even been erased of his timeline so that she couldn't die. He had given everything up for her. And now he was learning that this had all gone to waste?
No, he wouldn't let that be. He took Olivia in his arms and started whispering soothing words to her ear.
"You're not going to die alone. You're not going to die at all." Olivia acted like she didn't even hear him. Her sobs didn't stop, only Peter could only understand how hard the whole thing was for her. "You're not going to die alone. I'm here. I'm here, I'm not going anywhere. It's going to be okay. You're gonna be fine. I promise you're not gonna die. Calm down."
"I can't! I can't stop! I can't! I don't! I can't! Peter!" Olivia tried to say but the words would drown in her mouth.
"Okay, wait in here."
In a minute Peter was back in the living room, and was holding a small paper bag. He neared Olivia and sat down next to her.
"Here breathe in. Come on, breathe in the bag. Nice and easy. In and out. Come on. Inside. One, two, one, two, one, two… Okay, that's good."
Peter didn't know how many times he repeated those words. All he knew was that at some point Olivia grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard, and he let her do it, in the hope it would help take all her pain away. Hearing her sobs was like a repeated stab in the heart that would only stop when she would.
"Ah… ahuhuh… ah… ah…"
Minutes later-or maybe it was hours-Peter felt Olivia relaxing in his arms. Her head had been on his shoulders for a while now, but he didn't mind at all. He was relieved to feel her calming down, breath by breath, minute after minute, her sobs were decreasing and finally they stopped.
"You okay?" He whispered when she finally pulled herself together.
"I'm okay."
She repeated, but Peter could see her eyes still glistening from the tears that still hadn't dried out. Times like these, Olivia would always go to him, and her pain became his pain. Peter wished he could take it all away. He wished she never had to feel sadness or despair again in her life.
"Thank you." She tried to smile, but Peter knew that inside she was struggling. "I don't… I don't really do that… that breakdown thing. I just…" She said and stopped, not knowing what was there more to say.
"It's okay." Peter assured her. "You're tired. You haven't slept or eaten in days. You need to lie down and get to sleep. Here." He suggested. He would order her to stay if he could. He would do or say anything, just so she would let him take care of her, just for tonight.
"Peter, I don't think…" Olivia tried to say in a hoarse voice.
"Don't argue with me, Olivia, please."
"I can't sleep. I just close my eyes and all I can think is that when I open them I'm gonna be dead." Olivia eventually confessed.
"I promise you, I will be here, and I'm going to watch over you. Nothing is going to harm you and nothing is going to disturb your sleep. And when you wake up, we are gonna talk about everything, and figure out what this all means. Okay? Come on…"
Peter took her in his arms once again, and Olivia closed her eyes and tried to let go of every little thing that was making her life miserable. All Peter could think of as he felt her giving up to her tiredness was that he had finally gotten through. He had finally found his way back to his Olivia.