I'm baaaack... ;)
There was a point in time during which you believed that you were damaged, broken, incapable of trusting again after the trust that you had placed in someone had been shattered, broken beyond repair, and your heart with it. And so you built a wall around your heart, protecting its fragile remains, and swore that never again would someone hurt you the way he had. If isolation was the price you would have to play for that, so be it. You knew at that point in time that love was a fragile, fleeting thing, a weakness that left you open and vulnerable, prone to heartbreak.
Never once did you imagine that Peter Bishop, the sarcastic ex-con with a mad scientist of a father, would somehow manage to work his way past all of those defenses, and become your strength. Never once did it even occur to you in those first few months, even after his chilly exterior had thawed and the two of you had settled into a comfortable working relationship. Because Peter Bishop wasn't your type- what kind of FBI agent falls for an ex-con? And you were sure you weren't his, for much the same reason, and there was also the fact that you had dragged him back to Boston to save that man that you loved, the man who betrayed you. That alone was apt to stunt the growth of any romantic relationship between the two of you. Something else happened, instead.
He became your friend. Your partner. Someone you know would watch your back, someone you could talk to, someone you could count on. Someone you could trust.
And somehow, he started to put your shattered heart back together.
You weren't aware of the exact moment that your feelings for him- and his for you- began to shift. It should have been that final time that he had to pull you out of the isolation tank, when you clung to him to ground yourself back to reality, and he held you so tightly that you almost couldn't breathe. But you were blinded to it- almost willfully so- and ignored the signs that should have been obvious to you.
You noticed the little things, though- the way your coffee cup never seemed to be empty, the casual brushes of his hand against your arm, how quick he would be to comfort you when you were distressed.
And if Jacksonville didn't alert you to how you felt about him, you knew the moment that he checked himself out of the hospital and disappeared that Peter Bishop was someone that you simply could not be without.
It was almost alien, feeling like that again after so long of guarding yourself. You don't know how he managed to creep in past the fortress around your heart, how he managed to salvage its delicate remains. But he proved that everything you once believed about love is wrong, and that made you love him even more.
Because this love is anything but fragile. It has transcended universes and timelines- gave you your sanity back, when you were brainwashed into believing you were someone else; brought him back into existence when he was erased; gave you back memories that you were no longer suppose to have; gave him the strength to become human again. Against all odds, against everything that the universes and the Observers have throw at you, this love has remained constant, a point of strength, a beacon of light in the darkness.
Once, you were broken. Once, you were alone. You are neither any longer. He is your strength, and you are his. You are not the same people that you were when you met; you have transformed each other into something different. Something better.
It may not even be a word, you muse as you watch him sweep your little girl into his arms and carry her around the park, but together, the two of you are unshattered.