Here's the next chapter, and again I apologize if it took a while to post. I've been crazy busy lately....

I hope you all enjoy it (especially cuz I'm kinda proud of this bit turned out :D)

Disclaimer: Don't own anything, never will. But I'll keep dreaming. ;)

At first, Olivia had thought that it would only be a one-time deal, that Peter wouldn't be coming over every night like he had been for the past four nights. But Peter had become her own, personal drug. She couldn't sleep without him; it was a solid fact. Olivia had tried to go to sleep on her own the night after he had slept with h-… stayed the night. Saying that they were sleeping together was technically incorrect, so she shouldn't say it. He was just doing her a favor as a friend, a very close one, but just a friend nonetheless. Her reliance on Peter wasn't the principal issue, though – it was more along the lines of worrying about what would happen if someone found out what they were doing. Peter would slip out of her apartment before her alarm even sounded, and then met her at the lab, just to make look like nothing had changed on the outside.

But on the inside, things had most definitely changed.

She wasn't doing anything illegal with him, but if anyone knew, somehow she knew that it wouldn't look good to Walter, Astrid, her boss… or ever Rachel. In terms of her beautiful niece, all she could do was thank God that Ella was too young to understand the wild reality of relationships in the big world. What's more, she would look weak; weak and fragile, and it drove her crazy that she couldn't control her personal walls anymore, at least not with Peter.

Olivia was mulling all these things over while reading a report that she was supposed to be proofreading, but found that she had read through the same page about five times and hadn't taken in a word of it. Sighing heavily, Olivia took off her reading glasses and rested her elbows on the table, resting her head on her hands and closing her eyes. Just thinking about all of it made her tired – Peter, sleeping in the same bed as Peter, guiltily beginning to enjoy every moment of sleeping with Peter….

Her eyes snapped open. Nope, there would be none of that, no matter how good it made her feel to be at his side every night, to know that there was someone there when the nightmares woke her up once, twice, sometimes three times each night. Knowing that, of all people, Peter was the one beside her, gently stroking her hair or massaging her temples until she relaxed. Even more, she was sure that disturbing his sleep for a few nights in a row would begin to annoy him, but on the contrary, Peter had never looked better. Just another thing that had Olivia fretting about their current… situation. He was obviously taking some kind of pleasure in it, she was starting to like it too… no, not liking it per say, just… just….

Olivia groaned and slumped further into her chair until her forehead was resting against the desktop. She was so tired, she needed to go find Peter, she needed to talk to him, needed to make sure that they were on the same page, and then she could sleep with a clear conscience. Collecting her things in a hurry, Olivia managed to come out of her office in a bustle, not nearly as stealthily as she would have preferred her exit to be.

Walter was still in the lab, tinkering with something of other and a Petri dish filled in some kind of thick, black substance. Peter was sitting on the couch, his eyes glued to a book, but he looked up when the office door closed behind her.

They made eye-contact seconds before Walter jumped up and noticed her entrance. So much for having a nice talk with Peter.

"Olivia, dear, I didn't know that you were still here! You've been as quiet as a mouse."

"I was just getting some paper work done, that's all," Olivia said, giving Walter a small smile and immediately making a beeline for Peter in the faint hope of having some kind of conversation with him without Walter listening in.

Peter hoped off the couch when she approached, sending a wary glace in the direction of his father who had lost interest in Olivia and was back to fiddling with his toys.

"You ready to go?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah, but, I…"

"You…?" Peter encouraged her, his worried frown beginning to show itself. "What is it, 'Liv?"

Olivia chose her words very carefully. "I need to talk to you about something important… you know what I mean."

Peter shook his head, a teasing smile lifting the corners of his lips and lighting up his face with an unknown light. "I'm not sure I quite follow you."

"Peter, come on, you know what I mean." Olivia meant business, and tried to convey that through her intense stare.

Peter nodded understandingly. "How about we drop Walter off at the hotel and then we can talk." Olivia nodded in response and both sprung into action. "Walter, we're leaving now, time to go!" Peter called across the lab while grabbing both his and Walter's coats.

The scientist looked up meekly from his work like a little kid who was just told it was time to leave the park. "So soon?" he asked sadly, but complied with his son's wishes and began packing up his things and pulling the coat that Peter handed him over his shoulders.

Olivia went around shutting everything down for the night systematically – the computers, all of the humming machinery and then the lights behind them on their way out.

"My goodness, you two certainly are in quite a rush this evening," Walter commented as Peter hurried him. Then the older man's face lit up. "You're aren't going to take Olivia to a motel are you? Because I have already offered our bed at the hotel if you ever wanted it, there's really no need to go and may extra money for –,"

"That's enough now, Walter," Peter cut him off abruptly, taking his father's arm and steering him toward the car.

Olivia was grateful it was so dark outside; else her mad blushing would have definitely given them away.

Walter was unusually quiet in the back of the Vista Cruiser. The ride home was a rather silent one, for a change.

Peter dropped Olivia off outside her apartment and, with a knowing smile, bid her goodnight.

Olivia watched the car speed away on the dark street, wondering how long they would have to keep up this ruse.

X

Olivia forgot all about her predicament once she stepped in the door. Ella came running to give her aunt a hug, proudly holding up a box of Mac & Cheese that she insisted Olivia help to make. Amidst the cooking, the mixing, the sticky hands and the laughter, Olivia forgot all about Peter and the text message he would be sending her when he was ready to come over.

When the phone rang during the family dishwashing, Olivia didn't think anything of it, not until Rachel answered, frowned and then smiled. "Ok, one second, she'll be right there," she told the caller quickly before holding it out to her sister. "It's for you, 'Livvy."

"Who is it?" Olivia replied distractedly, too preoccupied with getting a stain off of one of her glass bowls.

"It's Peter, hun." Rachel smiled, firing her sister a wink and handing off the phone. "I'll put Ella to bed, ok? I might fall asleep, so don't wait up."

Olivia nodded, gave her sister a wave and put the phone to her ear. Her pulse had begun to rush from the moment that Rachel had said Peter's name, and her voice came out a lot shakier than she'd thought it was.

"Peter?"

"Olivia? Why didn't you pick up your cell?"

Olivia glanced to the front door where she'd thrown her coat over the couch and, yes, that was her phone resting on top of it.

"I didn't have it on me, we were making Mac & Cheese," she said and smiled at the sound of his chuckles on the other end of the line.

"Save some for me, ok? I haven't had that stuff in ages. It's the old school kind from the box, right?"

"Yes, that's the one," Olivia confirmed, her smile growing with each passing second of the conversation.

"Great, see you in a few minutes."

"Bye, Peter."

"Bye, 'Liv."

Olivia hung up the phone and allowed herself one smug smile. Peter had called. He had called for her. He was coming to stay the night… all because he wanted to help her. She did still want to talk to him about a few things, but it didn't seem like such a daunting task anymore.

After a few more minutes of dishwashing, Olivia nearly jumped when she heard a soft knock at the door. Washing her hands off as quickly as possible, she padded silently down the hall to confirm that both Rachel and Ella were sound asleep. Poking her head in the guest room and seeing both mother and daughter curled up together on the bed, Olivia smiled, silently closed the door, and made her way back to answer the door with a silly smile on her face. All the sneaking – it was so much like what she had had to do when she and John were an item, and quite frankly, it had given her the same thrill then as it did now.

"Hey," Peter greeted her with his signature smile and she stepped back to let him in. "So, did you end up saving me any of that Mac & Cheese, or shall we just get it on?"

Olivia laughed and gently elbowed him in the side on her way to the kitchen, holding a finger to her lips to indicate that he should quiet down. "I did save you some, don't worry, Peter," she said is a voice just above a whisper, though the smile that was the result of Peter's presence was still stuck on her face. Ever since this new arrangement, their relationship had changed for the good. They were more open with each other, the banter between them more playful, and the shared private jokes more like inside jokes.

Peter got a hold of the pot that contained the last few spoonfuls of cheesy pasta and dug in.

"Gawd, dis stuff is uh-mazing," he said with full mouth and a moan of happiness at being reunited with one of his favorite childhood meals.

Olivia could only watch him, attempting to stifle inevitable chuckles, and try not to make too much noise as she dried the last few plates and put them on their shelves.

"Here, I'll wash this one, 'Liv," Peter offered once he had practically licked the pot clean. "You've done the rest of it, I might as well lend a hand with what little I can." He gave her one of his intense stares, masked with a grin as always, but this time, she could see a little bit more behind the mask, whether by his doing or her own perception skills, she did not know. "Go get ready for bed, 'Livia, I'll be right there."

"Don't make too much noise," she warned him.

Peter winked. "No worries, I got it under control."

X

Olivia had just pulled her tank top out of her drawer and was about to put it on when she heard a voice behind her.

"Whoa! Sorry, 'Liv…"

She clutched her shirt to her chest and spun to see Peter standing in the doorway with one hand over his eyes. "Not looking anymore, I promise! Should've knocked first…"

"Yeah, you might want to try that next time," Olivia replied, her voice unusually high pitched as she hurriedly pulled the shirt over her head, her face burning and probably turning redder by the second.

"Can I look now?"

"Yeah, I'm decent."

Peter slowly lowered his hand to see Olivia standing before him, arms crossed across her chest, the very image of defiance and stubborn determination. He had come to know her different looks so well by now he could call her on almost any one of them in just about every situation.

Olivia saw that he was looking at her for just a little bit too long for her to stand, so she abruptly ended the stare-off and busied herself turning down the bed covers.

"Hey Peter?"

"Yeah?" he replied, as he pulled off his shirt, like he did every night.

"I was wondering… what have you been telling Walter?"

"In regards to where I've been disappearing to these last few nights?" Peter asked as he fluffed up a pillow for each of them. Olivia nodded. "I've been putting him to bed, making sure he's asleep, and then every night I leave a note, just incase he wakes up, saying I had to run and grab something I left at the lab, or that we needed something from the store."

Olivia smiled. "A run to the store in the early hours of the morning?"

Peter shrugged, unconsciously showing off all of the muscles in his shoulders and upper back. "Why not?"

"Don't you feel a bit bad lying to him?"

Peter stood up and put his hands on his hips, starring down at the bed with a pensive expression. "You know what? I think he's all right, for now anyways. I haven't heard him say anything about the notes I've left, so I think we're off the hook."

Olivia smiled and crawled into bed. She expected him to slip in behind her, strong arms wrapping around her shoulders, but instead, Peter walked over to her side of the bed and, grinning like mad, declared: "Move over, honey, we're switching sides."

"I'm sorry?" Olivia asked, perplexed.

"The bed is starting to sag a little on my side, so how about we switch it up a little tonight?"

Olivia smiled, having a vague idea where this might be going. "I like this side."

Peter sighed. "Then you leave me no choice…" And with that, Peter scooped her up and moved her to the other side of the bed. When she began to protest, Peter leaned over and pressed a finger to her lips, raising an eyebrow. "Don't wake up the family, 'Liv."

"No fair!" She whispered, but she was still smiling just as much as Peter was.

"Ok, enough roughhousing… you really should get some sleep, Olivia, it's getting late," Peter coaxed her as he settled in behind her, one arm wrapped around her waist, the other gently rubbing slow circles on her back.

"Fine, you win… for now." Olivia murmured under her breath.

"I heard that," Peter whispered in her ear. He reached across her to turn out the light and returned to his position. "Good night, Olivia." He said quietly, almost seductively. Olivia's breath caught in her lungs. Maybe she was just imagining that his voice sounded like that…. Peter suddenly rolled her over to face him and placed a kiss on her cheek. Olivia was sure that her heart must have stopped beating for a moment, or at least skipped a few beats. Since the first night he'd stayed over, Peter hadn't kissed her again. His lips lingered on her cheek for a moment longer than they should have, but Olivia didn't care. If anything, she was disappointed that it didn't last any longer. Caught up in the moment, Olivia pulled Peter in close and hugged his tightly before they could go back to just spooning. When Peter realized that she wasn't going to let go soon, his grip on her tightened, his hands slipping underneath her and into her hair.

"Have I told you how much this means to me?" Olivia said softly, stroking the nape of his neck with one hand.

"Yeah, but I'd love to hear it again," he joked, burying his face further in her neck.

This made her smile. "This means a lot, thank you for –,"

"Sleeping with you every night? Not a problem, 'Liv." He pulled away slightly so that their faces were only a few inches apart. "It's my pleasure."

Olivia didn't know what to say. She just lay beneath him, and could only wonder how much longer she could ignore the blatantly obvious – that there was a shit load of feelings that she had for Peter that went well beyond friendship.

"Goodnight, sweetheart," Peter said soothingly and gently touching her cheek before lying back down and pulling her in close. Olivia snuggled closer and smiled a little when she felt his hand take hold of hers, lacing their fingers together. She closed her eyes and willed sleep to swoop down and save her before Peter could do anything else that would make her love him even more than she knew she already did.

There it is!!! There will still be more than 1 or 2 chapters I think...

Let me know what you think!!! and press that pretty green button down there.... :)

oh, and kudos to those of you who guessed where this is going in your awesome reviews!!! I really appreciate each and every one of them.

xoxo