Chapter 3: A Taste of Wonderful

"So what time will you be stopping by with dinner?" Peter asked casually, fingering the piano Walter had insisted be brought into the lab.

"I can't tonight," Olivia sighed, slipping her work jacket onto her arm and grabbing her car keys.

"Why not?" Peter frowned, his fingers faltering on the keys for a moment.

"Agent Lee and I have to do some prep work for this new case," Olivia cringed a little, truly wishing she could just meet at the Bishops' for a dinner of pizza and beers, but Broyles wasn't about to give her the night off just yet.

"Hey Olivia," a tallish blonde haired man walked past the lab doors, his strides confident and his smile charming.

Peter felt anger build in him at the sight of this man he'd seemingly never met but he had no idea why. For a second his brain grew a little fuzzy and he saw flashes of auburn in place of Olivia's blonde hair.

"You okay Peter?" Olivia asked, rushing to his side to steady him on his chair.

"Y-yeah, just got a little dizzy," Peter tried to brush off her worry. "Did you ever have auburn hair?"

Olivia flinched back and shook her head while Lincoln looked at him curiously. "You're probably talking about my alternate self," Olivia tried to keep the agitation out of her voice and off her face but it was hard.

"Alternate self?" Peter asked, clearly missing something.

"Remember how I mentioned there were the two universes?" Olivia asked, earning him a nod. "Well for every one of us we have over here there is someone over there."

"So there's another me hanging out on the other side of that bridge then?" Peter asked, his face growing more excited. "Maybe I can get some answers from him about my life – "

"You don't exist on that side," Olivia said quickly, cutting him off. "We searched high and low once you were found but nothing came up. A Peter Bishop did exist over there but he went missing at the age of nine and hasn't been seen since."

Peter frowned as this bubble he had started popped.

"I'm sorry Peter," Olivia murmured, resting a hand on his shoulder.

"You keep saying that but it's not your fault," Peter sighed. "Why do you even care?"

"I don't know," Olivia said honestly. "I guess I just do. You ready agent Lee?"

"Yeah, I was thinking Italian might be nice," Lincoln smiled warmly and held his arm out for her.

Olivia frowned at him before walking past without taking his arm. "Ok. See you later Peter."

Peter wanted to rush after her and apologize for being such a whine-ass, because she clearly did care for him despite their lack of real knowledge of each other, but he froze and just nodded as they disappeared from sight.

LOPLOPLOPLOPLOPLOPLOP

Olivia had to admit to herself that dinner wasn't an absolute disaster considering the animosity she held for the alternate Lincoln – or as she had been calling him in her head; fauxlinc. She wasn't ready to dub him her bff, but he wasn't horrible company either. He almost did an adequate job of distracting her from thoughts of her supposed partner, Peter, though most of her thoughts seemed to trail back to him in some form or another.

"You know, I had no idea you weren't our Olivia until ours came back and your friend the taxi driver spilled the beans," Lincoln said, sipping his glass of wine. "I even convinced our Charlie that you were our Olivia when he wasn't sure."

Olivia looked doubtful so he continued.

"I know it probably makes me a damn fool and a horrible friend and partner for not noticing, but no way would I have accepted you as a partner if I thought for even a second that you weren't the Olivia I knew," Lincoln insisted, looking very serious. "I also would've probably tried to cross universes to get our Olivia back."

Olivia finally nodded and half took the olive branch he was offering her. They could cooperate for this case if they'd already done it before. He was a good agent, even if he wasn't from her own side.

"So I've seen the other me and I know the differences between us," Lincoln smiled. "I'm hot, he's nerdy, I'm awesome, and he's a lot like a wet noodle – but you and my Olivia are a bit more similar. So what are the differences between you two?"

Olivia rolled her eyes and almost laughed. "We're very different actually. She can laugh, I'm more silent, she has a life, and I live with my work – not to mention my dark past and her seemingly happy carefree one." Olivia got more serious and quiet as she finished.

"I guess I can see all that," Lincoln said, also serious. "But you're both strong, smart as hell, and more stubborn than anyone I know."

"Those don't all sound good…" Olivia raised an eyebrow.

"Oh they are," Lincoln smiled.

They finished their dinner, the talk happening slowly but not as painfully as Olivia would've thought it would be. By the end Olivia wasn't as doubtful about their working relationship as she had been.

OLPOLPOLPOLPOLPOLPOLP

Peter sat at his desk that was pushed up against a wall in his bedroom and idly flipped through the scattered paperwork across his desk, trying to piece together who he was. Most of the information seemed to pertain to cases he and Olivia had worked, though some of it was reports written by her alternate self and information on something called shapeshifters. It was the reports by her other self that intrigued him the most though.

I believe PB is convinced I'm her now. It wasn't too hard to convince him that the small changes he was noticing was because I was just happy to be "home" with him. I've determined that they weren't actually together when the other me went on her kamikaze mission to rescue PB, but something must've happened between them while on our side to make them go for it. Once on this side he asked me out on a date and because I wasn't sure what the other me would do I said 'yes'. It'll be easier to deceive him when he's blinded by love and lust.

Peter's mind was spinning with the information before him. He had dated the other Olivia who had been pretending to be his Olivia. That must mean that he had feelings for this woman who was supposed to be just his partner. How could he not tell the differences between the two of them if he had really had feelings for the Olivia of this side? Peter forced his mind to bring up the last image of Olivia of the day and really think about her.

She was definitely gorgeous. Clearly smart with a no nonsense attitude and a dry sense of humor. He definitely enjoyed being around her and found himself looking forward to each time he got to see her but he had just assumed it was because she was one of the few people that empathized with him and tried to understand what he was going through. More determined than ever, Peter began to ransack his room, searching for any evidence that it was her that he was supposed to be with. He was about to give up when he heard a squeak beneath his feet and stepped back to repeat the motion. There was a loose floor board. Kneeling down, Peter carefully pried it open to reveal a wooden box the size of a shoe box and opened it.

Inside there was a few pictures of them hugging, kissing, holding hands – looking clearly in love and his heart swelled. He fingered the pictures carefully, completely caught up in the looks on their faces when he saw a small box out of the corner of his eye. Setting the pictures back into the box, Peter picked up the much smaller box and opened it to reveal an engagement ring. It was nothing gaudy or very expensive looking, but it was definitely unique. Eyeing it carefully he noticed there was an inscription inside of the ring.

My Livia.

There was no arguing it anymore. They had definitely been together despite her earlier refusal of the idea. He was going to propose to her after all. If that didn't say love ever after he wasn't sure what else did. A brief knock on his bedroom door broke him from his reverie and he quickly put the box back into the larger box.

"Just a minute!" Peter called as he put everything back beneath the floor and replaced the panel to go over it. Standing he brushed the dirt from his pants. "Come in."

The door slowly opened to reveal Olivia; definitely not the person he had been expecting.

"Hey," Olivia said, giving him a small smile before she caught sight of the disaster that was his room. "What happened?"

"Uhh, quest for answers?" Peter winced and shrugged.

"And did you find any?" Olivia asked with a short laugh.

"Not really," Peter answered. How could he tell her that even though neither of them remembered it they had once been in love? He didn't want to totally freak her out. "I thought you had dinner plans?"

"Yeah, well I got out of that as fast as I could and I thought since it wasn't too late I'd bring my favorite Bishop men a pie since I passed on dinner," Olivia grinned.

"Bishop men?" Peter asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Huh… that sort of just slipped out," Olivia looked thoughtful. "Maybe it was something I said often before."

"Maybe," Peter nodded. "Could I… never mind – it's stupid."

"What?" Olivia asked, looking at him curiously as if he had just performed an interesting trick.

"It's nothing," Peter insisted. "I don't want to make you feel awkward or anything."

"That bad?" Olivia asked, tilting her head to the side. "Now I really want to know."

Peter stepped forward so that there was only a foot of space between them and stopped. She stared up at him her face showing her confusion and after a moment's hesitation he palmed her cheek so softly she barely felt it. Peter marveled at the soft feel of her skin and closed his eyes so that the single touch could consume him. Flashes of blonde hair shining gold from the sun filled his mind, then an image of pulling Olivia out of a rusty tank filled with water while she was only dressed in her undergarments as she heaved for air and shook in his arms. The feel of her fingers digging into his biceps to steady him made him flinch back and his eyes fluttered open.

"Did you see that?" Peter asked, his voice raspy.

"See what?" Olivia asked, her voice cracking. In reality she had seen something but she loathed to admit it. She had seen him naked beneath her in his bed and something told her it wasn't to review a case. "Why don't we go downstairs before Walter eats all the pie."

And just like that their moment was over and she pulled away and moved out the door before he could respond.

A/N: Thank you to all our amazing reviewers out there who keep our inspiration fairies fed and fueled.