Slowly Moving Forward

Spoilers: Season 1, Season 2, Season 3(Olivia, The Box, The Plateau, Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sheep, Amber 31422, 6955 kHz, The Abducted, Entrada, Marionette promo).

Disclaimer: If I owned Fringe...Olivia would have made it home with Peter in Over There Part 2 instead of this insanity.


The next week, as they sat in the bowling alley waiting for Sam to give them their assignment, Peter reached over and took Olivia's hand. She squeezed his hand and smiled, her phone rang however and she let go, standing as she answered it. "Dunham?"

"It's Broyles, we have a case...get the Bishops and meet me at New Jersey Memorial Hospital, I'll explain when you get here."

"You got it." She hung up and turned to Peter as Sam walked over, "we have a case, we have to pick up your father."

Sam looked at them, "here we are...one for you and one for you." He handed them each an empty photo album, "I want you to fill them up with all the important photos you have and beside the picture put why the picture was taken and when...if you can remember when it was. That's next week's assignment, if you have to, take newer photos."

Peter looked at the album, "shouldn't we be putting one together and not two?"

"That'll come later, we're working on both individual assignments as you work together in the field. Finding yourself before you find some type of relationship...better this way. You two get going, I heard Dunham say you had a case."


The ride to Jersey City was long needless to say, not because Peter and Olivia had anything to talk about but because Walter wouldn't be quiet about asking Olivia about her time on the other side. Of course, the questions just fueled her emotions so she pulled off the side of the road and got out of the SUV...not once but three times.

"Walter," Peter turned to Walter as Olivia got out the third time, "seriously, she doesn't want to talk about it and each time you push she gets more upset and the more she gets upset...let's just say its lucky you're still alive and she hasn't pulled her gun."

Walter looked at Peter, "but son it is important to know what happened over there...has she told you?"

"No, not everything and what I do know stays with me...her trust is thin Walter, very thin and she's trying to trust us, you especially because Walternate was sadistic, that's all I can say." He looked out at Olivia, who stood looking out at the field they were parked by. "Stay here, don't go anywhere."


Peter got out and walked over to Olivia, she just looked out. "I understand why Walter asks the questions but I don't want to relive those weeks in my head, I want to move on."

"I told him that you don't want to relive them, hopefully he'll get the hint and if he doesn't, I guess it'll be a long drive to Jersey."

Olivia looked down, "I lost it."

"I would too if Walter kept on."

She shook her head, "no, I lost the baby...I was bleeding yesterday morning and so I teleported to Massive Dynamic...that's why I was there when you and Walter arrived. Pujodi said I miscarried but not because of anything I did, the baby was overusing its energy to protect me...it had a few flawed genes inherited by Lincoln...so in the end, its protection killed it. It died protecting me like everyone else has...John, Charlie, Broyles from the alternate side...now my son."

Peter pulled her into his arms and she began to cry, "God I'm sorry Sweetheart." He kissed her head and found himself a little upset and sad...they were supposed to be a family: him, her and the baby, a son that would never see the light of day or be loved by a mother and father who in the end wanted him. "I know how much you wanted the baby."


She'd accepted that she'd be keeping the baby in the week since discovery and began thinking of names and ways to decorate the apartment she was buying. Peter's unfinished list for all the baby proofing that would be needed was now for nothing and the name he was going to suggest: James Nicolas Dunham, after Olivia's father and Nick Lane, was useless as well...it wouldn't be used.

Peter actually looked forward to helping Olivia, being a father to the baby...no questions asked, he was going to be the father the kid needed and now instead of playing baseball or doing experiments with the boy, he'd have to place those thoughts away for the future. His only thankful thought had to be that it hadn't been a girl, a little girl who would have been like her mother, that would have broken him...because he wanted a little girl.


Olivia pulled back and wiped her eyes, "we should get going, we should have been there by now."

"If you need anything..."

She nodded, "I know, Pujodi said that everything should be fine, no medical issues since they took care of removing the excess tissue left over. When I found you both, I was no longer pregnant, as if I had never been in the first place." She looked down, "there's a small part of me glad this happened but the larger part is angry with him, for protecting me and sacrificing himself."

"He was just so much like his mother," Peter pulled her chin up, "so much like you. Come on, we should get going."


A/N: Sorry to disappoint but it helps Olivia move on from the past few months. It helps her become closer to Peter without having to deal with a baby...not that it would have been an issue for either of them. It also allows her to connect with Walter in the future...they both lost sons.