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"Are you still in love with Olivia Dunham?"
~3~
Olivia's simple question took Peter by surprise. He was about to answer when Walternate walked into the room. Olivia took an impulsive step back, memories of what the man in front of her had done suddenly overwhelming. Peter moved so that he was in between the two before pointing his father to the machine in the other room. Walternate walked into the room and began to study the machine. Peter began to follow, but stopped when Olivia wasn't following. He looked into her eyes and saw the fear or what his father had done, and at what he was trying to do. She was frozen there, staring into the other room where he was standing. Peter walked over to her, grabbed her hand, and placed his other hand on her cheek. She looked at him, still unable to speak. He whispered an almost silent "Yes," in her ear before placing a quick kiss on her cheek and leading her into the other room.
~3~
Olivia smiled. He worst nightmare was in the room with her and she actually smiled. All she could think was that answer that Peter gave to her question. And now he was leading her by the hand to the monster of a machine he just built, and she couldn't stop smiling. It was irrational to be this happy when her world was at stake, but she couldn't even remember, in either of the lives the had memories of, being this happy. But she snapped back to reality when she felt Peter release her hand, and when she saw Walternate enthusiastically looking over the doomsday machine looming before him.
"How soon can we start the machine?" Walternate asked.
Peter sent a nervous glance to Olivia. She knew that he was supposed to be strapped into the apparatus in the center of the machine. It was the only way it would work. They already talked about it. She nodded to him. He grabbed her hand and squeezed for a split second before returning his gaze to Walternate and started to explain the process. Before long, Peter was strapping himself into the hideous machine. He sent one last look to Olivia and mouthed I love you before hitting a button and causing the sequence.
Peter had explained the whole process to Olivia before he had called Walternate. He said that he was in complete control of the device while strapped in, and that he could access the algorithms that he had set to blow a fuse in the machine and a hole in the Secretary's plan. It would take about three minutes to get to the point where the electricity running through the device would burn out each component of the machine.
The three minute countdown was nearing an end. But what Peter had failed to mention to Olivia was the intensity of the burn out. The timer hit zero, and each of the machine's components began to create small explosions along the length of the device. Peter screamed, and his limp body fell from the machine. Olivia rushed to his side and checked his pulse. It was very faint, but it was there. She turned to look at Walternate, who had a gun pointed directly at her.
"The punishment for not building the machine also applies here."
She stood slowly and slowly put her hands up. She placed herself between the unconscious Peter lying on the floor and Walternate. She watched his face slowly twist itself into an evil smirk. His hand tightened around the gun, preparing to fire. Before he had the chance, Olivia kicked the gun out of his hand, causing it to skid across the floor. Olivia went for it, just barely reaching it before Walternate pulled out a backup. They stayed there, Olivia aiming at him from the floor, Walternate aiming at Olivia.
Both fired at the same time.
~3~
This chapter was slightly shorter than most, so I'm sorry for that. It is possible that the next chapter will be the final chapter. I will not be able to write at all this weekend, but I will try to have the next chapter up by Wednesday at the latest. Please review! I will reply to every single one of you! And you may be mentioned in my authors note in the next chapter!