Something cleared my head of this picture, a happy, normal life. I didn't want it to leave. Where was it going? But wait, I could hear voices

"It must have been... We still haven't asked him what he did while he was there... I just can't bring myself to talk about how close we came to losing him"

"Olivia it's not your fault"

"No but I could have stopped all this when I first saw the glimmer"

"It wouldn't have changed anything, you know that."

"Astrid, we nearly lost him. I watched his body shut down in front of me in the ambulance, if I could have stopped this happening..."

"You couldn't"

It was a strange sensation, being immobile. I could hear their conversation, but found myself too weak to open my eyes or move at all, I didn't even have the energy to force my thoughts toward her. I heard a cell phone buzzing. Olivia answered.

"Hello?" She asked, and I noted the worry in her tone as she spoke. "So he definitely doesn't know...? We're safe...? And you're sure...? Okay, thanks... Yeah... keep in touch"

I almost felt her presence approach, or maybe it was that she wanted me to know she was nearby.

"That was Broyles" I heard her inform Astrid. "The chip stopped working when it started to break down, so somewhere over the Atlantic. It might pay us to move again though, if he knew we were heading this way"

"But isn't that what he'd expect us to do?" Astrid queried. I heard Olivia sigh and felt her elbows on my bed. Somehow I knew she had her head in her hands. This time I was going to let her know that I was ok. With every ounce of energy that still remained inside me I opened my eyes, holding them open for just a second.

"Peter?" I heard her whisper, relieved. I tried again to open my eyes, this time managing to keep them open to see her leaning over me, blonde hair draping past her eyes and slightly enveloping my face. She brushed it back, then moved one hand to my cheek and wrapped the other in my fingers.

"I'll go tell Walter" Astrid suggested, leaving us alone for a moment.

"Thank God" Olivia sighed, smiling. She sat back down next to me, gently pulling my head so it was turned toward her. I gazed at her gratefully. I tried to move my mouth to speak but I couldn't, so I settled for our strange, personal way of communicating.

'Hey'

She seemed so relieved that she didn't even remember how I'd just communicated.

"Peter! I was so worried, are you feeling ok?"

'I've got no energy.'

She paused, understanding this time.

'Of course, I'll get you a coffee if you like? I'll check with the nurse'

I gently shook my head, taking a deep breath and gradually opening my mouth.

"What happened?" I asked.

"You left to go to the bathroom, you looked like you were in pain, and then when you didn't come back I followed and found you collapsed, clutching your stomach, so I looked at it... and... well, something had pierced through your skin and you were bleeding so much, and you'd been being sick and there was blood there too and oh Peter, I was so scared."

I squeezed her hand gently and smiled for her to continue, I remembered most of that.

"So anyway, the ambulance arrived and... well you'd lost a lot of blood, and they weren't sure you were going to make it. But they got you here and straight into theatre. No one would tell us what was happening, and I was pretty rude to them but I had to know. There were so many doctors rushing in and out of your surgery and they all looked scared and confused. It reminded me so much of witness of Fringe events that I practically gave up hope, but your mind was so out of it I couldn't even reach you. I thought you were dead, but they saved you."

"What was it?"

"Well, we think that when Walternate had you over there, before you regained consciousness, he must have implanted this strange, silicone based tracking chip inside you, somewhere in your stomach, and the air pressure in the plane managed to mess it up pretty badly, and it gradually broke apart, but parts of it were sharp so as you moved it eventually started to rip you up inside and caused all this internal bleeding and it nearly killed you." By the time she'd finished her explanation it was a near whisper. I noticed the dark circles under her reddened eyes, and assumed she'd been crying. I wanted so much to just hold her but I didn't have the strength.

She stroked her hand on my cheek and leant in to kiss me, pulling back with a slow, deep breath.

'I thought I'd never be able to do that again.'

I watched a tear streak down her face and I suddenly had the motivation and the strength to lift my arm and pull her toward me, feeling her calming down as she nestled into my shoulder. I felt her uneven breath begin to smooth out as I held her, and eventually she seemed calm again.

"How long was I out?" I asked suddenly, the thought not having occurred before.

"3 days" She admitted, squeezing me slightly.

"Please tell me you've slept, Liv"

She looked up with guilty eyes. I kissed her forehead, before pushing her into the visitors chair and demanding she sleep.

"I can wake you if I need to" I told her.

It didn't take long for her to embrace the slumber, but she left a hand on mine. I decided it might pay me to get some rest too and join her, but then Astrid and Walter arrived. The older man looked anxious, so I had to smile at him as the two of them swooned closer to question me about how I was again. I nodded, but got away with not saying much, passing it off for need for sleep. They didn't ask me too much, and instead went back out, leaving me to sleep, still holding Olivia's hand.