"Oh man… I swear just when you think things don't get any more disgusting. Why am I even surprised anymore?" She hears Peter sneer at the sight of the crime scene photos, as he helps her arrange them on the pin board.

"I might just never eat another meal for the rest of my life."

Olivia simply smiles and shakes her head, used to his complaining by this point. "And yet, I'd bet anything when Astrid does a lunch run, you'll be the first to ask for something greasy and completely unhealthy, with loads of cheese."

He smirks at that. " After our latest edition of vomit enduing crime scenes, I think I've just reached my breaking point." He shrugs carelessly then. "At least we'll have some cool stories to tell our kids someday."

"Our kids?" She looks up at him completely shocked, the words flying out of her mouth even before she can think.

His smile dulls as he takes in her dumbstruck expression, eyes widening as he realizes what she had inferred.

"Well your kids and my kids…" He clarifies slowly, looking at her still shell-shocked face, "different sets of kids...that we'll have with other people Olivia…." His voice trails off uncomfortably.

"Right…" She feels like an idiot for reacting that way, hoping the heat she felt in her cheeks was just because of the weather.

"I didn't mean to suggest…"

"No of course not…" She nods, feeling exceptionally foolish in that instant. She gives him a quick smile in an attempt to quell the sudden wave of discomfort that could be felt between them.

For a few minutes they simply work in silence, pinning photographs to the board in sequence and avoiding looking at each other.

She takes a step back and leans against the desk, folding her arms across her chest as she scrutinizes the evidence, smiling a little at the way he joins her, mirroring her position to the tee.

"So you plan on telling your kids about all of this?" She asks casually, not looking at him, her focus ostensibly on the images of carnage laid out in front of her.

"Of course I am." He chuckles, rolling his eyes. "The least I can get out of this freak show that now pays my bills is bragging rights for the amusement of my future progeny."

She laughs at his joke, hollow, fake…. feeling oddly deflated at his words.

"Do you really hate it that much? Working here…."

With me? She almost adds but stops herself, knowing how stupid that would sound.

"I didn't say that." He says pointedly.

"You didn't have to…." She's helpless to retort. It was glaringly obviously that he wasn't particularly happy being here, with Walter and dealing with the insanity that their lives had become.

Which was odd considering how seeing him in the lab every morning had inexplicably become the highlight of her day. It wasn't anything that he particularly did, but it always made her feel better when he was around, bringing her coffee, making some inappropriate witty comment, quibbling with Walter.

She had gotten used to his presence in her life in a shockingly and worryingly short span of time.

"I guess I've been rather whiny at times." He admits, giving her a sheepish grin.

"It's not like you don't have a right to be." She shrugs, not wanting him to feel guilty. "I know you're not entirely here by choice and whatever your reasons for staying are…. Nobody says you have to like it."

"Well nobody says I have to be a jerk about it as well…" He counters, and then gives her a somewhat apologetic look. "And I do like it Olivia…. all of this, as crazy as it sounds. It's nice to be able to help people, or you know help you help people that is. I've never had that in my life before…"

"What?"

"Purpose…" He says softly, a self-deprecating look setting into his eyes. "Most things that I've done with my life make for great bar stories but….there's nothing there I can say I am proud of."

"I am sure that's not true."

"Sadly it is… I am not one of the good guys in case you haven't realized that already." He rolls his eyes at her. "And I don't really don't entertain any notions of being a hero. But being part of this, with you… it actually makes me think I may not be such a sorry excuse for a human being after all."

The tone of his voice is sarcastic and blasé as usual, but Olivia cringes at the way he says it. She clears her throat, averting her eyes from his. "Well I don't know about that…. But I know the good guys when I see them, and I don't see anything that makes you such a sorry excuse for a human being."

He laughs rather mirthlessly at that. "Shows how little you know Dunham and thank you for saying that." He says in a genuine voice. "But it's okay. I may not be hero material, but I'll still stay and save the world with you."

"You will?" She asks hopefully, forgetting for a moment that they had simply been engaging in light- hearted banter.

"Of course I will." He smiles warmly at her, his eyes sparkling with an unspoken promise that somehow Olivia finds herself believing. "As long as you promise, I don't have to wear a suit to work." He then says flippantly, making light of the dangerously serious implications of their exchange.

"I wouldn't dream of it." She laughs.

"We're going to make a kickass team you know… you and I." He tells her, his confidence back with full swing, as he gives her a rather self-assured smirk. "And one day many many years from now… I am going to sit my kids down and tell them all about the freaky, disgusting and sometimes jaw dropping and totally awesome things we did together."

"So, I get to be in your stories huh?" She looks at him curiously.

"Well yeah… of course you do." He gives her an odd smile. "There's no story without you is there?"


"You're still reading that?" Peter asks Etta, when he catches her leafing through one of the graphic novels that the River had shown them.

She looks shy, almost bashful. "I asked River if I could keep one. Not every day you get to have a comic book featuring your parents as superheroes."

"Well your mom's the superhero." He points out as he takes a seat next to her. "I am just the trusty wisecracking sidekick. She used to make me sit in the car half the time."

"Don't say that." Olivia protests. "That's not how it was and like you ever listened to me any of the times I told you to stay in the car."

"Well... it pretty much was and how about a thank you for when I didn't stay in the car and saved your life, Liv?" He says ignoring her warning look.

"You saved her life?" Etta asks looking at Peter with surprise.

"I had my moments." Peter shrugs. "But she was the star."

"You had more than your moments." Olivia shakes her head at him and turns to look closely at the comic book Etta was reading, featuring her in all sorts of heroic scenes.

"Did this really happen?" Etta asks timidly, her expression rather awestruck.

Olivia smiles, giving her an apologetic shrug as she glances at the page Etta was showing her. "I wouldn't be able to tell you. I don't remember most of these cases the way they happened in this timeline. I don't even remember working on some of these."

"Timeline?"

"It's a long story." Peter interjects dryly. "Very long and confusing, best to be shared over a bottle of scotch. Speaking of which, and I realize the irony of this situation…" he says looking rather contrite. "But do you keep any in the house kiddo?"

"Yeah. Bottom drawer. The cabinet in the kitchen." Etta mutters absently, her focus still on the book.

"She really is your daughter Dunham." Peter gives Olivia an amused look, as he gets up to go help himself.

"So… how did it really happen then?" Etta looks at her curiously.

"Well…for one, Peter was there…. all those times." Olivia says her gaze drifting to him briefly, a fond smile on her face. "You should ask him really. He's been waiting to tell you stories about all about our adventures for a very long time. Ever since we started working together."

"He has?"

"Yeah…" She nods as she looks at her daughter's excited and proud expression. "There's no story without him is there?"