Yeah, I know this took me forever to update. Many apologies for that, because it's been nothing but sheer laziness.

Hope you like it

Chapter five

The next time Olivia awoke, she was curled up on the floor with one Peter Bishop. When she'd fallen asleep there had most certainly been at least some space between their bodies, but somehow during the night Peter's arms had managed to snake their way around her body. She remained still for a moment, allowing her mind to adjust to her surroundings. She found after a few moments that she was no longer tired, however the cold, hard floor was still making her unbearably stiff. This time she refrained from stretching, hoping to avoid waking the man spooning her for a third time in one night.

Not for the first time, Olivia had to wonder how she had ended up being held like this and she had to suspect that Peter had purposefully drawn her close during the night. She wasn't about to complain, however. In fact she was grateful for his presence given that the temperature in the room seemed to have fallen several degrees in the past few hours. And there was something about having Peter pressed against her back that made her feel as close to safe as she'd ever felt since joining the Fringe Division.

Sometimes she wished that Peter could just be another Charlie in her life. Someone to laugh with, to drink with and occasionally to be held by without the risk of anything more developing between them. And for a while, she'd done a good job at convincing herself that was exactly what Peter was to her. A friend, without the benefits. It was almost a shame that after yesterday, there could be no more pretending. Indeed, after last night's conversations she knew that cuddling with him on the floor would be giving him serious mixed signals. The selfless thing to do would be to pull away now before he could wake up. It would be better all round- if he had embraced her on purpose, he would assume she'd rolled away during the night, and if he'd done it in his sleep it would prevent him thinking that she had been the one to instigate all this. And so she made a silent promise to herself of five more minutes in his arms until she would gently untangle herself from him.

Until then, she allowed her mind to wander back to the one topic that she couldn't quite stop thinking about. She had long since suspected, perhaps even known that Peter felt something for her, just as there had been a vague something for him in the back of her mind for a long time now. But was it enough to risk everything for? Her reputation would be in tatters if everyone found out she was in the midst of her second office affair in two years.

But she suspected it wouldn't be like that. They would hide it from Broyles if necessary, but she wasn't willing to repeat the full fledged secrecy of last time. Rachel would definitely have to be told, as would Astrid if they were to hope for any alone time. Inevitably that would lead to Walter discovering the truth and then the whole bureau would know within matter of days. And so unless all she wanted with Peter were snatched moments in her office, or a rendezvous at a seedy motel, they were going to have to be open about the relationship. Sighing, she closed her eyes and resolved not to think any more about it until her blissful five minutes in Peter's arms were up.

Fifteen minutes later, she was still in exactly the same position, unwilling to consider pulling away quite yet. About two minutes after that, she knew she'd left it too late as she almost felt Peter awaken beside her. She knew if she pulled away now she would most likely hurt his feelings, but she didn't quite want him to realise she'd knowingly been resting in his arms for all too long. So she did the first thing that came to mind and let her eyelids flutter shut, focusing on keeping her breathing steady.

"Liv?" he mumbled sleepily, which she ignored and just like her, he took some time to savour the moment, making no effort to move for the first few minutes. Eventually, he gently eased his arm out from under her and pulled back slightly, presumably to look at the time. Finding she missed the warmth the contact had been providing, almost subconsciously she leaned back closer to him.

She expected him to return to the embrace, but instead she heard his clothes rustle as he leaned over her. She tried to keep as still as possible, but as she felt his breath on her face, she knew he was looking at her.

"I know you're awake, Livia" She allowed her eyes to flick open, knowing there was no point in pretending any longer. She turned so that she was facing him (not that it made much difference in this room, with the light off) and he propped his head up with his left hand, allowing his right to remain draped over her.

"How did you know?" she asked, curious how he could tell after spending a grand total of one night by her side

"You snore" he shrugged, and her eyebrows shot upwards.

"I do not."

"Yeah, you do." He corrected, with a sparkle in his eyes, and she found herself frowning,

"You're one to talk Peter." She grumbled, expecting a protest but receiving none. Peter simply gave her a lazy smile and continued to just look at her. Feeling self conscious, she turned her head to the side and grasped for something to say.

"Did you sleep well?"

"Not really" he admitted, "But don't worry, it wasn't your snoring that kept me awake."

"Your nightmares?" she guessed and he gave her a half nod. She didn't press him for details, knowing that if he felt cornered he could be less than forthcoming. However, this wasn't enough to prevent herself adding in a slightly annoyed tone, "You should have told me."

"Told you what? That a couple of nights a week I don't sleep particularly well? We both have more important things to worry about than that, Olivia." He was right of course but it still stung that he felt he couldn't come to her for help with matters such as these.

"If it had been me, I would have told you" she added stubbornly, and she watched him blink slowly at her, unsure whether or not to believe her. Understandable when she herself wasn't entirely sure if she meant what she said. Finally, he sighed,

"I'm sorry, then."

"Tell me about them," he raised an eyebrow at her firm tone, but simply shrugged.

"There's not much to tell. They're the same as the ones I had as a child. I'm in bed, and someone tries to abduct me in the night." He looked down in embarrassment, "I told you, it's nothing." She felt the urge to correct him, but she knew he wouldn't particularly appreciate it if she did and so she reached for his hand beneath the coat and squeezed it gently. She saw a smile flicker onto his face before he instantly replaced it with a more neutral look.

"What about you?" he asked abruptly and, confused she replied,

"What about me?"

"How did you sleep?" he asked, as if it were obvious.

"I've had worse." She half lied. Last night had been uncomfortable, cold and had left her feeling unbelievably sore all over, but she had to admit that right now, lying here with Peter wasn't an unpleasant experience at all. Peter yawned loudly and reluctantly pulled his hand away from hers as he checked the time

"It's only half seven. It'll be at least an hour before anyone starts arriving in for the morning. Do you want to go back to sleep?"

"I usually get up earlier than this anyway" she replied, finally pulling away from Peter fully, stretching and sitting up.

"Okay" Sighing, he stood up and flicked on the light switch by the door, "What now?" Olivia didn't reply immediately, instead shielding her eyes from the new, blinding light with his coat, and rubbed the sleep from them. Instead, she took time to consider what indeed they could spend the next hour or so doing. It seemed almost ridiculous to worry about it since they'd just spent close to ten hours in each other's company without any real problems arising, but she was becoming increasingly concerned with the memory of the conversation they'd had last night, and the kissing that had stemmed from it. She knew that soon Peter would want an answer to the question he had posed her last night, but honestly right now she still didn't have one.

"Olivia?" Peter prompted, sitting down against the wall and although all common sense told her to stay where she was, she moved to join him. This time, without a second thought his arm slung itself across her shoulders.

"Can't we just talk?" she finally replied and he nodded.

"Okay. What do you want to talk about?" she shot him a glare, wondering if he was being awkward for the sake of it, but from the look on his face he was genuinely stuck for something to say. Closing her eyes in defeat, she was forced to spell it out for him again.

"I'm still thinking about us."

"Fine." he replied, but from his tone, it seemed that it wasn't, "I've a feeling I'm going to regret this, but do you want to tell me what exactly is holding you back?"

"Isn't it obvious? Everything about this just screams bad idea" she sighed, "We're colleagues and we're friends and I don't want to risk that. And it'll change the whole dynamic of the team. I mean the FBI puts restrictions on fraternization for a reason. What if we have a fight? What about when we break up? It would just make everything so ridiculously awkward and..."

"Olivia," he said with a faintly amused, patient aspect to his voice, "In case you haven't noticed, we fight already. And if we break up, I promise I won't walk out on you."

"You're saying that now Peter, but you and I both know a lot can change very quickly. You might not feel the same way six months from now."

"If you won't believe I'd stick around for you, you have to know I wouldn't just leave Walter. Not anymore." He reminded her, and she nodded briefly, telling herself to relax.

"It's not just that though, it's John as well." Although Peter continued to listen quietly, she felt him stiffen a little at the mention of her ex lover, "I know it's been a year, but you have to understand that it still hurts sometimes. I still miss him." She ran a nervous hand through her hair and mumbled half to Peter, half to herself,

"And I miss Charlie. He would have known what I should do about you" She risked a glance at Peter and saw him nod slowly, but he looked entirely uncomfortable with the direction this conversation was heading.

"Tell me you've got something in the pro column" he winced in mock pain, but she could see the very real nervousness in his eyes

"But" she paused for emphasis, "Despite all common sense, I like you. I really do. I can honestly say I haven't felt this way about anyone in a long time, and when I'm with you, things just seem to be better somehow. I just don't know whether or not it's enough for me to take this chance with you."

Peter was looking at her with the saddest eyes, and just as he was opening his mouth to reply, there was a thump from outside the door. At once, both their heads jerked around in time to see the door handle turn. Before anyone could so much as step through the door, Olivia recoiled from Peter, worried at once that it would be Broyles who would find her cuddled up with her civilian consultant in an old storeroom. She need not have worried, however because it was instead Walter who burst into the room, a positively ecstatic expression on his face.

"Walter, don't let that door close" she ordered immediately, and the old man nodded absentmindedly,

"Yes, yes, I know dear. It only opens from the outside. I really must get that seen to." Olivia turned to Peter to shoot him an exasperated look, but he refused to meet her gaze.

"I knew there was something I meant to tell you last night before you left, Peter. That must have been it" Walter mused aloud, "Of course if I'd known you were having some alone time with young Agent Dunham, I would have left you two for a little while longer."

"We got ourselves locked in." Olivia said quickly, so there could be no misunderstanding on Walter's part, "But we didn't find your book Walter, sorry."

"Oh no matter. I'm sure it will turn up one of these days" the scientist looked like he'd forgotten the very reason he'd sent them down here already, "Peter, I'm hungry. Can we go for pancakes?"

"Yeah, sure" Peter looked like he was barely listening to a word his father said, his gaze having returned to her, "Want to join us, Olivia?"

"No. I should be getting to work" she scrambled up off the floor and dusted herself off, "You two have fun though."

"Olivia…" Peter's tone held a vague warning, "You and I need to finish our conversation at some point."

"I know" she said, thrilled to have the chance to escape for now, "But I really have to go" And trying very hard not to glance at Peter's sceptical expression she hurried out the door.

As she climbed the stairs, her first thought was to find a bathroom.

Her second was how long she could reasonably hope to avoid Peter for. This was going to be a hard decision to make, and she was determined not to make the wrong one.

I'm holidaying next week (yay) so I'll try to have this next (final) chapter up by Sunday, but no promises.

Drop in a review on your way out?