Hello again. Welcome to the last instalment of my Truth or Dare fic, which has quite possibly been one of the best received fics I've ever written. It's quite long- possibly by longest so far, but I didn't really want to split it into more chapters- and I just decided to call it an epilogue, simply because they aren't in the storeroom anymore.

Many thanks to anyone who has reviewed this fanfic along the way. It really has been a joy to write.

Epilogue

Three hours and a handful of avoided phone calls later, Olivia was trying very hard to concentrate on her work when she happened to glance up. Peter was striding purposefully through the crowded room towards her work space, FBI keycard in hand. She looked around, vaguely panicked, for although such a sight would usually be a pleasant one, right now she didn't think she could handle the conversation he was no doubt intent on having with her.

They were both showered and fed, but other than that very little appeared to have changed. To her own surprise, it seemed that distance from Peter hadn't made her decision any easier and so she briefly considered slipping out before he could reach her office. A moment later, she dismissed it as an option- he was already far too close and had to have noticed her already. In fact, she barely had time to save her report before Peter had walked in and closed the door behind him with a snap, leaning back against it.

"What?" she asked, rather more sharply than she'd intended.

"We need to talk."

"I'm still thinking," she protested, but he shook his head.

"No, Olivia. No more thinking. You made it clear last night that you've known how I feel about you for a very long time, so the way I see it, you've had forever to debate the pros and cons." He let out a breath, before his expression softened, "I can live with a no, Olivia. Just don't drag this out anymore." He looked at her expectantly and with a pang, she realised what her answer had to be.

She liked Peter, she truly did. If she were honest with herself, she realised that had it been any man other than Peter trapped with her in that storeroom, she would most likely have killed him well before dawn. He wasn't exactly her type but she still felt those all important sparks between them. In another universe she suspected they would be sleeping together already. But they lived in dangerous times and worked in perhaps the most dangerous jobs in Boston. Olivia barely had time for herself let alone time for a boyfriend. And surely, if it was meant to be, it wouldn't be this hard to make a decision. With John everything had just seemed so inevitable but now with Peter there were just so many obstacles. Too many reasons to leave things as they were.

"I think we should just be friends, Peter" Even as she was speaking part of her was screaming that she was making a mistake, but she folded her arms in an almost defensive manner and made sure her gaze betrayed no weakness. She expected him to at least attempt to talk her around, but instead he just gave a slow nod.

"I thought you would say something like that." At first glance, he looked to be completely fine with her decision, but she could see a pain flickering behind his eyes that clenched at her heart. She looked down at his shoes, knowing that if she really looked at him, she might just relent.

"Are we okay?" she asked desperately. One of the many reasons she'd decided against dating him was to save their friendship from the horrific, inevitable break up. She understood that the rejection would sting, but she hoped that he would recover quickly.

"Yeah, we're fine." He agreed, but she knew him too well to believe him, "So I guess I'll see you later?"

"Yeah" she agreed softly, and sighed as she watched him walk dejectedly through the door.

She opted to stay away from Harvard for the day, having spent enough time there during the last twenty four hours to last her a lifetime, but somehow she itched to see Peter again. She told herself that she just wanted to make sure he was completely fine with her decision, but deep down within herself she knew there was something more behind her urge to meet with him. And so around one o'clock, she took a break from her work and sent Peter a short, neutral text message.

Want to get some lunch?

The reply came back almost instantly, but it wasn't the answer she had been hoping for

Already eaten.

Trying not to read any more into it, Olivia returned her phone to her pocket and decided to work on with her reports. She hadn't been that hungry anyway.

Although she'd promised herself she would do otherwise, she found herself texting Peter more and more throughout the day, far surpassing the amount that was by any means normal for them. At first, she'd wondered if it would maybe be better to speak to him face to face, she tested the waters with a simple message.

I might come over later. Does Walter want anything?

His reply had been abrupt and come through so quickly, she doubted he'd asked his father at all.

No.

So she decided against an impromptu visit, based on the mood Peter appeared to be in, but that wasn't enough to prevent her fingers from sending him another message about half an hour later.

Can you come to the bureau? I need your opinion on something.

She felt quite desperate sending a message such as this, especially since she hadn't yet invented a reason to talk to him if he did agree. Clearly Peter saw straight through her little plan for it was a full hour before she received a response from him.

I'm busy.

She managed to avoid making a fool of herself for the following few hours by putting her phone in her jacket pocket, well out of sight and therefore out of her mind. But still, when the clock hit five thirty she left the office on time for the first time in as long as she could remember. She was driving out of the car park when she consciously decided that she was going to the Bishop household to see Peter in person. If their working relationship was to survive, he couldn't go around ignoring her calls and she needed to be able to concentrate on her work without wondering whether or not he was speaking to her. She sighed in frustration. This was exactly the reason she'd turned him down in the first place.

As the minutes passed, she felt herself grow more and more angry, with both Peter and herself. They weren't teenagers. They should be more than capable of getting over this. Olivia got to his house in record time, slammed her car door and knocked on the front door impatiently, but was thrown when no answer came. Glancing back at the driveway, she realised in her haste she hadn't noticed that Peter's car wasn't there.

So he wasn't home yet. She supposed that could be a good thing. It gave her time to calm down and to think clearly about what she wanted to say. There was a good chance that if she'd spoken to him now it would've only ended up with harsh words being thrown in both directions. It was a warm, clear afternoon and so she sat herself down on his step, choosing to wait outside rather than in her car. She liked the breeze, and somehow she felt more able to think in the fresh air.

A slight chill had entered the air by the time Peter's car pulled up in the driveway. She glanced at her watch and noticed it was just a little after six thirty. She'd been waiting for maybe about an hour now, but the knowledge didn't aggravate her in the slightest. She chose not to announce her presence immediately and simply waited for him to notice her.

"I know Walter, I know, but you can't just experiment on college kids, even if they do volunteer." Peter spoke in a strained voice, as if he was about to lose his patience, but Walter carried on, oblivious to his son's obvious tension.

"Why ever not? Some of them could use the extra credit I'm sure and…" Walter broke off when he noticed Olivia sitting, hugging her knees on the doorstep, "Why Agent Dunham, what a surprise. If you'd called, you could have joined us for ice cream." Olivia merely smiled, and rose to her feet.

"That's okay Walter, I'm not hungry anyway" she risked a glance in Peter's direction, but his expression was unreadable, "I was hoping to talk to Peter, if that's okay?" Although she was speaking to Walter, it was obvious that it wasn't his permission she was asking.

"Certainly, certainly" Walter agreed amicably, "Who am I to stand in the way of young love?" Peter looked down at the ground, a light, ironic laugh escaping from him. When he looked up again, his expression was once again an impenetrable mask, but his eyes didn't hold the cold anger she'd expected. Almost as one they both looked at Walter, who was hovering several metres from them, obviously trying to listen in on their conversation.

"How about you go on inside, Walter" Peter suggested forcibly, tossing his father his keys, "This shouldn't take long."

Together they watched the old man step inside, and waited until they heard the door snap shut before they turned to look at each other again.

"So…" Peter prompted, but despite having an hour to plan everything she wanted to say, Olivia didn't know where to start. She sunk back down onto his step again, finding things seemed far easier when they were sitting at the same level. With a second's hesitation, he sat down beside her, but he made sure to leave a good amount of space between them. However the very reason she had come here was to close the distance between them- to make things right again, so she slid along the step until there was perhaps an inch of air between them. He didn't put an arm around her, but nor did he move away, which only confirmed that he wasn't as annoyed with her as she had feared.

"You were avoiding me today." She finally accused, and he sighed.

"You shot me down less than six hours ago Olivia, so I'm sorry but you weren't exactly on my list of the top ten people to see today." As she had feared, he was just so plainly not okay with this, and desperately she rushed to explain herself.

"It's not that I don't want you Peter. I'm just so unbelievable screwed up right now, you know? And…" his bitter laugh cut her off, and she raised a questioning eyebrow

"Tell me you didn't just try to pull the old, 'It's not you, it's me,' card on me." Despite everything, a smirk that mirrored his began to form on her face

"Yeah, I guess I just did."

"And here was me thinking this day couldn't get any worse." He sighed, running a hand through his dark hair, but the smile was still in place. Feeling her own grin falter, Olivia looked down at the ground again

"I mean it, you know. It really is me." She glanced up at the sky for inspiration, and finding none, she continued anyway, "And it's this job."

"I know" he let out another deep breath and stared ahead, "We're going to be okay, Liv. You're just going to have to give me a couple of days." She loved him. In that instant, for one fleeting moment, she truly loved him. She knew he was in a lot more pain than he was allowing her to see, and yet he still insisted on being heart wrenchingly nice to her.

She knew she should probably leave, but she really didn't want to go just yet. In these past twenty four hours, he'd bared a lot more of his soul to her than she really deserved to see, and she wanted to give just a little something back.

"You're my best friend." She spoke abruptly, "Have I ever told you that?"

"No" he said softly, accompanied by a slight shake of the head. She risked glancing at him, and got caught up in one of his searching stares. A look that always managed to crumble her resolve. In one second, all of her well thought out speeches and mental pros and cons list went to hell, and she found that she continued to ramble,

"I've never really had a best friend before, but I think this is what it's like. I mean, I trust you like I trusted Charlie. More than I ever could trust John, and that makes absolutely no sense, because John was a cop and you were a criminal, but that's just the way it is." She met Peter's gaze and found that he was regarding her with a faintly amused smile

"I get it, Olivia." He paused and the smile faded as quickly as it had arrived, "I feel the same way, you know. Three years ago, I would never have believed an FBI agent could mean so much to me, but sometimes life has a way of surprising you."

It did indeed. Olivia somehow managed to meet his eyes again, and suddenly, she found herself unwilling to leave him again. Right now, or in fact any time in the next few hours. She hid a frown. Was it really natural to want to see so much of someone? Swallowing hard, she realised she'd only ever felt this way about one man before and up until last year, she'd considered him the love of her life.

She'd already rejected Peter's advances, and explained why to him in a gloriously painful conversation. She finally felt like their friendship could recover from this in the coming weeks. So why did she suddenly want to turn both of their worlds upside down again? She must be a glutton for punishment.

"You're my best friend." She repeated after a time, "So if we're going to do this, you have to promise me that won't ever change." She watched him carefully as he processed what she said. The intense stare flicked to confusion which finally gave way to a sudden, tentative realisation.

"Do what…?" he asked carefully, clearly not wanting to misunderstand her in any way, but she said nothing for a moment and instead chose to watch the birds take flight overheard and fly home to roost.

Finally, she turned to look at him and whispered.

"Truth or dare, Peter?" he blinked at her for a few moments before he replied in an equally low tone.

"Dare." Tantalizingly slowly, she brushed her lips against his. He responded immediately, kissing her with all the intensity of the previous night, cupping her cheek with one hand and allowing the other to tug gently at her hair.

"So what was that?" he breathed as he pulled away.

"I changed my mind" she admitted, a blush spreading across her face as his eyes widened.

"Just like that?"

"Just like that" she confirmed. He looked sceptical, and so she whispered,

"I'm sorry I hurt you earlier, but you're going to have to trust me here. I just realised that life's too short to not take this chance." A smile that lit up his eyes suddenly overcame him, and he leaned towards her, pressing a light kiss to her lips that quickly deepened into something more passionate.

"I guarantee you Walter is watching from some window" he chuckled when they broke apart and she couldn't help but laugh with him. She leant against him in much the same way as she had done yesterday, resting her head on his shoulder.

"So what now?" she finally asked, knowing it would please him to have some of the power back.

"Now? We take things slow" he said decisively, and as much as part of her was willing to drag him up to his bedroom now, they both knew she wasn't quite ready for that yet.

"I was hoping you'd say that" she admitted, "How about drinks after work tomorrow, case permitting?"

"Sounds good to me" he pressed a light kiss on the top of her head, before standing.

"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" she began, reluctantly reaching for her keys in her coat pocket.

"No you don't" Peter said firmly, wrapping an arm around her waist and steering her towards his house, "You, Olivia Dunham, are going to be educated in your boyfriend's favourite TV show."

"Lost?" she recalled with a frown that melted as he kissed her forehead.

"Yeah, and you're going to love it" he mumbled into her ear.

"And what if I don't like it?"

"Well I haven't really thought that far ahead yet, but I'm pretty certain I would have to break up with you" he teased, before adding, "Seriously though, if you can't stay, that's fine." She really should return to her paperwork, but looking at him now, she couldn't help but agree,

"I suppose I could spare a few hours."

"Good" he kissed her neck once more before reaching around her to open the front door. Leaning forward so his breath tickled her hear, he whispered, "Anyway, you couldn't leave me to face Walter's inquisition on my own, could you?"

They'd only taken one step inside the house when Walter's cries began,

"This is just wondrous news! I simply can't wait to tell Asteroid."

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