So sorry this took so long to update! 'Cuz when Christmas Eve rolled around, I didn't have any time to write, but my muse was giving me a bunch of really good ideas. Then when I actually had the time to sit down and type away fo a while, my muse went on a little holiday vacation of its own. Funny how that works out, eh?

Anywho, here's the next bit, forgive me if it might seem a bit 'out there'. Enjoy!

Somewhere in her dreams, Olivia was peaceful, but then something jerked her awake. Her eyelids snapped open and she gasped from the sudden rush of pain that originated somewhere around her midsection. She tried to take a breath in but found that it hurt to do that too. What's more, she was covered in a clammy sweat that made her shiver. Panicking, she yelled out the first name that came into her head:

"Peter!!!" Olivia cried and gasped again from the sharp, piercing pain it caused her to utter one word. It was still dark, and she could only dimly see the room's features from the streetlight that shone through the cracks around the blinds. A sharp, knife-like pain shot through her gut again and she yelled out. A moment later, Peter's figure appeared at her bedside and she felt his hand searching her forehead for a fever. Olivia clamped her hand around his free one and tried to speak but could only wince and bite her cheek to keep from crying out again. Even in her traumatized state, Olivia was still worried about her pride and dignity. She hated letting Peter see he so weak.

"Shhhhh," he hushed her, cupping her face in both hands and turning her head to make her look at him. Olivia could hardly make out his features in the gloom, but his eyes caught the streetlight and somehow illuminated his face, allowing her to decipher every inch of concern in his expression. For a moment, Olivia forgot about her pain and stopped shaking. She felt her chills begin to subside and her breathing returning to a normal rate. Peter smiled. "See?" he whispered softly, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. "Now what do you think that was all about?"

Olivia just shook her head, not knowing what else to do. Even in the darkness, Olivia saw the sudden look of comprehension in Peter's eyes. "Son of a bitch…" he swore, leaning over to turn on the bedside lamp. The sudden bright light made Olivia flinch at first, but she grew accustomed to it quickly. Peter was rubbing his hand against his forehead, his eyes closed, his teeth gritted. Olivia thought about trying to sit up, but she thought better of it and remained lying down. "What is it?" she whispered as softly as she could in an effort not to strain herself again.

"It's my God damned father," Peter growled, "he did this to you when he slammed on the breaks and nearly gave us all a heart attack." He looked distraught. "You had the middle seat without the shoulder strap, and… I think it did some damage." Olivia was shocked. All this from a quick pull on the breaks? "It's nothing serious, I don't think," he continued, "just some temporary abdominal pain and the likes…" he trailed off again.

"Hey…" Olivia spoke softly, touching his hand, "it's not your fault, so don't blame yourself, because I know that's what you're doing right now." She grimaced, but Peter needed to hear that, even at the cost of her own pain. It was getting better now anyways….

Peter looked at her, anger in his eyes, but she could tell that it was dwindling. She stared back at him, hoping to let her expression do the talking to compensate for her voice. "Don't be angry at him," she whispered, seeing that Peter needed a little more than just a visual comfort. She sat up slowly. It hurt, but she did it all the same, placing one hand on Peter's shoulder. "It was… an accident," she breathed heavily, her lungs burning. "It's ok… j-just let it go, please…" she begged him.

Peter looked pained, but he sighed, letting his shoulders slouch. When he met her gaze again, his eyes had their sparkle back in them and a ghost of his boyish smirk danced across his face. "Ok, I'll drop it, but only because you said so, and because you really oughtn't strain yourself anymore by nagging me about it. So don't look at me like that, since I know all too well that you will."

Olivia had opened her mouth to retort, and yes, nag him, but she found herself laughing instead. Peter's witty quirks and quips would never cease to amuse her, even if she didn't always show it. But she did let him know this time, and it made Peter's eyes light up like the neon sign outside their room. Those green beauties of his were like an endless abyss of emotions, layer after layer after layer….

Peter brought her train of thought to a halt when he laughed at her. Snapping out of her reverie, she looked back at him questioningly. "You really should be lying down," he informed her dryly, "your eyes are all glazed over."

"Oh…" Olivia blushed for what must have been the hundredth time that night, knowing full well that Peter knew that she knew he'd caught her staring at him – again. That last thought made her blush even more as she gently eased herself back down onto the mattress.

"Does it still hurt to talk?" he asked gently.

"It's getting better," she replied evenly, trying to steady her breathing, which wasn't easy. Being so close to a shirtless Peter whilst in bed and not wearing pants herself made the blood pump through her body twice as fast through Olivia's body and her breathing quicken.

"Are you really sure that you're feeling better?" Peter inquired, laying a hand on her cheek, affectionately caressing her cheek with his thumb. Olivia couldn't take much more of this – her attraction to him was growing with each passing second, and Peter's every action just helped fuel the fire inside her.

"I… I honestly don't know…" she said in a small voice.

He nodded. "You should get some rest, regardless of how you're feeling."

"Ok," Olivia whispered, unable to think of anything except the warmth coming from Peter's hand that was still resting on her cheek.

"Goodnight… again, Olivia," he said as he leaned over her and embraced her. He was too much for. Too kind, sweet, sensitive, and not to mention awfully handsome. His arms had slipped themselves between her and the bed to give her a full hug. They enveloped her shoulders, lightly holding her to his chest. Olivia wrapped her arms around Peter's back – his wonderfully bare back. She just held him, breathing in his scent, until he pulled away from her only slightly, so that their faces were just a few inches apart. Neither Peter nor Olivia said anything – they were too engrossed in each other's gaze.

Feeling like she was in a trance, Olivia just barely lifted her head off the pillow, but it was enough to bring her closer to Peter. He leaned forward too, inch by inch, until their lips met in the middle. Peter kissed her gently at first, waiting to see if she responded to his touch. He didn't have to wait long for an answer, for Olivia did reply, almost instantly, tilting her head to the side and pressing her body to Peter's. He kissed her back passionately, savoring the taste her lower lip. Olivia felt like she'd been waiting for this moment since the first day she'd met Peter in the lobby of that Iraqi hotel, like she'd been suppressing these feelings for the last few months and was at long last able to release them and… experience them.

Peter was just reaching for the buttons on her blouse when –

"Son, have you seen my – ohhh my…!"

Peter practically sprang off Olivia and she sat up, quickly pulling a blanket over to cover her lower half. Both whirled around to look at the door, the source of the interruption. None other than Walter Bishop was standing in the doorway dressed in his bathrobe and striped pajamas, a cup of coffee in his hand, an aghast expression on his face that slowly turned to one of absolute glee.

"Well, do excuse me, son, I didn't mean to interrupt you and Olivia," the (as of now, truly and wholly) mad scientist began, bouncing on the balls of his heels as he spoke and almost spilling his coffee, "I was going to ask you if you'd seen my gray sweater because it doesn't seem to be in my room ad I was getting a bit chilly… but of course, this is obviously a bad time for you two."

"What – how the hell did you get in here?!" Peter demanded incredulously, his face ashen.

"I took one set of room keys and Astintine took the other." At Peter and Olivia's puzzled expressions, he continued impatiently, as if it were the simplest thing in the world. "The nice lady at the front desk gave us two sets of keys for each room, didn't you know that?"

"Apparently not…" Olivia whispered, almost fearfully, while Peter could only stare at his father with his mouth slightly ajar. Olivia was blushing bright scarlet, and she could feel the heat in her face. All she could do was sit on the bed with Peter like two teenagers who just got busted at, well, a motel.

Walter suddenly looked sad. "Peter, you haven't even gotten to second base yet… is there a problem?"

"No, Walter, there is no problem at all," Peter replied, hanging his head and shaking it, getting more and more exasperated by the second.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"Do you have a con–?"

"WALTER!"

The elder Bishop smiled innocently. "I'm just looking out for you, that's all, Peter. You too, Olivia," he added with a kind smile in her direction. Under other circumstances, she probably would have seen his kindness as a mark of what little of the man's sanity remained, as it came and went. However, being told such a thing right after Walter had come that close to catching her 'doing it' with his son made her feel even more uncomfortable. Olivia pulled the sheet all the way up to her neckline, turning an even brighter shade of red.

"Thanks Walter," Olivia said, trying to give him a reassuring half-smile. Walter took the bait and smiled sweetly back at her.

"You see?" he told Peter indignantly, "Miss Dunham appreciates my concern for your sexual well being."

Olivia's panicky eyes met Peter's and she shook her head ever so slightly. He picked up on her subtle signal instantaneously. "You know what, that's great, Walter, just peachy," Peter said, turning on his father, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "but it'd be awesome if you could leave, like, now."

"Oh, very well, son, I'll be on my way... and I really do hope I didn't break the mood for you two," he called over his shoulder on his way out the door.

"Yeah, absolutely no chance of that," Peter muttered under his breath.

"What was that, my boy?" Walter asked nonchalantly, poking his head back in the room.

"Goodnight Walter!" Olivia chimed in quickly before things got ugly between father and son.

"Sleep well, dear," the scientist called. "Well, not that there's going to be much actual sleeping going on…" she heard him mutter to himself absent-mindedly as he made his way down the hallway and back to his room. The door closed and the room was suddenly blanketed in a heavy silence, the only exception being the distant muffled noise of Walter's ecstatic giggles.

Olivia and Peter were both in shock, still staring at the door, completely immobile for a moment. Then Olivia glanced at Peter out of the corner of her eye just as he glanced at her. He smiled, his eyes twinkling. She smiled back, and the smiles turned to giggles, and the giggles became chortles, which grew into laughter, and before Olivia knew it, both she and Peter were cracking up hysterically. Peals of laughter shook the bed as Olivia leaned her head against Peter's shoulder, hardly able to catch her breath.

"You know…" Peter began, once he was able to speak coherently, "at this rate, the entire motel is going to know about 'us' by breakfast time."

"I bet he's already telling Astrid as we speak," Olivia guessed, snuggling herself closer to Peter as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and planted tiny kisses in her hair.

"So I guess we're not going to…?"

"Probably not."

Peter nodded in agreement. "Yeah, best not to now that we'll mostly likely have Walter trying to eavesdrop from the hallway."

Olivia just nodded and smiled, "Should we get some sleep then? Because we're going to have to wake up at some point."

"Ok, then," Peter said slowly, turning to face her and smiling mischievously, "Just one question: can I have a rain check on our previous engagement?"

Olivia smiled playfully at him. "Sure."

Ok, what do y'all think? You know how much I love feedback... :)

Many thanks for the awesome reviews for chapters 1 & 2, you guys are the best!!! I'm aiming to have the last part up by New Year's... I hope! :P