And when there's nowhere else to run

Is there room for one more son

These changes ain't changing me

The cold-hearted boy I used to be

— "All These Things That I've Done," the Killers

My sincere thanks to you for requesting this pairing! I've been wanting to write this fic for a long, long time.

This fic grew out of an old drabble that wouldn't leave me alone: [link on AO3]

My self-mocking meta-commentary on this fic as it was in progress: fic should involve Lincoln getting over Liv as much as Peter getting past Olivia. Couldn't just write porn, oh no ..and then I didn't write the porn, either. Mutter, mumble. Anyone wanna write an outtake? :p

Peter and Lincoln background sparked from a post on tumblr, postulating that they knew each other as kids [link on AO3]

Due to the above I used the s3 background, where Lincoln's father was a jurist who knew Walternate rather than a store owner. My headcanon says his mother's alive and living, at her son's suggestion, away from the Eastern seaboard that seems to be a focal point for Fringe events.

re Westfield: I always liked the idea that Olivia's momentary lapse was because Liv was on the other side, and Olivia's Cortexiphan abilities (whether active or latent) kept them from being drawn together.

The idea of Charlie being married multiple times became my headcanon after reading Elfin's "Not the Skin that Contains Me."

The best dim sum I've ever had: Yank Sing in San Francisco (cart service, but everything fresh) and Dim Sum Go Go in Manhattan (made to order). Try them if you're there.

Amita: Totally made up, natch. Amusing only to me: I had another name there, but then I saw the trailer for Seth Gabel's movie Allegiance, in which his character kisses Reshma Shetty. And Gabel in military uniform is pretty much alt-Linc's history, so... (Amusing, like I said, only to me.)

Of course the Secret Science Club exists: [link on AO3]

This fic ends before the timeline catches up to "Everything in its Right Place," but I think we can all safely assume that Peter's presence is the variable that saves Captain Lee from an unjust fate. (It'd be nice if he prevented Colonel Broyles from making a dreadful error, too.) That's the unwritten story and I'm sticking to it.