Disclaimer: I don't own Fringe.

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Peter was worried. He had not seen or heard from Olivia since the night they spent together, despite his numerous attempts to call her. He realised she would be busy during the day with her de-briefing, but had hoped that she would return his calls in the evenings. He even went to her apartment several times, but the lights were always off, which led him to wonder whether she had been back there at all since her return. Astrid had cautiously broken the news of her unexpected holiday to him, but confirmed that she had not had any contact with Olivia either. Since she had started her holiday, her phone had been permanently switched off. It had been almost three weeks since even Broyles had seen her and Peter was beginning to wonder whether she was coming back at all.

His thoughts were interrupted by his phone ringing and he quickly grabbed it. When he saw that call was coming from Olivia's home number, his heart started pounding.

"Olivia?" He was trying to keep the relief out of his voice.

"Not Olivia," he heard a familiar, but unexpected voice reply, "Rachel."

"Rachel?" Peter frowned and all his worries came flooding back.

"I'm at Olivia's apartment," she said with her voice faltering, "Peter, I don't think she's coming back."

"I'll be there in 10 minutes."

Eight and a half minutes later, Peter rang Olivia's doorbell and was let in by tearful Rachel. He hugged her briefly and looked around for Ella.

"She is staying with Greg's parents for the weekend." Rachel answered his unspoken question.

Peter nodded and looked around the living room. Aside from Rachel's coat and purse on the sofa, everything was exactly as it had been the last time he had left the apartment with Olivia from the alternate universe. If his Olivia had been back since her return, she did not seem to have touched anything. Rachel followed his gaze around the room and confirmed his suspicions.

"You have probably spent more time here with her recently than I have, but as far as I can tell the only things missing are a couple of framed photographs. Even her back up weapon is still here. And then there is this."

Rachel handed him a letter, which was post marked in Las Vegas several days before. Peter's hand shook when he pulled out a single sheet of paper, covered in Olivia's familiar writing.

Dear Rachel

We won a war, but for a price. Just knowing that you and Ella will have a safe future made it all worthwhile, but it took too much from me. I'm too broken to live my life as I have, which is why I had to go.

I have transferred my apartment into your name and you should receive the title deeds in the next few days from my lawyer. If you don't want to live in it, sell it and buy yourself and Ella a nice home.

I'm sorry I simply vanished, but I couldn't bear the thought of saying goodbye to you and Ella. I love you both more than you know. Rest assured that when the time is right, I will find you again.

All my love,

Olivia

Peter folder the letter carefully and returned it to its envelope. Despite his attempts to appear calm, Rachel could see the hurt in his eyes. He seemed to have understood Olivia's words better than she had.

"She mentioned a war," Rachel said frowning, "but I don't know what she means by that?"

Peter met her eyes and it suddenly occurred to him that she knew hardly anything about her sister's work. Without understanding what had been going on for the past couple of years, Olivia simply vanishing must seem utterly out of character to Rachel. He gently took her arm and steered her towards the sofa.

"You better sit down for this," Peter said with a sigh, "and of course officially I haven't told you anything, because this is all classified information. But imagine a world, where certain people can do incredible things. Some of those things are evil, but nevertheless incredible. Now imagine a gifted FBI agent being told to put together a team to investigate the strange and impossible events, and the first people she brought in were a mad scientist and a conman living in Iraq…"

It was much later when Peter left Olivia's apartment and drove straight to the Federal Building. His shirt was still wet where Rachel had cried on his shoulder, but at least now she understood a little better why her sister had seemingly abandoned her entire life. She also now knew why Olivia left without saying goodbye to Peter, although she had a great deal of sympathy for him as well, for she had not twigged that the person she had spoken on the phone with over the past months had not been her real sister. The only solace for Rachel was in the hope that one day Olivia would indeed return to the lives of her sister and niece.

Peter strode through the security with a wave of his ID card and headed straight for Broyles' office. He passed couple of familiar FBI agents on the way, who all greeted him, but he merely ignored them, intent on his destination. He gave a cursory knock on Broyles' door before barging in. The tall agent was standing by his desk, staring darkly at a small parcel in front of him.

"Olivia is not coming back," Peter went straight to the point.

"I know," Broyles almost growled, and pointed Peter towards the parcel.

He walked forward to see what made his superior so certain, but in his heart he already knew the answer. In the parcel, neatly packaged, lay Olivia's gun, badge, access card and her new phone. On them was a single sheet of paper. Peter raised an eyebrow as he picked it up and received a nod of consent in return.

Sir

With the war over, I figured there is little need for the Fringe division. And without the Fringe division, you'll have little need for an agent who can pass between universes and create fireballs. I therefore hope that you will accept my holiday as my two weeks of notice.

It has been an honour and a pleasure working with you. Thank you for all your kindness. Please tell Astrid and the Bishops that I'm sorry.

Olivia

Peter looked up from the letter, his dark expression matching Broyles' as he replaced the piece of paper in the parcel.

"Any idea where she is now?" Peter asked.

"She seems to have spent her holiday in Las Vegas," Broyles tapped his iPad and showed Peter several photos of Olivia in different casinos, causing the younger man to raise his eyebrows in surprise, "and she seems to have spent the entire time at the casinos. She visited most of them, playing poker and blackjack. Her ability to count cards came in handy, because she won steadily at each place. She was careful not to win so much as to arouse the suspicions of the security personnel, until the final day, when there was a big poker tournament. Needless to say she won. A conservative estimate suggests that she made about two million dollars in two weeks.

"At the end of the two weeks, she visited a lawyer to transfer her apartment to her sister's name, bought herself a hand gun and a licence for it, visited a post office and then simply vanished. Since then, she might as well have disappeared off the face of the earth."

Peter shook his head, and could not help feeling a great deal of admiration towards Olivia. She appeared to be as good at disappearing as he himself used to be. That, however, only steeled his resolve.

"I hope Astrid won't mind looking after Walter for a while," Peter muttered as he headed for the door.

"Why is that?" Broyles asked, not sounding at all pleased.

"I'm off to Las Vegas to find Olivia," Peter said over his shoulder and walked out.