Chapter 5

I walked into the FBI building quickly, knowing I needed to find my boss as fast as possible. The hospital had now my ID and before I could have it back I would have to be very careful. I couldn't drive my car, take my gun with me... and soon realized that I couldn't get inside to see Broyles either. The woman of the reception had seen me so many times that I thought she would have let me in without any questions, but it seemed that she didn't recognize me. Maybe it was because of the hair, or the clothes, but I probably looked like some kind of intruder as she called the two gorillas of the security to come and help me out of there.

'It's okay,' I tried to tell them while they were gently but firmly leading me to the entrance. 'Agent Broyles is expecting me! Please, I really need to talk to him! Could you just lend me you phone please, I can call him if you want!'

I had thought I'd never see such a cliché, but they looked at each other, scratching their heads, wondering if this was a good idea or not. One of them finally handed me his cellphone and I was quick to dial Broyles' number.

'Hello, sir' I said when he finally answered.

'Dunham? Where the hell are you?' He sounded utterly astonished, I could hear it in his deep voice.

'They won't let me inside because you have my ID. Could you please do something about it?'

'How on Earth did you get back? Doctor Bishop said he hadn't found a way to help you cross over!'

'I'll explain it all if you come right now. They're about to kick me out, so please hurry!'

'I'll be here in a minute.'

He hang off and I handed the security agent his phone back.

'Agent Broyles is coming.' I told them, and they finally nodded and got back to the corners of the vast hall. When the doors of the elevator rang, I was surprised by the way my boss was dressed. Of course, the last time I saw him he was wearing a 'Fringe Division' hat, jeans and a khaki jacket, but when he stepped out of the elevator in his black suit I realized he looked much better this way. I didn't remember him smiling – I always wondered if he even knew what it meant- but the large grin he had when he saw me revealed much more of his true feelings than the cold 'Dunham' he greeted me with.

'Sir' I replied with a nod, unable to contain my own smile. He shook his head, putting a large hand on my shoulder, and leaded me to the elevator.

'Agent Dunham, you'll always surprise me' he said as the doors closed on us. Two minutes later I was sitting in a large seat in front of him, a glass of whiskey in my hands. I wasn't thirsty and drinking alcohol probably wasn't a good idea only a few hours after crossing over, but I didn't want to thwart him and took a small sip.

'So, how did you come back?' he finally asked, his hands crossed on his desk.

'We went to Walter's lab from over there, into the tank and that's it. You know you need to be scared if you want this technique to work, but we were chased by Walternate's army, so that part was pretty easy.'

'What do you mean, we?' he asked, frowning his eyebrows.

'Well, I know this in going to sound pretty weird, but I didn't come home alone. I had to bring my alter-self along.'

'You mean the other Olivia's here too? How is that possible? What about the balance between universes?'

'Yes, she's here too, I gave her Cortexiphan and it worked. I don't know why because that chemical substance is supposed to work only on children, but it worked, that's the essential. As for the balances between universe, well, there's been two Peter in this universe for twenty-five years and the two worlds haven't collided yet, so I guess one more Olivia shouldn't cause serious issues.'

'Why did you bring the other you with you? She's supposed to be our enemy, isn't she?' He sounded truly perplexed and I totally understood. I was supposed to be at war with her, kill her if necessary, and in the end I saved her.

'There have been some unexpected events and I somewhat had to help her. I couldn't let her die. I'm not going to tell you what happened over there so don't bother asking. The only thing I can tell you is that she is not going to betray us and that she should help us a lot. She's lived over there for more than thirty years, she knows a lot about that other universe and it could help us find a solution to save both worlds.'

He nodded and opened one of his drawer, picking up my FBI badge.

'Welcome back, agent Dunham' he said with a small grin, handing me the plastic card. 'You've done a great job.'

'Thank you, sir' I replied, putting it in my pocket. 'But that's not the ID I wanted from you. Now there are two of me in this world, I'm gonna need another ID, with another name. I gave Olivia mine because she had to go to the hospital, and that means that for now I have no identity. Could you something about it? I'm sure you have some relations who can help, right?'

I'd have expected him to answer 'Yes, of course, no problem', but on the contrary he sighed deeply, looking away through the window.

'I have relations indeed. But creating an identity means creating a whole life and that's quite hard to do, if not impossible. No one has ever seen her, everyone would ask dangerous questions. You've never mentioned a twin to anyone, that would look to weird.'

'What if I say she's been under the government protection? That could work, couldn't it?'

'It could, but there's no logical explanations. Why her, and not you or your sister? Even if we find something that could explain it all, can you image imagine the number of documents we'd have to create? A false birth certificate, a false medical file, a false identity card! That's too much work to be done. I'm sorry Dunham, but this is not going to be possible. You're gonna have to share your identity with her.'

'Sir, with all due respect I don't think you realize what this ID means for me. For us. If we have to share my ID we won't be able to have a decent social life, and it'd be way worse for her! I work five, sometimes six days a week and honestly, I think she'll go crazy if she can't leave my apartment for more than one day out of seven! Please you have to do something!'

'I'll see what I can do but I don't promise anything. Even if they accept to do it, it's going to take a long time. You don't create a life in a blink of the eye.'

'Thank you sir,' I said, knowing there's was still hope. 'Now if you don't mind, I'd like to go to the hospital.'

'It's not safe to go without your ID. You'd better wait until they let her leave.'

'I have to. I'll be careful.'

I was sure none of the doctors would notice if I didn't anything that could draw heir attention. They had a lot of other things to care about and checking a visitor's identity probably wasn't important compared to saving one's life. When I arrived in the hall, I asked the security guard his phone so I could call Peter. I couldn't take my car and he would have to lead me to the hospital. He parked a quarter later in front of the building and I was quick to sit next to him and close the car door.

'So, how did it go with Broyles?' he asked, stopping at a red traffic light. 'Can he do something about this ID?'

'He said he would see what he can do, but apparently it's not going to be easy and it's gonna take a long time.'

'He likes you, I'm sure he'll find a way to fix this.' he said with a slight smile.

'I hope so,' I sighed, fiddling with the button of the radio to turn it off. Not that I didn't like the music but silence felt more appropriate than the loud beats of a rock song. We weren't far from the hospital now and I felt the anxiousness slowly creeping in my stomach. I had no idea how she was and I didn't in what condition I was going to find her. On one hand I didn't want to ask Peter because I feared his answer but on the other hand I wanted to know what to expect. I tried to convince myself that she had talked, that she had looked pretty fine apart from that bullet wound, and that meant she was actually going to be fine. But she'd been dead for quite a long time before rising from the dead and that probably had an undesirable effect on her. I shook my head and when Peter finally parked near the hospital I felt the need to grab his arm before he could get out.

'Peter, how is she?' I asked, my voice trembling slightly. 'I don't want to go in here only to find out she's gonna die tomorrow.'

'Relax, Liv', she's fine!' he answered, patting my shoulder. 'Of course it's gonna take a few days before she can sign out, but she's gonna be fine. Doctors even say they're surprised because it's healing pretty quickly. There's nothing to worry about, I promise.' I nodded, relieved, and we headed to the entrance. I was feeling a bit nervous and it became more and more stressful when we entered in the hall. Peter was on the look out and I kept my head down, walking straight to the elevator. We had almost reached it when I felt Peter drawing me to him, my face crushing on his shoulder.

'Pretend to be sad' he whispered, his strong arm around my own shoulders. 'Hi, doctor Swift!'

he said, . 'How's Olivia?'

'Oh, she still hasn't woken up,' I heard him say, unable to do what Peter had asked me. I'd always been terrible at acting and if I tried to sob it would probably sound like everything but a sob.

'She's stable, though. Nothing to worry about,' he added before shaking Peter's hand. 'You can cheer up, ma'am' he said, probably talking to me. 'Everything's gonna be fine!'

'Uh uh,' I answered, nodding against Peter's shoulder, trying to sound as convincing as I could. Peter said goodbye to the doctor and I finally was able to breathe properly as the elevator doors closed.

'That was so pitiful, Liv,' Peter said with a laugh. 'You really should take some theater lesson one day.'

'Shut up Bishop! Maybe if you hadn't try to suffocate me I could have said something better than 'uh uh'!'

Peter shook his head, still laughing, and when we stopped behind Olivia's door he became all of the sudden serious. I frowned, disturbed by this change of behavior; and I was about to ask him what was wrong with him when he shushed me lifting his hand in the air.

'Before you go in here you have to promise me something.' he said, a hand on the handle.

'Okay,' I said, a bit worried.

'Tonight, you come tom my place and you tell me everything. I'm not blind, nor stupid, something happened with her and I want to know exactly what. Promise me you'll do that for me.'

It took me some time before answering. I trusted him but I knew if I told him the truth he would not appreciate it. I had crossed over to get him back because I loved him, I just couldn't tell him I had come back with an alternate version of myself I loved more that him. Now that I knew she was alive and kicking all the plans I had prepared in my head would become true. Unfortunately, none of them included Peter. I would have to think about all of this. I would have to decide whether I loved Olivia as a friend, as a sister or as a lover. Maybe there still was a chance with Peter if I realized I love her like a sister or a friend. But if I wanted her to live with me like a wife... I didn't want to hurt Peter, he seemed to want this relationship as much as I had had. He had put his faith in me, I knew he loved me and he probably believed I loved him too. I was the one who wanted this in the first place, I couldn't betray him and tell him I didn't want to live something with him anymore. I would have to lie to him.

'I'll be there.' I said, feeling a pang in my stomach. 'Now can I see her, please?'

He nodded and opened the door, and when I saw her lying in that bed, surrounded by white, it felt like all my problems had flown away. The Peter issue wasn't important anymore because now I knew I didn't love her as a friend. Nor as sister. Not even as a lover. I loved in a way that no one before me had ever experienced. The feelings I used to have for Peter weren't worth half of what I was feeling right now. There was no doubt left. I was going to tell Peter because in any case he would find out about this. I didn't want to make him feel any worse. I had to tell him everything. I wouldn't lie to him.

Total lack of imagination for this chapter, hopefully the following one will be better ! :)