A/n: So, I didn't mean to leave you guys hanging as long as I did,but due to school,lack of time and comp problems I couldn't update,but good news, I have a new laptop, that I absolutely love, anywho this is the last regular chapter, and after this will be the epilogue, I've really enjoyed writing this , this was my first fringe story and it probably wont be my last, though this will not have a sequel I may write other fringe fiction in the future, after I finish my many works in progress fics. Now on to the story, there's a mini recap of the last few lines of the last chapter written in italics everything after that section is the new chapter,this chapter is pretty long partly because I wrote it over the course of a few days, partly because of inspiration and partly because I had a few moments where I didn't know what to write next or where to end, I hope you liked where I went with it , enjoy the chapter.
-Pessi . Rom
Thanks to: Lollie555 , maricejayo , wjobsessed , Tamira Vasiliev and Angeleene for reviewing the previous chapter, I appreciate it. And also all those who've added me or this story to one of their alerts, I appreciate your interest.
Chapter Eleven : Not So Easily Defeated
Previously on Ability to Love
Walter approached Peter and injected the yellowish solution into his IV bag. The solution trickled down , then traveled down the tube and in through the IV attached to Peter's unaffected hand. The room was silent as Walter and Olivia stood waiting for an effect, and suddenly one came. Peter's monitors started beeping rapidly as his body shook and contorted on the bed. Nurse's and a doctor quickly rushed in.
"What's happening to him?" Olivia asked as she watched.
"He's having a seizure, get them out of here!" The doctor said and two nurses ushered a shaking Walter and, worried Olivia out of the room.
Olivia and Walter stood on the outside of Peter's hospital room,both stricken with worry and helpless to do anything about it. Olivia felt like she was going through some sort of deja vu, she was losing someone she cared about yet again ,but this time she'd left things unsaid and was now faced with the possibility of never being able to say them.
Olivia watched helplessly through the window of the hospital room as the doctors and nurses worked on Peter. Walter stood next to her clearly distraught and muttering to himself as he too peered through the window. Peter's body was still shaking and contorting on the bed,but the nurses had him on his side, which was the normal procedure during a seizure like the one Peter was experiencing.
Five minutes passed and the seizure stopped, Peter was no longer shaking or contorting, in fact he was completely still and lay unconscious. About fifteen minutes later , the doctor emerged from the hospital room and over to Walter and Olivia, a serious expression on his face.
"Is he alright?" Olivia asked , before Walter could.
" We were able to stop the seizure, which was probably a side effect of the radiation antidote, you gave him." The doctor said.
" So the serum didn't work...I've killed him...I've killed my son..." Walter said even more distraught then before.
"On the contrary, Dr. Bishop, whatever you gave him is working ,the burns are healing as we speak." The doctor said.
"If the cure worked, why do I feel that there's more you have to tell us?" Olivia said having a feeling something was still wrong.
" Although the radiation burns are disappearing, I'm afraid Peter is unresponsive, he seems to have fallen into a coma." The doctor explained.
" But, he'll wake up right, lots of people come out of coma's all the time." Walter said with an amount of certainty in his voice.
"It's too soon to tell anything, all we can do right now is wait." The doctor said , not wanting to give them false hope.
" Can we go in and see him?" Olivia asked, wanting nothing more then to go in and see for herself that he was still alive and breathing.
"Of course." The doctor said stepping aside and letting Walter and Olivia walk into the hospital room.
Olivia walked over to Peters left side looking down at him, Walter stood by the right side of the bed . He appeared to be sleeping,but he was just a little too still for normal unconsciousness. She gently ran her hand across his face , halfway hoping her touch would wake him, and that he'd be ready with some witty and comical remark,but the only sound was the drip,drip, of the IV's now hooked in both arms, and the beeping of the machines that showed his vitals.
"It's amazing how fast the solution worked... I only wish it hadn't put his life at risk." Walter said looking a little more lost than usual, as he gazed at the unconscious Peter.
" He knew you would figure it out Walter, it's why he took the risk, that and to save James." Olivia said trying to make Walter feel better.
"Yes..the Sterling boy, now that we know it works, Peter would want us to administer the cure to the child as soon as possible." Walter said, but he was reluctant to leave Peter, which Olivia could clearly see.
"I'll stay with Peter, you go make sure James get's unfrozen and receives the right dosage." Olivia said, knowing keeping busy would also keep Walter from sitting and worrying about Peter.
"Yes...I shall do that.." Walter said, he then patted Peter's head then turned to walk away.
"Walter..." Olivia said stopping him before he exited the door.
"Yes..." Walter said turning around to face her.
"Peter's strong, he'll be alright." Olivia said flashing him a reassuring smiling.
"I do hope so." Walter said then exited the room.
Peter felt strange, he'd been through some strange stuff before,but this was different. He was awake. He knew he was lying down somewhere,presumably a bed,because he could feel the sheets beneath his hands and the softness of a pillow underneath his head,but for some reason he couldn't open his eyes. The fact that he was on a bed ,made him realize immediately that he wasn't in the hotel room, he and Walter shared.
So where was he then. He couldn't think of where he was, or why he would even be there. What was going on, why couldn't he open his eye's, where was Walter, where was Durham? As he thought that second name everything suddenly started to come back to him. He remembered the case he was investigating with Olivia, the dying young boy,James Sterling, and their warehouse lead. Then he had gotten himself exposed to radiation. He was dying, along with the boy.
Then something else happened , something that probably put him in the state he was in, wherever he was. Which he began to assume was a hospital bed. He worried about James, and remembered that Walter had found the cure. He then worried that the cure hadn't worked , that the young preteen would die, and so would he. He thought of Olivia ,and the moment they shared, before Walter administered the cure, suddenly came back to him.
He had promised James, he'd find a way to save him . He had promised Olivia that she wouldn't lose him, and Walter needed him. He had to find a way to open his eye's. To make sure James was ok, to see Walter and Olivia, and to make sure that if he was in fact dying ,that he was able to say goodbye to those he loved and cared about.
He tried again to open his eyes,but the lids were so heavy,they just would not budge. He tried moving his hands to his face, to some how force his eyes open ,but he could barely lift them,even though they felt lighter then they had been before Walter administered the cure.
He stopped trying to move ,feeling tired from the mental exertion . After some amount of time, he couldn't exactly tell how much , he tried again. This time he was able to lift his right eyelid ever so slightly. He mentally cheered at the minor accomplishment. Resting again, he tried the other eye and was able lift it slightly as well. He inwardly grinned at the improvement. He didn't know how much time had passed,but he increased the control over his eyes until he was able to completely open his left eye, then the right.
His vision was blurry. So at first all he could see were blurry shapes, some were bright,others had more shade to them,but none were distinguishable to him. He spotted a shape that seemed big enough to be a human,either that or some hospital machinery. He tried to speak in the direction of the shape,but found his throat too dry to say a word. After a few minutes his vision began to clear a little bit, and he was able to move his left arm and hand.
He reached out toward what could possibly be a table and lightly hit it. The human figure suddenly came closer,but he couldn't quite hear what he or she was saying to him. He tried to speak again ,and when the figure spoke again, this time he was able to understand what was said . He couldn't, however, distinguish whose voice it was speaking to him.
'' I can't believe you're awake, you probably want a drink of water, I was pretty thirsty when I woke up too.'' the voice said, then, Peter felt,what was probably a cup, fit in his hand.
He was able to sit up and bring the item to his mouth,when he felt the straw,he knew for certain it was a cup. The cool ice water felt so refreshing as it flowed down his parched throat. He cleared his throat , then his vision became even clearer as he recognized the figure in front of him.
''James?'' Peter said both confused and happy to see the twelve year old ,who was smiling at him.
'' Yep,its me, I should probably get the doctor.'' James said then turned to leave,but Peter stopped him.
'' Wait a sec, what happened? Not that I'm not happy to see ya kid,but you were frozen, and now your not,which means the cure worked right?'' Peter said needing to sort everything out.
'' Yep, your Dad figured it out, just like you promised. You weren't there when I woke up,but since you saved my life, I'll let that one go.'' James said smiling.
'' If it worked, then what happened to me?'' Peter asked still confused.
'' They said you had something called a sew something, after they gave you the cure.'' James said unable to pronounce the word.
'' You mean a seizure.'' Peter said.
'' Yeah, that's the word. Then they couldn't wake you up.'' James said.
'' How long have I been out,a few days?'' Peter asked,knowing the doctors wouldn't be worried if it had only been a few hours.
'' Nope, a whole week. They didn't think you were gonna wake up .'' James answered.
'' You're kidding me.'' Peter said shocked.
'' Nope. Maybe I should get the doc.'' James said noticing that Peter seemed kind of out of it.
'' Where's Agent Dunham and my dad?'' Peter said noticing a lack of their presence in the room.
'' My mom took them go get coffee in the cafeteria. Is Olivia your girlfriend?'' James asked shocking Peter again.
'' Uh, no, we're friends. Why would you ask that?'' Peter asked wondering what would bring the twelve year old to that conclusion.
'' Cause, she hasn't left your hospital room since you went into the coma. My mom had to practically drag her out the room a few minutes ago .Even after I offered to stay with you, I could tell she didn't want to leave. I think she likes you, do you like her?" James asked curious .
"I think you should go find your mom. Walter and Olivia should know I'm awake." Peter said clearly avoiding James questions.
"Um,ok." James said getting that Peter didn't want to answer his questions, he then left the room to find his mom.
This left Peter alone again with his thoughts. Which were on none other than Olivia Dunham. He thought back to James' first question , about Olivia being his girlfriend. He hadn't lied when he said she wasn't,but his connection with Olivia was definitely deeper then simple friendship. As if she knew he was thinking about her,Olivia suddenly walked into the room.
"You're awake?" She said walking over to him, a bright smile on her face.
" As far as I can tell, yeah,I am." Peter said in his usual tone, which made Olivia's smile even greater, she'd missed his sarcasm.
"The doctor thought you wouldn't wake up." Olivia said.
"Can't get rid of me that easily." Peter said grinning.
" I wouldn't want to, you're too valuable." Olivia said ,and before Peter could respond Walter walked excitedly into the room.
"Peter!" Walter said walking over and hugging him fiercely.
" It's nice to see you too, Walter,but I also like being able to breathe." Peter said.
"Oh, sorry, did I hurt you?" Walter said then released Peter from the hug.
"It's ok Walter, I'm fine." Peter said giving his father a reassuring smile.
'' Has the doctor examined you yet?'' Walter asked.
'' No. I'm fine, I'm ready to get out of here.'' Peter said remembering how much he hated hospitals.
'' After you're examined. We need to be sure there isn't any lasting damage from the serum,seizure, or the coma'' Walter said clearly worried and feeling guilty about putting Peter's life at risk.
'' I said,I'm fine,Walter.'' Peter said stubbornly.
'' I'm sure you are,but it would ease both of our minds, if we knew, for sure, that you are alright. It shouldn't take that long, for the doctor to check you out.'' Olivia said stepping in.
'' Ok, fine.'' Peter said giving in. It seemed he'd been doing that allot lately, when Olivia was around.
'' I'll go get the doctor.'' Walter said leaving the room, and leaving them alone together.
There was a momentary silence between the two,neither knowing what to say to the other. After they both seemed to be in deep thought,they began to speak, surprisingly at the same time.
'' Liv...'' Peter said.
'' Peter..'' Olivia said.
'' You go first.'' Peter said.
'' No,its ok, you can go first.'' Olivia said , suddenly getting nervous.
'' Ladies first.'' Peter said with a smirk.
'' No, really, mines not that important.'' Olivia said.
'' Everything you say is important.'' Peter said,which made Olivia slightly blush.
'' Ok, I'll go first. I...uh...It's really good to see you Peter Bishop, I'm glad you're ok.'' Olivia said chickening out on what she really wanted to say, when she remembered him stopping her from saying more,when they'd talked ,before his coma.
'' It's good to see you too, Olivia Dunham. I've been thinking...can I ask you something?'' Peter said.
'' What's on your mind?'' Olivia asked, almost afraid to hear what he had to say.
'' What else were you gonna tell me?'' Peter asked taking Olivia by surprise, he knew he was risking the opening of a can of worms,but he didn't want to turn back.
'' What do you mean?'' Olivia asked,even though she knew exactly what he was referring to.
'' Before, Walter gave me the cure, you wanted to tell me something,but I stopped you.'' Peter explained,even though he had a feeling she knew exactly what he was talking about.
'' It doesn't matter now, its no longer relevant.'' Olivia said not ready to confess anything,mostly because she was afraid, something she did not like to admit,even to herself.
''You sure about that? '' Peter asked.
''Yeah.'' Olivia said,but her tone didn't exactly hold an air of confidence. Peter gave her an incredulous look, that said ' we both know what you just said was a lie' .
'' Walter should have found the doctor by now. I wonder what's taking him so long?'' Peter said changing the subject,seeing that Olivia wasn't ready to talk, and part of him wasn't quite ready to hear,what he knew she had really wanted to say to him.
''I'll go check.'' Olivia said then headed for the door.
''I'll be right here. Not going anywhere.'' Peter said , as he watched her walk away.
Two Days Later
"So can I go home already?" Peter said rudely to the doctor.
Though he felt alright, the doctor had insisted he stay another day in the hospital for observation. And when the doctor learned of his strange symptoms after awakening from the coma, his temporary vision , hearing and muscle impairments , he was forced to stay another day in the hospital, to have blood drawn and tests taken,which all came back inconclusive.
"You're free to go, as soon as you sign your discharge papers." The doctor said.
"Great, bring on the paperwork." Peter said. The doctor then left the room ,to have one of the nurses print out Peter's discharge papers.
"I've never seen someone so excited to sign a piece of paper." Olivia said slightly smiling.
" Let's just say, I'm not a fan of hospitals. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I actually miss the hotel couch." Peter said to Olivia with a smirk.
"Here you go, Mr . Bishop." A nurse said walking into the room and handing Peter a few pages of printed paper, stapled together.
"Thank, you." Peter said and hurriedly scribbled his name on the proper pages and sections. He then handed the paper back to the nurse and quickly got out of the bed grabbing his wallet, coat, and the bag of clothes he'd arrived in, now sterilized , when he'd entered the hospital.
"Lets go, there's no way I'm letting them wheel me out of here." Peter said heading for the door, he looked left , then right ,making sure no nurses were in sight , then sneaked quickly down the hallway and toward the elevator. Olivia following him, while shaking her head, and laughing slightly, at Peter's paranoid behavior.
They made it down to the main floor and out the front entrance, without being detected,which wasn't too hard because it was already dark out. They walked over to Olivia's car and drove to the hotel, in almost complete silence. Thirty minutes later they arrived at the hotel where Peter and Walter were staying. Olivia walked him to the door.
"You wanna come in?" Peter asked as they stood in front of the door.
"Sure." Olivia said. Peter opened the door and was immediately met with a shout.
"Surprise, Welcome home Peter!" Walter said when they walked through the door.
"Did you know about this?" Peter asked turning to Olivia.
"Yeah, and Walter worked real hard on planning this, so be nice." Olivia said, and Peter had no choice to comply.
They walked further into the hotel , which was decorated with streamers and a banner that read 'Welcome Home, Peter!' . Standing in the room with Walter, was Astrid , who smiled in greeting at Peter.
"You guy's shouldn't have done this,but..uh..thanks." Peter said , doing what Olivia had asked,being nice.
" I'm glad you're doing better, Peter." Astrid said giving him a friendly hug.
"Thanks." Peter said.
"I made cake, your favorite." Walter said motioning to the small table in the room.
"Thanks, Walter." Peter said smiling at the excitement in his father's voice.
Later That Night
Peter couldn't sleep. Astrid and Olivia had stayed for an hour and a half, after they all ate pieces of the cake Walter had made, apparently in his lab at Harvard. After Olivia and Astrid left,Walter hovered over Peter,making sure he was ok, till he felt like he was going insane. He finally was able to convince Walter to go to sleep at about eleven o'clock. And he was left alone sitting on the couch lost in his thoughts.
It was now three am, and Peter couldn't fall asleep. It wasn't that he wasn't tired, in fact he was exhausted,he just couldn't seem to fall asleep. Sure he'd been through a lot in the past two and a half weeks,but the insomnia had never been this bad. He tossed and turned on the couch, frustratingly got up and started pacing back and forth in the hotel room. He checked on Walter, than went back to pacing.
When that didn't relax him, he went back over to the couch laying down again, just starring up at the ceiling. Suddenly his attention shifted to the door, when he heard movement outside of it. He grabbed the bat by the couch, which Walter had insisted Peter get, after he'd been released from Saint Claire's, and headed over to the door, he opened it surprised ,yet relieved to see the person on the other side.
Olivia couldn't sleep. When she'd gotten back from the hotel Peter and Walter were staying at, she'd worked on finishing the paper work on the Minodrin case. Allen Jenkins had been further questioned about his employers, and anything else he could tell them about the drug trials. He was then transferred to a maximum security facility,but en route to the facility the convoy was attacked ,and all that was left of Allen Jenkins was a burned corpse.
The murder of Allen Jenkins, made her even more determined to find the group in charge of the Pattern incidents. She was certain they were getting close and that Allen was killed so he would never be able to give the FBI any information on the bio-terrorist group.
After she'd finished her write up, on the events of the latest Pattern incident, she'd showered then changed into her pajamas before crawling into bed. She'd tried to sleep, but sleep wouldn't come, the hours minutes and seconds passed slowly. And after tossing and turning she got up out of bed and started to pace a little hoping to tire herself out.
When that didn't work, she walked over the guest room and checked on Rachel and Ella,who were both sound asleep. She then returned to her bedroom, and after another hour of sleepless tossing and turning, she decided that maybe some fresh air would help. She changed into a pair of sweats and a tank top, grabbed a light jacket. her wallet and keys, then left a quick note for Rachel, before exiting her apartment.
She walked aimlessly for about fifteen minutes, until she found herself in the neighborhood that housed the hotel Walter and Peter stayed at. She was going to turn around and head back to her apartment ,but something told her to keep walking and to go see Peter. She got off the elevator and walked over to Peter's hotel room, stopping at the door.
She hesitated at the door, not quite sure what to do. Should she knock on the door? It was three o'clock in the morning, he probably wouldn't even be awake. " What are you doing Liv?", she said out loud to herself. She shook her head and turned to leave, stopping when she heard the door open behind her.
"Liv,jeez you scared me. " Peter said surprised to see her.
"Sorry..." Olivia said.
"What are you doing here?" Peter asked,though he was happy to see her.
"I couldn't sleep..." Olivia said , not knowing what else to say.
"It's ok...I couldn't either... wanna take a walk?" Peter said, thinking maybe she wanted to talk.
"Sure..." Olivia said.
"Let me grab my coat and shoes." Peter said ,motioning for her to come in , as he slipped on some shoes, grabbed his jacket and wrote a quick note for Walter, in case he woke up in the middle of the night and found Peter gone. Peter grabbed the keys, exited the hotel room and locked the door behind him, before walking side by side with Olivia.
They walked for about ten minutes and ended up in a local park. They took a seat on a bench and both just sat there silent for a few minutes starring at the sky, moon and the stars. Suddenly Peter broke the silence.
"What's on your mind?" Peter asked.
"A lot of things." Olivia said continuing to stare at the sky.
"Why don't you tell me about it, I can be a pretty good listener, when I want to." Peter said with a smirk.
"I just...I just can't stop thinking about the pattern. Each case we encounter is worse then the next, and innocent people keep dying and getting hurt. I have this feeling that it's just gonna keep getting worse. Soon they'll start targeting us personally, what if something happens to Rachel, or Ella." Olivia said voicing some of her fears.
"Liv,hey, that's not gonna happen, I wont let that happen. We will find whoever is behind the pattern, and we'll take em down. You, me , Walter, Charlie, Astrid and Broyles, we're the fringe division, and we are not, so easily defeated. Sure we'll take some hits, come close to risking it all, but we always bounce back." Peter said confidently.
''When did you get so optimistic'' Olivia said smiling at him.
'' Probably when I started working with you.''Peter said smiling back.
''Well I'm not feeling very optimistic,these last few weeks have been so...'' Olivia began,pausing to search for the right word.
''Insane,tiring ,exhausting,crazy,chaotic, hectic,frustrating ,unbelievable?'' Peter said.
'' All of the above.'' Olivia said laughing.
'' And we survived it all. '' Peter said.
'' Yeah we did.'' Olivia said thinking about it.
'' Yep.'' Peter said and there was a momentary silence between the two, till Olivia broke the silence this time.
'' You don't have to keep doing this.'' Olivia said out of nowhere.
'' Doing what?'' Peter asked confused.
''Putting your life in danger. Walter is doing much better,you were kind of dragged into all of this ,I'd understand if you wanted to go back to living your life. '' Olivia said.
'' Where is this coming from? I thought I made my intentions clear,when I made the whole we're a team speech. This is my life now, having a relationship with my father, crazy as it might be sometimes, and solving cases with you...and getting to know and care about you,it's changed me, I feel like I finally found some kind of purpose, and you Olivia Dunham are a very big part of that.'' Peter turning her to face him and looking into her eye's as he spoke that last part.
" I guess, I'm scared of losing my partner again...I know that sounds silly,but when you put your trust in someone , there's always that possibility of losing them in one way or another...and I guess what I'm saying is that over these few months I've come to trust and care about you. And when you got infected, I realized the thought...just the thought of losing you, would create a hole in my life, one I couldn't live with." Olivia said putting it all out there.
"Is that what you wanted to tell me before?" Peter asked beginning to understand.
"Yeah, I guess I didn't know how quite to say it ,until now." Olivia said relieved to finally confess her fears and true feelings.
"I told you before, guess you didn't hear me, but you'll never lose me, I want to be here for you, and with you." Peter said starting out sarcastic, then getting serious.
"You do?" Olivia asked not noticing, when they'd gotten closer to each other on the bench.
"Yeah." Peter said then leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips, taking her by surprise,but in a good way.
Olivia kissed him back, and Peter slipped one hand gently around to cup her face the other tangled in her hair. While Olivia's went around his neck pulling him even closer to her closing , what little gap was left between them. They broke apart ten minutes later, both breathing heavily after their passionate and intense kiss.
They leaned back against the bench ,and Peter's arm rested around her shoulder, as she lay her head against his chest. Neither said a word, because there was nothing left to be said. They'd said all that needed to be said with words, and the rest was expressed in those ten minutes. Ten minutes that would change everything, and also nothing for the two, as they faced the Pattern together. And together they would , not so easily be defeated.
A/n: So I changed the title of this like four times, before I settled on the final one,and I think it suited this chapter the best, then it took forever to finish it cause I kept adding stuff and I really didn't want them to come out OC in the last scene which was the hardest to write, I hope ya'll liked how I did it. I also hope you've enjoyed reading this as much as I've enjoyed writing this , I'll have the epilogue up soon,I've got the layout in my head,but I can't give an exact date, because school keeps me pretty busy, but it will be before the end of this month, a review/construct criticism will be greatly appreciated.
-Pessi . Rom