The entire time since he had left Olivia's, Peter had been walking in a park trying to calm down. The phone call from Olivia, however, made his blood begin to boil again because, as much as he respected the law now, he wished he could take the adoption laws and throw them out. Olive was his daughter, his and Olivia's and he saw no reason for the damn adoption.

The only thing he wanted was to see his daughter when he wanted, he knew Olivia was struggling daily with Olive despite what she said. It was if they were moving backwards instead of forwards and Olive was supposed to be their hope.

It had been only a week before that they had tested the waters and it worked out great. Sure there were some unsteady moments that night but things were going good till they got the call that changed their lives forever.

He loved Olive, he couldn't imagine not loving his little girl as she was so much like him: cunning, stubborn and defiantly intelligent but she held so much of Olivia: her looks, her abilities and her natural ability to manipulate a situation to her liking. She was the perfect mix of them both, the daughter he dreamed of and now it was if everything he wanted was going south.

Peter found himself surprisingly calm, he walked back to Olivia's apartment as he knew he'd need to call a cab to head home. Knocking on the door, it opened and Peter found himself face to face with Olivia, she was holding Olive in her arms as the infant slept and he saw tears in her eyes.

"Hey, can we talk?"

She nodded and wiped away her tears before letting him in, she placed Olive down in the small playpen that she had acquired from Massive Dynamic earlier in the week. Peter shut the door behind himself and sat down as Olivia did. "Peter...none of this was..."

"Your idea, I know that...you're not the type of person to withhold a child from its parent, especially our child." He looked over at Olive as she slept, "how is she?"

Olivia smiled, "she wanted you earlier, asking me where Daddy went and I said he went home."

"You said why they wouldn't grant the adoption was because we weren't married and didn't live together...perhaps we should give the second a try. I mean I have at least two rooms at the house and you have two here...a trial run for a week to find out how living together works. I want this to work Olivia, I feel like we're moving backwards instead of forwards."

"I..." her thoughts were interrupted by the doorbell, she sighed. "Give me a moment."

Olivia walked to the door and opened it to find Nina Sharp and a man in a suit, "hello Olivia, may we come in?"

"Sure, uh Peter's here too."

"Good," Nina smiled and looked at Peter as the man stood, "its good to see you both settling in as parents. This is Wyatt Mitchell...he's one of Massive Dynamic's attorneys and I've been speaking to him on the matter of legal issues with Olive's adoption...Phillip told me what the woman said and I may have found a solution or at least Wyatt has."

"We're listening," Olivia sat down and offered the couch to Nina and Mitchell, the lawyer looked at them.

He pulled out papers and looked at them, "it is best at the moment that the child, Olive, be given into the custody of Mr. Bishop as he is the biological father however, you can claim joint custody of the child by stating you are related to the woman who gave birth to her."

"But I'm not related to her, we're the same person from two different universes..."

"I understand that, Nina has given me the information of Olive's origins however we can play it off as you are twin sisters. Your genes are mutated enough to distinguish that you could be identical twins. I understand how distasteful it may be but it is the easiest legal option for you both to gain legal custody of your biological child...especially since you share DNA with the child, it is the only non-classified way to go about this quickly." He sighed, "you do not have to but it will be quicker then the route you are going at the moment."

Olivia stood up and walked to the playpen, pulling the baby into her arms. She looked at Olive's tiny face and something inside of her tore...not being able to be her mother for a period of time. Olive was her child, her baby and the thought of her being away from her was not something she was prepared to deal with. However, it occurred to her that if she was going to hand over her child, Peter was the best person...he was after all Olive's father and he loved her deeply, he wouldn't let anything happen to her.

"Olivia..." Peter looked at her then at Mitchell, "no we'll continue how we are going, I won't take Olive away from her mother...I'd rather give up all my parental rights of her then rip her from Olivia. I can't do that to her, to either of them."

"Very well, I was just giving you options...give me a call if you need a lawyer for the adoption process."

They both left and Peter watched Olivia with their daughter, the baby began opening her eyes and he smiled as he watched Olivia smile at the infant in her arms. She was the most amazing mother he had ever seen, going from not being a parent one hour to being one an hour later...she knew their baby girl's every cry or face, could tell when she was hungry or needed a diaper change and the infant didn't need to use telepathy because Olivia knew. He couldn't be that type of parent, he couldn't identify a cry like Olivia could...it was a mother's instinct.

"You could have just taken her," Olivia looked at him, "that was your chance to have her like you wanted but you rejected it...why?"

Peter walked over and looked at Olive, "because I maybe a pain in your rear, I maybe a con-man and I may have made some major mistakes regarding us but I'm not selfish. I see you Olivia and I see the most amazing mother in the world...you know what her cries mean, what every face means and she doesn't have to use telepathy to tell you because you know...you have that maternal instinct. I've also learned that taking a child from its mother is the most dangerous thing in the world...forget guns or any type of weapon, a mother's fury is not to be matched with." He chuckled and reached up for the first time since before he found out the truth and left and cupped her cheek, "I also care too much to do that to you or Olive for that matter."

Olivia smiled and realized that Peter was looking out for her as much as he was looking out for Olive. "Let's do that trial week, trying to live under the same roof...can we do it here?"

"Whatever you want, as long as I get to spend time with her."

Olivia handed Olive to her father and the infant gave a mental cry of happiness, Daddy! Miss Daddy, you come back to Olive.

"Yes I came back, I'll always come back." He held the back up in the air in front of him, his fingers supporting her neck. "I don't belong anywhere but with you and Mommy so I'll always come back."

Olivia's heart fluttered as she heard him say what he had, it gave her hope and knowledge that Peter was here for her as much as he was for Olive. Perhaps her heart, despite the betrayals, was finally starting to heal and it seemed to always come back to that evening on the other side when she whispered four words before kissing him.

Chapter By: FringeDivision2008