OK so thanks to everyone who reviewed the last chapter, obviously we just want more P/O from this fic…its coming, I promise…but keep up the reviews please because they make me smile :D
Just a note, the next chapter wont be up until next week, more than likely the end of it, but im uploading this early because im not home over the weekend and I have exams still (hence the late update for next week)
Reference: Peter kissing Olivia on the forehead (Entrada), "…second guessing…" (One Night In October), "…who were they? (who was she?)…" (New Day in the Old Town), "…there was nothing there…" (Bound), Peter holding Olivia's hand (Bad Dreams)
Chapter 18 – Bad Nights and Good Days
Blinking a few times, Olivia found herself curled up in a warm blanket and grey sweatshirt, the pillow under her head was soft not the hard ground she remembered from being held in the dark room. Glancing around she finally noticed the steady beeping and the calmness of the room, she smiled to herself. Things started to come back to her, small things, being locked up, being beaten, finding away out and then feeling relaxed, seeing Peter…snapping her head to the side suddenly Olivia found Peter sitting in the chair next to her bed, his eyes were closed and his steady breathing told her that he was fast asleep, she assumed that the bags under his eyes was from him not sleeping, she just wished it wasn't because of her.
Reaching out slowly Olivia touched his hand, hoping not to frighten him awake, but he jerked awake anyway. "Livia…." He leaned forward and grabbed her hand before she could get it back to her side it was as if the memory of her attack was being relived. Peter sat at the side of her bed, looking over her, taking in the bruising and the scars and the cuts, it was scary that in her lifetime she had been in hospital like this twice and both times Peter was there with when she woke up, always watching her. "How are you feeling?" It was an obvious question and there was going to get an obvious answer but he asked it anyway. "I'm feeling better now Peter, thanks…what happened?" She looked around again, hoping it would put an emphasis on her point, how did she get in the hospital? "What do you remember last?" he was leaning a little closer to her now, almost falling off the side of the chair. Scrunching up her face Olivia thought for a moment. "I…ah…I remember being in pain, I remember being beat me, injected me with something…but the last thing I remember was seeing Charlie and you, I remember you…" she looked back at him again, taking in his emotions that were covering his face, they were so raw at that moment.
"Yeah, you came back to the FBI, you were ok, but you collapsed, the doctors said it was from exhaustion and your body rejecting the drug that was injected into you. Livia…what did they want from you?" this time he did get off the chair before coming closer to her, sitting on the edge of the bed, still holding her hand. "Oh, Peter. I have no idea, I just know they were waiting for me when I got back from the party…Rachel and Ella were asleep so I went-" Olivia shot up in bed quickly, "Rachel, Ella are they…" Peter held up his hand, stoping her sentence "Livia they are fine, they are outside, I can go and get them if you like…Rachel has been worried sick…" he rose quickly from his seat, only to be stopped by her hand on his, bringing his attention back to her, "Peter…thank you…" her voice was soft, still getting over the hours screaming and begging, but the smile on Peter's face was well worth the effort to speak. He leaned over slowly, his eyes never leaving hers before he placed a gentle kiss on her forehead, something that they both savoured silently, but she knew he wanted more of a kiss by the way he lingered with his lips on her, a small smile forming on his face. "I'll be back…" he turned from her quickly, walking straight from the room.
Olivia sat in the silence for a moment, just taking in the memory of his lips on her skin, if she was honest with herself she would have admitted that it was something that she had been longing for, even before he explained the real reason he left, she was just worried she was going to start second guessing herself and she would ruin it, sighing she dropped her head, after bring kidnapped and pumped full of god knows what sort of drugs her world really was starting to be turned upside down. The sudden sound of the door swinging open and hitting the wall caught her attention and caused her to look up and find Rachel almost sprinting into the room, Peter following holding a sleeping Ella in his arms, that was a surprise she didn't expect to see. "Oh Liv!" Rachel all but threw herself into her sister's arms, making sure not to hurt her but it didn't matter, Rachel and Ella were safe, no one had hurt them.
"Hi Rach…" Olivia and her sister embraced for a few moments, Rachel cried as Olivia smiled, she was home and safe there would be no reason to cry anymore. "I'm fine Rach, how are you?" the look of concern that crossed Olivia's face made Peter laugh slightly, his movements causing the sleeping child to wake. Olivia and Rachel watched as he hushed her gently, relaxing the grumpy child, no one likes being woken up, Olivia smiled at him, her eyes never leaving him and his movements, as she did, Olivia missed the smile that Rachel gave her, she was going to have to have a talk with her sister.
After about thirty minutes of just chatting between the three adults, Olivia started to feel her eyes droop and her breath even out, the painkillers finally starting to take over. "Hey Liv, we will go and let you sleep, call if you want us to come back any time or to let us know when your going to be released, please…" Rachel leaned over and placed a kiss on her forehead, taking a sleeping Ella from Olivia's arms. "I'll see you later ok hun?" Olivia nodded sluggishly, smiling at her sister before they turned away, leaving Olivia to watch them go. There was silence between her and Peter for a moment, both smiling gently at each other gently. He leaned forward on his chair, "I'm going to head off now as well, I'll come by tomorrow after you've rested?" He went to stand but Olivia's voice stopped him, "Can you stay? Just until I fall asleep, it still seems so unreal that I'm here…just…talk to me?"
Peter watched her for a moment, the pleading look on her face broke his heart, "Sure…" he sat back slowly, silence filling them again. "So…who were they, do we know? Does Walter know what they did to me? What the drug was?" her sudden rush of questions make him smile, "Slow down Livia…first off Walter doesn't know about you being missing, we decided it would be best not to tell him, he is very fond of you ya know…" He looked up to see her blush slightly, the old man was starting to grow on her, but she knew that they had to tell him, if they had any chance of finding out what those people did to her, he had to know. "Ok, I get it, I know that look…I'll get Astrid to tell him tonight, as for the other questions, we don't know exactly who they were but thanks to Henry, the cab driver, we were able to trace back to where you being held…Livia, there was nothing there. The house was empty, we couldn't even find finger prints…is there anything you can remember?"
She waited for a moment, turning her gaze to the window, thinking hard about anything she could remember. "I only heard voices, most of the time I was knocked out and I woke up in different areas, I'm sorry." She looked down at her hands and sighed, thankful though when Peter's hand came to rest on hers. "It's ok Livia, I should be the one that was sorry, if I hadn't have upset you, I probably would have driven you home and none of this would have happen…" she placed her finger over his lips suddenly, stopping his words. "Peter none of this is you fault ok, I think these people would have taken me no matter what, I'm just glad that you and Rachel and Ella are safe." He smiled under her finger, a comfortable silence coming over them. "I should go, I'll make sure to get a blood sample before I go back to Walter. Get some rest Livia…I'll be back in the morning…" He leaned over again and rested his lips on her forehead again gently, wanting nothing more than to track downwards to her lips but refrained. "Good bye Peter, I'll see you tomorrow." She whispered as he turned from her, his back retreating through the open door and down the hall.
"How could you not tell me!" Walter's voice pulled Olivia from the depths of sleep, although she couldn't understand why she was hearing his voice. "Walter, please I'm sorry we didn't tell you but I need you to relax. She is sleeping--" Olivia groaned and rolled her head to the side, blinking a few times, "Well I'm not asleep anymore Peter…What's going on?" Peter came to stand at her side, smiling down at her but it was Walter who spoke first. "No one told me that you had been missing, I want to know why no one told me..." Peter dropped his head and sighed. "Walter we have been over this, I am sorry we didn't tell you but I didn't want to upset you…" Olivia smiled gently, "I'm ok Walter, I promise. Did you test my blood?" She sat up suddenly, thinking back to her previous conversation with Peter from the night before. At this question the room went quiet.
"What?" She looked between Peter and Walter, hoping that someone would speak. "Please Peter, what is going on?" She watched Peter sigh and look back at her. "Your blood test came back with a significant reading of a drug that we were unable to define at first…" The blank face on Olivia made Peter's heart clench. "Olivia…we were able to determine that the drug that was originally injected into your system was meant to bring your fears to life. They made you see what scared you most…" He wasn't looking at her now and this was telling Olivia more than she really wanted to know. "You know…you saw…?" She was catching on quickly, sometimes Peter hated how clever she was. "Yea, they sent footage of you, we saw whatever that drug was doing to you…" His voice trailed off and he looked away, expecting anger to follow her disbelief, but her next question stunned him slightly. "Is it gone? The drug, is it still in my system?" She watched as Walter smiled gently, "No my dear, there is no trace left in your system, its all gone." Olivia sunk back down into the pillow and sighed, happy to be given some form of good news.
It had become a habit in the last few days to kiss Olivia on the forehead before he left and Peter was not about to break that habit. Leaning over slowly he spoke, "Livia, I'm going to go and see if the Doctors will let you out soon," before the kiss touched her head and he left, leaving Walter and Olivia alone. There was silence around them for a few moments until Walter spoke. "Agent Dunham, when I ran your blood, I found something else that was in your system, I found a drug, one I was not able to determine at first, but I found some of Belly's old research, something that I hadn't seen in a long time…" A tear slipped down his cheek as he spoke, Olivia's stomach dropped as he spoke, rambling on without getting to the point, "…you grew up in Jacksonville, went to a day care centre, Belly performed testing there, a drug called cortexiphan…" Olivia sat up suddenly, "You drugged me? What the hell for?" She was beyond furious now, her face warming up suddenly with anger. "NO! No, it was Belly, they were his experiments…we wanted to increase the potential of children - -" Olivia had heard enough, "Who the hell is Belly?"
Walter's eyes flicked down to the ground slowly, "My old lab partner, William Bell…" silence stretched between them, Olivia almost shaking with anger and Walter shaking with fear. "You drugged us? We were children, what the hell did you do to us Walter?" sudden beeping caught their attention and a nurse and doctor hurried in through the door, Peter not far behind, looking worried. "What's going on?" A nurse had come around to Olivia's side and made her lay backwards on the bed, trying to calm her down, her heart rate monitor was spiking rapidly. "Olivia we need you to calm down, please. Olivia calm down or we will have to sedate you!" Although Olivia was having none of it, she pushed against the nurses, needing to get out of the room, it felt like the walls were closing in around her. "Nurse, get her heart rate down now!" Throughout all the commotions, no one noticed Walter slip from the room and Peter move closer to the bed, "Livia, sweetheart can you calm down? You need to relax…come on now…" Peter reached for her hand suddenly and Olivia's head snapped towards his, staring back at him angrily before the anger diminished and her eyes softened.
"Oh Peter…" she leaned forward and sagged her head against his chest, breathing deeply, feeling her heart rate slow to a normal speed. Peter watched as the monitor slowed down, holding Olivia to his chest, wishing there was some way to help her through all of this. Once everyone in the room had calmed down Peter spoke quietly, "What just happened?" the concern in his eyes shone through but there was no way she was going to tell him that she was tested on as a child, especially by his father, but there was going to come a time, within the next few days that she was going to have a talk with Walter and he was going to tell her everything.
"I'm ok Peter, just started to have a few memories about what happened that's all…so am I able to go home yet?" She was already pushing Peter away from her and herself from the bed as she spoke, the blankets falling to the ground. "Whoa, Livia…you need to slow down. They said you could go home after lunch, just let them check your vitals, have something to eat and then I will take you back to Rachel…sound fair?" Peter knew that she wasn't going to take anything less and a direct route home but he hoped he could get her to stay a little longer, and maybe eat something. It seemed to have worked when she smiled gently at him and leaned back against the bed, sighing deeply. "That's my girl, now let me go and see about getting you something to eat, huh? How does that sound?" Olivia nodded quickly and watched as Peter went from the room, the nurse and doctor following closely behind.
Closing her eyes for a moment, Olivia allowed herself to rest, she knew that once she got home Rachel would be all over her and Ella would be too excited to have her aunt back to leave her alone, so she decided to take the time she had and rest. "Well how about you make sure about that huh?...If not, it's on your head…" Olivia's eyes snapped open and she found Mitchel Loeb sitting at the end of her bed. "Oh Liv, didn't realise you were awake, hope I didn't wake you…" She sat up slowly as he spoke, glancing around the room a little confused. "Were you just on the phone?" She cleared her throat, wondering what she had just heard. "Ah, no. I knocked the side of the bed, thought I might have woken you…I didn't, did I?" Mitchel moved closer to the side of the bed, taking a seat on the chair Peter had left vacant. Olivia scratched her arm and sighed, "Oh no, I was kinda in and out of it. It's ok…what are you doing here?" She was genuinely curious to know what he was doing there, he was the last person she expected to see at her bedside.
He smiled warmly up at her, "Well everyone at the FBI wanted to make sure you were ok, we hadn't heard anything since you came back to us, so I came to see how you were doing…" he placed his hand on hers and watched as she slowly smiled back at him, understanding why he was there. "Thank you Mitch, I'm good really, they are releasing me after I eat something, Peter has gone to find me something to eat so I can go, he knows how much I hate hospitals." Mitchel's smile grew a little as he rose from his chair, "Well I'll let you get a little rest in then. I will tell everyone you are fine and I will see you when you get back to work. Oh Broyles has asked me to tell you that he would have come to the hospital to see you but he is packed down with finding any information on where you were being held and by whom…he hopes you understand…" Olivia nodded back at him and watched as he left, leaving her in a silence that a small part of her was thankful for.
Walking into her apartment, Olivia was thankful that Peter was there to help her, although she would never admit it, she was still a little sore from the beating, granted that the doctors had allowed her to leave, carrying her bag and getting up the stairs just added a little too much stress to her body. "You sure you are going to be ok on your own?" Peter spoke as he held open the door for her, letting her through first although regretting it when Ella came bounding into the room and straight to her aunts legs. "Bell, come back here, you need to leave Aunt Liv alone…come on…" Rachel came walking into the room from the spare room, smiling at seeing her sister up and about but also to see Peter was with her. "Oh, it's ok. I'm glad she is happy to see me…" Olivia spoke as she slowly leaned down and picked up the 18 month old, who giggle and clapped at being held by her aunt. She then turned to Peter and smiled, "I'll be fine Peter. Rachel is here anyway, but if I need anything I will call, ok?" Raising her eyebrow at him she waited for his reply, which she received as an eye roll. "Fine but anything ok…" he wanted to lean in a kiss her cheek goodbye but figured that now, with everyone watching and when she wasn't lying in a hospital bed, she might just shoot him. "I'll talk to ya later ok? Bye Rach!" He waved a goodbye to the woman standing to the side and then tried to place a kiss on Ella's head, who just giggled and hid herself in Olivia's shoulder. "Goodbye Ella…" he spoke gently and watched as she turned to face him, bringing up her hand to her eyes slowly, covering them as she waved shyly. "Bye-bye." Her soft voice carried just enough for Olivia and Peter to hear. Peter left with a smile on his face, Olivia was home safe and he was closer to her then before. It really was a good day.
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