Glimmering
TITLE: Glimmering
AUTHOR: heatherbird
PAIRING: Peter/Olivia
CATEGORY/RATING: Angst, G
WORD COUNT/SUMMARY: 875; The end of "Jacksonville" from Olivia's POV
SPOILERS: Set within "Jacksonville"
DISCLAIMER: Characters belong to J.J. Abrams & Co. This is my first Fringe fic.
Olivia Dunham was tired and overwhelmed, and as she got dressed to go out, she knew it was against her best interests. If she was smart, she’d have a glass of wine and go to bed. If she was really smart, she’d skip the wine and go straight to getting the rest her body and brain called out for. Aside from the fact that it had taken considerable distress to regain her ability to see the fingerprint of the other side glimmering at the edges of items from that world, Peter had been about to kiss her. He’d been looking at her the same way he always did when she was distressed or in pain, that way that told her he wanted to protect her and defend her and take her far, far away from the ghastly monstrosities and phantasms it always seemed were somehow his father’s doing, in the end. That knowing look of his that, as much as it comforted her in those times, scared her as well, because whenever he looked at her that way she knew she cared about him, too. Caring about someone was just setting yourself up to be ripped apart when that person was taken away.
But Peter had been about to kiss her, and he was the only person who knew the world she lived in whom she didn’t want to completely distance herself from when another job was through, and she could still feel the fear of acknowledging her feelings for him, so she called and asked him if he wanted to meet for drinks and told him that Astrid would be happy to hang out with Walter for awhile, taking away the one objection he might have to leaving home tonight. She glanced in the mirror, and, smiling to herself, took her hair down, shaking it loose around her shoulders. No one in the restaurant would know that the pale blonde and the handsome man with her fought monsters for a living. People might even mistake them for lovers. She laughed, thinking of the weird hints Walter had been dropping lately that he’d like to have her join their family.
Peter met her at the door, grinning like he was taking her to the senior prom. Walter was behind him, nearly dancing with happiness, while Astrid unpacked the Monopoly game on the coffee table. For a moment, she did feel like they were an odd sort of family, cobbled together from broken people to make something like a whole. And then, even as she smiled back at him, Peter’s edges started to get shaky.
The smile faded from Olivia’s face as Peter faded in and out of focus before her eyes, his outlines flickering like a dying flame. Glimmering- that was the word she’d used to describe the appearance of objects from the other side when she was a little girl. When Peter went to get his coat, her stare met Walter’s. His eyes were pleading. “Please don’t tell him,” he said, softly, his face falling, and a thousand little clues came rushing back to Olivia all at once. The pieces she hadn't realized she was collecting were falling into place. Just a few days ago, when the biological weapon designed to target Walter’s DNA hadn’t affected Peter at all, she’d been the only one to notice and had pushed the fact aside. Walter’s shoulders slumped, giving him a deflated look. Olivia realized that Walter had to have known all the while that when Olivia regained the ability to see the glimmer she would know his secret. He had pushed her to regain her abilities, anyway- had sacrificed the family they could have been for those hundreds of strangers in the doomed hotel. The Peter that had been Walter Bishop’s son no longer existed.
The man who was coming back into the living room, his coat over his arm and the same eager grin on his face, was a Peter who had no idea he was fighting a war against the very world from whence he came. And as she contemplated the idea of Walter Bishop breaking down the wall between worlds to claim his son, a whole new fearful thought arose: what if the events they chased together had been happening because the other side wanted Peter back?
“Olivia, are you okay?” he asked, shaking her from her thoughts. He was giving her that look again, the one that told her he would willingly cross the universes, consequences be damned, to keep her safe. When that inevitable day when he found out the truth came, would he ever look at her that way again?
“Fine,” she said, forcing a smile she knew wouldn’t convince him, because Peter Bishop understood her like no one she’d ever known. If I can just stop being afraid, she told herself, he’ll look like Peter again. But the glimmer didn’t go away. “I just… really need that drink.”
“Well, let’s get going, then,” Peter said, placing his hand lightly on the small of her back as they turned to go. “Don’t let Walter get Marvin Gardens,” he called to Astrid over his shoulder.
Olivia Dunham had gotten used to living in a world that was about to fall apart.
AUTHOR: heatherbird
PAIRING: Peter/Olivia
CATEGORY/RATING: Angst, G
WORD COUNT/SUMMARY: 875; The end of "Jacksonville" from Olivia's POV
SPOILERS: Set within "Jacksonville"
DISCLAIMER: Characters belong to J.J. Abrams & Co. This is my first Fringe fic.
Olivia Dunham was tired and overwhelmed, and as she got dressed to go out, she knew it was against her best interests. If she was smart, she’d have a glass of wine and go to bed. If she was really smart, she’d skip the wine and go straight to getting the rest her body and brain called out for. Aside from the fact that it had taken considerable distress to regain her ability to see the fingerprint of the other side glimmering at the edges of items from that world, Peter had been about to kiss her. He’d been looking at her the same way he always did when she was distressed or in pain, that way that told her he wanted to protect her and defend her and take her far, far away from the ghastly monstrosities and phantasms it always seemed were somehow his father’s doing, in the end. That knowing look of his that, as much as it comforted her in those times, scared her as well, because whenever he looked at her that way she knew she cared about him, too. Caring about someone was just setting yourself up to be ripped apart when that person was taken away.
But Peter had been about to kiss her, and he was the only person who knew the world she lived in whom she didn’t want to completely distance herself from when another job was through, and she could still feel the fear of acknowledging her feelings for him, so she called and asked him if he wanted to meet for drinks and told him that Astrid would be happy to hang out with Walter for awhile, taking away the one objection he might have to leaving home tonight. She glanced in the mirror, and, smiling to herself, took her hair down, shaking it loose around her shoulders. No one in the restaurant would know that the pale blonde and the handsome man with her fought monsters for a living. People might even mistake them for lovers. She laughed, thinking of the weird hints Walter had been dropping lately that he’d like to have her join their family.
Peter met her at the door, grinning like he was taking her to the senior prom. Walter was behind him, nearly dancing with happiness, while Astrid unpacked the Monopoly game on the coffee table. For a moment, she did feel like they were an odd sort of family, cobbled together from broken people to make something like a whole. And then, even as she smiled back at him, Peter’s edges started to get shaky.
The smile faded from Olivia’s face as Peter faded in and out of focus before her eyes, his outlines flickering like a dying flame. Glimmering- that was the word she’d used to describe the appearance of objects from the other side when she was a little girl. When Peter went to get his coat, her stare met Walter’s. His eyes were pleading. “Please don’t tell him,” he said, softly, his face falling, and a thousand little clues came rushing back to Olivia all at once. The pieces she hadn't realized she was collecting were falling into place. Just a few days ago, when the biological weapon designed to target Walter’s DNA hadn’t affected Peter at all, she’d been the only one to notice and had pushed the fact aside. Walter’s shoulders slumped, giving him a deflated look. Olivia realized that Walter had to have known all the while that when Olivia regained the ability to see the glimmer she would know his secret. He had pushed her to regain her abilities, anyway- had sacrificed the family they could have been for those hundreds of strangers in the doomed hotel. The Peter that had been Walter Bishop’s son no longer existed.
The man who was coming back into the living room, his coat over his arm and the same eager grin on his face, was a Peter who had no idea he was fighting a war against the very world from whence he came. And as she contemplated the idea of Walter Bishop breaking down the wall between worlds to claim his son, a whole new fearful thought arose: what if the events they chased together had been happening because the other side wanted Peter back?
“Olivia, are you okay?” he asked, shaking her from her thoughts. He was giving her that look again, the one that told her he would willingly cross the universes, consequences be damned, to keep her safe. When that inevitable day when he found out the truth came, would he ever look at her that way again?
“Fine,” she said, forcing a smile she knew wouldn’t convince him, because Peter Bishop understood her like no one she’d ever known. If I can just stop being afraid, she told herself, he’ll look like Peter again. But the glimmer didn’t go away. “I just… really need that drink.”
“Well, let’s get going, then,” Peter said, placing his hand lightly on the small of her back as they turned to go. “Don’t let Walter get Marvin Gardens,” he called to Astrid over his shoulder.
Olivia Dunham had gotten used to living in a world that was about to fall apart.