A/N: Thanks a ton for the volume of reviews you guys have been sending my way lately. They make me really happy :)
Here's the next chapter! Also, just an FYI: this story is drawing to a close soon. Prepare yourselves accordingly.
By the time Peter, Olivia, Brandon and Nina arrived at Liberty Island, the place was crawling with people. A large number of scientists sat behind computers, analyzing more data than Olivia could even begin to imagine. A group of agents sat adjacent to the scientists, documenting information for the FBI case files, and running around, frantically carrying out the orders that Phillip Broyles was shouting at them over the soft roar of multiple conversations occurring at once and the hum of the machine.
Seeing the group approaching Broyles gave them a formal nod in greeting. "Agent Dunham, how are you feeling?" He asked her, anxiety etched on his face.
She smiled at his concern for her. "I'm fine, Phillip," she said gently. He always seemed to calm down when she was more personal with him. "I'm ready to get going. Where do you want me?"
Broyles visibly relaxed when he saw the truth behind her statement. "Wherever you're most comfortable. Do you remember how this worked last time?"
Olivia shrugged. "Sort of. I need to visualize the other machine and forge a link between them… It's kind of hard to explain," she confessed.
"As long as you can figure out what to do, that is fine," Broyles assured her. "We'll let you know when we're ready for you."
Peter and Olivia sat on a bench while they waited, Peter nervously tracing circles on the back of Olivia's hand. "Peter," she snapped.
Peter glanced at her in alarm. "What?"
"Can you not try to dig a hole in my hand? It's making me kind of nervous."
Peter's face broke out in a grin. "Sorry, hon. But are you sure that's what is making you nervous? Or could it possibly be interacting with the machine?"
"What? No. I'm feeling alright about this. That doesn't change the fact you burrowing into my skin with your absentminded circles bothers me."
"Alright, I'm sorry," He apologized halfheartedly, pressing his lips to her forehead.
"Agent Dunham? We're ready for you."
Olivia nodded and got up from where she was sitting. She walked over towards the machine and took in its immense size. Breathing deeply, she squared her shoulders, closed her eyes, and focused on the entanglement between the two machines. She could feel the steady vibrating of the machine in front of her in her bones and knew that she was on the right track. She probed around her, letting this universe flow through her psyche, similarly to how she crossed over. When she felt a distinctly different frequency of humming, Olivia latched onto that entity and willed it to fuse with the vibrations emanating from the machine physically in front of her. She heard, rather than felt the ground beneath her shake and her vision lit up red from the bright light shining through her clenched eyelids. The light and the tremors slowly faded as the machines' separate hums merged on a single frequency.
"It's working," she heard a whisper behind her. The whirring of the machines slowed and quieted completely, so it was nearly silent in the room. Hesitantly, Olivia opened her eyes and saw a pair of amber-green eyes that perfectly mirrored hers smiling back at her.
"Olivia!" her alternate exclaimed brightly, grasping Olivia in a bear hug. "You did it." The redhead pulled back from the embrace to appraise her stunned alternate self. "It's great to see you again."
Olivia smiled wearily. "It's good to see you, too." She felt a firm, warm hand on her shoulder and glanced behind her to smile at Peter. It worked, she mouthed at him. His resulting grin caused his eyes to crinkle boyishly, something that always made Olivia melt.
"Alright, agents! You can start bringing the files in from the past few years, specifically those relating to Amelia Ying," The redheaded Olivia boomed authoritatively. She turned to see her blonde alternate with an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "I run this division now," she said, shrugging with cocky nonchalance that was so characteristically her.
Olivia suppressed an eye roll. Her alternate's exceeding confidence could definitely be annoying at times.
The teams from each sidebrought in boxes of labeled case files and exchanging with their counterparts. Olivia smiled as she saw Amelia Ying walk in the big room hesitantly with a social worker, carrying a stuffed bunny.
"Hi Amelia," Olivia greeted her, crouching down to the young girl's level. "I'm Olivia. Do you remember me?"
Amelia nodded. "You talked to me when I first got here."
"Yes I did, I'm glad you remember. Are you scared?"
"A little," Amelia admitted. "It's really busy in here and no one will tell me what's going on."
"What's going on is we've found you a way to go home. Would you like that?" Olivia asked her, excited for the little girl's reunion with her family. Amelia nodded furiously, beaming up at her. "Come on, then," Olivia said, "let's get you home."
Olivia introduced Amelia to a social worker the other side's Department of Defense had assigned to her case. Amelia gave Olivia a hug goodbye and thanked her for helping her get home after all this time. Olivia watched as Amelia walked excitedly down the hall with the social worker, her shiny black hair bouncing with each step.
Olivia turned around, bumping into the person who was walking behind her. "Sorry," the man said distractedly, carrying two large boxes.
"Lincoln!" she exclaimed, happy to see her former partner.
"Olivia, hi," he said, beaming down at her. He carefully set the boxes down as his feet and pulled her in for a quick, awkward hug. "How's it going?"
Olivia chuckled, her mood bright from the reunion. "I'm doing very well. How about yourself?"
Lincoln nodded, a shy smile spreading across his face. "Everything is great."
The other Olivia suddenly appeared, swinging an arm through Lincoln's and pecking him on the cheek. "Back to work, Agent Lee," she ordered, feigning annoyance and causing Lincoln to blush. BOlivia glanced down at Olivia's hand and smiled back at her knowingly. "You and Peter?" she asked, gesturing to Olivia's wedding band.
"Oh, yeah," Olivia said with a smile, twisting her simple, white gold band around her finger. "We got married a few years ago after our daughter was born."
"Congratulations!" the redhead chirped, clasping her hands together in a gesture that belonged on a Disney princess. "Do you have pictures of her?"
"Peter does in his wallet," she said, turning around and gesturing for him to join them when she caught his eye. She turned around and took in the solitary diamond shining on her alternate's hand. "It seems congratulations are in order for you two, as well."
BOlivia smiled, squeezing Lincoln closer. "Thank you! He proposed about a month ago. Took him long enough, too."
"I wanted it to be special," he muttered dejectedly.
"Hello, again, Lincoln," Peter greeted the other man with a nod. "Nice to see you, Olivia."
"Olivia says you have pictures of your daughter?" The redheaded Olivia asked quickly. "Can we see?"
"Sure," Peter beamed, pulling his copies of Etta's first, second, and third birthday photos they had had taken professionally each year. He handed them to the other couple, slipping his arm around Olivia's waist and kissing her temple. "Speaking of Etta, we should probably head out soon so we can pick her up before daycare closes."
"She's beautiful, guys, congratulations," BOlivia said, handing Peter the photos back then lacing her fingers through Lincoln's. "We probably should get back to work as well. Did you two hear that they think they have a lead on the location of where Amelia Ying was being treated with cortexiphan?"
Olivia frowned. "No, I hadn't heard that."
"They're still looking into things, but we might have a raid on our hands either tomorrow or early next week. I think the secretary would like if you could work with us, since you have been handling the case or the past month," her alternate explained.
"I think we could do that," Olivia said glancing at Peter who nodded at her. "Anyway, we should probably head out now."
"Excellent," confirmed Lincoln, "we'll send a comm later tonight covering the details of the raid. I guess I'll see you two soon," he said in farewell, picking up the boxes he had been carrying and hauling them towards the hallway.
"See you," Olivia said to her alternate as her and Peter turned to leave.
"Oh! Olivia, wait! Can I talk to you for a moment?" her alternate said quietly.
She nodded and turned towards Peter. "Do you want to make sure our transportation back to Boston is in order? I'll be there in a moment." Peter nodded and walked back to their universe's central location to arrange a helicopter.
"So what did you need to ask me?" Olivia said, turning towards her alternate who had a mischievous look in her eyes.
"Are you pregnant?" she blurted. Olivia grabbed her arm and pulled her somewhere more private. "I'm gonna take that as a yes then. How exciting! Baby number two!" the redhead squealed.
"It is exciting, but no one knows yet," Olivia told her. "I just found out today. How could you even tell?" she asked incredulously.
"Well," her alternate began, "your boobs are huge. Mine haven't been that big in my entire life. And it doesn't look like you've just gained weight all around. And you're not exactly the kind of person to get fake ones. So I put the pieces together," she shrugged.
Olivia chuckled and pulled her suit jacket a little tighter, feeling slightly self-conscious. "Well, you're right. But please don't tell anyone yet? It's really early. And I haven't figured out how to tell Peter yet."
"Your secret is safe with me," BOlivia said with a conspiratorial grin. "I'll let you get back to your family now. See you later!" she said, with a final quick hug goodbye.
In the car on the way to pick Etta up from daycare, Olivia noticed the crease in Peter's forehead was deeper than usual. "Okay, what's on your mind?" she asked, placing a hand on his.
He raised his eyebrows at her in surprise. "What are you talking about?"
"You have your angry face on. What's that all about?" she pressed, glancing over at him.
Peter sighed and pulled her hand up to his lips, kissing the back of it softly. "I don't know. Something about the way Lincoln still acts around you bothers me."
Olivia stifled a laugh and squeezed his hand. "Peter, you do know we're happily married right? I'm not about to leave you for him."
"I know," Peter grumbled, "but I just feel like he still wants you or something. And when he saw that you were very much not available, he decided to move to another universe where he could be with you."
"I feel like if that was the case, he and Olivia wouldn't have ended up together," she said diplomatically. "She's smart; she would see right through that."
Peter huffed and shrugged, maintaining his hold on Olivia's right hand.
"As silly as this whole jealousy thing is," Olivia said with a smirk, pulling into the parking lot at Etta's daycare, "I have to admit, it's pretty cute." She leaned over and pressed a quick kiss to Peter's cheek, running her fingers through his hair. "Do you wanna go get her?"
"Sure," Peter sighed, unbuckling and quickly hopping out of the car to go retrieve their daughter.
Olivia smiled and shook her head. The two of them normally didn't have any issues with jealousy. Peter's charisma naturally attracted people, so Olivia had often been annoyed by flirty waitresses or bartenders when her and Peter went out. And occasionally some jerk would hit on her in front of Peter, who would quickly make it obvious that the two of them were together. But those cases were more about annoyance than jealousy. Peter's apprehension regarding Lincoln was abnormal for them. Olivia guessed it was due to their history; though it was fuzzy in her memory, her and Lincoln had been on their way to developing into something a bit more than 'just friends' when Peter and her old memories returned, completely eclipsing whatever connection she had shared with Lincoln. Peter still maintained that the other man had developed legitimate feelings for Olivia, which made him act territorial.
Olivia looked up to see Peter opening the door and Etta running out of daycare, her backpack and pigtails bouncing with her steps. Etta opened the door to the backseat of the Volvo and climbed in. "Hi, Mama!" she greeted, breathless from running.
"Hi, sweetie, how was your day?" Olivia asked, reaching back to smooth her daughter's hair as the toddler climbed into her car seat and buckled up.
"It was fine. Kind of boring. The teachers said it was too cold to go outside for recess so we had to stay inside all day," Etta answered with a frown. Unlike Olivia, Etta didn't seem to mind the cold at all; she loved playing in the snow. Luckily for her, Peter liked to go outside with Etta and help her build forts and snowmen in the winter, as well as have snowball fights.
The rest of the drive home was spent listening to Etta sing along inattentively to her Disney playlist on Peter's iPod, her little voice filling up the car and making Olivia smile. When they arrived home, Peter quickly through together some soup and salad for dinner, and the three of them sat down to eat.
"Etta, honey, maybe you shouldn't slurp your noodles," Olivia said, regarding the broth that had splashed around her daughter's bowl, "you're getting more soup on yourself than in your tummy."
Etta frowned at Olivia. "But I like to slurp my noodles. And Daddy does it too, sometimes."
Olivia gave Peter a tired look, which he returned with an apologetic smile. "Well, kiddo," he answered Etta after a sigh from Olivia, "We both probably should try not to do that too much, since it is making a little bit of a mess."
Etta nodded in agreement and the three of them finished their dinner in near silence. After they finished eating, Olivia gave a bath to Etta, who was too sleepy to even contest it at that point, and put her to sleep. She smiled on as her daughter's breathing evened out before Olivia even finished the first page of The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Olivia stayed sitting on the side of her daughter's bed for a couple minutes, smoothing her still damp hair away from her face.
Olivia felt like, with her highly intense job, she didn't get enough time to fully appreciate her daughter. Henrietta Bishop was, without a doubt in her mind, the very best person on the planet. She was not even four years old and was already smart, intuitive, kind, funny, loving, and happy. In her wildest dreams, Olivia never thought she would end up the mother of such an amazing little girl. The fact that she often worked sixty hours a week (not counting hours she put in at home) made Olivia a little nervous about the incoming addition to their family. She already felt guilty for being too absent in Etta's life. How on earth was she supposed to divide that small amount of free time with another baby?
Placing a soft kiss on her daughter's cheek, Olivia left her room and closed her door almost all the way, but not quite—just how Etta liked it. She joined Peter on the couch downstairs, snuggling into his side and tucking her forehead against his neck.
"Hi," she breathed sleepily, letting her eyes fall shut.
"That was fast," Peter said, smoothing her long hair down her back. "Did she go to sleep well for you?"
"Yeah, she must have been really tired. And it seems I am too," Olivia said, yawning.
Peter frowned at her, studying her face. "How are you feeling, Livia? You had quite a big day. I'm not surprised you're tired, but other than that are you doing alright?"
"Well, my headache is mostly gone now, but that wasn't anything major. I don't really feel sick or anything like that. Thank you for worrying though," she said, smiling at him.
Peter leaned down to kiss her forehead. "I wish I didn't have to worry about you so much. I thought we were supposed to have it easy after we last saved the world, not continually put ourselves in harm's way even four years later."
Olivia was not really surprised his train of thought somewhat reflected what she had been thinking earlier. "Yeah, I know," she agreed sleepily. "But at the same time, I think it would be weird to go back to a normal position at the FBI at this point. I've been dealing with weird science-y stuff for so long that I don't even really remember how a case works when I understand all of the elements."
"Speaking of fringe cases, how are you feeling about the raid tomorrow?"
Olivia squinted at him. "So it is tomorrow for sure?"
He nodded against her head. "Yep. Broyles faxed over a notice about it. We're supposed to meet at MD tomorrow at 8:00. They've worked out all the details for us. You, Etta and I will take a helicopter from Massive Dynamic to Liberty Island. Nina has offered to have Etta overnight at her place in New York tomorrow, in case we don't get a chance to cross back over until Saturday morning."
Olivia groaned. "Okay, then we should probably go to bed now."
Peter stood up and chuckled as Olivia remained on the couch with her eyes closed. "I would carry you up the stairs, but I'm pretty sure I am getting too old to do that."
Olivia huffed and rolled her eyes as she stood up and stretched. "When have you ever carried me up the stairs?"
"Fair point," he said pecking her on the lips. "Come on, sleepyhead," Peter encouraged her, pulling on Olivia's shoulders as he walked towards the staircase.