Alas, we have reached the last chapter for this story. I'm going overseas for a couple of weeks, but when I get back I'll be bringing you more Fringey fanfic goodness! Once again, thanks to everybody who's been reading the story, I hope you've enjoyed it.

Have a great day, everyone! God bless : )

"Olive?"

I looked up. Phil was looking at me questioningly, but keeping himself restrained. I realised then he had asked me something and was awaiting an answer. I wasn't paying attention, having noticed Pete's coin still in my palm. Glancing at Phil, I felt instantly ashamed for not listening to him.

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "I…"

"What is it, sweetheart?"

"I forgot to give Pete's coin back to him."

He smiled, sitting up. "Well, then, I think it's best we go and find him."

"Do you think he's still outside?"

"Let's find out. Come on." He took my hand to lead me out. I got up and he opened the door for us. Pete wasn't in his seat. He wasn't anywhere. Like I blinked and he disappeared. Phil tugged on my hand. "It's alright. I have his address so I can send him the coin. I'll make sure he gets it. Let's go back inside."

But I wasn't listening. All I could do was scan the room desperately. Finally, I spotted the cop who'd brought him in and ran after him. Phil was calling my name and following me, but it's easier to weave through a crowded police station when you're nine. I eventually managed to make my way to the policeman. He seemed menacingly tall standing up. I tugged on his jacket. "Excuse me, sir?"

He looked around, perplexed, until he tilted his head lower. He knelt down. "Hey, princess. Are you lost?"

"No, sir. I just need to find Pete. Is he still here?"

He glanced around. "Uhhh, Pete? Dunno, love. His Mum just picked him up a minute ago. Let me take you back to Ph-"

"Thank you!"

"Hey, wait!" He shouted after me as I sped off. I ducked under arms, dodged bustling police officers, skidded on wooden floors and scrambled between desks until I found the exit. I threw myself into the cold winter night, but my heart was too racy to feel the chill of the air. My eyes examined the street until I found a tall, dark-haired woman leading a boy to her car.

Pete's POV:

"I'm very disappointed in you," My Mum was saying, looking down on me as we walked out of the police station on the street. The edge in her voice had already started to crack. "I try to make this…transition…as easy as it can be for you. I try so hard. You're not the only one who's been finding this difficult, Peter." She blinked her tears away. I didn't actually get to see her this way very often, so whenever I did my heart would physically ache. I knew that she cried a lot. I'd hear her in the night, when she thought I was sleeping. I'd sit in the corridor and debate whether or not I should go in and comfort her, though I'd always decide that it was best to leave her be. But I could never tell her that.

She stopped and knelt beside me, pulling me close. I felt her hand settle on the back of my head as she kissed my hair. "You know that I love you very much, don't you?" I nodded into the familiar warmth of her jacket. Her skin smelled like rain.

"Na einai kalitero anthropo apo ton patera tou," she whispered.

"I know, Mum."

"Sagapo, agapi mou."

"You, too. I'm sorry. Don't be sad, OK?"

She pulled us apart and looked closely at my face. Something strange that almost resembled a deep sadness, or worry, wrinkled the skin around her eyes. No. It was something more than that. Was it guilt? Regret? Shame? I couldn't decipher it, but I felt certain that it was this thing I couldn't perceive that was making her cry at 3am.

"PETE!"

Someone was calling my name. I tore myself from my mother's arms to find Olive leaping down the steps of the police station, followed by the two scrambling policemen. She sprinted over to me and stopped, panting.

"You look like Road Runner," I laughed.

She was still trying to catch her breath as Phil and Joe finally caught up to her. They stopped a few metres away. I could see out of the corner of my eye that Phil was gently holding Joe back, kindly allowing Olive a few minutes to say goodbye. My Mum touched my shoulder. "Peter, who's this friend of yours?"

"Mum, this is Olive. We only just met tonight. Would it be OK if I said goodbye to her?"

"Of course, sweetheart. I'll just be over here talking to Phil, alright?"

As turned away, Olive said "It was nice to meet you, Miss."

My mother seemed surprised that I had made a friend with someone with such nice manners. "You too, darling." She walked to talk with the policeman, leaving the two of us together. We were close enough for them to watch us, but just out of earshot.

Olive gave a weak smile. "I'm glad I found you."

I couldn't help but smile back. "So am I," I said.

She glanced curiously in the grown-ups' direction. "You're Mum's really pretty. How come she sounds different?"

"She's from another country. She was born in Greece but then she grew up in England."

"Cool! Were you born somewhere else, too?"

"No. I've always been from Boston. What about you?"

She looked down. "I'm from Jacksonville."

"Where's that?" I asked.

"It's in Florida."

"Florida! That's so far away! It's probably nicer over there. Why'd you move?"

Her voice trembled. "My Mum made me." Something cracked in her. I could see it. She brought her still-clenched hands to her face. They were shaking. Tears, warm and viscous, began to spill from her eyes. She took sharp, panicked breaths. She tried to talk – to explain how scared she was, how the day's events had overwhelmed her – but she couldn't form the words. I did the only thing I could think of. I wrapped by arms around her in a huge bear hug. It was perfectly comfortable, like she was made to fit there. I could hear my Mum start to walk towards me, furious that I'd made her cry, and Phil gently explaining to her that Olive had a terrible day and that I'd been very helpful in comforting her.

I felt Olive's fingers clench my jacket. I held her loosely, but firmly, so she could get out when she was ready. "I won't let go until you tell me to," I said.

Her shoulders shook in response. All I could hear were her tired whimpers in between breaths, as she stuttered over and over again. "I don't want to be here," she finally managed to say. "I don't want to be here…I don't want to be here…"

Finally, she moved away from me and wiped her face, embarrassed. I watched, mesmerised, as she composed herself. How she managed to switch between her scared side and her comfortable, talkative side was an art form to me. She held out her hand. In it was my lucky coin. "I forgot to give it back to you," she said.

I couldn't believe I'd left that behind. I hadn't even noticed it was gone. I beamed at her. She smiled back. I closed her fingers around the coin. "Keep it," I said.

Her eyes went wide. "No way! It's your favourite."

"It's OK."

"No." She forced my hand open and gave it back to me. "It's your lucky coin. I could never take this from you."

I felt the weight of it in my palm and glanced at her in gratitude. I twirled it over my fingers and tossed it into my pocket. "Thank you, Olive."

"Don't mention it," she said. She glanced at the adults. "I think your Mum wants to take you home."

"Yeah, I know. I wish we'd met differently. I think in another life we could have been really good friends."

"Yeah," she said. "Thank you for talking to me tonight, Pete. I really needed it."

"I loved talking to you, Olive."

"Do you think we'll ever see each other again?"

"I don't know," I told her honestly. "But I hope so."

"Me too." She checked to be sure that the grown-ups weren't looking, then leaned in and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. "Goodbye, Pete," she said and turned on her heels. Before I knew it, she had disappeared back into the station with Phil and Joe. I raised my fingers to my cheek, where the skin still tingled. My Mum called me and we started off down the street again, the air so cold we could see our breath before us, but all I could think about was whether I'd ever get the chance to see Olive again one day.

Just a bit of Fringe trivia: I'm of Greek descent, and the Greek sentence in "A New Day in the Old Town" actually doesn't mean what Peter says it does. In the episode, he tells Olivia it means "Be a better man than your father." However, a more literal and accurate translation is "He is a better man than his father."

Also, "Sagapo, agapi mou" roughly translates to "I love you, my darling."

Thanks for reading!