In Your Head

A/N: I always wandered what would happen when Peter and Olivia were the subjects in Walter's experiments, and mind reading would give an awesome twist to Peter and Olivia's relationship :) hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it (so far)

**anything in italics is thoughts.

1. Walter's Experiment

"Walter! What. Are. You. Doing?" Peter Bishop demanded.

Peter had only just entered the lab, the doors shutting behind him, alerting Walter to his arrival. Walter had hurriedly hidden whatever he was doing under his desk.

"Ah, nothing, son. Nothing that concerns you." Walter quickly picked up several pieces of paper and walked hurriedly towards Olivia, who was seated in her office, hidden under piles of paperwork.

Peter watched from outside the office, as Walter showed Olivia the papers. She didn't look pleased, running her hand through her blondes hair as she usually did when she was stressed or unsure of something.

Walter spoke and Olivia looked up, half-confused and half-considering what he had said to her.

Peter couldn't help but wonder what Walter was talking to her about, but not with him.

Peter discreetly moved closer to the office, pretending to be intrigued by some device in the lab. He could hear Olivia's mumbled disapproval, and Walters inaudible response, trying to convince her of something.

Walter spoke again, Olivia nodded in acceptance, before motioning for Walter to leave the office. Walter scurried out, past Peter and towards Astrid.

"Astro?" Walter called out. He disappeared out of the double doors in search of Astrid.

"What has Walter being doing?" Peter asked, standing in the office doorway.

"Ah, he had an experiment he wanted me to try."

"What experiment?" Peter sat down opposite Olivia.

"What experiment?" Peter asked again, more demanding.

"He . . . He believes that the Cortexiphan in me will allow for a better, 'receiver', for his experiment."

"And . . . ?"

"He wants me, and another person to link minds in the tank, so Walter can see if a Cortexiphan subject can read minds, once a secondary drug has been injected into the second person. Walter thinks that, well, since I have Cortexiphan in my system, that I can possibly read the mind of another who has been injected with a diluted Cortexiphan solution. And they would be able to read mine, once, as Walter said, my mind has been opened."

Peter sat dumbfounded. He, or Astrid, would usually have to explain Walter's scientific babbles to her. But she seemed to understand what Walter had said.

Unnerved by his silence, she spoke, "Peter?"

"I have never heard you use scientific words in, well, ever."

"Photographic memory. It tends to include spoken words too, not just what's on paper."

"Your not doing the experiment," he half asked, "right?" seeing her look, was she actually considering it?

"It can't hurt. And it will increase our knowledge of Cortexiphan and what abilities it creates."

Peter couldn't believe his ears. She was actually considering going back in the tank, and having his mentally-unstable-half-the-time-lucid-wanting-to-experiment-on-everything father mess with her mind, and someone else's.

"Olivia! The man is insane. He could kill you. Don't go back into the tank, please!"

"I was kinda hoping, if I did agree, that, you'll do it with me." she asked. She was unsure how he would respond, so she buried herself in the copious amounts of paperwork, pretending not to care. But Peter saw it, she cared, she wanted him to be the one to do it with her. She didn't want to do the experiment with a stranger, she wanted him.

"Okay." he agreed all too quickly. Olivia's head shot up, surprised, by the fact that he hadn't debated more about her entering the tank again, and his wiliness to comply.

Walter became giddy as both Peter and Olivia prepared to enter the tank. He had been eager to try this experiment for weeks.

Peter stripped to his boxers. Placing his jeans and shirt on a chair as Olivia exited her office.

Walter began to ramble on about the procedure, telling Peter about the tank.

Olivia approached, wrapped in the light dressing gown, she had worn before her first time in the tank.

Olivia looked him up and down as he stood wearing only his boxers. He was well toned, muscular. It was better then she had imagined in her head.

"It's more like a complete sense of calm. You just float for awhile, till the drugs kick in and then your mind builds the rest. Walter tells you to look for things, search out for them. His voice sort of guides your mind to the right path." Olivia quickly explained, adverting her eyes to Walter, blushing slightly when Peter met her eyes.

"Right." he nodded understandingly.

Olivia untied the robe, laying it on the chair next to Peter's clothing, before allowing Walter to attach the necessary wires. Walter carefully attached the neural transmitter to the back of her neck. She gasped as it pierced her skin.

She slipped into the tank, floating on the waters surface. Peter gave her a weak smile as he closed the doors.

After several minutes, Walter believed he had opened the mind link in Olivia and was now Peter's turn.

Olivia told him that it was easy, to relax and let Walter guide him. He wasn't all too keen on doing this, but he'd rather it was him then Olivia being stuck with a random agent, or worse, a civilian.

"Okay, son, now when you see the blue door, open it and walk through." Walter directed,

Peter did as asked, walking through the door, he entered a very large crowd. They all stopped and stared at him as he entered, the blue door closing behind him and disappearing.

"I'm through." Peter stated.

"Very good, son. Now, what do you see?"

"A crowd. Hundreds of people, they're all staring at him."

"Okay, now, search for Agent Dunham. She will be somewhere in the crowd now her mind is open to you. Once you find her, take her hand in yours. Then you will awake."

Peter began, what would turn out to be the longest two hours of his life, searching for Olivia. The majority of the crowd were blondes, making his aim even harder.

He found Olivia at the very back of the crowd, by herself. She had been waiting for him. Taking her hand in his, he woke suddenly. Splashing around in the tank, he was pulled out by Walter, Astrid and Olivia.

"That," he choked for breath, "was not 'calm'. That was very stressing." he stated.

"First times the worst." Olivia rebutted, laughing softly.

They both dressed in silence, Peter massaging the back of his neck, feeling the small puncture holes the neural transmitter had left.

"Okay, so Walter," Olivia turned to him, "How long until we see results from this?" she asked,

"Ah, well it all depends. You both should get a good nights rest, eat healthy and not be stressed for the next 24 hours." Walter rambled,

"No stress?" Olivia scoffed, "If only."

Their entire job was a stressful one. There was no such thing as a 'no stress' when working for the FBI, let alone, what they do.

ONE WEEK LATER

"I don't understand, son. It should have worked." Walter returned to pacing around the lab, he was deep in thought. He couldn't figure out why his experiment hadn't worked, why Olivia and his son couldn't read each others minds. There weren't even any side effects to show that it had gone wrong.

Walter wondered if he had gotten the amounts wrong, injected too much, or too little into Peter.

Both Peter and Olivia has been experiencing headaches nearly everyday, and were constantly tired. Walter began to mumble equations to himself, counting with his fingers.

"You know what, I'm leaving. Astrid, can you keep an eye on Walter?" Peter called out,

"Yeah, sure. Do you want me to take him home when he's done?" Astrid called back, she was cleaning Gene, per Walter's pleads.

"Yeah, that'd be great!" Peter hopped off the stool he was sitting on and offered his hand to Olivia.

"I'm gonna grab a drink, wanna join me?" he asked her. She took his hand and they headed for the doors.

"Sure, why not."

The bar was extremely crowded, but they managed to find two bar stools next to each other.

Peter hadn't noticed it at first, mixed in with the chit-chat of the bar goers. But he was sure it was her. Olivia. Talking. When he looked at her, she simply smiled, but her mouth was not moving.

What if Walter messed up the drugs? Can it harm us? She was wondering about the experiment.

"Did you say something?" he asked, confused by what he had heard,

"No, I didn't. Why?" she asked, finishing her beer.

"Oh, nothing, I thought I heard you say something."

"Can I get another." Olivia asked the female bar tender.

"Sure." she turned to Peter, "What about you, want another?" she leant forward, her breasts pushed up by the counter. Peter simply shook his head, turning his attention back to Olivia.

God, why does this annoy me so much? Peter's probably thinking about her now. Come on, Olivia, Stop thinking about him. Think about . . . Think about your job, the FBI...

Peter looked at Olivia, seeing her flustered look. She shook her head slightly, as if trying to rid her mind of her thoughts of Peter.

Olivia took several swigs of her new beer, washing away her frustration as the pretty bartender continued to flirt with Peter. But Peter, for some reason, didn't acknowledge her presence.

"You know that girl was hitting on you for most of the night?" Olivia asked as they walked back to the car.

"Yeah, I know."

Olivia was confessed, usually Peter would grab their number, or talk to them, but tonight, he paid complete attention to Olivia, not caring for the girl.

"I already my eye on someone."

Olivia felt her heart fall, Oh. I wonder who? Oh god if it's Rachel . . . At least he is better then Greg.

Peter was saddened by her thoughts. He wanted so badly to tell her. But he knew that she would close up, build walls around herself. Protect herself from getting hurt, like John did to her. He knew that she would ran away from it. She always did.

Peter decided not to tell Olivia, or Walter that he could read Olivia's mind. One, she would kill him if she knew what he had heard, and two, it would give him the chance to get to know her a little better. The Olivia Dunham that had locked herself behind walls and barriers, hidden away.