Chapter 14:

Olivia stirred during the night. Opening her eyes she reached out, frowning when she felt the bed empty beside her. "Peter?" She rasped sitting up and glancing around. The lights were off and she climbed out of bed, carefully making her way to the hall.

The downstairs light was on and she wondered if he hadn't been able to sleep. She headed down the creaky stairs finding Peter staring at a metal device in the living room he was building.

"Peter?" She repeated, seeing his eyes shoot up realizing he hadn't heard her descent downstairs.

"Sorry, I couldn't sleep," he confessed watching as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Is that - ?"

"The machine," he nodded weakly, "it's supposed to fix the two timelines."

Olivia hesitantly stepped closer, "how does it work?"

"Well I don't think it does anything yet," Peter admitted. "I still have a few things to work out with it but it should rewrite history in a matter of speaking. My existence will be fixed and everything will go back to making sense."

"For you," Olivia stared at him. "The rest of us – our lives will change."

Peter shook his head, "only for the better. In fact if all goes according to plan the memories will blend together perfectly and the last week will exist in this new world with our old memories."

Olivia cocked an eye, "how is that possible?"

Peter smiled, "you and me happened and I'm not going to erase that part of history. Besides the machine isn't made to erase or rewrite time, merely fix the hiccup."

Olivia nodded weakly, curious to the machine she slowly approached the metal cylinder. One hand came to rest on the machine, sending a seizure through her body as she fell to the ground.

"Olivia!" Peter's eyes widened in horror. The machine hadn't even been turned on but something was happening to her. He grabbed the phone, preparing to call for help when his hand found hers watching her body instantly settle. "Olivia?" He breathed stroking her cheek watching her eyes open.

"Peter?" She rasped feeling hot and sweaty. "What happened?"

"You touched the machine and then had a seizure," he explained, "I'm not quite sure what happened." He didn't understand it. "The machine isn't even on, Olivia. In fact it shouldn't be able to power on since it doesn't have a power source yet."

She moved to sit up and Peter helped her onto the sofa, sitting down but stretching her legs out. "I saw something." She whispered glancing at him hesitantly.

"What? What is it?" He asked sitting with her on the sofa. "Olivia?"

"I don't—I don't understand it, Peter." She shook her head confused. "I killed my step-father."

"What did you see?"

"He's still alive." Her eyes were wide, her stomach knotted. "I don't understand, Peter?" She was waiting for him to explain.

"Where I come from, you shot him but he didn't die." Peter explained, "they thought he was going to die but he pulled through. You never saw him again but every year on your birthday he would leave you a card, just to let you know he was still out there." He almost wished he hadn't told her.

Olivia pulled her legs up to her chest, letting out a slight gasp. "I don't understand how I saw anything, if what you're saying is true, Peter. That there is no power source?"

He sighed, "it's not impossible that you have enough power within you to activate this device. The Cortexiphan you were given as a child, it's entirely possible that it could run the machine." He glanced at her, "I'm not suggesting or even considering that," Peter clarified. "Maybe you should, just not touch it anymore." He stood up, moving the machine and shoving it into the closet.

"I saw him, Peter. I saw him shoot me." She chewed her bottom lip. "He wants me dead, in your world and if you bring him back – he'll hurt those I love and then kill me." Never in her life had she felt so afraid. Maybe it's because she'd thought she'd put her demons aside, buried them with his body. Now though, it was all resurfacing.

Peter came back to the sofa, bending down, "you can't know that for certain. It's only one potential future." He assured her, resting his hands over hers.

"It's not the future I want," she answered adamantly. "He's dead. I don't care how you fix things but bringing him back – I will never forgive you for." Olivia stood up though slightly shaky. She ignored his presence as she headed up the stairs.

"Olivia!" He was right behind her. He knew she wanted space, probably needed it but he was worried after the seizure. The last thing he wanted was her falling down the stairs on her way back up to bed.

"Just, go away, Peter." She sighed finding her way back under the covers. "Go do whatever it is you have to do."

Peter watched her carefully. He wasn't used to seeing Olivia acting so utterly helpless. It wasn't the Olivia he knew. None of the Olivia's he'd ever met acted as frightened as she did right now. He wasn't sure if it was the fact she'd witnessed her own death or the fear of him coming back into her life. "I don't know what to do, Olivia." He confessed. "I meant it when I said I loved you. That hasn't changed." He breathed into the darkness of the bedroom. With a resigned sigh he headed downstairs, shutting off the lights before climbing back up and into bed.

Olivia felt the bed dip and turned to face Peter. The darkness seemed to be the comfort she needed as tears spilled out the corner of her eyes. "I want you to be happy, Peter. Do whatever it is you have to do."

He felt conflicted. If she was right, if that was the future he'd be returning to – Olivia's inevitable death by the hands of her step-father, it was not what he was hoping to achieve. "We'll find another way," he leaned in kissing her forehead. Peter wrapped an arm around her waist. "I love you."

"What about Walter?" She sniffled wiping her eyes before burying her face in his neck.

Peter paused thinking about her question, "I guess we have to figure out what's best for him. If he's not dreaming of this other life we all shared, then I guess that's good." He didn't need his unstable father any worse off.

"He would have told me if he were." Olivia whispered. "Though I've seen the way he sleeps lately and it isn't entirely comforting."

Peter sighed unsure what the right course of action was. Hurting those he loved was not an option but if he could make things better for Walter, it seemed almost a requirement to try. He didn't want to lose Olivia though, not again. He kissed her cheeks, feeling them slightly sticky. "There's always another way," he promised her. "Together we'll find it."

Olivia let out a heavy sigh, filled with so much heartache. "I wasn't being completely honest with what I saw." She confessed seeing his confused expression as he ran his thumb across her cheek.

"Tell me, please." He knew if she was keeping something from him, it was only because she was trying to protect him. "You saw me die?" Peter guessed.

Olivia shook her head no. "We had a child." She closed her eyes. "I was pregnant and even though I was connected to the machine for only a second," she let out a heavy breath.

"It felt like a lifetime?" Peter guessed.

Olivia nodded faintly, "it felt a lot longer. Maybe not a lifetime but – I saw things that aren't, that haven't happened yet. We were having a boy, a son," she whispered, "I don't know when, not anytime soon," she guessed, "but I was about seven or eight months pregnant and he broke into our home." She let out a heavy sigh, "it was awful." She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his neck.

"It wasn't real." Peter offered in way of an explanation. It was little comfort considering how real it felt.

Olivia nodded faintly pulling back, "I know that. I'd believe it if I knew you weren't trying to change things, Peter."

He sighed rubbing her back, trying to figure out what the right thing to do would be. Leave the world as it was? He didn't belong but here existed in this world. Or he could fix the world and jeopardize Olivia's life and the life of a child they may eventually have? The obvious answer was leave it alone but Walter wasn't well here. As much as he never thought he'd admit it to himself, he missed Walter sleeping down the hall.

Olivia spoke up, "you still don't believe I'm her." She raised an eye, running her finger along his jaw. "You think I'm another version of your Olivia." It pained her to even say it.

Peter wasn't sure what to think. She was his Olivia but she was different. It was as if they hadn't met but now they had, now the timeline was righting itself. "You're mad at me?" He was trying to understand what she was saying.

Olivia shook her head, "no. Just," she paused finding the right word, "hurt."

Peter rolled Olivia onto her back, never in his life did he want or intend on hurting her. "What can I do to make things right?" He whispered staring down at her, feeling her lips find his. "Olivia?"

"Prove it." She whispered between kisses. "Prove you love me." Her fingers ran down his back, pulling him closer and tighter. "Prove you want me," she whispered staring up at him.

He kissed her long and deep, "you're all I want," he answered her request, working his pajamas off and sliding the t-shirt she was wearing over her head and onto the floor. He stared down at her, smiling and admiring her body. "You're beautiful."

"I'm a mess," she countered with a laugh, "scrapes and scars all over my body."

His hands roamed across her stomach and up her side watching her shift beneath him growing restless. "They make you more perfect, more uniquely Olivia." He smiled seeing her expression and laughing himself. "Okay that may not have made sense but what I'm saying is," he kissed her jaw and down her neck, "you're beautiful and no amount of bumps or bruises will change the way I feel about you."

Olivia smiled, "what about bumps and bruises on you?" She tapped his head with a grin, "will you change your mind, if you forget me?"

Peter stared up at her, his mouth just above her navel, "I haven't forgotten you yet," he reminded her. It was everyone else that had forgotten him.

"Point made," she smiled pulling him back up to her level. "Kiss me," she smiled finding his lips, her fingers moving down between them touching and feeling him growing in her hand. She heard him moan and smiled as she slid him inside her warmth already growing wet from want. She craved him like no other in her life. Just the smell of his sheets was enough to stir a warmth inside her.

His lips covered hers, feeling her body quivering with each thrust. He listened to her moans, pushed harder and faster with each sound as he struggled to keep his eyes open. He wanted to see her body as she came undone. He wanted to watch her tremble and quiver beneath him. Her eyes briefly opened with a smile before her back arched and her fingers dug into his skin, pulling Peter closer. "Love you." She purred into his ear, shuddering as she clenched on finally letting go.

It wasn't but another moment and Peter had followed suit, his body lying spent and motionless above her. He didn't care if it was the moment that made her utter the words "love you," it was enough to melt his heart.

"Peter," she rasped gasping for air. Reluctantly he rolled off her body, lying there staring at her with a huge grin.

"Hmmm?" She asked seeing the look on his face before closing her eyes and letting the cool air hit her skin. It felt good.

"Satisfied?" He asked with a smirk.

Olivia rolled her eyes, nudging him with her album to his chest.

"I meant with me proving that I love you," Peter grinned leaning in kissing her lips ever so softly. "I do, Olivia. I do love you."

Smiling she bit the bottom of her lip, feeling her cheeks blush as she leaned in, stealing another kiss. "Goodnight, Peter." It was well past late. Soon the sun would be coming up but at least they could get a few hours of sleep.

"Night," he smiled pulling the covers up around them. Together they'd figure out the past and move towards a future together.

A/N: Thanks for reading and supporting my writing! I've now writing full time and have published a novel Aberrant, a Young Adult Romantic Dystopian Adventure. Be sure to check it out at