Hi there!!! One month away at camp (best month of my life :D) and now my muse is back and fired up!!! So I decided to finish Pebbles for you guys, because I owe it to you... REALLY owe it!!

Please do enjoy this chapter, I'm quite fond of how it turned out!

Disclaimer: Don't own it. Still haven't accepted the fact, but will I ever? I think not. :P

“So wait… you said you loved him, and then he didn’t say anything back?!”

Olivia shook her head for what must have been the billionth time in the last ten minutes and sat down opposite Rachel.

“I said that I thought I loved him, and then he told me that he already knew, and then…” she shrugged. “We just sat for a bit and talked for a few minutes until Broyles called us in and… yeah, we kind of left off there.”

Rachel’s jaw dropped precariously closer to the ground. “And you left off there?”

“Yeah... so?” Olivia was beginning to squirm under her sister’s gaze. “The case was a big one, and we didn’t really have time to talk about anything non-case related… but it was different.” She smiled fondly at the day’s blur of memories that, for once, had nothing to do with a case. It was the first time she could recall thinking about a full workday and not struggle to suppress grotesque and deeply disturbing images. Instead, she saw Peter handing her a manila folder; Peter grinning and grabbing the keys to the Vista Cruiser; Peter leaning against the counter with a cup of strong coffee in his hand, firing her a smile and rolling his eyes while Walter rambled on using big words that she knew he understood but chose to ignore anyways. “There just isn’t that much to say between us, I know it’s weird, but there isn’t really that much to discuss. Everything just feels mutual.”

Rachel still seemed to be struggling with her sister’s reasoning. She shook her head as if to clear it, and then smiled and rested her head on her palms, elbows planted on her knees. “Well if I didn’t know better, it sounds like you’ve completely fallen for him!”

“And what if I have?” Olivia mused out loud. The response visibly shocked Rachel, and Olivia found that she too was taken aback at her own words. Have I really fallen that hard? For Peter?

“Holy crap you have!” Rachel slumped forward and rested her head against her knees, giggles shaking her body. Her head snapped back up and a peal of laughter escaped her lips. “Oh ‘Liv…” she crossed the space between them and enveloped her sister in a tight embrace. “The last time you were even close to this level of love-related insanity was when that guy you liked asked you out in junior high… what was his name again?”

Olivia smiled over her sister’s shoulder. “It was high school, and his name was Patrick.”

“Patrick, right!” Rachel grinned again and pulled back, hands on her sister’s shoulders.

“And, for the record,” Olivia added, “This is nothing like what happened with Patrick. This… I don’t know. This is something completely different, I guess. I mean, it’s the oddest relationship I’ve ever had with a guy… I might’ve fallen for him, and at the same time, it feels like we could carry on as friends… or kind of friends, like it’s something more but not to the level of dating or anything serious… I’m not making any sense right now, am I?”

“You know what?” Rachel asked, a sudden spark in her eye that momentarily worried Olivia. “I think that it sounds meaningful and sincere in a strange way, but I’d reckon that Peter would appreciate hearing it more than I would.”

“Like I said, there’s not too much to say between us these days… but I think you might be right.”

Rachel beamed. Olivia shot her a look, but couldn’t keep a straight face and cracked a smile. Yes, she would talk to Peter, and, this time, she wasn’t at all worried about it. There was no driving need to make a point clear or prove anything to him. They were just going to talk, and then she would go from there.

X

The door opened into the Harvard lab with the familiar pattern of creaks that had become so well known to Olivia that she could predict which pitch occurred when in the sequence. She smiled to herself. It only proved that she’d been in this room too many times to count.

The room was quiet, save for the gentle hums of machines and contraptions of Walter’s making that comforted her. Then she spotted Peter sitting on the couch; feet propped up, a massive book in his hands. Olivia dropped her coat on the metal railing that descended into the deepest section of the lab and made her way to Peter. He noticed her and grinned, holding up the book.

Olivia smiled back. “The Da Vinci Code?”

He shrugged. “I thought it looked interesting, and wait, let me guess, you’ve already read it?”

“Correct, as per usual,” she confirmed, coming to sit beside him on the couch.

“So I trust that you know what I mean when I say that Dan Browne is a bit of a literary genius?”

“Completely,” Olivia’s smile widened. “Where is everyone?”

Peter jerked his thumb at the door. “Astrid took Walter on a field trip to get us some decent Thai food for dinner. The week-or-so-old box in the mini fridge is growing things that are even scaring Walter.”

Olivia laughed quietly to herself, not missing the gentle smile that graced Peter’s features when she did.

Silence ensued for a few seconds, a few seconds in which Peter picked up on her vibe as easily as if it were written before him in black and white. “You came to tell me something.”

It was a statement that didn’t need her verification. “I did… I just wanted to let you know… that I don’t really expect you to do or say anything else after, um, this morning, I don’t know how much else there is to say anyways… and I’m good. Really, really, good. We’re good, right? You… you just make me feel… ok. No matter what. And… now you think I’m crazy.”

The last part was added on account of Peter’s quizzical facial expression. Olivia bit her lip, wondering what he would say.

“Well, quite on the contrary Olivia, I know that you’re not crazy, and I think you made perfect sense.”

“I did?”

Peter nodded, that boyish grin growing ever more appealing to the eye. He inched closer to her, shifting on the couch so that he could actually face her. “Would it make you feel better if I said that I have no better idea of what kind of weird, messed up relationship we’ve got than you do?”

Olivia laughed again. “Just a bit, it would.”

“See? We’re on the same page here,” Peter gently prodded her shoulder for emphasis. “From what I can gather, you’re telling me that you know that you have no idea how you really feel about me. Still on the right track?”

“Yeah…” Olivia watched, amazed, as he began to spell things out for her, things that she knew in her core, but was at a loss to articulate.

Peter continued, his voice gaining in momentum as he dug deeper and deeper. “You also know that you see me more than just a friend, but you’re not sure if that fact determines that you want to be involved in a full-on relationship.”

Olivia nodded, her throat unexpectedly dry. She couldn’t have spoken a word even if she’d had the smallest ounce of faith in her vocal chords.

“And finally,” Peter grinned at her and held up a third finger to exaggerate his third point, “You’re comfortable with the way things are, no more, no less. It balances out the working atmosphere for you. You see me every day, and you don’t have to feel awkward about it. At the same time, any deeper feelings you may have are still there, and don’t have to be buried, but they aren’t exactly out in the open either. The balance that is created is a place that you can find comfort in and be able to function in without worrying about too many repercussions and consequences from quite possibly falling for a guy who is like nothing like anything else you’ve ever known before.”

He spoke the last word and a silence rung through the air that made the hair on the nape of her neck stand up and a chill shoot down her spine.

“Olivia?” Peter touched her shoulder with his hand. “Are you ok? You look a bit pale.”

She blinked a few times and shook her head. “I… I don’t know. That was… frighteningly accurate.”

Peter smiled slightly, amused. “I wasn’t kidding when I said that you were making perfect sense. It just wasn’t in the way that you thought.”

“Yeah, no freaking kidding,” she breathed shakily. His hand was suddenly resting against her cheek and tilting it upwards until their eyes met.

“Sorry if that freaked you out a bit.”

Olivia didn’t know how to respond, so she just giggled uncontrollably. “I don’t even know what to say to that!”

Peter laughed too. “Whatever you do, just don’t pass out on me. The color still hasn’t returned to your cheeks.”

“No promises…” she said quietly, almost to herself. Peter nodded and, seemingly convinced that she wouldn’t keel over, removed his hand from her face.

“So now that we know all about you, and that you are in a good place right now, and that you have a balance that’s comfortable and such, then I guess that it would only be fair to give you a hint of what’s going on with me.”

“Definitely fair enough.” Olivia grinned. He returned it and, before she knew what was happening, Peter had gathered her up in his arms and was kissing her. Really kissing her. One of those kisses that takes your breath away and leaves you light-headed and stunned from the sheer intensity of it.

“There,” he said softly when they slowly drew apart. “That’s how I feel…. But don’t get me wrong, your balance… it’s nice. Just thought I would level the playing field. You kiss me, confess something big, and then I just get off easy? I don’t think so! So there. We’ve both shared, and now… we sink into that balance.”

“Yes. A… balance.” Olivia managed to reaffirm, her eyes still wide from Peter’s soul searching and that damn kiss.

“Our balance.”

“Yeah… our balance.” A giggle escaped Olivia’s lips and became contagious. Soon, she and Peter were both in stitches laughing at nothing more than the utter and total insanity of their situation. Tears welled up in Olivia’s eyes, but she didn’t care. The weights she had been carrying around with her were gone. There was no more landslide trying to bring her down, no avalanche that tried to bury her at every opportunity that came along the way. There wasn’t even a mountain anymore. Just a flat, ongoing road, the sun on her back, and a warm, gentle hand on her shoulder. She was laughing so hard that she didn’t notice that Peter was attempting to shake her out of her fit to no avail. However, she did stop when the image of Walter and Astrid, blurred by her tears of mirth, appeared in her vision. Still chortling, Olivia realized with a shock that she was lying sprawled out and fully up against Peter on the couch, which wouldn’t have mattered if it was just the two of them… but Walter looked so funny with his confused expression and an armful of small white boxes, all of which radiated delicious aromas of various types of Thai cuisine. It was too much, and she was gone again, laughing until the tears spilled over her cheeks and her sides ached from the effort. Somewhere in her glee, Olivia noticed that Peter was still laughing with her and that he was still her acting pillow on the couch. It was a solid five minutes before she could get a hold of herself and, with Peter’s help, pull herself into a sitting position on the couch.

“My goodness, miss Dunham, what manner of liquor did my son provide you with? I haven’t seen a woman that drunk since that summer in – ”

“Don’t want to know!” Peter, Olivia and Astrid all chimed in unison.

Walter shrugged indignantly. “Very well. But I still wish to know what exactly Peter has done to you to bring out this new side of your personality, Olivia. Do you know what? You’re like an onion! Yes! You never know what the next layer will be until you peel it off.”

Even Astrid was struggling to keep a straight face as they set out the food around the small coffee table.

Dinner passed with more laughs than had ever been heard out of both Olivia and Peter, but especially Olivia. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so good. Genuinely good, and purely happy. At quarter past ten, they finally wrapped things up and Peter sent some of the Thai back to the hotel with Walter, after begging Astrid to drop him off on her way home. She had obliged with a knowing smile and made no further comments or questions surrounding the matter.

Peter drove Olivia home in the Cruiser and walked her to the door as per usual. They had fallen into a routine at night by now. Olivia would check on Rachel and Ella (not that it was really necessary anymore) and go and get changed while Peter hid his coat and cell phone (not that that was necessary either). So now it was just Olivia going to change while Peter waited. She appeared in the doorway a moment later, looking practically radiant in nothing but a tank top and pajama pants.

“Oh!” She exclaimed, “I forgot about the extra Thai…”

“Hey, I got it,” Peter held up a hand and she stopped. “It’s ok, I know where everything is, including the Tupperware!” He added hastily, stopping Olivia from reminding him before the words could even come out of her mouth. “Don’t worry, ‘Liv, I got it covered. Go crawl into bed, I’ll be right there.”

“Ok, I trust you in my kitchen… I guess.” She teased him and disappeared into the master bedroom in a whoosh of blonde hair. Peter chuckled as he set about putting the food away in a fashion that would actually help it last for a few days, as opposed to sitting open and unprotected on the counter.

Not ten minutes later, Peter had completed his task, and, smelling strongly of Thai and a mixture of pungent spices, made his way into the bedroom. The light was already off, and he expected her to shuffle over when he sat on the side of the bed, but to his utmost surprise, Olivia was already sound asleep. He frowned in shock. She’d been able to fall asleep without him for the first time since that day with Nick and the moments they’d shared in hospital corridors. Peter smiled and carefully slipped in beside her, front to front, just like that first night they’d spent together. Light and shadow threw patterns across her face and Peter inched closer, just so he could look at her gorgeousness as close-up as possible. Olivia really was beautiful, even more so in sleep. Peter smiled and stroked the strands of hair that cascaded across her face like a tangle of spider webs and tucked them behind her ear. His arm tucked itself around her midsection and his legs interlaced with hers until they were just a tangle of flannel fabric. Pulling Olivia close, Peter whispered softly and gently, his lips grazing hers as he spoke, “I think I love you too.”

There we go folks, I believe that's the end!!! I might do an epilogue but I dunno.... i like the way it ends here. an epilogue might ruin it.

Thank you to all of you for reading my fic, an even bigger thank you to those who reviewed, and the biggest possible thank you mixed with cyber cookies for those of you who have stuck by me and this fic even though its taken months to write!!! You guys really are the best, and your kind, sweet words are my motivation :)

xoxo