As Olivia walked back to her car in the parking lot of the bowling alley, she was surprised to hear her cell phone chirp. She wasn't technically
on active duty until next week, so she knew it couldn't be work-related. Reaching into her coat pocket and pulling out her phone, she smiled
at seeing the name "P. Bishop" as the caller ID.

"Miss me?" she teased without even saying hello.

"You have no idea. It's been months without a case and Walter is driving me insane. I'm thinking of committing myself to St. Claires."

Olivia got in her car and stared at the bowling alley sign in the parking lot thinking about how Sam Weiss drives her insane.

"Maybe I'll join you," she sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean? Everything okay?"

She sensed worry in his voice and she should have known better than to cause him to wonder for the hundredth time over these past few
months if she was really okay after everything that had happened.

"Yeah, it's just that my physical therapist is driving ME insane."

Peter laughed at first but then got serious. "He's not pushing you too hard, is he?"

"No, nothing like that. He's just really good at getting inside my head and it makes me want to kick his ass."

Peter smiled. He knew she didn't like being helped or controlled by others. "Sounds like he's doing his job, then!"

"Thanks for taking his side...So what's up?" Olivia asked, wondering why he called.

"Well, I have something for you and was wondering if I could stop by."

"Sure, but I'm not at home. I haven't had dinner. I'm starving. You want to meet somewhere?"

"How about our usual place, in about ten minutes?"

"See you there."

Their usual place was the corner bar. Ever since Olivia had been out of the hospital, Peter had been asking her out for breakfast every
Saturday morning. Olivia didn't mind going because it gave her an excuse to get out of the house since she was on medical leave and
bed rest. Peter certainly didn't mind that she accepted his invitation every weekend. It gave him the excuse to secretly keep an eye on
her recovery and be there for her if she needed anything. But as these weekend breakfasts became more of a habit, their "excuses"
faded away and they started to admit to themselves (but not to each other) that bottom line they just enjoyed each other's company
and missed working together.

Peter arrived first and ordered a drink at the bar. It wasn't long before he saw Olivia walk through the door and their eyes met.
She looked tired, but she smiled as she approached him. He noted that she seemed to be moving around easier.

"Hey! You want anything?" Peter asked her as he pointed to his drink.

"Can't yet. I'm still on one more week of pain meds."

"Bummer. Here's to one more week of pain meds." Peter lifted his glass and saluted her before taking the last gulp.

He followed her over to the nearest booth available. She noticed he was carrying a manila folder and he plopped it on the table
without saying anything about it. After placing her order with the waitress, Olivia's curiosity couldn't be contained any longer. She sat on
her hands, raised up her shoulders, pursed her lips, and stared at the folder.

"You're doing that thing again with your mouth," Peter said amusingly, watching her eyeball the folder.

"What did you bring me? A case?" Olivia asked excitedly.

"No. Well, kind of." Peter turned serious.

"What is it?"

Peter took a deep breath in and out before speaking. "Well, with you being on medical leave, I've had a lot of free time and I started to do
some digging around on my own."

"Digging around on what?"

"Olivia, I know that you're really good at bottling things up that bother you. I do the same thing sometimes, and I got to thinking that if
everything that happened with you and your step-father had happened to me, I would want some kind of closure."

"I have closure. He's dead," Olivia said flatly.

Peter looked into her eyes and gave her his famous deep penetrating gaze, the one that spoke directly to her heart. He could see right
through her charade, and she knew it.

After a moment of silence, Olivia spoke up softly. "So what's in the folder?"

"Everything I could find on James. Where he's been all this time, who he worked with, details on how he came to know about the Cortexiphan
Trials." He pushed the folder to her.

She opened the folder and scanned through the articles and various reports Peter had gathered.

"How did...I was never able to..." Olivia was stunned at the amount of information the file contained.

The waitress came back with her food. Olivia glanced at the greasy hamburger and fries and realized she wasn't hungry anymore.

Peter spoke after the waitress left. "James said something to me that night right before you shot him. He looked at me as if he recognized
me and said that I was on the wrong side, that I wasn't supposed to be here."

"You two knew each other?" Olivia asked, surprised.

"I know, weird, huh? Turns out he did a stint in Iraq, same time I was there. That's where he got the Sarin and worked on his formula for
the toxin he used on the flowers. I don't remember seeing him there, but he must have known who I was somehow."

"And the Cortexiphan Trials?"

"Your mother never knew. He signed you up all on his own. I was able to pick Walter's brain for that information. There's more..." Peter said
cautiously.

"What?"

"When the FBI went back to his hideout to clean the place up, they found a ZFT manuscript. And when Walter performed the autopsy, he found
three holes in the roof of James' mouth, and there were trace amounts of mercury in his blood."

Olivia closed the file and sat in silence.

"You okay?" Peter asked gently.

"Thank you, Peter," she said genuinely. "Thank you for doing this for me."

She threw some money down on the table from her pocket and said, "I actually have something for you. It's out in my car." She grabbed the file
and got up. Now it was Peter's turn to be curious. He furrowed his brow and followed her outside.

He waited while she fiddled around in the back seat and finally turned around to face him. She handed him a small gun case. He looked at her
questioningly.

"Open it," she said, with a smile on her face.

He cracked open the case to reveal a shiny new Glock.

"FBI standard issue. It's yours. You have an appointment at the shooting range tomorrow at 10:00 to get certified."

"Olivia...I don't know what to say..."

"I realized something while I was sitting in the hospital. I've been relying on you a lot more as we work on these cases together, and I trust you
with my life. But James almost killed me and he could have just as easily killed you. And you need to be able to protect and be protected...And I'm
sorry that I took off without you. After he shot me, I didn't think I was going to make it...but then you showed up..."

"Hey," Peter said tenderly as he lifted up one hand to caress her cheek with his thumb. "I know...I was scared too."

He took a moment longer to feel the soft skin of her face, to look deep into her now watery eyes as she tried to keep her emotions in check.
She saw such care and concern in his face that calmness swept over her. He centered her. She let out the breath that she didn't even realize she
was holding.

Peter reluctantly dropped his hand down from her face as she turned to open the driver's side door of her car.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked.

She nodded and smiled. "Yeah."

As long as I have you, she thought.

End