Peter Gabriel Kemp (father_peter) wrote in darker_london, @ 2019-06-18 16:18:00 |
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Current mood: | crappy |
Reunion (Peter, Aly) [Backdated - happened two weeks agoish]
It had taken far longer than anyone had anticipated - a week and a half - for Peter to be able to get out of his hospital bed. Whether it was all physical, or some of it was just not wanting to face the reality that something in his wife's head had made her beat the shit out of him though was up in the air really.
But he did have to face it.
Aly was still being held in the secure unit of the hospital, both on Peter's request as well as her own. No one knew when Padraig could surface again. Sure Aly had been herself since waking up after being tranqed by Thomas, but maybe that was Padraig's game here. He could lie beneath the surface until Aly had their trust again, and then resurface and unleash all hell.
The fact that Peter had a tranq gun on him when he went to visit his wife for the first time in ten days was something he wished he could drink about for the next goddamn year. He wanted to be numb, but instead he felt guilty and hurt all at once.
He let himself into Aly's room and the moment he saw her there, stretched out on her bed, reading, his stomach shriveled up in fear. Dear god, this was not what he was supposed to feel when being reunited with his wife! "Aly," he said gently, though he hovered near the door.
Aly looked up, instantly abandoning the book. She did not, however, jump up to greet him. She stayed where she was on the bed, watching him. No, the way her eyes travelled over him meant she was looking him over. Assessing the damage. She looked more guilty than he had ever seen, and she said nothing which Peter didn't think was entirely fair. Why did he have to think of what to say first?! He had two broken ribs and a broken face!
"It's...not as bad as it looks?" he tried, though it was both a lie, and pretty pathetic.
"Oh, Peter-" Aly choked up then, her hand slammed over her mouth to keep from crying. It did not work. And though every single cell in his body was screaming at him to go to his wife while she sat there, tear streaming down her face, he stayed where he was.
"Aly, please- It's- It wasn't you," he said, feeling he needed to defend her, even to herself. "I know it wasn't you." Not that that made what he had to say any easier. "But I-" His sigh then was heavy, his palms sweaty, his heart breaking. "I can't let you- Aly you can't come home until-"
"Until David's gone," she said, her hand falling to the mattress. "I know."
Peter swallowed against the lump forming in his own throat, his voice thick, "-the kids-"
"I know," Aly breathed. "Peter, please. Can I- Will you please hug me?"
Peter's lip instantly found it's way between Peter's teeth as he considered that. He wanted to hold Aly more than anything but what if it was a trap? She couldn't kill him, sure, but he was fairly sure if he had to watch her beautiful face twisted in hate, bearing down on him, he was going to wish she could. "I'm...afraid," he admitted. Peter Kemp who had locked himself in a room with a demonic Deirdre to save her, who faced the Templar numerous times even after they had tortured him for weeks, who risked his life to help people nearly every day, was afraid to hold his wife. "I'm sorry-"
"You have nothing to be sorry about, Peter," Aly's voice was firm and strong now, not guilty and unsure, and Peter had a feeling he knew why.
"D-David?"
"I'm so sorry, man. You have to send me on, just- Don't make it Lavannah? She shouldn't have to do this," David stated easily enough. As if sending him out of his sister's head and on to the Beyond was just an everyday task.
"I hate this," Peter said ruefully. "I don't want you to go-"
"No, you need me to go. I can come back, Peter. It's different, but- We'll be okay."
It was true. Once David was in the Beyond, they could bring him back like they did Mary. Like they had done for Thomas. But Peter had gotten used to his best friend being there all the time. And Aly had gotten used to being an angel. Things had been going so well.
Until they weren't.
"Matt can do it," Peter reassured David. Lavannah, David's sort of daughter, wouldn't have to be anywhere near it. "And we'll bring you back. All the time. William wouldn't have it any other way."
When Aly spoke again, it was clearly her in control again, "I want to do it, Peter. I don't want to put our kids in danger. I don't want to put you in danger."
Peter leaned up off the wall, his entire body shaking with fear. But goddammit, Aly looked so sad and he couldn't stand it anymore. "I love you," he breathed, slowly closing the distance between them. He was grateful when Aly didn't move to reciprocate. She let him come to her in his own time. "Just...you keep Padraig under control there." Not that it had been Aly's choice to do otherwise.
When he reached her, it was like magnetism. He gave up his careful approach entirely, and wasn't that just typical of Peter Kemp all over? His arms looped around her, pulling her close so he could bury his face - carefully - in her hair. "God, I- I miss you so much," he breathed against her.
He felt Aly melt against him, her tense muscles relaxing. Her arms snaked around his body, though she didn't hold him tightly for fear of hurting him more than he already was. "I'm so relieved you came. I- I kept worrying you never would."
"Aly, no. That's- If I abandoned people the first time they beat me up, every single person in his hospital would be gone," he said, though as far as jokes and reassurance went, it wasn't great at either. "It's going to be okay. We are going to be okay. I know you would never hurt me if you could help it. This isn't- I know it wasn't you. Are you okay here? Are they being kind? Are you hungry at all?" It was a ridiculous question, as everyone in Peter's hospital was very well catered for, but he had connotations with captivity and he hated seeing his wife locked up, even if he was the one doing it.
"I'm fine, Peter. Just- I miss you all. I want this over with. I want to come home."
It was a relief to Peter to hear that Aly was agreeable to David moving on, because if she hadn't been, he honestly didn't know what he would have done. But she was, and they could take care of this and move forward. "I want you home too. I'll make some calls, Aly. We'll get it done."