darker_london | Brothers (Thomas, Joe)

Thomas had a daughter, or close enough. A beautiful little girl he had fallen in love with right away. First glance. She had red hair, like her father. And Thomas loved her. And then, while he was still wrapped up in his baby bliss, Aly had found him in Jax's room, and explained that Peter had collapsed in the kitchen, and that there was a bleed in his brain and he was having surgery but he might never wake up.

The moment was surreal. Aly talking and crying, and Thomas holding the beautiful little girl in his arms in Jax's room of all places, hearing this. Spectre and Stephie standing over their best friend's deathbed, and Thomas hearing best friend might well be on his.

While Thomas wanted nothing more than to spend time with their new baby girl, he wouldn't have been much good at it knowing that Peter could die at any moment. So he had kissed her tiny cheek and left her with Spectre and Stephie and the hospital staff, and he had followed Aly like a zombie, back into the waiting room.

For hours, he had been there waiting for someone to be born. Now he was waiting, hoping someone wouldn't die. It was heartbreaking. Sometime later, someone had called him to let him know that Joe was coming, though Thomas couldn't for the life of him remember who had done it. And then, a lifetime later, Joe walked through the doors of the hospital and Thomas jumped up to greet him. Suddenly Thomas was ten years old again, and his older brother, just fourteen but already a superhero in his sibling's eyes, was coming to his rescue. "Joe." Thomas wrapped his arms around Joe and he hid in the larger man's shoulder. "God, Joe..."

"I know." Joe understood. Peter was Thomas' other half. They all knew that. That was why Joe had driven the two and a half hours from Bristol just to be there with him. Thomas could handle a lot of things, but he couldn't handle this. It wasn't often that Thomas needed to lean on someone stronger than he was. It wasn't often anyone was stronger than he was, but Joe fit the bill and Thomas was more than happy to turn to him. "Come on, sit down."

Thomas allowed himself to be pulled towards the seats and he felt himself lower into them. When Joe was sitting beside him, Thomas leaned against his shoulder. "I just talked to him yesterday. He said he was going to fight."

"He is." Joe reminded Thomas, as Peter was not gone yet. "He is and he will. It isn't over yet. The doctors will do their jobs now. He's in the best hands."

Thomas nodded, knowing all of that already, but it meant more to hear it from Joe's lips. It always did. "Yes. Best hands." Thomas fell silent then, and he didn't speak for the next several hours. Eventually it was Joe who broke the silence.

"Your daughter was born, Thomas?"

"She's beautiful. Stephie said Jax wanted her name to be Marie Lenore. She's not my daughter, really. She's Jax's and Charon's and none of us intend to let her go through life not knowing about them. But I already love her like she's my daughter. She has red hair like Aislinn. Like Charon. And her eyes...I love her Joe." Even in the midst of trauma, Thomas sounded enthralled.

"I know exactly how you feel." Joe said, patting Thomas' leg.

"I know you do." Thomas nodded. "Thank you for being here."

"Anytime, Thomas." Joe smiled at him and he stretched his legs a little, settling in for a long night. Really, he was just thankful his little brother was around to be here for.