darker_london | Which One Are You Again? (Peter, Aly)

Peter's girls had gone to bed and so had Caleb. Peter and Aly were sitting in their room in the beach house, Peter reading and Aly writing. Peter put his book down and he leaned back against the pillows. He felt so relaxed and it was wonderful. He looked over at Aly and smiled. She was amazingly beautiful, backlit by the lap so her hair shone. After a few minutes she looked up and turned slightly red. "What?" She asked, though she knew the answer.

"You're beautiful." Peter said softly, giving her an adoring look.

Aly grinned. "You're not so bad yourself there, mister. As I was just informing my cousin in this letter of mine." She stuck out her tongue a little, cutely. She put the paper and pen down and crawled onto the bed with him.

"You were, were you?" Peter said, raising his eyebrows as she crawled into his arms. "And what did you say about me?"

"I compared you to a Greek god." Aly said, without a hint that she was joking.

Peter snorted. "What like Hephaestus? He limps you know."

Aly giggled. "He was also married to Aphrodite!" She grinned and posed.

Peter made a face. "Uh huh. And she always played mean little tricks on him and snuck off to sleep with that mongrel of a warlord Ares!"

Aly giggled. "I'd smack you for that, but you're already broken."

"Yes. Like Hephaestus!" He made a Hephaestus-like face, crossing his eyes and sticking his jaw out.

"Oh, Peter. You're too much. You are not like Hephaestus." She leaned down and kissed him lightly on the lips. "You are like...Apollo without the blatant narcissicm."

Peter chuckled. "Glad to hear it. I would say you are Athena's wisdom, Aphrodite's beauty and Artemis's resolve and strength of character. Do you think that describes you well enough?"

Aly looked incredibly pleased. "I think that one might just get you a very nice reward." Aly whispered into his ear making Peter shiver and whimper.

"Want rewards now." He said, frowning cutely.

"I want rewards now too. But I don't want you to...pop a lung or something. Again."

Peter looked horrifed. "Well....you managed to kill the mood there. Well done." And he grinned.

"I was trying to. I don't like to torture poor broken you. And it is the truth. Your poor ribs."

"Yes. My poor everything." Peter ran his hand through Aly's hair and he gazed at her. "Heh...I take it back. I'm not poor at all."

"Says the man with two broken legs and several shattered ribs."

"They'll heal. It's what they do. Come here." He said, tugging her closer by her shirt. Aly smiled and she kissed Peter deeply, running her hands through his hair and around to the back of his neck. "I love you, Aly." He whispered against her lips. It was perfect. This was perfect. His family was safe, his friends were happy, he didn't have to fear Svetlana would find them, and Thomas would be waiting for them when they got back so they could deal with Svetlana then. Everything was wonderful. Which is generally when something goes wrong.

"I love you too, William." Aly whispered as she leaned in for another kiss, and then she paused and sucked in a breath. Peter felt it hit him like a stab wound to the chest. And he would know. The pain of it showed on his face and while he recovered almost instantly, it was not fast enough to keep her from pulling away and flailing. "Oh god!" She covered her mouth with her hand. "Oh...I'm so sorry...uhm..I'm sorry-augh!" She was flustered and freaking out and the only name she could think of was William.

"Peter?" He reminded her softly. Aly covered her face with her hands and groaned so loud it sounded like a scream. "Aly...." He took her hands away from her face carefully. "It's alright."

"I didn't mean to!" She said, looking pained.

Peter bit his lip. "Aly...you calling me William's name is an honour." And it was. It meant she thought of them in similar ways. He knew how much she loved William, and to think that what she felt for Peter even approached that...that was incredible.

She looked up at him and sniffed. "But..." She shook her head. "Really?"

Peter nodded. "Really. It's okay." He smiled at her and pulled her close again. He kissed her head and smiled at her.

"Oh, Peter. You're so wonderful. I'm sorry I'm such a...something or other."

"You are an incredible, talented and beautiful woman." He kissed her again and she smiled at him. "At least you didn't call me David..." He grinned a mischevious grin and this time she really did swat him on the arm.

At least it was his good one!