darker_london | Awww Loooovveeee (Peter, Aly)

At the first chance he got, Peter had gone to visit Aly, leaving baby Thomas in the capable hands of Liz. He entered the hospital at 8:02, cursing himself because he could have been allowed in two minutes earlier. He had really missed Aly. And the second he poked his head into her hospital room, he nearly lost it right there, but he held himself together. Afterall, she was still asleep. Peter went and he sat beside her bed, scooting the chair as close to her as he possibly could.

When Aly's eyes fluttered open, the first sight she saw was her husband smiling down at her. He was holding her hand and she licked her lips and smiled back at him. The way he looked at her made her feel warm all over. Feeling his fingers entertwined with her own meant everything at that moment. "Hi." She said softly, her voice slightly raspy.

"Hello, Beautiful." Peter kissed her hand. "I brought you things. And orange jelly because you like that. And I love you. And Thomas is wonderful. He's perfect Aly. And Caleb told me to say he loves you and he'll see you after school. And Lydia and Anna send kisses. And I miss you. I...I've been waiting to tell you really a lot of things..."

Aly chuckled lightly. "I see that." She felt bad for Peter. He had been without her for a week. She knew how it felt. She'd just been sleeping and she didn't remember anything traumatising at all. They told her she'd been dead. That was a little unnerving to say the least. But she wasn't now. And that was what mattered. "I love you too, Peter. And I wish I could see Thomas. I yelled at them yesterday. They told me not to have a heart attack. And they meant it literally."

Peter frowned. "Yeah don't...don't do that again." Peter edged closer, closing the millimeters of space between the bed and the chair. "I'm sorry, Aly. I'm sorry I pushed you into inducing labour."

Aly squeezed his hand as tightly as she could. "Peter, this isn't your fault. In fact, they said if I had waited and my condition worsened, I probably wouldn't have been resuscitated. I'm just glad it's over."

Peter nodded and he put lowered his head against her hand. "I was scared, Aly."

"I can't even imagine. I'm sorry you had to go through it. But we're here on the other side. With orange jelly and a perfect baby."

Peter looked up at her and although he had tears in his eyes, he was smiling. He was just so relieved to be talking with Aly again. To have her there and responding was even more wonderful than he'd expected. He'd spent the last week on auto-pilot, forcing himself to act like everything was okay for the good of everyone else and his own sanity. And now everything was good. It was as if a huge weight had lifted off his shoulders. "He likes it when I sing to him. So I just sing most everything. Even the books we read. I...I sang him livejournal."

Aly looked terribly amused. Her husband was adorable. "Oh, Peter. Of course you did."

"And Deirdre and Renee have been staying with me. They're wonderful. Oh. And I squeezed Tasha's boob."

"You..what?"

"We were sleeping and I must have thought she was you. She says I...well whatever, she elbowed me away successfully enough." Peter smiled.

"You have the oddest stories."

"I know! I'm a dirty whore." Aly just nodded with a smirk, so Peter continued. "And your dad talked to me. He used lots of words. He came to sit with you often. So did David and Jacinta. I was here when I could be. How..how do you feel?"

"I feel okay. Tired. I slept for a week and I'm still tired. And I know once I'm not on meds I'm going to hurt, but that's alright."

"And you're not...upset or anything? You can talk to me."

"Of course I can, Darling. I'm alright though. I think everyone else is going to be far more traumatised than I am. When I was gone...I was with Robert."

Peter's eyes widened. "You were...Robert.." Robert had died so recently, and it still pained Peter to hear his name. But this was different. Aly had seen him? He'd been with her?

Aly rubbed Peter's hand with her thumb. "He's fine, Peter. Glad he doesn't have to deal with those horrible people that hurt you anymore. And he was with me until I came back. He kept me company. He told me I wasn't a 'keeper' yet."

Out of body experiences while the heart was stopped were reported by people all the time. And now Peter was starting to understand them. Robert had seen that Aly was in trouble and he'd been waiting to keep her calm until she could return to her body. "He's a good man."

Aly nodded. "He really is. Peter?"

Peter leaned forward. "Hmm?"

"Kiss me."

Peter didn't need to be asked that twice. He leaned down and caught Aly's lips with his own. When he pulled away, he caressed her cheek softly. "I'm just so glad you're-" Peter's breath caught in his throat and his wife rescued him like she always did.

"I know, Love. Me too. Now I want my jelly."