darker_london | [Backstory] The Katherine Saga Part 10 (Peter, David, Liz)

Peter's experience with the drugs that Katherine had given him had put him off wanting to be adventurous again any time in the near future. To be truthful, it had sort of put him off Katherine. He hadn't spoken to her since she'd left his guesthouse after he'd vomited for the third time. Apparently she didn't find vomit half as pretty when it was all over her. Picky.

Lying on the sofa with a wet washcloth on his forehead that had long gone dry seemed about all Peter was capable of doing. He didn't want to move. Every time he did, he remembered the sickening feeling of the room refusing to stop it's spinning and he felt violently ill. The knock that sounded at his door cut right through his head and he could only give a vague sort of grunt as a response. He was expecting it would be Katherine, but it wasn't. It was his sister's fiance, David. David let himself in and he stepped over to Peter, peering down at him with raised eyebrows. Finally he concluded, "You look like shite."

Peter squinted up at him. "D'ja just come to tell me that?"

"No, but it seemed important to get across." David said, putting his fingers through his beltloops. "What have you been doing up here, Peter? Your sister's worried sick, but she refuses to help you because 'he got himself into this situation by dating that harpy' or something like that, I believe. Why do you have a dry cloth on your head?"

"It has ceased being useful. But once it was not." Peter sort of half mumbled. He was trying to say it hadn't always been dry, but his brain wasn't working.

David looked confused. "Is that one of your monk's proverbs? Because I have ceased to understand those. And never did."

Peter laughed once and then looked pained. "Ow. Stupid brains. And I don't know any proverbs."

"Do you even have any food in here, Peter?" David asked, going over to the fridge. He opened it experimentally and shook his head at the emptiness inside. "You have mustard."

"And ice!" Peter shot back, as if that made it all better.

David laughed. "If you try to serve me a mustard smoothie, I'm leaving." Then he gave Peter a sympathetic look. "Why don't you come inside the house and let your sister take care of you?"

"'Cause he hates me!" Peter moaned.

"Peter, your sister does not hate you. She loves you. She just happens to think you're being rather a tool."

"I'm not...entirely sure I disagree." Peter admitted grudgingly. He offered his hand to David who helped him up. The drag cloth fell off his head and onto the floor. "Yeah well...I can get that later. If I bend over, my head might fall off."

"Right. And I'm not in the mood to see you headless." David kept hold of Peter who seemed to find it easier to ignore the feelings of motion sickness when there was someone keeping him still. They made their way out of the guest house and back into the main house where Peter's sister Liz immediately emerged from the kitchen to the entrance hall to commence her fussing. David beat a hasty retreat. Peter was the one being fussed over, not him!

"Oh, Peter, you look horrible!"

"Everyone's been saying that." Peter said miserably.

"Come sit down." Liz pulled him into the kitchen and seated him at the breakfast nook. Mercifully, she didn't lecture him. Instead, she fetched him some tea and started to prepare some soup, since he looked like he could use a good feed. "Have you been okay, Peter?" She eventually prodded.

"Yeah fine."

Liz turned to look at him. "You know I'm aware that you're lying to me, right?"

Peter just nodded his head slowly. "Yeah."

"Did erm...are you still with...Katherine?" Liz turned back to preparing the soup so he didn't have to see her hopeful expression. Nothing would make her happier than if Peter dumped Katherine and moved on.

"I don't...I don't know." Peter didn't really wish to elaborate the circumstances, but he at least wanted Liz to know he was beginning to realise that she might have been right about Katherine all along. "I erm...I think you..you might have had sort of the right idea about her. I mean she's...she's sort of...demanding."

Liz turned and she actually smiled at him. Peter didn't realise how much he had missed the support of his sister. That smile did a lot in making him feel better. "Well I'm demanding, Peter. Is she...mean to you?"

Peter thought about that. "No. It's not that. I'm just sort of...realising we're different." And then he said the words Liz was dreading. "Maybe we can work it out..."

"Er...maybe." Liz wished she could send Peter straight back to the guest house until he realised that Katherine was a manipulative bitch, but he had the right to make his decisions. And seeing him now only made her realise that he was going to be much worse off if she didn't look out for him during all this. "Here." She said, placing some soup in front of him. "You should eat that.

"Eugh." Peter looked distressed. "I don't feel well, Liz."

"Yeah, well, that's probably because you haven't eaten anything, you knobend." But it was said with affection. She stood beside him and kissed his head. "Peter...you don't have to stay out in the guest house all the time. You can...I'd like it if you came in here. You know...for meals and to visit. I miss you."

Peter stared at his reflection in the soup. "I do look like shite." He cleared his throat. "And erm...I miss you too." Liz figured that was as much of a reconciliation as they could have with Peter half out of his mind. They could talk about the rest later. For now she just sat beside him in comfortable silence so he didn't have to be alone anymore.