darker_london | False Sight (Peter, Lavannah, Aly, Open)

When Peter answered the door to Lavannah and David, Lavannah cast her pseudo-father a worried look. Peter had paint on his forehead and in his hair and he looked...for lack of a better word, insane. "Come in!" Peter said, his voice slightly too loud with a manic edge that made Lavannah's spirit guide incredibly uncomfortable. It made sense. Lavannah's spirit guide was Peter's dead mother. And she was worried about her son. Once she and David had been ushered inside, Lavannah glanced around and waited. "Oh right! I could take you upstairs."

"Or you know...you don't have to. I know the way." Lavannah smiled thinly. She already knew that Katherine wouldn't be up there. Katherine probably wasn't a ghost. She wouldn't have stuck around. She had had no reason to stay. Peter wasn't seeing ghosts, he was just seeing things in general, which was not a very good sign to say the least.

Aly appeared in the living room, bouncing baby Thomas in her arms. She smiled at David and Lavannah, though she remained silent. Peter looked over at her and then back to Lavannah. "No, I'll go with you." He turned to David and Aly. "We'll be right back, okay?"

Lavannah took Peter's hand as they walked up the stairs and Peter turned to her and he gave her a tired smile. "How are you feeling, Peter?" She ventured, carefully.

"Oh...worried about Katherine." Peter pushed the door to his bedroom open and he held it for Lavannah. "Other than that...I suppose I'm fine."

"What about your headaches?" Lavannah knew about headaches. You got them a lot when you couldn't block out the voices of the dead. Thank goodness for Louise who now did that for her.

"Oh they're...masked with an ever increasing dose of aspirin." Peter's smile was getting thinner by the moment. "She was in there." He pointed to the bathroom and then he hung back like a child who was telling his parents to get the spider. Or a Peter who was telling Aly to get the spider...

Lavannah walked straight into the bathroom and she looked around. There was dried red paint on the floor and in the sink, but no ghosts. Not a one. She stuck her head out. "Peter...come here."

Peter hesitated. "Do I gotta?" He didn't really like seeing the ghost of his dead first girlfriend.

"She's not in her, Peter." Lavannah reached her hand out for him and Peter took it. She pulled him into the room slowly. "Katherine's not here. I don't think she ever was."

Peter looked distraught. "But...but I saw her! I didn't make it up!"

"I don't think you did, but you weren't seeing a ghost. Unless you saw the young lady right there." Lavannah pointed to the ghost with the yellow hair, hiding in the corner. "But her name is Melanie."

Peter backed out of the bathroom and fast. "Th...there's a ghost in there? Now?"

Lavannah smiled at Melanie reassuringly. "He just doesn't understand, it's okay." And Melanie looked quite relieved. Lavannah turned back to Peter and she exited the bathroom. "You hurt her feelings."

"She's...haunting my bathroom! Did...has she seen me shower?!"

Lavannah sighed. "Peter..."

"Can you...send her on?"

"She doesn't want to go. That's not my choice to make. And usually she's in Lydia or Anna's room anyway." Lavannah explained.

"What?!" Peter's voice was incredulous.

"Peter!" Lavannah's voice was suddenly sharp and quite loud for such a small person. "Melanie is nice and your kids make her happy. She watches over them. She's hardly the only ghost here. But Katherine was not here. I think...you're seeing things. Things that aren't there..." Lavannah was uncomfortable telling him that since he'd been the first one to believe that she could see ghosts. It felt like a betrayal. Peter sighed and he sat down on the bed in defeat. "I'm sorry..."

"No. No, Lavannah, it's not your fault. Could you just...give me a moment here?"

"Yeah. Of course I can." Lavannah nodded and she gave him a quick kiss on the top of his head before running down the stairs back to David and Aly. They were waiting on the couch, cooing to the baby. "Hi..."

Aly looked up. "Did you find anything?"

After Peter's reaction to Melanie, Lavannah left her out of it. "No. Katherine's not there. She wasn't there. He's...erm...seeing things."

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"Oh, Jesus..." David murmured, and instinctively took his sister's hand. "That's... bloody hell. And you're sure? It couldn't have been one of his visions? No, that's stupid... he only has them of people who need help and she's..." He pushed his other hand through his hair. This wasn't good. Nor was trying to 'rationalise' it into something supernatural. There were too many other warning signs to justify that, especially to people who had seen this sort of thing before in William.

"Doesn't he only get those visiony things when he sleeps?" Lavannah asked with one eyebrow raised. "Either way, I'm very sure about Katherine. She's not there. It never made sense for her to be in the first place. At least that he could see." Lavannah frowned. "It could be angels, but why would they only do that? Why would it stop then. And would they even know about Katherine?"

Aly just clung to David's hand and she held on more tightly to her son. Peter couldn't have something wrong with his head like William had. It just wasn't right.

David sighed. "No... you're right. I really don't see any good reason why this could be angels." He looked to Aly, his pain for Peter written in his features, but also worry for her. They all knew Peter couldn't die, but this was still frightening. They'd seen how William suffered. If Peter had to go through that before he could finally get a reprieve... "I think it's definitely time he had that CAT scan."

Peter was walking slowly down the stairs, but he'd heard David's words. He took a deep breath and rounded the corner. "I'm not disinclined to agree with you." He glanced over at Aly who was trying not to look at him. "I promised Aly I would anyway. I uhm...washed the paint off my head." Peter pointed to his newly paint-free skin. "And I put my shoes on. I guess...we could go now." He did not look thrilled.

Lavannah spoke up, "I could watch the kids for you so you could all go. I'm good at it. And Lydia can help because she's good at it too."

"Thank you, Lavannah," David said, and squeezed her hand as he got up. Then he reached out to help his sister up as well. "Shall I let Tasha know what's going on, or... would you prefer to?" he asked Peter.

"Oh...I..I can do it. It means climbing the stairs again." Peter let out a soft groan, but he turned around and walked back up the stairs so he could knock softly on Tasha's door. Then, because he didn't want to get stabbed again, he called out, "it's Dad."

Tasha paused her game of Project Zero II and bounced herself off the bed, over to the door. "Hey Dad!" she greeted him with a smile, but that fell away as soon as she saw the expression on his face. "Oh god. What's wrong?" Her heartrate seemed to have doubled in only a second.

Peter reached out and he took hold of Tasha's arm lightly. "I have to go to hospital, Tasha. To get this...scan thing that people are so adamant about. I'm uhm...seeing things so...it seems like a good idea." Peter took a deep breath. "Do you want to come with me? Lavannah's staying here with the kids, but you can do whatever you want."

"Oh, Dad..." Tasha pulled him into a tight hug, and for a few moments it seemed as though she would never let go. "Of course I'll come with you. Absolutely." She'd already lost one father. And while she knew she couldn't lose Peter, at least not to this, she was hardly going to stand by and let him suffer without being there for him, especially when she knew how afraid he was of the CAT scan machine. "Do you need me to drive?"

"Well David and...yes." Peter had been about to say that David or Aly could, but somehow, he knew it would mean something to Tasha if she could. She'd just gotten her license and it just seemed...important to let her. "That would be really wonderful of you. Thank you, Tasha."

"It's no problem," Tasha said, and lightly stroked Peter's cheek. "Anything for you, Dad." She stepped out of the room, pulling the door shut behind her, and moved downstairs with her dad.

When they returned to the living room, Peter pointed at Tasha. "Tasha's going to drive. She's going to be James Bond..." Peter pulled his keys out of his pocket and he handed them to Tasha because there wasn't nearly enough room in her Lotus.

Aly stood and she handed the baby to Lavannah. "I rang Abby. Thomas and Robert have gone to get her in my car. They'll meet us there." She stood on her tiptoes and she kissed Peter's cheek. "I love you, Peter."

Peter sniffed and he willing himself not to fall apart. "I love you too, Aly." And then, after kissing the rest of his children goodbye, they moved outside to climb into the car.

False Sight (Peter, Lavannah, Aly, Open)

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