The Gift (Peter, Aly, And then Open to Peter's House)

[father-peter.livejournal.com]

Peter and Aly's anniversary had been everything they'd been hoping it would be. Peter had surprised Aly with breakfast in bed that he didn't make. Liz had helped with that. And then they had taken a bath together...which had dissolved in to raunchiness as it always did. And when they had emerged from the bathroom, quite happy and giddy, their children had spoiled Aly with birthday presents. Aly was completely over the moon that she'd been able to have a wedding anniversary, and the fact that it was on her birthday was the best present she could ever have anticipated receiving.

When it was finally time for Peter and Aly to head out on their date, they kissed and their children, David, Christina and William...and Rosa goodbye and then they set out, hand in hand. The restaurant was lovely and Peter was just enjoying gazing at his wife from across the table. She looked absolutely incredible all lit up by candlelight. So of course, he told her. "You're beautiful." He said with a gentle smile. "So beautiful."

"Thank you!" Aly leaned down and she kissed Peter's hands.

"Always." Peter disentangled one of his hands and he reached for his pocket. "I got you lots of presents, but this one I think...this one will mean the most." He handed her a flat envelope and Aly squealed immediately. She knew what it was without even opening it.

"Oh, Peter! Thank you!" She ripped the envelope open anyway though, because she needed to know the dates. Two plane tickets to Valencia were contained within, the date about a month from now. "It's perfect. Absolutely perfect. Peter....thank you."

"Of course, Beautiful." He went to pull out the next present, but his phone rang and he pulled that out instead. He frowned, seeing the number as 'Kat's house'. "It's Kat." He said softly.

Instead of doing the typical thing and being annoyed, Aly leaned forward. "Answer it, Darling..."

Peter did so. "Kat, are you okay?"

"Er...it's Ethan actually..." Ethan said, sounding quite less than okay. "Uhm...I'm really sorry to interrupt you."

"It's Ethan." Peter explained to Aly. "That's okay, Ethan. Is something wrong?" All at once, his heart was pounding in his chest. God, if something had happened to Kat-

"Well...yes, I think so. I have no clue what's going on but...uhm...sir...Bianca's here."

Peter blinked. "What happened to Bianca?" He didn't understand. Of course Bianca was there, she lived there.

"No. No, not Bianca my daughter. Bianca Whitney."

Peter's eyes widened and he gripped Aly's hand more tightly. "Uhm...oh." His cousin. His dead cousin. He had turned white and he turned to Aly, probably the most apologetic look possible plastered across his face. "Aly. Bianca. Bianca Whitney."

Aly's eyes widened too and without Peter having to say anything, she tucked the plane tickets in to her pocket and rose from the table. "Let's go, Honey."

Peter rose too, kissing her forehead. He mouthed 'thank you' before returning to his phone conversation. "Is she okay?"

"She's...sort of as confused as we are. Do you understand this?"

"No." Peter said honestly, dropping an extraordinarily large amount of money on the table to make up for the lost business and then holding the door open so Aly could walk out in front of him. "But I can. Is she well enough to meet me at home? Or I could come get her?"

"I think the meeting you at home thing would be good.." That would give them all time to sort their heads out. "So...thank you?"

"You're welcome, Ethan." Peter hung up the phone and he blew out his breath. "There's something fishy about this. Rolf wouldn't bring Bianca back. Spectre isn't here...Rhianwyn wouldn't know how..."

Aly took Peter's arm. "Honey...we'll figure it out when we see her. And we will make it okay."

Peter nodded. God he hoped so.

Peter and Aly surprised everyone when they arrived home early, but that wasn't the biggest shock in store. Aly went immediately to David's side and Peter glanced at his children, wondering if it was really okay for them to see Bianca. "Uhm...Rosa? Could you take the kids upstairs please?"

"OKAY!" Rosa said happily.

"They can watch a movie or something..."

Rosa nodded. "Good movie for kids!" And she bundled the kids upstairs, leaving the rest of them alone in the living room.

Comments

[whichdoctor.livejournal.com]

David wrapped his arms around his little sister, while Tasha drifted towards Peter. "What's going on?" David asked of the couple. Something had clearly gone awry to bring them home so early.

Christina looked afraid, but also like she was attempting to hide it. William squirmed a little in her arms, but she settled him down again. "Should I take William away as well...?" If anyone or anything dangerous was coming here, she wanted her son as far away as possible. But if that was the case, where was Allanah? Already preparing to intercept?

[father-peter.livejournal.com]

Peter shook his head firmly. "No, that's not necessary. It's just...Ethan rang me while we were at dinner." Peter ran his hands through his hair. "He says Bianca Whitney turned up at their apartment. And uhm...he's not sure how or why. Not that I blame him in the least."

[empress-tasha.livejournal.com]

"Oh god." Though it was no threat to William, Christina's hold on the baby tightened anyway. "How- well no, you wouldn't know yet. Sorry. That's..." She shook her head. It was a lot of things, and none of them alone could sum it up.

Tasha's breath caught, and she squeezed Peter as he spoke. Bianca. Her darling friend Bianca. They'd found an understanding together that had done them both a great deal of good. Each had a lot to thank the other for, when it came to the improvements they'd made in their lives. Now she was back, for some unknown reason and purpose. Tasha didn't know what to think, though she wanted to be excited to see her.

[father-peter.livejournal.com]

Peter hugged Tasha back and Aly's grip tightened on David. "I don't know anything. I don't even know how everyone is over there...I worried about that. But they should be here soon. I..." Peter leaned against his daughter and he sighed. "I don't even know if I should let the kids see her..."

[empress-tasha.livejournal.com]

"Maybe we should just ask Bianca when she gets here?" Tasha suggested softly. Ask Bianca. The fact that it would even be possible to do so... it was mind-blowing. It was almost expected that Thomas would be here at any given moment, now. But Bianca? That was new and very, very different.

[father-peter.livejournal.com]

"Good idea..." Peter said, his voice sounding empty. Aly moved to comfort Christina, so Peter took a seat beside his best friend. "I was so busy thinking, 'make sure everyone's safe'. But fuck if I knew to watch out for this."

[whichdoctor.livejournal.com]

"I know," David agreed, and set his hand on Peter's knee. "We're all so in this world, and worried about the bodies in it. We forget that the spirit is very much vulnerable, too. I don't know that anyone ever would have thought of this. We've never really seen anything like it. Except for what Doctor Bailey did, I suppose. But that wasn't done to specifically hurt people. This is something else." It still hurt to think about what Stephen had done to him, or more particularly to Mary, but if the situation was even remotely similar, they would probably need to recall whatever helpful information they could.

[fallslike-rain.livejournal.com]

Peter sighed, but he was interrupted from his melancholy by the doorbell. He rose slowly, half wanting to charge over to it and fling it open, and half wanting to approach it cautiously. The alarm hadn't gone off, so whomever was out there was one of their own.

In the end, Peter did a sort of off half-walk, half-run and he opened the door to see his two cousins standing side by side, looking so eerily alike apart from Kat's pink hair. It probably didn't help that Bianca was wearing Kat's clothes. "B...Bianca." He'd known. But that still didn't prepare him for it. Bianca, however, wrapped her long arms around Peter tightly and then she looked at the rest of them over his shoulder, offering them a cute little wave.

"Uhm...hi."

[empress-tasha.livejournal.com]

All Tasha needed was to see Bianca's face. She charged forward much more freely than Peter had, and threw her arms around Bianca, Peter and all. "Hi," she said into the dead girl's hair.

David followed more sedately, allowing Peter and Tasha their greeting with the girl they missed so much. David hadn't known her as well, though he still considered her a friend. Not to mention that she was family now. He smiled and waved back, then hugged Kat and her babies in greeting. "Hey there, gorgeous girls."

[angels-facade.livejournal.com]

"Hi, Tasha!" Bianca said, managing to ruffle her hair, even around the big pile of people. "Or should I say Officer Tasha?"

Kat just stepped back from David after he'd hugged her. She still felt ashamed for sleeping with Thomas, and she didn't really feel like dealing with that right now. So instead of saying anything to David, she busied herself with her little girls.

[empress-tasha.livejournal.com]

Tasha laughed softly. "In about eight months," she said with a wink. "I can't wait. I'm so thrilled you were watching!" She aimed a kiss at Bianca's cheek, but managed to get mostly her hair and a bit of ear with all the enthusiastic hugging going on.

David took the hint and removed himself from Kat, instead reaching out for his wife again. He didn't want to bother Kat when she already had so much to deal with. First Thomas, now Bianca. That was far more than enough for one person.

[fallslike-rain.livejournal.com]

Bianca squealed when Tasha kissed her ear and Peter winced, looking around the room warily as if looking for the non-existent attacker. Then he looked rather sheepish and he released his hold on Bianca and Tasha. "Ahem. So...are you okay?!"

Bianca turned to look at him, her grip on Tasha releasing, but only so she could hold Tasha's hand. "I was...she tricked me. Some angel tricked me. She was blond. Really pretty. Pale blue eyes. She said she worked at your hospital so I trusted her. And she said Kali needed me so I...I went with her. And erm...she left me...on the roof of the warehouse. And I was cold."

"Oh, Sweetheart..."

Kat looked up from where she was sitting on the floor near her twin daughters. "Alessa saw her. And Ethan and Kali."

Bianca frowned. "I tried to stay put. I was there for hours...but it was the only way down and I...I was scared...I'm sorry."

"Bianca..." Peter stepped forward and he kissed his cousin's forehead. That she'd tried to stay outside in London in December just to keep herself a secret from people it might harm...that left him rather speechless indeed.

[empress-tasha.livejournal.com]

"Oh you poor, poor thing." Tasha moved her body closer to Bianca's, as though her warmth now could make up for the freezing conditions Bianca had been through. "They would have been happy to see you though, right? Even if they didn't understand... we can make this a good thing?"

[fallslike-rain.livejournal.com]

"Alessa was sort of...well she's happy now. But I'll have to go again and...that's shite for her." Bianca spared the briefest of glances at Kat, who was staring determinedly at her daughters. "And I think Kali's just confused...Ethan seemed to be the most together. He got buff, what the hell?!"

That, Kat snorted at.

[empress-tasha.livejournal.com]

"What can I say? It's a trend." Tasha flexed her own bicep for Bianca, quite impressive now under lean but healthy arms. "We have to do something to stand up to the nutcases out there. But where are our manners? Come in, sit down. Do you want food or drink, either of you?"

[ghost-within.livejournal.com]

"Anything." Bianca said because she didn't really need it. Kat shrugged.

Peter had been looking rather horrified and he turned to Bianca as she took a seat on the sofa. "Did the angel give you her name?"

"No." Bianca said, looking quite grumpy.

Peter ran his fingers through his hair again. "Blond. My hospital. Amaris made the comment on Aly's journal and we know she was looking for...it had to be Aurelia. No one else would just fuck off like that."

Aly immediately leaned against David and Christina. Aurelia was the one who had assumed the shape of her husband and beat the crap out of her. Aurelia was the reason she sometimes jumped when she saw Peter in the shadows. Not because she thought Peter would ever hurt her, but because she thought that Aurelia was back to harm her again. If Aurelia and Amaris were working together...that wasn't good. Amaris who had poisoned her and Brian, her brother, who had held something against her her entire life. It was like the trifecta of Aly hate. And, unconsciously, she started to shake.

[whichdoctor.livejournal.com]

David could feel Aly trembling, and he held her with strong hands and kissed her hair. "It's alright, sweet sister," he murmured. "We're smarter than them. We'll make everything alright."

"David's right," Christina said. "What do we have to fear from some blonde bitch who can't even get her own man?"

Tasha scuttled off and retrieved cups of tea for both Kat and Bianca. If Kat didn't want hers, that was fine, but at least it was there. She remembered Bianca liked tea, though. She even found she remembered the way the girl liked it.

[angels-facade.livejournal.com]

Aly looked back at Bianca, suddenly afraid. What if they'd let their guard down too much!? What if this wasn't really Bianca?! Sure it couldn't be Aurelia wearing someone else's face, because Peter and David would sense angel immediately. But it could just be an illusion. Right? She didn't know how they worked, specifically. "Prove you're Bianca." Aly demanded suddenly.

Bianca looked over at Aly and she bit her lip. "Er..."

"It's her." Kat finally said, looking up from her spot on the floor. "It's Bi. She called me Bonbon. And she...all of her. It's unmistakable. If you're me."

"Oh. Good then..." And Aly turned red.

[whichdoctor.livejournal.com]

"It was fair enough," David said, giving his sister a gentle squeeze, always mindful of the baby. "Things have gotten this far. We can't be too careful." He looked over to Bianca. "You've seen all the things that have happened. We even have to watch out for a spy in our midst, apparently. There's never a dull moment..."

[angels-facade.livejournal.com]

Bianca sat up straighter. "Spy? And crazy renegade angels who bring dead people back and abandon them on rooftops? Yeah...that seems to be an understatement..."

Kat sighed, but she smiled tiredly in Bianca's direction. It was so far beyond an understatement, that Kat could have laughed. But she didn't have it in her yet.