darker_london | Doing what he does best (Peter, Fiona, then Liz and Razvan)

It was very strange for Peter to be walking in to his childhood home again. He avoided it whenever possible, despite it being where his sister lived. He was not fond of the place. He'd found his mother hanging dead there, and then years later, he'd hung himself as well. Though that had been less lasting... Svetlana had taken the house over back when she was mad. For Peter, the place held a lot of ghosts. But he knew that Fiona and Hope were battling ghosts of their own at the moment. And while he'd never faced something quite like what Hope had faced, despite being forced to choose whether Svetlana took Caleb or his little girls away with her once...he had faced what Fiona had. Several times.

Peter stopped by to visit Hope and Tasha first, bringing by cinnamon rolls and coffee because he'd promised to bring Tasha something nice. After some polite conversation and a few moments of horrible silence, Peter moved down the hall to Fiona's room. He knocked lightly and Fiona answered almost immediately, as she'd been leaning against the wall by the door anyway. She blinked and then offered him a tiny smile for his troubles. "Hello, Fiona." Peter said gently. "Is it alright if I come in?" Fiona just nodded and she stepped away from the door, pushing over the canvas she'd been painting on as she went. It was black and nothing more and she was sick of staring at it.

Peter glanced at the painting and he frowned. "Fiona...I wanted to see how you are."

Fiona turned to face him and she bit her lip before sitting on the bed, looking quite torn.

"It's okay." Peter said soothingly, pulling up a chair. "You don't have to say anything if you don't want to." Which caused a look of relief from Fiona. "I just wanted to you know that I know a little bit about what you might be feeling." Fiona looked incredulous and Peter held up a hand, even though she was hardly about to interrupt him. "I'm not being patronizing Fiona, I promise. What I'm trying to say is that I've been in similar situations before..."

And suddenly, it didn't seem so bad to say something out loud. She hadn't until now, because that made it real. Admitting it out loud put it out there that it had happened. But if Peter had lived through it, then she wasn't alone. And she couldn't let him have that reality alone either. "You...have?" She blinked and then she shook her head. "Just...when you uhm..came back to life?" Or whatever it was he'd done. Come back from being deceptively dead? She wasn't entirely sure. Either way, he would have woken up in a coffin.

Peter shook his head like she had. "No. Well yes, but not exclusively. There were two other occasions. One wasn't a coffin per se, it was a cabinet, but I was locked in there. And the second time, I was buried alive by some religious fruitcakes who decided I was the Antichrist for some reason or another..." Peter shrugged.

And then Fiona laughed. And she laughed and laughed until she was gasping for breath and tears were streaming down her face. "Antichrist?!" She gasped, face filled with mirth. "With...horns?!" And she doubled over again as Peter watched on, looking politely amused.

"Oh, something like that, I'm sure. And you know those religious types, they can't have horny guys running about having all the fun." He winked and Fiona snorted before laughing again and flashing him a genuine smile which just melted Peter's heart.

When Fiona calmed, she looked at Peter with shining eyes and she reached for his hands, which he gave her easily. "Peter. How did you block out the darkness?" She indicated her canvas with a jerk of her head and then watched him imploringly.

"Well you know those people we surround ourselves with. Those people we know and love? They're worth an awful lot of light." Peter reached out and he tucked a lock of her bright red hair behind her ear. "You don't need to block it out, Fiona. The longer you try to do that, the more it'll consume you. That's a solitary road. Instead, fill it up with things. With all those bright shiny people. You know they won't steer you wrong. Hmm?"

Fiona nodded. "I know."

"I thought so." Peter looked thoughtful and then he grinned. "You missed out on Spain last time...why don't you come with Aly and I. We're going in about a week, just for a few days. It would get you away from here. Be a nice break. It's a beautiful place. Very good for healing the soul."

Fiona blinked. "But...but isn't that supposed to be your anniversary present to Aly?"

"Yes, but the thing about Aly is that she's a believer in that 'surround yourself with people' thing. Family trait." Peter winked. "We're not going to be alone. We're going to see her family. And to catch another Spectre concert, but don't say anything because that's a surprise. Interested? There's a museum and a beach and a-"

"Yes." Fiona said firmly. "Yes I am very interested. Thank you, Peter. Can I ask you another favour?"

A few minutes later, Peter bounced down a few of the stairs and then he got a wicked look in his eyes. He eyed the railing of the stairs for five full seconds before climbing atop it and clinging tightly until he let go and he slid down it, backwards, letting out a whoop.

Liz had been heading in to the kitchen when she caught her little brother acting like a knobend and she put one hand on her hip, a crooked smile on her face. "Oh, Peter..."

Peter grinned and he jumped off the railing as his arse hit the end of the railing, stopping his descent. "That was awesome!" Peter exclaimed, quite breathless. "I always wanted to do that, but I knew Dad would tan my hide...you should try it!" And then Peter stuck his tongue out at the ceiling. You know...just in case Klaus was watching...

"Pfft, what do you think I did with myself all the time when I lived here on my own." And she winked. "Come on, you big kid. I'll make you some tea in the kitchen. How was your talk?"

"Fantastic!" Peter said, following Liz like a little shadow, much like he had when they were growing up. "We talked about similar disturbing experiences and I made her laugh way hard."

Liz gave Peter a kiss on the cheek. "Thank you, Peter. You always were good at that. The understanding and the making people laugh. And clearly the being a complete dork too."

There was a tap at the window and Peter turned to see Razvan standing there, looking quite cold. "Speaking of dorks. I wonder if he'll come in if I tell him he has to leave his hat outside..." Peter grinned wickedly at Liz and he ran to answer the door. "Are you following me!?" He said, in place of a greeting.

"You're welcome." Razvan replied. "It's bloody cold out and I make sure no harm comes to you and I get 'are you fowwowing me?!'" Razvan repeated in a squeaky voice.

"I am quite sure I have never sounded like that. Unless someone kicked me in the balls." Razvan looked momentarily interested and Peter took a giant step back. "I wasn't asking to experiment! And thank you. For following me." Peter's smile was genuine. "Did you need anything?" Peter gestured towards the kitchen.

"Erm...no. No, actually I was uhm..." Razvan looked terribly nervous and he gave Peter a shy look. "Peter...do you think I could come to your Christmas Party?"

"Oh..." Peter blinked, but his voice was quite gentle, so Razvan wouldn't think he considered that preposterous. It sort of was, as once Razvan had held Peter captive for two weeks. In fact, he was the demon who had put Peter in that cabinet he'd talked about with Fiona. And now he wanted to come and celebrate with Peter's family. But the very fact that it was Peter's family, was what made the situation much less ludicrous. Peter considered for a moment more, and then he nodded. "Of course you can, Razvan. No one should have nowhere to go. But you have to get along with Svetlana! And don't...touch my daughter..."

"She's my cousin!" Razvan protested, as he was related to Svetlana, hence he was related to Rasputina too. "I just want to say hello."

"Okay. Don't touch her a lot..." Peter decided not to mention that Razvan did have a child of his own, because he didn't fancy getting stabbed with one of Liz's ladles. "Why don't you come in and warm up. Liz is making tea."

Razvan nodded, offering Peter a polite smiled. "Peter...thank you." Razvan looked like saying it pained him a great deal.

"Of course." Peter patted his back, trying not to make a big deal out of it, and they went back into the kitchen together.