darker_london | That's Peter and Thomas for you (Peter, Thomas oddly enough)

The absolute first thing Peter had done upon returning to London, was visit his family. He hugged and kissed his children and his wife, and he sat down with them while Abby made sure he was okay physically. You could have house calls when you owned a hospital and your friend was a doctor. Peter was beyond relieved to be home and he wanted to curl up with Aly and go to sleep, but there was someone else he needed to visit too.

Thomas had been asleep when he felt his bed moving. He opened his eyes slowly, expecting it to be Spectre or Mary, but when he saw it was Peter, the first thing he noticed was that his heart rate increased and it seemed like it was trying to leap into his throat. "Peter!" He cried out happily, his voice crackling from sleep. His best friend was here. His best friend who had given up his immortality to give Thomas life... No one had actually brought up how amazingly selfless that was. How incredible Peter was. But Thomas saw it. "Peter." Thomas repeated again, as Peter smiled and crawled up beside him, curling up at Thomas's side.

"You look like shit." Peter informed his best friend, and then he leaned forward to kiss Thomas's forehead.

"Then we match." Thomas responded, wrapping his arms around Peter. "Thank everything you're okay."

"Thank Mirela, actually." Peter said with a smile. "She's the angel we went to help. She ended up helping me just as much as I helped her. She kept me from a rather grisly end." Actually, Mirela had kept Peter from suffering the same end Thomas had suffered when he had died. Which would have been terrible for Thomas to go through, knowing his best friend had given up his immortality in order to grant Thomas life, only to die the same way he'd gone out. It was like bad poetry. "I hear you haven't had it so easy." Peter said gently. "You okay?"

"I am now." Thomas leaned his head against the top of Peter's. "Now that you're safe. I was sick but I'll get better. I have a damn cold now, which is annoying. But you know...nothing like being tortured by demons..." Thomas's grip on Peter increased slightly then, but not enough to hurt him.

"I'll get better too, Thomas." Peter smiled and then he moved so he could look at Thomas. "You're here now. You're really here."

"I'm really here." Thomas grinned.

All at once Peter, who was a little girl at heart, started to sob. He buried his face in Thomas' chest, and Thomas patted Peter's back patiently, though he knew how Peter felt. He was unbelievably happy to be able to be with Peter all the time too. And when Peter had stopped crying, he sniffed and muttered into Thomas' chest, "thanks for not calling me a girl."

"I was just waiting until you stopped bawling..."

Peter chuckled and he moved to wipe his eyes. "That sounds about right. So you need ID and all that stuff don't you. You realise you're going to be Ashley Bigglesby on it all, right."

"Yesssss." Thomas looked annoyed. "Bloody Paul!"

"Bloody Paul who saved you from being jailed and having people check your records to find that you were deceased." 'Were' being the operative term there...

"Yeah...that bloody Paul!" Thomas smiled. "Just make sure I'm Ashley Thomas Bigglesby so it at least makes sense that people don't always refer to me by that godforsaken name. You know, I reckon giving me that name is the only mistake my mother ever made..."

Peter laughed, glad to be falling into comfortable banter. With Thomas, whatever else was going on, they knew how each other felt about it. Thomas would know how Peter felt about what he had suffered in Romania and that he would talk about it when he needed to. Thomas knew Peter would understand that he didn't necessarily want to talk about being sick, especially while he still was. So they could just be there, with each other, easy as pie. "I don't know, I think it's pretty right, if you ask me."

"That's because you're a goon." Thomas protested.

"A goon?! I am not! I am a lovable doof. They are two very different things!"

"Can you explain this difference to the uninformed? Is it readily obvious?"

Peter hesitated. "A goon is...see a doof is when you...oh bugger you, I'm not making up crap so you can mock me."

Thomas giggled and then he hugged Peter again. "It's damn good to have you back, Petunia."

"Thomas..." Peter said, over his best friend's shoulder. "Trust me when I say a big, fat ditto."