Darker London-Uncover what is underneath...

Caleb was sitting on the sofa beside Peter, telling his step-father all about his school day when Klaus re-entered the Kemp family home. He had been gone for three days and part of Peter hoped that the poor man had gone back to the Beyond where he belonged. His father was dead, and he had only been brought back by Peter's angelic wife as a mistake. A mistake that should have righted itself a long time ago.

( Ow )

"Can we talk?" Klaus was hovering in Peter's doorway while Peter bounced Lauren in his arms in an attempt to quiet her down. She had spent the entire night crying again and now it was clear the tiny girl was exhausted, but refusing to sleep. Lauren was not as easy to care for as baby Thomas was.

( The Talk )

"How dare you?!" Peter yelled the second he charged into the room. Klaus hadn't even turned around yet. "How dare you insult my child!!" Anger had competely take over any fear he had in facing his father and now he was just fucking pissed off.

( Let it all out, Peter )

It wasn't Peter who answered the door, but Aly. Which, all in all, was probably for the best because Peter would have screamed and slammed the door in his dead father's face. Aly had seen a few pictures of Klaus, but not enough to remember him at first glance. Especially not when she had no reason to assume he was going to drop by. How was she to know Rolf had gone crazy and was bringing people back from the dead all willy nilly? Klaus was not someone Peter spent a lot of time talking about. He had no reason to focus on the man who had died when he was fourteen. Even before Klaus had died he hadn't been an exemplary father. So when he rang the bell and asked to see Peter, Aly simply told him to wait and she dashed up the stairs to find him. "Peter? There's a reasonably attractive older man at the door for you!"

( THIS IS NOT OKAY! )

By Friday, Peter was feeling a little better. Well enough to let Deirdre and Tasha serve him breakfast in bed, which he managed to keep down. And once he was finished with that, he reached out for the now familiar box of 'Dear Virginia' letters his mother had sent to her best friend back before she had married Peter's father. They were fascinating to read, and Peter was looking forward to another installment of them.

( Pre-wedding Jitters )

With Aly away taking care of David, Peter was left to care for Christina and sundry. They were staying in what was technically Thomas and Mary's new room, though Peter knew Thomas and Mary would never be upset that Christina was using the room to seek refuge from her shattered marriage. Peter felt terribly guilty even though he hadn't done anything, because David was his best friend outside of Thomas, and he hadn't known. David had been self-destructing and cheating on his wife, apparently for a long time, and Peter had been completely oblivious. And it had started before the tumour. Peter had no excuse. Christina didn't look like she blamed any of it on him, thankfully. Peter probably would have crumbled, had she said anything like 'how did you not know about this!?'

( Unravelling the past )

After a night where the Mara search had been fruitless, a demonic superhero had stopped a bus accident but soul-sucked Nancy and then thousands of people had lost their lives near London, it's just made sense to want the words of your mother to comfort you. Peter could have called Lavannah and asked to speak to Louise that way, but it sounded like Lavannah had enough to deal with right now. He didn't want to bother her. And, thanks to Aunty Virginia, he now had letters she had written over two decades ago. Words that were utterly Louise, without any of the tragedy that had changed her so much.

( Words of love )

December 24th, 1981

It may have been Christmas, but all was not merry in the Kemp household. Despite the immaculate decorations provided by the help, and the happily twinkling lights, blinking inanely away without a care in the world, the Kemp Manor House seemed to be the very antithesis of 'merry'.

( The Grinch )