Hey All, So this is a one-shot for a plot bunny I couldn't kill. It has potential to be more if you all like it, so let me know.
~LillianResolve
The first thing you need to know is that I ran away from home when I was 15. My father had just left us and my mother, little brother, and my father's partner were all being transferred into WITSEC and I didn't want to be Julianne Brooks. I didn't want to have to lie to everyone about who I was, so I ran. I changed my last name and ended up in New York like any runaway worth their salt. I ran small street cons to make money and lived in an abandoned apartment in the Bronx. I did okay for myself. I got my GED and met a wonderful woman named Stephanie and her daughter Jessica and they introduced me to art and music and fine food. Stephanie encouraged me to go to college and make something of myself and that's what I did.
The second thing you need to know is that none of that mattered until just now. No one knew where I was from or what high school I went to. My husband knows enough to know not to ask and everyone else in my life just accepts me as I am. No questions asked.
Right now, though. It matters very much because my father is standing in my door way looking at me like I'm a ghost with my husband and his partner/best friend behind him.
"Lizzie…Wha…" My father gasps at me. Shit. Not good. Why the fuck is he here? Why is he with Peter and Neal? Do they know? Fuck.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" I ask with my most polite smile. The one I use on clients that Mozzie says could get me past any security guard in the city.
James closes his mouth, and clenches his jaw. "No, I don't think so. I'm sorry, you look remarkably like someone I used to know. We called her Lizzy"
I laugh lightly and look around, "No Lizzys here, just plain old Elizabeth. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. Please, come in. I assume you boys are bringing work home with you?" I direct the last part of this at Peter and hope he hasn't caught on to any weirdness in the last 2 minutes. Peter gives me that squinty eyed look he is always giving Neal but says "Yeah hon. This is James Bennett, he's Neal's father. We are looking into something for him."
Hold up. Hold the FUCK up. Neal's father. NEAL'S father. Neal's FATHER! No. Just No. Fuck.
I guess that I had a visible moment of panic because the next thing I know Peter is dragging me up the stairs while yelling at Neal and his FATHER to have a seat at the table and get started without him. What the actual fuck. Peter sits me down on our bed and looks at me like he is expecting me to say something. It's not going to happen. If I don't speak, then I can't acknowledge this situation, and if I can't acknowledge it then it isn't happening. I am not going to be one to open this can of worms.
"El, hon, what's going on? Does James know you from somewhere?" Fuck. I can't lie to Peter. I have never lied to Peter. Not once, and I'm not going to let James fucking Bennett be the reason I start.
"Yeah…I…Do you remember how after we started dating I asked you not to ask about my past or childhood?" I look up at the man I love and hope that this doesn't send everything crashing down around me.
"Of course, and I have tried to respect that. So, you're saying you know James from your childhood?" I can tell Peter is confused. The leap I want him to make is truly improbable. This is really going to suck.
"Yeah hon. He's my dad." Like a band aid right? Get all the hurt and weirdness out first.
Peter just stares at me with his eyes wide. I can physically see him resist the urge to pinch his nose like he does at Neal.
"Honey, you're gonna have to expand on that. I'm not sure I follow how that is even possible. That would mean that Neal –"
"Don't say it! I can't deal with that yet." We are both panicking now. This is not good. Peter takes a few deep breathes and sits down next to me on the bed and takes my hand. "Okay, hon, just start at the beginning, okay."
And I do. I tell him about growing up with James and how I was never sure where I stood with him. He had always wanted a boy and instead he got me. I told him about my mom and my Aunt Ellen. I told him about finding out that my dad was a dirty cop and going into WITSEC and running away. I told him about street cons and meeting Stephanie, my savior, and Jessica, my "sister" who now lives upstate. I told him about how much it hurt to know that I would never get to see my little brother grow up and that he probably wouldn't remember me once he had. I told him everything I had refused to acknowledge for so long and Peter just held my hand through all of it.
"Wow, El, just wow." He says once it's over. I don't know how long it's been since we came upstairs but I am sure that Neal and James are feeling quite unattended to.
"Yeah...listen Peter, you have to get back downstairs, but are we okay hon?" I ask the man I married, terrified that it's not okay. That he will leave or tell me to get out. Peter leans in and kisses me and says "El, the only thing that's changed is that I now know you are even more amazing, resilient, and intelligent then I thought you were"
I love this man. I kiss him hard and take a deep breath. With him I can deal with anything.
"You can say it now"
Peter laughs. "Alright hon. Neal is your brother. Are you gonna be okay with that?"
"I honestly have no idea. Are you gonna be okay with that?"
"I honestly have no idea" And with that Peter and I stand and walk downstairs together because together we can handle anything.