Elizabeth Eve Petrelli or Eliza as she preferred to be called sat in her doctor's office on the exam table swinging her legs back and forth as she waited for the good doctor to come back in and tell her what was wrong. Over the last six weeks something had been going on with her hearing and ever since she had come back from Africa three weeks ago it had gradually been getting worse. The problem wasn't constant but it was happening quite frequently and when it did it was like Eliza was just listening to white noise but it was enough to worry her that she had decided to go see a doctor about it. Hence the forth visit to the doctor in so many weeks since she had returned home, she had come home which was burning a massive hole in her savings which wasn't much to begin with. But her hearing was kind of important to Eliza, so she would spend what little money she did have on trying to figure out why hearing was so messed up at the moment. Eliza had been in the doctors office for several minutes now and yet there was no sigh on her doctor yet which just made her all the more anxious, patience had never been one of Eliza's strong points so sitting in this office waiting for her doctor to tell her news about her hearing was making Eliza very agitated. She just wanted this all to be over and done with and have her hearing back but right now all she could so was sit there and twiddle her thumbs until she felt a hand on her shoulder, which startled her. Looking up, Eliza saw that it was her doctor who she hadn't even heard come into the room.
"Dr. Montgomery, one moment…" Eliza said before gently patting her right ear, which allowed to her to clear her ears of the white noise temporally.
"Ms. Petrelli I've been standing here for close to five minutes are you telling me that you did not hear me once?" Dr. Montgomery, Eliza's audiologist asked with a concerned look on his face and Eliza knew that it wasn't a good sign.
"Nope not all I'm afraid." Eliza quipped with a weary smile. "So what's the diagnosis doc?"
"That's the difficult thing Ms. Petrelli because upon examination your ears appear to be fine, nothing looks wrong and there's no family history of hearing loss nor have you suffered any recent illness, head traumas or been exposed to loud noises that would explain your difficulty hearing. The test we've run so far have come back negative so I'd like to run some more tests…" Dr. Montgomery replied and Eliza just got this horrendous feeling in her stomach, this had not been the news she had been expecting to hear.
"But what if they come back negative like the others? What will happen to me and my hearing?" Eliza asked as since Dr. Montgomery had no definitive answers for her she had to ask how bad this hearing problem was going to get, despite the fact that she really didn't want to know.
"Worst case scenario? You'd probably lose your hearing completely to which I would advise to start taking classes to learn ASL and lip reading but we're hoping for the best here Ms. Petrelli. Hopefully these tests that I want to run will show us what is causing your hearing loss and we can treat it with either medication or surgery and our other option is having you fitted for a hearing aid." Dr. Montgomery explained and that new shocked Eliza into a stunned silence
Twenty minutes later and some further small talk Eliza left Dr. Montgomery's office and she made a quick detour before she headed back to the apartment where she was currently crashing at because of her current homeless situation. The second she was through the door Eliza quickly shut it behind her and went to the kitchen to grab her lucky personalized shot glass that she had received on her twenty first birthday before heading to the living room and sitting herself on the coach and pulled out the bottle of tequila that she had brought on her way back and proceeded to pour herself a shot. The first of many no doubt but Eliza really couldn't care less, all she wanted to do was drink away her sorrows. "A bit early for that don't you think Eliza? The party doesn't start for another couple of hours…"
"Not if you've just received the news that I have." Eliza replied before downing the shot as she looked to her left to see her older brother Peter standing in the large doorway that separated the living room from his bedroom.
"Dr. Montgomery, right? I thought that was tomorrow…" Peter began and Eliza just shook her head as she poured herself another shot, just thinking about what Dr. Montgomery had told her made Eliza depressed and want to drink more. "What did he say?"
"Well when I could actually hear what he was saying the words ASL, lip reading, hearing aid and complete loss of hearing were used so it's been a shit afternoon and I'm not ashamed to turn to the bottle in my time of need." Eliza wearily stated proceeding to pour herself another shot and Peter came and sat down next to her and refilled her glass. Normally Eliza wasn't one for pity parties but today was different, she was throwing herself the pity party and the only companion she needed was the tequila. "I turned twenty five last week and I should be worrying about not having plans on a Friday night or what excuse I'm going to give dad next time I run into him instead of worrying that I'm losing my hearing."
"I'm so sorry Eliza, what else did he have to say?" Peter asked as he wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulder and Eliza just sighed before drinking the shot that Peter gave to her.
"I had to have more tests depending on the results will determine what happens next, they could find the cause of this hearing loss and treat or I'm getting fitted for a hearing aid. Dr. Montgomery is hopeful but I think he's just saying that for my benefit and his check…"
"Eliza I really think you should tell the others about this especially mom and dad, I think they could help." Peter began and there was a quiet laugh on Eliza's part because of the suggestion, now she loved her brother very much as he was the most caring person she had ever met but he was deluded to think that she was going to the rest of the family for help. There was a reason that she called them all the nut job Petrelli's and that was because they were all crazy.
"No way mom will baby me about it, dad will somehow manage to place the blame on me and my time in Africa and don't even get me started on what Nathan will say…" Eliza spat in disgust, flat out rejecting Peter's suggestion that she go to the rest of her family for help about this. She had always done everything by herself without her family's help and things weren't going to start changing now. Even if she did want their help, Eliza's ego wouldn't allow her to do such a thing. Just imaging what the rest of her family would say about this entire thing just made Eliza even more depressed and made her urge to drink until she blacked out higher.
"Eliza, they are your family and they love you and I know that you don't along with dad and Nathan that much but for once could you take down then ten foot tall wall you surround yourself with and let them in? If they knew what was going on I know that they would want to help." Peter said in a reassuring and comforting manner but Eliza still shook her head, she would rather die that ask her father and Nathan for help. The last thing Eliza needed was one of them to list all her faults in an almighty lecture before giving her the typical I told you so that Eliza had been hearing most of her life.
"Sorry no can do but anyway I promise that I will be out of your hair the second I get a job and dad stops being such a hard ass and gives me access back to my trust fund." Eliza wearily replied as she poured herself another shot of tequila and quickly downed it.
"You can't really blame the guy can you Eliza? You did steal a hundred grand from him."
"Whose side are you on here Pete? I told you several times that I did no such thing Peter, our father for some reason is deluded to think that he can still control my life like he does Nathan's. You know that dad wasn't happy that I went to Dartmouth instead of staying here and going to Columbia and you remember what happened after I graduated and I told him that I wanted to go to Africa to teach English for two years? He thought he could buy me off by telling me that he'd donate a hundred grand to the Red Cross if I stayed. So I waited until dad cashed the check and then got on a plane to Africa. Technically I stole nothing, I just went behind dad's back and manipulated events and lied to him for a good reason as my independence and my choices cannot be brought Pete…" Eliza explained with a shake of her head, the whole thing with their dad was complicated but it was only because her dad had such control issues that he wouldn't let any of them do what he hadn't planned for them. Arthur Petrelli had some grand master plan for all his children but only Nathan had stuck to it, Peter had gone his own way after their father had given up with him and Eliza had fought her father at every turn, determined to live her life the way she saw fit. Eliza didn't want to have a life that her father had planned out for her. She wanted to live a life of passion, doing things that made her happy and excited her and studying business at Columbia did not fit into that.
"He only wants what's best for–" Peter began and Eliza could see where her brother was going with this as it was typical Peter behaviour to play the mediator and try to settle things and smooth it all over. Eliza loved her brother but even Peter couldn't fix this problem.
"For him and the image of this family, which is why Nathan is the prodigal son as he followed in the footsteps by becoming a lawyer but enough about dad, tonight is your night and I'm sorry for offloading my problems off on you yet again. I promise that it will come to a stop and I'll stop being so miserable and start being the fun sibling again." Eliza said as she started to change the subject as she refilled the shot glass and slid it over to Peter as whilst his graduation party didn't officially start for another couple of hours, it didn't mean that the two of them couldn't start the party early. "Congratulations Peter, I'm so proud of you!"
"Thank you Elizabeth I'm proud of you too." Peter replied as he drank his shot and Eliza couldn't help but give her brother an odd look, sure Peter was the most sane in the family but even she wouldn't be proud of herself. Here she was a twenty five year old woman, who was just over two years out of college who'd spent most of her time arguing with her parents just to live off their money. Not exactly a an achievement like Peter who had just become a nurse but then again her family were weird like that.