A\N: A huge thank you to my friend who helped me out with this chapter a lot. I hope everyone likes it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything.

Spoilers: None

Warinings: Last scene with Peter and Jack based on scenes in Law and Order SVU's 19.13 "The Undiscovered Country"

Chapter 2

Peter arrived at the hospital a little after ten o'clock the next morning. After stuffing a few clothes into a bag, he had booked a seat on the first flight out of Chicago to New York and got very little sleep in the process. He was very happy he was, thanks to years of playing professional baseball and being a lawyer able to fully concentrate on very little sleep and no food. He'd be able to understand what his father's doctors were telling him and know just how serious everything was.

"Hi," Peter approached the nurse's station in the ICU, "My names Peter Stone. I got a call last night saying my father Ben Stone was admitted at this hospital. I'd like to speak to his doctor if I'm able to," Peter spoke as he handed over his driver's licence as proof of identity.

The nurse looked at the I.D. before typing on her computer and then saying, "Yes, Mr. Stone I can page the doctor for you."

A few minutes later Peter found himself sitting in a consultation room with Dr. Collin's. "Mr. Stone," The doctor opened up a file and sighed a little, "I'm going to be very honest with you your father had a major stroke and it did serious brain damage. Unfortunately, at this point it's not about waiting for your father to wake up its about waiting for him to die. He is on pain medication as your sister didn't want him to be in pain, she and you both share POA."

"Yes," Peter nodded his head, "My sister and I haven't talked in many years, but we were both in contact with our father. We can be civil though I can assure you and won't cause a scene. May I see my father now?" He requested,

"Yes, of course," Dr. Collin's nodded his head and led Peter down a hallway and then stopped outside of a door, "Your father is in a private room, " He added, "If you have any further questions please don't hesitate to have me paged or to talk to a nurse." He said and then left.

Peter took a deep breath preparing himself for what he was going to see and then opened the door. What he found made him almost sick to his stomach. His father was almost sheet white and barely moving as monitors beeped around him. Peter had seen people in hospital before, but he had never seen anyone so weak or sick. At that moment not even his years in a courtroom could give him anything to say.

"Peter, Pam broke the silence in the room, "What are you doing here?" She stood up from the chair she was sitting in.

"Pam," Peter looked at his older sister now in her late forties and much different from the alcohol and drug addicted twenty-three-year-old Peter last saw twenty years ago.

"I don't know what you think you're doing here but I think it would be best for everyone if you left," Pam said angry tears falling out of her eyes, "I can't believe they even called you!"

"He's our father and he's-"

"No!" Pam cut Peter off, "You don't get to call him that. Not after the hell you put him through! Do you have any idea how devastated he was you never returned any of his calls or would never see him when he went to Chicago. All that guilt and sadness made him so sick and-"

"You're blaming me?" Peter ran both hands over his face and sighed, "You don't get to do that when it's your fault in the first place. If you hadn't started drinking and doing drugs, then…. The only time I ever saw Dad cry was when you ran away from home. You were out of control. Dad needed to let you go but he just had to save you because he couldn't save Mom."

"You don't know anything!" Pam yelled her voice getting louder by the minunte, "You were so young when Mom and Dad got divorced!"

"I know that if Mom hadn't been a drunk then she wouldn't have killed herself and almost killed up when she kidnapped us! I know I wouldn't trust you to look after my own son because you're just like her!"

Pam shook her head angrily and left the room in tears. "You have half an hour! Then I want you gone." She spoke in a harsh whisper as she approached her brother.

"You don't get to decide that," Peter answered angrily in return.

"I want you gone!" Pam repeated as she left the hospital room.

Peter angrily shook his head. Growing up even though Pam was four years older than he was they had always been quite close. It wasn't until Pam was a teenager that things started to go wrong. As a teenager she became addicted to alcohol and drugs and Peter had to watch as his father tried everything, he could to get her the help she needed. When she was nineteen, she ran away from home and Ben had gotten half the NYPD to look for her twenty-four seven. Four days after they found her, living with a meth addict who had decided to use Pam as a punching bag.

At that time Peter was being scouted by the best college and MLB teams in the country and had not wanted any bad media attention. He had begged his father to ship Pam off to some far away drug rehab centre, but Ben had refused. That had been only the beginning of what now seemed like pointless arguments.

"I'm sorry," Peter whispered to his father as he sat down in the chair beside the bed. "I'm so sorry," He began to cry.

As Peter sat beside his father his mind flashed with memories both good and bad. He remembered spending a day with his father at his office as a four-year-old. Looking up from his colouring he saw a blue package his father's assistant handed him he was curious about the contents and started asking questions, Ben, always wanting to help his love of the law along got him a blueback package and explained what it was, Peter then got to work writing to a judge requesting ice cream for dinner and to stay up late to watch the Met's game. Ben had then taken him to see a judge who actually let Peter argue his case and then signed off on the forum, that was the only time Peter was able to stay up past his bedtime until he was eight years old. Peter remembered going from being hurt when his father didn't show up to his baseball games to expecting it. His father had played a very important role in his life but nothing greater when he handed him an application for law school after his career ending injury. If Peter hadn't gone to law school, he wouldn't have eventually met Anna. Anna who meant everything in the world to him.

"I can't do this," Peter whispered to himself as he left the room crying. He made his way to an empty waiting area to call Anna when he heard the code and his father's room number. He made it to the room almost at the same time as Pam and they were both forced back. They paced the hallway for fifteen minutes before receiving the news. They're father had died. Pam screamed and collapsed agansit the wall and sobbed. Peter punched the wall and left.

Peter wasn't sure when she had come to sit beside him. It could have been after his fourth beer or when he decided having straight whisky was stronger. Although he was well past being drunk, he could see she was blonde and pretty and was wearing a very revealing dress. Her hand running up and down his thigh made him well aware of the fact he hadn't had sex in quite some time. He was dangerously close to doing something he knew would end his relationship with Anna.

"Peter," Jack McCoy sat down in the bar stool beside him, "Let's go," He placed a gentle hand on his arm.

"Jack," Peter slurred, "How…did…."

'This is the closest bar to the hospital. I didn't think you'd go very far." Jack told the younger man. As soon as he had heard of Ben's death he had gone to the hospital. He had stayed with Pam until her husband came and then went looking for Peter. "And I think you'd have enough to drink," He pulled the whisky glass away from him, "Come on. I'm taking you back to my apartment. You're staying in my spare bedroom."

"You can come back to my apartment," The woman whispered in Peter's ear, "And I don't have a spare bedroom."

Jack was usually good with faces and after studying the women for a few seconds he's realized he'd seen her at the courthouse. He sometimes went to see arraignment cases and he remembered her being charged with prostitution a few months ago. "I can have police officers here in two minutes," Jack turned to the woman and threatened, "I don't think that's what you want. You're out on bail, right?"

"Who are you?" The woman turned her attention to Jack.

"Someone you don't want to mess with," Jack warned, "Now get out of here!"

"Fine. He's not that good looking anyways. I have other means of making money tonight. She stood and walked out of the bar.

"Come on, let's go," Jack pulled Peter up.

The next day Peter awoke with a massive hangover and headache. He vaguely remembered what had happened and after reading Jack's note on the counter in the kitchen he made some coffee and got some breakfast before taking some Advil. He then got out his cell phone and started making the call he should have done last night.

"Peter!" Anna answered on the first ring, "You have no idea how- "

"He's dead Anna," Peter ran a hand over his face as tears spilled out of his eyes, "Last night and I…. I went to a bar and my father's friend found me so drunk I…." He couldn't continue as he broke down into sobs. "I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Pam has made it clear she doesn't want me at the funeral."

"Oh Peter," Anna wished she could be there with him, she could tell how much all of this was hurting him, "I think you need to go to your father's funeral. I know you and your sister don't get alone but you need to go. Otherwise you're never going to be able to grieve properly."

"I don't know Anna. I don't have any way of getting in contact with her even. My Dad's friend Jack McCoy he's the Manhattan D.A. I'm going to meet him now."

"That's not going to be hard?" Anna asked, "Seeing where your father worked?"

"It will be," Peter was able to gather himself enough to speak. "But I need to go and do something."

"I love you," Anna told him, "We love you. I wish I could be there with you."

Peter smiled a little, "I love you both too." He said. He ended the call and finished eating his bagel and then made his way to One Hogan Place. Getting access into the building was harder than he remembered it being. But as soon as he handed over his Driver's Licence as I.D. things became somewhat easier. He was given a visitor's badge and directed up to the trial division floor. He wondered if Jack had told the security desk he was coming, or the news of his father's death and his last name had something to do with it. In any case he took the elevator up and when he got to the floor he stepped off.

Walking back to the floor where he'd been so many times before was hard, but he told himself he had enough emotional control not to cry. Even though it had been over twenty years he somehow remembered his way to the D. A's office.

"Peter Stone," Jack came out of what would have been Ben's old office and offered him a smile, "Come in to my office. We have some things to talk about." Jack led the way into his office and shut the door. Taking a seat in his desk he motioned for Peter to sit down, "First of all how are you feeling?"

"I've been better. Unfortunately, I probably drank more on occasion during my playing days."

Jack knew Peter wouldn't be one for small talk. He hadn't seen him since he was in his late teens and he had looked like his father then, but now, Jack could easily imagine himself looking at Ben when he had first been introduced to him. Jack was six years younger than Ben and he had often gone to him for advice and Ben always made time for him. Over the years they had become close friends and Jack was devastated he had died.

"Your father's funeral is in two days," Jack handed Peter over a piece of paper, "I know you and Pam don't talk so I offered to be the go-between."

"Thanks," Peter took the information, "It's good to see you again,"

"It's good to see you too. I hear congratulations are in order. Your father wouldn't stop talking about his future grandson. You know he had the Illinois law journal delivered to his desk every day. You ask anyone that worked for him and they'll tell you all about your landmark cases back in Chicago. Your father was quite proud of you."

Peter shook his head, "He never told me- I mean we hardly talked. I wanted to reach out, but I didn't know what to say. Now I wish I had."

"The relationship between father's and son's is always complicated," Jack told him, "But never doubt your father loved you. Your father didn't want you and your sister to fight over anything after he died. He had a layer wrote up two different wills. One for you and one for Pam," Jack handed Peter over an unsealed envelope, "I don't know all that is in the will, but I do know your father wanted you to have his old cases notes. There are a few boxes in his office, I'll take you to his office. You can spend as much time in there as you need.

"Thank you," Peters stood and followed Jack down a couple of hallways. Jack opened the door to Ben's office and let Peter step inside closing the door on his way.

Peter looked around the room and noticed copies of newspapers articles from Chicago on bulletin boards. He saw pictures of when he was a Cubs player and more newspaper articles. What made him cry though were the countess pictures of he and his father when he was younger.

TBC

A\N: Please leave a review and tell me what you think.