Disclaimer- I'll bet some of you are really glad I don't own them.
Peter left Garret a note by the bed and took the 'T' to the morgue building. As he stepped off the elevator and looked around he didn't see a single familiar face and the atmosphere was strange. The morgue looked the same, but the feel was all wrong. The air was thick with tension and there were no smiles. The woman at the reception desk looked like she should be teaching high school Algebra and needed a plastic surgeon to remove the scowl on her face.
"May I help you?" She said as though she'd rather give him detention for daring to enter her domain.
"Where's Emmy?" he blurted out without thinking.
"Dr. Slokum's secretary is at her desk." The woman spoke as though to a mentally challenged child. "Personal visitors are not allowed. If you have professional business, you must sign in and wear a visitor's badge."
Peter stood a little straighter and answered. "Dr. Winslow to see Miss Lebowski, please."
At the title, doctor, the old dragon, became marginally more helpful. "I am sorry, Dr. Winslow, Miss Lebowski is at lunch at the moment, but I'll be glad to ring her cell phone for you."
"Not necessary, Ma'am. If you could tell me where I might find her?" Peter decided to turn on the charm and flashed a boyish grin at the old battleaxe.
"I'm not certain, doctor." Her manner thawed a bit more and she returned his smile. "I'll call Emmy up front, she'll probably know."
Peter wandered over to the windows near the elevator, wondering what precisely this jerk Slokum had done. According to Garret, he'd only been there eight weeks and already the relaxed, family feel to the place was gone, it was sterile and cold now. Even when Peter had been on the outside of the family, he'd felt the warmth of the place. Now it felt like just a place to work.
If he couldn't track Lily down, he'd wait out by the entrance and catch her as she came back. He really needed the inside scoop on what had been going on if he was going to help Garret. Not to mention needing her help to get Garret to open up about what he was feeling, Lily understood him better than anyone, including Peter.
"Dr. Winslow?" He turned at the pleased question in the voice behind him to see the diminutive, hyper Emmy, still looking much the same as when he'd left. She walked up almost hesitantly, until Peter stepped forward and engulfed her in a hug.
"Emmy, I thought you finally gave up on the Dr. Winslow bit and decided to call me Peter." Even though Peter hadn't known Emmy all that well he was relieved to see a familiar face. He lifted her off the floor as he hugged her.
"Well, I didn't realize we were running a singles bar." A cold voice came from behind Peter and he felt Emmy stiffen. Setting her down he turned to face the man he assumed was Jack Slokum.
"Dr. Slokum?" He held out his hand and waited for the man to reciprocate. "I'm Dr. Peter Winslow, San Francisco Medical Examiner's Office. I used to work here and dropped by to see my old colleagues."
Slokum looked at Peter's hand without taking it. "Ah yes, the drug addict who left abruptly. I have read your file, Doctor. Given your reason for leaving, I assume you're not hoping for your old job back." Once Peter would have dealt with this kind of asshole by trying to beat the shit out of him, but one of the things he was learning was to not let other people to push his buttons.
Peter looked the man up and down, drawing on the subtle arrogant posture he'd seen his stepfather display when dealing with professional and social 'inferiors', which to Thomas Winslow meant anyone not in his 'circle'. Finally, drawing himself up to his full height, he looked down at the smaller man. "You are an arrogant little wart aren't you and with a classic example of a Napoleon complex on top of it."
"Excuse me?" This guy was going to be too easy, Peter thought.
"I can excuse your bad manners, Dr. Slokum, but I'm afraid there is no excuse for your arrogance and poor people skills. Good day, Doctor. " He turned his back on Slokum and looked at the wide-eyed Emmy. "Lily?" He asked quietly.
Emmy mouthed the word 'Malone's' and Peter punched the down button on the elevator controls. "Bye Emmy."
"Goodbye Peter." She waved as he entered the elevator.
Malone's looked the same as it ever had as Peter entered, looking around for Lily. Spotting her at a table with her back to him, he slipped quietly up behind her and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
"Hello Gorgeous." She jumped and then turned slowly. Realizing whom it was she leapt up and threw her arms around him.
"Oh, Peter, you're home!" Lily reached up to kiss him on the cheek but he turned his head and captured her lips bending her backwards as if they were in an old movie.
"Gonna slip me some tongue, sexy?" He jokingly whispered against her lips. She giggled as he lifted her back to her feet, sat across from her and reached out to snag a french fry.
Peter tried to wrap his brain around the change in his friend. This was not his free spirited Lily, dressed so conservatively that she looked like a librarian. "Emmy told me where to find you. Love the new look, by the way, but I thought you dressed for comfort and fun?"
"Not in 'Dr. Slokum's morgue'." Lily sighed with frustration. "So you've seen what it's like now?" She gestured in the direction of the morgue building, visible through the large front window on her right. "God, I hate this Peter. Garret may have deserved a reprimand, but not this. They've made him the scapegoat and now Slokum's determined to turn the place into a 'model of efficiency'. He's driving us all crazy."
"I met the creep when I went by to see if you were there." Peter rolled his eyes. "Charming personality. He knew who I was and not in a good way. He basically told everyone at the reception desk about why I left. I swear if I'd run up across the asshole before rehab, I'd have... never mind."
Peter checked his anger at the little jerk and took a deep breath. The last thing he needed to do now was indulge in righteous anger, he had enough to deal with without falling into old patterns and he knew that it would eat him to the bone if he let it. The anger he'd felt at the doctor who'd supplied him and Allison had been his excuse to start using again. He couldn't afford to go down that path again; he'd fought too hard to get clean the second time around.
"Speaking of new looks, are you going for a beard?" Lily reached over and ran her fingers across his cheek.
"No, just too many double shifts and didn't take time to shave. I'm getting rid of it this afternoon." Peter scratched his chin. "It itches and besides, I found a couple of gray hairs in it this morning."
"Heaven forbid Peter Winslow should look old, huh?" Lily laughed. Peter's vanity about his looks was something Lily and Garret had both loved to tweak him about.
"Hey, I like to date old guys, not look like one." God, he'd missed teasing with Lily, her sense of humor was something he really could have used while he was in rehab.
"When did you get back?" She asked grinning at his antics as he grabbed another fry and stole a sip of her drink. "Does Garret know you're in town?"
"About 3a.m. and I should hope so after sleeping next to me the rest of the night." He smiled at her then turned serious. "Lily have you seen him?"
"Not since he left the morgue the last time, I went over several times but he wouldn't answer his door and when I called him from out in the hall, he told me to go home." Lily said, seeming very defeated by the entire situation. "I've never seen him like this Peter, he doesn't seem to care and I'm pretty sure he was drunk."
"Very, by the time I got to his place." Peter agreed. "Look Lily, I came home because, well, I had this dream and I just knew I needed to be here. Garret wasn't talking much last night, but I got the feeling that he hadn't seen any of you since he was suspended. I know Jordan is pissed about what happened, but I need to know what the others are thinking."
"Everyone's pretty much in a state of shock, I mean first Garret gets suspended, and then Woody gets shot..."
"What! When was Woody shot? Is he okay?" Peter sputtered, the questions tumbling out almost too fast to understand.
Lily spent several minutes bringing Peter up to speed on the events of the last several weeks. It seemed he'd flown straight into a hornet's nest of problems not just for Garret, but the rest of the morgue family as well.
He ached for Jordan, who it seemed had finally overcome her issues enough to open up to Woody only to be shut out by the cop; he wondered if she'd be able to handle the Woody situation without running away. Sighing, he turned his attention back to the subject of the staff's reaction to Garret's suspension and the speculation as to why he would hide evidence.
"We all know that Garret had his reasons for what he did and I don't think anyone believes that he knew that it was a murder to begin with, it's just..." She spread her hands as if to indicate the confusion of the staff at their boss' behavior
"Well, I know some of what went down with the case the first time around. Did you know that Garret has kept that file in his desk all these years?" Lily shook her head. "He told me about the case once. It's the reason he was always telling all of us that we had to find out, not just the facts, but also the truth. That our job was very important, that we had to speak for the dead."
"What are we going to do Peter? He sounded so defeated on the phone." Lily leaned her cheek on her hand.
"Help him find the fight again, somehow." Peter answered wondering exactly what way they could accomplish that. "The only problem is how?"
"Jordan." Lily said. "If we can get Jordan over being pissed at him, she'll be able to talk some sense into him."
"Think you can get her to listen?" Peter asked, knowing that Lily was the closest thing Jordan had to a best friend other than Garret.
"I hope so. But how do we explain you back and staying with Garret?"
"I think it's time that Jordan knew the truth about her 'bestest girlfriend', don't you?" Peter grinned imaging the shocked look on Jordan's face when she discovered not only that her boss swung both ways, but had been in a serious relationship with Peter. That would be a real 'Kodak' moment.
"You're gonna 'out' Garret to Jordan." Lily sounded astonished.
"Nope, Garret is, he just doesn't know it yet." He answered briefly. "Man, wouldn't I love to be there for that conversation. I think it's one of the things he needs to do. One of the biggest lessons I've learned is that being honest with yourself and those close to you is very important to staying sober and mentally balanced." Peter picked up another fry and popped it in his mouth. "I don't want to force him to come out to the world in general, but he needs to tell the people he loves. He doesn't need anything else tearing at his gut right now."
Peter knew he still needed to come out to the rest of his family and friends. He'd already started the process by having a long talk with his half-sister Jeannette, whose response had been 'yeah and?'. He still couldn't believe that the brat had known for so long, longer than Peter actually, as she'd always questioned his marriage to Allison. He'd told her that he'd wished she'd shared the information with him. It might have saved him some rough shit while he figured himself out.
"Wow, you really did some growing, didn't you?" Lily took his hand and smiled. "I like this grown up Peter a lot."
"No more 'delightfully arrogant trust fund baby'?" He grinned at the memory of the painfully accurate description Nigel had given of him when he thought Peter was out of earshot.
"Nigel is going to be embarrassed that you heard that." Lily laughed.
"Why? He was absolutely right, I was a rich prick." Peter admitted. "Silver spoon and the whole nine yards. Thankfully, I'm getting over myself."
"I have to get back before I'm late. Call me tonight?" Lily rose as Peter got her chair.
"You got it. I'd invite you over for dinner, but I don't know if Garret will be up for anyone." Peter said as they walked to the door. "I'll walk you back."
"That's okay. Besides the 'T' entrance is in the opposite direction." Lily hugged him. "Call me later, okay?"
He kissed her cheek. "You betcha, beautiful."
Peter watched her walk across the street and then turned back toward the 'T'. He should have just enough time to shop for some food and get back to the apartment before Garret had a chance to get too drunk for them to talk. He'd decided that morning that while he couldn't make Garret stop drinking so much, he could at least make certain there was more in the house for him to eat than old take out and chips.
A/N- Okay so speak up and tell me what you think. I'm especially interested in what you guys think of how I did on Lily. She's a hard one for me to write .