Disclaimer- Not mine, but a girl can dream, can't she?
Author's Note- Things are just a tiny bit smutty in this chapter, but I don't think it will be too much for you guys. Enjoy!
Peter started to reach for his wallet, when a young woman came stumbling out of the alley across from his car and started vomiting in the street. He flashed back to himself a year ago, lying in an alley surrounded by garbage and worse, puking his guts out.
"NO!" Peter threw the car in gear and left a good portion of his tires as he floored it and quickly left Southie behind. He drove to Lily's apartment and pounded on the door repeatedly, heedless of the neighbors screaming at him to quiet down.
"Peter!" Lily exclaimed as she opened the door, clad in her pajamas. Peter reached blindly for her and began to cry as she led him into her apartment. It was several minutes before he could do anything but cling to his friend sobbing. When he finally calmed down and relaxed his hold on her, she took his face in her hands and turned him to make eye contact.
"Peter, what happened? What's wrong?" He realized she had tears in her eyes.
"Lily, go with me to a meeting. Please, I really need to go and I'm scared to go back out there by myself." He swallowed the lump in his throat and felt the tears welling up again. He looked down at his hands shaking furiously, partly from fear but mostly from need. Not a physical need, but a psychological craving that clawed at his soul and threatened to tear him apart. "Oh, shit, I can't go out there again, Lily, please."
"Of course I will Peter, but what happened?"
"I," He drew in a shuddering breath. "I went to my parents' house tonight. I told them about Garret and I, they..., it was awful, Lily. My stepfather didn't say a word, wouldn't even look at me. He just looked at my mother and left the room." Peter felt the hot tears beginning to slide down his cheeks again. "My mother told me to go…." He choked back a sob. "She said I wasn't welcome until I came to my senses. She called me Peter... she wouldn't even call me Petya, just Peter, as if she barely knew me... I... she...she turned her back on me wouldn't even let me touch her. As if I was something filthy, she'd picked up on her shoe. I drove around and I was in Southie. Back in the neighborhood I used to go to and I… Jesus, Lily I wanted a hit so bad…" He began to sob again and was just barely aware of her arms around him.
"But you didn't, Peter, you didn't do it. You walked away, you made it, Peter." Lily was stroking his hair and rocking back and forth. "Come on, we'll find a meeting, I'll go with you."
Peter stood unsteadily and followed her to the door, barely aware of moving, numbly handed her the keys to his car and got into the passenger seat. He leaned his head against the window as Lily started the car and drove while dialing her cell. He only distantly heard her request for information on the closest NA meeting.
"There's one at Christ Church in twenty minutes, Peter. We'll be there in about fifteen." He nodded and laid his head back on the window. Lily put down her cell and took his hand, lacing her fingers through his.
"I'm sorry, Lily." He said finally, embarrassed that he'd broken down so totally and frightened her.
"For what, Peter?"
"For scaring you, I can't imagine you enjoying having a friend show up at 1 AM, on the edge of a breakdown." He smiled weakly.
"Well, I prefer it to having that same friend show up tomorrow morning on a gurney."
"I think given a choice between the two that would be my pick as well." He laughed slightly, and then frowned. "I still can't believe how close I came, Lily. I was reaching for my wallet and this girl staggered around the corner. God she looked like Allison. She just stood there in the street throwing up and I saw myself doing the same thing a year ago. I just… I think I left half my tire treads on the pavement."
"You walked away, Peter, that's what's important. You walked away." Lily squeezed his hand. "You had enough willpower to walk away and get help."
He smiled at her, then leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Thanks, beautiful."
"For what?" He could see her blush in the light of the dashboard.
"For being you, sweetheart. For being my sweet Lily." He looked at her. "Um, Lily?"
"Yes Peter."
"You do realize that you're still wearing pajamas, right?" He grinned. "Not that the Frog Prince isn't cute but..."
She blushed furiously. "Oh well if they haven't seen a woman in pajamas at an NA meeting before, then I'll be the highlight of the night, won't I?" They both laughed as Lily turned into the parking lot.
Peter and Lily sat through two meetings and in between Peter managed to find a Boston sponsor. After the second meeting broke up, they went to an all night diner for breakfast. Peter tried to convince Lily to go home to bed or at least to change, but she insisted on staying with him, grabbing a pair of jeans from the bag she kept in the trunk of her car. Sunrise found them sitting on a rock by the boat lake at Boston Common, talking about everything and nothing. Peter suddenly straightened nearly knocking Lily off the rock.
"What?" She exclaimed as he caught her.
"You've gotta be at work in an hour, Lily and Dr. Slokum will have a snit if you're late."
Lily calmly pulled her cell phone out and dialed. "Sydney? Hi, it's Lily. Tell Dr. Macy, I had a family emergency and am taking the day off. Thanks." She hung up and grinned at Peter.
"Family emergency, huh?" He grinned back.
"Yeah, my baby brother needs me." Lily wrinkled her nose.
"Baby? Since when am I the baby?" He laughed.
"Since I was born in March and your birthday's not until December."
"Wow, nine whole months. Can I grow up to be just like you?" Peter batted his eyes at the laughing woman who proceeded to shove him off the rock and clasped her hands over her head in victory.
Peter sat on the ground looking up at her and announced, "I'm hungry again, last one to the car pays for breakfast." He jumped up and ran for the car, turning to see Lily scramble down the rock and struggle to catch up. He waited for her at the top of the path and grabbed her as she tried to pass him. Scooping her up over his shoulder, he continued up the slope while Lily kicked and giggled uncontrollably.
"Peter, let me down." She squealed breathlessly just as a police car stopped in front of them.
"Is there a problem here?" The officer asked after rolling down the window.
Peter lowered Lily to the ground. "No officer, we were just, um…"
Lily answered quickly. "No sir, we were just cutting up a little."
The cop shook his head and both of them distinctly heard 'Kids' as the car window rolled up and the officer pulled away. Peter looked at Lily and they both started laughing again.
"That's what we get for acting like a couple of goofy teenagers at thirty years old." Lily said still giggling as they headed for the car.
As they settled in Peter looked at Lily, suddenly realizing just what she'd said on the phone. "Wait a minute; you said 'tell Dr Macy'? Garret's back?"
Lily nodded. "I forgot you didn't know, Garret caught Oliver Titleman and Dr. Slokum stepped aside. Garret is chief ME again."
"Jesus, I haven't called Garret, he has no idea where I am or what happened." Peter exclaimed.
"I called him after the first meeting and told him where we were and that we'd see him later." Lily smiled. "You were just a little distracted."
"Why don't we go kidnap him for breakfast?" Peter said. "I feel like celebrating all of a sudden."
"Are you sure you're okay Peter?" Lily took his hand, concern in her voice. "You don't get over something like last night quickly."
"I'm not completely over it, Lily and I'm not trying to mask what I'm feeling. What my parents did hurts like hell and coming so close to using scares the shit out of me. I mean, what if I can't hack it out here in the world. I feel like I'm on a tight rope without a net and it's a fucking long way down." Peter took a deep breath. "But right now, I just want to be happy for Garret and take a breather from the other shit for a while and then look at it again after a few hours sleep."
"That makes sense to me." Lily smiled and Peter thought it was like sunshine after the rain, warm, surprising and just the perfect counterpoint to the ache he felt inside.
When they walked into Garret and Peter's apartment, Garret was showering. Peter sat on the bed waiting for him to come out of the bathroom. He entered the room wearing a towel, still warm from the shower and crossed to Peter. Pulling him close, he simply held him.
"Are you alright, Peter?" He could feel Garret's eyes searching for any sign that Peter was still feeling shaky or unsure.
Peter pushed the remnants of his fear and pain to the side, Garret deserved a celebration today not more worry about whether or not Peter was going to be pushed to the edge again.
"I'm doing pretty good, not perfect, but a hell of a lot better than I was." He saw Garret's eyes narrow. "I promise, its okay, Garret." Peter backed up enough to look Garret up and down. "You know, if Lily weren't in the living room waiting to go to breakfast with us, I could think of a whole other way to celebrate your job." He ran his fingers down Garret's chest to the top of the towel playing with the knot.
"So could I." Garret pushed his knee between Peter's legs and leaned his thigh against Peter's crotch.
Peter leaned into it and moaned. "Lily? Who's Lily?" He slid down, pulled the towel with him, pushed Garret down on the bed, and took him in his mouth.
Afterward, Garret pulled him up beside him and kissed him hard, his chest still heaving. "What was that for?"
"A congratulations blow job." Peter grinned.
"Beats the hell out of a card." Garret kissed him again and rose to dress. Peter watched him cross to the closet, enjoying the view as he walked and bent over to get his socks and underwear out of the drawer. He gave a low whistle and laughed when Garret blushed.
"You blush when I whistle at you but not when I'm on my knees in front of you?"
"The blood is a little busy elsewhere." Garret gave him a crooked grin. "Besides embarrassment is the last thing on my mind when you do that."
Peter groaned at the sight of Garret's boxers. "I am buying you new underwear, today."
"No, I've told you before; I will not wear anything but boxers. No briefs, no boxer briefs and certainly no bikinis." Peter shook his head.
"You are just way to old fashioned; Gar and I'll bet you'll wear what I buy you."
"It's a bet. Loser does laundry for a month." Garret stuck out his hand to shake on it, but Peter shook his head.
"Loser indulges winner in one fantasy." Garret looked a little frightened at that and frowned.
"I don't think so, you are entirely too warped for me to agree to those stakes."
Peter smiled. "What if I tell you my fantasy in advance?" Garret quirked an eyebrow and nodded.
"I want to make love with you in front of a roaring fire all weekend." Garret looked surprised. "Hey, I didn't say favorite fantasy. Besides, how would we fit the Vienna Boys Choir and a herd of Llamas in here?" Peter fell over on the bed laughing at the horrified look on Garret's face. "Gotcha." He gasped out.
Garret rolled his eyes and finished dressing. Then walked over to the bed and kissed Peter, pulling him up. "How fast can you shower, 'cause buddy, you need it."
"Give me five minutes and I'll be ready." Peter stripped as he headed to the shower, throwing his clothes behind him.