Arthur shows up about half an hour later, just as expected.

However, he has someone else with him. Another man stands behind Arthur, a smile on his face, seemingly excited about something.

Arthur stands in the doorway, whispering something to Berwald.

"Alfred wanted to come along with me... Will Peter be okay with that?"

Berwald nods slowly. "I think so... As long as he doesn't feel threatened, I think he should be okay..."

Arthur nods, stepping inside, Alfred on his heels.

"Peter?" Berwald calls.

Peter comes into the room cautiously, his blue eyes a bit wide and nervous, despite his attempts to stay calm.

Berwald goes to Peter, kisses his forehead, and tells him goodbye. He waves slightly at Arthur and Alfred as he passes through the doorway. It shuts behind him, and Peter flinches slightly as he realizes he is alone with two new, strange men.

Arthur crouches on to one knee. "Hello there, Peter. I'm Arthur Kirkland. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Peter nods, extending his hand slowly. Arthur shakes it gently, smiling.

"Hey, little dude! I'm Alfred." Alfred crouches down and extends a hand. Peter takes a tiny step back, but shakes Alfred's hand anyway.

"Peter, are you hungry? Should I cook something-" Arthur starts, but is quickly cut off my Alfred.

"No way, we are not burning down Tino's house. If Peter wants food, I'll be making it."

"My cooking is not that bad."

"Babe, you know I love you, but you are a terrible chef."

Arthur shakes his head slightly, rolling his eyes. "Whatever. Peter do you need anything?"

"I'm okay, thank you, sir." Peter says quietly.

"You okay, little dude?" Alfred asks, bending down slightly. Before Arthur can tell him no, Alfred picks Peter up. Peters eyes go wide at the sudden contact, and he kicks his feet, trying to push off of Alfred's chest with his hands.

Arthur grabs Alfred's wrist, pushing it downwards. "Put Peter down."

Alfred agrees, a bit shocked by Peters reaction. Alfred only wanted to comfort the kid, he didn't mean to hurt him or scare him,

When peters feet touch the ground, he takes a few steps back, distancing himself from Alfred.

Arthur furrows his brow, pulling Alfred off to the side.

"You can't be doing things like that, Alfred. Peter grew up in a home with abusive parents, he doesn't do well with new adults. This is a very scary situation for him..." Arthur says, his voice low. "It's my fault for not explaining everything earlier, and I'm sorry."

Alfred's heart constricts, as he realizes exactly what just happened. "An abusive family?"

Arthur nods.

Alfred lowers his gaze. "Peter, I'm so sorry. I didn't know... I didn't mean to scare you."

Peter looks up, but he can't find the right words.

"Honestly... I really should be more careful... I had an abusive family member as well, you'd think if know better."

Peter looks at Alfred curiously, speaking up cautiously. "You did?"

Alfred nods, sitting down on the floor, his legs crossed. He invites Peter to sit as well, if he wanted. After a moment, Peter nods to himself and sits in front of Alfred. Arthur takes a spot beside his boyfriend.

"My dad died a bit after I was born, so it was just me and my mom growing up. However, she decided to start dating again when I was about six. Most of her boyfriends were fine, but when I was about ten, this one guy that she really seemed to like came around... He beat me all the time, for the dumbest things... It went on like that for about two years, until my mom discovered what was really happening. She dumped him immediately."

Peter nods slowly. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't apologize to me, Peter. I'm the one who needs to apologize. I really didn't mean to act so boldly. I just get really rambunctious around kids, because I love taking care of them, and I want kids of my own one day... I'm sorry I scared you, I really am."

Peter pauses, but he looks at the earnest look on Alfred's face, and decides that he is safe. "It's okay..."

Alfred smiles lightly. "Thank you."

...

The day continues on, with Arthur and Alfred as Peters temporary caretakers. Eventually the day turns to night, and the three lounge around watching TV. Peter has become comfortable enough with Arthur and Alfred to sit on the couch with them, though he takes the end seat. He keeps hanging on to the fact that Tino and Berwald trust these people... If they didn't, Peter would not either.

Eventually, Peter falls asleep, his head slumping to the left, right on to Alfred's arm.

Alfred looks down at Peter fondly, hoping that one day he can have a kid that he can spend every day and night with, caring for and loving them.

After a moment, Alfred pulls his head up to look at Arthur, who is watching the whole scene. "What should I do? Should I bring him to bed or wake him up...?"

"Try carrying him to bed. I think he's comfortable enough with you to be carried."

Alfred slowly, carefully, scoops up Peter into his arms, treading cautiously as he heads for the stairs. When Peter is safe in his bed, Alfred returns downstairs, the smile on his face enough to make Arthur feel beyond guilty for holding Alfred back when it came to having kids...

...

The next morning, Peter crawls out of bed and heads downstairs, searching for Berwald, hoping he would be back from the hospital.

He finds Berwald sitting at the kitchen table, a coffee cup in one hand, the other supporting his head as he stares down at the table.

"Papa?"

Berwald picks his head up and manages a tiny smile. "Good morning, Peter."

"How's daddy?"

"He's fine. The knee surgery went well."

Peter frowns. If everything is totally okay, why isn't Berwald more upbeat...? He must be holding something back.

"Did something else happen?"

"Hmm? No, nothing else happened."

Peter can tell that Berwald is lying through his teeth.

"Papa, tell me what happened... I can tell when you're lying to me."

Berwald's face stays nearly expressionless as he looks at Peter once again. "Listen, Peter, everything will be fine. There was a problem, but it will all work out."

Peters frown grows deeper. "Papa, please tell me what happened! I'm scared for daddy, and hiding something about his health is making it worse." Peter had stepped closer to the table, now standing about a foot from Berwald.

Berwald sighs, taking a sip of coffee.

"While the doctors were operating, they found that Tino's breathing was irregular. They checked his lungs, and they saw some damage. He has to have another surgery this afternoon."

Peter feels his heart sinking, his stomach twisting in knots. "How bad will it be...?"

"It's not the least risky surgery in the world..." Berwald says, unable to say more about the details without wanting to break down.

Peter steps closer to Berwald, his blue eyes wide with a mix of fear and deep distress. Berwald scoops Peter into his lap, hugging him tightly, for the comfort of both of them.

Peter pulls his head back and looks at Berwald, barely able to meet his fathers eyes.

"Daddy is going to live... Right?"

Berwald feels his bottom lip twitch, and his throat closes up.

"Honestly?" Berwald asks softly.

Peter nods slowly, his own throat burning.

"I don't know..."

A/N: Whew! That got really emotional, really quickly, didn't it? Even with the chapter outlines I didn't realize how much of a shift the ending was from everything else, so I hope it's not too upsetting or disengaging.

I said things were heating up in the last chapter, but it's more accurate to say that about this chapter, I think...

Speaking of the last chapter, I managing to post two days in a row! Mainly that's just because I had finished chapter three about two or three days ago, but just got around to posting it last night, but even so, that's a first for my chapter fics, I'm usually really slow at updating :/

Anyways, I hope you are enjoying/have enjoyed this story! Thanks for reading!

-KayDubs