Perica - Second Chance [Shiendown]

Peter was standing in the kitchen of his apartment when the phone rang. Recognizing the tone, he reached with one hand to pull the device from the back pocket of his jeans to answer the call with a slide of his thumb. "You rang?" he asked calmly, watching the food as he spoke.

"So this truck is quite clearly not going to unpack itself, Peter." a female voice said from the other end of the line, and the playful note in her voice made Peter smile. Shaking his head a little as he chuckled, he opened his mouth to reply.

"And lunch cannot cook itself without ruining it either, Erica." he retorted with a spark of sass he was well known for by this point. "Just bring up some small stuff and we'll get the rest after we eat. It won't take that long to bring it all up."

"Says the forty year old." Erica bantered.

"Thirty-eight, thank you." Peter replied. "And you're the one who wanted to move everything here in a day, so don't complain."

"If I didn't, I would lose anything I didn't take." Erica argued, a note of sadness in her voice. Her parents had flipped when Erica told them she was moving in with an older man, and declared that the day she moved out, she better take everything but the furniture they paid for. Peter wasn't fond of them, but he didn't say anything so that he didn't upset his mate.

"I know, sweetheart." Peter told her, shaking his head. His eyes glanced from the pasta he was stirring the pasta in a pan to the refrigerator. The box was covered in photos of varying nature; some were from when Derek and his siblings had been younger, others were of Talia and Peter. The majority, the ones most recently added, were of Erica and Peter. The little blonde had insisted they take pictures at every opportunity. She'd lost a little sister before they could have any pictures and Peter couldn't tell her no because he knew the feeling. Keeping their bond a secret had been an issue around the pack, but once it was brought to light that it wasn't just a fling, the actual wolves had dropped the issue.

"Peter, are you even listening?" Erica's voice brought him from his thoughts and he smiled almost ashamedly.

"I love you too much to say yes." he conceded. "Sorry, I was thinking. What was it you were saying?"

"I asked why we had to wait until after my birthday." Erica repeated, and Peter could hear her on the stairs of teh building as she moved. A moment later, the door was being unlocked and Erica was opening the door with two large boxes in her arms. Headphones were allowing her to hodl the conversation while carrying the heavy objects. Reaching into her pant and pulling the phone out, she ended the call and pulled the little buds from her ears. "And what's the plan, big bad wolf?"

"Because the state law and pack law delegates so." he explained as he walked over to kiss her gently. The laugh that slipped from Peter's lips actually made him seem human rather than wolf. "Right now, the plan is to feed you so you have energy to help finish bringing in the boxes. I made chicken alfredo." he replied, answering the question before she asked it.

"It should be illegal how well you cook," Erica replied as she went to close the front door and pulled her jacket off. The leather jacket made Peter smile. She'd gotten the jacket from Derek when he had been alpha, and teh fact that she continued to wear it was a big deal. She may have vanished and returned to join the pack again, but she had never truly left. A few people [although this was namely Stiles] didn't quite comprehend why it was so important. The oldest Hale doubted the teen would fully understand until he was turned. But that topic was never to be discussed [actually anything pertaining to the so called 'secret' relationship between his nephew and the human - including Stiles agreeing to be bitten - was off limits no mater who was off limits, but who's gonna talk?]. He watched as the blonde made herself a large plate before getting one for himself as she sat down.

"It's not my fault my family taught well." he said, moving to sit across from her. "I wish I all the books Talia wrote."

"Your sister?" Erica inquired. When Peter nodded, she smiled softly. "You never told me she was an author."

"She wasn't," Peter replied quickly. "She wrote down all the family recipes, even though all of us had them memorized by the time we were ten. The fire burned them all..." He fell quiet then, eating and not looking up for a long moment.

"Peter, I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Peter said, looking up to give a soft smile. "It's the past, right?" It was just a phrase, and Peter knew that, but he tried to make it true. He knew that the almost nightly tormenting horror of his dreams was only one of many scars that would always plague his mind. "Eat up, little red, we've got a lot of boxes to fetch." he teased, smiling as Erica laughed and began eating again. As he watched her, a part of him wasn't sure she was ready to find out why he didn't stay at the loft, but he trusted Erica. And he loved her enough to find out.