st_hotflashes | Aftermath (Peter)

Liz reached for the night stand and pulled out the drawer. Then out came the smartphone from Europe. She pulled up the map. It was useless without internet for actual directions, but she could still pull up the map. It was also a little inaccurate since according to the map on the phone they were surrounded by other buildings, too, but the landscape was the same.

It took her a moment to manipulate the map before she held out then phone for him to see. She pointed at a point on land, but close to a big body of water. Near the beach, actually.

"We could take on of the Inn's bicycles to get us there quicker." She didn't actually expect him to carry her all that way.

Peter's not opposed to the suggestion, but there's one thing he's still wondering.

"Why there?" he asks.

"Because there's something we both need to do there." She wasn't sure explaining it beforehand would be effective. She just had this... Hunch. It was based off some reading she did and something in her guy.

She gave a soft smile. "It's okay if you don't want to."

"No, no, it's fine," Peter quickly assures her. "Did you want to go now?"

Liz nodded. "There's enough time for us to do it and still have light to come back if we leave now." She wondered if Peter really was okay with going or if he was only doing it for her.

"Okay," Peter says, nodding. "Let's do it, then."

Riding as a passenger on a bike made Liz feel like she was twelve years-old again. It was a nice, nostalgic feeling, though she wondered if Peter had similar memories growing up in a big city.

When they got to their destination, it was a 40 foot cliff overlooking the ocean. The beach they had played on was close by, but at the edge of the cliff it was just straight down into deep blue. The ocean seemed calm today and the sky was clear.

Liz climbed off the bike and with the use of her cane, hobbled over toward the edge, looking out at the vast horizon.

Peter gently sets the bike down on the ground, then follows a few steps behind Liz. He stops when she does, but when she looks out at the horizon, he doesn't.

He just looks at Liz.

She looked out at the horizon for another moment, feeling his eyes on her.

"I want to jump." She turned her head to look at him. "I want us to jump together."

It seemed impossibly high, though she had checked the height and depth three times for safety already, and it terrified her to do it... And that's why she knew she needed to do it. And she wanted to do it with him.

Peter's brows furrow at that. This was completely and totally not what he was expecting when he rode them here on the bike.

"Liz, are you being serious?"

She pressed her lips together and nodded. "I know it sounds crazy." Like, really crazy. "But... um."

Liz paused, trying to figure out how to explain it. "It's scary to jump. I'm scared to jump." She turned and looked down at the water that seemed impossibly far below even though she new mathematically it was fine. She stared at the water. "It seems like, you know... like jumping is something I can do. I remember going to a lake once and there was this bridge kids were jumping off of, and I wanted to be like them, so I went up there and I froze. Everyone else jumped, but I couldn't."

She wasn't sure if she was making any sense, but she kept going. "I feel... After what happened. I feel like - like that again. Like I'm up at the bridge and everyone else is jumping and I'm scared to jump too even though it'll be alright." She paused. "...and I'm scared I'm going to hurt you. That me being who I am is going to get in the way. But... you said it won't and I know... I know you're -"

Liz finally looked up at him. She didn't want to say scared, but she knew there were things in his way, bridges of his own - Maria would be brought of her analogies.

"If we jump together and survive, we can do anything together. Survive anything." Said the girl with a cane.

Peter isn't sure he understands.

"I don't need to jump with you to believe that we're going to survive this," he says. He doesn't. "I know you're not going to get in my way."

He can feel something in his chest shift slightly.

"But if you need this," he says, taking a step forward. "Let's do it."

She pressed her lips together and searched his eyes with a serious and imploring look. "Only if you're sure. Only if your comfortable." Because if he just did it because she wanted to, but felt uncomfortable, then it would be like them doing something in bed and only one of them truly consenting. It wouldn't sit well with her.

Liz paused and looked off to the side. She felt a little bit ashamed. "What I'm trying to say... I don't think I can jump without you..." Literally and metaphorically.

"Liz," he says, and he waits for her to make eye contact with him before he continues. "I really don't think that you need me to do it. You just -- you need a reason to do it."

Peter steps to the cliff's edge, and looks over at her.

"I'm going to be waiting for you at the bottom, okay?"

And then he jumps.

Before she could protest anything, Peter jumped and she watched with wide-eyed amazement when he did. She followed him to the edge, quicker than maybe she should have with her foot in said condition, and watched as he plunged into 40 feet into the water. She felt her chest seize.

She should jump. She should be there at the bottom when he emerges. But she couldn't do anything but look down at the water that still seemed so impossibly far down.

Peter does not immediately resurface.

"P-Peter?!" Even though she knew he probably couldn't hear her under water that far away, his name left her mouth urgently. What if she miscalculated? What if the water wasn't as deep as she estimated? What if something happened?

"Peter?" She felt her chest tighten and a sudden wave of nausea. Liz didn't care - if Peter needed help...

"Peter!" It came out as a scream and while Liz jumped in after him, unbeknownst to her, a wave spread out and the bicycle several feet away went flying further down the cliff as if hit by a strong gust of wind.

When she hit the water, her eyes opened almost immediately, trying to find Peter, worried he was floating and drowning or something. Liz felt panicked.

And he's there in an instant, his hands are on her waist, and he's kicking his legs so they carry them both to the surface.

When they finally do, he takes in a few big breaths of air. Unlike Alec, he couldn't hold his breath for long periods of time.

But then, his lips pull themselves into a smile. He pushes a few west strands out of her hair.

"You did it," he tells her.

Liz also has to gasp for air, but while Peter was smiling, Liz felt the surge of tears. She shook a little, still feeling the panic. "I thought you were... I thought you were..." Her lips quivered and she reached out and hugged him tightly like he might disappear - and for a moment forgot she had to tread water before she started again.

"I'm okay, Liz," he says, and suddenly he feels a surge of guilt for having done it without her. Peter hugs her back, holding her, so even when she forgets to tread water, he's still there, holding her up.

"Sorry," he tells her.

She shook her head at his apology. He was, as usual, warmer than the water.

"It's okay. It's fine. I'm just glad-" he wasn't dead. Even when she pulled back, her grip on him was tight like he'd suddenly disappear. "I'm glad we jumped." That wasn't what she meant, but that was what she said.

Later, she'd realize that this was how it was going to be - that Peter was always going to be the first to jump. That was who he was and it was part of why she loved him so much.

Peter pulls her tighter.

"It was a little scary, though," Peter admits. He may have plummeted into a large body of water before, but it wasn't ever something he was eager to do.

The adrenaline pumping from the jump and from initially thinking he was hurt was still coarsing through her causing her heart to race. She closed her eyes for a moment and told herself she needed to calm down.

"I'm sorry." She pressed her face against his wet neck, the ocean water occasionally lapping up around her.

Peter places one of his hands on the back of her head, his fingers tangled with her wet hair.

"What are you apologizing for?" he asks. "There's plenty of things out there that are scary, but... you still need to do them sometimes."

Liz wasn't actually sure what the apology was for - and she knew she did it a lot. Maybe it was for making them jump or for freaking out. Maybe it was because it was scary or maybe it was because she was crying. She didn't actually know, but she did know the clarity she thought she'd feel and the safety she'd feel after, weren't there.

"You must think I'm crazy." She murmured it into his neck, paused, then pulled back.

"We should, um... swim back to the beach." Which was thankfully in view, but would still be a little bit of a swim.

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