Chapter Text
There was fire. A burning sensation. Painful. And it was beautiful.
Two years since the disastrous incident that left the town deeply wounded, two years of grief and penance. The man, wearing layered outdoor clothes, looked disheveled, but grateful. Relieved that he got here in this town after driving for two days straight with little to no sleep.
The Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital, a place of life and death. The lingering smell of antiseptic and disinfectants, and anxiety, desperation, and uneasiness from all corners, but there were some still moments where joy and relief emerge with hope, a birth of a new beginning. He yearns one, in fact.
He walked through the tiled hallway to the elevator to visit a dear old friend. Room 207, in intensive care, the patient is alive, but in a complete standstill against time with no assurance, a comatose state unconscious. For three days, enough for them, he took pit stop to California and for the half he spent here in Beacon Hills, a town of myths, mischief, and mystery, his old home, and he stood by the man’s side, waiting... hoping that he would walk up from his dark slumber.
This was the day for his farewells.
He needed go back to his family. He could leave now, trust the process of the medication. Two years, and nothing. Aimless research, hunting. Only hunting helped him not lose all hope. His head was above the dreadful waters, but no matter how hard he tried, his feet was still tangled on something below, and it tugs him back down and kept him in the middle of the vast ocean of what he calls anguish. An anchor.
Over the horizon, all he could see was the empty sky and deep waters, and he was running out of hope. And this, just tightened the chains around his ankles.
“Christopher? You’re leaving today, right?” A nurse on teal scrubs approached him as he stood on the door frame, staring at the laying figure, his blue eyes wide open, the soft fluorescent illuminating his body. He wondered how the man would have done that, despite being in a coma from the fire that killed most of his family. But because of his opened eyes, Chris is optimistic that in every passing moment, the man can hear everything that he’d been saying since yesterday, feel the joy he displays when Chris got here, and fear he feels, that any day, he could succumb to the pain of his wounds.
“Yes, Melissa. I have to get back to my family soon,” he replied, deadpanned, but the nurse felt the sadness in his eyes. Chris looked at her and he sees the pitiful face she gives him. She left after saying her goodbyes and went back to her shift and entered the room next door. She’s Peter’s nurse for the time-being and it is good that Christopher had tabs over the patient. So, he asked for her number.
Chris went inside and walked towards the hospital bed, stared long enough for the tears to fall down his cheeks. “Hey Peter. It's me, Chris,” he cried, not realizing it. This is the last day he could see him until he finds another time to escape. Trying to compose himself before saying another word, he wiped his tears off. “I just want to say goodbye. I-” he paused briefly. “Peter... If you're there or if you can hear me, please try to wake up... Please... Wake up...” he touched the paralyzed man's uncharred face, trying to feel something, a huff of air, a twitch in his cheek, even a clink of his molars or movement in his bright pupils but nothing. Nothing. A bead of tear fell down his cheek and dropped on the man's face. It was no fairytale story that could make a miracle happen. Still, there was nothing.
“I already told you since I got here... why I left... what happened... but... I left the most important part of all to be the last, probably just like how you wanted,” he chuckled a bit, remembering the times they spent together in the Preserve, the way Peter would want some drama. His snarky words, his overconfident remarks, the way he talks, the way he laughs, the way he torments Chris, and the way his lips touched his like it was straight out of a Jane Austen novel.
“Peter Hale, I will always, forever, be yours, no matter the circumstance, even if they want me to forget you... and I already told you, it was nothin’ I can handle on my own,” he kneeled as if time ticked differently, grasping Peter's arm softly. “And still, I couldn’t protect you. I wasn’t here for you,” he looked down, ready to say the next few words he doesn't want to give but needed for Peter to know. “I'm sorry... I'm really sorry... That I am a fucking coward... That I was didn’t run away with you when I had the chance... Sorry I can't give you and your family peace...” it felt as if it was his fault that Peter’s family got killed even if it was an electrical wiring’s short circuit that caused it based on the reports.
If he shown or acted like he still cared about the man, unimaginable actions they might do to him and his family. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry...” his voice faded as his breathing slowed but continued to apologize.
A slight twitch was felt on Peter's hand, he wanted to be able to scream and move, and comfort the man on the cold hospital floor, but Chris did not see it, or had the chance to focus on it, he was sobbing and looking down and a few moments after he cried for a while, he dusted himself off. “I will come back. I will. I promise,” he smiled weakly.
He reminiscences to when Peter had smiled and he knew when he was truly happy, when he's around, when they are together, and he wonders what life would've been like if they stayed together. Took on the world without a care, even if they would put clear targets on their backs, eloped somewhere far, far away from their families. Start a life, a little family in New York, just how they wanted to, nine years ago.
The sons of opposing families fighting because of indifference, they will risk their lives for happiness. They were young then and made rash decisions that would meet later terrible consequences, but it never changed, not for Christopher. He still wanted that with Peter, and they would be on each other’s throats, but they would watch each other's back. Christopher was weak and easy, he was a coward back then when he was just a teen, but he learned a lot from years of experience. He is ready to protect Peter, his love, his mate.
“I... I love you, Peter. I love you and I wish I told you more of that years ago. God knows how much I do. If you could just listen to my heartbeat...” he went silent with the heart monitor still beeping as if they synced and looked at Peter's face. “I’m leaving now, Peter, but I will come back. And I would love you to meet my daughter, she’s got your sweet smile,” he leaned in to kiss his forehead and left without another word.