By Fabrisse
Series Title: Relationships
Section Title: Relationships, part 3
Author: Fabrisse
Pairings: Heidi/Peter, Heidi/Nathan, Heidi/Nathan/Peter, and Nathan/Peter
Rating: ADULT - EXPLICIT
Word Count: ~2000
Category: Drama
Spoilers: Pre Season 1, minor for Season 2 through Four Months Ago
Summary: Heidi has seen Peter and Nathan together. The three of them resolve the relationship.
Warnings: Incest, slash, het
Betas: [info]snopes_faith and [info]riverfox
Notes: This came out of discussions at TwoP during the episodes Nothing to Hide and Six Months Ago about either how clueless Heidi was to the vibes between her husband and his brother or how complicit she was in the secret. Since the deleted scenes in Nothing to Hide give us Nathan at Annapolis and Angela calling Heidi a "townie" those two things have entered my personal canon. The overall story is in three parts, "Townie," "Brothers," and "Relationships." Each segment will have it's own rating, but the overall series is ADULT-EXPLICIT.
Peter was in the kitchen when Nathan got home.
"Go up and see Heidi. Tell her dinner will be a few minutes." He took his nephew from Nathan. "Does this little dude need to be fed?"
"Ma fed him before we left. He probably needs to be changed."
Peter held Simon up, sniffed, and winced. "I'll take care of it. Should I just put him in his crib, or bring him in to see Heidi?"
"Crib."
Peter saw through his brother's nonchalance. "There's champagne in the fridge. Would you take it and some glasses up? I'll grab the food after I've taken care of this guy." Simon patted at his cheek. Peter looked at him. "C'mon, let's get you out of this smelly diaper."
Fifteen minutes later, Peter walked in to the bedroom with a plate of bagels and lox and plugged in the baby monitor.
Nathan had taken off his tie, jacket, and shoes and was sprawled across the bed making out with Heidi.
"I can just leave the tray."
Heidi said, "Get back here."
Peter sat on the bed, appreciating the view.
Eventually, they came up for air. Heidi asked Nathan to open the wine and fixed herself a bagel.
Nathan distributed the glasses and began to fix a half bagel for himself. "Where am I sleeping tonight?"
"You and Heidi can kick me out."
"Or you and Peter can kick me out."
"But no one's kicking you out."
Heidi finished with, "And what we'd really like is for all three of us to stay together tonight."
Nathan gave a half smile. "I think I can handle both of you. What about the rest?"
Peter nodded that Heidi should take the question.
She began, "We need to do a lot of talking. You've been having an affair since before we married, and I'm angry. On the other hand, one of the first things Peter said to me was how much he loved you. And you've never tried to hide your love for him."
"Do you mean counseling?"
"Maybe. If we can find someone who won't judge the fact that the other woman is a man, but only if we can't work it out ourselves."
Nathan nodded.
Heidi continued, "You have the right to veto any or all of the rest of this. The talking is non-negotiable."
"Got it."
Peter took over. "Heidi and I need to establish our own relationship." He saw Nathan's back stiffen. "Not sexually. Lunch once or twice a month. My escorting her to something when you have to work late. Enough that we're comfortable talking about schedules."
"Wednesdays with Peter are fine. Stay all night, at least occasionally. He gets Martin Luther King weekend and the Friday before as a belated birthday present. And you'll start having Columbus day weekend and some time in the summer in addition to your usual birthday long weekend."
Nathan glanced back and forth between them. "That's more than we have now."
Peter nodded. "Never enough. But yes, more than now."
"Peter pointed out that you guys end up separated for most of the holiday season. I can't help with the night before Thanksgiving, especially when we go down to my folks in Maryland, but you two can have the Sunday night when we get back. And if Christmas and New Year's aren't actually on a Wednesday, I'll run interference with Angela so you can have your time together."
Nathan stroked her face. "I don't deserve you." He rested a hand on Peter's leg. "Either of you."
Peter brought Nathan's hand to his lips. "No, you really don't."
"Now about our birthdays, Peter's and mine…" Heidi glanced at Peter.
"I know I said 'not sexually' a minute ago, but…" Peter threw a panicky look back at her.
"You get Peter a lot, Nathan. I get him one night a year – his birthday."
Nathan glared. "That's quite a present. If his birthday is on a Wednesday?"
"We hadn't …"
Heidi broke in. "Then he gets us both. By the way, both of you is what I get on my birthday."
Peter looked nervously between them. "You have the right of veto on any of this. We agreed on that before anything else."
"Yes. But I get so much out of it – time with you, honesty with my wife – I wouldn't feel right if I said no to the two of you having a night together. It's not something I imagined as a possibility."
Heidi patted his thigh. "Don't decide now. Breakfast tomorrow is fine."
Nathan pulled her to him. "Now is fine. Everything you two agreed on works for me. And I'll try not to be a moody SOB about it."
She stroked his hair back and teased his lips with hers. He asked her, "And what do you want right this moment, sweetheart?"
Heidi blushed. "I'm a little sore. And a voyeuse, apparently. I want to watch you with Peter."
Peter snickered. "Backgammon or chess, Nathan?"
"Backgammon. I'm too turned on for something more intellectual."
"All right. I wasn't clear. Nathan."
Both brothers turned to look at her.
She continued. "I want to watch you make love with Peter." She thought for a moment. "I want to watch you fuck."
There was a quiet, "Good girl," from Peter.
Heidi began to undress Nathan. "I saw and felt your reactions to him, but I didn't get to see the actual fucking. Watching you suck him turned me on. Watching Peter do the same to you last night, made me come."
"I think I like it when you're using all the words." Nathan's eyes danced as he stood up to take off his pants. He looked at Peter. "I assume we have everything we need."
Peter nodded and shucked his sweatpants quickly. He lay back on the bed staring at Nathan.
Somehow, Heidi hadn't expected the tenderness.
After nearly twenty four hours in bed (against walls, on the floor, on the stairs) with Peter, she knew the fun he had with sex. She wished there had been a lover like Peter before she met Nathan, or while Nathan was gone, who imparted that sense of fun. Oddly, it made her understand both how much patience Nathan had and how much Nathan loved her. Nathan was getting her there, slowly and steadily, but Peter had just gone in and knocked down walls.
Peter had let her process her emotions. Not once had he apologized for being Nathan's lover, but he clearly understood her hurt and regretted having helped cause it. On some level, he still felt to her like a twenty-year-old light weight. A good time boy who shared his good time with her and his brother.
But from the moment a naked Nathan had climbed back on the bed and kissed Peter just over his heart, that image was gone. For a minute or two, she had the disconcerting feeling of sharing Peter's emotions. The look on his face as he held Nathan close, the joy in his eyes when their lips brushed and tongues touched, the way he melted and flowed against Nathan hit her like a tsunami. They were married -- or at least that was the closest, deepest name she could put to their relationship.
Nathan was a good husband to her. He was a terrific and closely engaged father to Simon (and she hoped they'd have more children together). Nathan was her gentle and passionate lover. She knew for a fact that Nathan would kill or die for his wife and son.
But watching them, hearing them, smelling their arousal, Heidi understood that this was the single most important relationship in Nathan's life. In Peter's.
Heidi did a little math in her head. The maximum number of days or nights Nathan and Peter would share in a given year was seventy-two, including the one night they'd both share with her. And most years, it would be fewer. Even those seventy-two would mostly be truncated, a few hours together on Wednesday nights.
Watching them make love, she thought she understood how deep and hot their flame burned to make so little be enough.
Nathan pulled back and drew Peter's legs over his shoulders. As he slid home, Peter reached out for her. His eyes were locked on Nathan, and Heidi couldn't remember seeing such rapture on anyone's face.
She took Peter's hand, and he pulled her close. His lips found a spot behind her jaw that made her melt. Over and over he whispered, "We love you, Heidi. Nathan and I love you."
When he released her, she turned to kiss Nathan. Peter patted her knee, and she moved back on the bed.
Peter pulled Nathan against him, hands and lips roving his body, then flipped them both.
Heidi watched him undulate, riding Nathan like it was the most natural thing in the world. Nathan's hips snapped up to drive himself deeper into Peter's body. Each man took one of her hands.
They bucked and writhed together for completion and when Peter came hard, he pulled Nathan over the edge with him. Heidi felt the energy from them go through her.
When Peter collapsed on top of Nathan, she went to get a warm cloth and towels. When she came back they were wrapped up in each other's arms talking quietly, little kisses punctuating their words. Peter's face was euphoric, and Nathan's expression so loving that Heidi felt intrusive.
It was Peter who noticed her first, thanked her for helping them clean up, pulled her between them to settle in for some sleep. She drifted off cradled between them.
***
Simon woke them around eleven. Apparently, Angela feeding him in the early evening threw off his schedule, and he woke up wanting to be nursed back to sleep.
Peter threw on his sweat pants and went to get his nephew.
An hour later, Simon finished eating and drifted off to sleep.
Nathan said, "We've learned to wait until he's really settled before we take him back to his room."
"How can you tell?'
Heidi giggled quietly, "Simon snores."
"You know, I'd never seen someone nurse before. It's cool."
"It's not going to be cool much longer. The teeth are already an issue."
Peter smiled. "I get that. Ouch."
Suddenly there was a snort and a little sigh from Simon and he began to snore.
"I'll take him, sweetheart."
Nathan held Simon to his chest crooning soft words in Italian as he returned his son to his crib.
"I recognize the phrases, but I have no idea what he says."
"Rough translation would be 'my little man, my son, Papa's here, you're safe.' You know why Simon calls me 'Peto'?"
"I just thought it was baby talk."
"It is, but Italian's my milk tongue too. I call myself Pietro, like Nathan uses Papa in Italian."
"You two spoke Italian before English?"
"Nah. But Italian was the language of being soothed. And our first sentences apparently garbled the two a bit."
Heidi stretched out and Peter spooned up behind her. She realized she was near the edge of the bed.
When Nathan came back, he climbed in behind Peter, and they all slept.
***
Monday morning should have felt different somehow. It didn't. It felt like any other morning where Peter had stayed the night. Everyone was grabbing breakfast, helping Simon with his breakfast, or reading a newspaper.
Sara came in on time and flirted a bit with Peter, who bolted the last of his coffee to walk with Nathan to the subway. He dropped a kiss on Simon's temple and gave Heidi a quick kiss, too.
Nathan did almost exactly the same thing – lingering a little longer over her goodbye kiss. They fell into step as they crossed the foyer, disagreeing amiably about one of the morning's editorials, and Heidi wondered how she could ever been blind to their relationship.
***
Standing outside her husband's hospital room, Heidi listened to Angela's lies.
Angela would get what she wanted, purely because Heidi knew that she had to protect her children from her mother-in-law. Nathan already told her that, told her everything from the FBI to Linderman to a future his mother wanted him to fulfill.
Nathan told her he'd flown with Peter, and she believed him. They could always fly together.