By Fabrisse
Pairing: Peter/Nathan
Rating: G
Word Count: just under 2000
Category: Petrellis
Spoilers: None, pre-season 1
Summary: December 23 Seventeen years ago and three years ago
Prompt: A picture of Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan
Notes: Sorry, gang. Unbetaed again.
At ten years old, Peter knew he wasn't supposed to cry, but it hurt. It was his birthday today.
Nathan was home for Christmas, two days of leave and no weekend duty made for a full four days together. When he arrived this morning, early, he'd come into Peter's room and tickled him awake.
Neither of them talked about the fact that their parents were in London and not expected back until after the New Year. Nathan just made certain that the babysitter would be back from her holiday before he had to leave on the twenty seventh.
Instead Nathan and Peter made plans -- like Christmas lunch, right after Mass, at an Italian restaurant. The owners were friends of Nathan's, and they might let Peter have a small glass of moscato with his dessert.
Tomorrow they were supposed to go shopping. Neither of them had many opportunities to buy presents, so they were planning to spend the day surrounded by busy shoppers looking in store windows and distracting each other to buy their gifts.
Today, Nathan took him out for waffles. They'd never played tourist in their home town, so Nathan went with him on the Staten Island Ferry. Then they'd gone up to the observation floor of the World Trade Center. When Nathan asked Peter what else he wanted to do, Peter chose ice skating. They went to the rink in Central Park. Later that night, they were going to get all their favorites from the Chinese restaurant that Nathan liked. Their parents wouldn't go near it, but the food was heavenly. Peter loved having someplace that belonged just to him and Nathan.
As they walked through Central Park on the way home from ice skating, a big dog trailing a leash ran by and a woman yelled after it to stop. Peter didn't think; he grabbed the leash and was dragged.
The dog stopped, but not until after Peter connected with a tree. Nathan and the dog's owner both heard the snap.
The chocolate labrador was immediately apologetic, coming around to lick Peter's face and nuzzle him.
The woman who owned the dog was appalled, but Peter kept trying to say it was all right. He just didn't want to risk the dog running in to traffic. Whatever else had gone wrong, he'd prevented that.
Nathan made certain dog and owner were reunited. He waved away the woman's offer to pay the medical bill, at least partially because he didn't want to be tempted to use the exchange of addresses to find a way to hurt her for harming Peter. It was an accident. Nathan knew that, but his anger was simmering and he didn't want to risk a full boil.
He picked Peter up and carried him to the nearest exit.
Peter thought he was too big for Nathan to carry, but, after Nathan looked at the pre-Christmas traffic and decided there was no way to get a cab, Nathan carried him all the way to the hospital.
They checked into the emergency room, and Nathan filled in the paperwork. As soon as he had turned it in to the desk, paramedics came in with gurneys, and the ER turned in to chaos.
It was over an hour before someone took them back to a room for Peter to be looked at. He was propped in bed with an ice pack. Nathan asked the guy if he could leave Peter for a moment, and he went to the gift shop and brought back crackers, juice, and a travel scrabble set to tide them through the next round of waiting.
Peter seemed excited. "Nathan, did you know guys could be nurses?"
Nathan looked at the man who was taking Peter's vital signs. "I did. I'm surprised you didn't."
"Joe told me I'd need to see someone in orthopedics because my shoulder's dislocated."
"I also need you to sign some paperwork for your son, Mr. Petrelli. He's going to need X-rays."
"Peter's my brother, not my son." Nathan's vanity was a little wounded by the assumption.
"Then we need to wait for your parents to arrive to sign the paperwork."
"They're overseas. I'm over 21. I'm here in loco parentis…"
"Did your folks leave you a power of attorney for Peter?"
"Not that I know of. But … look I know you're busy, but I don't want to leave Pete alone. Can you stay with him for a few minutes while I go call someone who might help?"
"Sure, Mr. Petrelli."
"It's Nathan, please."
"Just go make your call, Nathan."
It took Nathan nearly fifteen minutes to track someone down at his father's firm. The good thing about being a lawyer's son was that the parents tended to think ahead.
Nathan came back and found Peter and Joe had already started a scrabble game. "I don't have power of attorney over my brother. However, Dad has one standing for when they are out of town. His secretary, Ms. Wright should be here within the hour. Is there someone who needs to know so she can come back here?"
"I'll take care of it, Nathan. I'll also see if I can set up an X-Ray appointment for two hours from now, so that you won't have to wait too long once she gets here."
"Thank you. You look beat."
"Well, your brother is quite cutthroat at scrabble, and I'm on hour twelve of my eight hour shift."
Nathan handed him a juice box. "Best I can do. Sorry."
Joe took it. "Thanks. I could use it."
"C'mon, Nathan. Bet I can beat you at scrabble."
"Not without a dictionary, Pete. I read your letters, you know."
***
Ms. Wright came and cleared up the legalities. Peter was taken for X-Rays and not only was the shoulder dislocated, his arm was broken in two places – one above the elbow and one below. It was going to make for some interesting casting.
Joe came back when the doctor did. Nathan followed their directions and braced Peter while the shoulder was relocated.
Nathan saw the tears from pain in Peter's eyes and kissed his forehead. "You're doing better than I did. When they had to relocate my shoulder during basic, I screamed."
"Really?" He was trying to wipe his nose on his shirt.
Nathan handed him a handkerchief. "Yeah. It hurt."
Peter gave him a watery smile. "Bet you didn't cry."
"Only because I was dehydrated."
When Joe took Peter to be casted, Nathan slipped out and talked to the front desk nurse and then made a phone call.
Forty minutes later, about five hours after they'd first arrived at the emergency room, Nathan and Peter walked out. As they got to the door, they were met by five Chinese delivery guys each carrying four huge sacks of food. The front desk nurse showed them to the break room.
"Do you still want Chinese, Peter? Or should I just make us some pasta when we get home."
"Chinese. It's my birthday."
"Are you up for hitting Chinatown?"
"Take out's fine. I'm really sleepy."
"Do you want me to call a cab?"
Peter looked around to orient himself. "I can walk. I'm sorry today turned out so bad."
"I'm sorry you were hurt. But you were trying to do a good deed, and the dog is fine. And you'll be fine."
"Yeah, but I'm going to be too sleepy to buy you a present tomorrow."
Nathan kissed the top of Peter's head. "It's okay, Pete. I'm just glad you're safe."
***
Peter was on hour twelve of his eight hour shift. Correction he was on hour four of his eight hour shift. The problem was he'd been called in for the early shift too. Even that wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't double shifted the previous two days. He was working Christmas Eve and covering for someone else on Christmas Day, too.
It was irrational, he knew, but what really irked him wasn't the sleep deprivation, or the fact that he hated working the ER rotation, it was missing his birthday breakfast.
The first thing he'd done was call Nathan to cancel, because at six a.m. he was probably already in the gym.
Lunch had been a cafeteria sandwich and bad coffee or possibly chicken soup. It was hard to tell with that vending machine.
The day had been busy, but not frantic. A few small car accidents and an early morning knifing in Central Park had been the worst of it.
There was a ten year old boy in one of the rooms. He'd tried to climb a tree in Central Park and managed break his arm and dislocate his shoulder.
Peter quietly took the information required from him and his parents and gave them an estimate on how much longer it would be. He left a travel scrabble set with them since it was the only game he had that worked for more than two players.
One of the other practicum students stopped him in the hallway. "The Chinese food just arrived. It's in the break room."
"Chinese?"
"All I know is it's kosher and smells heavenly. Grab some when you can."
"I will. Thanks, Lindsey."
Peter had a lull about half an hour later and went to the break room. Sure enough, there were huge amounts of Chinese food. He grabbed a bowl of soup, brown rice, and some stir fried bean sprouts.
"Is that all you're having, Peter. There's tons of stuff." Mallory worked the front desk and was coming in for her break.
"I just need something to tide me over. My brother left a message. We're going out for supper after my shift."
"Why the late night food?"
"Don't tell anyone."
"All right." She sounded dubious.
"It's my birthday. I was supposed to have breakfast with him to celebrate, but…"
"How old?"
"Twenty-four." He changed the subject. "Why did we get Chinese?"
"It's been going on since before I started here eight years ago, and the people around then said it had been happening for a few years before I arrived. Every December 23 we get a large delivery of Chinese food – and whoever sends it knows the neighborhood well enough to make sure it's all kosher."
"No indication who sends it?"
"I thought it was one of the senior doctors, but they all deny it. The note just says, 'Thank you.'"
Peter grabbed a fortune cookie and a small cup of tea. "Break's over. Thanks for the company, Mal."
"No problem, Peter."
***
Three hours later, Peter signed out and went to change his clothes. His shifts for the next two days were two to ten p.m., so at least he could sleep late.
He hurried into jeans, sweater, and boots. Grabbing his jacket, he made certain that his wallet and keys were where they should be and slipped a scarf around his neck. Nathan was waiting, quietly, by a bank of pay phones.
Mallory gestured to him. "I don't know why city hall's interested in us, but that's the ADA who won the big gang case last month. Oh, what's his name?"
"Nathan Petrelli."
"Yeah, one of the old money guys."
Peter just rolled his eyes.
"Wait a minute, Petrelli? Like Peter Petrelli?"
Peter gave a quiet smile. "I told you I was going out for supper with my brother."
Mallory looked from one to the other.
"Just don't tell anyone else, Mal. Okay?"
"Yeah, sure, Peter."
Peter gave her a wave and started pulling on his gloves. Nathan gave him a hug and kissed his cheek.
As they left together, Peter said, "Thank you."
"Not a problem. Heidi was just sorry she couldn't join us."
"I meant for the Chinese food earlier tonight."
Nathan looked at him side long and kept walking to the corner.
"Every year, Nathan?"
"They gave me time to find a solution when I didn't have the right paperwork, and they were kind to a kid who was scared and in pain."
Peter smiled and bumped Nathan's shoulder with his. "Don't worry. I won't let it get out that the tough ADA has a soft spot for his brother."
"Happy birthday, Pete." Nathan stepped out and hailed a cab.