fandom_clinic | FH Clinic, summer hours [5/10]

After walking around town, Peter pushed open the door of the clinic looking slightly worried. He stood in the lobby and looked about for Janet.

Susan turns around from tacking up a poster on stress, a smile on her face for whoever jsut walked in, and--

"Peter?"

Peter turned toward the woman's voice and bowed deeply. "My Lady? May I help you?"

Susan stumbled back against the wall, her hand at her lips holding in the shriek, her eyes huge. God, oh, God, he looked precisely, almost entirely as she remembered, except-- perhaps a bit younger, yes, not twenty yet, and....

"Peter." Her shoulders fell as she stared at him, shaking. "Have I changed that much?"

Peter looked up and saw...he blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't dreaming. The woman standing in front could have been his mother. Only - Only there had never been such a look in her eyes.

"Su? Are you really Su?" He stumbled out of his bow having totally lost his balance.

Susan couldn't take it any more, and she rushed forward, catching him, stopping his stumble-- and then enfolding him in a hug. "Peter. Ohhh, God. Peter."

And burst into tears.

This was...maybe not something she should be a part of.

Janet had gotten there late and stood off to the side, looking for tissues.

Like most 16 year old boys, Peter really had no idea what to do with a weeping woman. He froze for a second then hugged his sister back with the plan of never letting go of her again. "Shh, Su. It's well. Su, don't cry, little sister."

Which was enough to make Susan laugh a little, and loosen her grip, backing away to look at him. She noticed Janet, and brushed the tears from her eyes, still shaking. "Oh, Janet. Hello, I didn't see you. I-- this is my brother. My--" She started laughing again, with a slightly manic edge. "My big brother, Peter."

Peter shot a rather terrified glance at Janet and kept an arm around Susan trying to keep her close to him. "You'll always be my litte sister, Susan. You know we couldn't work any other way."

Desperate to get herself under control, Susan takes a gasping breath, then another, and laughs again, unable to stop. "I just-- it's been a very long time for me. I haven't seen you in years." Her voice trembled. "Because I was an idiot."

Peter looked around for a chair or a bench to try to maneuver Susan to sit down on. "Why, Susan? What happened? And as for being an idiot, it's not like we don't trade that role fairly often. You yelled at me for being one two days ago because of that daughter of the Duke of Archenland."

Something was weirder than usual here. "Yeah, Peter and I met yesterday. He's here for summer camp." She found a box of tissues and went over to offer one to Dr. Pevensie. "So it's all right that I told him about you, then? Pevensie isn't exactly that common as a surname."

"That's wonderful. Thank you, Janet, so much, for telling him I was here! I might not have known for weeks...." Susan took a tissue and dabbed at her eyes, closing them to breathe deeply, not letting go of Peter's hand as she sat down on the nearby couch. "Does it matter why? I-- I didn't want to go somewhere with you and the others. I was angry. I thought I'd be able to change my mind later, if I wanted to, but--" She nearly breaks down again, and has to put her head down on her knees.

"I guess I got lucky," said Janet, sitting down on the couch. She left plenty of space for Peter and Dr. Pevensie to sit next to each other. The tissues might come in handy again. "I'm glad you could meet up again."

Dr. Pevensie wasn't saying something, but Janet wasn't going to ask. Not right now, at least.

"No, of course it doesn't matter. It's just..." Peter took a deep breath restraining the million questions that were flooding through his brain. "You're still-" he paused, looked up at Janet, then sighed. "Once a queen in Narnia, always a queen in Narnia, Su."

Janet was looking studiously elsewhere, pretending not to pay any attention to the conversation.

And oh, if only what Peter were saying were true.

"Right." Susan sniffed, then wiped her eyes, starting to feel the embarassment that comes after shock. "Sorry, Peter. I didn't mean to overwhelm you like this. How long are you staying? Are you in the dorms?" She started to smile, her mood beginning, just slightly, to lighten as the possibilities became clear.

Peter. Alive. Here.

Peter looked at his sister with the understanding usually only a sibling has. This was his Susan and yet...there was something else going on, and he meant to find out what it was eventually.

"You didn't overwhelm me." He said staunchly. "It's not like you don't cry on me every third day." Maybe teasing would for a bit. "I am in the dorms - I'm rooming with a girl called Ainsley" Peter's shock at that statement was apparently. "And I don't know how long I'm staying. Asla - our friend sent me for further education. Not particularly sure what he meant by that."

"Not every third day!" Susan protested, appalled. "Perhaps once a week! If that." She smiled, squeezing his fingers. "Oh, dear. I'm sure she's quite nice. But are you comfortable with that? If you wish to move, I'm certain something else can be arranged."

Another breath. "This island-- well, Janet can tell you. It's unique. It's not like home," and she says that with more feeling than she's ever referred to England. "But it's special nonetheless. Our friend wouldn't have sent you here without a reason."

Too much to think about, now that Aslan was there in thought, if not in reality. Too many possibilities for why Peter was here.

"Once a week then. Unless you're upset at one of the young lords who flock about you. More often then." Peter winked at his sister, feeling like things might be right. "She and I have decided we shall attempt to follow the customs of the area. I promise you I shan't be forward or rude - I'll treat her like Lu." Quite unaware of how pompous he sounded, Peter continued, "And there's nothing like home. Nothing. The colors aren't quite right. Except for you."

It was like a fist around her heart, to hear that voice again, to have him back like this. "How are Lucy and Edmund? Or, rather... Peter, exactly when are you from?" Susan brushed more tears from her cheeks. "When I last saw you, you were twenty. And now, well. It's been sixteen years for me."

Peter stopped to calculate. "We celebrated four years at Cair Paravel several months ago. I'm sixteen. You gave me new barding and tack for my last birthday then threatened to take it away again for...some reason I can't remember." He pushed Susan's hair off her face and asked the questions that he didn't want to hear the answer to. "What happened when I was twenty? And where are your Lu and Ed?"

Susan closed her eyes, and pressed the hand not holding his to her eyes. "Of course. I remember. I was going to take it away because you kept telling Edmund he couldn't go hunting with you. Really, Peter." It was almost as if she'd only seen him yesterday. "You know how he hates that. If you didn't think he was ready to go along, you oughtn't to have made it a command. He was sulking for days."

She swallowed, then looked toward Janet, her eyes begging for a reprieve. "I think--" Susan paused, and slowly let out a breath, calling on every bit of her therapist's training. "That I shan't tell you just yet. Time here is funny, you know. I don't know if what happened to me is going to happen to the Susan you just left. Or if your Lucy and Edmund are where mine are." She managed a joyful, if very fragile smile for him. "But it is awfully good to see you, big brother."

Peter laughed. "Yes, that was it. If Edmund could manage to get his nose out of a book for more than a few hours a day, he'd've been ready for it. Not that I don't rely on him perhaps a bit too much for council at times. Anyway, you came with me, and we had a marvelous time. It's not often we find the White Stag two out of three times."

Peter wasn't entirely sure of the thought processes that were going on in Susan's head, but he knew she was usually smarter than him and that he trusted her - even this strange, older Su - implicitly. He leaned in and kissed her forehead. "Time is funny here, but sometimes knowledge is needed to combat it. Would you send me to battle without my sword? It's your story to tell when you wish, but do tell it." He pulled her to him in an embrace and with his cheek against her hair, said "it's awfully good to see you, little Su."

"No, it isn't often." It was all coming back so much more vividly, with the presence of someone else who remembered it. "But it was the perfect day for riding, after all."

"I shall tell you. All of it." Susan sighed. "But I need to understand more of it first. There's questions I need to ask, and then-- I don't wish to frighten you, you see. Not for nothing. And it may be nothing." Oh, let it be nothing. Let it be that all of the tragedy, the waste of it, could be prevented, that the past could be changed, that there would be no consequences she couldn't bear. She laughed again, giddy with relief. "Peter Pevensie. Welcome to the Island of Fandom. My lord."

Peter bounded to his feet. "Ask your questions, Susan, and find your answers. But about frightening me, do not worry. I can bear that for you, that and more."

With the hand of Susan's that he still held, the High King Peter urged her to rise. "Rise, Queen Susan of Narnia. Show yourself to the Southern sun!"

Susan got to her feet, then just enfolded him another hug, and hid her face on his shoulder. As she used to, when he would be too commanding, back at Cair Paravel.

Janet was feeling more than a little awkward. And this was probably about the best moment to slip away unnoticed. Which she did as best she could.

OOC: I crashed about 10 CST last night, guys, sorry. I literally couldn't stay awake.

FH Clinic, summer hours [5/10]

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