Family Emergency

Chapter 11

Thank god most of his day consisted of sleeping, Peter thought. He lay there drinking tea in bed, watching the TV which had been moved into his bedroom due to his agonizing boredom. The nurse wondered if anyone could ever die from a stagnant, unending lull.

Nathan was supposed to come visit this evening, and Peter could use the company. He only had another two weeks to go, and he was about to go crazy from his bed bound cabin fever.

He was also not helped by the fact that he could no longer lie in one position for more than ten minutes maximum before his body objected and forced him to turn over. Getting out of bed was an ordeal in itself; Nathan had even gotten him a walker which Peter reluctantly accepted due to the fact that walking unaided was a near impossibility.

A few minutes past six the doorbell rang and immediately afterwards a key was turned in the lock, followed by his brother letting himself in. Despite the state he was in, Peter couldn't keep a joyful smile from his face.

"Nathan? I'm in here!"

"Of course you are; where else would you be?" came the teasing reply; judging from the location of the voice, Nathan was in the kitchen.

They gave one another their usual exchanges of ‘how are you’ and ‘what's going on today’, but Nathan still did not enter the room. Peter noticed this with slight disappointment.

"Why don't you come in here, Nate," he called out. "Don't tell me you want me to get some exercise and come out there, because I'm not. You know what the doctor said."

"I know, I know," the voice called back, "I'll be there in just a minute."

Wondering what the hell Nathan was up to, Peter slightly hoped he would be wearing the empathy belly again. He could use a laugh after such a dull and uneventful day. Finally his brother's voice announced his arrival and when Peter looked up, his jaw almost dropped.

"I got you all your favorites," the older brother stated, smiling, as he held of up a large tray of food. Peter's large brown eyes brightened.

As soon as Nathan had set the tray down on the bedside table, Peter's arms wrapped around his neck and his brother delivered a smacking, wet and completely asexual kiss on his cheek; a habit he'd otherwise grown out of when he was ten or eleven.

"Thank you, Nathan, thank you SO MUCH!"

Nathan laughed warmly and returned the gesture of affection by placing a kiss of his own on Peter's forehead. "I suppose this means that you're hungry?"

"Hell yeah, I've only eaten a sandwich and some yogurt all day. Soon the baby will blame me for starving it," he joked.

The lawyer carefully placed the food tray over his brother's bulging middle, not letting go until he was certain that it would not tip. "I stopped by an Italian restaurant on my way here. I hope their spaghetti and meat sauce is as good as it looks."

Overjoyed and slightly overwhelmed at the amount and variety of food, Peter did what any self respecting pregnant person would do and randomly attacked each and every item of food. His hunger had been so great that the order from the restaurant was nearly arousing in its amazing taste. Nathan joined in every once in a while and even indulged in some garlic bread, using it to brush some sauce from his brother's cheek, receiving a laugh at the gesture.

"Try to keep some room though," the elder Petrelli said as his brother continued to shovel in pickled beets.

"There's more?" Peter barely managed to say through a full mouth, eyes wide and bright.

Nathan shortly excused himself only to return with a cake box, and as he opened it, Peter's wide grin was contagious.

"A Fudgie the Whale cake!" he exclaimed as he looked down at the multi flavored ice-cream and cookie dessert smiling goofily up at him. "Awww, Nathan, I haven't had one in years!"

"I know, kiddo," the lawyer smiled back. "I just thought you might like one after all this time. It used to be your favourite as a kid, remember?"

And Peter did remember. Sadly their mother had not let him indulge nearly as much as he would have wanted back then, restricting his helpings to one slice a day. Now, however, there were no such restrictions. Nathan would not take the ice-cream cake from him no matter how much he gorged.

Peter surprisingly enough managed to gobble down almost the entire portion of spaghetti accompanied by many of the fittings, and Nathan couldn't possibly imagine there was any room left for ice-cream cake, especially with the foetus taking up so much space. His brother, however, proved him wrong.

"You are going to be absolutely sick in less than an hour, you know that?" He asked as he returned from the kitchen, having placed containers in the refrigerator and trash can. He sat down on the bed right next to his brother, who burped rather loudly and proceeded to lean sluggishly against him. The nurse's mouth, though wiped several times, was still stained by stubborn bits of chocolate and spaghetti sauce.

"Mmmn..." Peter replied finally, letting all of his weight rest against his brother. "Don't care."

Nathan had to laugh at this and he managed to wipe the rest of the food from the contented face. His brother's round belly gurgled noisily and Peter rubbed it as though this would quiet it.

"Still don't care?" Nathan asked.

"Yep," Peter returned, slipping an arm behind his big brother's back. "I think I could sleep for a week now."

Nathan agreed to stay for the night - Heidi was so used to him being away that she'd stopped asking questions about his absence - and was faced with the rather undignified task of helping Peter to the toilet in preparation for the night. In addition to the belly weighing him down, Peter was also really full and could hardly even walk aided without passing out every three steps.

"You know, we could try to get you a bedpan..." the older man tried but was brusquely interrupted by his brother.

"I'm not pissing and crapping in bed like some vegetable!" Peter snapped. He made another attempt to turn around and seat himself on the toilet seat while Nathan pulled down the maternity panties, which he'd given up trying to hide from his brother.

Nathan wrinkled his nose when a foul smell filled the confining bathroom, and he tried his best to block out the sounds of Peter evacuating.

"Now that," the younger Petrelli announced, "feels better."

Despite the smell and noise, Nathan could not help but laugh.

"You know what, you can have the rest of my pillows," the older man said as they made their gradual way back to the bed.

"Oh, Nate, you don't have to do that," Peter responded as he was carefully helped onto the mattress. "Besides, I don't think I can get comfortable no matter how much damn cushioning I have."

"I don't need them," Nathan said with a dismissive gesture. He lifted one of his pillows and fluffed it. "Here."

On shaking arms, Peter managed to lift his torso from the bed and a pillow was placed under his waist.

"Sleeping on my side with the other pillows won't work," the young man insisted.

"No, wait." Nathan took another pillow and stuffed it directly underneath the large bulge that was Peter's stomach. "Now the one that Heidi liked," the lawyer stated with the final cushion, one he had found from the sofa. Lifting Peter's leg slightly, he put it between the thighs.

Nathan brought in another sofa cushion for himself - this one much dirtier and lumpier than the first, but it would do. His main priority was to make his pregnant baby brother as comfortable as possible. Besides, during his time as a naval officer, he'd slept in much worse places than this.

"Goodnight, little buddy," he whispered, smiling, and kissed his brother's brow. Peter only gave a half-conscious murmur in reply. The poor kid was obviously exhausted.

Fortunately Peter at least did not snore, and sleep claimed Nathan almost as fast as it had done Peter.

*

Twenty minutes past two Nathan was awakened by yelping sounds coming from Peter's side of the bed. Turning his head, he could see his brother struggling to get into an upright position, hand over his mouth.

"Nathan..." he pressed out. "I think I have to throw up..."

By the time Nathan had gotten to his feet and made it to the other side of the bed, Peter gave a threatening belch. Grabbing the nearby waste basket, he handed it to his brother who had managed to roll into a sitting position. A split second later, Peter's dinner and dessert came spilling out and into the container with a hot splash.

Though he would have liked to have been absent from the event, Nathan remained faithfully by his brother's side, rubbing his back as it heaved slightly with another retch. Finally the only thing that escaped Peter's bile-stained lips was a moan.

"You okay?" Nathan asked cautiously.

Another moan, followed by a disappointed grumble. "There goes my cake," the hospice nurse said with a somber sigh.

Nathan did not want to scold Peter for gorging on the food and cake; his brother was in enough distress as it was. A consoling attitude would work much better.

"Don't be sad, buddy," he said. "At least you got to enjoy the taste of it."

"It doesn't taste good now..." Peter muttered, his mouth and throat burning from the acrid taste of undigested food mixed with stomach acid.

"You want some water?"

"...yeah, I guess..."

Nathan brought Peter a glass of water from the kitchen together with a washcloth which he used to wipe his brother's sweaty face.

"Thanks for the food though," Peter said, and the gratitude in his voice was clear as a bell.

"I did enjoy it for a while, and it gave me an excuse to pig out."

"I guess the kid didn't agree with it," Nathan added, and he waited until Peter was absolutely ready before helping him lay back down on the bed. Neither of them wanted the younger brother's stomach to rebel again.

"At least your idea worked," Peter observed aloud. "This pillow thing is actually the most comfortable thing so far."

"Glad to hear it," the lawyer replied, gazing over the young nurse's shining, naked body. He could not help but look at the bloated stomach, and in the faint light penetrating the darkness from outside, he could see tiny bulges rippling over the smooth curve, clear signs of activity from the foetus.

"Oh, fucking hell!" Nathan exclaimed without thinking. "That's just warped!"

Peter's eyes flew open in alarm. "What?"

"Your stomach, it's..." The older man gave up trying to explain and started laughing instead. "Fuck, that looked like a chest-burster!"

"Stop making fun of me," Peter said accusingly, not sharing Nathan's amusement. "I *know* it does that, okay? I'd rather not think about it, but I've noticed it. You never saw the same happen in Heidi?"

"No," Nathan said frankly. "But her babies did not try to claw themselves out."

Grimacing as though the idea were plausible, Peter turned back on his side and arranged the pillows as they were when he first went to sleep. Nathan instinctively put a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"You okay?" he asked, eyes gentle, though the nurse was not looking at them. "Sorry to tease. Are you alright?"

Another lump drifted over the delicate surface of skin, and Peter placed his hand over it, either as an attempt to hide it or stop it.

"I just wish it would stay still," the young man grumbled. "The weights in your own empathy belly were nothing compared to this little pain in the ass."

"I bet not..." Nathan murmured absently, eyes still riveted to the other's globe-like middle. "But at least it'll be over soon..."

"Yeah... along with me," Peter pressed out, his voice grave and miserable. Both his brother and doctor Cusack had tried to be optimistic about his chances, but Peter just failed to see how his birth could end up any different than Michael's. "I won't survive this, Nate, I know it..."

"Peter, don't say that," Nathan lashed out, his hand clamping down on Peter's shoulder. "I'm not losing you, and neither is Cusack. That's a promise. You think we'd just let you die after all you've gone through?"

"It's not a matter of letting me die," Peter whispered, his voice somewhat cold and unfeeling. "I've seen it happen time and again, no matter how hard a doctor tries to save a patient. Sometimes people just die."

"Not you," Nathan's voice was the polar opposite of his brother's, warm and tender. That voice repeated soft whispers that kept Peter warm deep inside, even without blankets. Slowly he swayed into the hold of sleep under the watchful eyes, soothing voice, and warm hold of his big brother.

~To be continued