Isolation

Forgiveness

"Hi." Peter grinned as he stepped out onto the balcony. River, who was sitting on the steps, turned around and smiled back at him.

"Hi, Peter."

"Are you alright?" He took a few steps closer but still kept his distance.

"Yeah, fine," River sighed, looking down. "Just needed to clear my head, is all."

Peter nodded and shifted his weight from foot to foot, unsure of what to do.

"Well, did you like dinner?"

"Yes, thank you."

The food itself was rather lackluster. It was Davy's turn to cook. He didn't know how to cook (mostly because the American conversions threw him off), so all he had done was heat up leftovers and a few slices of bread. With that, they made leftover sandwiches with whatever they could get their hands on. Davy had placed a slice of meatloaf between his pieces of bread. Peter put a wild combination of different fruits and vegetables on his sandwich. River had made his with chips and hummus. Micky's sandwich was, by far, the most entertaining. A spaghetti and meatball sandwich that created a massive mess.

"You three are so...wild. It's fun to just watch you all together just being yourselves."

Peter smiled proudly.

"You should join us next time."

River laughed and shook his head.

"No, no, I could never."

"Why not?"

He scoffed. Was that even a question?

"Well, one, I wouldn't want to intrude-"

"-You wouldn't be! It's an invitation-"

"-And two, I could never do that. I'm so-I'm not," he looked down, trying to find the words. "I'm not like that."

"Everyone has a wild side. Even Mike."

He smiled and giggled as he thought about what that would be like. The calm and stoic Texan's goofy insane side.

"So," Peter started, sitting down beside him, "your 'friend...'"

River sighed, knowing what he meant.

"And your brother," he added.

Peter nodded.

"It was Mike the whole time, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was," he said with a sigh, a slight smile coming on his face. "Small world."

Peter nodded again but kept his frown.

"Why didn't you tell us? We were really worried about him."

"I didn't know you then, Peter," River said sympathetically. "If I knew you were looking for him, I would've made the call sooner."

"But you did," Peter turned away and pouted. "His picture was in the paper for a week. You had to have seen it, right?"

"I did," he sighed and closed his eyes. "But in my defense, I didn't know what would happen to him if I did."

He looked up and faced River at that.

"He...um...some nights he would have bad memories and I didn't know what to do." He looked down at his hands, which were now trembling. "I was worried I would be sending him back there, I didn't know, and I didn't want to hurt him any more than he already has been."

Peter nodded.

"That makes sense."

"Are you mad at me?"

"No," he said but gave it more thought. "Maybe a little. But I forgive you."

"Thanks, Peter."

"No problem..." There was a pause before Peter smiled. "I don't think you ever said your name."

"I didn't?"

He shook his head.

"I don't think so. If you did, I forgot it already."

"It's, uh, River." He smiled slightly but looked down.

"You hesitated," Peter noted with a frown.

"I changed it a while ago to River. It wasn't always that." He was becoming embarrassed and slowly traced his finger on the wooden balcony to try and hide that fact.

"Oh, well, I like it."

River smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, I like it, too."

Peter took a deep breath and sighed, relieved.

"Thank you for taking care of Mike. I hope I didn't sound ungrateful earlier. It's really nice that you did that."

"You're welcome."

"Hey, River?" He asked hesitantly, a nervous edge in his voice. "Is the narrowlepsy...is it bad?"

"Do you mean 'narcolepsy'?"

He nodded, and River sighed.

"Well, it's...complicated."

Peter nodded shakily and was clearly becoming anxious. He looked down.

"I-uh, Micky never actually told me what it was. I asked Davy, too. He's never heard of it. And so..."

"You want me to tell you about it, right?"

"Please?" He looked up with big eyes, and River nodded.

"Okay."

"Well, it's a condition that's tied a lot in with emotion. Anyone can feel stress, anger, happiness, that stuff. When someone with narcolepsy feels those, or at least, too much emotion, they shut down. Physically, mentally, emotionally, all of that. It's complicated because one, it's different for different people. And two, it can be dangerous but not by itself. If that makes any sense. Narcolepsy, alone, won't hurt someone. But if they were out driving or something and got stressed or excited or anything like that...I think you get the idea. If he does have it, he's probably always had it. Most likely, it isn't something new. It's just bad now since you all are going through a lot."

Peter looked down, and a thought came into his head. As much as he didn't want to think about it, it made sense. Mike was usually so careful on the road. Suddenly, everything seemed to make sense. All the times when Mike would get lost in his memories and just shut down. Peter closed his eyes and pulled his knees to his chest, not wanting to believe it.

"Peter, are you alright?"

He nodded and felt the tears fall down his face.

"Just worried about him, is all."