Eggspecations (Closed to Peter, then Kitty)

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Liz had eventually found her egg and inside was her uniform from the Crashdown Cafe. It seemed like it had been freshly laundered, but there was no doubt that it was hers and not just some random uniform from the diner. For a few days she just left it alone, wondering what she was supposed to do with it. She wasn't about to wear it while she served people, if only because she was sure someone like Odo would be pretty upset by that, being an alien and all.

Her mind kept going back to how Peter had said he wished he saw what it looked like. Maybe the egg was more for Peter than for her. Liz decided it wouldn't hurt to show him.

She put on the uniform complete with antennas. It was almost surreal to see herself in the uniform after so long. She stood in front of a mirror for a while before she exhaled and headed out to find Peter. She was kind of hoping he was in his room so no one else had to see the uniform, but after a few knocks on his door, she figured he was out. She ended up walking around the inn longer than she had wanted to in her uniform until she found him. His back to her, she welled up the courage inside of her.

"Peter." She offered a sheepish smile.

Comments

[st_arkintern]

Peter's sitting at the edge of the pool, his feet dipped in when he hears Liz's voice behind him. He spins around (or around as much as his range of movement will allow while sitting) and his mouth drops for just an instant.

"L-Liz!"

Her name comes out of Peter's mouth in a stammer, a habit he was sure that he lost (at least around Liz) awhile ago.

"You look--"

Peter's voice cracks a little.

"You look great!"

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This was probably the first time Liz ever felt like she looked more than just a teenage girl in a uniform while wearing hers. He managed to change her blush from one of embarrassment to something else.

"It, um, it came with the eggs. I don't know why. But, I knew you said you wanted to see it, so -" She held out her hands and then sheepishly did a little 360 turn on the spot.

"Would you, like some company?" She nodded slightly to the empty spot beside him next to the pool.

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"Yeah, sit down," Peter says, patting the patch of ground next to him. It's April, so the pool is virtually vacant. Most people weren't looking for a swim until the temperatures climbed above 70.

Doesn't stop Peter from letting his feet get a dip, though.

"You gonna wear that when you waitress here?" he asks once she's settled down.

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She slipped off her shoes and her socks and moved to sit beside him. As she sits, the jostling makes her antenna sway a little. She tentatively tested the water with her foot before letting them dip into the pool. It actually wasn't that bad.

"I don't know... I thought maybe I'd offend someone, you know? There are a few aliens here so... I don't know if they would think I'm making fun of them."

[st_arkintern]

It's the swinging of the antenna that attracts Peter's hand to them; with a single hand, he runs his fingers down the wiry length of the antenna. It really was cute.

"Yeah," he says, finally. "That didn't even occur to me." And it's true. Probably because the aliens he's seen here look radically different from the stereotypical aliens that adorn almost every part of Liz's outfit.

"I still think it's cute," he says. "I'm glad you weren't too embarrassed to show me."

He smiles, then lightly kicks his legs a few times in the water. "I haven't found mine yet. I just thought I'd take a break from looking for awhile."

Peter was starting to get frustrated.

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It always surprised her when Peter did the simplest of things, like reacting for her headband, and it felt like a big, fond gesture. It made her smile.

"I, um. I can wear it sometimes, for you, if you like."

She looked at him for a moment. "I can help you, if you like. When you want to start looking again." She paused. "Mine took a while to find. Then I knew which one it was because it had, um. It had symbols on it. This constellation in the shape of a V."

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"Y-yeah!" And for a second, Peter's worried that his voice comes out a little more enthused than what he should sound about hearing that his girlfriend is willing to wear her work uniform for him.

"I mean, yeah. That'd be -- that'd be nice. Wearing the uniform and helping me, I mean."

Because both would be nice.

"Was the constellation where your friends are from?"

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"Yeah." She nodded. "They're from a planet called Antar. We don't know much about it except that there was a war between them and another alien race... Odo said he heard of Antar but he was t sure it was the same place."

She kicked her legs thoughtfully, her hands landing in her lap and she paused when we felt something in her apron. Had that always been there?

Liz reached into the apron and pulled out a little envelope. "I guess... There was one in the egg than I thought."

She looked at the envelope.

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Peter's happy to hear his hunch was on-point.

"You should open it," he urges. He's curious to know what it is, too.

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With his encouragement, Liz carefully ripped open the side. It looked like photographs. When she pulled out the pictures, there was a group photo she hadn't seen in a while.

"Oh wow. That's, um. That's kind of embarrassing." Though her expression was fond as she looked at the photo. "This is at the Crashdown."

Liz pointed to the guy on the right. "That's Michael. He's an alien. He's a really nice guy but doesn't act like it a lot. And that's Maria. She'd be really embarrassed. She regrets her short hair phase." She pointed to the blonde at the back. "That's Isabel. She's Max's sister. She's really popular and into all the social clubs at school." She was the quintessential popular girl.

"And that's... That's Max." And obviously her.

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"Oh," Peter says, because how can he really compare to Max? He's really good-looking, like an actor or something.

"It's really great to see what your friends actually look like," Peter says. "And now you have something to keep around to remind you of them."

It's true; he's genuinely happy that she has a photo of them because he knows that Liz has wanted one for a long time. But at the same time --

-- maybe it would have been better if he hadn't seen a picture of Max.

[st_hotflashes]

Liz was so focused on the pictures in front of her she wasn't picking too much up on Peter's reaction.

She lifted the front photo and put it in the back revealing a prom photo of them in the diner. She would have been embarrassed but her eyes focused on the blonde in the middle. Tess.

"This is..." She paused, stealing a glance a Peter. "This is prom. Um. That's Alex." She pointed to the guy on the far right. Her other best friend. "He really likes Isabel." He had been so happy to go to prom with her. "That's Kyle." She pointed to the guy behind Tess. "And um... That's Tess." Her voice lowered a little as she pointed to the blonde next to her.

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This is all kinda just reminding him of Homecoming. He and Liz probably would have took photos like this if things had turned out the way they had.

"Tess kinda looks like Lilith," Peter observes. He turns and looks at Liz, trying to detect some shift in expression as she looks down at Tess. Was she still upset with her? It sounded like she might be.

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Liz wanted to say she wasn't holding a grudge, but Liz couldn't help it. Tess really rubbed her her the wrong way. "Thankfully Lillith sounds different. And she's started to not use that look a lot. I guess it's, um. A spell? She looks kind of like that red woman walking around." Zahra, Liz thought her name was.

The next photo was of her and Max. She paused, but felt uncomfortable looking at it with Peter there and turned to the next one which had Tess and Kyle again. She exhaled a little. Why did she get this photo in particular?

"Tess isn't... She's not a bad person." At least as far as Liz knew. She was just... Liz couldn't quite let herself be her friend.

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Peter forces himself to look down at the photos instead of over at Liz; she quickly flicks over the picture of her and Max (for which Peter is equal parts unnerved and relieved), then stops at the picture of Tess and Kyle.

"If she's not a bad person, what is she, then?" he asks.

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That was a good question. Liz paused to think about it. "She's... She's nice." Probably to most people anyways. "She gets along with Kyle and everyone." Another slight pause. "It's not really her fault she's destined to be Max's wife, you know?" Or that Max responded to her the way he did. "I just.. I can't seem to let myself be okay with her.... Maybe that makes me a bad person." If she were being 100 percent truthful, she hated Tess.

[st_arkintern]

"It's okay to not be okay with people," Peter says, reaching out to brush a stray hair out of Liz's face "There's people I'm not okay with, and that doesn't make me a bad person. And it definitely doesn't make you a bad person, either."

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Liz thought she might actually hate Tess, but she wasn't ready to even admit that to herself.

She nodded, offering him a small smile. He seemed to always know what to say to make her feel better.

Deciding to move on, she flipped to the next photo and paused for a different reason. The photo looked different with time and date on it this time. Next to her there were the words "Subject 2: Liz Parker". Under the woman was labeled "Special Agent Tapolski" and near Alex was labeled "person of interest."

"I..don't understand." She frowned. She definitely didn't remember taking this photo. She picked it up and flipped it. There was an FBI stamp on the back.

Picking it up also revealed the next photo which was labeled, again, with her as subject 2 and over Max was "subject one: Max Evans". Liz didn't see that part though, not really, since she felt a vice grip in her chest. She was sitting next to the boy she loved and there was a photo of her lying down on the ground with Max. It felt like when she got 'caughy' by Max in bed with Kyle. Liz couldn't quite breathe and, after the initial shock she tried to get rid of the photo by turning to the next one which was even worse, but looked the exact same with the FBI logo on the back and everything.

There was a storm of emotions. She had given up Max. The reminder of this moment, where she had been happy, was cruel. But then also Peter was seeing these photos and that was cruel and the worry that she had almost convinced was gone - how Peter might not feel like he was number one - came flooding back.

"I, um." She was at a lost for words. The photos were abandoned to the side of her as she stood up. "I'm sorry -" this wasn't fair to him. She turned around and closed her eyes in a grimaced. She felt as if things were changing suddenly, panicked on what Peter was going to think or do or say. She started to walk back to collect her shoes.

[st_arkintern]

The first photo -- the one with the FBI stamp on the back? That's all it took to creep him out. And the second photo, of Max clearly covering her? It felt like Liz might have been in a lot more danger than she ever told him. Peter has to remind himself that whatever was stalking Liz back there, it wasn't here. Liz was safe here. And he'd continue to make sure she was safe.

He almost managed to squelch those feelings by the time Liz got to the third photo, and that managed to completely annihilate them, swallowed up by a massive feeling of insecurity. Insecurity Peter knew shouldn't feel, but felt anyway.

"It's fine, Liz," he calls after her, pushing himself off the pool's ledge. It's not true, but he doesn't want her to be upset. Barefooted, he maneuvers himself so he's in front of her. "It's fine."

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She hated this feeling. Like things had. Just gotten steady and good and then they weren't again. It was just like back home when Tess showed up. And then when the Skins showed up.

"no, it's not okay. That's-" she gestured behind her to the photos strewn on the pool side. "That's cruel and unfair." Whether she was talking about to her or to him, even Liz didn't know. Maybe both.

"You shouldn't.. shouldn't have had to see that." Her arms folded over her chest, hugging herself. And maybe she was upset someone seemed to be watching her too, but that seemed less important at that very moment.

[st_arkintern]

Peter isn't sure if he should hug her right now because it looks like she might not want that right now with her arms folded over her like that.

"It's fine," Peter insists. "You didn't know what was in those photos. And all that stuff? The FBI stuff? Liz..."

Peter presses his lips together.

"...I'm just glad that you're away from that now." Not her friends -- the danger.

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"I didn't even know they were taking photos of us like that." She glanced away, off to the side of the inn for a moment. It made sense, though, if she thought about it. Tapolski had been in their school and they had even fooled Sheriff Valenti.

Liz sighed and looked back at Peter, a frown on her lips. He was being so understanding. Did he really feel that way or was he just saying that because he was a nice person?

Feeling defeated, her arms lowered as if she were tired. "I don't - I don't even really care about that." Not at the moment, anyways. It weirder her out, sure, but she felt uneasy for other reasons. "I'm just... I wish you hadn't seen..
Seen those." He hadn't made the same particular expression that Max had made, but it almost felt, to Liz, as if he had.

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"I wanted to see your friends, didn't I?" Peter asks. "I got to see them. I'm -- I'm glad I saw them."

It's a half-truth. He is glad to put faces to the many different names that have permeated Liz's stories the last few months. But as Liz anticipated, he wasn't exactly elated to see her and Max kissing one another. It was uncomfortable. It made him feel insecure. And maybe worst of all, it made him feel jealous. Over someone who wasn't even here. Someone who was part of Liz's past and not part of her present.

Peter moves back to the pool's edge and begins to pick up the photographs one-by-one.

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She turned and watched him quietly as he picked up the photos. She was sure she looked a little ridiculous if anyone looked out at the pool and saw them, but all she could focus on was Peter. She knew how she'd feel if the roles were refused. She knew how she felt about Max and Tess. At yet he was being so -nice- about the whole thing.

She watched him, the words of Jackson and Alec playing over in her head.

[st_arkintern]

Once Peter gathers the photos, he straightens the photos so they're properly lined up.

And when he does so, he notices that the photo of Liz and Max kissing is at the top and quickly re-arranges them.

Peter straightens and approaches Liz, photos in hand, and offers them to her. "You're not going to want to leave these behind."