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English
Series:
Part 3 of Wyoming
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Published:
2019-05-28
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1,810
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1/1
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Forget-Me-Not

Summary:

It's 1973, and we're in Southern Wyoming. Peter and Hope have a talk about their daughter Dawn, who looks an awful lot like a certain someone they know.

Set between parts I & II of the epilogue of 'Soft Like Summer Rain'.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

May 1973

It had been a calm, quiet night, at least since they’d managed to get the kids to sleep. Hope’s mum, Mrs Rogers - no, Helen, even though it still felt weird calling her that - had been a great help as usual. She’d actually been reading to them all quite a lot, now that even David was old enough to sleep in his own room.

Even though Hope had tried to keep smiling through the sleepless nights that they’d had to start sharing again when their son had been born a little over a year ago, Peter could see that she was happy about the occasional peace that they finally had. And seeing her happy made Peter happy.

“Pete, honey”, Hope said, looking up at him, her auburn hair undone and spread out in wavy curls against Peter’s chest and shoulder. Peter pulled her a bit closer to breathe in the scent of her hair, and smiled as it made her laugh softly.

“Yes, luv?”

“I was thinking”, Hope said, suddenly looking a bit more serious, and it made Peter furrow his brows too.

“About what?” Peter asked, hand on Hope’s cheek. Hope let out a sigh.

“Dawn’s been getting even more freckles”, Hope said. “Her hair’s curlier, too, now that it’s longer.”

“Well, she likes the sun”, Peter said. “I think I know who she got it from.”

He ran his hand down Hope’s side and hip, almost slipping under the surprisingly long hem of her nightgown, where he knew her tan-lines would be. They never really went away during the winter months, and Peter loved the way he could see and feel the sun on her, even on the darkest nights.

“Stop it”, Hope drawled out, grabbing his hand to keep it at her hip.

She was holding back a smirk, though, and after a moment of staring at Peter’s face with her eyes lit up and her lips parted, she leaned in to kiss him. She was so beautiful that Peter couldn’t exactly deny her the pleasure. (Or deny it from himself, for that matter.)

“But you know my hair isn’t that red, right? And, well… she looks nothing like you”, Hope said.

“Really?” Peter asked. He didn’t manage to sound quite as confused as he’d meant to, and he truly hoped Hope wouldn’t take his sarcasm the wrong way.

Cheryl’s hair was as dark as his, and so was David’s, if it was going to stay the same as it was now. Their eldest even had his eyebrows, and looking at her soft, kind expressions and her dark eyes, Hope’s eyes, had made Peter’s heart melt the moment he’d first held his daughter.

Dawn was just a year younger than Cheryl was, four now. He could see Hope on her face too, but she was decidedly more red and pale than their other children.

“Must be the British genes”, Peter said. “Not that I know how they work or anything, but I never really met my grandparents. Can’t know for sure.”

“Jesus Christ, Peter”, Hope said, sighing a little and looking a bit worried all of a sudden. That made Peter frown - he hadn’t realised that that was what this was about.

“Would think you would’ve figured that out by now. You were a detective, and a good one at that. Got the Queen’s medal to prove it”, Hope said.

Peter swallowed hard and pulled her closer. She didn’t fight it, but she looked a bit anxious, almost scared because she didn’t know what he was going to say.

Peter brushed a strand of hair away from her face, giving her a soft, gently concerned smile, hoping that it would at least somewhat soothe her.

“Hope, baby”, Peter said. “I’m pretty sure we’ve both known for some time now.”

“You should’ve said something”, Hope mumbled, and if Peter hadn’t known better, he would’ve said she was holding back tears. Jesus, he would have, had he known that she’d been so worried about it. He just hadn’t thought anything of it.

“Hey”, Peter said, quietly against her cheek. “It’s alright. I just… she’s our kid. Doesn’t really make a difference if she grows up to be a redhead rather than tall and dark.”

“Is this the reason you liked watching me and Morse so much?” Hope muttered, smiling through the sniff. Peter pulled her closer to his chest, to try to get her to breathe at the same steady rhythm as him, to let her know that all was well in the world.

“Can’t say that I was really thinking about what might happen back then”, Peter admitted, rather sheepishly. “Come on, think about how Cheryl came to be. I’m more of a… doer than a planner.”

“Oh, I’ve noticed”, Hope said, and Peter was relieved to hear the familiar playfulness in her voice again. She pressed a kiss on his cheek, and Peter returned the favour.

“But really, there’s really nothing as beautiful as someone you love giving you a child”, Peter said.

It sounded like a cheesy quote from a women’s magazine or something, but he meant it. He wasn’t sure if he’d be able to see Morse ever again, but always having a part of him with him, practically having him be a part of the family, even if he didn’t know it himself, made his heart flutter. Bloody hell, he really was a sap.

“I should consider myself lucky. Got a double deal”, Peter added. “Couldn’t ask for more, to be honest.”

Hope let out a long sigh against him, and Peter was glad to have her with him, to be hers and hold her near, hear her heartbeat.

“She’s our daughter and I love her”, Peter mumbled. “Nothing less.”

If anything, it was just one more thing to love about their Dawnie. He just had to hope very hard that she wouldn’t start getting into opera when she grew up. And to be honest, Peter was a bit terrified (and in awe) of what might happen when you put two bloody brilliant people together.

At least he could be fairly sure of the fact that Dawn would probably want to go to college. Good thing that they’d already started saving up for their kids. It had been a bit of a shock to Peter, really, since it had never been an option where he came from. Not that he remembered particularly much from his childhood before he was… sent away, but still.

It was probably better not to think about that. Peter ran a hand down Hope’s cheek, and for a second, he let his mind wander.

Soon, a thought made Peter snort. Hope raised an eyebrow.

“What?” she asked, amused by just the sound of his laugh. Peter smiled at her, when he could shut up for a moment. His eyes had watered a bit, and he didn’t know if he was laughing or crying.

“At least he paid his child support in advance”, Peter said, still choking with laughter. Hope looked confused for a moment, but then it seemed to dawn on her.

“The bonds. Jesus Christ”, Hope said. “Pete, it was so much money, I don’t -”

“Guess we’re even with him now”, Peter said. Hope rolled her eyes, but smiled anyway.

“Maybe so”, she said, and her hands were so soft and gentle on his chest again that he just had to lean in to kiss her and be kissed in return.

Night had already fallen over the fields and the house like a dark, warm blanket. It wasn’t even June yet, so it wasn’t unbearably hot, but the weather was getting warmer every day. The gentle sounds of wind and distant crickets were something that Peter had needed a while to get used to, but by now, falling asleep to them felt like second nature.

“Pete”, Hope said, catching him before he had the chance to slip into the net between sleep and awake.

“Yeah?”

“You still love him?” she asked, stroking his cheek gently. “Morse.”

Peter hesitated for a moment, but when he looked at his wife, he remembered that it was Hope asking. His Hope, with her sincere eyes meeting his.

“Yes”, Peter said. He couldn’t hide it, so it was better to just admit it. “Probably always will.”

“Oh, honey”, Hope said, and the softness in her voice made him realise there was nothing to fear. “Why are you looking so wistful, then?”

Peter swallowed, having to look up at the ceiling for a while to blink the sudden wetness away from his eyes.

“I just… I hope he’s as happy as you’ve made me, luv, whatever he’s doing”, Peter said. Hope smiled.

“I love you”, she said, and bloody hell, Peter would never grow tired of hearing those words.

“Hope, darling. I love you too.”

 

“What about you?” Peter asked, after a moment of shared, comfortable silence which was still too alert to be exactly sleepy. “You love him?”

“Was in love for a month or so, I’d say, the end of that summer”, Hope said. “But I’ve always liked him, poor blue sweetheart. And I couldn’t imagine us not having Dawn. So if she’s his daughter, too, then I should probably thank him from the bottom of my heart if we ever meet again. Could love him again, too.”

Peter nodded slowly.

There was so much he hadn’t had time to tell Morse, so many words left unsaid. But the bloody bastard had probably moved without sending them his new address, as they hadn’t heard from him in a good while. Not properly, anyway.

Life must’ve been busy in Oxford, of course, with all the crimes and the victims Morse’s heart went out to, but Peter still wished they’d get something as simple as a phone call every once in a while. But above all else, he truly hoped Morse was happy.

He dreamt of Morse that night, his smile and his red curls and the awkwardly fitted suits he’d kept wearing, against a backdrop of not-quite-Oxford with bits and pieces of their summer mixed in. They were in a park for quite some time, just looking at clouds go by. Morse kissed him and said something very Morse, but Peter couldn’t remember it, even though it felt like it had been something smart and important.

/ / /

Peter made sure to hug Dawn a little tighter than usual the next morning, when he woke up to two pairs of small bare feet tapping against the wooden floor outside their bedroom, trying to be all sneaky and quiet.

(Dawn squirmed away after a while, but that gave Peter a chance to give Cheryl a similar squeeze, and the faces the girls made honestly made his day. David was too small for that kind of treatment, but Peter ended up carrying him around the whole morning.)

Notes:

They're so sweet and I love their family so much aaAAA!! Please comment and let me know what you thought! :D

I'm probably going to stray to the realm of canon divergence (fanfic divergence?) sooner rather than later, since I desperately need an AU where Hope and Peter and Morse are reunited and take care of their kids together. Maybe Morse just visits each year for as many months as he can, and Peter and Hope just have to tell the kids that their Pa has a very important job in Oxford and therefore can't visit them as often as he'd like.

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