Chapter Text
For the first few months following Walter’s sudden departure and the discovery of his letter and goodbye video, Peter couldn’t bear looking at the tape again. Now, though, he’s grateful for it — that last tangible tie to his father before he disappeared.
Especially on a day like today — his dad’s birthday —, when his life should be celebrated and Peter needs a reminder that it hasn’t actually ended. Walter will continue to grow older. Only far away from his family. Only many, many years from now.
Peter still doesn’t understand the full weight of the words, but he does catch the emotion in them and can feel, deep in his gut, what an important sacrifice Walter made. He and Olivia and Astrid all tried to figure out what truly happened, of course (Peter, for a brief moment, even tried to figure out a way to bring him back). And even though they did manage to put some of the pieces together, they have now come to terms with the fact that they’ll never know the whole truth.
And that maybe it’s for the best.
“… I love you, son,” Walter’s voice resonates through the otherwise silent room and cuts through said son’s thoughts. Peter always stopped the tape after this particular line, his vision too blurry and his heart too heavy to go on. Too full of guilt and sadness, too, that he didn’t get to say goodbye, to reciprocate those words he so rarely said back when Walter was here, by his side.
(Completely unaware that he, in fact, did.)
He never heard the following words until now, then. Didn’t even think there was more to the video than what has now been fully imprinted in his mind.
“You’re my favorite thing. My very favorite thing.”
There’s a pang in Peter’s heart at hearing it
and watching his father’s teary eyes at saying it, of course, but also something else. The words feel familiar to his ears. Like he’s heard them before, in another tearful goodbye.
He pushes the feeling deep at the back of his mind, though — along with all the other moments of déjà-vu he and Olivia have experienced from time to time ever since they learnt about Walter.
Unable to actually hug his father, something he longs to do more than ever right now, Peter reaches for the screen and places a hand there, his own tears falling freely down his face. Growing up, Walter had never been his favorite anything. Peter thought the feeling was mutual — his father’s work was his favorite thing, definitely not him. Now though… so much has changed, ever since that day Olivia found him in Baghdad and forced him to come back home with her.
(Even if he didn’t know it at the time — that he was coming home , in every sense of the word.)
Speaking of all the things that changed since he met his now wife, it’s a little voice that brings Peter back to reality and make him turn around from the screen. “Daddy?” Etta asks tentatively.
“Come, kiddo,” he invites his daughter in with a smile. As soon as she reaches his side, she raises her arms so that her father picks her up. Peter obliges and places her on his lap.
Etta looks at him intently, brows furrowed. Her tiny hands reach just below his eyes, where his tears are still shining — yet not falling anymore. “Daddy?” she asks again with a concerned pout this time.
“It’s nothing, sweetheart,” Peter gently rubs Etta’s back in a reassuring gesture. “I was just wishing Grandpa a happy birthday.” He points at the the screen, where Walter’s face can still be seen.
“Grandpa!” Etta coos at the sight of her grandfather. Just like her dad mere minutes ago, she reaches for his still face with her little fingers. Then, quite unexpectedly, she turns back towards Peter, eyes all bright and smiling. “Can we watch the video of my birthday?” she pleads.
It makes Peter laugh. Of course at her age, she would bring the attention back to herself (although Walter was the one taking the video and making commentaries, with a little speech at the end, which he knows has to be one of the reasons why she asked for it).
He sighs with relief, too — how seeing her granddad didn’t phase her and make her ask for him and cry, how she didn’t ask to watch this tape. He might show it to her someday, but not right now. She’s far too young to understand.
“Of course, kiddo.” Peter puts his daughter down for a second to find the tape. Then, once everything is settled, he brings Etta back onto his lap. She watches the video without a word, eyes glued to the screen where her parents give her gifts, kiss when she asks them to, and they all share a cake that Walter baked.
Then Peter’s father shows up on the screen, a light in his eyes far different and much more cheerful than on the previous tape, as he sings Etta a happy birthday “and many more joyful years to come”.
It had to be this way to ensure your future. The future of Olivia and the future of Etta, Walter’s words resonate in Peter’s mind. Whatever that was supposed to mean, Walter did succeed. Because despite the man’s absence and the hole he left forever, Peter can’t deny that their life is a beautiful one.
In large part thanks to their daughter brightening their everyday.
Feeling sentimental, Peter brings Etta closer to his chest in a hug when the video eventually stills. She doesn’t question it, nor does she try to get away from it. She simply wraps her own little hands around him as best as she can. “You’re my favorite thing,” in the quiet of the room, Peter whispers his own father’s words against Etta’s temple, pressing a kiss there afterwards while he keeps holding her tight.
He’s never felt closer to Walter than in that moment, as he perfectly understands the meaning behind what he tried to convey to him with his declaration. Peter knows, then, that his dad wouldn’t mind it; that while he is the man’s favorite thing, Walter isn’t — but Etta is. It’s one more thing for them to share, that goes beyond everything, beyond the many years currently separating them.
It’s a timeless kind of love, that bond between a father and his child.
“No!” Etta quickly withdraws herself from Peter to look at him, a mischievous smile painted on her face. “You’re my favorite thing!” she points at him and repeats her own father’s words, though with much more cheerfulness and a lot less weighted emotion than when he said it. It makes Peter laugh wholeheartedly.
It all soon turns into a loud battle of who will say it last, full of joy and playfulness and giggles. For sure Etta doesn’t understand the true meaning behind those words, how much they hold within themselves (she’d most definitely include Olivia among her favorites too if she did), but it doesn’t make the moment less valuable — if only more.
Just like it makes her even more Peter’s favorite thing, if that is even possible to love her more than he already does.