Once upon a time...

[nevergrowsup]

Fights, whether they be with angry monkeys or angry boys, were all well and good when they were going on. But the afterwards was not quite as fun

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[doctorcuddymd]

Cuddy had finished in the clinic later than she'd planned. She'd exchanged shifts with Wilson because he'd asked, they were friends, and they did those kinds of things for one another. Of course it had more to do with the talk they'd had than she wanted to admit, but that was beside the present point.

She hadn't seen Peter in awhile, and the sight of the boy brought a smile to her mouth. Walking into the rec room, she tilted her head to catch the title of the book he was reading.

"Jack and the Beanstalk. One of my favorites," she smiled. "How have you been, Peter?"

[nevergrowsup]

"Is that what it says?" Peter asked, tilting his head to the side as he looked at the page.

Somehow, with all the squiggle lines on the page, he expected that it'd say more than just three words.

He looked up from the book at her, then shrugged. "I been okay, I guess. My lip hurts a lot, but I put ice on it before."

[doctorcuddymd]

"That's the title of the story." Cuddy came to sit down beside him. With her closer distance she noticed immediately the damage done to his face. Her forehead moved into a frown.

"It looks like it hurts," she said, her voice not without sympathy. "What happened, Peter?"

[nevergrowsup]

"Oh." What a very boring sort of title for a story. Maybe learning your letters wasn't worth it, if this was the sort of story they wrote down.

"Hmmm>" He looked up fro the book at her, then brings his thumb up to his eye again. "Oh, I got into fights."

[doctorcuddymd]

Fights weren't uncommon for a young boy. Sometimes, they went as far as to go looking for trouble just to have a taste of it and see what it was like. Cuddy wasn't too surprised.

"Fights?" she asked. "With who?"

[nevergrowsup]

"With a bunch of monkeys and then with another boy."

After a moment, he added hastily, just in case she didn't know. "I won both of 'em though, so it was okay."

[doctorcuddymd]

"Well, I knew you'd win." Cuddy gave him a smile, though a hint of maternal instinct was desperate to show through. "Peter," she said. "Even though you won the fight, has someone looked at you to make sure you're not too hurt?"

[nevergrowsup]

Peter shruged and tongued over his split lip. "Eostre looked at me, even though she's cross at me. And, anyway, it's not like the monkeys had swords or anything that could really hurt me."

[doctorcuddymd]

"Well, at least that's good," Cuddy said. She had to suppress a smile. Peter's behavior was valiant, even though he was a boy. "Eostre was cross with you because of the fight?"

[nevergrowsup]

He nodded, picking at one of the band-aids over his scraped elbow absently.

"Yeah, she said I was a horrible child, but she always says that."

[doctorcuddymd]

"Oh, I don't think she really believes that." Cuddy shook her head. "She was probably just worried about you. Sometimes, adults say things they don't really mean out of fear."

[nevergrowsup]

"Oh, well, I mean, I am a horrible child, so that's okay." This wasn't true. Peter was absolutely one of the best people at being a child that the world had ever seen. "But she calls Jeroen and Neil that too, and Neil's a grown-up anyway, so I think it's okay."

[doctorcuddymd]

Cuddy couldn't help grinning again, but she shook her head. "I doubt that," she said. "But it's good she's looking after you. Was she coming in to read you a story?"