4Elizabeth Eve Petrelli or Eliza as she preferred to be called sat in her doctor's office on the exam table swinging her legs back and forth as she waited for the good doctor to come back in and tell her what was wrong. Ever since she had come back from Africa three weeks ago she had been having trouble hearing, it wasn't constant but it was happening quite frequently and when it did it was like she was just listening to white noise. Hence the forth visit to the doctor in so many weeks, Eliza sat there until she felt a hand on her shoulder which startled her. "Dr. Montgomery, one moment…" Eliza said before gently patting her right ear, which allowed to her to clear her ears of the white noise temporally.
"Ms. Petrelli I've been standing here for close to five minutes are you telling me that you did not hear me once?" Dr. Montgomery, Eliza's audiologist asked with a concerned look on his face and Eliza knew that it wasn't a good sign.
"Nope not all I'm afraid." Eliza quipped with a weary smile. "So what's the diagnosis doc?"
"That's the difficult thing Ms. Petrelli because upon examination your ears appear to be fine, nothing looks wrong and there's no family history of hearing loss nor have you suffered any recent illness, head traumas or been exposed to loud noises that would explain your difficulty hearing. The test we've run so far have come back negative so I'd like to run some more tests…" Dr. Montgomery replied.
"But what if they come back negative like the others? What will happen to me and my hearing?" Eliza asked as the fear began bubbling in her stomach.
"Worst case scenario? You'd probably lose your hearing completely to which I would advise to start taking classes to learn ASL and lip reading but we're hoping for the best here Ms. Petrelli. Hopefully these tests that I want to run will show us what is causing your hearing loss and we can treat it with either medication or surgery and our other option is having you fitted for a hearing aid." Dr. Montgomery explained.
Forty minutes later Eliza left Dr. Montgomery's office and she made a quick detour before she headed back to the apartment where she was currently crashing at. The second she was through the door she quickly shut it behind her and went to the kitchen to grab her lucky personalized shot glass that she had received on her twenty first birthday before heading to the living room and sitting herself on the coach and pulled out the bottle of tequila that she had brought on her way back and proceeded to pour herself a shot. "A bit early for that don't you think Eliza? The party doesn't start for another couple of hours…"
"Not if you've just received the news that I have." Eliza replied before downing the shot as she looked to her left to see her older brother Peter standing in the large doorway that separated the living room from his bedroom.
"Dr. Montgomery, right? I thought that was tomorrow…" Peter began and Eliza just shook her head as she poured herself another shot. "What did he say?"
"Well when I could actually hear what he was saying the words ASL, lip reading, hearing aid and complete loss of hearing were used so it's been a shit afternoon and I'm not ashamed to turn to the bottle in my time of need." Eliza wearily stated proceeding to pour herself another shot and Peter came and sat down next to her and refilled her glass. "I turned twenty five last week and I should be worrying about not having plans on a Friday night or what excuse I'm going to give dad next time I run into him instead of worrying that I'm losing my hearing."
"I'm so sorry Eliza, what else did he have to say?" Peter asked as he wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulder and Eliza just sighed before drinking the shot that Peter gave to her.
"I had to have more tests depending on the results will determine what happens next, they could find the cause of this hearing loss and treat or I'm getting fitted for a hearing aid. Dr. Montgomery is hopeful but I think he's just saying that for my benefit and his check…"
"Eliza I really think you should tell the others about this especially mom and dad, I think they could help." Peter began.
There was a quiet laugh on Eliza's part because of the suggestion, now she loved her brother very much as he was the most caring person she had ever met but he was deluded to think that she was going to the rest of the family for help. There was a reason that she called them all the nut job Petrelli's and that was because they were all crazy. "No way mom will baby me about it, dad will somehow manage to place the blame on me and my time in Africa and don't even get me started on what Nathan will say…" Eliza spat in disgust.
"E, they are your family and they love you and I know that you don't along with dad and Nathan that much but for once could you take down then ten foot tall you surround yourself with and let them in?" Peter said in a reassuring and comforting manner.
"Sorry no can do but anyway I promise that I will be out of your hair the second I get a job and dad stops being such a hardass and gives me access back to my trust fund." Eliza said.
"You can't really blame the guy can you Eliza? You did steal a hundred grand from him."
"I did no such thing Peter, our father for some reason is deluded to think that he can still control my life like he does Nathan's. You know dad wasn't happy that I went to Dartmouth instead of staying here and going to Columbia and you remember what happened after I graduated and I told him that I wanted to go to Africa to teach English for two years? He thought he could buy me off by telling me that he'd donate a hundred grand to the Red Cross if I stayed. I waited until dad cashed the check and then got on a plane to Africa. My independence and my choices cannot be brought Pete…" Eliza explained with a shake of her head.
"He only wants what's best for–" Peter began.
"For him and the image of this family, which is why Nathan is the prodigal son as he followed in the footsteps by becoming a lawyer but enough about dad, tonight is your night and I'm sorry for offloading my problems off on you yet again." Eliza said as she started to change the subject as she refilled the shot glass and slid it over to Peter. "Congratulations Peter, I'm so proud of you!"
"Thank you Elizabeth I'm proud of you too." Peter replied as he drank his shot and Eliza couldn't help but give her brother an odd look, sure Peter was the most sane in the family but even she wouldn't be proud of herself. Here she was a twenty five year old woman, who was two years out of college who'd spent most of her time arguing with her parents just to live off her money. Not exactly a an achievement like Peter who had just become a nurse but then again her family were weird like that.