Title: The Wrong Petrelli

Author: Lara-Van

Rating: PG-13

Pairings: Peter/Heidi, Nathan/Heidi, Peter/Emma

A/N: Okay, so when it comes to Peter, I have no "official" ship. That's probably because I don't care who Peter's with as long as there's awesome chemistry... which there almost always is. I've paired him up with... well, basically everybody. Except the guys, because (sorry Rachel) I'm just not huge on slash. Also, I know the timeline I have laid out here means that Simon and Monty couldn't possibly be the correct ages, but that part of this is slightly AU. (And also, to those of you who've been reading spoilers, yes, I did chose the name Emma on purpose.)

Official Warning: Peter does a lot of crying and angsting in this. I mean, he does a lot of angsting in canon, but it's fairly rare to see him cry, so I figure I'll just give warning. There are also some spoilerish moments in this, particularly at the end, so if you don't want to know my take on the rumors, don't read. I also made Heidi kind of a bitch, which wasn't originally my intention because I really like her. But that's how it turned out, so I'm rolling with it.

~Peter~

The first time Peter Petrelli met Heidi Monteban, he was 19 and she was 25. She was a graduate student, and he was a freshman intent on becoming a nurse. They met in philosophy class. He was surprised to see a post-grad in the class and asked her why she was attending a class she didn't have to. Heidi replied that she enjoyed a good ethical debate and that was exactly the sort of discussion you were likely to find in Philosophy 101.

From the very beginning, she captivated him. Her long black hair that shone like a mirror in the sun and her piercing blue eyes caught his attention the way none of the leggy blondes Nathan preferred ever had. There was no denying that Heidi was very beautiful, and after a few weeks of their acquaintance, Peter was forced to admit that he had developed a massive crush on his new friend. He tried very hard not to let it show, though. Peter had never been very good with girls, and he hated the thought of losing Heidi's friendship over a silly thing like a crush.

She was studying law, he discovered. At first, Peter couldn't understand why. He knew a lot of lawyers through his father and brother, and, as he told her quite candidly, she was "too nice" to be a lawyer. But Heidi only laughed.

With time, Peter came to understand her burning passion for justice. She was every bit as idealistic as he was, and was determined to do all the good she could, through pro bono work and the day-to-day upholding of the law. Peter admired her for her zeal, and it did nothing but feed the growing feelings he had for her.

--

It was a year, maybe, after they met, that Heidi received the invitation to a party at the sorority house. She had known a couple of the girls in high school, apparently, and they insisted that she come. Heidi, in turn, invited Peter. Against his protests, she dragged him to the house, insisting that he needed to get out more and meet a nice girl. Under extreme duress, Peter consented, resigned to the fact that she had no idea that he had met a girl: her.

It was at the party that Peter discovered an unusual talent of Heidi's. She could drink anyone- anyone- under the table and remain as sober as the day she was born. She'd already had half a dozen martinis and several shots of straight vodka and didn't show the slightest sign of being tipsy. He lost track of her after that- she moved through the party as though she did this every day.

Peter found himself sitting in a corner, nursing a Scotch that made him feel guilty and underage with every sip. One of Heidi's high school friends sauntered up to him. Emily, he thought her name was. She was blonde, a good five inches taller than he was, and her grey eyes had a look in them that demonstrated just how much she lacked Heidi's tolerance for alcohol.

"Hi handsome," she slurred. "What's your name?"

"P-peter," he stuttered, extremely disconcerted by the way she was looking at him.

"I'm Emma," she said, and without further ado she straddled him and began kissing him passionately.

For a moment, Peter was tempted to let her have her way. But his conscience reminded him that she was drunk, and what about Heidi? As gently and politely as he could, he extracted her tongue from his mouth and went in search of Heidi.

Peter had some difficulty finding her. The sorority house was extremely crowded. After negotiating the crush of bodies filling the room, he finally located her in a dark corner, kissing another law student he didn't recall seeing at the party.

It was as though someone had stuck a knife in his gut. He was rooted to the spot, staring, transfixed. Peter wanted nothing more than to rush over to them and pull the guy's head from his shoulders. But the jealousy and rage roiling in him were too great and he found that he couldn't even move.

As he watched, the guy relinquished Heidi's lips long enough to whisper something in her ear. Far from producing the effect he probably intended, she instead jerked back from him. "Ew!" she exclaimed. "You pig!"

"Aw, baby, don't be like that," he said cajolingly. He grabbed her by the hips and pulled her roughly against him.

"Get away from me, you jerk!" Heidi said firmly, shoving him in the chest. But he only pulled her tighter.

At that moment, Peter's paralysis lifted. He pulled Heidi back from the other man, putting a comforting arm around her which she promptly shrugged off. "Is there a problem here?" he asked in what he hoped was a macho tone of voice.

"What would you do about it if there was, Prettyboy?" the older man sneered.

Peter squared his shoulders, but before he could reply, Heidi stepped between them and put a hand on Peter's chest. "It's okay," she said. "It's fine. Let's go, Peter." She shot a burning look at her would-be partner,and they walked away.

--

He offered to walk her back to her apartment, unwilling to miss a chance at a few more minutes with her.

"You didn't have to step in like that, you know," she said presently.

"It was the right thing to do," he said dismissively.

She shook her head. "I could've handled him fine on my own. There was no need for you to start acting like a jealous lover."

Peter's breath caught. He wondered if her choice of words was a hint. Throwing caution to the winds, he said, "Heidi, I care about you. A lot."

She smiled. "I care about you too, but that's still no reason to--"

Running a hand through his hair in agitation, he interrupted her. "No! That's not what I meant. What I meant was--" He broke off, frustrated by her lack of understanding, and his own inability to express how he felt. Peter was never good at finding the right words in this sort of situation. And so he kissed her, full on the mouth, hoping to make his lips explain with actions what they couldn't with words.

Heidi responded to his kiss, but he could tell that her heart wasn't in it, that she was just trying to give him this happy moment. He broke the kiss, staring at her. Her electrifying blue eyes were sad. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely. "I just don't--"

"It's okay," he said. Letting out a bark of bitter laughter, he turned away from her to try and hide the tears welling up in his eyes. "It's okay," he repeated. "I mean, we can always be friends, right?" His voice broke on the last word and he silently cursed his traitorous vocal chords.

"Oh Peter," Heidi said, sounding so sorry he couldn't bear it. "Of course we can. Never think we can't. I'll always be here for you." She pulled him around to face him, and when she saw the tears he couldn't stop from running down his face, the apology in her eyes became so desperate, it only made him lose what little of his self-control he had. She held him in a comforting hug as he cried out his love for her.

That night, Peter dreamed about her, not for the first time. When he woke up, he was painfully hard and filled with bitter regret.

--

Two years later, Heidi was just weeks from receiving her law degree. Mercifully, however, she seemed to have forgotten the incident after the party. Peter certainly hadn't, and he looked back on it with a mixture of longing and regret. But she had never mentioned it again, and their friendship had gotten back on track quickly. She was currently on the hunt for a firm to join once she received her degree. She wasn't having a whole lot of luck."

"Maybe I'm just a bad lawyer," she sighed one day, going through stacks of ads with Peter.

He shook his head, smiling. "No way. You're a great lawyer." Inspiration struck him. "Tell you what, how about I introduce you to my brother. Nathan's a junior partner in my dad's firm. He might be able to help you... get your foot in the door, so to speak."

She looked up at him, suddenly animated. "Really? You mean it? That would be... amazing, Peter! You're the best!" She threw her arms around him in an ecstatic hug.

That afternoon, they paid a visit to Petrelli & Son Law Offices. As Peter explained to Heidi in a conspiratorial whisper while they waited for Nathan to finish with a meeting, the sign had originally read Petrelli & Sons, but when Peter had made it clear he had no intentions of following in his father's footsteps, a new one had to be made. Heidi laughed, tossing her black hair back over her shoulder.

And that was how Nathan Petrelli first met Heidi- laughing, beautiful, smiling at the world.

When Peter saw Heidi's face as he introduced her to his brother, a strange foreboding grew in the pit of his stomach. She was openly staring at Nathan, gazing at him as if she had never seen a man before. Nathan was equally smitten, though it wouldn't have been apparent to anyone who didn't know him well. And in that moment, Peter realized that his love for Heidi was doomed.

--

Heidi and Nathan had only been dating for six months when Nathan took Peter aside one morning. "Listen, Pete," he said in a hushed, nervous voice, "I need your advice on something."

"Sure man, what is it?" Peter said good-naturedly.

Nathan took a deep breath. "I'm gonna ask Heidi to marry me at dinner tonight."

If he had been less nervous or more observant, Nathan might have realized how his little brother's normally happy expression collapsed into a barely-concealed look of despair. But he did not realize, and so he rushed on. "And you've known her for so long, I thought you might know... well, the best way. I've been going over and over it in my head, but I just can't decide what would make her the happiest, and... well..."

A few years back, the topic had come up when one of Heidi's close friends got engaged. Peter knew exactly how Heidi hoped to be proposed to. "Is it too late to hire a string quartet?" he asked. Nathan informed him that the restaurant actually had one on-staff. "Alright, here's what you need to do..."

When Nathan left to make preparations, Peter hid himself away in a far corner of the big house and cried, not for the first time, over Heidi Monteban.

--

She accepted, of course. She thought the "perfect proposal" was a sign that she and Nathan were destined to be together. The date of the wedding was set, and as the day marched ever closer, Peter grew more and more depressed. At last he grew so despondent that even Nathan realized something was wrong.

"Hey, what's up with you lately, Pete?" he asked one afternoon. "You've been looking like your best friend died for weeks!"

Peter just shrugged. He couldn't trust himself to say anything, even to make up an excuse, because he was pretty sure he would fly off the handle if he so much as opened his mouth. And that wouldn't be right. Nathan deserved to be happy as much as he did. It wasn't Nathan's fault that Heidi had agreed to marry him. And it wasn't Nathan's fault that Heidi didn't love Peter the way he loved her.

And so he just shrugged, and after a few minutes of heavy silence, left the room. He did that a lot lately- he left the room.

--

The day of the wedding arrived, and finally, Peter couldn't take it anymore. Nathan had asked him to be his best man, of course, but Peter had declined, telling him to let one of his friends have the honor. And so instead of reassuring the terrified groom, he was wandering through the back halls of the church. Finally, he arrived in the room where Heidi stood, resplendent in white. She was alone- the bridesmaids were all busy trying to make romantic connections with Nathan's single groomsmen.

She didn't see him when he came in; she was too busy fussing with the veil to see him.

"Heidi."

She whirled around. "Peter," she said, smiling broadly. "I wondered where you were. I haven't seen you all afternoon."

"Don't marry Nathan," he said without preamble. "Please. Heidi, I love you. I've loved you since the day I met you. Don't marry Nathan. Marry me." She stared at him, her blue eyes wide with shock. "I told myself I would do the right thing and let you go, but... Heidi, I can't. I can't watch you marry the wrong man. Please. Please."

For a moment, dead silence reigned in the room. Peter felt mortified, but he held his ground, holding her stunned gaze with his pleading eyes. But after a long moment, she shook her head. "Oh Peter," she said, sounding heartbroken. "I had no idea. I mean, that day, all those years ago... But I thought you had gotten over it! And I... I just can't. I love Nathan. I'm so sorry. I'm sorry I'm hurting you, and I know it's not fair to you, but... Nathan is the one for me."

Unable to speak, Peter stood rooted to the spot. He didn't know what he had expected; he supposed he had known this would happen. But then, maybe he was a masochist, because he had run himself onto these rocks yet again, tearing his heart to shreds in one last attempt to make her see. He didn't regret it, but after she left the room with a soft kiss on his cheek, he dropped to his knees and let the tears he had held in in her presence fall. For his sanity's sake, he prayed that this was the last time he would shed tears over Heidi.

~Heidi~

It took me years to be sensible. I was fooled by Nathan's mask- I guess everyone is, at one point or another. I suppose Peter was the biggest fool of all, because even after everything my husband has done, his little brother still sticks by him. I tried to leave, once, after what happened with the bomb. But I came back eventually. The boys needed their father.

But the fact is, I think I always knew I was doing the wrong thing. I knew from the moment Peter confronted me in the back room at the church. And yet, I couldn't admit it, even to myself. I was scared. Nathan was everything I thought the perfect man should be- charming, handsome, wealthy, kind. And Peter... well, he was always a mess. It only got worse after they discovered their abilities. No matter how much I cared for Peter, he was a risk. Nathan was a sure bet, I thought at the time. And I was never good at taking risks. Call me a coward. I don't care. I deserve it, after what I did to Peter.

Peter's not a mess any more. He has a wife now, my old high school friend Emma, of all people. It turns out she has an ability of her own, and sometimes they work together when the world needs saving (again). They have a son, Michael, and a daughter named Rachel now. I suppose I'm happy for them. They certainly seem happy. And god knows, Peter deserves someone as good-hearted as Emma. I never got the full story- I don't really understand much about these powers- but it seems that when he fell in love with her, it restored his original empathic ability. Whatever happened, I've never seen him so perfectly happy in his life.

Nathan doesn't ever help the Justice Corps. The three months he spent dead after Sylar killed him took a toll on his body, and he can hardly fly anymore. I don't mind. He took care of me after the car wreck, and I owe him at least that much.

Now, don't get me wrong- I love Nathan. I do. But it's not the great, sweeping love that takes over you completely. It's not the kind of love Peter and Emma have. It's not the kind of love I think Peter may have felt for me, once upon a time.

After all these years, I think I understand what happened to send my life down this mediocre path it wound up on. I think I know what I did wrong.

I think I married the wrong Petrelli.

~fin~