Title: Song Without Words
Summary: Emma and Peter make beautiful music together. Based on spoilers for upcoming S4 episode "Hysterical Blindness"
Notes: The title is inspired by Felix Mendelssohn's "Songs without Words," a title I came across while doing research to see if I could mention a specific piano duet in the story. Coincidentally, Wikipedia says he titled one of his songs "Duetto" "…since two melodies were written to represent two singers. It was composed in Frankfurt in June 1836, soon after he had met his future wife." Isn't that perfect for Peter and Emma? :)
Emma glanced around the room as she emerged onto the eighth floor of Mercy Heights Hospital from the elevator. The hospital's neurological patients were on this floor, and Emma knew that a piano was also here, as some of the patients responded to music.
She had come up here on her lunch break, wanting to see if she could see the music that she played, the way she had with the cello in the park. The piano was located in an area of the room reserved for patients to gather during group time or visiting hours. Now, the area was deserted, just as Emma had hoped.
Emma rifled through the songbooks stacked on top of the piano until she found a song she knew and displayed it on the piano's sheet music holder. Sitting down gingerly at the piano's wooden bench, she lifted the cover, exposing the ivory and ebony keys.
Running her fingers along the white keys, she experimentally pressed a key at random. The sound of the note appeared as a soft burst of color. She pressed another key, harder this time, and its respective color showed more deeply.
Placing both hands on the keys, she began playing the song she had chosen.
As she neared the end of the first part of the song, she was suddenly startled when someone sat beside her and a new pair of hands joined in, accompanying her on the piano in a duet.
The addition of a new player created even more colors that blended together as the notes harmonized and melded together.
Emma couldn't hold back a smile of wonder and delight as she chanced a glance at her partner, already guessing who it was.
Peter Petrelli was playing well, but his eyes were not looking down at the keys, but at the colors of the notes floating into the air in front of them. As he finished the song, he held the final chord, watching with rapt attention as the combination of colors gradually dissipated into the air as the sound of the notes faded away.
Only when the last traces of color had vanished did he turn to her, his eyes wide, the amazed and pleased smile on his face mirroring her own.
Emma nodded in silent agreement, knowing what he was thinking. That was the most beautiful thing any of them had ever seen.