Title: Inevitable

Winner 2 Heroes Het Awards 2009:

1st Place Best Daniel Characterization, 2nd Place Best Dramatic Fic

Author: The Pandora Rose
Characters: Angela Petrelli, Linderman, baby Peter

Rating:PG

Paring: None. General.
Summary: Sometimes a mother's love isn't the only thing that's inevitable. And sometimes it can't fix everything.

Spoilers: Season one. The rest is all speculation.

Disclaimer: The characters are not mine. I'm just baby-sitting them while the writers are on the picket lines.

Notes: This is my first Heroes fanfiction. Please review. Special thanks to JuneSEA from TWOP. It's all because of you. I dedicate this story to you.

Poster Art Here: http://i244. listed on Livejournal under the screename: ThePandoraRose

Inevitable

Angela Petrelli, nearly thirty-four, having just given birth to her second, unexpected child, stood in her bedroom wearing a white flowing night gown and holding her husband's military-issue gun forward towards the door. It was the same gun her granddaughter would hold in her own unsure hands twenty-six years later. Angela, not yet a grandmother by any means, held her face hard and tough. Her hand shook for a moment over the weight of the situation, not the gun.

Peter, barely a month old, cried in his bassinet behind her. Angela's eyes watered, and she tried hard to hold back her tears, using as much strength as she could to hold the gun steady. Angela was only half way to becoming the woman she would be when her son Nathan would set the course of history. Nathan's future was taken care of, now all Angela had to do was protect Peter. Now, all Angela had to do was wait.

Angela took a deep breath as the door in front of her crept open and Daniel Linderman walked in. And although Linderman was used to having a gun thrust in his face, he wasn't that used to it yet.

"Serves me right for showing up unexpectedly on you, Angela," he said with his usual suave sureness. Linderman shut the door behind him and tucked the bottom of his tie into his suit. He didn't look too frazzled anymore, manipulators rarely are. "I should have guessed you'd be waiting for me."

"Stay away, Daniel." Angela kept the gun pointed at Linderman's head. Her body still ached from hormones and childbirth. Perhaps she wasn't in her right mind, perhaps she was.

"I will, I will." Linderman put his hands up to show he was obeying.

"Where's Arthur?," she demanded.

"He took Nathan out to the park -- my suggestion. Thought you might need some alone time ... bonding time ... with your new son." Linderman took a step forward. "I've come to ... take a look."

Angela, standing between Peter and Linderman, cocked the gun.

Linderman smiled. "I just want to see the boy ... see whose eyes he has, whose ears, what he got from his mommy and daddy ..." Linderman took another slow step to see what Angela would do.

Angela gripped the gun.

"You know, his talents ..." Linderman continued.

"You move one step closer and I'll put a bullet in your head ... right here ..."

"On the white shag rug? You don't want to do that, Angie. Think of the cleaning." He shook his head.

"Maybe, I want to see first-hand your talents ... if you can heal yourself. That's a nice trick. Let's see how that talent of yours works. Let's see what you're capable of…"

"Now, now ... we both know I can't do that. Of course, I can always find someone who can ... do more of the good work we're doing ... a kick-off to the next decade." Linderman took another step forward.

"Stay back!" Angela said, losing her composure for a moment. "He's my son! Did you think I'd just step aside and let you kill my son, Daniel. That I wouldn't know you were coming."

"It's for the greater good, Angie."

"Don't you call me that! You don't get to call me that. Besides, I'm not that girl ... not anymore." She trembled slightly.

"He'll spoil it all, Angela. You know that ... Arthur knows, why don't you?"

"He may agree with you, but he would never agree to killing his own son ..."

"... You of all people, Angie." He sounded disappointed with her.

"I can stop him, I can change it. Nothing is written in stone... "

"I thought you weren't that naive anymore, Angela. Haven't we learned anything?"
"This is different."

"Is it?"

"This is my son!" Her voice was forceful, yet wounded at the same time.

"Every boy is somebody's son, Angela."

"I don't care about anyone else's sons. I just care about mine!" Peter's cries subsided a bit.

"Sounds a little selfish, Angela, don't you think?" He smiled slyly. "Selfish, when your children in birth and death can do so much more. You can have a lifetime of purpose. Purpose, Angela." He paused to consider his next move. "How many times, Angie? How many times have we tried to change the course of history, yet somehow ... history ... has a funny way of just ... re-healing itself. Doesn't it Angie? Not always for the good. Not always for the better, sometimes for the worse." He took a breath. "If he lives, Angie, Angela ... I'll have to get use to that one, won't I? He's not meant to be here ... if Peter lives you'll always be looking over your shoulder, always worrying and watching ..."

"You need to decide, Daniel, which lie is it? Either you're here to kill my son for the greater good or for mine."

"Remember what it was like when we were young, Angela? How we were, what we didn't know yet ..."

"Peter will benefit from my experience."

"... Well, you're still young, vibrant, beautiful, full of life ... a full life ahead of you."

"I don't feel young anymore ..." Her voice ached with years of pain.

"Well, all you've gone through, all we've gone through ... together ... of course you feel that way. Do you want to put that on your children? On their children? Just like us, Peter will think he can save the world and he will fail. The bomb still goes off, and all those plans, everything we've put into place, will all be for nothing. The bomb will still go off, Angie. Only this time, the changes will be worse, and you know it. Worse for you and the world. You've seen it. Try to remember what it was like ... how it was when we were young...er, we wanted it so bad, didn't we? Just like Peter will. So much he can taste it. Poor, sweet, innocent Peter will have tried for nothing, Angela. Time will re-heal itself ... but your son won't. Only twenty-six years later, unlike today, the pain will be ten times worse ... Let me put you out of your misery, Angela." Linderman was able to walk a couple more steps forward. "Before you become too attached ..."

"He's my son, I've always been attached ..." Her eyes were red from holding in her tears.

"Yes, well, that is unfortunate ..." he said coolly. "... for history's sake, that is."
"Leave, now ...," she said like her future self, never taking the gun off Linderman's unflinching face. "You need to walk out that door and leave this house. Right now, Daniel. Because as much as I don't want to, I will kill you. If you touch my son, I will shoot you. And I will not regret it. I already have too many things to regret in my life, but this will not be one of them."

"You mean you and Kaito? I know about that already. So does Arthur, by the way, so I'd keep an eye on that one if I were you. It may explode in your face... no pun intended."

"Are you trying to blackmail me?" She smirked, almost delighted. "I am the one with the gun here."

"Yes, I think I'm a little turned on, really."

"Oh, please," she almost rolled her eyes.

"I could never blackmail you, Angela. You are the one with the gun. You have the power. It's nice isn't it, Angela? Feeling that power ..." He seemed to be mocking her ... with him it was hard to tell.

"I'll do what the group wants. It's not just your plans, Daniel. I've put just as much into this as you have, as all of us have. I am willing to work with you on every objective, you know that, every step... but this one."

"Your sticking point. Yesss ...," he said reproachfully.

"This bomb will happen. We all agree. I agree. It's inevitable, but my son's involvement is not."

"Yes, it's hard, he's your son. But, just like the bomb, why not turn what's next to come into something for the greater good."

"I have no problem sacrificing the small few for the greater good, you know that ..."

"... just not your son." He nodded his head for a moment. "Motherhood has made you soft, Angela. I never thought you'd be the kind of woman who treated their sons differently."

"You have no idea what it's like to be a parent, do you?"

"No, I guess I don't." He didn't seem to really mean what he was saying.

"Nathan is taken care of ... I'm not concerned with Nathan at this moment. "

"At the moment ..."

"There comes a time when a boy doesn't need his mother anymore. I've come to terms with that."
"Oh, I like to think a man always needs his mother." He seemed to be trying to catch her off guard. "And when it is Nathan's time, he'll need a mother who isn't distracted, who can be by his side."

"I can take care of Peter. You leave that to me ... that's what a mother does. Peter will not be involved with this madness." She smiled and gripped the gun. "I hope I'm making myself clear. There is no negotiation on this part. None."

"How do I know when it comes time for Nathan to play his part you won't ... pull back."

"Like I said, Nathan can take care of himself. He's his father's boy."

"Funny, I was sure he got his strength from you," he smirked.

"Stop with the flattery. It's really unbecoming."

"Says the woman with the gun ... You will try and try to stop it Angela, but this bomb will go off and Peter will die. Your son will die, and the world will become sicker and sicker, with no one to heal it. Love is blinding you again, Angela. You need to face the cold hard facts. Peter will die. If not today ..."

"Not if I can help it."

"It's for the greater good, Angela."

"To hell with the greater good!"

"Your son will be President, Angela. President."

"I never said I wouldn't make that happen. I'm not saying that."

"Just one sticking point ... the boy."

"He has a name."

"Yes, Peter." He paused. "And you think how you raise him will change everything ... will put things back the way it was, when that boy Gabriel was the bomb. You really think you can change it?" Linderman challenged.

"That's what mother's do. We mold our children."

"In your own image?" Linderman watched as Angela remained silent. Her face was almost frozen, lording it over him. "That's what I always admired about you, Angela. Through it all, you still have this amazing faith. Where does it come from?"
Angela gripped the gun. "Faith ... has nothing to do with it."

"And what if in the end you can't stop it? What then? Will you be resigned to his fate then?"

"So be it," she paused. "But at least I tried."

"I see," he paused and chuckled softly for a moment. "Are we making a deal then?" He looked her dead in the eye. "You once trusted me, Angela."

"I can't trust anyone ..." Remembering the past, she then lowered her voice "... not after what I've seen."

"Well, you don't see everything, do you? No, no you don't. You've been wrong before."

"So, have you."

"Yes, well we all have to be wrong once in our lives, don't we?"

"I don't think I do," she said slowly.

"You have to choose, Angela. We're not playing games here. Your son's life, or saving the world. Your choice. You can only have it one way. A life of purpose or a life of happiness."

"I can have both, you just watch me ..." Her voice surged with emotion. Her hand began to shake.

"Then why haven't you killed me, Angela." He stepped forward. "Just do it, then."

"Don't push me ...," she warned. She took a deep breath through her nose.

"Come on, Angela... You're one of us, there's no getting out. We're connected. All of us. You know that. We have to all work together. And all you need to do is make one sacrifice ... for the bigger picture. It's hard, I'm not saying it isn't. We all would agree. This is part of our partnership, Angela. Helping each other, helping the world. We cannot be selfish when it comes to the good of everyone - of everything."

"You can have it all." She positioned the gun with a firmer grip as her voice cracked, "Just not my son."

"I see we're not going to get past this, are we?"

"You need me just as much as I need you, Daniel." Angela was now as calm and collected as she cold be under the circumstances.

"So, it would appear." Linderman knew he was caught.
"I'll tell you what I know and you leave my sons to me. They'll stay to the plan. Nothing will change. It will all go back the way it use to be."

"I know we can work together and we'll both get what we want ... Angela."

"I plan on it."

"Isn't this situation interesting?" He mused. "You have the gun and I fear you." He said with no sense of fear spoken in those words. "And so, I do what you say," he stated in his condescending way. But suddenly his voice got gruff and mean. "The world is done stepping all over us, Angie. The world doesn't listen to peace signs and flowers in the barrel of shotguns. We've both learned that, we've both learned that the hard way."

"When you put everyone else first, you end up last." She spoke as if spouting propaganda. "Believe me, I know that. I know it all too well." She paused. "I'm putting myself and my family first."

"Until there is nothing more you can do?" He said it as if checking in on her thoughts.

"Until there is nothing more I can do." She said it as if it was an understanding.

"Yes, Angela. No more being last." Linderman walked forward with no hesitation. He eyed Peter's cradle. "But, can you really change the course of history ..." Peter gave out a small cry. "Ohhh, poor baby," he cooed toward Peter's crib.

Angela posed the gun inches from Linderman's head. "I'm not the person you want to play chicken with, Daniel."

"Neither am I..." He asserted, moving his face slowly toward her, looking her in the eyes. "... Angie."

"Angela!" A startled Arthur Petrelli said as he walked into his bedroom, unsure what was going on.

Linderman smirked and Angela raised an eyebrow unflinchingly.

"I was just leaving." Linderman looked toward Arthur. "I believe Angela and I have made an ... arrangement." Linderman started for the door. "I'll leave you two to chat."

Linderman exited the bedroom and shut the door behind him.

Once the door closed, Angela limply dropped her arm to her side, her body almost falling over ... Arthur caught her, prying the gun from her hand.

In the hallway, Linderman found his armed guards waiting for him, his footmen of sorts.
"I'm going to need another pre-cog," he said fiercely as he adjusted his designer suit. "Preferably, without children. I don't trust mothers." The men dispersed in front of him. Then with a glance back to the room, he quietly added, "No, I don't trust you any more than you trust me, Angela Petrelli."

And so began the uneasy partnership between Linderman and Angela as they each fought for control of the future ... and her children