Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes. Go figure.
Chapter II: Ties
Quick and unofficial AN: Since I spared Nathan for this fic, things are screwing with my mind. So, even if Sylar didn't kill Nathan and Matt Parkman didn't do that crap with his mind, Peter and Sylar were still in "The Wall" (one of my personal favorites) but instead of being mad about Nathan's death, he was mad about Elle's. And, yes, I know I'm screwing with Peter's story because it was imperative Nathan died so he could stand on his on and, trust me, he will. But who says I have to kill the guy? And Claire did not jump off the Ferris wheel, therefore, the last episode was titled "Cowardly Old World" instead of "Brave New World"
When Peter finally woke up at the right time, his head was killing him. Maybe it was his body trying to tell him he shouldn't run for senator. He sure agreed with his body, but he had already told Nathan he would do it and his name would be in the running in a matter of days. Dizzily, he made it to the bathroom sink and splashed some water on his face. His shift started in fifteen, so he had to be awake, getting ready in that time.
"What have I done?" he asked his mirror image that was hanging, decapitated over the sink. He looked closer at his deep green eyes that were speckled with brown and his black, greasy hair that was hanging over his forehead. He really needed to take a shower, but he only had fifteen minutes and he doubted anyone cared if his hair wasn't smelling like lavender when he saved their life.
"This is for Simone…and Charles." he assured himself.
He made it to the kitchen and poured what was left from Nathan's visit into a bowl. He finished quickly, then shuffled over to his bedroom and dressed into his uniform. The clock read 4:57 a.m., which meant he had three minutes left to get ready and thirty to make it to the hospital.
"Ugh…" he moaned, trudging to the door, holding his head.
"Aspirin?" a familiar voice asked.
"Sylar, what are you doing here?"
"I heard you were running for senate."
"What? How the hell did you know? I told Nathan at 2:00 a.m."
"Yeah, word travels fast. It's all over the news." he claimed casually, as he pulled an apple out of his pocket and took a bite, "I wasn't sure it was true, though. I mean, no offense, but–"
"I know what you're going to say," he waved the comment aside and began walking out his door and down the hallway, "yeah, I don't know what I'm doing and I'm probably not going to win."
"Pssh, no. I was about to say Nathan doesn't know what he's doing. Sure, he's got the background and degree in law, but that's only what other lawyers and politicians want. The people– remember them, the ones who are actually voting? Yeah, they want someone charismatic, someone to represent how free-spirited and optimistic they are, even when they're not. And that's you, Peter, all the way."
"You make it sound like I'm a hippie-leader." Peter scoffed, pushing a button on the elevator.
"All I'm saying is that when it comes down to it, people are going to pick the hopeful brother over the strong brother."
"Oh, really?" Peter playfully punched him in the arm, "How's that for the strong brother."
"Hah, I think you're missing the point," all of a sudden his laughter-filled expression contorted into a look of fright.
"Something wrong?"
"Don't freak out," he ordered as the two men stepped into the elevator, "But I think they're might be something wrong with your brain."
"What?" he looked at him sternly indicating he was doing the opposite of what he told him to do.
"Here," he gestured his hand out to him, "take healing, it may hurt a bit, but I think I can fix it."
"Okay," he took his hand and absorbed Claire's ability, "just don't go psychotic on me again."
"Scout's honor," he said as he tore the skin off the back of Peter's head. After a few telekinetic corrections, Sylar urged together the two flaps of skin that became divided when the incision was made and the healing ability took care of the rest.
"How do you feel?"
"Better, thanks." The elevator opened on the ground floor as Sylar added, "I'm just glad no one else was in the elevator."
H~*~R~*~G~*~I~*~S~*~B~*~A~*~D~*~A~*~S~*~S
Smoke was everywhere, in his eyes, in his lungs, and in his way. The whole "not dying" thing helped, though. Rages of fire spread across the building and windows began to fall out and melt away into nothing. The whole building was diminishing. Peter knew it was a fireman's duty to get the people out of the burning building and the paramedic's job to treat the patient as much as they can before they arrive at the hospital to get further treatment, but he could not– would not stand around and do nothing as firemen, weighed down with equipment, couldn't get a single person out of the burning building. But Peter could– Peter would.
There was a little girl with soft brown hair and crystal-clear, cobalt eyes crawling around on the floor. Peter smothered her in the fire-retardant blanket and eased her into his arms. There was a creaking noise. He looked up and to both their horror, they saw that the roof was about to cave in. But there wasn't time. He began to run for the exit, but he was sure he would never make it. But he did. One second, he was there in the burning building, the heat suffocating him, he grew his lungs back, then the heat suffocating again, and the next he was out of the building, behind the paramedic van, with the girl in his arms.
"Daphne." She gasped.
"What?"
"Matt mentioned a girl that could do that before…"
"Matt Parkman?"
"Yeah, you know him?" she asked, out of breath. He laid her down on the gurney as she rambled on.
"Yeah. I know him. Who are you?"
"I'm Molly Walker and you are?" her voice was choppy, as was her breath. Her lungs still hadn't recovered from the building and she had burn marks all over her as well as tears in her eyes.
"Peter Petrelli, an old friend of Matt's." he smiled and bent down towards her, "And I'm going to make sure you're okay."
"Thanks." She beamed, "You're my hero."
"It was nothing…" he blushed.
"Well, then I guess nothing just saved my life." she reached up and kissed his cheek in thanks. The other paramedics loaded her into the car as she waved,
"By Peter!"
"Cute kid." Peter's partner sighed from behind him, "Was that you who saved her?"
"Huh?" he gasped, realizing his presence, "What? No. That was a firefighter."
"Then why was she thanking you?"
"She's a friend of mine's- ugh, daughter."
"Well, then wipe that goofy grin off your face before people start thinking you're a child molester."
"Dude, that's disgusting."
"Hey," he shrugged, "That's just what it looks like." After Peter turned and started walking towards the fire, a little shocked he still could use Edgar's ability, maybe a reaction to whatever Sylar had done in his mind had given him his original power back? Whatever it was, Peter was glad of it as he walked off, surely to try and save more lives.
Too bad his phone stopped him.
After the Code Lyoko theme song rung one and a half times, Peter picked up.
"Hello?"
"Peter, we have a bit of a situation."
"What is it, Ma?"
"Claire. We need your help."
"I'll be right over." Using his newly acquired super-speed, he made it to the Petrelli mansion in less than five seconds after hanging up. He knocked on the door.
"That was fast." remarked Angela as she opened the door to let her son in.
"What's wrong with Claire?"
"There was a terrible…incident at her school." By the way she said incident, he knew someone had tried to either hurt Claire or expose her.
"Where is she?"
"In the living room. I'll see if she's ready to talk."
Claire was inside the extravagantly elegant living room of the priceless mansion, sitting on the left side of the couch. Peter sat down next to her and put his arm around her in comfort as she sunk her head into his shoulder.
"What happened?" he asked gently.
"Gretchen. She was mad because– er, well…it's a long story."
"I'm all ears."
"Well, it wasn't a long story…just a lesbian one."
"Ah…" Peter nodded in understanding. College was a crazy place for crazy things, he knew that as well as she did.
"She was mad and during a science experiment for one of her classes…she…she…"
"It's okay Claire. You can tell me."
"She sawed my arm off while I was asleep and used it for her experiment." She burst into tears. Peter held her shaking figure steadily in his arms and kissed the top of her head.
"But– that's not all she did. She told the professor it was my arm and the autopsy doesn't lie. They know. All of them." He looked up at Angela for verification. Her jaw line barely supported the frown she bore.
"We had to have Rene erase all of their memories and shred all documents, feeds from security tapes and God knows what else. She needs to stay somewhere safe in the mean time. I thought it wouldn't be too much trouble if–"
"I'll do it." he replied. With his arm still around her they both stood up and headed for the door.
"And Peter?"
"Yeah?"
"What is this I hear of running for senate?"
"Can we talk about this later? I have a shift right now and I have to get Claire and her thing back to my place."
"What? There's no way you could–" he sped off with Claire, came back for her things, dropped them off, then returned to work.
H~*~R~*~G~*~I~*~S~*~B~*~A~*~D~*~A~*~S~*~S
When Peter finally got home, it was 5:00 a.m. and Claire was asleep on the floor, next to her suitcase. Smiling to himself at how innocent she looked, more like a child than the college student she was, he picked her up and carried her to his bed. After wrapping the navy sheets around her, he took one out from his closet and set it on the floor. Thinking of Simone and worrying about the election, he fell asleep.
AN:
Okay…I know what you're thinking but no Paire, sorry, not my style. She's his niece. And no, I will not call Peter an uncle because uncle just doesn't sound right on him. Maybe I'll have to make up a new name for uncle? Hmm? Did anyone notice that when Peter and Nathan first discovered their abilities and were talking about telling someone, Nathan said that if he was the government he would round all of them up and put them in a lab? Did anyone notice that's what he did? And when HRG first joined the company he said he was comfortable with morally grey, and on that park bench with Angela, he said for a long while, he's always been comfortable with morally grey. And that scene with Molly was like a scene from a movie a saw one time…can't remember the name but it sort of went like that so my subconscious snuck the kiss in there. It was a kid-friendly-gratitude-make-believe-you-saved-the-princess type of kiss. So wipe that goofy grin off your face before Peter's partner (whose name escapes me) calls you a child molester! Did I make Molly sound indestructible? My bad, she's going to be in the hospital for awhile. Maybe her hero will visit her sometime? Hmm? Emma? Hmm? Matt? Micah? Hmm? Mohinder? Tell me someone got the Code Lyoko reference, it was pretty obvious. I gave him his original power back! Don't ya love me? Choppy questions, don't you love them? I'm done ranting? Had to make that a question? Review, please?
