Title: Squall
Fan dom: Heroes
Rating: T -
Couples: None
Characters:
Notes and Spoilers: Through "Chapter 23: How to Stop an Exploding Man."
Claude peaked into the window himself.
"Yeah, he is really attached to his people," Claude commented. "He ended up getting himself blown up regardless. My gut told me to just leave New York. But of course I didn't bloody listen to it."
"You got attached. Not hard to do", Alex remarked, her nose practically on the glass.
Claude gave Alex a strange look. "You are a bizarre bugger, aren't you?"
Alex turned back and grinned.
"I'm harmless and you know it."
"About as harmless as a mosquito."
Alex laughed.
"Well, I better go before he sees me. I'm not invisible," Alex said. "It will ruin my reputation as a stalker."
Claude rolled his eyes.
"I'm not invisible to him either, remember? Empaths! Well, I did my part. I found him passed out in that alley and brought him here."
Alex nodded. "True. So I suppose you are going go disappear now without even talking to him?"
Alex rolled her eyes as she saw Claude disappear. She walked away herself, just missing Taylor, Peter's actual nurse.
"Hello," a familiar voice said from the other side of the phone.
"Nathan!"
"You reached the cell phone of Nathan Petrelli. I am unavailable right now, but if you leave your name and number–"
Peter dropped the phone.
But what if he really was just temporally unavailable?
Peter picked up the phone again just in time to hear his brother say, in snapped on enthusiasm, "Vote Nathan Petrelli!" before the voice mail beep.
"Nathan! Please. If you get this message. You have to return my call. Please, don't do what I did to you."
Peter hung up the phone, and grabbed the clothes that Taylor retrieved for him.
"Are you really leaving Peter?"
Peter turned around and saw the blond nurse's hazel eyes stare at him. For a moment all he could do was stare back at her, she just appeared within thin air.
Peter hung up the phone looked up and saw the blonde nurse look at him. She was fairly pretty and was young. Probably in her early twenties if not younger. The other nurse was relatively young too but perhaps older than himself, presuming in her thirties, maybe early forties.
"Yes," Peter answered. "Do you mind? I need to get dressed."
"Don't worry, I wasn't going to watch. I'm not a stalker, but maybe you shouldn't run off like that. You might just end up back here again."
"What's your name?" Peter asked, ignoring her attempt to mother him.
"Lucia. I used to be a nurse. I liked it very much..."
"I used to be a nurse too. Well, I still am, but the last month..."
"Been crazy? Yes, I know. You have spent a lot of time here, but not as a nurse. Don't you think that you should rest? Do you want to be here again?"
"How can I see you? You are not exactly invisible. I mean not invisible in the same sense as another encounter I have had...Now you probably think I am crazy."
"Me? It's always nice to have someone new to talk to."
"If you are not invisible, what are you? And now I think this is crazy...are you a ghost?"
Lucia nodded.
"You could say that."
And with that Lucia faded away, and Peter took his clothes and made for the bathroom, in order to avoid anymore wandering eyes. A bathroom would be safe, right?
The shirt he was wearing smelled like smoke. A smell that started to burn into his eyes, his heart, his soul, his spirit, his whole being.
It wasn't especially cold for be a November night, but for the first time in hours he felt cold. Perhaps it was the shiver that went down his spine.
His niece Claire was waiting for him and that is where he will go next. Though, he could not shake the ache in his stomach.
He extended his arms, his palms toward him, and wiggled his fingers.
"To feel alive again."
He wished he still had his jacket, but somehow that got lost somewhere before he got to the Plaza.
Claire stood at the door of Peter's apartment building, 1407, the number somewhat familiar.
She remembered how proud she was of herself when she stole the Haitian's passport and found her way here.
She knocked on the door, and stood still. Who would answer the door this time? Or will her shady grandmother be there once again waiting for her? Or perhaps someone else just waiting to rock her world once again. Shattering her reality in more ways than she even thought possible.
She heard the sound of the door unlock, and her breath stalled. She took one step backward toward her father Noah, when the door opened.
"Claire!"
"Peter!"
And Claire flung herself at Peter holding him tight.
She pressed ear against Peter's chest, and found solace in the sound of his beating heart, and the warm arms that were now wrapped around her.
Peter was like her, so she knew in her heart that he would survive, but fear was a mask that made the mind think many things, foolish things, heart breaking things. If Nathan didn't show up, Peter would be dead, not in her arms. No they would all be dead. She didn't want to verbalize this but she knew, she was weak, she did not have the gall to shoot Peter. Everyone would have died.
Peter pulled back for a moment to caress a tear from Claire's cheek.
"You are not weak Claire. You are a hero."
Claire looked up at Peter her sad eyes looking back at his own.
"I'm so sorry," she said.
"Don't be," Peter replied. "Nathan flew away before I exploded."
"Really?!" Claire squealed. "He is okay? Where is he?"
Peter turned away from Claire for a second.
"I don't know," he whispered.
Heidi Petrelli stared at her alarm clock. She took her eldest son's advice and attempted to get some more sleep. Though no matter how hard she tired, a worry took her.
She hated waiting. She even went ahead and called up her mother-in-law, and she wasn't answering the phone as well.
Angela was keeping something from her.
Heidi sighed as she stared at the ceiling and minutes became hours.
To Be Continued
Author's Note: Sorry for the slight delay with this chapter. More follow ups in chapter 9. Some characters couldn't show up in this chapter because of time setting concerns. :) Thanks for reading!
