Disclaimer: I don't own these characters and no matter how much I wish I did, it's not going to happen. :(

Author's Note: Before I get to the story I have to address something. One pf my reviewers asked something and I suppose I should answer it. AllyC asked why Peter didn't use Matt's ability to read her Simone's mind. That's a good question. Peter didn't read her mind because he was too upset to think of it, plus if he was going to read someone's mind it should have been Abby's because she was the one it was about. But no, he was too upset to think about reading either of their minds, too upset to think about using that ability… okay to be truthful I totally didn't think about that when I wrote that but that's how I rationalised it to myself after getting that question. LOL. Oh, by the way, you can use that excuse.. ah I mean explanation for this chapter too. Hehehe.

Summary: Peter's out to get some answers.

Spark

Chapter Ten

Peter stormed into his mother's study angrily. Angela Petrelli looked up, surprised at the interruption. Seeing the look of anger on her sons face, Angela stopped what she was doing and stood, going to him to see what was wrong and if she could right that wrong. She put her hand on Peter's arm but he shrugged it off angrily and started pacing around the room. Angela was surprised to learn he was angry at her.

"What is it, dear? What's wrong?" Peter stared at her before shaking his head and continuing to pace.

"How could you do that?" Angela rose her eyebrows and reached out to him again.

"How could I do what? I don't have any idea what you're talking about." Peter snorted.

"You offered Abby money to leave me." Angela's eyes widened.

"I thought we agreed to keep that from you. Darling, she shouldn't have told you but I did it for your own good." Peter snorted again and shook his head. He finally stopped pacing and turned to face her.

"That wasn't for my own good; it was for your own good. And she didn't tell me, I found the check." Angela's eyes widened even more.

"How did you find the check when she didn't accept it?" Peter stared at her wide eyed for a moment before he regathered his bearings.

"She didn't take it?" Angela sighed and shook her head.

"No, Peter, she didn't take it. I admit I tried my hardest to get her to take it but she wouldn't. Now, let's discuss how you found it when that isn't possible." She went over to her bag where she thought the check still should be. Peter wasn't even paying attention to his mother anymore, too caught up in the information she'd provided.

"She didn't take the check. She wasn't lying to me." Peter smiled slightly; pleased to get this information before frowning when he remembered how he'd reacted. He'd thrown her out when he shouldn't have. He felt stupid; he'd been trying to show her that people could care about her and what had he done? He'd thrown her out and hadn't listened to her, that didn't seem like he cared about her at all and that was far from the case.

"Now, let me see, where did I put that check?" Angela was searching through her bag, frowning when even after dumping everything out of her bag, she still couldn't find it.

"You mean this one?" Peter had snapped back to what his mother was saying when he'd heard that she couldn't find the check. He took the check out of his pocket, handing it over to her. Angela took it in surprise, tracing her fingers over it.

"Yes, that's it. How did you get it?" Peter sighed and went to sit down in a chair.

"It fell out of her pocket after Simone told me she overheard you offer it to her." Angela's eyes widened again.

"But Simone couldn't have overheard me make the offer; I didn't run into her until I was almost in the car." Peter's eyes widened. "And even then, I had the check when I did run into her." Peter shrunk down in his seat. He could hear Abby's voice telling him that Simone must have planted it on her. He'd ignored the implication at the time but now it made sense.

"Was there any... opportunity for... Simone to get the check." Angela frowned and shook her head. Suddenly her eyes widened when she remembered she'd given Simone the check to explain what she'd been doing there.

"Wait, yes there was. I showed it to her. Actually, the last time I saw the check it was in her hand. She knocked my bag over and I thought she put it back." Peter shook his head. He felt disgusted with himself for what he'd done and even more disgusted with what it appeared Simone had done.

"So it's possible Simone kept the check and... planted it on Abby?" Angela nodded after thinking it through. She couldn't believe the younger woman had done such a thing but figured there was a good reason for it.

"Peter, if she did do what you're accusing, let me assure you she was only doing it for a good reason." Peter's eyes widened.

"What good reason could there be for doing that?" Angela sighed and went to sit next to her son.

"She did it because she cares about you and didn't want to loose you." Peter looked at his mother like she was crazy.

"But she wasn't going to loose me before she did this." Angela didn't like hearing the last statement he'd added to that. She sighed and shook her head.

"She thought she was going to. I was worried that she would lose you, that's why I offered the check." Peter shook his head, still not understanding.

"Why would she loose me just because Abby's living with me?" Angela chuckled, realising that her son couldn't see what was right in front of him.

"You really don't know, do you? You don't see it." Peter's eyes widened and he shook his head, not knowing what she meant. Angela chuckled again. "Well, it's not my place to tell you that, Peter. You're going to have to discover it yourself." Peter was confused by his mother's cryptic comment and shook his head. He stood up quickly.

"I don't know what you're talking about but I've got to try and find Abby. I've got to make this right." Without another word he turned and left. Angela couldn't help but chuckle again. She really couldn't understand how he couldn't see it but she was sure he'd realise what she was talking about soon.

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Simone knocked on Peter's front door. He'd left a message on her machine, asking her to come over as soon as possible so she'd left immediately. He had sounded panicked on the phone and she'd rushed over as soon as she could. The door opened in front of her and she saw Peter. He looked absolutely terrible and her heart constricted realising that he looked that way because Abby was gone. He stepped out of the way to allow her to enter without a word. He was grinding his teeth and looking at her angrily. She was getting worried now.

"You asked me to come over?" He nodded and closed the door behind her. He walked over to the couch and sat on it, staring up at her.

"She was telling the truth. She didn't accept the check." She opened her mouth to say something to the contrary, but he continued. "I went and talked to my mother, she told me everything." Simone sat down heavily on the couch.

"Peter..." He shook his head and stood up because she was sitting next to him and he couldn't stand being next to her at that moment.

"No, don't say anything." She looked down at the ground. Peter started pacing. "So, because she didn't accept the check and my mother told me there was no way you could have overheard anything that leaves only one explanation." Simone rung her hands together.

"Peter..." He cut her off before she even had a chance to start.

"It was you. You planted the check on her, told me about it and then pointed it out to me." He looked down at her, shaking his head. "How could you do that?" She stared at him for a moment, trying to discern if he really wanted her to answer.

"I'm sorry Peter; I was only trying to get her to... I just wanted her gone and it was the only way I could think of... I'm sorry." Peter snorted and shook his head.

"How is that an excuse? You made me do something I promised myself I'd never do to her. You have no idea how much this will affect her. She always says no one cares about her and I was trying to show her that people can and do, that I care about her, and you made her doubt that. You made me hurt her." Simone stood up angrily.

"That's just what I'm talking about." He was shocked by her reaction. It was him who should be angry, not her.

"What? What are you talking about?" She shook her head and got in his face.

"You, showing her that you care about her. Peter, you care about her too much. She's some girl who saved your life, I'm your girlfriend, you're supposed to care about me more." Peter's mouth flapped open and closed for a couple of minutes, not sure how to react to that.

"I... I do." His voice sounded unsure even to him as he spoke. Simone scoffed.

"There it is again. Tell me the truth, Peter. Are you... are you in... love with her?" Peter's mouth flapped again, caught off guard by the question. Once he regained his bearings, he scoffed. He stepped away from her, rubbing the back of his neck.

"No, no I'm not. Simone, that's crazy." She stepped closer to him, invading his personal space.

"Really? Prove it to me. Kiss me, right here, right now." Peter again stepped back.

"Simone, I can't just kiss you after you did what you did." Her eyebrow arched and she stepped forward again.

"That just proves my point. If you want to prove that you care more about me than you do about her, that you don't love her and you do love me, then kiss me." Peter stared at her for a moment before stepping closer to her, putting his hand on her cheek and bringing their lips together.

The first thing he noticed when he kissed her was that all the passion and love he used to feel when kissing her was gone but he chalked that up to the fact that he was angry at her. He let himself go, let himself melt into the kiss. Unbidden, an image of Abby popped into his minds eye. He could still easily remember what it had been like kissing Abby and it was easy to slip into those thoughts while kissing Simone. He tried to shut her out of his mind but he couldn't. In his mind he was kissing Abby and he felt himself kissing Simone more passionately. Simone smiled into the kiss, feeling like she'd won. Peter trailed his hand around to the back of her neck, angling her head better before trailing it down her back.

Suddenly he felt something building within him, something that he knew wasn't really a part of him but something that he'd borrowed. It spread throughout his body, starting from his chest and radiating outwards. His fingers started tingling. Simone pulled his bottom lip into her mouth and started sucking on it making him groan. In his mind he was still kissing Abby and the tingling in his fingers exploded out of him with the pleasure the kiss created inside him and he zapped her with a bolt of electricity from his fingers. Simone gasped and pulled away from him. Peter stared at her then stared down at his fingers, still seeing little flecks of electricity crackling out of them.

"Oh my God, you're thinking about her now. You were thinking of her when you were kissing me." Peter stared back up at her, knowing it was true, knowing he couldn't deny it.

"Simone..." She shook her head.

"Tell me you're not in love with her now, Peter." All he could do was stare at her, his mouth hanging open. He finally understood what his mother had been talking about, what had been the reason for kissing her that night, why he felt such a need to protect her. It all made sense now and he didn't know why he hadn't let himself see it before that moment.

"Simone... I'm sorry." Simone sighed and looked away from him.

"That's what I thought. Goodbye Peter." She headed towards the door and opened it. She stopped before leaving, turning back to him. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for what I did." She smiled slightly and left. Peter stared after her with a shocked look on his face. He really was in love with Abby, but she was gone. He really had to find her now, he had to tell her how he felt about her and apologise for ever not believing her. He just hoped he hadn't completely ruined everything and she would give him a chance to prove how much he really did care about her.

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Additional Author's Note: I hope you liked that chapter. And I know I'm starting to be annoying but please leave a review. It gives me much joy:) See you next week.