Disclaimer: I don't own Peter Petrelli, Milo Ventimiglia, Zach Quinto or Heroes, which is probably a good thing cuz I'd end up ruining it.
I'd like to thank Hio and LalaLadyBug67 for reviewing, and everyone who reviews after the fact.
Warning: Sylar is Peter's brother.
Btw, for Hio who asked, Peter is seventeen, turning eighteen in a few days.
This is pre-series and an AU, it's gonna have flashbacks, and there is a twelve year gap between Nathan and Peter.
Trust Me
Chapter 12: First Meetings
"Other things may change us, but we start and end with family." Anthony Brandt
Previously on Trust Me:
Then Peter had walked in, looking all scared and way younger than his thirteen years, and just like that twenty-five year old Gabriel Gray had been whipped, never regretting it since.
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5 years ago, take a few weeks: Gabriel's pov
Gabriel was more scared then he ever remembered being in his entire life because today he was going to meet his little brother, Peter, for the first time and he was really afraid that he would hate him. Right now he was pacing and was really close to wearing a hole in the floor. He'd done everything he could think of to make Peter comfortable, he'd decorated his room with posters of various sports people, like Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, and many other athletes he knew Peter liked, he'd also bought him an entertainment center, he'd bought foods that kids liked, like chocolate, chips, ice cream, etc, a Play station, a Nintendo, and many other toys.
His musing were interrupted by the sound of someone turning the door knob to the front door and Gabriel's mouth dropped open as Peter hesitantly peeked in and then entered the house. He was wearing jeans and a Eli Manning t-shirt, and carrying two big duffle bags, but what really caught Gabe's attention was the way his hands shook as he placed the bags on the floor and the way he was biting his bottom lip. He was scared and who wouldn't be, he had forgotten everything about his life, he didn't know who he was and he was living with someone he didn't know or trust.
Then his big brother instincts, something he didn't know he'd had, started to kick in and he forgot his own nervousness, doing his best to try and make his little brother comfortable. So crouching until he was at Peter's level, Gabe introduced himself, holding out his hand, "Hi, I'm Gabe, your big brother." Peter looked at him searchingly, then apparently finding whatever he'd been looking for he slid his smaller hand into Gabe's much larger and more calloused hand, and, still looking into his eyes, said, "Hi, I'm Peter." And just like that Peter had wormed his way into Gabriel Gray's slowly, but steadily thawing heart.
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Gabriel also remembered how he'd gotten Peter with him, it still made him feel guilty, but he wouldn't trade Peter for anything. He'd been adopted, so, naturally, he'd always wondered who he was and he'd never met someone who was actually related to him. When he was twenty-six years old, about a month after he became "Sylar", he'd figured out his biological father was a man named Daniel Linderman.
Funny thing was the man was a mob boss too, but Gabriel hadn't wanted to meet him because he'd never really associated positive feelings with fathers, his own adoptive one had abused him, he'd been the first person Sylar had killed, too. Then a few days after the fact, he'd heard that his father had had an affair with a woman name Angela Petrelli and that about nine months after the fact, Peter Petrelli, who was now twelve years old, was born.
Gabe had known that there was a possibility that Peter was his brother and the possibility had excited him. He'd always wanted a little sibling, someone to take care of, someone to cherish, someone who'd look up to him, and last but not least someone who would love him unconditionally. So he'd told Gregory to track the kid down and get a DNA sample.
Gregory had gotten the sample and the test results within a week, and it was official Gabriel had a little brother. He'd been ecstatic and he'd started working on his plan to get his little brother with him as soon as he'd gotten the news. The first step had been to create a fake identity for Peter, one that seemed legit, backed up by documentation, and had Gabe listed as a relative,
While that was being created, Gabe, himself, had flown up to New York and followed Peter for a week, learning everything there was to learn about him, from his schedule, which was a necessity for his plan, to his favorite band, The Fray. He'd also learned that Peter had another big brother, Nathan Petrelli, but since he attended Law School and only came home on weekends, Gabe, being extra careful, decided to carry out his plan on a weekday.
Two other complications in his plan were the Petrelli parents and Peter's growing paranoia. The latter was solved for him when everyone who Peter told his worries to just ignored it thinking of it as a plea for attention, man were they going to feel guilty later, but whatever, it was working in his favor.
The answer for dealing with his other obstacle came to him three days later, he sent a message from "Linderman" to the Petrelli's and they responded to it like a dog would to a bone. On the day of the meeting, the Petrelli's sent Peter to bed at eleven and left for Las Vegas at about twelve, which was when Gregory went in and got Peter, who apparently hadn't been asleep and had struggled, but Greg had won at the end by knocking him out using chloroform.
While Peter was knocked out, the guys staged a car crash, with three dummies in the car. The third dummy was then removed and Peter was put in, and rushed to the hospital, apparently he was an orphan because his "parents" had died in the car crash. While Peter was being "stabilized" in the hospital, one of his guys worked there, Gabriel worked on getting custody of his brother, he had to go to court and do a DNA test, but it wasn't hard because according to the documentation he was the Peter Boudoir's only living relative.
Gabriel had seen Peter before the meeting in the house, but at those times Peter had always been either asleep or unconscious, which is why he had been so nervous that day at the house, but the day had gone better than he'd anticipated and they'd finally gotten over their initial awkwardness after the first couple of days.
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Peter's first day at the Gray household at night: Gabriel's pov
Peter was wearing his new plaid pjs and a brown v-neck t-shirt. Right now he was laying on his new king-sized bed, tucked under his fluffy, sky blue comforter, looking at Gabe, who was sitting at the foot of his bed, as if wondering if he should do something,
"What is it?" asked Gabe, seeing his little brother having an internal struggle about whether or not he should say something. "Come on, I won't bite."
Peter hesitantly said, "Gabe," Gabecouldn't help, but smile when he called him that, he was pretty sure Peter didn't even realize that he was doing it, he pulled himself out of his musings, listening as Peter continued, "what were my mom and dad like?"
Deciding to be as honest as he could he said, "Buddy, I'm sorry, but I don't really know. I don't know what to tell you." As Peter looked at him hopefully, Gabe thought about what to say, "All righty, this is the best way I can explain it. We're half-brothers, we have the same father, his name's Daniel Linderman, and he didn't really want kids, so when my mom died, I was adopted by the Gray's. You with me so far, Buddy?" He waited for Peter's answer and at his nod, continued.
"'Kay, so then a couple…actually a lot of years later, he had an affair with your mum, she was already married to your dad, and then you came along, and your mum decided to raise you. She might not have told your dad or she might've, but either way they both loved you like you were their own kid." He paused when he saw Peter start to tear up, crap he had already screwed it up and to top it off, he had no idea on how to comfort kids, but in the end he decided to go with his instincts, after all, they hadn't failed him yet.
So listening to them he scooted up on the bed and held his arms out to Peter, who without any further ado threw himself into them. His arms closed around his little brother, and then tightened even further when he felt the little arms wrap around his neck and the tears that soaked the collar of his shirt, when his brother tucked his head into the crook of his neck.
Now that Peter was practically sitting in his lap, Gabe remembered how his mother had used to comfort him , back when he was really little, and taking a page from her book, he started rocking his little brother back and forth, all the while rubbing his back and murmuring comforting and loving nothings, hoping to calm his brother down. Gabe could tell that it had worked really well when he felt the small telltale puffs of air against his neck, his little brother had fallen asleep. He tucked his little brother back into bed, and that was the first of many nights when Gabriel Gray just sat in a chair in his brother's room and wondered how he'd been blessed with such a miracle.
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Gabriel was interrupted from his memories by the sound of his cell phone ringing, looking at the caller Id, he saw that it was Greg and once again, he was Sylar, the unforgiving mob boss.
"What's up?" asked Sylar.
"Boss, I've got news on Peter." Answered Greg, he waited for his boss's attitude to change, the way everyone's always did when Peter was involved.
"What is it?" asked Gabriel, the concerned big brother once again taken over.
"He's in New York, apparently they think they have a better chance of protecting him from us there." He said this almost laughingly, personally Gabe didn't find it funny, his hackles had gone up when he'd mentioned New York, "Like we'd ever hurt Peter, I think they're more afraid we're gonna convince him to not testify."
Gabriel just ignored everything Greg said and ordered, "Book me a ticket on the earliest flight to New York," after all, he had a little brother to find.
…TBC…
(Still want me to?)
1,671 words
So whaddya think? Good, iffy, bad, better, could be better? Should I continue? Reviews and Constructive Criticism are always appreciated.
*wishes really, really hard*hope you enjoyed it, yours truly, Brownie.