On the drive over, Peter explains to me that his brother is now living in what used to be his – Peter's – apartment. "I never use it anymore."

"Too busy saving the world?"

A chuckle. "Of course."

I smile at him, before fixing my gaze out the window. I remember what Rin said in the dream. In the future. Brothers. Plural. More than one. Did that mean Angela Petrelli was going to have another child? I wondered if she was pregnant already. But by who? Adoption, maybe? A secret Petrelli sibling that they didn't talk about or Peter didn't know about? There were enough secrets between mother and son to make it plausible.

Before I could carry on with this train of thought, Peter pulled the car over and ushered me out. In no time at all he was knocking on his brother's door, and suddenly I was staring at the man who was undeniably Peter's brother, Angela's son and Claire's father. The same Petrelli determination I'd seen in those three shone in his eyes, even as he smiled at me.

"You must be Melinda."

I found myself blushing under his gaze, as he shook my hand. "Nice to meet you Nathan."

"I've heard a lot about you." He winked, before stepping back and allowing us entrance to the apartment. We slid inside, just before Nathan called "Ma! Peter's here!"

My hand clutched at Peter's, fear suddenly flowing through me.

Great.

Just absolutely great.

Peter's hands slid my jacket off, as he leant forward and whispered "I didn't know she'd be here. Sorry Mel."

There was humour in his voice though, and I forced myself to smile. "It's OK."

Angela stepped out of the kitchen, looking very different from the woman I had come to know and hate. She smiled at me, as she shook my hand and kissed my cheeks.

"Melinda. What a pleasure."

"Nice to meet you Mrs Petrelli."

As we pulled away I glanced at the two boys, who shared reassured glances. What a farce. A farce that I had to go through, I had to put up with, for Peter's sake. One look at Angela and I knew she was thinking the same thing.

Peter gave me a sheepish look, and I smiled gently at him as Angela's hand came to a rest on my shoulder. "It's nice to finally meet one of Peter's girlfriends."

Ouch.

A tinge of feminine duplicity underlined her words, something I knew the boys would not pick up on. I chose to ignore it, however, focusing instead on the fact that I was meeting Peter's family, that he had brought me here and, I guess, that despite the events of the morning it made us a couple. A real, proper couple.

"Nathan," Angela turned to her oldest son, "aren't you going to offer your guest a drink?"

Angela rose from the table, as both boys turned towards her.

"Ma, sit down." Nathan insisted. "We'll take care of those."

"Nonsense," she smiled at them, "no matter how old you are I will always want to look after my boys."

Peter chuckled, stopping as I got up. "Mel sit down."

"Peter's right; you're a guest here."

"It's fine." I kissed Peter's forehead as I gathered up his plate. "I don't mind doing housework. Really."

"I won't work her too hard. She can keep me company." Angela's faux smile managed to trick her sons, but not me. I followed her through to the kitchen, the door shutting just after I heard Nathan's voice.

"She's a keeper Pete."

As the loving mother facade disappeared, I found myself relaxing. Better the devil you know. She let out a long sigh, as she started to run the water and wash the dishes. "It's too late to tell you to stay away from my son, isn't it?"

"Yes." I found myself biting my lip. "Angela, listen. I think I know who Austen is. And I saw it. The future."

"I knew you would. Eventually." She placed a dish on the sideboard, and I passed her another. "What are you going to do?"

"Find Austen."

"With?"

"On my own. I'm not dragging my friends into this."

"Or Peter?"

"Or Peter." I ran a hand through my hair, watching her carefully. "I love your son and..."

"Like you know what love is." She hissed, furiously wiping a plate with the dishcloth. "You're a child, Melinda, and..."

"...and I'm not going to put him or anyone else I love in danger." I finished, choosing to ignore her words.

"Are you going to tell me who Austen is?"

"No." I shook my head. "You won't believe me. But I may need your help. I'm going to stop this future from happening, and I don't think I can do it alone. Not really. I want to know everyone who works for you."

"Why?"

"Because it'll be easier for me to work with people I don't know. And something tells me you wouldn't like me taking all the credit for stopping Austen, would you?" A twinkle came into her eye, and I found myself smiling, despite everything.

I wondered if she could tell I was lying through my teeth.

"Very well. Come to the house tomorrow."

"Thank you. And there's something else you should know."

"What's that?"

"I'm doing this for Peter. I've seen his – our – future, and I don't want to see him go through that."

For the briefest of seconds, I saw the same loving smile she'd bestowed on her sons flicker across her face. Then it was gone, and we did the dishes.

Early morning New York, and I was standing on top of a tall skyscraper, watching the people below me move to and fro, going to work and starting their day as normal. I fidgeted with the strap of the backpack, which held clothes Becky and Rin had brought for me from the school, as well as files containing information on the people who worked for Angela Petrelli, or whoever ran the messed up corporation I'd found myself tangled in.

Austen really had slid under the radar. Looking through the information I had been given, I'd noticed a star on the profiles of those who had no powers. A star sat beside Austen's name on his file. Richard Cooper. The picture was of a fresh faced Austen with wide eyes and looking like his whole future was ahead of him, eager and young. I wondered when he had developed his powers, when he had decided to take over the world.

I glanced down at the commuters, running through everything in my head. They had no idea how close the world was to tipping over the edge, and I was the one who had to make sure that didn't happen. The serum was my fault, after all.

Bloody hell. That was a scary thought.

The files were separated, and Angela had briefly explained to me the day before that not everyone whose information was contained in these had worked for the company. They were all linked to it in some way, and one of the sections, 'Experiments', had sent cold chills running down my spine.

They had been toying with their own serum almost a decade ago, and the image of three young girls stuck in my head. So alike, so similar that originally I thought they had been the same woman. But no, these girls were triplets.

With one of them, the dream had come flooding back, Rin's list of names of the deaths I had been responsible for.

My mind flittered back to the letter I had left for Becky. I'd gotten out of the house before any of them had woken up, and managed to resist the temptation to go back, to crawl into bed with Peter and forget about Austen. But I'd already started this journey by picking up the files the previous day, and I had to go through with it. The letter told Becky I was OK, asked her not to worry about me and not to come find me, that I'd be back soon enough.

I flicked through the large American map book I'd swiped from Molly's room. She'd left a few map books there, and I'd found this one easily enough. There was a pin over New Orleans, one jammed into Florida and another in New York.

Going to the closest one first made sense.

It was time for me to pay a visit to Tracey Strauss.

Lucky for me, she was home. She was, however, very suspicious when she opened the door. I could feel ice forming over my fingertips, enough to tell me that her power, although similar to Rin's, differed slightly.

"Miss Strauss?"

"Who are you?"

"A friend."

"What do you want?"

"Just to talk. Please." I jammed my foot in at the bottom of the door as she went to close it.

"Talk about what?"

"Your power. What you can do."

She peered from the gap in the door, still weary and afraid.

I lifted my hand, showing her the flames on my fingertips. "Please?"

She stepped back, pulling the door open and in I stepped into the beautifully decorated apartment.

"Where you from?" She asked, as I glanced around the apartment, spotting a photo of a younger looking Tracey in a cap and gown.

"England." I muttered, as she gestured towards the sofa.

"Long way to come just to talk to me."

"It's a long story." I tried to smile as she stared at me, eyes narrowed and thoughtful.

"Drink?"

"Please."

She moved into the next room, and I could hear her clattering around. When she returned, it was with two tumblers, full of what, at first, looked like clear liquid. She handed one to me, and I took a sip.

"Vodka tonic?" I asked, raising an eyebrow as I felt the burning alcohol on my tongue.

"You look old enough." She sat on the coffee table, facing me as she sipped at her own drink. "I swear I'm going mad."

"Why would you say that?"

"Because I saw fire come from your hands and because twice now someone has called me Nikki."

"I never called you Nikki."

"No, but something tells me you know more about it than I do."

I nodded, reaching forward and moving a coaster close to me. I placed the tumbler down, before rummaging in my bag. "You're not going mad. You're right, and I know who Nikki is." I gazed up at her as I pulled one of the files from my bag. "You can freeze things, can't you?"

"How did you..."

"I can absorb abilities. I felt yours when I came in."

Experiment #203: Tracey Strauss. Ability: Unknown. Monitored for signs.

Signs that so far, none of them had picked up on. I gave her a quick smile before opening the file. "Tracey, I need you to listen carefully. The reason people keep calling you Nikki is because you are one of three...you're a triplet, Tracey..."

Once I'd finished telling her what I knew about her and her sisters, I noticed the tumbler in her hand had turned to ice. She stared at the wall above me, thoughtful and pensive.

"So you're going to find them, Barbara and Nikki?"

"Yes." I nodded. "I think they can help me with Austen."

She'd refused my offer to look in the file. Her eyes fell on it now, staring at it with slight shock. "I'll help you find them, my...my sisters." She stumbled over the new word, before taking a deep breath. "But then I need your help."

"Anything."

"I want to find them, the people who did this, and find out why they gave me this...this curse."

I nodded slowly. "Like I said Tracey, anything."