Chapter Fifty-Four: Three Weeks Later
At eight a.m. the group entered the dojo. To the outside eye, they seemed to exit the room moments later, looking tired, but exhilarated.
Gabriel grinned as he headed towards the elevator. "We're getting better." He winked at Olivia. "Especially you. Hell of a take-down on Peter this morning."
"Thank you." Olivia kissed her husband. "And what about YOU? You actually knocked Hana down! GO YOU!"
Gabriel grinned. "I know." He sighed happily. "If we're this good after three weeks, imagine what we're going to be like by the time Linderman decides to kick sand in our faces?"
"I don't even want to think about the damage we're going to cause him." Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Actually, I do. I dream about it at night and smile." She turned and grinned as Peter walked over to them, rubbing the back of his neck. "You okay?" She winked at him.
"I'm fine." Peter grimaced a moment, then smiled. "Thanks to Claire, it doesn't hurt for long. So, we're meeting at the facility about one, right?"
"Yep!" Olivia nodded. "More imbuements. We've got almost half of the adults here imbued with Claire's regeneration factor. Next up will be Niki's super strength."
"Cool." Peter nodded. "At this rate, every adult with super powers will be ready to kick all kinds of ass by next summer."
"That's the plan." Olivia sighed. "At least, that's the long-term plan. Right now, I just want to crash for a few hours."
"You sure about that?" Gabriel nuzzled her neck.
Peter made a face as his sister and brother-in-law began to kiss. "Why can't Heidi kick you in the nads again?" He groaned.
"You're one to talk." Olivia shook her head. "You and Sherry, all over each other all the time."
"We're not all over each other ALL the time." He rolled his eyes as Sherry walked over to him. "Hey, Baby." He threw an arm around her, cuddling her as the elevator finally arrived and everyone stepped into it.
"You're right," Gabriel smirked "you're only draped across each other when you're in the same dimension, my wife and I apologize."
Sherry raised an eyebrow at Gabriel. "Do NOT make me yank at your ear again."
"I won't." Gabriel smirked. "I'm sure you save all of your yanking for Peter anyway."
Peter grabbed Sherry as she stepped towards Gabriel, glaring at him. "Easy, Honey. He's just trying to piss us off."
"And it's working!" Sherry shook her head. "Why have you got to be such an ass?"
Gabriel shrugged. "Because I'm so damn good at it."
Olivia giggled at her husband as they all stepped off of the elevator onto her floor. "Keep that up, and Peter's not going to be able to stop her from ripping you a new one."
"I can't help it, she's just so funny when she gets mad." He followed Olivia into their apartment, kissing her passionately. "Now that I'm no longer sore everywhere all the time, what do you say to you and I doing a few more extra stretching techniques in the privacy of our bedroom?"
Olivia grabbed the waist band of his pants as she jokingly half-dragged him to their bedroom. "I say you're about to get even more of a workout in there than you did downstairs."
"Ditto Baby, ditto." Gabriel grabbed her and pulled her close. "By the way, I've noticed something about myself these last three weeks."
"What's that?" Olivia raised an eyebrow.
"I'm MUCH more flexible than I used to be. You?"
Olivia winked at him. "Let's go test that theory out." She grabbed his hand. "Something tells my that my heels can probably go behind my head now."
"Oh, that's dirty." Gabriel grinned. "I like it."
Olivia, Herbert and Mohinder paced around the hospital beds, with Katharina and Peter monitoring their patients recoveries. "Five more imbued." Olivia glanced at them. "Lucky."
"Gabriel still won't relent in allowing you to get any more powers, eh?" Mohinder yawned.
"Nope." Olivia rolled her eyes, then glanced at Mohinder. "Tired?"
"Yes, I was up late last night." His eyes widened for a moment as Olivia cocked an eyebrow at him. "Researching for these activities today."
"You've been tired a lot lately." Olivia stared at him with concern. "You're not pushing yourself too hard, what with us training and then working here in the afternoons, are you? You're getting enough sleep at night, right?"
"Yes, I'm fine." Mohinder glanced over at Peter, then shrugged. "Just staying up late to research, that's all." He walked over to a patient, monitoring them as she began to come around.
Peter followed him. "Late night with you-know-who again?" He whispered.
"Another rooftop meeting, yes." Mohinder nodded.
"Any new news?"
"Not since last week." Mohinder shook his head. He glanced at Peter. "Sometimes she just needs a sounding board, someone to confide in and talk to. Dealing with his people is taking a toll on her emotionally."
"So you're just listening to her, talking with her." Peter grinned at him. "Getting close to her."
Mohinder sighed. "You know, I thought only Olivia and Sherry were the resident yentas here."
"I'm just saying. She's cute. She appears to like you, especially since I haven't gotten the first late night call." Peter winked at Mohinder. "After we pull her in from the cold, maybe you can help warm her up."
"You're not funny." Mohinder rolled his eyes at Peter as the younger man walked away, chuckling. Mohinder turned his back, covering a secret grin.
He and Candice had gotten close in the last three weeks, meeting almost every other night to talk about everything and nothing. Sometimes she'd have some news about Linderman's compound, but mostly, she just needed someone to vent to. Her days at the compound were filled with pain and misery as she hid her thoughts of hatred and fury from everyone she met. Her nights with Mohinder, talking together, sometimes until dawn, were a way for her to release that anger and relax. Mohinder recognized it and didn't want to begrudge her, for her own personal mental health. Besides, he enjoyed talking with her. She told him about her past, her life as an overweight outcast who'd inadvertently caused the death of her best friend Ren. He told her about life in his father's shadow, a man who had pushed him away at every turn, belittling him and trying to keep him away from his research, a move Mohinder later understood was his father's way of protecting him.
Mohinder was pulled from his reverie by Peter clearing his throat as he looked at the list of people waiting to be imbued. "Olivia? You realize Gabriel's signed up for tomorrow afternoon, right?"
Olivia glanced up from her patient, nodding. "He told me he signed up. I encouraged it."
"Okay." Peter put the list down, then placed his hands on his hips. "Mind telling me why HE'S allowed to get more powers while you're not?"
"Simple. He needs them for the battle. Also, I figured if he saw how easy it was to get them now, he wouldn't pitch such a fit about ME doing it." Olivia shrugged as Peter nodded.
"Got a point." He shook his head. "Doesn't stop him from being an asshole about the whole thing, but you have a point."
"He's just overprotective, that's all." Olivia tested her patient's healing factor the way they all tested them now, by slicing a small cut on the patient's left ring finger with a scalpel and watching it heal almost instantaneously. "Great job!" She smiled at her patient, patting his arm. "You can now survive anything but decapitation."
"Or a bullet in the brain." Peter whispered as he passed Mohinder. "When should we reveal to the group the news about our little friend?"
"Give her a few more weeks to gather the rest of the information. We still need to know who the mole is before we can talk." Mohinder whispered.
Olivia raised an eyebrow at the two of them whispering together. "What are you two doing?" She grinned. "Whispering in corners," she mocked gasped "is it about a girl?"
Peter coughed as Mohinder blushed and shook his head. "No, we were just talking about-"
"-your birthday coming up and what we wanted to get for you." Peter finished the sentence quickly.
"Uh-huh." Olivia rolled her eyes. "It's March. My birthday isn't until the end of May. You just had to tell me it was none of my business." She shook her head as she walked away.
Mohinder glared at Peter. "Good Lord, you're really bad at lying, aren't you?"
"Not usually." Peter shrugged. "Just with my sister, apparently."
Olivia pulled up at the apartment building to see Gabriel sitting outside by the pool, watching over Tatiana and Micah as they splashed and played in the water. Grinning, she walked to the patio and sat beside him. "Look at Big Daddy Gabriel watching over the little ducklings."
"Claude, Niki, D.L., Noah and Nikolai were still asleep, and Tatiana wanted to swim, so I thought 'hey, why not?'" He grinned at his wife before turning back to Tatiana as she splashed in the pool with Micah. "She's adorable, isn't she?"
Olivia nodded. "In a couple of years, we'll have one out there in the water, doing her impression of a duckling."
"Can't wait." Gabriel leaned back in his chair. "Never thought I'd say that in a million years. This time last year, I was a quiet, mild-mannered watchmaker in Brooklyn, six months later, I was a serial killer and now-" He sighed "-weird."
Olivia smiled at her husband, then turned her head as she heard a noise. They saw Meredith step out of her trailer in the garden. She watched as the woman paced around the gardens, chain-smoking as she stared out at the street. "Huh." Olivia muttered.
Gabriel leaned over, watching Meredith. "So THAT'S Claire's birth mother. There but for the grace of God."
"Tell me about it." Olivia frowned as she watched the woman pace. "This is the first time I've ever really gotten a chance to see her. Usually she's hiding out in her trailer. I've tried to go over and talk to her a few times, but she stays shut in there and won't answer the door."
"Probably feels guilty for the crap she pulled with Claire and Nathan. I know I tried to kill the girl once, but leaving her in a burning apartment when she was a baby? Now THAT'S cold!"
"And it was a fire SHE started." Olivia sighed. "I feel kind of bad for her though, you know? She lost her daughter in that fire, thought she was dead for years. She was just a kid herself at the time, probably scared out of her mind-"
"-She had no business raising a baby if the first thing she thinks about when someone knocks on her door is 'burn it down and leave the baby'. Hell, Claire's better off with Noah and Sandra. Imagine the fucked-up mess she'd be if she'd stayed with that."
Olivia turned to her husband. "For someone who's trying to earn his own second chance with everyone here, you're mighty damned judgmental to others."
"I never set fire to my own apartment and left my only child there to burn to death." Gabriel turned to watch Tatiana. "No matter what I've done in my past, I could never do that." He stood up and knelt by the edge of the pool to help Tatiana out of the water. "And now it's time for you and Micah to head back upstairs, dry off, wake up your parents and bug them to make dinner for you." He nodded as they both groaned. "I know, I'm mean." He wrapped a towel around Tatiana, then helped Micah out of the pool as well, handing the boy a towel. He took Tatiana's hand and turned to Olivia. "I'll meet you upstairs. I need to escort our future heroes here into the building."
Olivia smiled as she watched her husband walk away, holding the little girl's hand in his as he clapped Micah on the shoulder with his other hand, joking and laughing with them as they entered the building. She turned to watch Meredith pace the garden again, and sighed as she got up. "Now or never." She walked to the gates of the garden and smiled at Meredith, waiting for the woman to notice her. "Hi."
Meredith turned to Olivia, her expression filled with surprise as she quickly tossed her cigarette down, grinding it under her heel. "Yeah, hi." She turned to go back to her trailer.
"Hey, wait!" Meredith stopped and glanced over her shoulder as Olivia stepped into the garden, holding her hand out. "We haven't met. I'm Olivia Gray, Nathan and Peter's sister."
Meredith shook Olivia's hand quickly before stuffing her hands into the pockets of her jeans. "Yeah, I know. You're Angela's daughter. You're the one who owns this place."
"Yep." Olivia nodded. "I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to introduce myself before, but it's good to finally meet you."
Meredith stared at her. "Okay." She glanced back out at the highway. "It's nice to meet you too."
Olivia looked around. "So you're settling in okay? Is there anything you need?"
"No, I'm good." Meredith continued to stare at the highway.
"I know it probably gets lonely out here all by yourself. A lot of us hang out by the pool and I hear that some people like to chill out on the roof too, if you ever want to meet anyone-"
"-Look," Meredith whirled back on Olivia "I know you mean well. Rich, spoiled things like you often do, but I like being alone, okay? I don't want to sit around and be social. I want to learn how to fight, get a few extra powers, kick that guy's ass next year before he can hurt Claire, then I'll be on my way. I've been alone for many years and I'm used to it. I LIKE it." Her head snapped back towards the road as a school bus pulled up outside of the building. She quickly walked to the fence closest to the parking lot and watched as Claire stepped off of the bus, holding Molly's hand as Lyle climbed off behind them. She watched, a small, gentle smile on her face as Claire grinned at Molly, then turned to ruffle Lyle's hair, laughing as they walked towards the building.
Olivia watched as Meredith's eyes followed Claire. "Why don't you talk to her?" She whispered.
Meredith stared at the ground, shrugging. "I've tried. She's not interested."
"Try harder. You're her mother."
"What do you KNOW about it?" Meredith glared at Olivia.
"Gee, I don't know." Olivia rolled her eyes. "I wouldn't know ANYTHING about being adopted and reconnecting with my birth mother later on in life, now would I?"
Meredith lowered her eyes, her shoulders sagging. "Sorry. I forgot who I was talking to." She dug into her pocket, pulling out a pack of cigarettes and shaking one out. "So in the case of you and Mommie Dearest, who made the first move?"
Olivia laughed softly. "Mother did. For every step she took towards me, I took two steps away. I pushed, she pulled, sometimes she'd push back."
"So something apparently changed, since you call her 'Mother' now. What happened?"
"I always thought she didn't want me and that I was a burden when I was born, that's why she gave me up. I found out that wasn't true. She wanted me, she just couldn't raise me without my father intervening and making things difficult, so she gave me to friends to raise."
"Mine and Claire's is a different story than that." Meredith dragged on her cigarette.
"I know." Olivia nodded. "But you can still TRY to talk to her."
"Why should she bother?" Olivia and Meredith turned to see Angela strolling into the garden. "There was a huge difference between my giving you to friends I knew would love and protect you and her leaving Claire in a burning building to save her own ass."
Meredith turned away. "I don't have to put up with this shit." She threw her cigarette down, ground it under her heel and headed towards her trailer.
"Yes, run. That's what you always do, isn't it? You run, you extort." Angela smirked. "Always leaving Claire in the lurch. You know, the Bennets have done such a wonderful job raising her. I never thought I'd be happy about the fact that you abandoned her to die, but I think she's much better off with them than she'd ever be with YOU."
"MOTHER!" Olivia hissed.
"Oh don't try and defend her, Olivia." Angela's eyes narrowed. "Why should you do it when she won't even defend herself? She knows what I'm saying is one hundred percent true."
"That doesn't give you the right to judge her." Olivia turned and walked to Meredith. "Look, people make mistakes, you've done it, I've done it, my husband has made some really major ones, and even Angela here has done it. We've all fucked up more than once in our lives, you just have to own up to it and try to make it better."
"Thanks, but I don't feel like having a pep talk right now." Meredith stared at the ground as she stomped into her trailer, slamming the door behind her.
Olivia turned to Angela, sighing. "Why have you always got to be so mean to people?" She walked past Angela towards the apartment building.
"Because I like it." Angela followed her. "Don't tell me that you think Meredith has any benefit whatsoever besides contributing her walking flamethrower power."
"She could, you don't know. You won't know until you give her a chance."
"Claire gave her a chance and she got shit on. Nathan's given her chances and he's been shit on. I think if you want to give her a chance my dear, you'll need to remember to take a shovel to dig yourself out of the shit she'll heap on you." Angela frowned. "Not everyone deserves a second chance and you can't save everyone from themselves. I wish you and Peter both would figure that out."
Olivia turned to her mother, smirking. "I never thought I'd live to see the day when you and Gabriel would actually agree on something. He disliked Meredith on sight as well."
"Smart man, Hell had to freeze over sometime." Angela grabbed her daughter's arm. "Trust me when I tell you this, and if you don't want to, just ask Nathan or Claire: Meredith is not to be trusted, she's not to be liked. She's not worth any effort you put into making her a friend or trying to integrate her into this group. She'll just disappoint you, just as she's disappointed everyone who's ever crossed her path."
Olivia rolled her eyes as she walked into the building. "Why do you always have to see the bad in everyone?"
"Because I've lived longer than you and I know more than you do about how truly shitty this world is and how terrible most of the people are in it."
Olivia looked at Angela sadly. "If this world is so horrible and shitty, then why are you here with the rest of us, trying to save it from Linderman?"
Angela shrugged. "Because I don't want to see him win, because I believe that, as shitty as this world is, even it doesn't deserve the misery he'll inflict on it, and" she smiled softly as she tucked a stray curl behind Olivia's ear "because sometimes, when I'm around idealists like you and your brother, I want to believe it's as good as the two of you think it is, even when my cynical heart says otherwise."
Mohinder woke up, smiling as his cell phone rang late that night. He rolled over and answered it. "Two nights in a row. I'm honored."
"I've got some actual news." Candice paced the roof of the building. "Hurry."
Mohinder hung up and pulled on jeans and a tee-shirt before heading to the roof. He smiled at Candice as she walked to him, and hugged him briefly before letting him go. "So what's the news?"
"I know what the powers are that he's hiding." Candice nodded to Peter as he sleepily arrived on the roof as well. "Hey. I wanted you both here to hear this."
"What powers is he hiding?" Mohinder stared at her, concerned.
"Angela Petrelli's and Ted Sprague's." Candice shrugged. "I know what Ted could do, but Angela?"
Peter frowned. "She can swap bodies with people." He turned to Mohinder. "Why Linderman would want that though, I have no idea. Now Ted's power-" His voice trailed off as he remembered his dream with Sanjog. "-oh shit."
"What?" Mohinder asked.
"Remember that dream I told you about? When Sanjog came to me and showed me Future Hiro's version of the battle. It ended with a mushroom cloud over the battle. I thought that maybe I blew everything up or Gabriel did it, since we were the last two of our army left. What if Linderman did it?"
Mohinder thought about that for a moment. "But if everyone has the power to regenerate, wouldn't that just be an exercise in futility, blowing everyone up?"
Peter nodded. "Yes and no. It would buy Linderman time to step out onto the battlefield while everyone's trying to regenerate and behead everyone he could. He could just keep blasting everyone and killing them until he was done."
"Dear lord." Mohinder sighed. He turned to Candice. "Thank you for telling us about this."
"You still don't know who the mole is yet, do you?" Peter asked her.
Candice shook her head. "And I don't know how to ask without raising suspicions. Linderman's playing nice with me, but I'm still not quite in his inner circle like I used to be before. I'm trying to find a way to find out, but I don't know how."
"Just be careful. Don't raise his suspicions any more than you need to." Mohinder smiled softly. "I wouldn't want you to get hurt by him just for trying to help us."
Peter glanced at the two of them, grinning. "I agree with Mohinder. Be careful. You've been a huge help so far. You've told us about the powers he's hiding, the experiments he's been conducting, the training you're all going through, not to mention the names and powers of many of the people in his inner circle. You've done so much and I appreciate it. I'm planning on calling a meeting tomorrow to discuss you with everyone in our little inner circle. I'm going to tell them how wonderful you've been."
Candice nodded, staring at the floor humbly. "Thank you for giving me a shot. I've been trying hard not to let you guys down."
"We're going to try not to let you down either." Peter smiled. "I'm going inside now and going back to bed. Thanks for everything."
"Wait." Candice stopped Peter. "Whoever this mole is, there's a good possibility that they don't even know what they are. Gota's power is mind control through hypnosis. She can program you to do something without you even knowing what you've done."
"Like a sleeper agent." Peter frowned. "That's not good."
"No, it's not." Mohinder agreed. "And if Parkman and Trevor question them, they won't be able to detect anything-"
"-Because as far as that person knows, they're telling the truth." Peter finished. "Damn." He thought for a moment. "Maybe Oscar can dig into their memories and pull something out."
Mohinder nodded. "It's a possibility, but how do you get him to do that without letting everyone think we're on a witch hunt?" He turned back to Candice. "Thank you so much again."
"You're both welcome. I'll try harder to find out who they've got in here."
"Just be careful." Mohinder reached out and hugged her quickly, stepping away as he avoided Peter's grin.
Candice glanced at Peter nervously and shrugged. "I need to get back before I'm missed. Take care."
"You too." Mohinder watched as she walked to the edge of the roof and flew away.
"You two looked cute together." Peter teased.
"Oh hush." Mohinder rolled his eyes as they left the roof. "What did I tell you earlier about being a yenta?"
"The next time we're up here with her, I'm going to say my peace and run like hell. You two looked like you could use some 'alone time'." He laughed as Mohinder shook his head.
"We're just friends. Why can't a man and a woman just be friends without others thinking that there's more going on?"
"Others can think that, unless they sense some seriously steamy chemistry. I sensed it with the two of you tonight. I was the one feeling like the fifth wheel for once." Peter elbowed Mohinder. "Maybe I'll leave a sleeping bag for two on the landing here, so if you two decide that you need it-"
"-Oh shut up and go back to bed with Sherry!" Mohinder quickened his steps as he headed down the stairs, his face burning as he heard Peter laughing behind him. As soon as he knew Peter wasn't near him anymore, he smiled softly. "She is pretty." He whispered to himself.
"I HEARD THAT!" Peter laughed louder as Mohinder cursed under his breath, running down the stairs to the tenth floor.
