Title: Down My Road
Chapter: Four of Four
Rating: PG13
Characters/Pairings: Peter, Elle, minor Claire, Cody (OC) - mentions of Peter/Elle
Summary: For nearly four years, Peter has been searching for an answer he's feared. Instead of the expected answers, however, he finds an Elle that has opened up an entirely new road for herself, one she has chosen to walk without ever looking back. But before their roads diverge once again, another old face reemerges in Elle's life to threaten that which she loves most, forcing Elle to remain in the cross of Peter's path longer than she would like.
Note: The (-¤-) symbol indicates where a chapter would break so you know there's a pause/shift in the storyline. Thanks for sticking through this series, and thanks especially to those who have provided me with feedback--I appreciate it so much! Here's the last part, and once again, enjoy. ;)

She planned on foiling their plans. Whatever they had up their sleeves, she'd be ready for it. There was no option for failure, no matter the amount of punches or surprises. She would prevail in getting her daughter back, no matter the circumstances.

So in that moment, as she sat against the interior wall of a truck she had been thrown in, hands tied behind her back, legs tied, and mouth taped shut, she kept her brain thinking. So she had not been prepared for a goon to have the ability to suppress her powers, she did not expect to for that woman to have two men waiting for her, Elle, while that woman was nowhere in sight.

At first, Elle didn't know what to make of the men who inspected her and made sure she wasn't wearing wiring tape or was lying when she said no one had accompanied and/or followed her. But as soon as they finished inspecting her, they began something else. They grabbed her, and she began fighting, but her powers wouldn't manifest and soon she was hit over the head with something. Then she awoke in this big truck, only to begin her own process of thinking. She had to get out of those binds, had to be able to get some help--no, no one else could be involved.

The ride felt like forever, and she just wished they would speed up whatever process she was being putting in. But when they did arrive, the same man who had given her a menacing smirk when she realized her electricity failed to charge, clamored over to her and pulled her up. The other man looked bored, just leaned against the truck and stared impatiently at Elle who was not being easy about the process. She kept trying to pull away, and even managed to kick the calve of the guy pulling her.

"Feisty little bitch, isn't she?" the guy against the truck mumbled.

Finally out, the man with the smirk winked at her, which caused her to roll her eyes.

"Alright, follow me," the man a step in front of her said, and began trekking away as the little low life who have her that smirk kept pushing her around like some mannequin.

Then she realized where she had been taken, and she wanted to run. This was the last place she wanted to be. God, maybe it would have been better for her to be blindfolded, or better yet that she had been taken somewhere else to begin with. She watched with growing anxiety as she was taken through that entrance, pushed down those hallways, past those so-called rooms, and then she was nearing that damn room that on occasion her dreams would remind her off.

Hadn't this building been destroyed, put on fire, scorched to the ground, covered with so much dirt it just looked like abandoned territory? And how had they arrived there so quickly? Had she really been out cold that long?

The door opened, and without hesitation they pulled her in, and she felt powerless just being in there. They practically had to carry her as her feet dragged and arms slouched. There, there was that thing that looked like a mirror, but was just an instrument to watch the person on the other side, like a rat--an experimental rat.

Before she knew it, the ropes on her hands and feet were being taken off, and she was being strapped down in that chair, and she saw the machine with the wires that were being sicced on her body, that would extract her--

And then Elle heard that woman speak from behind her.

"Well isn't this quite the surprise?"

On the "mirror's" reflection, Elle watched the woman approached her. She looked exactly the same, albeit a little thinner. She nodded to the men, and they retreated.

"Isn't it amazing how people with out of the ordinary abilities can bond," she said as she neared Elle, "how people come together, help each other out, especially in times of crisis?"

She drawled out her words, over exaggerated her expressions, and her arms gesticulated as if she were trying to appear sincere. Obviously it didn't work, but it did increase Elle's anxiety and impatience.

That woman stood behind her, sickly grinned and leaned over the chair where their eyes met at a sideways angle.

"Well, they're here for me in my time of crisis. But where are your friends? Where is your family?"

Elle struggled to yell, as her screams came across as pathetic muffles due to the tape.

Without notice, the tape was pulled off of her, causing Elle to scream again, but this time she was heard.

The lady laughed and came to stoop in front of her.

"You're probably wondering why you're here, probably just as much as you're wondering where--what did you name her? Jeanne?--you're probably thinking about her. But let's stick to where you are first."

"You heartless bitch," Elle spit out and drew up electricity in her hand, but within two seconds the small ball grew in her hand and seemed to burn her.

"Ugh, you--" and she stopped, knowing it was futile.

"Don't you remember? Your daddy told me about these times, when you were just a kid. And they'd bring you into this room, strap you down like a mental person, hook you up to these machines and…zap! You'd produce one little jolt, but this machine would make it grow, and since it was by force, it didn't exactly feel good."

Elle breathed in. Out. Heavily. Nostrils flaring. Eyes blaring. She stared at this nameless woman who looked so damn content to just have her in agony. Like her daddy used do.

"As for the how? Thanks to people like you, this place was completely destroyed, but it wasn't exactly impossible to recreate. Throw in a few super-powered people, promise them a hefty payday, tell them it's to begin rebuilding facilities, and in no time, we had our little haven just for you."

Elle glared at her and said, "You think you've figured it out? That you can begin this whole damn thing again? I'm not giving up, no one's giving up. You won't have your way."

The woman laughed, stood up, and walked towards the mirror, and she tapped it in mockery.

"Elle, Elle. I don't really care about you--I just care about my daughter, whose energy distribution seems to grow weaker by every mile she's taken further away from you."

Elle grinned, glad that Jeanne's attachment had been so focused elsewhere, that woman who dared called herself her mother could not take advantage.

"But it's nothing that can't be fixed. We just have contain the energy of your electricity, have it travel along the wires that pass through that wall over there--yes, that one--go into the room there and through the machine attached to Jeanne. Fortunately, I don't have to go through that terrible little wiring practice--a nice little mirror does the trick, reflects the energy onto me and voila--no one's telekinetic powers will compare to mine."

Elle remained quiet the entire time, and the woman who just rambled failed to notice how Elle was biting her lip, didn't see that Elle's nails dug into her own hand, and that her feet pressed onto the concrete so roughly.

"Now let's start."

"Yes, let's," Elle said through gritted teeth.

The woman tapped on the mirror three times, grinned, then swirled her eyes to Elle to find that her hands glowed with that blue.

"Starting early?" she cocked an eyebrow at her, but Elle barely nodded and instead made the voltage grow from the fizzling jolts to where it enveloped her entire body.

That was one thing she found that she could teach herself. Going from zero to sixty in no time, so as that woman rambled, Elle drew her own energy up, nurtured the small voltage so small in her hand they could not be seen, until she was ready to put herself through this.

The machine was making it worse, no doubt. Although it was easier for her electricity to pound through, the force was beating her body down because of that machine--and then Elle remembered what she had said.

Through those wires that traveled across the wall…

God, she couldn't do this, not this way. So Elle stopped, she screamed, tears pushed through her eyes, but apparently the electricity she had concocted prior to stopping had been more powerful than even Elle could anticipate.

The window had broken, a man there, the one who had been leaning against the trunk, lay on the ground, blood running from his nose, and the woman was sprawled out on the floor. Elle could only imagine the toll it had taken on Jeanne.

She shook her head and looked to the straps that held her hands down and began tugging, pulling, but when that didn't work, she knew she had to resort to her ability. If she wanted to get to Jeanne as soon as possible and help her before she was beyond help, Elle had to act quickly.

Painfully, she focused some jolts on one strap, until the strap was thin enough for Elle to pull off manually. Now having a free hand, she immediately took off the wires that had been put on her, and when they were all off, she fried the other straps off.

She was weak though, so when she went to stand up, she fell on her knees, which is how she saw that the woman's hands were now twitching.

She was waking up.

Elle scrambled up, but needed to grasp the chair to remain steady. She was vulnerable, and apparently her hearing and seeing senses were down because she didn't see the woman raise her hand to throw Elle some feet away. It wasn't a powerful push, and so Elle didn't land far, but it didn't help her. She needed energy, needed to be able to get up to fight, just as that woman.

Then the door flew open, the woman was thrown into a wall, and a man started coming towards her. Elle pressed her hand against the floor, willed herself to at least sit on the ground, and she rubbed her eyes with one hand as she prepared the other hand in a fighting stance. But as she rubbed her eyes, she could see more clearly, and she realized the man coming towards her wasn't a threat.

"Come on, Elle," he reached a hand towards her.

"Wha--" she shook her head then looked back up at him.

"Elle," he repeated and knelt down in front of her.

"Peter, what are you doing here? And how did you--" she stopped abruptly and reached towards his still outreached hand.

He helped pull her up, wrapped one of her arms around his shoulders, and lifted her by the waist slightly so she wouldn't feel her weight too much.

"Jeanne, she…," Elle sighed, and stopped moving.

"Don't worry, I got her out, but it took me a bit to come back so I couldn't stop the machine--I'm sorry."

Elle looked up at him, and grinned before saying, "you know, I had it under control."

"So that's what passes as a thank you," he smirked, but immediately asked, "But are you okay?"

She grunted as he pushed open the door with his shoulder, which put her more on her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine, always am, I just," she squeezed her eyes shut, wincing at the pressure she felt on her leg's tendon. "I had her, would have had her eventually, and I would've gotten to Jeanne on my own."

"Elle…" Peter paused shortly to lean Elle up against a wall opposite the room. He sat her down, knelt down in front of her, and stroked her forearm.

"If I hadn't come, it would have taken you twice as long to get both you and Jeanne out of here, and you'd have to make a quick get-away. So quick you wouldn't have the time or energy to make sure that woman never came for Jeanne again."

"I would have killed that bitch--wait, is she still alive? Maybe I should--" she moved her legs from under her and began using Peter as leverage to get up. However, he blocked her from going on, and had her sit back down.

"She won't bother you again, I promise."

"You promise you killed her?"

He smiled softly, but nodded no.

"She doesn't even know who Jeanne is, who you are, and because of that, her powers will be of no to little use. The others I found here? Their powers may be more of a trouble, but they have no memory either, and besides, I'm having Mohinder check them all out in the near future. They won't be going anywhere soon."

Her eyes fluttered close, and she breathed, and managed to swallow the lump in her throat--the lump that had been building over the past two days.

"And Jeanne?" she asked in a whisper as her eyes remained shut.

"She's home," he answered. He rubbed her hand, watched her closely, glad that she was calm and even looking happy.

"I should probably head home too, don't you think?" she laughed, opened her eyes, and caught gazes with Peter.

Her hand firmly in his grasp, he nodded, and took her home.

--

She scrambled out of Peter's arms and ran towards Jeanne who looked like she was being squeezed to death by Claire.

"Jeanne!" Elle yelled.

"Mom!" the girl yelled. Claire helped Jeanne get down from the counter, which she had been perched on, and the girl flew to Elle.

Elle picked her up, wrapped her tightly in her arms, and kissed her.

"I'm so glad you're okay, sweetie," Elle breathed into her hair.

"You know me, no one can touch me," she replied.

Elle laughed. Jeanne was intact, physically and it seemed emotionally. As was her personality. Proud little confident girl. That was one thing she didn't mind her daughter having in common with her.

"Plus, Mr. Peter helped."

Elle pulled her head back and glanced at Jeanne who was smiling brightly at Peter.

"Yeah, he did," Elle agreed and she turned her head to look back at Peter.

She caught his eyes and smiled.

'Thank you,' she mouthed. Openly, sincerely he smiled, but then raised his hand to wave.

Her mouth opened and her brows furrowed.

"Whe--" she began.

"You should spend some time with her," he said.

"You should," Nathan repeated after his brother. There wasn't much debate, and they all began heading upstairs. Except for Peter. Jeanne clambered out from her mother's arms and ran towards Peter. She wrapped her small arms around Peter's leg and whispered a thank you.

He laughed nervously but rubbed the back of her head. "You're welcome, but it's all Elle's--your mom's-- doing. She insisted on going."

He winked at Elle, to which she partly smiled, but then remembered the man from the truck who hadn't spoken, who only smirked at her and winked. She was probably just drawing illogical conclusions, so she mentally shook her head.

With those words of his, Jeanne unwrapped her arms and skipped back to her mom.

Peter waved once again, and the two girls waved back, watching him as he left. And that's all Elle had wanted--for him to not be in the same vicinity as her and for him just to be far and away building his own life as she built hers with her daughter. That's what she wanted, and that's what she was getting once again. All was right with her world, it would seem.

-¤-

[a couple of weeks later]

"Elle?" she said groggily. Elle put a finger to her mouth, signaling for her to keep quiet.

Molly glanced around and saw that a wall clock read six o' four am. Elle began walking backwards towards the door as she waved her hand to have Molly follow her. Molly didn't know what to really make of it, but the young woman followed her nonetheless.

Although Hiro and Nathan had left nearly two weeks ago, Molly had remained. She had a few weeks left until summer vacation was over, and Mohinder had heard of Elle's growth, so he saw it to be beneficial.

Molly followed her down the stairs, over to a coffee table.

"Coffee?" Elle asked when she seated herself.

"No thanks," she said amidst a yawn, "makes me jumpy."

Molly rubbed her eyes, and kept brushing her hair aside as Elle stared at her.

"Elle, are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"No," Elle answered immediately.

"But could you do me a favor, Molly?"

"Anything."

"I want you to find Peter."

Molly raised an eyebrow at Elle. "Peter?"

"Yes. I just need to talk to him and--"

"I didn't ask you anything, Elle. I just need a map. The one up over the espresso machine should be fine."

Elle nodded, and retrieved it. She spread it out in front of Molly, and stood beside her as she drew her finger over the map. Elle watched on anxiously, knowing that he probably was far and away by now. The possibility of him remaining in California was slim to none, especially since a couple of weeks had passed, but she needed to try. She came to that conclusion as she awoke that morning, thinking of him very much akin to the way she used to think about him after they separated. There was no logical reason for why she waited an entirety of two weeks. Just that she kept thinking that time would convince her that them being apart and going without complete closure was the best option. Again, not very logical reasoning, and now he probably was many, many miles away going on with hi--

"Found him!" Molly said.

"Whoa, that was quick," Elle commented.

"Probably because he's like two blocks from here, at some motel."

Elle looked at Molly with disbelief, sure she had heard wrong.

"He's at a motel two blocks from here," Molly repeated more slowly.

"No, I heard you, I just…I thought he left."

"What? Just when he found a way back into your life? I don't think he's that stupid."

Elle continued to look at her strangely, but Molly just shrugged.

"Look, Uncle Peter has had no more than a few actual girlfriends since you left, and yeah I was a kid but I saw the way he looked at you and treated you. Believe me, those girls could not compete, and still he stood by them and whatever. So of course he's not going to leave when you of all girls, reappear into his life."

"You sure you're 16, Molly?"

She nodded with a bright smile. "Yep."

"You're much too smart--probably smart enough to know that what you just did for me? Did not happen."

Molly folded the map, gave Elle a small smile, and as she stood up, said with a wink, "if you say so."

--

When he opened his motel room, an unmistakable expression of surprise played over his face.

"Elle, what are you doing here?"

Even though he was caught off guard, he looked far from unhappy. He raised an arm above him and placed it on the frame of the door, with his body leaning into it.

She took her hands out from her sweater pockets and tilted her head up to meet his eyes. Before all words could escape her or he began speaking, she opened her mouth and in a rush said, "Elle never died. Jeanne even said that Kelly's a name I take on when I play make-believe. And there was this guy I was seeing, Julian, for nearly a year. A year, Peter. But eventually, Jeanne told me, 'but he thinks you're Kelly' when I told her he loved me and her. And I did love him, but just like the ones before him, there was something missing. I don't know what, and I'll never know, I just know that I don't play make-believe with you. I'm just me and--"

"Elle, I--"

"But I'm not stupid Peter. You said those things, and I didn't hate you for that. I hated you for letting me be with you, and then telling me I wasn't really with you to be with you."

"I was angry Elle, I didn't mean those things."

"I think we established that you kind of did when I called you. And unless you decide to kick your 'traveling through time' power in high gear, that's not going to change."

She took in a deep intake of breath, pressed her palm to her forehead, and licked her lips. With a half-morbid smile, she said, "Too bad it's just never that simple, though, right? But what's insane is that you've looked for me all these years, and I just kept running. And when I called to you, you came, and you helped get Jeanne back."

"It's the least I could do after everything."

He never took his eyes off her, kept them steady on this figure with shoulder length blond hair, lucid blue eyes, and a petite frame. Even though she wasn't dressed exactly in the manner she used to dress those years back, there was still something so familiar in the way she was poised. And even though the words she spoke were far from things she would ever say those years back, there was something so familiar about her tone and facial expressions. And he couldn't not watch her without nostalgia drowning him, claiming him, and wanting her.

She looked down at her feet, and a pregnant pause followed before Elle turned back to Peter. Upon looking at him, she laughed and had to tear her eyes away from him.

"God, I'm rambling and doing all these little speeches, seriously, what kind of girl am I--"

The thing was, when she pushed him away 12 seconds after he pressed his lips to hers, it wasn't because she was offended. She was more…off-put than anything. Not because he kissed her with that look in his eyes--the look of longing intermixed with regrets--the same look he conveyed the instant she collided with him at the café. No, it was more that she didn't expect to feel…refreshed. And it was so different than the high they used to relish in five years ago, and still no cup of nostalgia had ever tasted so wonderful. That drink of something refreshing intermixed with a drop of 'let's not forget this tainted history of us, and yet only remember everything before Bob reappeared and hacked Elle's renewed views and Peter didn't help aide the situation.'

She stared at him, eyes wide, as his own searched through hers, and he didn't speak, just let her process this.

Then, slowly, she smiled, took back the step that she had retracted, placed a hand on his chest, skimmed it up his torso, and placed that same hand at the base of his neck.

He smiled back, in that lopsided grin that had always intrigued and drawn her to him. He tilted his head down, waiting for her to finally break the barrier, and for their lips to touch.

There was electricity.

-¤-