Chapter Two: Love in Icicles
ONE MONTH LATER
Peter's phone rang in his jacket pocket, he fished it out and checked the caller ID, it was Taylor, the girl he had met one month earlier at a New York bar. He presses 'answer'.
"Hello"
"Peter" said Taylor, in a sniffly voice, it sounded as if she were crying.
"Taylor, is everything ok?" he asked her, concerned.
"No" she replied, inhaling through her tears, "something terrible has happened Peter"
"What happened Taylor, where are you?"
"Um, Central Park, the bridge over the lake, the large one in the middle"
"Ok I know where you are, stay there, I'll be there in around five minutes ok, don't worry, it's going to be ok"
"Thanks Peter, you're my hero you know that?"
"But you hardly even know me" he told her, he was confused, but he secretly liked the sound of being someone's hero.
"I know, but I know you're my hero. Hurry, it's cold out here"
"Ok, I'll be there soon" he hangs up, pays for his drinks and leaves the bar he was sitting at when he met Taylor.
From the moment he met her he couldn't stop thinking about her, maybe it was her eyes, or her sad smile, he thought, he didn't know, but something about her made him feel warm and happy inside, the feeling he got in his stomach the day he saw Simone Deveaux, the love of his life. But she was dead, and he needed to move with his life, and as soon as he met Taylor he knew he would do that.
As soon as Peter was in an alley way and out of plain sight of passers by, he shot up into the chilly night sky. He loved the feeling of flying, it was a feeling unlike any other, it was unexplainable. To explain it to someone was impossible, they had to try it to truly understand its magnificence.
He was now over Central Park in less than three minutes from leaving the ground and he could already see the big bridge Taylor was talking about that crossed the lake. The same lake him and Nathan raced remote control sail boats on when they were boys, there were lots of good memories in this park… there was Taylor, more beautiful than ever, but she was leaning on the railing of the bridge, tears streaming down her face, staring down at the frozen water below. Peter landed along the path and his feet didn't stop moving when he hit the ground, he literally hit the ground running. Taylor spotted Peter approaching and ran over to him, throwing her arms tightly around his neck, Peter was taken aback, but he returned the favor and embraced her back, putting his arms around her lower back.
"Peter, my Mum, she…" stepping back, Taylor began to speak but tears took over.
"What happened? Is she ok?" he asked, wiping away tears from her cheeks and staring into her eyes.
"No, it was Sylar, he killed my father, and now… now, he came back and he…" she couldn't bear to finish the sentence, the very thought of that horrible man made her cringe and shudder.
"What Taylor, what did Sylar do?"
"He killed my Mother!" she finally told him, and tears began flooding out of her eyes. Peter retrieved his handkerchief from his pocket and wiped her eyes. Taylor tried holding back the tears long enough to tell Peter where her mother was.
"Peter, she's… she's over there" she says pointing towards the bridge, Peter looked in that general direction and couldn't see a thing, so he walked over onto the bridge and then saw the horror.
There was Taylor's mother encased in an icy grave underneath the surface of the lake near the bridge, the top of her skull was cut clean off, this is definitely Sylar's MO, he said to himself.
"Taylor I'm really sorry, I've tried for so long to kill Sylar but he's just too strong, he has some abilities that I don't have" he tells her, putting his hands on her shoulders and wiping a tear off her cheek with his finger.
"It's ok Peter, you couldn't have done much, he killed my father, I knew someday he was going to come back for my mother"
"Come on, how about we go for a walk and you tell me what happened" suggested Peter.
"I could've stopped him, kept him from freezing the water over and cutting off…"she paused, trying to keep the tears from coming again. She was really happy Peter was here with her, she really liked him, he was a gentleman, and even better, he had a special ability just like her.
"It's ok Taylor" said Peter, wrapping his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer, she laid her head on his shoulder and snuggled in close to him as they walked through Central Park.
"Look, its snowing" he said.
Taylor held out her hand to catch the snowflakes and noticed there were some on Peter's nose. She giggled and stepped in front of him.
"What, what's wrong?' asked Peter, confused that they had stopped walking and she had stepped in front of him.
"Nothing, you have snowflakes on your nose" she told him.
"Oh" he said dumbly, reaching up to wipe them off with his glove.
"Here, let me" offered Taylor, and she very gently wiped the snowflakes off his nose, "Thanks" he said.
"You're welcome" she said back, and noticed that they were standing quite close to one another. She smiled and Peter smiles back and leans down for a kiss. As their lips touch Peter hears something in the distance coming towards them, he looks over Taylor's shoulder and sees Sylar standing right behind her. He grabs Taylor and jumps in between her and Sylar.
"So Taylor, I didn't know you knew my old friend Peter Petrelli? He and I go way back" says Sylar.
"Leave her out of this" says Peter.
"Why should I, Taylor, you're ability is the coolest ability I've ever seen, I'd love to make liquid do whatever I want it to do"
"Well you're not having it!" says Taylor in defense.
"Taylor its ok I've got this, just stay behind me ok" he tells her. He didn't want anything to happen to her, this was his second shot at love and he didn't want to lose it.
"Be careful Peter" she said, stepping back in front of him and kissing him.
"Don't worry about me ok, I'll be fine"
"I know, but you're all I've got now and I don't want to lose you too"
Peter stared into Taylor's eyes and leaning down he kissed her passionately. Then he stepped back in between her and Sylar to settle the score. He decides to use the electric volts he gained from Elle to fry Sylar because he knew that Sylar did not have that ability or the ability to heal like Claire.
"Taylor, stand away, this could get ugly" Peter tells her.
"What are you doing Peter?"
Peter clenches his fists and gets ready to throw a bolt of electricity at Sylar when Taylor shouts out in panic.
"Peter! What's happening to you?!"
"Don't worry, I got this from a girl I met once"
"Oh ok, as long as you're not going to explode again"
"Don't worry, the exploding man is long gone, stand right back ok"
Peter holds up his hand and throws a bolt of electricity in Sylar's direction, who gets thrown back a couple of metres onto the ground, but then he gets up laughing a very evil laugh, Peter knew he had a plan up his sleeve.
"Wanna try that again Spiderman?" says Sylar
"My pleasure" replies Peter, this time shooting radiation hot as the sun at Sylar who is thrown onto the ground again. He screams in pain as he tries to get up, He has several third degree burns to his body but he still gets up and telepathically makes three dead tree branches fly towards Peter, one hits his arm, scratching him but he dodges the others.
"Peter!" cries Taylor, running to him.
"I'm fine, Tay, remember I can heal?" he tells her.
"Oh yeah, silly me" she says dumbly, wiping a tear from her eye. Peter sees the tear and wipes it away giving her a smile for reassurance. She smiles back, kisses him and stands back away.
By this time Sylar is mad, really mad, and will do anything to finish Peter Petrelli off, his number one nemises. He tries to cut open Peter's skull but Peter just heals straight away, that really pissed Sylar off.
"Damn I really wish I had that power, that would be the ultimate abilty, to be invinsable, a lot like Superman don't you think" says Sylar smartly.
"Too bad you can't find Claire" replies Peter.
Sylar tries again to cut open Peter's skull but just as he is raising his arm, Nathan flies down out of the sky and shoots Sylar in the back of the head, he falls straight to the ground, dead.
Peter looks at his older brother is surprise and then down at Sylar.
"Nathan" was all Peter could say.
"You don't have to worry about him anymore" Nathan tells Peter, and glances back at Taylor, who was now at Peter's side, clutching his arm and hand.
"Nathan this is Taylor, the girl I was telling you about"
"The new love of you're life?" teases Nathan, with a cheeky grin on his face, Taylor blushes.
"Um yeah" replies Peter, looking down at Taylor. She looks back up at him and smiles, hugging him tightly, knowing that the battle is over, her parent's killer is dead and gone and she had Peter, her hero, to protect her.