It had always been her.

She spent every Christmas with him. She would never win an award for being a great mother—she had made her mistakes, and they weren't few or far in between—but at least she could say that; it was more than either his father or his brother would be able to claim if they were still alive—and now that they weren't, it was definite that he would never see either of them again at Christmas time.

Even in hiding from the aftermath of Claire's stunt on top of the ferris wheel the year before, they were together. The cabin they were hiding out in was cold and in the middle of no where, but she didn't complain—much; a part of her was still a snob, after all, but it didn't stop her from seeing her only son left standing.

Both Gabriel and Claire would be by sometime later in the week—both at different times, of course. Despite how much Gabriel had changed in the last year, it was still best to keep them separated. He didn't want to hear about how wrong it was to have his brother's killer with him at Christmas time, and that would be exactly what Claire would bring up the minute she laid eyes on the man. Besides, Gabriel needed peace, and that wasn't something that he could obtain around Peter's niece.

Even with his friend—which, admittedly, was what Gabriel had become over the past few months—and his niece visiting, it was Angela's visit that he had looked forward to the most. He didn't want Gabriel to be alone for Christmas, which would have been the case if it wasn't for Peter's company, and he had always held a soft spot for the cheerleader that he had helped save years before, but Christmas was supposed to be about spending time with those close to you—and it had always been Angela with him through the years; when his father was too busy working to eat Christmas dinner with them, she was there; when his bother was off being a soldier, she was helping him battle the New York snow.

So no, Angela Petrelli wasn't the world's best mother. Sometimes she didn't act like a mother at all. In the end though, her behavior was always because she was trying to help her sons—and in the end she had been the only constant in Peter's life during Christmas time.

It had always been her.