(4) Right Instead Of Left

Peter picked himself up & headed after Sylar. "I just want to make sure everything is perfect," he said as he caught up to Sylar, who was currently looking like Peter. They stepped into the street & headed towards the hospital. "We are breaking so many rules right now!"

"I know," Sylar said. "It's fun."

Peter glared at his crazy friend. "Gabri—"

"Wait," Sylar put a hand on Peter's arm & pulled him aside into a back alley. "You can't do that."

"Do what?"

"You Petrellis all have this weird glare," Sylar began. "Claire does it to me any chance she gets. So does Angela. But they're ... well, they aren't you."

"I know that."

"No, I mean," Sylar shifted back to look like himself for a moment. It was rather weird to see the paramedic jacket covering the shoulders of the usually vicious murderer. "When you do it, your ... condition ... shows up. A lot."

Peter sighed heavily. "It's really hard to keep a straight smile."

"You're going to have to really focus on that," Sylar said. "Everyone else sees you as a girl right now & most of them are going to see me as you. I can replicate the look those dead nerves give your lips, but you still show it even now."

"You think people might get suspicious of what we're doing?" Peter asked.

"Most likely, if you're not careful," Sylar answered. "You also really have to control that stutter of yours while at work. I probably won't stutter much, if at all, since I have to think about what I am doing, but if you're doing it as well, some people might figure it out, especially now that Claire has exposed abilities."

"I used to try hiding it as a kid," Peter said. "I got picked on a lot for it. I have to speak very slowly & deliberately to hide it."

"Let's start with that," Sylar said, shifting back into the likeness of Peter as a man. Sylar led the way to the hospital & entered first. He headed straight for Emma & waited for her to look up.

Emma dropped her coffee cup & stared at him, seeing Peter instead. She spoke slowly in her monotone voice. "What happened to you?"

"I got thrown out," Sylar replied.

"Peter," Emma turned to her computer & pulled something up, then turned the screen. "We were about to list you as dead but your mother kept insisting you were fine."

"Mom always knows best," Sylar said. "I was a little busy helping someone out. I had to heal a bit too, as you can see." He gestured at the scar.

"How did that scar happen?"

"Got into a fight with Gabriel," Sylar teased.

Someone swatted his shoulder. "He's foolish to fight with Gabriel."

"Oh this is ..." Sylar hesitated before saying. "Noella."

Emma glanced at the person Sylar had introduced before asking, "Was it really him that did that to your face?"

"Actually, a piece of the ambulance blew past him," the one next to Sylar (who was still Shape-shifted to look like Peter) explained, holding out a hand to Emma. "Peter tells me you are deaf. I am Noella. I am a paramedic as well. Peter told me his partner died, so I was thinking of joining."

"Yes, he did," Emma went to the filing cabinet & pulled out some papers. She handed them over. "You must fill these out if you wish to apply."

"Thank you, Ma'am." Peter took the papers & turned away to head towards a table. He inwardly rolled his eyes at having to his dead name while stuck back in his original body he had been born with.

Sylar made sure Emma was looking at him. She seemed to avoid him. "I should go help with those forms. Perhaps we could talk later?"

"You know my terms, Peter," Emma said. Sylar didn't know but planned on finding out sooner than later. Emma added with a tone of finality, "You really should have told us a long time ago."

"Sorry. I was busy," Sylar repeated. He turned away & caught up to Peter in the cafeteria. "What the hell happened between you & Emma?"

Peter took a long time to answer. "You," he stated simply. "She knows it was you I sent to the carnival to save her & she has a unique power you could use."

"I saw it," Sylar said. "When I was talking to her earlier. I could see her power. A siren's call."

"If you have an accident & take her power, a lot more will die," Peter said. "So she thinks she is saving everyone by staying away from me."

"I get it," Sylar shrugged. "But now I'm going to be right under her nose for a while, right?"

"Not really since she isn't a paramedic," Peter replied. "At least not right now. Hopefully she'll stay upstairs with the other doctors, since you're going to be here a while. I'm going for a complete male transition so I have a lot of stuff to get done which will take a long time."

"People are going to notice eventually," Sylar pointed out.

"Oh, I will quit before then," said Peter. "Or rather, Noella is the one who will be quitting. I'm just here to help you get started. Then after a while, I can come back as me & take over. But we have six weeks before I even start the process & the hormones take some time to have effect. You should be just fine until then." He handed the papers over to him.

"Well, I better go find the manager & Shape-shift to look like them so I can approve this," Sylar took the papers & headed down the hall.

Peter watched him go & then looked down into his coffee cup. He noticed the two big protrusions from the chest & groaned. "I need a drink, not coffee."

Once Sylar got the papers in order, Peter Petrelli was soon reinstated, this time with Noella 'Camp' (Sylar had used half of his younger half-brother's last name for the fake identity) as his new partner.

Sylar's next task was to check over the new ambulances in case anything had been updated in the past couple of years. For the first time in his life, Sylar was glad of the ability he got born with. He could understand the ambulance by looking through it & no one had to die for it this time. Of course, looking through it & driving it were two different things. The vehicle was still strange to handle at first & took some getting used to but with the real Peter in the passenger side, he was soon driving it as well as Peter ever could.

The strange set up worked smoothly for a while, but Sylar was not Peter at all, apart from pretending to look like him for upto sixteen hours a day. He didn't go for the extra back-to-back shifts. Sylar was not a workaholic like Peter was. On the other hand, unlike Peter, Sylar had quite the silver tongue & easily covered this blunder of not taking on more shifts by saying he was still in recovery from the accident & by some non-existent doctor's orders, he was supposed to take things easy for a few months, after all.

Peter however, couldn't help it & often stayed to partner as 'Noella' with others after Sylar was done. Sylar warned him not to do it too often so as not to draw attention to himself & maybe end up with someone figuring out what was going on. Neither of them even thought about other kinds of attention that Peter was getting when at the hospital.

Within a matter of days, Sylar had other feelings about Peter he had to contend with. Other men were noticing what they saw as a beautiful woman who worked along side him, not knowing what was going on. Since Peter had yet to come out, strangers only saw what they perceived to be Peter & not realizing that it was actually Sylar Shape-shifted to look like Peter, while at the same time, they saw a woman next to who they assumed was Peter, instead of a man who had yet to transition or come out & who was actually, in fact, the real Peter.

Sylar was liking being an ambulance driver much more than either of them had expected. It was because Sylar had long hours working with someone he had become accustomed to in a telepathic link but in that link, he had Peter to himself, alone. Now, sometimes he had to share & it got worse when others tried to take the female out, not knowing there was a man trapped inside. Sylar kept telling himself he would never be with Peter in any way but friends, but often, he found himself hoping that his friend would refuse all offers from others, as if Sylar had some sort of chance.

It got worse when someone had pointed out about how much of a butterfly Peter could be & so Sylar's partner would be better off dropping him to be free to date someone else. Peter had instantly gone on the defensive & nearly exposed everything in an attempt to rip a new one into the asshole claiming Peter couldn't hold down a girlfriend to save his life & it was all Sylar could do to intervene. Furthermore, Sylar secretly agreed with the other one. Peter had always shown up with different girls & he had even lost track of one in some future that he could not get back to.

Sylar dragged Peter away. "Miss Camp? Come with me, now."

"But—no—Gabr—!"

Sylar had gone into a small empty room, dragging the frustrated medic with him. He closed the door with a slight slam. "What is wrong with you?"

"That guy is just wanting to—"

"I know exactly what he wants," Sylar cut Peter off. "But you don't look like yourself right now. I do." He indicated himself still looking like Peter for a moment. "You nearly exposed yourself. You've got to calm the hell down!"

"It's not even true," Peter muttered. "We aren't dating. Everyone seems to assume that, though."

"Most people think men & women can't be just friends," Sylar said. "Anyway, they don't know what's going on right now, so unless you want to come out & expose the facts that you are transgender, that you not only lied to keep your job but also got me to join in on that lie & that you currently have the most dangerous serial killer in the world posing as you, I suggest you be a little more careful when out in public, especially here at work."

Peter snarled. "It's so frustrating."

"I know, but it won't be for much longer," Sylar said, putting a hand on Peter's cheek, close to where the bottom half of the scar was, lying hidden under some rather intricate make up. "Sorry for having to use a female term, out there."

"It's fine. You're right, we're in public right now." Peter leaned into Sylar's palm for a moment before pulling away. The call for ambulances had sounded. "At least we can get away from that guy," he said before heading for the door.

Sylar hoped to keep Peter away from not only that guy but also all the others that had been hitting on who they saw as 'Noella Camp' as well. He wondered if he should suggest taking a few days off, knowing Peter's reaction to that, already. If only he could have Peter all to himself again, but that would never be.

Fortunately, Peter was stopped from being able to work for a while by the female body. He woke up out of sorts, cold, no wait hot, even though he was cold & in a lot of pain. Sylar had come home in the middle of the night due to a late shift, so he was crashed on the couch. He had barely taken the time to revert back to looking like himself before lying down on the couch in a deep sleep. Now suddenly, he was roughly awakened by someone yelling both his names. Sylar went into the bedroom just in time to see Peter yank the blankets over the bed to cover himself as if hiding something.

"You okay?" Sylar asked after a yawn.

"No," Peter was nearly crying.

"What happened?" Sylar came to sit on the bed beside him.

"Don't sit down!"

Sylar leapt away as if he had touched fire & leaned against the wall. "Why not?"

Peter pressed one hand to his forehead. "Oh man, when that Regen blood put me back together, it really put me back as before I had even started anything for the transition! It hurts a lot more, like how it used to be when I started puberty, before hormone therapy helped to lessen it."

"The periods cycle?"

"Mhm," Peter moaned. "Also, um, we need a new bed."

"A new bed? That's what you woke me up for?" Sylar snapped. "I literally just went to sleep two hours ago."

"No," Peter sighed. "I mean, maybe. Sort of." He looked up at Sylar. "Can you turn around please so I can get out of bed?"

"What?" Sylar scoffed. "I've seen you naked plenty of times in both your bodies. Why change n—?"

"TURN AROUND!"

"Oh okay," Sylar wisely turned, thoroughly cowed. Peter was the only person who could do that to him now.

Peter slipped out of bed, keeping the sheet firmly wrapped around his hips. "Alright, I need to get to the shower." Sylar moved forward, out of the bedroom & left the path wide open to the washroom.

Peter came out & quickly slipped around to the next room. "Um, just don't go near the bed."

"What's wrong with the bed?"

"We just need a new one," Peter insisted, hiding behind the half-closed door as he peered around the edge at him. "Just trust me on this, okay?"

Sylar rolled his eyes, then noticed something on the hardwood. "There's blood on the floor." He looked up to see that Peter was horrified as their eyes met before Peter slammed the door shut. Sylar went to the door & tapped on it. "Peter?" He tapped again. "Peter, come on. I know you're having a period, again." He paused while he was rudely told to go do something with himself. Sylar tried again. "Peter, it's okay. Your girl body is just doing its girl thing. It's natural."

"Not to me!" Peter all but screamed at him. "I'm a guy! I hate this body so much."

"You look beautiful, honey," Sylar said under his breath without thinking. He clapped a hand to his mouth, swearing himself out in his head, hoping Peter didn't quite catch that.

"Excuse me?" Peter thought Sylar had been teasing.

"Honey," Sylar repeated, thinking wildly on how to correct this. "It's soothing. You want some sort of tea with honey?"

"Sure, sounds fantastic!" Peter snapped before turning the water on.

Sylar heard the water as he turned towards the kitchen to get the kettle going, then quickly cleared the floor of a few spots of blood. Next, despite the warning, he went into the bedroom & lifted the blanket. Sure enough, it was all bloody underneath. Blood didn't phase him however & it was easily dealt with in a cold wash.

By the time Peter was finished in the shower, the bed had been stripped & the tea was ready. He came out, towel wrapped around to include covering his upper body & the only sheet Sylar didn't get to yet was wrapped tightly around Peter's legs. As he waddled forward, Sylar noticed it was in fact between his legs as well.

"Why are you walking like that?" Sylar asked.

Peter stood in front of him. It was with great effort that he sounded out each word in turn to avoid his stutter that seriously wanted to come out again."Well, when the Regen blood put me back together how I got born, everything is the way it was before I started the transition last time," he began. Screw it. He couldn't hold back any more. "So I don't—have ... anything strong enough. I—I mean, when I say s-strong enough—I—er—thick enough." Peter stopped, trying to get his voice under control. "I—well," He forced himself to finish quickly. "I have to use this old sheet because I don't have ... stuff."

"Stuff?"

"Yeah. Stuff." Peter blinked.

Sylar blinked. "You mean your tampons? I thought you had plenty?"

Peter held up both hands for a moment, indicating Sylar should wait while Peter tried to put this into words. "They're ... not the right ones." He tried to say more but Sylar stopped him.

"Don't speak," Sylar said. "I can absorb abilities like you without killing anyone & I did that automatically with Matt's telepathic power while we were stuck with him for so long. Take it so we can share thoughts."

Peter took Sylar's offered hand & a moment later, he felt closely linked to Sylar in his mind as the telepathy passed through them. Both had to make a conscious effort to not think of any dreams as this telepathy had a darker edge to it which could trap someone in a dream for a while.

Sylar focused on the paths of thought running between them. He soon found what Peter was thinking that was hard to put into words. As a young girl, he always had problems until being put on the pill to help with the issue. Then, when he had started on his first transition, the hormones had taken over to help slow things down. As a young man, Peter had encountered the Regen ability which balanced out the hormone problems until he had lost all his powers & then he had gone back to the hormone therapy. But now, all that had been removed & Peter was basically back at the beginning before he had even started anything to do with transition.

/So you need the extra protection tampons, not the regular until we can get you sorted on some sort of birth control pill./ Sylar sent the clear line of thought out through the jumbled mess.

/Yeah, I do./ Peter agreed.

/What about the hormones you're using now?/ Sylar asked, coming closer.

/They need a refill. I was going to do that a while ago, but I didn't plan on—/ There was a moment of jadedness as if Peter was trying to redirect Sylar's train of thought. /Didn't expect to have to deal with de-transition!/

There was a flash of grayness. They were both getting dangerously close to nightmare realms. Peter pulled out of the mind meld before either of them could think of anything else. They found themselves in each other's arms, just standing there, holding on to each other.

"It's not your fault, Peter," Sylar whispered in the medic's ear. "You blame yourself for that accident. I caught a glimpse of your current nightmares. You have two in mind. Your de-transition & right instead of left. It has something to do with that accident. Peter," Sylar pulled away slightly so he could look at Peter. "It really was not your fault."

"You saw that nightmare wrong," Peter pushed Sylar completely away & gathered up the sheet more firmly around himself. "I kicked you out before we got there." He turned to go into the bedroom.

Sylar watched Peter disappear into the next room. Looking away towards the window, he caught himself muttering under breath: "Right instead of left ... Right instead of left ... Right ... instead of ... left." It suddenly hit him like a speeding ambulance.

The accident was indeed Peter's fault! Sylar stepped forward & gripped the edge of the window sill, letting the Intuitive Aptitude sort things out in a rare moment where he didn't have to kill anyone. Right. When sirens sounded in the streets, most people moved over to the right to allow the respondents freedom to use the middle of the road. To get to that middle, cops, fire trucks & ambulances swerved left. How the hell did Peter not move to the center? Everybody knew that an ambulance would go down the clear path other cars opened for them. Sylar shook his head & turned around. He let out a small gasp, finding Peter standing there & with a horrific realization, he remembered that Peter would still have the telepathy power. Sylar had really wanted to ask Peter 'how' but had bitten his tongue hard.

But it didn't matter. The thought was there, the thought was heard.

After a long moment of staring at each other, Peter wiped some tears away. "I-I-I fell asleep at the wheel. J-Just for a single moment."

Sylar had one hand over his mouth, having no memory of putting it there. He forced it down & said in a low voice, "We all told you to stop working so much!"

Peter's lips barely formed the words. "I know." He glanced to the floor. "I heard that. I know."

Sylar sighed & closed his eyes. His thought was that Peter had just managed to kill a lot more people in mere seconds than Sylar had ever killed in the past four years combined. "I'm really sorry, Peter," Sylar finally spoke. "I should not have thought that. It isn't true."

"Yeah, it is."

"You didn't plan to kill all those people," Sylar said. "Mine were premeditated murders all for another power I could just as easily absorb like how you can do it." They stood in silence for a while before Sylar added under breath, "Peter, if this gets out ..."

"Yep," Peter said, with a short nod. He would be finished at the hospital if it ever got out.

But that wasn't what he was worried about at the moment. He had always been among the Heroes. His 'other' job was to fight Villains, like Sylar. He was there to protect people & now he was guarding Sylar from others instead of the other way around & he had just killed a lot more people in a heck of a lot less time than Sylar had ever managed. Yes, it was an accident, a stupid one that could have been avoided had he listened. But he could lose his Hero status a lot faster if others knew what had happened on the overpass. Add suddenly being friends literally overnight with the worst Villain of them all to that? Yeah, Peter would be done. So done that it was dangerous for him to be unable to hold the Regen ability permanently. For the first time in his life, he wondered if he should go through with the re-transition.

Sylar caught that fleeting thought. /What, stay as Noella? Peter, that only delays the inevitable. People will figure it out, eventually./

/Got any better ideas? 'Cause I am really freaking out, right now!/

/I know. So am I! Just let me think for a minute./ Sylar ordered, pushing Peter back towards the couch. Peter gingerly sat down once he had piled most of the sheet under him to protect the cushions. Sylar helped pull the top edge of the sheet around Peter to cover him before saying, "No one else knows what really happened out there."

"That doesn't make me feel much better," Peter muttered.

"Would therapy work?" Sylar asked. "You could simply say car accident without mentioning anything about ambulances."

"I dunno," Peter shrugged. "Let me think about that."

"Okay," Sylar sighed. "I'll get those larger tampons for you."

"You sure you're comfortable with that?" Peter smiled shortly. "A guy walking into a store for those?"

"I'll just go as Claire," Sylar shifted to look like the blonde cheerleader. He pulled the glasses off & set them aside on the coffee table, since Claire herself didn't wear glasses.

Peter sighed. "You really don't have to do this."

"We don't have enough sheets for you," Sylar replied with the softer voice of the cheerleader he was currently impersonating. "I know you're not handling this de-transition as well as you claim. You're having a lot of body dysphoria. I saw both your nightmares."

"I thought I was nearly done with this," Peter admitted. "Didn't expect to have to start all over again. What if I end up getting my powers fixed before I can re-trans—"

"No, we are not doing that what if game," Sylar interrupted.

"It's my biggest worry right now," Peter ignored him. "If I get stuck like this, in this girl body ..."

"Peter, don't worry," Sylar said. "Soon enough, we'll get you back to looking like that guy I hate & try to kill all the time."

Peter laughed out of nerves. "Yeah ..."

"Have I ever told you about this annoying guy I know?"

"Isn't that the one you threw glass shards at & killed him?"

"I thought I killed him," Sylar said before both repeated at the same time what Peter had said when they had encountered each other for the second time in their lives. "Didn't take!"

"Believe me, I was as surprised as you were that I was still alive," Peter said, finally managing a short smile. "I didn't realize I had the Regen then from encountering Claire."

"I'm glad it didn't take," Sylar said quietly. After a moment, he added in a stronger voice, "Drink your tea. I'll be right back."

"Gabriel!" Peter hissed but Sylar was already gone, using Edgar's speed. He was back a few minutes later & passed a small box over. Peter took it before Sylar shifted from Claire's likeness back to his own self. Peter moved to the washroom once more. After fixing certain things & getting dressed at last, he came back & sat as far away as possible on the couch Sylar was on. "This never happened."

"What happened?" Sylar wagged his hawk-like brow.

They never spoke of the incident again. But in spite of it, Sylar made a good nurse & took care of Peter during the first two days of the cycle. Hot water bottle for the cramps, a fan for the heat. He was even able to get some Tylenol Three out of the hospital for the pain. By the third day, Peter was able to get back to a semi-normal routine though the cycle lasted almost a week. He was soon back in the ambulance beside Sylar-looking-like-Peter & the only other problem was once more having to deal with guys trying to get Noella out on a date.