The Things That Get You Killed

Feeling I've been lost for years, you can never understand me - lest you've seen those tears. But, you never get to sleep when I'm away, I don't mind - deeper that you lay, out of time. Pain, I can't sleep. Pain, I can't sleep.

Peter Petrelli looked up at the apartment building. It wasn't exactly what he had expected, but still, you never knew with people these days. He climbed the stone steps quickly, and as soon as he knocked on the door it was opened.

"Peter Pet-relli?"

"Hiro, hi,"

The Japanese scion frowned slightly, but began to smile. "Why are you here?"

"I…erm…came to apologise."

Hiro's face broke into a gleaming smile and he nodded. "It was not your fault, every Hero loses his way, or can be misled by his friends."

"I'm not a Hero." Peter told him seriously, but Hiro pouted.

"You are-"

"But, I've done nothing worthy of a Hero! I let my girlfriend get shot by her druggy ex-boyfriend, then let my brother almost die for me, then listened to The Company, then Adam, I fell in love with a girl and left her in the future. Now my brother's been shot - and it's all my fault."

Hiro shook his head, "You are a Hero - in here." he pressed his palm over Peter's heart, and the young man nodded a smile showing everything he had wanted to hear, but been to scared to think himself.

"You're smarter than you look, you know."

"Thank-you."

**

"Mom!" Lyle Bennet whined over the banister to the room below him, "Claire's being weird!"

Mrs. Bennet appeared, stern-faced and disapproving, "Lyle - stop being mean to your sister. Claire - stop scaring your brother."

"MOM!" the siblings yelled back, the cheerleader joining her younger brother on the landing and punching his shoulder hard.

"I didn't do anything!" she protested, as Lyle poked his tongue out at her.

"Lyle, stop it." their mother commanded with a sigh.

"Claire just shoved her ribs back in, don't tell me that's not weird!"

"Its not my fault, would you rather I walked around with my ribs jutting out? That'd be more weird!"

Lyle grimaced, but made no reply.

"Go to school, kids. You're going to be late." Mrs. Bennet told them, smiling slightly at the normality and strangeness of the situation. Claire came tumbling down the stairs, groaned, snapped her leg back to normal and grabbed her keys.

Lyle followed her down the stairs, "Claire, give me a lift!"

"In your dreams, loser."

"Freak!" the boy called to her, angrily.

She merely poked her tongue out and ran through the front door, leaving his mother to glare at him reproachfully for saying things like that to his sister, after everything she had been through because of her ability. He didn't need the words, the look said it all.

**

"Molly!" she blinked suddenly, jerking back to reality and smiled. Red-brown hair fell over her face as she looked up to meet Mohinder's worried gaze, her small greeting of a smile almost enough to put him at ease.

"Mohinder, when did you get home?" she asked, pushing herself from her stool and embracing the Indian man tightly. He patted the top of her head affectionately, smiling now.

"Only a little while ago. Did you have fun while I was away?" he asked, looking down at her. She nodded, beaming up at him adoringly.

"Matt took me to the zoo." she told him proudly.

"The zoo? Now, why didn't I think of that before?" he chuckled.

"Because…Matt's like the dad, and you're the Mom." he raised a critical eyebrow to this.

"You're not going to leave me with a thread of masculinity, are you?"

Giggling, she shook her head, "Nope."

"Lucky me."

"You are lucky," she agreed.

"Why's that?" Mohinder replied, sitting down and letting her perch herself on his knee.

"Because, what's coming will be so much worse."

He laughed, "What do you mean, Molly. Worse than what?"

"Than anything we've faced before." her young voice was thick and layered, an undertone of the sinister creeping into it. Panicked, unsure about what she meant, he turned her to face him, almost jumping away with shock.

Molly's eyes were completely black, her lids heavy. Pure fear evident in her unseeing vision - she saw something he could not even dream of. But, from what she has said, he could assume he soon would.

**

There was only one place Elle Bishop thought she would find him at that moment in time, and she had been right. For once, she was able to congratulate herself on her own intelligence, something which had never been a possibility for her before.

Though, she did tell herself, it wasn't exactly rocket science to work it out. Because, if she had been a normal girl, heck if only has it not been for the fact that her father was now her enemy she would have been in the hospital if he'd been hurt too. The fact that Peter's brother had been shot, was a clear indicator as to where he would go. Elle had been correct.

She looked through the window into the hospital room, and sighed. She didn't mean to, but so many feeling were welling up inside of her. She wished that she could love her family, the way families should. But, she had accidentally killed her own mother and grandmother with her ability, and she now remembered every detail of it -thanks to the Haitian.

She wasn't sure whether The Company was the lesser of two evils, or the worse. They had faced things which endangered both The Company, and all the people The Company ruled the lives of. And yet, those very people had helped the facility. She was almost too scared to push open the door and speak to him - so, mustering the courage, she watched him for several minutes. Watching him so carefully she could see every movement he made, no matter how small. The hard line of his jaw was set rigidly as he stared at the form of his elder brother - so very still it was terrifying to see. His back was arched, as he spoke to Nathan, a smooth curve she wanted to slide her hands over - something she had never considered before. Suddenly she understood what had been missing from her all those years where she had not remembered a thing, it was feeling, being human. She hadn't once felt the need to comfort, be merciful, to have empathy. Now, everything flooded to her heart and she wasn't sure what to do: laugh, cry, reach out a hand of understanding to Peter. Elle really did feel for Peter, she understood the pain of losing someone - even if it had been taken away from her for so long.

Tears began to fall slowly from her bright blue eyes, and she moved to the door of the hospital room slowly. Pushing it open, Peter did not look up from his brother. Elle crept over to him, and placed a hand on his shoulder softly. Peter reached up his hand, and took hers in his own, squeezing it tightly, with gratitude.

"Have you come to take me back to The Company?" he queried, without turning to her.

Elle, or now Lara, shook her head, "No, I came to help you."

He chuckled, "The last time you said that I was put in a cell."

"And the last time I 'helped' you I didn't want to help you." She replied slowly, tears still escaping her lashes.

He turned to her, turning his head to the side and studying her. " And you do now?"

"Yes."

"Why?" She shrugged, blonde hair falling over her eyes to hide her tears, Peter smiled, standing and staring at her for a long moment.

"You took something that belonged to me." she informed him, nervously - it was, quite honestly, her first time at trying something like this, and she was scared.

"Oh, yes? What was that? If it's the clothes, I burned them - really not my look." he winked, and some of her fear ebbed away. He didn't seem to hate her, which was always a good start.

"That kiss."

Peter blushed slightly, and nodded. "Yeah, I guess."

"You owe me now."

"What do I owe you?" he asked, accepting the fact that guiltily, that he'd probably stolen her first kiss. Not something that made him feel manly, when he knew she'd spent her entire life being tortured and unable to even go on one measly date.

"I don't mind - but, I want to help you. And, you'll let me, because you know I can help, and you owe me."

He nodded. "It's a deal."

Elle smiled slightly, and he realised for the first time that she had never look genuinely happy before - but she did then. He was pleased, giving her hand another reassuring squeeze, he leant forward and kissed her cheek lightly. The blonde blushed furiously, and Peter smiled.

It looked like he'd have the chance to sort things out with The Company once and for all.

'Cause I, I never, ever, ever, ever thought that it would ever get better. See, I, never, ever, ever, ever thought that I could face this weather. But, life, it will only get better -trust me, it'll only get better.