Christmas Eve was a clear, cold, beautiful day in New York, but this wasn't where I wanted to be. Sipping my coffee, I stared at the collage of framed pictures on my living room wall, for once allowing my homesickness to wash over me.

This was the first time I'd ever not been home for Christmas and my heart ached because of it, but I knew I'd made the right decision. After the bombing, I'd had to fight like a wildcat to keep the project from being shut down. Even when I'd won that battle, convincing the rest of my team to keep working had taken everything I could possibly think of.

As Amanda's right hand man, I'd been made point-man for the project, and thrown in the deep end. I'd only just managed to pick up the pieces of the team, even if I hadn't quite managed to pick up the pieces of myself. Though I desperately wanted to go home for Christmas, I knew that the one sight of Mom would dissolve the glue and tape I was using to hold myself together. This project was just too important to risk it; there were so many good people out there at the mercy of their own powers, and I could feel the weight of them on my shoulders.

Mom hadn't understood, but Dad was like me. He'd known exactly what I meant, and why I had to stay, and had surprised me by overnighting all my gifts to my apartment. I tried to console myself that I'd gotten to go home for Thanksgiving, but with everyone I knew in New York gone home to their own families, I was unable to shake the loneliness.

I checked my watch, deciding that 2 p.m. was a good time. I curled up on the couch, hot chocolate in hand, and called my mother.

"Hello?" Patricia Ramsey's familiar drawl was a soothing balm.

"Hi, Mom. Merry Christmas."

There was a smile in her voice as she suddenly started yelling. "Thomas! Your daughter's on the phone! No, I don't care if you're busy with the turkey. Get your butt over here!" She sounded exasperated as she shifted her attention back to me. "Oh, you know your father, sweetie. He and your brothers are using the turkey as an excuse to drink and talk away from their wives."

I laughed. "It's tradition at this point. If they actually came inside and helped with the cooking or kids, the universe might implode. So is everyone at the house?"

She snorted. "Of course they are. Everyone made it here by 11 this morning. We wish you were here, baby."

"I know, Momma. I wish I were there, too. I miss everyone so much. Did my presents make it in time?"

"Yes, they did. Tucker's trying to convince your sister to let him open one. What did you get that child, anyway?"

I snickered at how pissed my sister was going to be when my niece and nephew opened their gifts. "Well, I was torn between a kid's chemistry set and a physics set, so I got one for each of them. I figured Tucker can make catapults to annoy Lilly, and Lilly can set Tucker's toys on fire."

"Ariadne is going to kill you for that, you know." Momma sounded amused. "I still don't understand how my adult children can be so successful and intelligent, yet take such childish glee in driving each other crazy. Clearly you get it from your father."

"Oh yeah, right," I scoffed. "Because you don't ambush Uncle Patrick with a water gun on Independence Day…every year."

She sniffed indignantly. "Well, it must be your father's influence. And in my defense, Patrick should have learned by now not to come over without a change of clothes."

"And in my defense," I retorted innocently, "Ariadne should know better than to let her siblings anywhere near her children. Tucker would have figured out how to blow up a toilet sooner or later. I was just providing a safe, controlled environment in which to learn."

I could practically hear her roll her eyes. "Any one of you could attend a Mensa Convention, yet you all use your powers for evil. Anyway, your sister seems to want to speak with you."

For the next hour, the phone was passed around and I managed to speak with everyone. Though I still missed them all terribly, it was comforting to hear their voices and know that Christmas was the same as it always was, even if it was hundreds of miles away. Finally, though, I hung up the phone. Christmas alone was incredibly depressing.

I toiled around my apartment for a few hours, doing the heavy cleaning I'd been putting off in favor of work. Unfortunately, even a chronic procrastinator eventually runs out of things to do. My apartment was spotless, my Spring semester classes planned, closet and kitchen both organized, and the paperwork for the project electronically submitted. I even deep conditioned my hair and painted my nails bright purple in an effort to occupy my time.

Finally, my stomach growling angrily pulled me off of the couch where I was watching A Christmas Story for the hundredth time. Never one to enjoy grocery shopping, my fridge and pantry were completely bare, and I hadn't eaten today.

The cold and snow hit me as soon as I stepped out of the apartment building, and I tugged my coat tighter around me. For all I was bundled in gloves, a scarf, and a hat, the cold seemed to cut through everything, and the wind insisted on whipping my unruly blond hair against my face. The words I muttered as I trod through the snow would have made Mom reach for a bar of soap and her well worn copy of How to be a Lady.

When I passed Gabriel's shop, I was surprised to see the lights were on. I'd been so swamped by trying to get my life and work back together that we hadn't seen each other since he'd come with me to Amanda's funeral, but we'd texted back and forth. Still, surely even Gabriel wouldn't work on Christmas Eve. Never one able to resist a mystery, I quickly decided a detour was in order, and trod across the street. The little bell tinkled merrily as I entered. "Gabriel?"

A loud thump and cursing answered my call. Wincing slightly, I made my way to the back in time to see a rather disgruntled watchmaker sliding out from under a sink, holding his head and glaring daggers at a leaking pipe. It took a herculean effort to stifle my laughter at seeing the ever-cool Gabriel looking for all the world like an affronted cat, but it was with a (mostly) straight face that I offered him a hand up.

"What are you doing here," he asked, subtly trying to straighten his clothes and hair. "I haven't seen you since... I thought you'd have flown home by now."

"I wasn't able to go home this year, hence my Christmas Eve trip to the Chinese place on the corner," I said, a little embarrassed.

He frowned, wiping his hands on a dirty rag. "I'm sorry. I know you're close with your family."

"It's the first time I haven't been home for Christmas, but I got to talk to them earlier," I shrugged, preferring not to talk about it. "So what about you? What are you doing at work so late on a holiday?"

"I'm usually here," he said with a glance around the shop. "My mom…died a few years ago, and everyone else is with their families."

"Do you want to spend Christmas with me," I asked before I could stop myself. My cheeks instantly turned red, but I decided to plug on. "I don't really have any food at my place, but we can pick up something suitably artery-clogging and make a night of it."

His brown eyes were warm with pleasant surprise as he smiled down at me. "Yeah. Uh, just give me a moment to clean up."

A few minutes later, he shrugged on a coat and locked up the shop. "So, how have you been," I asked. I hadn't seen him since the day we'd spent together after the bar fiasco.

"I've been good. Just...working." Gabriel had shoved his hands in his pockets, so I laced my arm through his casually, small gloved hand resting on the inside of his elbow. He glanced down, and I could have sworn a smile ghosted across his lips, but it was gone in an instant. "You?"

"You mean when I'm not cursing New York's arctic weather? I've been working. We're having some issues with the project, so we've been stuck designing prototype after prototype." I rubbed my face tiredly. "I've got a teleconference with Dr. Suresh when school starts again."

"Dr. Mohinder Suresh?"

I wasn't surprised he knew who I was talking about; Suresh was a household name now. "Yeah. I've never met him, but he's the expert in Special physiology."

"He's a good man," Gabriel said noncommittally. When my eyebrows rose in question, he elaborated. "I've met him a few times, but we…didn't get along." His tone told me not to pursue the topic, so I let it go, guiding the conversation to lighter topics.

An hour later, I laughed as Gabriel telekinetically juggled the cartons of leftover food. At his request, I would toss small objects into the rotating circle to see if he could "catch" them. "This is the greatest game since strip poker," I teased.

"That depends entirely on who you're playing with," he retorted dryly, eliciting another laugh from me.

"Can you move humans," I asked curiously, tossing a pen into the swirling parade.

He mentally caught the pen with ease, and quirked an eyebrow at me. Impressed that he could keep track of all those things without looking and still hold a conversation, my own eyebrows flew up. "Why do you ask?"

I shrugged, swirling my eggnog around in my mug thoughtfully. "I'm just wondering what it would feel like. I mean, I'm as normal as they come, so the thought of losing contact with the ground without mechanical help is...well, it sounds fun." He stared at me for a long moment and I self-consciously tugged on a lock of hair. "Don't worry about it. I was just curious. Do you know how to play poker? I've got a deck here somewhere."

Without apparent effort, the floating objects landed safely on the table. Gabriel stood suddenly, and held his hand out to me. "Do you trust me?"

Grinning stupidly, I took his hand and jumped off the couch, making him laugh softly at me. I was a little confused when he led me to the coat rack and started putting on his coat. Arching an eyebrow, I followed suit, putting on my scarf and gloves. When he carefully put my hat on my head for me, I didn't try to stop my smile from softening. Touched that he was looking out for me, I kissed him gently and took his hand again. "So where are we going?"

The answer, it seemed, was the roof of my small apartment building. I shivered as the cold air greeted me with an icy hug. Seeing me shiver, Gabriel pulled me closer to him. "Ready?"

Trusting him but not exactly sure what his plan was, I gave him a questioning smile. "What exactly is your plan here, Superman?"

Gabriel just winked at me and, before I could react, scooped me up into his arms. Flustered, I instinctively wrapped my arms around his neck. I was so caught up in the wonderful feelings of being cradled so effortlessly by a ridiculously handsome man that I didn't realize what was happening until I felt the cold air rushing by us.

"Oh god...we're flying," I breathed, amazed. I almost didn't catch Gabriel's smile, so caught up in trying to take in everything I saw. As the streets and buildings of Brooklyn passed far below us, I started laughing out of simple joy. This freedom, this detachment from the world, was something I'd never felt before, but had always dreamed about. It was exactly as wonderful and terrifying and absolutely perfect as I'd always thought it would be.

Thrilled beyond belief, I couldn't stop smiling. "If I kiss you right now, will we fall to our deaths," I asked Gabriel, semi-serious. Instead of answering, he simply pressed his lips to mine.

I tensed for a moment, but when we didn't fall out of the sky, I started kissing him back passionately.

After a moment, I pulled away, grinning at him. "Would it be in bad taste to make a Titanic joke right now?"

0o0o0o0o0

Consciousness came slowly, but I fought to stay asleep. I was having such a good dream. I had been flying, but there had been no fear, because Gabriel was there, and he could protect me from anything.

Gradually, the dream receded, and I realized someone was stroking my hair, and I smiled, snuggling closer, but didn't open my eyes.

"Good morning." There was a smile in Gabriel's voice.

"This is the perfect way to wake up," I said, stretching languidly. In my sleep, I had somehow draped myself over him, and now I didn't bother to lift my head from his shoulder or open my eyes. "Warm, comfortable, and someone is petting me."

"Maybe you're part feline."

"I'm hoping to be a house cat in my next life. I plan to spend all day lounging in the sun and ignoring people until I want attention, which they will then gladly give."

"Sounds like a typical woman to me."

I laughed and swatted his chest, finally opening my eyes to smile at him. "Careful, Gray. Hell hath no fury and all that."

One dark eyebrow rose in skeptical amusement. "I literally have superpowers. I'll take my chances."

"I have the power of physics on my side," I told the eyebrow sternly. "Checkmate."

Gabriel laughed and pressed a kiss to my forehead. "So, what did you have planned for today?"

"Nothing in parti- holy crap, it's Christmas morning!" I shot up and out of bed, but promptly sat back down for a moment. "Wooooah, head rush."

"Easy there, Ralphie," Gabriel said dryly. "You didn't get your Red Ryder BB gun."

I grinned. "Pipe down, Scrooge, or I'll sic the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come on you. I don't care how old I am, Christmas morning will always be awesome."

"You know, as a fully functioning adult, you can just buy the things you want. You don't have to wait for Christmas presents."

I flapped my hand at him. "It's not the presents, although they don't exactly put a damper on my mood. It's just the day. Right now, there are millions of children, some even in this building, who didn't sleep last night because they were too excited for this morning, and today the world is just a little better for it."

He smiled at me. "I didn't realize you were such a romantic."

"I have my moments," I said sheepishly. "Now, I'm going to go put on some coffee and then I'm going to take a shower and go for a walk."

By the time Gabriel and I crawled out of the shower, the water had gone completely cold and we were laughing as we dried each other off. "I think I found a new favorite Christmas tradition," I leered at him. He snorted and swatted at my backside, but I dodged and pranced into the bedroom, laughing.

"So, what are your plans for the day," I called curiously as I ducked into my closet and started getting dressed.

"Well, I usually go to Peter's house in the afternoon. If you don't have other plans, I hoped you would join me."

The casually delivered offer made me freeze. "Peter...as in Peter Petrelli?"

We couldn't see each other through the door, but I could imagine the confused look on Gabriel's face. "Yeeees," he said, dragging the word out in question.

Eyes wide, I slipped the sweater over my head and buttoned my jeans before slipping out of the closet to face him. "You're on a first name, go-over-on-Christmas-Day basis with Peter Hangs-out-with-the-President Petrelli? The quote-unquote 'Shining Light for Mankind'?"

Gabriel looked amused. "I just call him 'Peter'. And occasionally 'dumbass'." I watched him button up his shirt, momentarily distracted by the sight of his broad chest, but his next words made me snap back to the conversation. "I thought you met him before? Something about him touring your lab?"

I snorted. "No. That's way above my pay grade. Amanda gave him the tour, and I met him for about ten seconds when he thanked my team for our work. I'm 90% sure he never even heard our individual names."

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "It's not that big of a deal. He's just Peter. He's got a wife that's way out of his league, 6 month old son, and annoyingly floppy bangs. You'll be fine." When I still looked unsure, he shook his head and pulled me into his arms. "Tell you what. If he shows the slightest sign of growing horns or a forked tail, I'll use my powers to throw him out of the window."

0o0o0o0o0

For the fifth time in as many minutes, I straightened my dress and ran a hand along my hair, nervously checking that my curls were still good. Gabriel gently grabbed my hand and laced his fingers through mine, "Stop fussing, Hero. You look beautiful."

I flushed with pleasure both at the gesture and the words, but my joy was short lived as we reached the door of the Petrelli penthouse and Gabriel rang the doorbell.

A pretty blond woman opened the door and beamed when she saw Gabriel. "Gabriel!" The way she pronounced the word told me instantly that she was deaf.

"Merry Christmas, Emma. This is my girlfriend Hero," Gabriel introduced, simultaneously signing with his hands. For the second time in less than a minute, I flushed with pleasure. He'd introduced me as his girlfriend. "Hero, this is Peter's wife, Emma."

"It's nice to meet you," Emma said with a brilliant smile.

Not for the first time, I thanked my summer as a camp counselor when I'd learned American Sign Language. "The pleasure is mine," I signed to her, speaking aloud as well. "You have a lovely home."

She smiled and gestured for us to come inside, and I caught a flash of surprised approval in Gabriel's eyes as he guided me inside with a hand on the small of my back. "You know sign language?"

I arched an eyebrow, "You know sign language?" He grinned and inclined his head in acknowledgement of my point, and Emma gestured for us to follow her to the living room.

Like the rest of the penthouse, the living room was elegantly vibrant. A massive Christmas tree took up one corner, and upbeat music played from the speakers set up around the room. Peter Petrelli himself was currently seated on the couch, feeding a bottle to the baby in his arms. He looked up and smiled when he saw us. "Merry Christmas. Who's this?"

I smiled politely, making a note to sign for Emma's benefit as I introduced myself. "I'm Hero. Yes, it's my real name, and it's a pleasure to meet you."

Peter seemed to approve of me, if only because I was being polite to his wife. "Have we met before? You look familiar."

I blinked at him, surprised that he'd remembered the tour, before I realized he'd probably seen my face on the news. After the bombing, university staff photos of the four of us involved had been plastered across most of the major networks. "You toured my lab several months ago," I said lightly. "That's probably where you know me from."

"No, I could swear I've seen you somewhere else," he said, frowning. In the corner of my eye, Emma was frantically shaking her head at him and Peter's eyes widened. "But maybe it was just on the street or something," he said hastily.

Now that I knew Emma, at least, recognized me, I had to work a little harder to keep my smile on. When the worst moment of your life made national headlines, it became the first thing people associated with your name and face. Emma quickly recovered, though, and touched my arm to grab my attention. "Will you help me get drinks for everyone," she asked.

As soon as we were away from the men, Emma took her time inspecting me. "How did you meet Gabriel?"

I shrugged. "I went into his clock shop to get something repaired, and he asked me out a few days later."

"He's a good man." It was casually delivered, but I could read the challenge in her words.

I smiled genuinely for the first time since I'd entered the house. "Yes, he is. He's…amazing. I don't feel like I deserve him."

There was a knowing look in Emma's eyes and a small smile graced her face. "I felt the same about Peter when we were dating."

I arched an eyebrow at her. "But not now?"

She gave me a dry look as she poured eggnog and whiskey together in the glasses. "The feeling faded after the first few hundred times he leaves the toilet seat up." Surprised, I started laughing, and she grinned at me. "How long have you and Gabriel known each other?"

I waved my hand dismissively. "Only a few weeks, but…" I floundered for words briefly. "Well, we've been through a lot together."

Her eyes were sharp, and I knew she was inferring correctly that he'd been there for me after the bombing. Thankfully, she didn't say anything, just handed me two glasses and gestured for me to follow her back to the men.

The second we entered the room, I knew Gabriel had told Peter exactly who I was, because Peter was staring at me with pity in his eyes. He hastily covered it with a smile, but I just mentally shrugged it off. I was used to it by now. "So, there may or may not be a significant amount of booze in here," I said, winking at Emma as I handed Gabriel a glass. "Hint: there is."

Peter took a sip and choked. "What is this, 90% whiskey?"

"Something like that," Emma agreed, grinning.

I smiled at Gabriel and perched on the arm of the lounge chair he was sitting in. "You know, I'm really becoming a fan of your rapid cellular regeneration thing. You're automatically Designated Driver."

"Let's see if your tune changes after tomorrow's hangover," he said dryly, wrapping an arm around my waist.

I rolled my eyes, but shifted my attention to Emma and Peter. "So, you've both known Gabriel for a long time. Are there any embarrassing stories I get to hear about?"

Emma snorted, and Peter grinned. "Oh, so many. Don't give me that look, Gabriel. It's my duty as your best friend to inform your girlfriend about who she's dating. Let's see. Have you heard about what happened at our wedding?"

Gabriel grimaced, but I shook my head with a smile. Peter grinned mischievously. "Emma's ex boyfriend came by the reception, drunk and crying and giving everyone the creeps. So Gabriel, being the best man, discreetly asks him to leave. The dude starts getting hysterical, so Gabriel finally gets fed up and tosses the guy out in the rain, and thinks that the end of it. Evidently, though, the guy wasn't finished, and returns two hours later, drunker than ever. In his drunken haze, he decided to take off his wet clothes. Now, Emma and I don't know about any of this. We're just off in our own happy little world, but then suddenly the room goes dead silent. I mean, not a peep from anyone."

"Peter and I look up just in time to see a terrified, drunk, naked man streaking through our reception, with Gabriel clocking it after him like a linebacker with this determined look on his face." Emma was laughing so hard at the memory that Peter started cracking up, and I couldn't help but giggle at the mental image.

"Yeah, laugh it up," Gabriel said sarcastically, casting a reproachful look at all of us. "You're not the one who had to chase and tackle a naked man." This only sent the rest of us into further peals of laughter.

Thoughts so far?