"P-Peter? How'd you do that? Have you ever been to Smallville?"
"Smallville? No, why would you ask that?"
That has to be it. He's a meteor freak like me.
"Meteor freak? What's that?"
"Whoa…you can read minds, too?"
"Yeah, I should've asked for your permission, I'm sorry, but I just wanted to make sure you wouldn't freak. Not that you wouldn't have a right to, of course."
"Believe it or not, superpowers don't surprise me. It's the fact that you have them. Many of them, it seems."
"I was hoping that wouldn't have to be a topic of conversation when I came by to see you, but that ship's definitely sailed by now, hasn't it?"
"Definitely. Look, I'm gonna call the police. Why don't you meet me at Phil's Diner and we'll talk there."
"That place where we'd get milkshakes? Sure, see you there." I hope.
And with that, Peter vanished. Chloe called the police and it wasn't long before an officer came and took the guy away. While she was making her way towards the diner, her head was full of a million questions. How did Peter do those things? If he'd never been to Smallville, did that mean there were other ways of having abilities besides meteor infection? Is Peter single? Before she knew it, the ten minute walk to the diner was over and she was sitting in a booth across from her old friend.
"I hope that you don't mind that I ordered for you already. I was starving."
"I don't know if I should take offense to the fact that you assumed I still eat my cheese burgers cut in half or find it sweet." She looked towards the ceiling and seemed to be in deep concentration. "Sweet wins."
"Whew. Close call. So what's a meteor freak exactly?"
Chloe looked around to make sure they had relative privacy and went into a full explanation of the meteor shower that struck Smallville in 1989 and how fragments of the meteors had strange effects on people. Peter listened intently and seem unscathed by any of the things Chloe had just told him.
"So none of what I just told you bothers you? At all?"
"If you had told me this about a year or so ago, then maybe. But after what I went through last fall, that doesn't even faze me."
Peter began explaining how he discovered his abilities and that other people around the world had abilities, too. He told her about Sylar and how he saved a cheerleader in Texas that wound up being his niece. Against his better judgment, he even told her about how he nearly blew up New York City, and how his brother Nathan had perished while trying to help Peter control his nuclear abilities.
"Wow, and I thought I had problems. I'm so sorry, Peter." She reached across the table and touched his hand. "You know it wasn't your fault right?"
Peter pulled his hand away from hers. "No, Chloe, it was. If I hadn't been so scared, it I had had better control over my abilities, Nathan would still be alive."
"You thought you were a ticking time bomb, you had every right to be scared. When he flew you away from Kirby Plaza, Nathan knew exactly what he was getting into. He knew how much worse the explosion could've been if he hadn't taken you away and been there with you to calm you down. It was a noble sacrifice and one he was fully aware he was making."
"Really? What makes you such an expert on the way my brother thinks?
"I may have never met him, but from your e-mails I can tell how much he loved you, even if you doubted it sometimes."
There was a long silence between them, neither one knowing what to say for the longest time. A few minutes after they finished eating, Peter finally spoke.
"Maybe you're right, but I can't go back to New York, not yet. I can't face my mother, or Claire. I don't know if I'll ever be able to."
"Then stay here, in Metropolis, take all the time you need. I may even be able to get you a job in the mail room at the Daily Planet, if you're interested."
"Alright. Wait, I can't live here. If my mother's searching for me then I'm sure this is one of the places on her list."
Chloe thought hard for a second. "I think I know a friend who wouldn't mind you staying with him at his place in Smallville. He's hardly ever there anyway. I'll call him and have him meet us back at the Planet. But first, we indulge ourselves in chocolate milkshake goodness."
Peter laughed. For the first time in a long time, he felt at ease.