A/N: This is a really long update to make up for the last really short one. In fact this might be the longest I've ever written. Oh and I've reached chapter 50, how cool is that? Hope you enjoy!

NIKI, DL, MICAH, & MOLLY

NEW YORK

"Happy Valentine's day baby."

Niki opened her sleepy eyes and turned her head to give her husband a smile. "Good morning!"

"I wanted to let you sleep in, but it was just so hard to be awake and watch you sleeping…you just look so beautiful and all I wanted to do was kiss you." D.L. adjusted his position so he could cradle his wife in his arms. "So, what's the chance that I'll actually be able to take my wife out tonight for a quiet, romantic date? Just the two of us."

"What would we do with the kids?" Niki asked.

"Yea…that's what I was afraid you'd say…" he sighed and wrapped his arms around her more tightly. "We could hire a babysitter…"

"A babysitter?" Niki frowned. She'd never trusted anyone with Micah except for her best friend back in Nevada, but even then she rarely liked to leave him alone. She was a little overprotective of him, but she had her reasons, of course.

"Come on baby," D.L. begged. "We can call Claire! She could totally take care of them, and they love her!"

"If it were any other night, I'm sure she would love to, but Claire's got a boyfriend, so she's most likely already got plans for tonight."

"Then what about Peter? He's not dating anyone right?"

Niki considered the possibility of having a night alone with her husband, and she smiled. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask him."

"Great!" D.L. slid off the bed, letting Niki fall back on the pillows. "I'm going to make you breakfast."

"Ah, that's sweet," she smiled. "Make breakfast for the kids too, okay?"

He grinned. "That's romantic." He winked as he left the bedroom.

As she stretched out in the bed, she reflected on how easily they had accepted Molly as a part of their family. She was an absolute angel, nice to everyone, perfectly obedient, and always as helpful as possible. In many ways Niki felt that Molly had filled the position of the daughter that she'd always wanted.

"Niki…" Molly tapped her knuckles against the partially open door.

"Come in sweetie," Niki called out and Molly entered, still wearing her pajamas.

"I didn't wake you up did I?"

"No, not at all," Niki sat up and patted the bed beside herself. Molly frolicked across the room and bounded on to the bed to join Niki. "What's on your mind?"

"Well…it's sort of about this whole Valentine's day thing."

"Okay…"

Molly looked hesitant; her cheeks had a slight blush to them.

"Sweetie, you can talk to me about anything, you know that," Niki comforted her.

"There's this boy…" she started at last.

Niki smiled. "Really? A boy?"

"Yea, his name's Gavin and he's in my class at school, and on Friday he gave me a note."

"What did the note say?"

Molly blushed even more. "The note said that he liked me and he wanted me to be his valentine."

Niki struggled not to laugh at how adorable Molly's innocent situation was. She knew that laughter would only make Molly more nervous to talk about it. "And what did you say back to him?"

"I told him that I would," Molly answered. "It seemed like the nice thing to do, but I don't really know what it means to be someone's valentine."

"Well, Valentine's Day is a time for people who love each other to celebrate their love," Niki tried to explain it on the girl's level. "Usually grown-ups will go out on dates on Valentine's Day, and sometimes they give each other presents to express how they feel for each other."

"So, does that mean that I'm supposed to go on a date with Gavin?"

"Oh sweetie I don't think so. Did he say something about a date?"

"No," Molly shook her head. "After the note he just smiled at me and then he had to go because his mom was there to pick him up."

"Then I don't think you really need to worry about it."

Molly looked thoughtful. "But what does it mean?"

"I think it just means that he likes you," Niki told her. "Do you like him?"

"I don't know," Molly shrugged. "I guess. He's nice. He let me share his book when I forgot mine last week in History."

"That was very nice of him," Niki agreed. "But do you like him as anything more than a friend?"

Molly shrugged again. "I don't know."

Niki reached out and wrapped her arms around Molly, pulling her close. "That's okay, sweetie. I don't think you necessarily need to make up your mind about that right now. Just remember that you're young, and there's no rush for things like this. You should just focus on being friends with boys right now, okay?"

Molly rested her head against Niki's shoulder. "Okay."

Niki held her for a moment before speaking again. "Is there anything else you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Not really," Molly answered. "But, umm, could you maybe not say anything about this to Micah? He'd probably just tease me about it."

Niki smiled and kissed the top of Molly's head. "I promise. I won't say anything to him."

"Thanks."

The girls were interrupted as Micah popped his head into the room. "Dad says breakfast is ready."

NATHAN & HEIDI

NEW YORK

"I want tonight to be perfect," Nathan insisted.

Heidi smiled at his consideration, but she only nodded in response.

"It's just been so long since you and I have really had a night alone together with nothing going on to distract us from, well us!"

"I know," Heidi agreed.

Nathan took her hand and kissed it sweetly. "I just love you so much and I miss what we used to have together, before everything…"

"Are you talking about your campaign or the accident or your daughter?"

Nathan didn't know how to interpret her tone. He smiled, despite the fact that he assumed she wasn't entirely happy. "I mean everything. We used to be so happy together, nothing ever got in the way of our relationship and our family…" he specifically was thinking of all the drama that his mother had engendered. "I want to be that way again."

"Me too," she agreed. "But it's going to take time. There have been a lot of changes that we all have to adjust to."

"I know," he sighed. "We'll get there though. I have every confidence in us."

She just smiled again.

"Everything's all set with the babysitter for tonight, right?"

Heidi nodded.

"Good, then I've got just a couple phone calls to make before we can start our perfect Valentine's, just the two of us, with no worries." He stood from the couch, kissed her forehead, and headed to his office to finish up his work.

Heidi waited for him to disappear from sight before she let her smile subside. Nathan had been working so hard to make her happy, ever since she had learned the truth of his abilities and about Claire. He had been wonderful, but sometimes she felt that he treated her a little too perfectly, as though her were trying a little too hard to set things right. She wanted things to be happy between them again, but not at the expense of the natural bond that had started their relationship so many years ago. She would always love her husband, but she wondered if she would ever be able to fully trust him again. She had a lot doubts, but the most pressing was the hardest one for her to ignore. Strangely, it was the only suspicion that had started before she had even learned about Claire, or their special abilities.

It started that morning that they had had brunch with Oliver Dennison. He had mentioned a "blonde woman" and he had created doubt for Heidi. At the time, of course, Nathan had covered it up with a story involving Peter, and it had sufficed for the time. Things had changed though. Circumstances were different and Heidi had new doubts. All she wanted was to be able to trust her husband, but she needed to have proof—she was a Petrelli after all.

"Honey, does Italian work for you tonight?" Nathan called to her from his office.

"Sure, that's fine." She called back. "I'm going upstairs for a minute to check on the boys," she told him, but he didn't respond, clearly already diving back into his work.

Heidi climbed the steps, still marveling at being able to use her legs again—that miracle would never get old. She didn't check on the boys though, she headed straight for her bedroom, where she knew she could have privacy. Nathan would be in his office for a while, if she knew him at all. She shut the door, turned the lock, and used her cell phone to call her brother-in-law.

"Hello?"

"Hi Peter, it's Heidi."

"Hey, how're you?"

"Fine…" she paced across the bedroom, letting her bare feet sink into the deep carpet. "Look, I only have a couple minutes to talk, but there's something really important that I have to ask you, and I need you to promise that you'll be honest."

Peter didn't answer.

"Peter, please."

"Okay, ask away."

"A couple months ago, we had that family brunch thing to impress the interviewer, remember?"

"Yea, I remember."

"He asked Nathan about a trip to Vegas where Nathan met with a blonde woman. You then explained that she was a doctor that Nathan was researching for your depressive disorder, but now that I know the truth about you, it doesn't make since to me," she told him. "You never suffered from depression, and you never tried to kill yourself. You were dealing with your special ability, not a disorder. So my question is who was that woman if she wasn't a doctor for you?"

Peter was quiet.

"Peter, you promised me the truth."

"I don't know what to say, Heidi. I know how much Nathan loves you. Nothing is more important to him than his family, which I know because he almost died to save me."

"That's not an answer," Heidi sighed.

"It's the only answer I can give you," he explained. "I'm sorry Heidi, but the truth is, I don't know who that woman was. Nathan wasn't researching a doctor for me, just like you assumed, but…"

"But what?" Heidi felt tears burning in her eyes as Peter confirmed her doubts.

"You should talk to him about it Heidi. I know that he loves you and he would never want to hurt you…"

"Than why would he meet with a strange woman and lie to me about it?"

"He must have his reasons."

She sniffed as the tears started to spill over.

"I wish you wouldn't have called me Heidi. I don't want to be in the middle of this. I love you and Nathan, and I want you to be happy."

"That's the problem," Heidi sighed. "Everyone is so desperate for us to be happy again that they won't just be honest!"

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault Peter," she assured him. "You're a good guy. I'm sorry I had to involve you, but I needed the truth and I knew I wouldn't get it from Nathan."

"You should still talk to him."

"Don't worry, I will."

"Have a good Valentine's, Heidi."

"You too. Do you have any plans? I talked to Claire yesterday, but she said you were gone all day and didn't know what you would be up to today."

"Yea, I was busy yesterday. I don't have any plans for today though." Peter sighed and she knew he was depressed by the fact that he wasn't dating right now. "Claire's going out, so I'll just be home alone."

"She should go out," Heidi told him. "She deserves to be happy too."

"I know. That's the problem." He sighed again. "I'll talk to you later Heidi."

She said goodbye and hung up, dropping her cell phone on the bed. She had gotten the answer she had been looking for—the answer to solidify her doubts. Now the problem was, she didn't know what to do with the truth. How was she supposed to go out with her husband tonight and pretend to enjoy the holiday of romance when she was wondering if he had cheated on her?

HIRO & CLAUDE & FRIENDS

NEW YORK

"Meet the gang," Claude waved his hand around the room that he had instructed Hiro to teleport them to. It was the main room of a two-bedroom apartment tucked away above a vacant store space in Greenwich Village. Very limited decoration or furniture accented the room—clearly only what was necessary for survival.

A few people were scattered around the room—some sitting, some standing—and everyone staring at the spot where Hiro and Claude had materialized. Hiro held up his hand with his fingers separated, copying the well-known sign from Star Treck.

"This is Hiro," Claude introduced him to the group. "He's the one I was telling you about that can move through time and space."

"Awesome."

Hiro looked at the person who spoke. It was a young guy, probably close to Hiro's own age, but very different in style. His blonde hair was long and shaggy; it looked like it had been a while since he'd washed it. He wore baggy jeans that hung low on his waist and a tie-died T-shirt.

"Do you all have abilities?" Hiro asked bluntly.

Claude answered for the group. "Not all of us. We're a mixed group, but we're all on the same side, mate."

"I'm not on any side yet," Hiro told him. "I am here to learn more."

"Good enough for me," Claude grinned and started pointing to each person in the room individually. He started with the hippie. "That's Troy."

Troy turned both his thumbs up and grinned broadly at Hiro. "Yo."

Hiro nodded while mentally trying to memorize the name. "And can you do something special?"

A young woman, who was perched on the windowsill, snickered. "Fish boy?"

"Fish boy?" Hiro repeated.

Troy smirked. "I can breathe under water, like a fish. Sure did mess with my swim coach's head in high school."

"Fish boy," Hiro repeated, now understanding what the nickname meant. He looked at the girl who had mentioned the nickname. "And you?"

The girl ran her hand through her shoulder-length light-brown hair as she stood up. "My name's Sarah," she told him. "And you can stop pretending that you don't trust us because I know you do. I can tell. You've never felt more relieved in your life than you do right now. Meeting us has made your day."

Hiro frowned. "Why do you say that?"

She laughed, flashing very white teeth and a brief glimpse of a tongue piercing. "I can tell."

"It's her gift," Claude explained.

"I don't understand."

"It's complicated, she's an empath, but not in the way that Peter is. She's empathic with people's feelings."

"Okay…" Hiro decided to let it go. He realized that there would probably be a lot of stuff that he wouldn't understand right away; he would just have to accept it.

"Let's get through the rest quickly, shall we?" Claude picked it up again. "Over there…" he pointed to a guy sitting on one of the two couches in the room who was calmly flipping a short knife. "That's Ray. He's a normal bloke, but I wouldn't want to cross him in a fight. He's got talent with a knife." Next, Claude pointed out another young man with curly red hair standing against the wall, observing the group with a cheery grin and dimples in his freckled cheeks. "Jake, how 'bout giving us a show?"

The redhead nodded and jumped away from the wall, still smiling happily. Hiro watched him curiously for a moment and then before he realized what had happened there were two redheads standing side-by-side.

"What happened?" Hiro questioned.

"I can clone myself," Jake explained with a chipper tone to his voice. "Cool, huh?" His clone spoke now, or maybe it was the original—Hiro couldn't tell the difference. Jake snapped his fingers and the clone disappeared, leaving just one redhead in the room.

"Denny's not here right now," Claude stated suddenly. "He's on assignment."

"What sort of assignment?" Hiro asked.

"Hopefully he'll be bringing back another recruit."

Hiro turned at the sound of a new voice coming from one of the bedrooms. A girl emerged, or rather a woman—a beautiful woman. Hiro had met many women he would consider beautiful, but there was something about this one that just seemed naturally gorgeous. She smiled at him, without showing her teeth, and sauntered into the room to join the others. He felt mesmerized by every detail of her—the sway of her slender hips, the swishing of her pink dress around her knees, the bounce of her silky auburn curls.

"That's quite enough, Roslyn," Claude spoke up suddenly, and Hiro's strange fixation seemed to vanish instantly. "You'd be smart to keep your wits 'bout you 'round her, mate. When she wants to she can emit a dangerous amount of pheromones."

"She emits pheromones?" Hiro echoed in confusion.

Roslyn sat on the second couch and crossed one leg over the other. "I'm sorry if I made you uncomfortable," she said to Hiro. "For some reason I enjoy teasing the newbies." She spread out the skirt of her dress, smoothing out all the wrinkles. "You aren't really attracted to me."

Hiro was a little shocked and confused by her declaration. "I'm not? I mean I know I'm not…"

There was a slight eruption of laughter from the others in the room, but Roslyn spoke over them. "It's my ability. I can make people fall in love with me, just by the amount of pheromones I choose to share with them."

"She's like our very own Poison Ivy," Sarah spoke up.

"Sure," Roslyn rolled her eyes. "But don't think of me as Mother Nature; I don't really give a damn about plant life. Plus, I'm real."

"Okay," Hiro nodded.

"Nice of you to join us Roslyn," Ray winked at her.

"Sorry I'm late. I was on the phone, canceling my date for tonight…" she sighed.

"Roslyn, I told you that dates are not a priority," Claude said.

"It's Valentine's!" She reminded him.

"What we are doing is more important than Valentine's or any other personal things," Claude shook his head. "When the war is over you can have a personal life."

"War?" Hiro piped up.

"Don't worry," Jake told him. "The boss tends to be a bit overdramatic."

Claude ignored the redhead and turned back to Hiro. "And that about sums us up," Claude told him. "For now anyway."

"I'm still a little confused," Hiro said. "What do you want me for? And what are you all doing together?"

"I told you we are trying to recruit others to our purpose, and you are one such recruit. If you choose to join us that is."

Hiro shrugged. "What is the purpose that you need me for?"

"We're going to take down the Company, once and for all."

SASHA

HOTEL, DOWNTOWN SEATTLE

"How much time do you have?"

"Well, since I've been so busy writing reports on everything we've been doing, I only have a couple hours left now," Sasha answered. "The doctor's undoubtedly using his free time to screw his girl, and I just woke up, feeling all lonely here in my hotel room, all by myself, thinking how unfair it is that he should be having all the fun." She sighed. "Don't I deserve a little bit of fun?"

"Actually, I think you deserve a lot of fun," Jaden told her. "Plus it's Valentine's and I think it's been way too long since I've seen my girlfriend."

"Speaking of your girlfriend…" Sasha cut him off. "Don't you have plans with Claire tonight?"

"Of course I do, but not until way later," he reminded her. "I have at least a couple hours free."

"Hmm…then how fast do you think you could get your ass over her?" She waited for an answer, but he was silent. "Jaden? Babe?" she had just realized that the other line was dead when there was a knock on the door of her hotel room. "Umm, just a minute." She climbed out of bed and wrapped a robe around herself before answering the knock.

"You said something about wanting some fun…"

"Jaden!" Sasha squealed at the sight of her boyfriend. His shaggy hair was tousled from the wind that had attacked him during his speedy run across the country. "You're amazing."

"I know," he grinned as he gave her a kiss and entered the room, kicking the door shut. "I couldn't bear another second apart from you."

She laughed. "You're just horny and want to use me for sex."

He pretended to be shocked. "That is so not true. You know that my feelings for you are way deeper than physical."

"Yea, and I also know that you're not getting any from that prissy cheerleader."

"Are you sure about that?"

Sasha glared at him. "Yea, I bet you'd totally do her if she'd let you. Unfortunately for you, she's not a whore."

"Says you," Jaden retorted.

Sasha took a deep breath and then gave him one of her most flattering smiles. "Do you want to waste time teasing me or would you rather be making love to me right now?"

Jaden laughed, lifted her into his arms, and dropped her onto the bed, quickly climbing on top of her.

"You know, once we've finished playing, we really should talk about our plans."

"Our plans?" Jaden was barely paying attention to what she was saying; he was only interested in removing her robe.

"You know what I'm talking about," she moved his hands away and untied the robe herself. "We haven't been working night and day with people we can't stand, just to be slaves to the company. I think it's almost time for us to carry out our own goal."

"Already?" Jaden stopped kissing her neck momentarily. "Are you sure we're ready for that? Have you learned enough from the doc yet? Do you think it will work?"

She placed her hand on his cheek. "Babe, don't you trust me?"

"You know I do, but that doesn't mean that I'm not afraid of what the company will do when they find out what we've really been up to."

"Then we'd better be extra careful and pray they don't find out," she smiled and slipped her hand down to his neck to pull him back in for another kiss. "Deal?"

"Deal," he agreed. "Can we get back to the fun stuff now?"

MOHINDER & MADELINE

MADELINE'S HOME, SEATTLE

"Do you have any idea how lame it is that you're leaving me on Valentine's Day?" Madeline pouted as she watched Mohinder slip out of bed and fish around on the floor for his pants, from where she lay on her side, still in bed.

"I didn't plan it this way, I assure you," he told her. "Though to be honest, I don't exactly see the appeal of this holiday. Every couple coming together on one day out of the year to celebrate their love seems a bit drastic to me."

"That's a romantic perspective," Madeline grinned. "Just so you know, I'm one of those sappy-hopeless-romantics, so don't go spoiling the day of love for me, thank you very much."

Mohinder abandoned the search for his pants and returned to the bed, slipping beneath the large collection of quilts that covered Madeline's queen-sized bed. "I wouldn't dare spoil it for you."

She rolled over onto her stomach and nuzzled her head against his shoulder. "Don't go."

"I have to sweetheart, you know that."

"I don't know it," she protested. "You shouldn't have to do anything that you don't want to do, and I'm pretty positive that you'd rather stay here with me." She kissed his shoulder. "Wouldn't you?"

"Now that's just not fair," he rolled onto his side, hiding his shoulder out of reach of her lips. "You are trying to seduce me out of my job."

"Is it working?" She asked with her thin lips turned up in a teasing smile.

"Maybe a little."

"I'll just have to try harder then," she decided. Madeline pushed herself up onto her knees and moved to straddle Mohinder.

"Maddie, come on, I have to meet Sasha at the airport in two hours."

"Just a tip," she said, letting her fingers trail down his chest. "Probably not the best idea to talk about meeting up with another girl when you're in bed with your girlfriend.

"Right," he smiled. "I'll have to remember that."

"There's nothing going on with her, is there?"

Mohinder frowned. "With who?"

"You know who."

"Sasha?"

"Yes Sasha."

"No, absolutely not!" Mohinder insisted firmly. "How could you even think that? Sasha and I work together. That's all. She's actually rather irritating to be around. I couldn't imagine having anything but a professional relationship with her, and the sooner we have finished our job, the better."

Madeline smiled and kissed him on the nose. "Good."

"Though speaking of my job…"

"Come on, you said two hours and it only takes like fifteen minutes to get to the airport, so that still gives us quite a while to enjoy ourselves…"

Mohinder grinned. "You've talked me into it." He adjusted his position so he was sitting up more and had better access to her lips for kissing. Unintentionally glancing toward the door, which made him stop mid-kiss. "Umm, Maddie…" he mumbled into her mouth.

"Yea?" She didn't pull her lips away from his.

"They're staring."

Madeline separated from him momentarily so she could look over shoulder and figure out what he was talking about. The they he was referring to were the three animals gathered in the doorway—two cats and one dog.

"They're just being friendly," Madeline told him.

"They're being curious," Mohinder insisted. "I don't like being watched by them."

"Watched?" Madeline laughed. "They're not watching…"

"They are! They're staring," he insisted. "It's making me uncomfortable."

Madeline kissed him briefly and then turned to look at the animals that were still hovering in the doorway. She was silent for a few moments and then the three animals turned in unison and left the room.

"There, is that better?" She asked Mohinder as she returned her attention to him.

"How…" Mohinder frowned as he stared at the now empty doorway. "How did you make them go away?"

Madeline shrugged. "I didn't make them do anything. They just left."

"No…" Mohinder pushed himself up higher. "No, they didn't just leave. It was like they were told to leave. Animals don't just do things like that."

"Mohinder, you're being silly." Madeline kept her position on his lap and tried to push him back down. "They just left."

Admittedly, Mohinder hadn't been with her for a very long time, and there were undoubtedly still many things they had to learn about one another, but he was pretty confident that he knew her well enough to know when she wasn't being completely truthful.

"What aren't you telling me?"

She finally gave up trying to calm him and moved off of him. "I didn't want you to treat me differently."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mohinder stared at her, trying to analyze her expression, but she wouldn't make eye contact with him.

"I didn't want you to think of me as one of your patients or a test subject to be observed and documented."

"Madeline what are you talking about?" He took both of her hands in his. "You know you can trust me."

She nodded and squeezed his hands tightly. "I'm surprised you didn't figure it out sooner actually. I thought you were supposed to be smart," she joked. "It should have been obvious, right? I mean, I don't know much about it, but it would make sense for it to run in families, right?"

Mohinder thought he knew what she was talking about now, but he wanted to wait for her to tell him.

"But then again I guess you and your sister were different…" she shook her head. "It doesn't matter. The point is I have an ability too."

"You do?" His assumption was correct. "What can you do?"

"I can communicate with animals," she told him.

"Really?" Mohinder knew he hadn't researched the extent of the abilities that people could have, but animal communication was something he had never even considered. It amazed him. "How does that work exactly?"

"I wish I knew," she told him. "I just realized one day that these strays kept coming around, and they were very receptive to my voice. It was like they knew what I was saying. So I started testing it. I would tell them to do things and they would."

"That's an amazing gift, Maddie."

"It is pretty cool, isn't it?" She smiled. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier. I never should have kept it from you."

"You had your reasons, though I do wish you could have trusted me enough to believe that I wouldn't have treated you any differently." He stroked her cheek and leaned in for a kiss. "I research people with abilities to help them, but if you want me to pretend that you don't have an ability, then I can do that for you."

She kissed him back. "I told you because I was ready for you to know."

"I appreciate the trust you have in me," he told her. "If you ever want to discuss your ability further, you know I would also be willing to listen, though I understand if you do not."

"Right, because you're really going to just let it go, just like that!" She laughed. "I know you, Dr. Suresh! You're curiosity about what I just told you is getting ready to explode."

"It is not," he protested.

Madeline locked her eyes with his. She laughed again and pressed her lips against his, and she ran her fingers through his messy curly hair. "What do you want to ask me?" She said at last. "I'll tell you anything you want to know."

His serious face melted and his head fell into her hand. "Really? You're the best, because I really was desperately curious, but I didn't want to pester you if you weren't ready to discuss…"

"I know," she kissed him again. "You can't fool me."

"So, how does it work exactly?" He started asking at once. "Because you mentioned that you talk to them, but then just now all you did was look at them and they obeyed…"

"At first I had to talk, out loud, but once I got used to it I realized that I could just communicate with them mentally." She explained the details to her eager listener. "It's like I can hear their thoughts and they can hear mine, or maybe it's not so explicit but we can sense what the other is thinking or feeling…it's hard to explain."

"I think I understand," Mohinder decided. "Maybe with a bit more testing we could figure out how it works exactly."

"Mohinder, we only have another hour together, if we're lucky. Why should we waste it by discussing my ability? I've been handling it fine on my own for the past year. If I have any problems with it in the future, I'll give you a call, okay?"

"You do make a very persuasive argument," he told her with a smile and gently pulled her back down beside him on the bed, eagerly ready to resume their fun.

PETER

NEW YORK

"Do you remember the first time we met?" Peter asked softly.

She nodded slowly and readjusted her position so she was curled into his arm, resting against his body as they lay on the bed together. "How could I forget?"

"Even before I knew who you were, I knew that you were special," Peter told her as his fingers played with her hair.

"Special how?" She asked.

"Of you're special in lots of ways," Peter grinned. "You're sweet…" he entwined his fingers with hers and pulled her closer to himself. "You're talented…and you're beautiful…" he kissed the top of her head.

"Hmm…" she tipped her chin up so he could kiss her mouth. "You're special too."

"It took you long enough to realize that."

She poked a finger at his ribs. "Don't tease. I was only being careful. You know what my life has been like…I couldn't afford to get hurt again."

"I know sweetheart," he enclosed her in his arms and rested his cheek against her head. "And that's why I was patient. I was afraid that you would never come around though. I was so in love with you and I wasn't sure if you'd ever let yourself feel the same about me."

"Yea, I know…" she sighed. "I loved you from the beginning. I should have just told you so."

"I wish you would have," he agreed. "Imagine how happy we could have been from the beginning."

"Yea, well, we're just going to have to make up for lost time." She maneuvered herself out of his arms and climbed on top of him, straddling his stomach and bracing her hands against his chest. "Happy Valentine's Peter." She lowered her lips to his and kissed him deeply; their tongues melded together naturally.

Peter took his time with the kiss, not wanting to rush a single moment of their night together. When their lips finally separated, he smiled up at her, mesmerized by her green eyes. "Happy Valentine's Claire."

"No!" Peter screamed as he woke from his dream. He sat up quickly. He didn't even remember falling asleep; he had only settled onto the couch to have a drink and try to relax. He had never meant to fall asleep, but once he had it felt as though he couldn't wake up. Usually when he felt caught by his sleep though he would be caught in a nightmare—this time it was definitely not a nightmare.

"What the hell was that?" he asked himself.

He was always so careful not to let himself experience feelings for his niece. Ever since he had first realized how much he cared for her, he did what he could to suppress the feelings. So he didn't understand why he was suddenly dreaming about her. The dream had reminded him of all the feelings he had been trying to ignore.

If only it could be real. He sighed, glanced at the clock, and poured himself another shot of vodka. It's after midnight. When is she coming home?