She was playing with fire. That much Kenna already knew, and for once it was not in a literal way. This time in was in a metaphorical way and yet here she was, about to walk back into the lion's den. Making the decision to walk away from her entire life in New York because of everything that had happened with Peter, had been one of the most painstakingly difficult decisions of Kenna's young life. It was a choice that had been made in the heat of the moment by someone who was experiencing heartbreak for the first time in their life. It had taken months for Kenna to move on from what happened, for her to finally bring herself to come back to her second home and try to start her life over again. A life without the Peter but then Nathan had to put a hole in that plan by showing up in her classroom unexpectedly with the news about Peter.
Kenna wanted so much not to care, to be indifferent as to what was going on with her former friend but she couldn't. It was like Nathan had said to her yesterday, regardless of what had transpired between the two of them there was some part of Kenna that still cared about Peter otherwise she would have dropped kicked Nathan out of her classroom the moment he walked in. It was rather irritating to Kenna that Nathan could occasionally be so astute about matters that weren't centred around him.
Completely letting go was easier said than done as Peter was her best friend, he had been for as long as Kenna could think back to. The two of them had met when they were ten years old and Kenna had immediately knew that there was something special about Peter considering the fact that unlike most boys their age he didn't mind playing with girls. Sixteen years later, give or take a few months Kenna and Peter had still been friends, having survived their fancy ass private school, puberty, interfering parents and college. In the sixteen years that she had know him Kenna had never been away from Peter for more than a month, well that was until she packed up and ran off into the unknown.
Now she was about to come face to face with him for the first time in six months.
At this precise moment Kenna wasn't certain what was louder; the rapid sound of her heart threatening to leap out of her chest, or the sound of her shoes clicking against the hospital floor as she walked further towards Peter's room. Already this was torture for Kenna and she hadn't even seen Peter yet! But she had a plan and she was going to stick to it. Under no circumstances were they allowed to talk about the graduation party, the accident and anything surrounding where Kenna had been before she returned to New York. So basically, all Kenna was planning to do was make sure Peter was okay for the most part and try and figure out what was going on with him. The topic of her was to be avoided entirely.
Taking a deep breath Kenna opened the hospital room door and walked in to see her dark haired and ever so gangly best friend sitting up in bed flicking through channels on the TV, which surprised her as she'd figured Peter would have been restrained if he had in fact tried to kill himself. But she quickly realized that having a suicidal brother would not look good for Nathan's congress campaign and knowing this family they would never let anyone know about their family problems so this was a cover up.
For someone who had supposedly just jumped off a building in order to kill themselves, he looked good. It had been six months and Peter, like always looked the same. Kenna doubted that Peter would ever change, he was still the same person he was ten years ago. The only thing that had changed was his hair which had gotten just a tad bit longer.
"Hey stranger, it's been a while." Kenna wearily began, her voice wavering ever so slightly.
Immediately Peter's attention was drawn away from the television. The surprise was clear as day on his face, Kenna was the last person he was expecting to see. Yet the small smile on his face made it seem like no time had passed. With much hesitation. Kenna slowly ventured further into the room, hoping for dear life that she could keep a hold onto her composure.
"Kenny?"
"Hi Pete."
There was an awkwardness that lurked in the air, which was to be expected as the last time the two of them were in the same room, they were fresh off a one nights stand and dealing with a family emergency. Since then, they hadn't seen or spoken to one another. Those six months suddenly felt more like six years. Even though Kenna had come here of her own free will, she wondered if this was a good idea.
"Nathan tracked me down, showed up at my classroom, said you were in trouble and asked if I could swing by." Kenna explained, feeling the need to fill the unbearable silence. Those awkward silences were something that she never felt comfortable with, Kenna had to say or do something to move past it.
"Your back in New York?" Peter questioned and Kenna reluctantly nodded.
"For several weeks now." Kenna willingly admitted.
"I looked for you."
"I know."
For the last six months Kenna had wanted nothing to do with the Petrelli's, it was a shame that the same couldn't be said for Peter and the rest of his family. They had gone out of their way to try and track her down, but Kenna's father had deeper pockets thus allowing it to be very easy for her to disappear from some of the people closest to her. This entire time, Kenna had known that Peter had been looking for her, he had never really stopped but she hadn't been able to bring herself to face him, as it meant facing the truth about what she had found out the night of the accident. Her way of thinking? If she avoided it for long enough, it meant that it never happened and this broken heart of hers would ease up.
"Kenna, I don't understand... One day you were here and we're talking about the future and the next minute you are gone. I called you so many times and I went to your apartment and the school but you weren't there. I even called your father to see if he knew where you were but he wouldn't tell me a thing. I was looking for you everywhere. You disappear for six months without a trace and now your back as if you never left…What happened?"
Yeah. Kenna knew that was pretty bad from her end. But she did have her reasons.
Peter to this day, was still unaware as to why she had taken off.
"I didn't come to talk about what happened in the past Peter. I came to make sure that you were okay. Nathan told me that you tried to jump off a building. What is going on? This isn't you." Kenna replied, making her way over to the edge of the bed and hesitating in a bashful manner.
As much as she wanted to keep her distance from Peter, to keep him at an arms distance, it was seemingly impossible for her. Now she was here, back with her best friend and it was like all those feelings that she had been trying to suppress for the last few months had come rushing back to the surface. No matter how mad she was, Peter was her best friend and something was up with him. She couldn't ignore him any more. Whatever had happened in the past was being put to the side for now.
"Kenna... It's been a crazy few days and it's hard to explain but I didn't jump off that building Kenny. I was not trying to kill myself."
Kenna looked Peter straight on, looked him in the eye for any signs of deceit and there was none. Those brown eyes that she has always known to be full of hope, hadn't changed in the slightest. He was telling the truth. It made this whole flying thing a little more plausible, but she just needed to hear from Peter himself that he wasn't trying to kill himself.
"Okay."
"That's it? Okay? and you believe me."
"Well yeah."
"You don't think I'm crazy?" Peter asked in surprise and Kenna shook her head.
"God no, though if you were it would totally be understandable... Nathan told me about Papa Petrelli, the real truth." Kenna stated as Peter shuffled in the bed and Kenna sat on the edge of the bed. So she had grown up in the best environment with the dad who was the suspected mobster and being raised in a casino but her family was not the Petrelli's. As much as Kenna loved them all, they did have their problems and made the Linderman's look normal. So the moment Nathan told her Peter had tried to kill himself alerted her to the fact that something was wrong bar the obvious. Peter kill himself? There was more chance of hell rising to the surface than that. Clearly there was more to what was going on than what Nathan had told her, so Kenna knew she had to come to Peter for the answers.
"I thought you would have come for the funeral." Peter replied and Kenna felt a pang of guilt.
"I'm sorry."
Yeah, that was not one of her finer moments. There wasn't even any reasonable excuse that Kenna couldn't give to explain herself. There weren't many times that Kenna apologised and actually meant it, but this time she did.
A silence fell over the two of them that wasn't quite awkward, yet it wasn't comfortable. It was somewhere in between and Kenna didn't know what to say next. Things were different, they couldn't pretend that her disappearing act never happened as it was hanging over the two of them like a suspicious dark cloud. Yet, it was Peter taking Kenna's hand in his own and
giving it a reassuring squeeze that prevented her from saying something stupid, or trying to flee in order to save face and avoid having to explain herself. That gesture spoke more volumes than any words ever could. It told Kenna that she was home.
"I've missed you Kenna, I've missed us."
"I've missed you too Pete." Kenna allowed herself to admit it, as there was no point in lying anymore. The last few months had been hell for her. Peter Petrelli was her best friend in the entire world, he was one half of her heart and the world didn't make much sense to Kenna without having him in her world.
"So is this a one time reappearance? Because I would really like having my best friend back."
There was a reason that Kenna had run away, cut herself off from her best friend and his family. A betrayal so deep that it had led to her heart being broken for the very first time, and Kenna had sworn to herself that she would never let herself get drawn back into this mess. But right here? in this moment? It was somewhat damn near impossible for her to back away from Peter, to walk away from her best friend again as
"No I think I'll stick around for a while, can't have you jumping off any more buildings can I?"
