WHO: Nathan Petrelli WHERE: the Hyperion WHEN: Monday, November 28; morning [backdated] WHAT: Heidi's birthday present. RATING: G STATUS: narrative; complete
Admittedly, Nathan could have cheated in the pursuit of this birthday present for his wife by having Peter swap the real with a replica, had Peter or Sarah simply just replicate it with some combination of their abilities or a number of other things, but instead he had tried to do what Heidi had done for him – create something that was as near-exact as possible through hard work alone.
In this case, it was a well-loved blue sofa.
Of course, he was no upholsterer, so a portion of the present had been completed by Sarah, a concession to involving others without going entirely to a professional. It hadn't been an easy process, as Nathan had been almost annoyingly picky, and had resulted in having a panther on his chest again in trying to get the 'most comfortable sofa in the world' feel just right and pushing his stressed sister-to-be too far in the process, but it had been accomplished, leaving him to add all the parts that would make it like the original. There were less than with his sweatshirt, so a portion of his time was spent breaking it in under the guise of having meeting with clients, then going to lay all over it to make the cushion shapes right. It had been some of the most restful present-making he had ever engaged in.
After making certain Heidi was distracted by the boys while consuming breakfast, he had retrieved the sofa from Sarah's care in the Underground – the only place Heidi couldn't snoop for gifts, which Nathan had decided meant it would be the perfect place to also stash the big Christmas gifts and leave the smaller ones wrapped in a closet for the ritual 'sneaking a peek' that the boys did every year and believed they got away with each time – and gotten it upstairs with Peter's help. He wasn't entirely certain the boys would distract her enough to move it himself.
So now, in one corner of their room, there was a sofa with a giant bow on it, as perfect a replica as he could manage of the sofa of Heidi's that had joined their furniture when they had moved in together and remained in their home throughout their marriage, right down to every worn bit and stain he could recall. Wanting it to be just right, he had extended that the entire way, even on the parts not visible unless one happened to be trying to find small children who had wriggled beneath it during hide-and-seek and then had to be cut out when their clothing snagged on the underside of it, or looking beneath sofa cushions to discover the stain shaped almost eerily like a giraffe.
All in all, Nathan was pretty darn pleased with himself, and it was with a grin that he left the room and the sofa for her to find later.