WHO: Nathan, Sarah & Peter Petrelli; later Nathan & Peter WHERE: the Hyperion; TBD WHEN: Monday, December 19; evening WHAT: Circular ranting never gets a person anywhere. RATING: TBD STATUS: thread; in-progress
Normally, Sarah didn't like to drink in front of Nathan unless he made a big deal out of telling people to do it and not mind his abstinence, but once she'd realized that he was settling in for a good long rant and rave, she'd grabbed a bottle of Merlot – they really had gotten a lot of alcohol as wedding gifts, clearly their friends felt they must need it, which Sarah couldn't blame them for the assumption – and a glass and flopped down in a chair. Kat in her lap, Guinevere curled on the back of the chair and the laptop on a side table, she'd alternately listened to Nathan vent and checked on the state of things concerning all things Adam, because she knew Peter would be demanding his own answers from people before he came to see Nathan's meltdown in person, so he could do so knowing Nathan had someone to vent to in the meantime.
Sarah was happy to be the one Nathan burned some steam off to, but somewhere around the midway point of the bottle of wine, the fifteenth repetition of all his key argument points with several slips to underlying things affecting him, and the vein on Nathan's forehead starting to look more than a little worrying, she'd poked Peter mentally. It wasn't just to legitimately get more aspirin – it wasn't like they needed it, she'd had the same bottle with her the entire time she'd lived in the Hyperion because even headaches were something Peter was quick to rub away before she had time to reach the medicine cabinet or lovingly push his hand away and tell him not to fuss – but also as a way to see if he was on his way soon. It had become clear that just listening to Nathan vent openly wasn't enough and he was going to need Peter to get through to him about more than just the Adam issue. Sometimes, it seemed Nathan Petrelli shouldered far, far too many burdens that weren't his own, but then, it was clearly a Petrelli trait.
"Doesn't Ma realize that he could just try again, that he-"
"-could find someone else to kill her, I know."
Nathan was still pacing, making a circuit of Peter and Sarah's living room as he ranted about everything from the appearance of Adam to other issues of late when those slipped through his Adam hate. There was not one thing Nathan could even tolerate about this monster and having him in the city after all he had done was just too much on the heels of everything else. It was a mess sliding completely out of control.
"And that bastard preyed on-
"-Peter's trust and Peter doesn't need more of that right now, I know," she finished with a sigh. It was easy to do now, as they'd been through the same thing over and over. Sarah knew Nathan had to know all of this. She just wasn't certain why he couldn't apply that knowledge.
Turning the glass in her hand, feeling just affected enough by the alcohol to be able to listen to Nathan without wincing every time he tried to color the air blue with his very broad cursing vocabulary, but not enough to really impede thought, Sarah looked up at Nathan.
"Peter's five years ahead of the Peter in your timeline and he's far more suspicious. You can tell him everything yourself so he knows to keep Adam at arm's length and not trust one thing he says. Peter's not going to go blindly into any kind of plan, he'll want to know all the sides."
Nathan turned and paced in the other direction, a deviation in the pattern that itself was almost a pattern. "We have Bela Talbot in the hotel and you're telling me that there's not a chance Peter can be manipulated."
"Don't," she said, taking another drink. References to that particular problem had gotten the same response from Sarah, because it was the one point Nathan was making in all of this that did worry her a bit. "It's not the same thing. Peter helping her because she helped him doesn't mean he's going to get wrapped up in something horrible."
"All it took was Adam healing me, Sarah. That's it. It was enough to gain his trust in my timeline. I know Peter's older and wiser, but it doesn't change he's capable of trusting the wrong people when put in the right situation to do it."
"Have faith in him, Nathan."
"I do, goddammit! This isn't about me not having faith in him. It's about not knowing just what situation could be constructed to play right to what someone knows about him, in a way even he won't see coming, a way none of us will see coming until it's too late."
"It won't ever be too late, you've already proven that," she said, briefly giving her attention to the computer before looking at him again. "You'll always be able to reach Peter in time because he'll always listen to you over any of these other people, every time."
"And what if I can't stop it, what if I can't stop any of this in time? Look at how much I couldn't stop in the last week! And now Ma's carrying on about Adam like he's a misunderstood child and-"
With a sigh, Sarah slumped back in the chair as Nathan moved back into the vent loop. She'd almost thought they wouldn't go back to the beginning again.