WHO: Angela Petrelli & Gabriel Gray WHAT: Angela seeks to put on old plan in motion for a better end. WHEN: April 27th WHERE: The Hyperion Hotel RATING: PG STATUS: Narrative Log; COMPLETE
Gabriel Gray was not nearly as mild mannered as he seemed. He strove to keep his temper as even as possible because he knew exactly what he was capable of when his emotions got the better of him. There had been plenty of times that he had wished for a plaster to put over the top of them, to suppress some of his worst inclinations. But he hadn't actually had many rages since being here. It had calmed him, somehow, actually feeling as though he was needed, as if he actually had a place in the larger scheme of things. It also gave him quite a bit more to do than read and far more people to interact with than just his mother. Not to say that he didn't miss her, but he couldn't imagine her being here. She simply wouldn't have been able to handle it.
Of course, not all mothers were created equal. Glancing up slowly as Angela Petrelli entered the lobby, Gabriel offered her a slight, friendly smile before turning back to his work. She'd be gone soon anyway. She might be a different Angela than before, but the fact of the matter was that she rarely seemed to stick around long when he was in the room. With the exception of the odd behavior that she had been displaying right before she disappeared, that was the norm.
But Angela had other ideas at the moment. She had tried to scheme once for her own selfish motivation. She had wanted someone that she could manipulate, someone that she could use, and neither of her sons were as pliable as she had hoped (as she should have never expected), and Gabriel had been lost, desperate, searching for something to make himself whole, and she had exploited that. There had been more than a few things that had unsettled her own assurance in her own morality and ethical fortitude since Primatech had burned to the ground, since Nathan had started the whole fiasco back home. But now there were promises that she had made to herself, promises that she had to keep, which were harder than anyone understood. No more secrets was a difficult order to fill after a life of keeping them close to her breast. No secrets in one foul swoop might have caused her boys to breakdown, to implode from the overload of information, and would give her no room to try and have them understand that she was well aware so much of what she had done once under the guise of the Greater Good had been wrong. Peter and Nathan still needed to understand there was less of a definition between good and evil, right and wrong, than they believed there was, that sometimes even good people did horrible things when they thought they were doing them for noble reasons. Angela knew that all too well because she had done her fair share of horrible things in her life time, some of which she had made up for, most of which she had not. But there was still time for her to rectify her mistakes.
And there was one sitting at the desk right in front of her.
So as it was, there was absolutely no reason for her to retreat from the room when Gabriel looked up at her. Instead, she slipped over to stand next to him, looking over his shoulder and down at the computer screen. All of it was Greek to her, but it was certainly intriguing. Gabriel had been within the sight of the Company long before Chandra had even inserted himself back into the picture. It was a shame that they weren't more proactive sometimes. They could have prevented quite a mess if they had been.
"What are you working on?"
The voice startled him enough that he jumped. He certainly hadn't expected her to sidle up right next to him. Dammit, how did she move so silently? Gabriel turned his gaze up at Angela, offering her a question expression before turning his eyes back down to the screen, "Nothing important. Just updating the automated response system," he said, typing in the end to the coding before hitting save and closing the window out. "Do you want something?"
"Other than to talk to you? Discern whether you hate me or not?" Angela asked, a slight hesitation in her voice. It was hard to say whether he did or didn't, but she could only assume that he didn't. He didn't have any reason to, to be honest. Not yet. But she wasn't going to be surprised by anything anymore. Or at least, she was going to try not to be. She anticipated horrible failure or at least, for this to blow up in her face spectularly like it had last time. Either way, she didn't have any reason to be surprised by anything that he did. "More curious than anything else."
Hate her? Why would he hate her? He wasn't exactly thrilled with her behavior at times before, but hate was a word that begged so much more than that. And she was curious? Curious about what? Glancing back over his shoulder at her, Gabriel turned his desk chair around so that he could face her properly. It felt more comfortable talking to her sitting since this way, she only had a very slight height advantage on him rather than him towering over her. To be honest, he'd always hated being as tall as it was. There was an almost implied power when you dominated everyone in the room in relation to stature, and it was a power that he just wasn't comfortable with. "If you have a question, I'll answer it to the best of my abilities. But I'm afraid that I don't understand what you mean. Curious how, exactly?"
Angela's expression softened into something that could almost be described as affectionate as she peered down at him, "About you, of course."
This was a well organized dance. She had to make it seem just believable enough, scoot around the details or at least, not provide him with any. The only benefit she could find out of all of this was that the reaction was likely to be less severe when dealing with someone that her family seemed to have grown close to rather than the broken monster that they had been dealing with back home.
About him? She had been completely terrified of him since she had arrived, and now she was smiling sweetly and saying that she was curious? Implying that she didn't want him to hate her? Nathan and Peter were right. This woman was completely uncomprehensible at times. But he couldn't see any reason not to satisfy her curiosity. It was an innocent enough request as it was, and he wasn't doing anything vital. She spent most of her time in her room on her own. He couldn't begrude her the desire to try and reach out to others in this place even if she had probably chosen her first person to befriend a bit oddly. Nothing like making nice with a potential serial killer to make you feel like you've really accomplished something, perhaps? "I don't know what you want to know. I can give you facts: my parents' names, place of birth, schools that I went to, what I did afterwards. If that's enough to satisfy."
So sweet, so naive, and yet so sure. Just like Gabriel had been. He had surprised her, honestly, several times over with just how selfless he had managed to be at times. Saving Noah's life. Saving Claire's. Saving hers. Risking himself to get Peter to safety despite the fact that he had sided with Arthur instead. Maybe she had overlooked the good that was really there because she had trained herself to only see the bad and the pragmatic for so long. A smile graced her face as she reached out, touching the back of her hand to his cheek, gracing her knuckles lightly along his jawline in a movement that sent a ripple of deja vu through her system. "But I know all that already, dear. I'd like something a little more substantial than just the facts... I never got the chance for that."
Gabriel twisted his head, pulling back and out of her touch as he eyed her over his thick rimmed glasses, "What do you want?" She had to want something. That was how Nathan had said that she worked, wasn't it? That she would use anyone in order to achieve her goals. "Whatever it is, I can't give it to you."
Angela's expression saddened briefly as she shook her head, her hand reaching out to pluck his glasses off of his face, her gaze set intently upon his. Time for the kill. Even if those were a horrible choice of words. "I know what you think, Gabriel, but my boys, as much as I love them, don't understand me. I only ever wanted the best for them, for them to reach their potential and exceed it. All that I did, I only ever did for them. For you, I just too late. You are so very special, Gabriel, more than you even know. And with you here, with us both here, without all the baggage that came with the years that you never experienced, I can provide you with what every little boy needs from a mother: love and guidance."
The bile which rose in his throat at those words was indescribable. He had a mother, and he didn't want someone else trying to take her place. What in the world did she think she was playing at? He could feel his temper attempting to break forth, to spoil whatever record of keeping himself under check he had accomplished while here. Swallowing down hard to the rage, his words came out clipped and hardened, "You are not my mother."
Her expression deepened, a deep concentration taking in over for a long moment, a sure reflection of her momentary desire to extract herself from this situation post haste. If this went badly again, Peter and Nathan would never forgive her for turning this man into what they all feared. All she could hope was that it wouldn't, "But I am, dear. I am."