Peter Petrelli | Heroes (savedthechrldr) wrote in thedoorway, @ 2013-01-10 22:14:00 |
|
|||
Peter couldn’t get to the hospital fast enough. He was still trembling inside as he raced down the sidewalk, weaving in and out between the thick swarm of people. Nathan was alive. At least, someone with Nathan’s face and who seemed an awful lot like Nathan had posted on the network. But before he could believe beyond a shadow of a doubt, he had to see him, hold his hand, talk to him, maybe touch his mind to make sure it was free of Sylar’s taint. After watching the show, and seeing how he had been fooled for so long...he would simply have to make sure. But his heart, his soul, told him that this was Nathan. A Nathan who had arrived here from about the same time he had, which was good. If they were from the same point, then he couldn’t possibly have been taken over by Sylar yet. But of course, he would be responsible for telling him what happened. Honestly, he didn’t know if he could. He’d been having nightmares from watching that episode over and over, understanding - and yet hating himself for releasing Nathan’s hand. He was overwraught by guilt, and usually woke up in tears, spending the rest of the night wondering where he’d gone wrong, and how he could have done it right. His father had died twice in his life, and one time he had certainly had a part in it. But neither time - or both times together - had it ever hurt as much as losing Nathan. Arthur Petrelli had never been a particularly good father. He had been absent, rather cold, rather dismissive of Peter’s empathic nature. He had known that he disappointed his father, but had found it very hard - impossible, really - to be anyone other than who he was. While Nathan was like their father in some ways, he fell into the fatherly role for Peter in ways that Arthur never had. Peter could still remember sitting by the window of their spacious home in apt anticipation of Nathan’s arrival home from Annapolis, with stories of his heroics. Those were the times he’d learned to throw a baseball, or finally got the chance to tell someone that he’d kissed his first girl on the playground. Those were never things he’d felt comfortable telling his father or mother - only Nathan. And seeing him dead - and the fact that it was partially his fault - was perhaps the most painful thing he’d ever felt. But now, this place...maybe it was giving him a do-over. He couldn’t help but be hopeful, and there was a twinkle in his eye as he finally reached the hospital and asked the nurse for Nathan Petrelli’s room. Peter didn’t plan on leaving the place until Nathan was released, and he thought offhandedly that he probably should text Lucy to bring him a pillow and a blanket. But right now, it didn’t matter. He was still dressed in his paramedic’s uniform as he slipped into the door of Nathan’s room, and greeted him with a glowing smile. “Nathan, you look like hell.” For the last forty-eight hours, Nathan Petrelli had had no real concept of where he was or what had happened. He did know that he’d been in Odessa, Texas about to hold a press conference and that he’d been shot but had woken up in a strange white room filled with men he’d never seen before. His first thought was that he was in the Afterlife but given some of the things he’d done, he’d expected it to be a lot...warmer. No it wasn’t the Afterlife, he’d come to discover, these men were from SHIELD. He remembered hearing that word even though he was slipping in and out of consciousness. Peter, he’d asked for Peter because he’d been there when he was shot, he’d caught him but where was Peter now? The next clear memory he had was waking up in the recovery room, he’d had surgery he’d been told. They had removed the bullets, one of which had barely missed his heart, and repaired the damage. He was going to be okay but he’d be in the hospital for a few days. Once he had been moved to a room and could see out the window, Nathan knew he was in New York but how the hell had he gotten there? There couldn’t have been time to fly him but he hadn’t been conscious this whole time. Then there was the fact that he thought he’d heard someone say it was 2013. That was impossible. It couldn’t be because if it was, it meant he’d time traveled like Hiro and he couldn’t do that. When he’d posted on the network and found Peter and Claire, he knew that somehow things were going to work out. While he hadn’t always been the best at showing it, he loved his brother and was coming to love his daughter although they still had a long way to go in regards to their relationship to one another. All Nathan Petrelli knew was that when he saw Peter standing in the doorway to his room, he had never been happier to see anyone in his life. “Thanks, I feel like hell,” he said and gave Peter a crooked smile that was more of a grimace as he tried to adjust himself in the bed. “You look shocked to see me but you were there when it happened so I don’t get it...” “Yeah,” Peter said, shifting his weight as he loitered in the doorway, staring at his brother almost as if he wasn’t sure if he were real. “See, that’s been about a month for me. And...a lot has happened since then,” he said with a humorless crooked smile. “I came here from the same time you did...but it was a long time ago. And this place...I’ve learned things, Nathan. Things I don’t know if I really wanted to learn. About dad. About mom. About what happens to us. And they’re not all good things.” He sighed, and came in to sit at the chair at Nathan’s bedside, almost automatically checking his bandages, to make sure everything was as it should be. He didn’t trust his brother’s care to just anyone. “What - what did they tell you when you got here?” Peter wasn’t exactly sure how to break to his brother that there was a TV show about them...not to mention some of the things that had happened to him in said TV show. “I don’t remember a lot,” Nathan said. “I was in a lot of pain, they pretty much took me right to surgery. I remember someone telling me they were from SHIELD but not what it was. They came back earlier, gave me the laptop and told me about the network. Something about refugees..they said that I was one.” He remembered how shocked he’d been to hear that word. How could he be a refugee from anything? “They knew things, Pete. They knew my name without me having to tell them. They knew that I was divorced, about the boys, about Claire.Told me you were here. That’s all they told me. It was strange how much they knew about my life. They knew I could fly. Pete I never told anyone that, someone shot me before I could. How does this SHIELD know that?” “I shot you,” Peter said rather glumly. “Well...not me. A future version of me who had come back in time to stop you from making that announcement. Apparently - “ Peter pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly, shaking his head a bit. “Nathan, there’s a TV show about us. I’ve watched it. From beginning to end. And some pretty bad stuff happens. This place...it’s not our New York. I mean...mom’s house is here - but it’s not. It’s all empty, even though it looks like the place we grew up. There’s no Company here. There’s no Linderman here. But they watch our show as entertainment. That’s how they know what you can do, Nathan. That...and...that little blue box just knows things.” He stared at Peter for a moment, not sure he was comprehending what he was hearing. Peter shot him? A different version of Peter? “My god,” Nathan said, reaching up and running a hand over his face. “that’s insane. And that’s why the nurse said it was 2013. Because this is like an alternate universe? Like Star Trek?” He leaned his head back on the pillow. It was a lot to take in but he knew Peter wouldn’t bullshit him about something like this. “But Claire? Claire’s here? I talked to her on the network and Adam Monroe. Anyone else? And our lives are not real to these people?” “No,” Peter said softly. “We’re characters in a TV show. But if it makes you feel any better...most of the people here are fictional in our world?” He watched Nathan closely for a moment, making sure he wasn’t freaking out too bad. But he seemed to be taking it rather calmly, as Nathan usually did. “Yeah...sort of like Star Trek. There are people from Star Trek here, by the way. And Spock looks like Sylar, so don’t freak out, okay?” “The hell? Spock looks like Sylar? Glad you warned me because that’s just damn strange.” He made a noise that was almost a laugh but turned into a grimace. It hurt to laugh just yet. “That mental picture of Sylar with pointy ears...that’s rich. So everyone here is fictional. Okay. Well at least it’s nice to know that I’m not on some kind of weird drug trip.” With everything that had happened in his life in the last two years, the fact that this was a world full of fictional people shouldn’t shock him at all. “So what do we do now? Are we here forever? Do we go back? Just live our lives?” Nathan needed a plan, he always had. If he was going to be here, he wanted to know how he was supposed to be here. “You said there was a show. Do we have to live out what happens on it. You said it wasn’t all good. Do we get a chance to just...live here?” “I think we can change it,” he said softly. “We have to change it. And really, we have already, haven’t we? I mean, Lucy’s not in the show, but she’s in my life here. And that can only be good. I mean, we almost have a family here. I mean, no kids. But me and Lucy and Claire and you, and Lucy and I have...a kitten. I know it’s not much, but with you here..it kind of feels like more of a real family than I’ve ever had.” He frowned, looking out the window. “I don’t think you should watch the show, Nathan.” Nathan watched his brother’s face. Whatever he’d seen on the show had obviously shaken him and while Nathan wanted to know what it was, he also didn’t want to hurt his brother. He loved him even if over the last couple of years, well the last couple of years that he knew, he hadn’t always behaved that way. “Okay Pete,” he said. “I won’t watch it. I’m not sure I want to if it’s bothering you so much. Just being here is a huge adjustment, I don’t think I can take anything else right now. I like the idea of starting over, being a family. I never got that chance with Claire. I regretted that. I know she was just getting used to me when everything happened...I don’t expect her to bond with me overnight but I’d like to get to know her without a lot of other stuff in the way.” “Yeah, you should spend time with her. She’s a really nice girl, Nathan. And more like you than either of you would ever admit. You know she dated a guy who can fly, right?” His eyes twinkled with amusement at that, and he sat back in his chair. “It’s good to have you here, Nathan. It’s good to see you again. I was so worried when I showed up here, and then...well...the show didn’t help any. But here, everything can work out. They don’t even care that we have abilities. Most people here do. It’s not weird. There’s nothing wrong with being special here. You don’t have to hide it anymore.” “All the guys in the world and she found one that can fly?” Nathan couldn’t help but grin at that idea. It felt good to be able to smile again, to be sitting here talking to Peter as if none of the things that had been haunting him had happened. Of course they had and eventually they’d have to talk about them but right now they didn’t. “That’s going to take some getting used to. The whole thing about not hiding, I mean.” Nathan had never been comfortable with his ability or sure what to do with it but at least here he wouldn’t feel so alone. “At least I won’t feel like a freak. That will be nice.” “You know, Nathan, I never did understand why you felt like a freak in the first place. These powers...these abilities...there’s nothing wrong with them. It makes us special. You know, when I woke up in the hospital after jumping off that building...when I knew you could fly...I was so...you know, jealous. And I could never understand why you wanted to hide something that was so special. All I’d ever wanted was to be special...to be extraordinary, and here you were, the special one again.” Peter chuckled a little, shaking his head. But a smile was not far behind, and he took Nathan’s hand. “But you’ve gotta get better soon, okay? Because this place is great. And Claire’s here. And I want you to meet Lucy. And we don’t have to hide anymore. Not here.” “I didn’t want to be different,” he said. “and I know I have you a hard time about becoming a nurse but what you do, it’s special. It’s not an easy job and you made a difference in people’s lives. I wanted to do that too but I thought being in politics could do that. I was wrong about that!” Nathan shook his head and squeezed his brother’s hand. “I finally came to accept that there is a reason we have these abilities, I don’t know what it is but we’ve got them and this place sounds like where we need to be. I’d like the chance to get to know Claire better and where is Lucy from?” “You’re never going to believe this,” Peter said with a small smile. “She’s from Narnia. Like the books. Lucy Pevensie. The grown up one, of course. I found her here, showed her around, took her out to dinner for her birthday...and it’s all just kind of continued on from there. She’s perfect, Nathan. She’s like...everything I’ve always wanted in a girl.” He smiled, shaking his head a bit before looking back at his brother. “Of course there’s a reason. You know Nathan, I think it’s god.” “Narnia?” Nathan raised an eyebrow. It shouldn’t have surprised him though after all he’d seen and heard the last couple of days. “I always loved those books. Well it’s easy to see that she makes you happy. I can’t wait to meet her.” He listened to his brother’s words and nodded. Nathan wasn’t ordinarily a religious man but he was beginning to see that there really could be no other explanation for what had happened than a Higher Power. For all intents and purposes he should have been dead when Peter exploded, they both should have been, yet here they were and they were getting a second chance. “I think you might be right, Pete.” Nathan replied. “I think it has to be God. There is no rational explanation for any of this. There has to be a purpose, a reason we’re getting this chance to live out our lives the way we want to.” “I’ve always thought there was a purpose, Nathan. You know that. I went to mass with mom until I was like...what, fourteen? I’ve always believed there was something bigger than us out there, and I always prayed that it would make me extraordinary. And in return, I’d do good things. I’d use being special to help people. And I’m trying to do that, Nathan, I really am. It’s just...harder than I would have thought.” He relaxed a bit at the bit about Lucy and smiled his gentle half-smile. “Yeah. She’s amazing. I think she’s the one.” Of course, he’d thought that about all the girls he’d been with, because when Peter fell, he fell hard and fast. “I never doubted you’d find a way to save the world,” Nathan replied. “I didn’t know how you’d do it but I knew if anyone could do it, it was you.” He yawned and shook his head. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be rude but I’m beat. I’m really glad to see you, Pete.” It wasn’t easy to move but Nathan managed to sit up a bit and lean forward enough to lay a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “Knowing you’re here and Claire too. Makes it easier. We’ve been given a new life, I don’t want to screw this one up.” “I can stay here, Nathan? Or if they won’t let me, I’ll sleep out in the waiting room. I have to be at work at six - I’m doing a double shift - but I can catch a few hours sleep out there. It doesn’t seem right to leave you here alone. Not with - not with everything that’s happened.” He wasn’t going to tell Nathan about dying. Not yet. Here in the hospital, it was still far too real. It seemed like he would be jinxing something if he dared to bring it up here. “I’d like that. I think that chair in the corner makes a cot or something,” he said. Although he wouldn’t come out and say it, Nathan didn’t want his brother to leave either. Having someone in this new, crazy world he’d landed in was a relief. “The nurses can get you a pillow or whatever but yeah, stay.” Peter smiled a little - Nathan didn’t have to say it. He knew he loved him. Even though he’d humiliated him in public - in front of the girl he was in love with, belittled him at every opportunity...Peter still knew that behind it all, Nathan loved him. Other people didn’t see it, but he did...and that was what really mattered. And Peter knew that was why he wanted him to stay here. Because they were brothers, and they loved each other. No matter what other people might think. “Sure. I can get a blanket, and I’ll message Lucy and let her know I’m staying here.” “That sounds good,” said Nathan, his voice already started to sound far away. “I’m glad you’re here, Pete.” he said as he closed his eyes. Despite everything, he did love his little brother. They had had their differences, no doubt still would but they were family and right now that was the most important thing to Nathan. He needed his family. |