Son Number 3

[flying_sky_high]

Date: March or February 2006
Characters: Nathan Petrelli, Zachary Gordon
Summary: Nathan meets his third son. Yes, there is another one.
Status: In progress
Private. Kinda.

o-o-o

Having gone down to the lobby after having a much needed nap, Nathan sipped his cup of coffee, sat down in one of the comfortable chairs, and turned to gaze out the window

Comments

[ambiguouslyzach]

"Um." His eyes widened as this all began to make sense, his head swirling with the possibilities. He imagined saying, 'Hi, I'm your son from another dimension', but he was thinking... that wouldn't get on too well with his father - in any dimension. "Sorry, I was just--" staring at you sketchily? "--you look a lot like my father."

Because you are him. Fuck.

[flying_sky_high]

Nathan was shocked. He didn't know what to expect, but certainly not that, and Apparently he wasn't entirely sure why he noticed but the boy who sat before him, bore a little resemblance to a vibrant female creature he knew before too. Nathan blinked uneasily, and his smile turned sheepish as he bobbed his head slightly. “Ah. OK.”

and then a stretching silence took place.

[ambiguouslyzach]

"I'm sorry to impose, but... I'm Zachary, Zachary Gordon." He held out a hand for Nathan to shake. It was all so fucking surreal.

[flying_sky_high]

“Gor-” Nathan's voice trailed off, his blood freezing in his veins as it dawned on him what the situation was. He looked at the kid beseechingly for a second or two, and then scanned the lobby for signs that it could be a sick, sick joke, but absolutely no one was looking at him, except Zach.

Taking the offered hand he tried to look collective. “Nathan Petrelli.”

Fuck.

[ambiguouslyzach]

"Is there any way..." Was he really about to ask this question? "...that Meredith may have had a s-child without your knowledge?"

There was a chance he didn't even know Meredith in this reality... and he had just made it sound.. God, but he wanted to be home. Why couldn't his father just remember him?

[flying_sky_high]

Nathan's raised head and bewildered expression spoke louder than anything he might have said. He was apprehensive, his heart racing. It became obvious that this was not some sort of prank. The boy was possibly and mostly likely his and Meredith's ' baby girl' whom he thought died in the fire, but in all of his life he never told anyone about the girl-so no one could play this sort of game on him. No one would dare.

Nathan was genuinely on edge, a feeling he was usually able to control.... but this....this..... “Yes.”

YES? YES? you Moron! What ever happed to lying?!

[ambiguouslyzach]

Zach started, having set himself up to get a negative response.

"I think I might be that kid," he said, near breathless, heart pounding fast.

Was it possible he had never left at all? Maybe he was just going insane.

[flying_sky_high]

Zach somehow looked small, and withheld, and a little frightened, leaving Nathan to carry the full weight of the encounter. So, He hastily added with a deep sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look. Er...Zach. I did know a girl called Meredith, and sure We-had a short-lived acquaintance. but-” A beat. “-she's dead now...and so is her BABY GIRL.” It was difficult for him to speak, his words hesitant, faltering. His heart heavy, but he had no choice.

“I don't know how anyone found out. But you can go back to whomever payed you to do this, and tell them that there's nothing left to run with.” That is, if you don't count Peter sleeping with a underage girl, getting slaughtered in hath and having flying trips. “Well---especially when it comes to 'that' time of my life.” He dropped his head and closed his eyes. “You understand me, right?”

God help me. my life is going to hell.

[ambiguouslyzach]

Dead. Girl. Meredith. Dead. All the words filtered through his head, one at a time, staccato and rapid - hitting him like bullets.

"Did the girl have a name?" He didn't know what he would do if Claire were dead. He couldn't think rationally. On this earth, not only was Nathan not his father, but he was still Claire's and she was dead? How was that even possible?

Wait. Died. In a fire.

"That's not possible," Zach interjected, thinking of his pyromaniac mother. His indistructable sister. "The girl's name was Claire, right?"

What was he doing? This was crazy. Had Michael J. Fox taught him nothing??

[flying_sky_high]

Nathan felt his throat constrict as the kid's words planted the seeds of the ultimate mixture of fear and hope, until it suddenly burst into denial. “No.” a heart beat-one-maybe two- “No. No. No....” and his voice died out.

God. Please. Don't do this to me.