Butterflies & Hurricanes (4/4) COMPLETE
Butterflies & Hurricanes, (4/4) COMPLETE.
Rating: Pg-13ish. Whatever.
Summary: Finally, the Team finds a solution to the problem. But will Peter and Sylar be able to get home?
Warnings: Spoilers for Torchwood, all, and Heroes, season 4. Unbeta'd. And also, this gets a little angsty. Sorry guys.
Notes: Finally done! Yay! I hope it wasn't too deus ex machina for you guys.
Peter wakes slowly and groggily, and it takes him a moment to realize that he's not home, but in Cardiff, a few years in the past.
He swears lightly under his breath and looks around. The Hub is quiet, and he suspects the other have gone out to check out some alien threat or whatever, although how he didn't hear the commotion, he's not sure. Swaying slightly, he stands up and wanders around until he finds a bathroom.
When he comes back out, he hears someone mumbling to themselves. He follows the sound and finds Gabriel, sitting on the ground in some corner, surrounded by parts and metal things and some things that Peter isn't even sure of their origin. Hearing Peter's approach, he looks up.
"Hey you," he smiles, and holds up the piece he's working on. "Look who has a special project."
Peter stops on the edge of the wreckage and looks down. "What is it?"
"Some sort of transmission device thing. I don't know. They just asked if I could get it working, and then left to go find some aliens or something."
The shorter man nods and looks around, trying to find words, but not finding any. So instead, he sits down on the floor next to Gabe and asks, casually, "Do you need any help?"
Gabriel knows Peter is just trying to find something that will occupy his mind and keep him from thinking about their situation, and Luke, and everything else that constantly plagues his thoughts. So he shrugs and smiles, "Sure."
For the next half hour or so, he asks Peter to hand him a part or a tool, and Peter does, and with one last adjustment, Gabe hits a switch and the machine comes glowing to life.
"Just in time," a booming voice calls, and they look up to see Jack, looking a little worse for wear but otherwise alive.
"How'd it go?" Gabe asks, standing up and pulling Peter up with him.
"It's taken care of," Jack replies, but doesn't elaborate. He holds out a hand and Gabriel puts the device into it.
"Looks like you've got it working perfectly. Thank you."
A very disheveled and tired Ianto emerges from the vaults and spots them.
"Do you want me to take you to your room?" he asks, and suddenly Peter feels really, really sleepy, even though he just slept for something like five hours.
"Please," Gabriel sighs, reaching down and looping his fingers with Peter's. They grab their bags and follow the Welshman down to the SUV, where they tiredly clamber inside and sit quietly as they're driven to the bed and breakfast where Ianto booked a room for them.
He bids them goodbye and drives off, and they make their way to their room. It's cute, with a queen size bed and some heavy drapes and a large claw bathtub in the bathroom.
Peter realizes he's been staring at the bathtub when Gabriel carefully eases his bag from his shoulder and sets it down.
"Why don't you take a nice, hot bath, and I'll see about getting some food up here?" he soothes, and Peter moves as if on auto-pilot, shedding his clothes and drawing hot water up into the tub. As he stands there waiting for the water to finish filling, he vaguely notices goose bumps popping up all over his body, but he ignores it.
Once the tub is filled, he slides down into the tub, bending his knees do he can get his head under. Closing his eyes, he listens to the muffled sound of his own heartbeat, suddenly so loud to his ears. After what seems like an eternity, he opens his eyes and looks over. Gabriel is sitting on the floor next to the tub, leaning against the edge and staring down at him.
Peter shifts so his head is above water.
"That's creepy. You know that, right?"
Gabe laughs and snakes a hand down to entwine in Peter's hair. He rubs light circles, and Peter closes his eyes.
They sit there for several minutes, not talking, until finally, Gabriel begins to speak quietly.
"Do you...do you ever think that if we go back and stop Claire, that we won't get together?"
Peter opens his eyes and looks up at the other man.
"We'll still be together. It'll happen no matter what, I know it."
Gabriel's gaze seems to be lost as he watches the light bouncing off the water make circles on the wall.
"But what if you're wrong?"
"I'm not."
"But..." he slides the hand that was resting in Peter's hair down to cup his cheek. "But what if you are, Peter? This could be our last time together."
Peter searches the dark eyes above him and sees nothing but desperation and fear. He sits up, water splashing a little, and leans over the edge of the tub, face inches from the other man's.
"Well, we'd better do something about that then, in case it is."
He leans in for a kiss but Gabriel pulls away.
"Not here. Not like this," he whispers, and Peter bites his lip before nodding in agreement and reaching over to pull the plug on the drain. He stands, letting Gabriel drape a large, fluffy towel over his shoulders, and steps out of the tub. He carefully towels off before joining the other man in the bedroom.
There's a brief moment, a second in time, where Peter's not sure what to do or say, but then he reaches up and presses a feather light kiss to Gabriel's lips. They stand there for several minutes, just holding each other, until Peter pulls away and gently tugs the other man after him. They lay down on the bed, facing each other, on their sides, just laying there.
Gabriel inches forward, planting gentle kisses along the edge of Peter's scar, and Peter closes his eyes, feeling the sensation.
"I think I'm going to miss it," he whispers, and Gabe chuckles softly.
"I think I will too."
Peter slides his body forward until it's flush with the other man's, and tilts his head up.
"Ready?"
"Always."
With another kiss, they begin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At the Hub, Owen, Gwen and Tosh are begrudgingly sent home, and the empty state of the building is taken advantage of as Ianto and Jack repeat their nightly ritual, ending up on Jack's tiny bunk bed, as usual.
Ianto is asleep on his stomach, face buried into the pillow, and Jack watches him, watches as his back rises up and down as he breathes, watches the minute flicker of movement underneath his eyelids as he dreams.
Thinking back, he remembers Gabriel's words from earlier in the day, and suddenly, Jack feels achingly alone. Swallowing the lump that has grown in his throat, he drapes an arm over Ianto and buries his face in the other man's neck.
Ianto stirs a little, mumbling a confused "Jack?" before Jack shushes him.
"Go back to sleep, I'm here."
In a minute, Ianto is back asleep, and Jack closes his eyes and tries to will himself to do the same.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Tosh arrives bright and early at the Hub, as always. Judging by the darkened lights, Jack and Ianto haven't stirred yet, so she turns back around and decides to grab some coffee. While at the shop, she orders one for Owen, too, knowing he'll be grouchy if he doesn't get his morning coffee.
She gets back just in time to run into Ianto as he's hustling out of the Tourist Office, hurrying to get their guests from the B&B they left them at. She smiles, waves, and heads inside.
To her surprise, Owen is already there, but luckily, he looks to not have had any coffee yet, so she hands him the cup she got him, and he actually smiles back.
"Thanks, Tosh," he says, and her insides warm with happiness.
"You're welcome," she blushes back, before turning back to her station.
Gwen arrives, and Jack comes down from his office to speak with each of them before Ianto comes back, their guests in tow.
"Sleep well?" Gwen asks, a sparkle in her eye, and Peter actually blushes.
"Extremely well," Gabriel smiles back, eyebrow raising just high enough to add suggestion to his statement.
Jack interrupts the exchange.
"Gabriel, Tosh says she has some ideas on how we can get you two back to your own time."
"Really?" He turns to the woman in question, and she nods.
"Care to help me brainstorm?" she asks, and he pulls a chair over to her desk, where they begin working.
Gwen takes the opportunity to grab Peter's arm and tug him off somewhere, so she can talk to him alone.
"Are you okay?" she asks, and Peter can't help but laugh internally at the similarities that exist between himself and the woman.
"Doing better," he shrugs, trying not to divulge too much. She nods and doesn't say anything for a while, but Peter can tell she's dying to ask him something.
Finally, she looks up, and as carefully as she can, asks, "I'm sorry but...how did you get your scar?"
He reaches up and runs a hand through his hair before turning to meet her gaze.
"It was from the first major fight, after the news got out. I was out on a call with my partner, Hesam, we were responding to a call that a girl was attacked by a group of some guys, with knives." He pauses, suddenly noticing the way his eyes were filling with tears, before continuing. "And when we got there...God, that little girl, do you know what she could do? She could make her drawings come to life, like a movie. And some fucking idiots, some teenagers, saw this and got scared."
His eyes move to look at Gwen's, who is looking back with fascination and anger, and he starts to shake his head.
"They cut her up, carved words into her skin, calling her a freak and I saw one of them. I started to chase after him, I was so angry and he- he moved to cut me, and I moved back just in time to avoid major damage. But the scar remained."
Peter notices that Gwen's hand has come up to trace light circles on to the top of his hand, and he's relieved for the movement, for the anchor to reality.
"Gabe begged me to take his healing and get rid of it, but I refused. I told him it was a sign, a mark. I wasn't afraid to stand up for what I thought was right."
Gwen nods and then pulls him into a tight hug.
"You're a good person, Peter," she says, and then pulls away. They wipe away tears and pretend nothing happened, when Peter notices that Gabriel has caught his eye.
You okay? he mouths, and Peter smiles and nods. When Gabriel turns to go back to his work with Tosh, Gwen crosses her arms.
"Come on then, how did you two meet?"
Peter's eyebrows raise.
"Honestly?"
"Honestly."
"He was going to kill my niece, who I didn't know was my niece, but this heroin addict who could paint the future said it was going to happen, so I went to save her, and he pushed me off a roof, and I pulled him with me, and I died and he got taken in by this organization called the Company."
Gwen blinks several times in succession before bursting into laughter.
"And I thought we had problems here!"
They laugh for a bit, even though the whole thing really isn't that funny. Once they've settled down, Peter motions towards the engagement ring on Gwen's finger.
"How did you meet your someone?" he asks, and she shrugs.
"Oh, in college. Nothing quite as exciting as you."
"I don't know about that. How about we get something to eat and you can tell me about it?"
She smiles and they head off to grab some food from the kitchenette.
Gabriel watches them leave and smiles, pleased Peter seems to have cheered up. He turns back to Tosh, who was currently searching through some files to see if there was any possible way they could use the Rift to get back.
He's about to suggest something when Owen saunters over, leaning by Tosh's desk.
"So, are you going to tell us why you're wanted for murder?"
Tosh whirls around to glare, but Gabriel shakes his head.
"It's okay, Toshiko." He thinks for a moment before beginning to explain.
"My mother and I got in an argument, and she got scared, locked herself in her room. I tried to get her to come out, to talk to me, and she comes out with a pair of scissors. I try to pull them away from her, and...I stab her. Right in the heart."
He looks Owen straight in the eye, not blinking. Owen stares back.
"Do you regret it?"
Gabriel's quiet, but he very carefully phrases his next answer.
"I'm not sure."
Owen's relentless, this time asking, "Have you killed anyone else?"
Gabriel's eyes turn to the ceiling and he mumbles, "Look up Sylar in the FBI archives."
Confused, Tosh types it in and comes up with hundreds of articles about a serial killer, known for killing his victims by cutting off the top of their head.
"Oh my God," she breathes, and Owen turns to look at him in the closest thing to horror he could muster.
"You did this?"
"Sylar did it." Gabriel didn't mention that he and Sylar were one in the same, past tense.
"Does Peter know?" Tosh asks, quietly, gazing up at the taller man, and Gabriel nods.
"He knew all about it, since the moment we met. But he saved me, and because of him I'm who I am today. Reformed."
There's a long, awkward silence as they all stand there, before Gabriel stands up.
"I'm going to go talk to Jack about something," he declares, turning and heading up the stairs to the Captain's office. When he gets there, Ianto is sitting on the edge of the desk, drinking some coffee. When he spots Gabriel, he sets the cup down, quietly walking out of the office.
"Yes?" Jack asks, not at all upset to have his coffee break interrupted.
"I just thought you should know that I'm not afraid of losing Peter anymore." Jack's eyebrows raise in confusion, as if to say, Why are you telling me this?, and he continues. "I think you should get over whatever qualms you have and stop lying to yourself." Jack tries to interrupt but Gabe holds up a hand.
"And I know when you're lying because one of my abilities is lie detection. Do everyone a favor and man up." He smiles his usual 100-watt grin, which Jack mirrors, before he turns to leave. When he's almost out of the doorway, he turns.
"Almost forgot, I think Tosh found a way for me and Peter to get back."
He turns back and leaves Jack's office, whistling some tune to himself that Jack swears is a song from the sixties.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everyone has gathered at the conference table, looking to Tosh, who is holding the device that Gabriel has fixed the day before.
"This device is something we salvaged from some alien remains a few months ago. When working, it transmits a signal that is able to block movement through time and space, which is handy when dealing with telporters. However, it was broken when we found it." She nods towards the man seated next to her.
"Gabriel was able to not only fix it, but reverse the polarity, meaning it can now enable movement through time."
"So if they use that, they can just disappear out of here?" Gwen asks, looking carefully at the device.
Tosh shakes her head.
"Unfortunately, no. The device needs to feed off of Rift energy in order to work. Once the device is working, they should be able to teleport out of here."
Peter listens carefully, before raising a hand and speaking.
"So what you're saying is we're stuck here until you guys find a spike in the Rift big enough to move us through time?"
"Correct."
Peter slumps visibly in his chair, clearly discouraged, but Ianto pipes up, hoping to encourage the other man.
"Lucky for you, Cardiff is sitting on a rip in Time, I'm sure it won't be long until there's another-"
Sure enough, the Rift Alarm sounds and Peter's hand bolts over to grab at Gabe's, taking a power from him so they can use it.
Tosh hands the device to Gabriel, who slides it into his back pack.
Jack is yelling the readings out as everyone jumps into action, grabbing their weapons and anything else they can need. He turns to Peter and Gabriel.
"You're coming with us."
"What about the SUV?" Owen interrupts. "We can't all fit in there."
"We'll follow you," Peter reassures, and at the other's questioning gaze, smirks.
"You'll see."
Everyone piles into the SUV and drives out, and they're going down when Gwen peers out the window.
"I don't see them."
Everyone looks, confused, when suddenly, Ianto says, "Uh, guys, look up."
The ones by the window peek out and up, and to their incredible surprise, see them flying above them, following the car. Gabriel gives a wave and smiles, and Owen weakly waves back before settling back down inside the car.
"They're flying. Flying! Now I really have seen everything."
They get to the spot with the Rift activity, just some Weevils escaped through, but the hole in Time is still clearly visible. Very quickly, the offending aliens are rounded up, but suddenly, Owen turns around with wide eyes.
"Tosh!" he calls, "Behind you!"
She whirls around just in time to see a Weevil they missed heading right towards her. She fumbles for her Weevil spray, or a tazer or a gun, or anything, but can't find anything. She winces and readies herself to get hit when suddenly she finds herself...floating?
She looks up and finds herself being held bridal-style by a hovering Peter Petrelli.
"Hi there," he smiles, and she smiles back.
"Hi," she laughs, and they turn their eyes down and watch as Gabriel uses telekinesis to force the Weevil down so the others can catch it.
Peter and Tosh land softly on the ground, and she thanks him for the thousandth time in a minute.
"The Rift is closing," Ianto warns, breaking up the reunion, and Gabriel pulls the device from his back pack.
"What do I do?"
Tosh slides her hand over the machine, flicking a switch on, and it glows to life.
"You have to walk inside the Rift, holding the device, and then as soon as you're inside, teleport, and you should be where you need to be."
"So it's like...instantaneous?" Peter asks, looking between the Rift and the device with uncertainty.
"Yes." She smiles. "If anyone can do it, it's you two."
"Alright," Gabriel says, with some finality. "Thank you everyone for putting up with this and helping us. It's been fun."
Peter smiles. "Take care of yourselves."
"You too," Gwen smiles back, and with that, Peter links his hand with Gabe, and they walk into the Rift, not looking back.
A second later, the Rift closes with a flash and the team is left to wonder what to do next.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter opens his eyes. The light is too bright, and he winces and tries to pull his hand over his eyes, but finds it's stuck. Suddenly, he notices a body on top of his. A very heavy one.
"Gabe," he huffs, pushing lightly at the unconscious man, and Gabriel's eye cracks open.
"Peter?" he asks, and Peter nods.
"Where are we?"
The shorter man tries to look around but finds that he really can't, so he lightly pushes until the man on top of him budges. Once they're standing, they look around.
They're underneath a bridge, and a few hundred yards from where they're standing are the bright lights of a carnival.
"We made it," Gabriel breathes, but almost doesn't finish his statement because Peter has pulled him forward for a kiss.
"Come on," Peters smiles once he's pulled away. "Let's go save the world. Again."
They head off, hand in hand, making sure to bump into some bystanders in the process. When they pass themselves in the carnival, they don't worry, since they're in the guise of someone else.
They spot Claire and nod to each other.
"You sure?" Gabriel asks, and Peter nods.
"Absolutely."
They set their plan into motion.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Once they're positive Claire cannot get out of the restraints they've put her in, and the gag is in place, Peter reaches over and pats his niece's head affectionately.
"Trust me Claire, this is for your own good."
Her mumbled protests make him feel a little guilty, but he shakes it off, and they make sure the trailer they've locked her in is secure. Gabe stands outside, making sure no one gets in or out, and Peter goes to find Noah.
He slips him a note, heading back towards the trailer where they put Claire, and a few minutes later, Noah emerges, Lauren in tow.
"What is this about?" Noah asks, looking just a little upset, and Peter lets his disguise fall away.
"I probably don't have to tell you I'm from the future, do I?"
Noah's eyebrows raise, but he was always quick to catch on.
"What did she do?"
Gabriel lets his disguise slip away.
"She ruins everything, Noah."
At first Noah seems surprised, reaching for his gun, but at Peter's stern gaze, he lets his hand fall.
"What do you want me to do?" he asks, finally, and Peter puts a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"Keep her from showing her power to the world. Move her out of here once the press clears out, and keep an eye on her. That's all we can hope for."
He turns to Lauren.
"Make sure the press believes the cover up, alright?"
She shakes her head yes and Peter turns to Gabriel, linking a hand with his.
"The whole world is counting on you, Noah. Be strong."
Noah smiles, and with a blink, Peter disappears, secure in Gabriel's grasp.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Peter and Gabriel find themselves standing in Peter's kitchen. Peter's hand flies to his face, and tears fill his eyes.
His scar is gone.
"Do you think it worked?" he asks, turning to Gabe, who has already went and opened up Peter's laptop, searching the internet.
"I don't see anything about Claire's jump. I think-" he pauses. "I think we did it, Pete."
Peter runs over and pulls Gabriel in for a kiss, barely containing his smile. He pulls his phone from his pocket and calls Noah.
When he hangs up, he smiles even more. "He says he did what we asked."
Gabriel picks up his own phone and they start calling people, making sure nothing bad happened as a side effect of their meddling with time.
Suddenly, Gabe remembers something, and he hits a number on his phone. After the third ring, someone picks up.
"Luke?" he asks, and he actually laughs when he gets a reply. "Luke! Oh thank God, I thought...uh..." he pauses, then finishes, "I thought maybe you were out of town."
He frowns at his own stupid thought but then shrugs it off. "Nevermind. Can you come over later?" He listens for a moment before replying, "Great, see you then," and hanging up.
They're sitting at the table, basking in celebratory glow, when suddenly Peter gets a thought.
"We should check on the others, tell them we made it back," he prompts, and after some internet searching and finagling, manages to get Gwen's number.
Gabriel watches Peter's face and he talks, and watches with some worry as it begins to lose its happiness, settling on a morose expression. With a "I'm sorry for bothering you," he hangs up and sets his phone down at the table.
"What happened?" Gabriel prompts, and Peter looks up with shiny eyes.
"Tosh, Owen and Ianto are dead. The Hub was blown up, and Jack left the planet, disappeared. Gwen hasn't heard from him in years."
Gabriel reaches over and squeezes Peter's hand.
"What about Gwen?" he prompts, and Peter smiles a little.
"She just had a baby, a boy."
"Well, at least it worked out for somebody," he sighs, and turns his gaze out to the window. Jack must have disappeared because he lost his job, his friends, his home, and most of all, Ianto. Why else would the man who could survive anything just up and leave?
He turns to look at Peter, who is clutching Gabriel's hand with one hand, and using the other to hold his head up as he stares dully ahead at nothing. Gabriel can tell he feels guilty, and he doesn't know what else to do, except lean forward and whisper, "I love you."
Peter's gaze flickers back to his and he leans forward the rest of the way to rest his forehead against the other man's.
"I know. I love you too."
They relocate to the bedroom, Gabriel watching Peter sleeping, curled up against him, and he wonders idly if Jack ever got around to telling his love about how he truly felt. He wonders how much it hurt to lose the man he loved. Deep down inside, Gabriel knows he'll face the same thing someday, but he doesn't mind. He'll make sure that he will always be there for Peter, to help him when he falls, to tell him he loves him, and that's enough for him. He'll make the best of it.
The sun comes up before Gabriel even realizes it's morning and he hasn't slept. Peter stirs then turns and looks up at him groggily.
"Good morning," he sighs, snuggling back in to the other man's side, and Gabriel leans down and plants a kiss on Peter's forehead.
"Yes. Yes it is."