Another Forgotten Birthday
Heidi sat at the kitchen table waiting for her husband to come home from work. After spending the day with her children Nathan's mother kindly agreed to taking the boys off her hands for the evening so that she and Nathan could celebrate her birthday in peace
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“Peter, are you okay? Do you feel all right?” Nathan asked, in case Peter just hadn’t heard her. Peter gave them an exasperated look in response.
“Why do you keep asking me that? I’m fine. You two are the ones who look like someone died.” Peter paused, and his eyes went wide as saucers. In a whisper, he asked, “Did someone die? Was it me? Again?"
A memory hit Nathan hard, and he hoped Heidi hadn’t noticed him flinch. Not only were his senses stronger now that he was sober; so was his recall.
Nathan was sitting behind his desk, spinning that five-inch piece of bloodstained glass that had actually killed his brother between two fingers. At the same time, Peter was standing in front of him alive and well, excitedly talking to him and gesturing at him. He would have told Peter he was delusional if he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes. Peter couldn’t die.
“Nathan?” Peter interrupted, his voice quiet, almost afraid. “You would tell me if I died again, wouldn’t you?”
If Peter hadn’t been so completely high on the morphine, and so unnervingly close to the actual truth, Nathan might have laughed. There was no sense trying to talk any sense into his brother right now, so he wouldn’t even try.
“Of course I would, Pete. Nobody died. We just wanted to wish you happy birthday,” Nathan said.
“Oh, okay. Thank you.” Peter's bright smile quickly changed to a scowl.
Nathan noticed that Peter was fumbling at the control panel on the hospital bed, and his brow furrowed in frustration; with all the gauze wrapped around his hand, he couldn’t push the button he wanted.
“Hey, easy,” Nathan said, gently nudging Peter’s hand away. “Tell me what you want to do.”
“Raise it up,” Peter answered, smiling again. “You both need a hug.”
Nathan held the button down until Peter was sitting upright, and since Nathan was closer, Peter hugged him first.
Even though he’d had fair warning, Nathan still wasn’t prepared for it. Maybe Peter didn’t hate him anymore. Maybe Peter finally would forget about all of it and forgive him. Maybe --
A chill ran down his spine as Peter’s fingers rested against the back of his neck. He felt the scratch of Peter’s facial hair against his own smoothly shaven cheek… and then, the slightest press of Peter’s lips against his. Reminding him. Haunting him.
Thank God Heidi could not possibly have seen it from where she sat. If she did, Nathan could easily blame the medication for Peter’s strange show of affection.
A moment later, Peter hugged Heidi too, and kissed her cheek. But… he held their embrace a bit longer than Nathan thought appropriate. The morphine, right?
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She watched him hug Nathan and it was a peculiar scene, Peter seemed to be relishing in their hug, though that could have just been the drugs the doctors had given him. Nathan however while happy, seemed tense.
Peter pulled Heidi into a hug and she smiled, returning it. She was just so grateful that their last moments together hadn't been him bleeding to death in her arms. She whispered in Peter's ear. "You're a worry, Petrelli. Don't ever do that again." She stood up straight and smiled at Peter. "You should rest, honey. All major life events and holidays can be put on hold until you feel better." She squeezed his shoulder. "Happy birthday."
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"Would it be okay if I went back to sleep now? I'm really tired, Nathan," Peter said, his voice dropping off to a whisper.
"Yeah, it's okay. Hey, Pete, listen to me. I'm gonna have Ma come and sit with you so you're not alone on your birthday, all right? We have to go pick up the kids. We'll come back to see you tomorrow," Nathan told him.
Peter nodded his head slightly, and was out before Nathan even finished lowering the head of the bed.
Leave it to Peter to use all the energy he had to reassure his family that he was indeed all right. Frankly, Nathan almost couldn't believe he'd had it in him. With or without regeneration or invisibility or flight or anything else that was tucked away in his little brother's repertoire, Peter had never failed to surprise Nathan with just how resilient he was.
When Peter was five years old, he'd climbed the tall oak tree in their backyard despite all the warnings from his mother not to unless someone was there with him, and he lost his grip and fell onto the grass from a pretty decent height.
Peter had picked himself up, come inside the house, and calmly showed his older brother his dislocated shoulder. "I think it’s broken," Peter informed him.
Nathan, only seventeen himself, put Peter in the car and took him to the emergency room, all while having a severe panic attack. His heart pounded, he could barely breathe, and he sweated right through his shirt during the short drive. His mind positively raced as he considered all the consequences he might be facing. Nathan hadn't been watching him like he was supposed to, and Peter could have broken his neck! Peter might be permanently disfigured or mentally traumatized! Their mother was going to fucking kill him!
During all this, Peter just patted his brother's leg with his good hand and told him, "Don't worry, Nathan. It's gonna be okay."
Nathan allowed Heidi to exit the room, followed her, and shut the door behind them carefully.
On the drive back home, Nathan had an idea. They might have had to postpone Peter's birthday, but once he was out of the ICU there was no reason they couldn't celebrate it on Christmas.
"It's a shame Pete's got to be laid up in the hospital over Christmas, baby. It's his favorite holiday," Nathan said. "What do you think about bringing him a little Christmas cheer to make up for this awful birthday? Simon and Monty would be glad to see him; it's been months."
Yeah, and whose fault is that? his conscience added helpfully.
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She still had questions, particularly about why Peter thought he had died before. Did that really happen? Would word have ever gotten back to them? Did Angela know about this? Heidi sighed, yeah she probably knew. Angela knew everything.
Heidi smiled when Nathan addressed her. "Sounds like a great idea." She ran her hand through her hair suddenly realizing how much of a mess she must have looked, she still had Peter's dried blood on her clothing. Heidi sighed, leaning back against the headrest. "After a shower, and a much-needed hug from my boys, I'll set to work getting things ready for Peter."
Once they were home, Heidi told their sons what had happened to Peter in very vague terms, of course, she didn't want to scare them. "So we're going to have both a Christmas and birthday party at the same time but I need your help to get things done."
Simon nodded enthusiastically at her suggestion. "Good boys, go get your arts and craft kit and we'll set up in the kitchen." She looked over at Nathan. "Will you be joining us?"
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