Anniversary
I look at the calendar, noticing the date and I grin. Gabriel hasn’t said anything but I remember. He might not even remember the exact date, he was pretty much out of it the first night I met him but I remember it like it was yesterday. March 1st. That’s the night we met and I haven’t been happier since.
Once he’s gone to work, I start moving around the house. I’ve had this planned for a few weeks now and I can’t wait to see his face when he gets home. Learning the new recipe wasn’t easy but I’d managed to learn it without burning it too many times. Hope he likes it, since it was a pain to learn it and not let him know what I was doing.
It takes me most of the day and I’m still rushing at the last minute but I think I have everything ready. The table is set nice, candles, plates, the whole nine yards. I even got a bottle of wine for him to have, a bottle of sparking juice for us to share later. Hopping into the shower, I take my time getting ready.
The shower felt good and I get dressed, pulling out the suit and tie I got for special occasions. I’m sure he’ll love it; pretty sure it won’t last long either. Looking in the mirror, I smile, remembering the first time we met.
************
The cool air feels good and I’m just glad to get out of the apartment. Nathan’s off doing some shit with Peter, again, and I’m so fucking sick and tired of it. I’m not even paying any attention to where I’m going or anything, just walking, not realizing that I’ve gotten myself lost until it’s too late. Shit. Hearing someone muttering under their breath, I look up to see a man limping down the street. He looks almost familiar and when he gets closer, I smile slightly. Gabriel.
He looks pissed off and he must be hurt if he’s limping. “Gabriel,” I call out, jogging over to him. If there's a Gabriel around I can't be too lost. Getting closer I stop. "Oh. Sorry, you're not a Gabriel I know." He looks different. Is he a Sylar? No, he doesn't seem to be. "You okay?" I glance down at his leg. He must've hurt it somehow. Damn. Does he even know where he is? Double damn.
"Was I at Cheers? Everybody knows my name." He giggles, glancing back at the bar.
"I get that a lot. Dr. Gabriel Gray." He holds out his hand. "Well I've gotten that twice. The rest of the time I've gotten 'who the fuck are you? This isn't your apartment, asshole.' I don't like that at all." He sways slightly.
"Cheers?" I ask, not sure what that is. He looks back over his shoulder and I see a bar. Oh, some kind of bar. "Dr. Gabriel Gray?" I ask in surprise, feeling like a parrot. I can tell that he's new here if he hasn't figured things out yet.
"No I'm not OK. I'm drunk. I got bitten by a dog." He pulls up the leg of his jeans, then grabs onto me to keep from falling over. "I got drunk after I got bitten in case you were wondering, and I'm trying to get to the ER because I might have rabies."
"You got bit by a dog?" I ask. That's not good. "I can take a look at if it you want, I might be able to help." I don't know about rabies but I can at least heal the wound so he's not hurt. "Would you mind?" I ask with a warm smile. He's probably lost and confused, that's why he got drunk. Not that I blame him at all.
"I drank a lot." He looks into my eyes. "I've had a bad day. Mohinder said I wasn't in Kansas anymore. I didn't believe him, but he was right. I have no apartment, no money, no credit cards, no job, and I liked my job."
"Oh! You've met a Mohinder and he told you about the vortex?" I grin, feeling relieved. That will make this a lot easier than. "No, you're not in Kansas, neither am I." I chuckle. "I'm from elsewhere too. I'm sorry that nothing works and that you don't have anything but there's ways to adjust." I wonder if I should bring him to the mansion or not.
"Are you a doctor too or a paramedic? The people who live in my apartment had their dog bite me all because I was yelling at them. I think I need to sit back down.” He looks sick and I don’t want him throwing up on me or something.
"A doctor? No. Are you a doctor like Mohinder or something else?" I never did understand how people can be doctors and not be doing the same things, learning the same things. "They sent their dog after you?" I shake my head. "Doesn't sound good. I can heal it though, at least the wounds, so it doesn't hurt."
He says he needs to sit down and I look around, spying a bench. "C'mon." I take his arm, helping him over to the bench. "I'm Peter, Peter Petrelli, by the way. Guess I should introduce myself." I'm going to have to be careful with the vampire stuff, I'm not sure if he'll take to that or not.
He sits down hard on the bench. "Hello Peter. Mohinder said something about Peter being important, but I don't know if that was about you though."
"No, you're in a different world, sounds like it's close to yours but not quite. Mine is entirely different. Like, really different." That's an understatement. Sitting down next to him, I grin as he puts his leg on my lap and I pull back the pants and then the sock. Ouch. "Not me, the Peter from here. He exploded and made all these vortices that opened into alternate universes...or something like that." I shake my head. "I get it for the most part but can only explain the basics. Mohinder or Chandra are the ones to talk to if you want better details."
"I'm a medical doctor, a neurologist, a specialist in the human brain. Suresh is a geneticist, a researcher; he doesn't work with real people. I do." I look his foot over as he explains doctors to me. "Shit, it's bleeding again. It didn't look that bad when it happened, but I walked too much on it. Doctors make the worst patients."
He explains the differences in doctors and I nod. "We don't have doctors on my world so I'm still figuring things out. There's a lot here that I have no clue on." He swears because the wound is bleeding and I put my hand over it, concentrating. At least this is a power I can do pretty easily. I can feel the familiar warmth spread from my hand to his leg and I smile as the wound slowly disappears. "There, should be good as new." I grin at him.
His fingers clamp around my wrist, turning my hand over, tracing the fine lines. "How did you do that? Have you always been able to do that? Tell me. I have to know. Please."
I gasp in surprise as he grabs my hand and shiver when he runs his finger over my palm. Oh god, I hope he doesn’t notice how cold I am, or at least let him think it's from the weather. "I...I haven't been able to do that one for a while, I got it when I got here after...after someone got really hurt."
I will not tell him about the fight with Sylar and how Nate and Nathan both almost died. "Do you have powers then?" I ask. He probably does if he knows about them. God, I hope he gets them like the other Gabriel’s. If he studies the brain, he probably does. "Not all the Gabriel’s that have come through know they have it."
Swallowing, I glance at my wrist where he still has hold of it. "You can let go, I'm not going to run away." He's not hurting me, I'm sure he's just curious. He obviously hasn't met the Peter from his world. But damn, his hand is warm and it actually feels kind of nice. It's been a while.
"You're so cold. You should go inside," he admonishes me as he reaches down and tugs his ripped jeans back into place. "Go home. I don't know what I'm supposed to do." His fingers brush his hair out of his eyes, leaving a smear of blood behind. "I worked so hard to be something more, to be someone, and now I'm no one. I hate this."
He has no idea why I’m cold to the touch. Good. "I'm fine, I'm not cold." I smile, shrugging a shoulder and looking at him. "If you don't have a place to stay, I can take you to the mansion or if don't want to be around a lot of people, I can get you a hotel room." I should tell him about the blood in his hair but I don't think he'd appreciate it. "You're not a no one here. You might not be the only Gabriel but you're still unique. You're the first doctor." I grin big at him.
"How many of me are there? Are there more of you too?" Gabriel smiles at me, putting his foot down.
I count on my fingers, trying to remember everyone. "I know three Gabriel’s and three Sylar’s. But I may be forgetting someone, it's hard to keep track." I give him a sheepish grin. "There's more of me too, there's five Peters I think." I frown. "But I'm pretty sure I'm missing someone..." Looking at him, I wonder if I should've told him that, he might get upset. Damn. I blush when he moves his foot; I hadn't even realized it was still there.
“Oh, that’s a lot,” Gabriel says. "I don't want to be around a lot of people. Not when I'm like this. I'm kind of a loner. God I sound pathetic. A hotel would be good."
"No, you don't sound pathetic; you're not the only one that likes to be alone. Most everyone that was living in the mansion has moved out since we don't know how long we'll be here." I sigh.
"A hotel is fine but lets get you to a little better neighborhood. There's a nice one by my place, if you want. Or we can find something less nice if you want." I really want to help him, he looks upset and lost and confused.
"It's not that bad a neighborhood. I used to work in that hospital, but they won't know who I am now. I need to rebuild everything." He closes his eyes letting out a deep sigh. "Christ I don't even want to think about it. It's making my head hurt. Thank you, Peter. I appreciate your help. I can't let you pay, but I'd like the company."
I look at him when he says he has to rebuild everything and I give him a sad smile. "Yeah, that's the one bad thing. But Angela can maybe help with that, if you want. I know her and Nathan have helped with apartments and stuff." It couldn't hurt to try at least.
"Doesn't anyone notice? I mean regular people?" I watch as he gets up slowly, hooking his messenger bag over his shoulder. He smiles when he puts his weight on his foot. "If I had that power, I could help so many people."
"We're pretty careful and Angela, my mom, has people that keep it out of the media if anything slips out. I suppose you could, couldn't you." I chuckle. "Especially being a doctor. That really would come in handy." I think for a moment. "Some of the Gabriel’s have figured out how to get powers by looking at MRI scans, maybe that would work for you too."
"You keep talking about these people like I should know who they are." He gives me a look, then stops, something dawning in his mind. "MRIs? But I tried that with Eden. She came into the ER with headaches. I did an MRI and CAT scans, but they didn't see anything unusual. I could see it though. I knew it was there, just like I can see it in you." He reaches out and cups the side of my face, locking eyes with me. "Like I see it when I look in a mirror, we're broken. I can see it. I can taste it. Its there. I need to understand it. I need to know why we're different."
"Sorry, bad habit. It's been a while since I've run into someone new." I give him a lopsided grin. "I'll try and remember that." I nod about the MRI’s. "It worked for a couple of them."He cups my face and I blink at him. God, he's so warm and it's been a while since I've felt a warm touch like that. It takes everything I have to not lean into it, though I think I might've a little.
"We're different because we have powers and other people don't. It's something genetic but you'd have to talk to Chandra Suresh for that one." I tell him, watching his face. C'mon Peter, it's just a touch, he's just being nice, don't do something stupid, Nathan will kill you.
"Chandra....I read his book. I never let anyone know that I found it fascinating. I'd have been laughed out of medical school, lost my residency." He gives me an odd look, not pulling his hand away. "You are so cold. We need to get you inside. Either that or I have a fever." He pats my face again, fingertips brushing over my lip. "Let's get a room."
***********
I give my head a shake, breaking the memory. That was such an odd night but I loved it, I love him. I’ve never been so grateful for being bored or for getting lost. If we hadn’t run into each other, I don’t even want to know what would’ve happened with our lives. My brother would’ve kept me tied to him, treating me like he had been. Gabriel…shit; god only knows what would’ve happened to him. He might’ve been okay but Noah could’ve thrown him in a cell and he wouldn’t have had anyone to save him. Thank fucking god we don’t have to find out.
I hear the front door open and close and I grin, straightening out my tie before going out. “Welcome home Gabriel!” I’m nearly bouncing with excitement and he gives me an amused look, checking out the suit.
“Do I even want to know why you’re dressed up? Or why dinner smells so good?” He goes from amused to a full on smile as he watches me and I go over, wrapping my arms around his neck and give him a soft, thorough kiss.
“Because it’s a special day.” I tell him, kissing him again. “It’s our anniversary. It’s been a year today since we first met, the night we found each other. I thought it deserved a celebration.” I giggle, tugging on his bottom lip as his arms go around me, pulling me close.
“It is, huh?” He smirks down at me. “How about that. Guess that does deserve a celebration doesn’t it.” He’s teasing me, I can tell but that’s fine. We love each other too damn much and we like teasing each other.
“It does. I love you Gabriel and I am so damn grateful I found you that night.” I rest my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat. I don’t know what brought us together that night but I’m going to be forever grateful. And I know he’s just as grateful back.
“Love you too Peter. I’ve never been so happy to be bitten by a dog and to find myself in another world.” He chuckles and I feel the vibrations through my whole body. Sighing happily, I just hold on to him, soaking up his love and warmth.
A/N: I love these two together, they're so cute. There's a lot more to the thread than just this bit but the fic was already almost 3,000 words long and only half the actual thread. I also had to take some liberties with the dialogue from the thread to make it work here so if you want to read the complete story, and see what Gabriel was thinking about Peter during all this, a copy of the thread is here.