Not Immune
title: Not Immune
fandom: Heroes
summary: Peter watched her, loved her in silence as she and Gabriel formed their lives together. But they both got to relish in an unspoken love those nights that they'd get together for their drinks of water.
characters/pairings: Elle, Peter, Noah (Petrelli?), Elle/Gabriel, Peter/Elle undercurrents
genre: Angst/Romance
rating: T
note: Obviously the E/G thing happening in Heroes has affected me, because suddenly I’m writing Peter/Elle with that side of Gabriel/Elle. Friggin Heroes...Now this is the first P/Elle fic I’ve written in which we don’t get…P/Elle. D: - I know. But here goes anyway.
~*~Peter doesn’t look at me.
It was the first thing she noticed when the battles were fought and done with. When the truths and sides were revealed, and the right people finally came together.
With a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and Gabriel sitting beside her, Claire and Peter joined them out on the porch of the Bennett household while everyone else drifted off to sleep.
And Peter, as he had been doing, kept avoiding her eyes. She felt uncomfortable, even as Gabriel took her hand and he spoke to Peter in a calm, almost joyful voice.
Elle didn’t feel quite at home.
*
Days passed and it felt like peace had installed itself at the Bennett household.
Except for Gabriel and Elle, who had been offered sanction by Noah, everyone had gone. And Peter had also stayed, but Elle couldn’t make out the reason for his stay. Maybe he still felt the need to protect Claire, but Elle didn’t really know, because anytime she was close enough to ask him, he suddenly disappeared.
*
One late night, she sat at the kitchen island, drinking a glass of water. Nothing unusual (her staying up late, alone), considering that demons can’t be expunged in a day, two nights, or even a months time. Things like that take time.
Sometimes she wanted to fill her glass with wine, vodka, or rum. As with many things in her new, current life, she resisted.
*
One particular night, as her finger circled the glass ring, she heard someone step down the stairs and walk into the kitchen. No lights were on, but when the person stepped through the moon’s radiation, she could make out who the person was.
He caught her eye, glanced downwards, and stopped.
“I--hey, Elle. What are you doing down here?”
“Drinking,” she answered, raised her glass for effect.
She jumped off her chair and asked, “come for a drink?”
“Uh, yeah,” he answered with a noticeable pause.
It was silent and he didn’t move an inch as she grabbed a glass of water, and handed it to him.
“Thanks,” he murmured before sipping some.
She smiled tightly and watched him closely. He seemed stiff in her presence which irritated her.
“You’re acting weird,” she said outright.
He pulled the glass from his lips and looked at her. “Sorry,” he shrugged, but it just perplexed her further.
“Why are you here?”
“I was thirsty.”
She scowled at him and took his glass. “Don’t be a smartass.”
And he chuckled. He shook his head and went over to sit on a chair.
Elle followed suit and sat across from him.
“I still can’t trust him,” Peter admitted after a moment of silence. [And his name didn't have to be verbalized for her to know who was being referenced.
It made her uneasy. “That’s like saying you can’t trust me.”
“No. It’s different.”
“He and I, Peter, have killed people. Have followed the wrong people and let out abilities take us over. So why is it different?”
“Because I can trust you. Because I believe you when you say that’s not your life anymore.”
“If you can believe me, you can believe him.”
“I’m sorry Elle, I can’t. Something tells me--something innate lets me believe in you and not in him.”
Elle left before another word was spoken.
*
Peter had dreams. Some of things he had seen, some of what he saw but eventually didn’t come to be. Some of Elle with her hands running with blood while Gabriel tried to comfort her to no avail.
Gabriel’s not hurting her in the dreams, and Elle hadn’t wronged, but something went irrevocably wrong.
Peter had dreams. And those of Elle were the ones that disconcerted him the most.
*
Peter told himself that his growing desire to be near Elle--to hear her, to listen as she spoke, to watch her movements--were because of his need to protect those who thought to be in the path of danger. Nothing more.
*
Sometimes, Elle could feel him watching her.
She clung to Gabriel more.
*
When Noah was killed, and Elle unsuccessfully tried to save him, he died in her arms and her fingers ran red with blood.
Gabriel tried to comfort her. Peter tried to comfort Claire. He should have seen it coming.
*
Bitterness began creeping into Elle again, so Gabriel clung more to her.
*
When Elle got pregnant, she hid her fears.
But Peter visited one night, knowing that at that particular hour, only Elle was awake. In the kitchen. Drinking water.
He took a seat across from her, watched as she swallowed the last drops of water. She clutched the glass, set it down, and glanced over at him.
“Have you heard the good news?”
He nodded. Her hand began trembling.
He walked over to stand next to her and he held her hand. He could hear her trying to hold back tears. She failed, he held her.
*
It became a nightly ritual that neither minded. That both relished in.
*
Peter dreamt.
Elle having a perfectly healthy baby boy. The vision would fade and in place he would see Elle walking the streets with a man not Gabriel.
The “could have beens” ate Peter up more than anything else.
*
“Do you trust him now?” Elle asked one night.
“Yes. But I resent him now.”
Elle understood him. But not all the implications of it.
*
And Peter visited them constantly. Because he grew attached to Noah and he longed to see Elle.
*
One night, Elle was not downstairs. In the kitchen. Drinking water.
Peter stopped coming by after that night.
*
One night, he sensed a disturbance in his apartment home.
It was his brother Nathan, delivering a note from Elle.
It read, “this is weird and probably wrong, but I finally get why you really resent Gabriel. And I only just realized this because I miss you. So maybe it’s unfair, and maybe us doing this hurts, but please, come back.”
The following night, he went to find her. Two glasses filled with water were waiting atop the kitchen counter. Upon seeing him, she jumped into his arms and held him close.
“I missed you too,” he said after the too brief embrace.
*
Peter didn’t question it, but he was always thankful that not once did Gabriel ever wander downstairs at night. On occasion, Noah stirred and Elle had to leave, but they never had any actual disturbance.
*
Because they were not meant for a happily ever after, Elle passes on first.
Gabriel follows several years later.
At the funeral of his own wife, Noah hugs him close and says, “I’m sorry.”
*
Days after burying his own wife, Kathy, Peter heads towards his kitchen. Just to sit. He finds Noah there.
“Thirsty?” he asks Peter.
“No, I’m fine,” he tells himself more than anything.
Peter sits behind this person he watched evolve from a baby, to a boy. From a young man, to his own man. He’s always loved him as if he were his son (and had he had kids of his own, Peter would still love him in this manner anyhow).
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Did your wife ever notice?”
“Notice what?”
“That you’d leave in the middle of the night?”
Peter is caught off guard.
“What do you mean?”
Noah takes a deep intake of breath, and leans towards his uncle.
“You moved to California eventually, and you met my aunt Kathy here, lived just blocks from us. You visited us whenever you could, which your wife mildly understand. But she never liked my mom--so is it because she knew you visited her every night?”
“Noah--”
“I’m not a dumb kid. I saw how you treated and looked at my mom. And when I was a kid, sometimes I’d wake up late, and from my room I could see you two talking or just drinking.”
“Noah, I swear--”
“No, I know. You two never did anything that’d really hurt my dad or aunt Kathy. I know. But did aunt Kathy ever notice?”
Peter sighs. “She pretended she didn’t, and I never let on, but yeah, she knew. I think she knew from the moment she met Elle.”
“They did look alike,” Noah chuckles, he too having noticed Kathy’s and Elle’s similar resemblances.
“Yeah, they did.” But not exactly. And never enough.
*
By the time Nathan passes on, his only blood relatives still living are Claire and Noah.
Peter follows his brother shortly, and the dreams of his unlived life with Elle are finally put to rest as well.
*
In another life, Elle would have walked another path and hence never have lived at least a relatively harmonious like the one she had with Gabriel and Noah.
In another life, Elle would have run from Gabriel and Noah when her heart grew too heavy, leaving the two to tend for themselves.
In another life, Elle would not have gone into Pinehearst, and instead would have left with Peter and Claire. The love and life Peter wished for would have unfolded then.
That’s the dream he whispered to Elle before Gabriel closed her coffin.
But in this life, Elle fell in love with Gabriel first, gave him a son, and felt slightly conflicted when she began having romantic feelings for Peter--so she never acted on those latter feelings. She did the right thing. She didn’t run, didn’t chase after Peter as a lover. Because she loved her son, and she still loved her husband.
Peter never knew who she loved more (him or Gabriel), much less who she would have chosen were it not for Noah. Peter laid those thoughts to rest and finally let go of fears of Elle choosing Gabriel completely when he took his last breath.
[And in yet another lifetime, Elle would not have chosen either because (due to her undeveloped feelings for both men that resulted from her falling for one as another caught her eye) she never completely grasped the whole “in love” thing.]
fandom: Heroes
summary: Peter watched her, loved her in silence as she and Gabriel formed their lives together. But they both got to relish in an unspoken love those nights that they'd get together for their drinks of water.
characters/pairings: Elle, Peter, Noah (Petrelli?), Elle/Gabriel, Peter/Elle undercurrents
genre: Angst/Romance
rating: T
note: Obviously the E/G thing happening in Heroes has affected me, because suddenly I’m writing Peter/Elle with that side of Gabriel/Elle. Friggin Heroes...Now this is the first P/Elle fic I’ve written in which we don’t get…P/Elle. D: - I know. But here goes anyway.
~*~Peter doesn’t look at me.
It was the first thing she noticed when the battles were fought and done with. When the truths and sides were revealed, and the right people finally came together.
With a blanket wrapped around her shoulders, and Gabriel sitting beside her, Claire and Peter joined them out on the porch of the Bennett household while everyone else drifted off to sleep.
And Peter, as he had been doing, kept avoiding her eyes. She felt uncomfortable, even as Gabriel took her hand and he spoke to Peter in a calm, almost joyful voice.
Elle didn’t feel quite at home.
*
Days passed and it felt like peace had installed itself at the Bennett household.
Except for Gabriel and Elle, who had been offered sanction by Noah, everyone had gone. And Peter had also stayed, but Elle couldn’t make out the reason for his stay. Maybe he still felt the need to protect Claire, but Elle didn’t really know, because anytime she was close enough to ask him, he suddenly disappeared.
*
One late night, she sat at the kitchen island, drinking a glass of water. Nothing unusual (her staying up late, alone), considering that demons can’t be expunged in a day, two nights, or even a months time. Things like that take time.
Sometimes she wanted to fill her glass with wine, vodka, or rum. As with many things in her new, current life, she resisted.
*
One particular night, as her finger circled the glass ring, she heard someone step down the stairs and walk into the kitchen. No lights were on, but when the person stepped through the moon’s radiation, she could make out who the person was.
He caught her eye, glanced downwards, and stopped.
“I--hey, Elle. What are you doing down here?”
“Drinking,” she answered, raised her glass for effect.
She jumped off her chair and asked, “come for a drink?”
“Uh, yeah,” he answered with a noticeable pause.
It was silent and he didn’t move an inch as she grabbed a glass of water, and handed it to him.
“Thanks,” he murmured before sipping some.
She smiled tightly and watched him closely. He seemed stiff in her presence which irritated her.
“You’re acting weird,” she said outright.
He pulled the glass from his lips and looked at her. “Sorry,” he shrugged, but it just perplexed her further.
“Why are you here?”
“I was thirsty.”
She scowled at him and took his glass. “Don’t be a smartass.”
And he chuckled. He shook his head and went over to sit on a chair.
Elle followed suit and sat across from him.
“I still can’t trust him,” Peter admitted after a moment of silence. [And his name didn't have to be verbalized for her to know who was being referenced.
It made her uneasy. “That’s like saying you can’t trust me.”
“No. It’s different.”
“He and I, Peter, have killed people. Have followed the wrong people and let out abilities take us over. So why is it different?”
“Because I can trust you. Because I believe you when you say that’s not your life anymore.”
“If you can believe me, you can believe him.”
“I’m sorry Elle, I can’t. Something tells me--something innate lets me believe in you and not in him.”
Elle left before another word was spoken.
*
Peter had dreams. Some of things he had seen, some of what he saw but eventually didn’t come to be. Some of Elle with her hands running with blood while Gabriel tried to comfort her to no avail.
Gabriel’s not hurting her in the dreams, and Elle hadn’t wronged, but something went irrevocably wrong.
Peter had dreams. And those of Elle were the ones that disconcerted him the most.
*
Peter told himself that his growing desire to be near Elle--to hear her, to listen as she spoke, to watch her movements--were because of his need to protect those who thought to be in the path of danger. Nothing more.
*
Sometimes, Elle could feel him watching her.
She clung to Gabriel more.
*
When Noah was killed, and Elle unsuccessfully tried to save him, he died in her arms and her fingers ran red with blood.
Gabriel tried to comfort her. Peter tried to comfort Claire. He should have seen it coming.
*
Bitterness began creeping into Elle again, so Gabriel clung more to her.
*
When Elle got pregnant, she hid her fears.
But Peter visited one night, knowing that at that particular hour, only Elle was awake. In the kitchen. Drinking water.
He took a seat across from her, watched as she swallowed the last drops of water. She clutched the glass, set it down, and glanced over at him.
“Have you heard the good news?”
He nodded. Her hand began trembling.
He walked over to stand next to her and he held her hand. He could hear her trying to hold back tears. She failed, he held her.
*
It became a nightly ritual that neither minded. That both relished in.
*
Peter dreamt.
Elle having a perfectly healthy baby boy. The vision would fade and in place he would see Elle walking the streets with a man not Gabriel.
The “could have beens” ate Peter up more than anything else.
*
“Do you trust him now?” Elle asked one night.
“Yes. But I resent him now.”
Elle understood him. But not all the implications of it.
*
And Peter visited them constantly. Because he grew attached to Noah and he longed to see Elle.
*
One night, Elle was not downstairs. In the kitchen. Drinking water.
Peter stopped coming by after that night.
*
One night, he sensed a disturbance in his apartment home.
It was his brother Nathan, delivering a note from Elle.
It read, “this is weird and probably wrong, but I finally get why you really resent Gabriel. And I only just realized this because I miss you. So maybe it’s unfair, and maybe us doing this hurts, but please, come back.”
The following night, he went to find her. Two glasses filled with water were waiting atop the kitchen counter. Upon seeing him, she jumped into his arms and held him close.
“I missed you too,” he said after the too brief embrace.
*
Peter didn’t question it, but he was always thankful that not once did Gabriel ever wander downstairs at night. On occasion, Noah stirred and Elle had to leave, but they never had any actual disturbance.
*
Because they were not meant for a happily ever after, Elle passes on first.
Gabriel follows several years later.
At the funeral of his own wife, Noah hugs him close and says, “I’m sorry.”
*
Days after burying his own wife, Kathy, Peter heads towards his kitchen. Just to sit. He finds Noah there.
“Thirsty?” he asks Peter.
“No, I’m fine,” he tells himself more than anything.
Peter sits behind this person he watched evolve from a baby, to a boy. From a young man, to his own man. He’s always loved him as if he were his son (and had he had kids of his own, Peter would still love him in this manner anyhow).
“Can I ask you something?”
“Of course.”
“Did your wife ever notice?”
“Notice what?”
“That you’d leave in the middle of the night?”
Peter is caught off guard.
“What do you mean?”
Noah takes a deep intake of breath, and leans towards his uncle.
“You moved to California eventually, and you met my aunt Kathy here, lived just blocks from us. You visited us whenever you could, which your wife mildly understand. But she never liked my mom--so is it because she knew you visited her every night?”
“Noah--”
“I’m not a dumb kid. I saw how you treated and looked at my mom. And when I was a kid, sometimes I’d wake up late, and from my room I could see you two talking or just drinking.”
“Noah, I swear--”
“No, I know. You two never did anything that’d really hurt my dad or aunt Kathy. I know. But did aunt Kathy ever notice?”
Peter sighs. “She pretended she didn’t, and I never let on, but yeah, she knew. I think she knew from the moment she met Elle.”
“They did look alike,” Noah chuckles, he too having noticed Kathy’s and Elle’s similar resemblances.
“Yeah, they did.” But not exactly. And never enough.
*
By the time Nathan passes on, his only blood relatives still living are Claire and Noah.
Peter follows his brother shortly, and the dreams of his unlived life with Elle are finally put to rest as well.
*
In another life, Elle would have walked another path and hence never have lived at least a relatively harmonious like the one she had with Gabriel and Noah.
In another life, Elle would have run from Gabriel and Noah when her heart grew too heavy, leaving the two to tend for themselves.
In another life, Elle would not have gone into Pinehearst, and instead would have left with Peter and Claire. The love and life Peter wished for would have unfolded then.
That’s the dream he whispered to Elle before Gabriel closed her coffin.
But in this life, Elle fell in love with Gabriel first, gave him a son, and felt slightly conflicted when she began having romantic feelings for Peter--so she never acted on those latter feelings. She did the right thing. She didn’t run, didn’t chase after Peter as a lover. Because she loved her son, and she still loved her husband.
Peter never knew who she loved more (him or Gabriel), much less who she would have chosen were it not for Noah. Peter laid those thoughts to rest and finally let go of fears of Elle choosing Gabriel completely when he took his last breath.
[And in yet another lifetime, Elle would not have chosen either because (due to her undeveloped feelings for both men that resulted from her falling for one as another caught her eye) she never completely grasped the whole “in love” thing.]