Special (13/20)
Title: Special (13/20)
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special. Based on NBC’s Heroes. Various pairings.
A/N: So it’s been a shamefully long time since I updated I know. I just have a lot to accomplish in this story and wanted to make sure I knew exactly where I was headed before updating it. Since I now know that, it shouldn’t take too long for me to get the next one up. Although…I know that’s kinda what I said last time. Anywho….hope y’all enjoy this chapter, it will hopefully explain a few things :)
Cross posted to ihave_no_idea
Links to previous chapters inside.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!
Skip Muck and Joseph Liebgott, Manhattan, NY
“So that’s why they’re researching this ‘comprehensive’ ability?”
Skip sighed at Joe’s question, still tapping away at Dr. Jones computer. “Yeah…not all that surprising that you’re looking for the same person that the Company is I guess.”
Skip wasn’t sure what Liebgott was up to. He was just glad that he wasn’t alone anymore. Maybe he was being naïve, but all of his time spent in the Company had been shrouded in secrecy and he’d had to live with the fear that someone might find out about his connection to Don. So now, instead of dwelling on whether or not he should trust Liebgott, he would simply take the opportunity that the young man was presenting, the opportunity to save Don.
It wasn’t like he had a lot of other options right now anyway.
Joe leaned over Skip’s shoulder to peer at the computer screen and frowned as Skip scrolled down through what seemed to be an endless list of names that could possibly be who he was looking for. He tried not to see if his own name came up.
“Do all these people have comprehensive abilities?” he asked the research assistant.
Skip shook his head. “We don’t know yet. These are all possibilities. Dr. Jones is hoping to narrow the field down significantly by perfecting the formula he’s currently working on.”
Joe wasn’t sure whether he wished the doctor success or not. He was torn between the fear for his own safety and his desire to find the person Webster’s future self had asked him to protect.
“Why are they looking for this guy anyway?” Joe asked.
“Who says it’s a guy?” Skip shot back.
Joe just fixed him with an irritated look. “Whatever. You know what I mean. ”
The blonde shrugged, “From the very little that I can gather…it has something to do with a vision that a special had.”
“Eli?”
Skip shook his head again, “No...this was before they got their hands on him. Apparently something is going to go really wrong in our near future. Like…apocalypse wrong. I guess they think that whoever they’re looking for is going to cause that. Hypothetically speaking- this power they assume someone has would certainly be enough to cause a lot of problems.”
Joe eyed him coolly. “Apocalypse my ass! You don’t seem all that worried.”
“Yeah well…I’m a little preoccupied trying to save my boyfriend. I don’t really have time for all that shit.” Skip said.
Joe nodded, seeing his point. “Besides…you know them. What they did to your boyfriend, to me? You really think they’re the good guys here? Trying to save everyone from some big, bad special intent on destroying the world or some bullshit?”
“Probably not.”
“Yeah…not fucking likely.”
The two turned away from the computer screen, lost in their thoughts before Joe broke the silence. “So Skip…do you know how you want to bust Don out of here? Because if we’re going to do this. It’s going to have to be a team effort.”
Skip grinned at the question. Maybe trusting Liebgott wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. “Yeah I have a few ideas.”
Joe Toye and Babe Heffron, Philadelphia, PA
“Could you calm down? You’re making me nervous.” Toye cautiously spoke to the now visible teen that was pacing in front of the bench Joe was seated on. He figured the kid didn’t want to get too close to him in fear of turning invisible again. Not that he could blame him.
“CALM DOWN!? You basically just told me that everything I’ve ever known is a lie! So you don’t get to tell me to CALM DOWN! OKAY?” Babe spun on his heel to shout and Joe really wished he would chill out. He hadn’t come out of hiding just to be caught because Bill Guarnere’s little brother (and he still hadn’t gotten over that part) couldn’t keep his shit together.
However Joe just nodded meekly, somewhat cowed by the kid’s anger. He had freaked out when he had turned invisible…who wouldn’t? Then when Toye had tried to suggest that the kid had abilities of his own, and that his invisibility wasn’t caused by Joe, he hadn’t been convinced.
So Joe had figured that he should probably lay the ground work for that kind of discussion by convincing the kid that there were other people in the world with abilities other than Joe himself.
However…he probably shouldn’t have done that by bringing up the Company…or the involvement of Babe’s adopted family in it.
Finally Babe stopped pacing and put his hands over his face, obviously an indication of his level of stress.
“So…” Babe began to speak, his voice slightly muffled by his hands. “You’re trying to tell me that my brother and my parents…are bad guys?”
Yes. “No. It’s…more complicated than that. There aren’t good guys and bad guys. Remember…I worked for the Company too.”
Babe paused to give him a look, “Yeah but you also said that you left. You quit.”
Joe shrugged, “More or less.”
The kid just shook his head as if he were trying to straighten the facts out in his brain, “Okay…obviously there’s some truth to what you’re saying. Because normal people don’t just turn invisible. So on the whole ‘there are people who have abilities’ thing…I’ll get on board. But the idea of this Company…hunting them? I just…I can’t…”
“What?” Joe asked, “You don’t think your brother is capable of it?”
Babe thought back on Chris’s broken nose. “No…I guess he is. My parents too. But…Dick?”
Joe paused, “Who?”
However Babe seemed to have become distracted by another thought. “Wait. If everything you’re saying is true... Do you think that my parent’s murders had something to do with this Company?”
Joe nodded, “Yeah...most likely.”
“Do you…do you think they had something to do with me?”
Toye paused before answering. “What can I tell you kid? Yeah…it probably had something to do with you.”
He almost wished he hadn’t said it, because the look on Babe’s face was tragic. But this kid had no idea what was coming…he had to prepare him.
Babe shook his head, “But…why?”
“Because you’re special.” Joe answered.
“I’m really, really not.”
Joe sighed, “You are though. More than you realize.” He dug the note out of his pocket once more and held it up like evidence. “I knew the women who wrote this, okay? She doesn’t just make shit up. She said something bad is going to happen. And you’re the only one that’s going to be able to stop it. And it ain’t because you’re some normal sixteen year old, alright? It’s because you’re different. Think about it. Something has to have happened to make you wonder, something before today?”
A look flashed across Babe’s face and Joe knew in that moment, that the kid had been holding something back. “There is…are…a few things.”
“What?” he asked in hopes of prompting the teen into opening up to him.
“I’ve been having these dreams…they’re usually just about normal things. People that I already know just talking or doing something… they don’t even really seem like dreams. And lately they’ve been…coming true. A couple of nights ago I had this dream…that I could fly. And it seems crazy…it all seems crazy…but I could tell that this dream was like the others. Like the ones that had come true.”
And sure Joe knew what he had been told, about how Babe was going to be special because he was going to be powerful. Had understood the moment that Babe had turned invisible in front of his eyes. The kid was a real life empath. Something that the company had never come across but had always been desperate to get their hands on.
A person who was able to use the abilities of other people. When Babe had sat next to him and turned invisible…Joe figured that it was due to their proximity and that they would have to think up a way for Babe to be able to access Joe’s power when they weren’t together.
But what Babe was saying now…that was Renee’s power. And she hadn’t been anywhere near the state of Pennsylvania for even longer than Joe. So how could the kid be using her power?
“Is there anything else?” he asked.
Babe nodded, “I uh…had this bruise that like…disappeared earlier today. I don’t really know if that’s relevant.”
Joe figured it was…but wasn’t sure how. Maybe Babe’s parents had known that he was special, or had an idea about what he could do and had been systematically exposing him to certain abilities. If they were they hadn’t told Bill. Or maybe they had…and Bill just hadn’t told him.
“Listen Babe, I know all of this is really scary. I do…I’ve been there. But I’m going to help you.” With great reluctance he pulled out a small note card he’d been carrying in his wallet. On it was the number to as secure a cell phone as he could get. He could count on one hand how many people had this number. But he knew he was going to help Babe. That he might be the only one who could.
He handed the distraught teen the card. “Call me tomorrow.” He instructed. “We’ll meet up and talk some more. Do NOT let this number be seen by anyone other than you. Okay?”
Babe held the card in a shaky hand and nodded. He stared at it before looking at Joe. “My brother…whoever he really works for…they’re looking for you. Aren’t they?”
Joe shrugged, “Yeah they are.”
“Why are you helping me? What if you get caught?” The kid seemed genuinely worried.
“Babe if there’s one thing I learned from working with your brother…it’s that some lives are just more important. Some people have to be sacrificed for the greater good. Your life is more important than mine.”
Babe looked like he wanted to argue, but Joe cut him off. “You should get home soon. Anyone finds out you’re gone….”
Babe nodded and started to walk away before he stopped and turned around. “Toye?”
Joe looked up, “Yeah?”
“Do you…do you know anything…about my biological parents?” Babe asked.
Toye sighed, having known that this was coming. “Yeah…what do you want to know?”
Babe shrugged, “I mean I already know their names were Craig and Tina Heffron…my parents said they died in a car accident. That I’d been an only child. I was just wondering if...they were different too.”
Joe couldn’t believe his ears. “Babe…none of what you said is true. Whoever told you all that was lying to you.”
Babe gaped, “What?”
With a grimace, Joe gestured to the bench. “You might as well sit back down if we’re going to have this conversation now.”
Babe quickly did so, confusion clear in his expression. “What do you know?”
“I’m going to get the hard part out of the way now, because I don’t want to give you any false hope. Your biological parents are dead.” Toye told him, hating that he had to bring another look of pain to the young man’s face.
“What difference does it make?” Babe responded bitterly. “It’s just another set of dead parents. Adopted, biological…even the fucking fake ones were dead.”
Toye reached out and put his hand on the teen’s shoulder, he vaguely recalled that it was meant to be a comforting gesture. “Their names were Dean and Claire Winters. From what I know they were special…like you. Only I don’t know how. There is some good news though.”
Babe didn’t seem to have really been paying much attention. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“The records I located indicated that you have an older brother. And he’s alive. His name is Richard Winters and he’s….Babe? Are you listening to me?”
But Babe’s whole face had gone pale and there was a faraway look in his eyes.
“How old is he?” Babe asked in a choked voice.
Toye thought back on what he’d read, “I think he’s twenty-eight. Maybe younger, maybe older. I can’t remember off the top of my head but it’s somewhere in that ballpark. Why?”
Babe just stared at him blankly, “I….have to go. I’m going to call you tomorrow. Here…you should keep these.”
Then he was gone, the only thing left of his presence were Joe’s brass knuckles, now lying on his lap.
Burton Christenson, Eugene Roe, and George Luz, Brooklyn, NY
Burton sighed and got off the phone where he’d been trying to get a hold of Ron, to let him know that he had a hot lead on their abduction case. Unfortunately for the first time in the history of the universe Ron hadn’t answered his phone. He was probably too distracted by all the blonde law enforcement officers that were doting on him. Lucky bastard.
He glanced back into the hospital room where Roe and George were looking over a series of photos that Roe had with him of George’s, apparently deceased, wife and murmuring quietly. He was surprised to find he wasn’t jealous of their fast connection…he was just happy that George was getting the closure he needed.
Huh…Ron would probably be impressed by his maturity. Or…maybe not…his partner wasn’t so easily impressed.
He walked back into the room. “Our flight leaves first thing tomorrow. Roe…you should stay here where I can keep an eye on you.”
The young man frowned. “I’m sure I’ll survive without your supervision Agent Christenson.”
Burton sighed, “Could you though? They might not just kidnap you this time. You know an awful lot about them.”
“I’m not so easily killed.” The young man insisted and Burton wondered if this was why Ron was always complaining about having a cocky young man for a partner. They were so sure they were invincible.
But Roe didn’t have a trace of arrogance in his voice. And he didn’t really strike Burton as the type to be reckless…what with being the youngest doctor that Burton had ever met. He was probably pretty responsible.
He gave him an unconvinced look all the same. Roe sighed.
“Actually…that’s my ability. I can heal myself. I…I can’t die.” Roe confessed.
Luz gaped at him, “So the car crash…that’s how you survived?”
Roe nodded, looking guilty. “I should have died too. I’m sorry I…”
But George cut him off. “Sorry? What the Hell do you have to be sorry about? You did all you could. You knew her…all she would have cared about when that car started to crash was your safety. She wouldn’t want you to have felt sorry that you lived.”
And somehow, the look on Roe’s face told Burton that those were exactly the words he’d been needing to hear from the exact person he’d been needing to hear them from.
Christenson cleared his throat. “All the same Roe, you’re our lead on where Eli is so I want to make sure nothing happens to you. Have you talked to you friend yet? Found out who specifically it was that abducted you?”
Roe nodded, “I talked to him but he hasn’t spoken with his contact yet. But he’ll call us as soon as he has their names. It shouldn’t be too long he figures, since it’s getting late.”
“Well let’s hope not. Our plane leaves at 6:00 in the morning.” He informed them.
Luz gave him a sympathetic look, “This will be what? Your fifth plane ride this week?”
Burton sighed, “At least I’m not going all the way to California and back.”
Luz gave him the closest thing to a smile he’d seen since Eli had vanished. “About that. I uh just wanted to say…”
Roe must have felt out of place because he quickly shimmied off of his perch on the side of George’s bed and pointed to the hallway. “I’m going to go find a bathroom.”
They watched him go and Christenson went to go sit in the chair at Luz’s elbow.
George began to speak again. “I really appreciate…you dropping everything and coming back. I…I don’t really know how to thank you.”
Burton knew that he could say that it was his job, that he was trying to close his case…but he knew that wasn’t why he’d come back. He reached out and, with a courage he usually reserved for the more dangerous parts of his job, he covered the top of Luz’s hand with his own.
He gave the man’s hand a soft squeeze, “We’re going to find him. I promise.”
George turned his hand over and squeezed back. “I believe you.”
David Webster, Manhattan, NY
The room that Joe was staying in was tiny and bare, so he probably felt at home if his apartment had been anything to go by.
David had been incredibly lucky when he teleported that there was no occupant in the second bed across from the one where Joe’s duffle was being stored, and also that there appeared to be no video camera tracking his movements. He supposed that at this point the Company trusted their recruits enough not to spy on them.
But where was Joe? It was past midnight and he still hadn’t shown up in his room. What could he be doing? Was he safe?
Just as he was thinking this, the door opened up and light from the outside hallway poured in. David pressed himself against the wall, prepared to teleport away on the off chance that it wasn’t Joe entering the room.
However it was Joe. Although he looked tired, and worried, Webster relaxed just upon seeing that he was safe.
After walking into the room and shutting the door behind him, Joe reached over and flicked on the light. He visibly jumped when he saw David leaning against the wall next to his bed.
Webster braced himself for the onslaught of cursing and the snarky comments about what a creeper he was…but they never came. Instead…Liebgott was just staring at him. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.
“Joe I just wanted to…” he started to explain.
However Joe was across the room in a matter of seconds, his body colliding into David’s with such force that it knocked his head back against the wall and the breath out of his lungs.
Breath that he had little time to recover before Joe fisted a hand in his hair and jerked him forward so that he could press their lips together in a somewhat desperate kiss.
Webster immediately wrapped an arm around Liebgott’s waist and returned the kiss with equal intensity. He spent the next few moments without a thought in his head.
Then Joe pulled back abruptly, gasping for air.
“Shit.” He breathed heavily. “I’m sorry…it’s just…”
“Don’t be sorry.” David muttered before leaning in for another kiss.
Joe took his hand from David’s hair and used it to grab the front of David’s sensible button-up shirt and pull him backwards until they found themselves toppling onto Joe’s twin sized bed.
David braced his arms on either side of Joe’s head so he wouldn’t put too much pressure on Joe’s somewhat slighter body. Then Joe’s hand was back in his hair as he pulled his lips away from Joe’s mouth and put them to his neck.
“Web wait,” Joe began to speak but Webster didn’t hear him. So he resorted to forcefully jerking David’s head back by his hair. “Webster!”
“Ow!” David hissed and put a hand to his head before looking down at Joe with a frown. “You are such a mood killer.”
Joe rolled his eyes but grinned. “Look…I’m really glad you’re okay.”
David smiled before eyeing their position on the bed, “I can see that.”
“As much as it pains me to say this….and it does…we really don’t have time for this.”
With those words Joe nudged David off of him and sat up on the bed.
Webster, for his part, attempted to regulate his breathing in a somewhat dignified manner.
Joe smirked, but continued to talk. “Look I need your help…again.”
David nodded, while attempting to put his hair back into place. “That’s funny… I need your help too.”
“I think I need yours more.”
David frowned, “What’s up?”
“There’s another guy here, a lab assistant, who’s trying to break his boyfriend out of this building. They’re holding him in the basement here. 2nd to last floor, he’s in a coma…but heavily guarded. Skip has everything planned except the actual…you know rescue. He can’t pull it off on his own.”
“What about you? Joe- I don’t know if you heard but I got Roe out pretty successfully but I know I was spotted. You could be put in more danger. ”
Joe snorted, “Yeah I heard. Everybody did. They really hate you here. Which is a good thing in my book. They were watching me pretty close for a while there. But Winters seems to have vouched for me….not that I know why. And he seems to be the golden boy around here. Not to mention his trust will help get Guarnere the Hell off of my case.”
David wasn’t sure who Winters was exactly so he simply nodded and latched onto the name he recognized. “Guarnere? He…wouldn’t happen to be the one who abducted Eugene Roe is he?”
Joe nodded. “Yeah…is that what you wanted to know?”
“Yes…that and his first name I guess.”
“It’s Bill. Why do you need to know who abducted Eugene Roe?” Joe asked.
Webster started to answer him and then remembered that Joe had just escaped the Company’s suspicion. “Look…the less you know…the safer you’ll be. Just let me call Gene and let him know.”
He walked off to make his phone call. Joe watched him speak softly and wondered when this had all started. Everything was happening so fast he almost couldn’t breathe. But then again...he was used to being in over his head. It was kind of his standard mode of operation.
However he didn’t want David to think he needed protecting, and he didn’t want to be the one who kept putting the time traveler in danger either. But he knew this was how it was going to be…until…until what? They brought down the company? Or died trying?
He shook that thought from his head, his mind unable to think of Webster as anything other than a living, breathing pain in his ass.
“Do you want to spring this guy tomorrow or tonight?” David asked, now off the phone.
Joe frowned. “Tomorrow…I mean Skip has been waiting for this chance for years. I don’t think one more night will kill him. He has it mostly worked out. He can get you down into the morgue. Which is on the bottom level, and then you’ll have to teleport into the next level…I can be the distraction. I’ll-”
“No.” David cut in rather sternly.
Joe glared, “What do you mean “No”?”
“I mean you need to be as far away from this as possible. They’re already suspicious of you. The last thing you need is to be causing more trouble by being at the center of another break out.”
“Hey listen I’m not just going to sit here-“
David stepped forward and leaned down to kiss the protest off of Joe’s lips. It only pissed Joe off more that it was completely effective.
“Look.” David said after pulling away. “You know I’m right. You know that you’re where you need to be. Let me handle this. Please.”
Joe looked down, and for a moment the confidence that normally enveloped him like a second skin was gone, and David could see fear and uncertainty in his eyes.
“You know…all that shit you uh…found at my place. The reason I didn’t want to tell you…it’s not because I don’t trust you.” Joe finally got out.
This wasn’t what David had been expecting. “You don’t have to tell me Joe. It doesn’t matter anymore. I just thought that I needed to know everything about you in order to really know you. But that’s not true. I know the way you make me feel. That’s enough.”
He slipped his hands to Joe’s chest and gently pushed him backward onto the bed. Joe grabbed his hands and pulled David down until he was lying next to him.
David turned his head to the side to stare at Joe, but Joe was looking nervously at the ceiling.
“I uh…I want to tell you though. You see the thing is…that I’ve always had these secrets. Things that I’ve done, things I’ve been running from. I didn’t want anyone to know because I knew that when they found out it would change everything. They would hate me, or they wouldn’t understand. I couldn’t let them know because I didn’t trust them. But I do trust you. The only reason I’ve been keeping them to myself is because it matters this time.”
David shifted a little and found his head resting on Joe’s bony shoulder. “What do you mean?”
Finally Joe tore his gaze away from the ceiling and looked at him. “You matter. You are the only one who makes me feel like all the shit I’ve done doesn’t define me. I still have no idea what the Hell it is you think you see in me…but you make me feel like I could be something. All of this…you…it feels right. Like it was supposed to happen a long time ago...or like I was always headed this way. I didn’t want you to know the real me…because you would realize it wasn’t who you wanted.”
David propped himself up on his elbow to look down at Joe. “But you have to understand that I feel that way too.”
Now Joe just looked confused. David had effectively thrown him off. “Huh?”
Webster smiled. “Before I had a visit from my future self…I was far from having my priorities straight. I can’t even explain it really. All I cared about was school, and knowing the right people and being better than everyone else. Hell I thought I was better than everyone else. But then you…wow you really ridded me of that notion.”
Joe smirked at that, remembering the first time he’d ever picked Webster up in his cab. David had been so sure of himself, and of his ability to win Joe over. Joe had found him instantly obnoxious and had no qualms telling him so.
David continued with an amused look. “You were so wrong for me. At least I thought you would be. But you’re right. It’s like the moment I met you…I knew that anything that was going to come from then on out…you were going to be a part of it. We were inevitable. This was going to happen.”
Joe rolled his eyes. “You are so…”
“Right. Admit it.” David poked him in the stomach and Joe swatted his hand away.
“Lame.” He answered.
David shook his head. “The point I’m trying to make Joe…is that no matter what you did. Whether you did it yesterday or a lifetime ago….it’s never going to change how I feel about you. Maybe I don’t know everything from your past, maybe I don’t know your ‘real’ name. But I know who you are. You don’t have to tell me anything until you’re really ready to.”
The laughter still lingering in Joe’s eyes softened and he gave Webster’s finger, still at his stomach, a soft squeeze. “Thanks. Y’know you should probably get out of here.”
Webster shook his head and linked their hands together. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Dick Winters, Philadelphia, PA
Dick was more than exhausted at this point…he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up with his own life.
Fly here, fly there, do this, do that. Find out you work for you parents murderers, keep betraying your own kind, discover that your brother is alive…
He could hardly remember who he was working for or against some days. What he was doing, why he was doing it, whether or not it was really helping anyone. But then he remembered the bottom line…that he had a family.
That in the end the all he really needed to know was that he trusted Bill and protected Babe. And they all relied on each other.
He was finally home and ready to get some sleep. Only then did he realize that technically speaking, the place he’d just referred to as home was a place he didn’t live.
Dick was standing outside of Bill’s apartment, his own personal key in his hand. He glanced at his watch. It was late, very late…and he hoped that Babe was already asleep. Hoped that he was safe…hoped that he didn’t wake him going in because he wasn’t sure he could handle seeing him right now.
He unlocked the door and opened it up as softly as he could manage. He got in because, of course, Babe never listened to them and the security chain hadn’t been used. He supposed he was grateful just this once.
It was dark inside and Dick automatically flipped on the light before doing a quick sweep of the apartment. He wasn’t surprised to find that it was empty.
He noticed Babe’s closed door and walked over silently before cracking it open slightly.
Despite not being certain he could handle seeing Babe…he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep without checking on him.
Babe was sound asleep, sprawled out on his bed in pure teenage fashion, his comforter halfway to the floor and his body shaking slightly from the coolness of his room. Babe always complained that his room was too cold.
Dick walked in further and found himself looking down at the sleeping form of his brother. His brother…right there…alive, safe, everything he’d ever dreamed he would be and more.
The most amazing and wonderful kid that Dick had ever met. Smart, witty, fun, loud and bull headed (just like Bill)…he had their mother’s hair and their father’s eyes and Babe never even had the opportunity to know them and it killed Dick.
He would have loved them, and they would have loved him. Dick knew that he did.
He reached down and pulled the comforter up over Babe’s shaking shoulders. The teen stilled and his breathing relaxed.
Suddenly it all hit him at once and Dick drew a hand up to his mouth to silence his choked gasp. He briefly realized that this was the closest he’d ever come to hyperventilating and he turned and forced himself out of the room.
In the hallway, leaning back against Babe’s closed door, Dick was still breathing heavily and he couldn’t seem to still his wildly beating heart.
It was all too much and he became overwhelmed with the desire for Bill’s presence. To steady him, to reassure him, to remind him that they could get through anything as long as they were together.
He calmed himself and flattened his palm against the wall, navigating his way through the darkened hallway and over to Bill’s bedroom.
Normally when Dick watched after Babe he either slept on the couch or Babe stayed at his place. But Dick felt shaken up and before he knew it he was lying on Bill’s bed, curled up under the dark blue sheets and feeling more calm and safe and secure than he had since he’d left Bill in Manhattan.
The words echoed in his head.
“I love you.”
If he wasn’t certain about his feelings before...he was now. He sank deeper into the warm sheets, only wishing that Bill was beside him.
A/N: Sorry this chapter doesn’t appear to have too much going on, but I wanted to get all their emotional stuff out of the way before the shit hits the fan..and it will…fairly soon. And for those of you who have seen Heroes and are interested- the next chapter will be the “Company Man” chapter. I’m rather excited about it. Again, apologies on my lameness at updating.
Summary: All over the world, people are waking up with extraordinary abilities. Not knowing how they got them or what to do, they will soon discover that they are not alone. They are all connected. They are all special. Based on NBC’s Heroes. Various pairings.
A/N: So it’s been a shamefully long time since I updated I know. I just have a lot to accomplish in this story and wanted to make sure I knew exactly where I was headed before updating it. Since I now know that, it shouldn’t take too long for me to get the next one up. Although…I know that’s kinda what I said last time. Anywho….hope y’all enjoy this chapter, it will hopefully explain a few things :)
Cross posted to ihave_no_idea
Links to previous chapters inside.
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9
Part 10
Part 11
Part 12
Disclaimer: I’m not making any money off of writing this story. It’s entirely fictional and based on the performances given in the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and not the actual soldiers. Any ideas or phrases borrowed from the NBC show Heroes belong to the writers of that show, not me. I don’t own anything…so please don’t sue me. I wrote it for your enjoyment so…enjoy!
Skip Muck and Joseph Liebgott, Manhattan, NY
“So that’s why they’re researching this ‘comprehensive’ ability?”
Skip sighed at Joe’s question, still tapping away at Dr. Jones computer. “Yeah…not all that surprising that you’re looking for the same person that the Company is I guess.”
Skip wasn’t sure what Liebgott was up to. He was just glad that he wasn’t alone anymore. Maybe he was being naïve, but all of his time spent in the Company had been shrouded in secrecy and he’d had to live with the fear that someone might find out about his connection to Don. So now, instead of dwelling on whether or not he should trust Liebgott, he would simply take the opportunity that the young man was presenting, the opportunity to save Don.
It wasn’t like he had a lot of other options right now anyway.
Joe leaned over Skip’s shoulder to peer at the computer screen and frowned as Skip scrolled down through what seemed to be an endless list of names that could possibly be who he was looking for. He tried not to see if his own name came up.
“Do all these people have comprehensive abilities?” he asked the research assistant.
Skip shook his head. “We don’t know yet. These are all possibilities. Dr. Jones is hoping to narrow the field down significantly by perfecting the formula he’s currently working on.”
Joe wasn’t sure whether he wished the doctor success or not. He was torn between the fear for his own safety and his desire to find the person Webster’s future self had asked him to protect.
“Why are they looking for this guy anyway?” Joe asked.
“Who says it’s a guy?” Skip shot back.
Joe just fixed him with an irritated look. “Whatever. You know what I mean. ”
The blonde shrugged, “From the very little that I can gather…it has something to do with a vision that a special had.”
“Eli?”
Skip shook his head again, “No...this was before they got their hands on him. Apparently something is going to go really wrong in our near future. Like…apocalypse wrong. I guess they think that whoever they’re looking for is going to cause that. Hypothetically speaking- this power they assume someone has would certainly be enough to cause a lot of problems.”
Joe eyed him coolly. “Apocalypse my ass! You don’t seem all that worried.”
“Yeah well…I’m a little preoccupied trying to save my boyfriend. I don’t really have time for all that shit.” Skip said.
Joe nodded, seeing his point. “Besides…you know them. What they did to your boyfriend, to me? You really think they’re the good guys here? Trying to save everyone from some big, bad special intent on destroying the world or some bullshit?”
“Probably not.”
“Yeah…not fucking likely.”
The two turned away from the computer screen, lost in their thoughts before Joe broke the silence. “So Skip…do you know how you want to bust Don out of here? Because if we’re going to do this. It’s going to have to be a team effort.”
Skip grinned at the question. Maybe trusting Liebgott wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. “Yeah I have a few ideas.”
Joe Toye and Babe Heffron, Philadelphia, PA
“Could you calm down? You’re making me nervous.” Toye cautiously spoke to the now visible teen that was pacing in front of the bench Joe was seated on. He figured the kid didn’t want to get too close to him in fear of turning invisible again. Not that he could blame him.
“CALM DOWN!? You basically just told me that everything I’ve ever known is a lie! So you don’t get to tell me to CALM DOWN! OKAY?” Babe spun on his heel to shout and Joe really wished he would chill out. He hadn’t come out of hiding just to be caught because Bill Guarnere’s little brother (and he still hadn’t gotten over that part) couldn’t keep his shit together.
However Joe just nodded meekly, somewhat cowed by the kid’s anger. He had freaked out when he had turned invisible…who wouldn’t? Then when Toye had tried to suggest that the kid had abilities of his own, and that his invisibility wasn’t caused by Joe, he hadn’t been convinced.
So Joe had figured that he should probably lay the ground work for that kind of discussion by convincing the kid that there were other people in the world with abilities other than Joe himself.
However…he probably shouldn’t have done that by bringing up the Company…or the involvement of Babe’s adopted family in it.
Finally Babe stopped pacing and put his hands over his face, obviously an indication of his level of stress.
“So…” Babe began to speak, his voice slightly muffled by his hands. “You’re trying to tell me that my brother and my parents…are bad guys?”
Yes. “No. It’s…more complicated than that. There aren’t good guys and bad guys. Remember…I worked for the Company too.”
Babe paused to give him a look, “Yeah but you also said that you left. You quit.”
Joe shrugged, “More or less.”
The kid just shook his head as if he were trying to straighten the facts out in his brain, “Okay…obviously there’s some truth to what you’re saying. Because normal people don’t just turn invisible. So on the whole ‘there are people who have abilities’ thing…I’ll get on board. But the idea of this Company…hunting them? I just…I can’t…”
“What?” Joe asked, “You don’t think your brother is capable of it?”
Babe thought back on Chris’s broken nose. “No…I guess he is. My parents too. But…Dick?”
Joe paused, “Who?”
However Babe seemed to have become distracted by another thought. “Wait. If everything you’re saying is true... Do you think that my parent’s murders had something to do with this Company?”
Joe nodded, “Yeah...most likely.”
“Do you…do you think they had something to do with me?”
Toye paused before answering. “What can I tell you kid? Yeah…it probably had something to do with you.”
He almost wished he hadn’t said it, because the look on Babe’s face was tragic. But this kid had no idea what was coming…he had to prepare him.
Babe shook his head, “But…why?”
“Because you’re special.” Joe answered.
“I’m really, really not.”
Joe sighed, “You are though. More than you realize.” He dug the note out of his pocket once more and held it up like evidence. “I knew the women who wrote this, okay? She doesn’t just make shit up. She said something bad is going to happen. And you’re the only one that’s going to be able to stop it. And it ain’t because you’re some normal sixteen year old, alright? It’s because you’re different. Think about it. Something has to have happened to make you wonder, something before today?”
A look flashed across Babe’s face and Joe knew in that moment, that the kid had been holding something back. “There is…are…a few things.”
“What?” he asked in hopes of prompting the teen into opening up to him.
“I’ve been having these dreams…they’re usually just about normal things. People that I already know just talking or doing something… they don’t even really seem like dreams. And lately they’ve been…coming true. A couple of nights ago I had this dream…that I could fly. And it seems crazy…it all seems crazy…but I could tell that this dream was like the others. Like the ones that had come true.”
And sure Joe knew what he had been told, about how Babe was going to be special because he was going to be powerful. Had understood the moment that Babe had turned invisible in front of his eyes. The kid was a real life empath. Something that the company had never come across but had always been desperate to get their hands on.
A person who was able to use the abilities of other people. When Babe had sat next to him and turned invisible…Joe figured that it was due to their proximity and that they would have to think up a way for Babe to be able to access Joe’s power when they weren’t together.
But what Babe was saying now…that was Renee’s power. And she hadn’t been anywhere near the state of Pennsylvania for even longer than Joe. So how could the kid be using her power?
“Is there anything else?” he asked.
Babe nodded, “I uh…had this bruise that like…disappeared earlier today. I don’t really know if that’s relevant.”
Joe figured it was…but wasn’t sure how. Maybe Babe’s parents had known that he was special, or had an idea about what he could do and had been systematically exposing him to certain abilities. If they were they hadn’t told Bill. Or maybe they had…and Bill just hadn’t told him.
“Listen Babe, I know all of this is really scary. I do…I’ve been there. But I’m going to help you.” With great reluctance he pulled out a small note card he’d been carrying in his wallet. On it was the number to as secure a cell phone as he could get. He could count on one hand how many people had this number. But he knew he was going to help Babe. That he might be the only one who could.
He handed the distraught teen the card. “Call me tomorrow.” He instructed. “We’ll meet up and talk some more. Do NOT let this number be seen by anyone other than you. Okay?”
Babe held the card in a shaky hand and nodded. He stared at it before looking at Joe. “My brother…whoever he really works for…they’re looking for you. Aren’t they?”
Joe shrugged, “Yeah they are.”
“Why are you helping me? What if you get caught?” The kid seemed genuinely worried.
“Babe if there’s one thing I learned from working with your brother…it’s that some lives are just more important. Some people have to be sacrificed for the greater good. Your life is more important than mine.”
Babe looked like he wanted to argue, but Joe cut him off. “You should get home soon. Anyone finds out you’re gone….”
Babe nodded and started to walk away before he stopped and turned around. “Toye?”
Joe looked up, “Yeah?”
“Do you…do you know anything…about my biological parents?” Babe asked.
Toye sighed, having known that this was coming. “Yeah…what do you want to know?”
Babe shrugged, “I mean I already know their names were Craig and Tina Heffron…my parents said they died in a car accident. That I’d been an only child. I was just wondering if...they were different too.”
Joe couldn’t believe his ears. “Babe…none of what you said is true. Whoever told you all that was lying to you.”
Babe gaped, “What?”
With a grimace, Joe gestured to the bench. “You might as well sit back down if we’re going to have this conversation now.”
Babe quickly did so, confusion clear in his expression. “What do you know?”
“I’m going to get the hard part out of the way now, because I don’t want to give you any false hope. Your biological parents are dead.” Toye told him, hating that he had to bring another look of pain to the young man’s face.
“What difference does it make?” Babe responded bitterly. “It’s just another set of dead parents. Adopted, biological…even the fucking fake ones were dead.”
Toye reached out and put his hand on the teen’s shoulder, he vaguely recalled that it was meant to be a comforting gesture. “Their names were Dean and Claire Winters. From what I know they were special…like you. Only I don’t know how. There is some good news though.”
Babe didn’t seem to have really been paying much attention. “Oh yeah? What’s that?”
“The records I located indicated that you have an older brother. And he’s alive. His name is Richard Winters and he’s….Babe? Are you listening to me?”
But Babe’s whole face had gone pale and there was a faraway look in his eyes.
“How old is he?” Babe asked in a choked voice.
Toye thought back on what he’d read, “I think he’s twenty-eight. Maybe younger, maybe older. I can’t remember off the top of my head but it’s somewhere in that ballpark. Why?”
Babe just stared at him blankly, “I….have to go. I’m going to call you tomorrow. Here…you should keep these.”
Then he was gone, the only thing left of his presence were Joe’s brass knuckles, now lying on his lap.
Burton Christenson, Eugene Roe, and George Luz, Brooklyn, NY
Burton sighed and got off the phone where he’d been trying to get a hold of Ron, to let him know that he had a hot lead on their abduction case. Unfortunately for the first time in the history of the universe Ron hadn’t answered his phone. He was probably too distracted by all the blonde law enforcement officers that were doting on him. Lucky bastard.
He glanced back into the hospital room where Roe and George were looking over a series of photos that Roe had with him of George’s, apparently deceased, wife and murmuring quietly. He was surprised to find he wasn’t jealous of their fast connection…he was just happy that George was getting the closure he needed.
Huh…Ron would probably be impressed by his maturity. Or…maybe not…his partner wasn’t so easily impressed.
He walked back into the room. “Our flight leaves first thing tomorrow. Roe…you should stay here where I can keep an eye on you.”
The young man frowned. “I’m sure I’ll survive without your supervision Agent Christenson.”
Burton sighed, “Could you though? They might not just kidnap you this time. You know an awful lot about them.”
“I’m not so easily killed.” The young man insisted and Burton wondered if this was why Ron was always complaining about having a cocky young man for a partner. They were so sure they were invincible.
But Roe didn’t have a trace of arrogance in his voice. And he didn’t really strike Burton as the type to be reckless…what with being the youngest doctor that Burton had ever met. He was probably pretty responsible.
He gave him an unconvinced look all the same. Roe sighed.
“Actually…that’s my ability. I can heal myself. I…I can’t die.” Roe confessed.
Luz gaped at him, “So the car crash…that’s how you survived?”
Roe nodded, looking guilty. “I should have died too. I’m sorry I…”
But George cut him off. “Sorry? What the Hell do you have to be sorry about? You did all you could. You knew her…all she would have cared about when that car started to crash was your safety. She wouldn’t want you to have felt sorry that you lived.”
And somehow, the look on Roe’s face told Burton that those were exactly the words he’d been needing to hear from the exact person he’d been needing to hear them from.
Christenson cleared his throat. “All the same Roe, you’re our lead on where Eli is so I want to make sure nothing happens to you. Have you talked to you friend yet? Found out who specifically it was that abducted you?”
Roe nodded, “I talked to him but he hasn’t spoken with his contact yet. But he’ll call us as soon as he has their names. It shouldn’t be too long he figures, since it’s getting late.”
“Well let’s hope not. Our plane leaves at 6:00 in the morning.” He informed them.
Luz gave him a sympathetic look, “This will be what? Your fifth plane ride this week?”
Burton sighed, “At least I’m not going all the way to California and back.”
Luz gave him the closest thing to a smile he’d seen since Eli had vanished. “About that. I uh just wanted to say…”
Roe must have felt out of place because he quickly shimmied off of his perch on the side of George’s bed and pointed to the hallway. “I’m going to go find a bathroom.”
They watched him go and Christenson went to go sit in the chair at Luz’s elbow.
George began to speak again. “I really appreciate…you dropping everything and coming back. I…I don’t really know how to thank you.”
Burton knew that he could say that it was his job, that he was trying to close his case…but he knew that wasn’t why he’d come back. He reached out and, with a courage he usually reserved for the more dangerous parts of his job, he covered the top of Luz’s hand with his own.
He gave the man’s hand a soft squeeze, “We’re going to find him. I promise.”
George turned his hand over and squeezed back. “I believe you.”
David Webster, Manhattan, NY
The room that Joe was staying in was tiny and bare, so he probably felt at home if his apartment had been anything to go by.
David had been incredibly lucky when he teleported that there was no occupant in the second bed across from the one where Joe’s duffle was being stored, and also that there appeared to be no video camera tracking his movements. He supposed that at this point the Company trusted their recruits enough not to spy on them.
But where was Joe? It was past midnight and he still hadn’t shown up in his room. What could he be doing? Was he safe?
Just as he was thinking this, the door opened up and light from the outside hallway poured in. David pressed himself against the wall, prepared to teleport away on the off chance that it wasn’t Joe entering the room.
However it was Joe. Although he looked tired, and worried, Webster relaxed just upon seeing that he was safe.
After walking into the room and shutting the door behind him, Joe reached over and flicked on the light. He visibly jumped when he saw David leaning against the wall next to his bed.
Webster braced himself for the onslaught of cursing and the snarky comments about what a creeper he was…but they never came. Instead…Liebgott was just staring at him. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.
“Joe I just wanted to…” he started to explain.
However Joe was across the room in a matter of seconds, his body colliding into David’s with such force that it knocked his head back against the wall and the breath out of his lungs.
Breath that he had little time to recover before Joe fisted a hand in his hair and jerked him forward so that he could press their lips together in a somewhat desperate kiss.
Webster immediately wrapped an arm around Liebgott’s waist and returned the kiss with equal intensity. He spent the next few moments without a thought in his head.
Then Joe pulled back abruptly, gasping for air.
“Shit.” He breathed heavily. “I’m sorry…it’s just…”
“Don’t be sorry.” David muttered before leaning in for another kiss.
Joe took his hand from David’s hair and used it to grab the front of David’s sensible button-up shirt and pull him backwards until they found themselves toppling onto Joe’s twin sized bed.
David braced his arms on either side of Joe’s head so he wouldn’t put too much pressure on Joe’s somewhat slighter body. Then Joe’s hand was back in his hair as he pulled his lips away from Joe’s mouth and put them to his neck.
“Web wait,” Joe began to speak but Webster didn’t hear him. So he resorted to forcefully jerking David’s head back by his hair. “Webster!”
“Ow!” David hissed and put a hand to his head before looking down at Joe with a frown. “You are such a mood killer.”
Joe rolled his eyes but grinned. “Look…I’m really glad you’re okay.”
David smiled before eyeing their position on the bed, “I can see that.”
“As much as it pains me to say this….and it does…we really don’t have time for this.”
With those words Joe nudged David off of him and sat up on the bed.
Webster, for his part, attempted to regulate his breathing in a somewhat dignified manner.
Joe smirked, but continued to talk. “Look I need your help…again.”
David nodded, while attempting to put his hair back into place. “That’s funny… I need your help too.”
“I think I need yours more.”
David frowned, “What’s up?”
“There’s another guy here, a lab assistant, who’s trying to break his boyfriend out of this building. They’re holding him in the basement here. 2nd to last floor, he’s in a coma…but heavily guarded. Skip has everything planned except the actual…you know rescue. He can’t pull it off on his own.”
“What about you? Joe- I don’t know if you heard but I got Roe out pretty successfully but I know I was spotted. You could be put in more danger. ”
Joe snorted, “Yeah I heard. Everybody did. They really hate you here. Which is a good thing in my book. They were watching me pretty close for a while there. But Winters seems to have vouched for me….not that I know why. And he seems to be the golden boy around here. Not to mention his trust will help get Guarnere the Hell off of my case.”
David wasn’t sure who Winters was exactly so he simply nodded and latched onto the name he recognized. “Guarnere? He…wouldn’t happen to be the one who abducted Eugene Roe is he?”
Joe nodded. “Yeah…is that what you wanted to know?”
“Yes…that and his first name I guess.”
“It’s Bill. Why do you need to know who abducted Eugene Roe?” Joe asked.
Webster started to answer him and then remembered that Joe had just escaped the Company’s suspicion. “Look…the less you know…the safer you’ll be. Just let me call Gene and let him know.”
He walked off to make his phone call. Joe watched him speak softly and wondered when this had all started. Everything was happening so fast he almost couldn’t breathe. But then again...he was used to being in over his head. It was kind of his standard mode of operation.
However he didn’t want David to think he needed protecting, and he didn’t want to be the one who kept putting the time traveler in danger either. But he knew this was how it was going to be…until…until what? They brought down the company? Or died trying?
He shook that thought from his head, his mind unable to think of Webster as anything other than a living, breathing pain in his ass.
“Do you want to spring this guy tomorrow or tonight?” David asked, now off the phone.
Joe frowned. “Tomorrow…I mean Skip has been waiting for this chance for years. I don’t think one more night will kill him. He has it mostly worked out. He can get you down into the morgue. Which is on the bottom level, and then you’ll have to teleport into the next level…I can be the distraction. I’ll-”
“No.” David cut in rather sternly.
Joe glared, “What do you mean “No”?”
“I mean you need to be as far away from this as possible. They’re already suspicious of you. The last thing you need is to be causing more trouble by being at the center of another break out.”
“Hey listen I’m not just going to sit here-“
David stepped forward and leaned down to kiss the protest off of Joe’s lips. It only pissed Joe off more that it was completely effective.
“Look.” David said after pulling away. “You know I’m right. You know that you’re where you need to be. Let me handle this. Please.”
Joe looked down, and for a moment the confidence that normally enveloped him like a second skin was gone, and David could see fear and uncertainty in his eyes.
“You know…all that shit you uh…found at my place. The reason I didn’t want to tell you…it’s not because I don’t trust you.” Joe finally got out.
This wasn’t what David had been expecting. “You don’t have to tell me Joe. It doesn’t matter anymore. I just thought that I needed to know everything about you in order to really know you. But that’s not true. I know the way you make me feel. That’s enough.”
He slipped his hands to Joe’s chest and gently pushed him backward onto the bed. Joe grabbed his hands and pulled David down until he was lying next to him.
David turned his head to the side to stare at Joe, but Joe was looking nervously at the ceiling.
“I uh…I want to tell you though. You see the thing is…that I’ve always had these secrets. Things that I’ve done, things I’ve been running from. I didn’t want anyone to know because I knew that when they found out it would change everything. They would hate me, or they wouldn’t understand. I couldn’t let them know because I didn’t trust them. But I do trust you. The only reason I’ve been keeping them to myself is because it matters this time.”
David shifted a little and found his head resting on Joe’s bony shoulder. “What do you mean?”
Finally Joe tore his gaze away from the ceiling and looked at him. “You matter. You are the only one who makes me feel like all the shit I’ve done doesn’t define me. I still have no idea what the Hell it is you think you see in me…but you make me feel like I could be something. All of this…you…it feels right. Like it was supposed to happen a long time ago...or like I was always headed this way. I didn’t want you to know the real me…because you would realize it wasn’t who you wanted.”
David propped himself up on his elbow to look down at Joe. “But you have to understand that I feel that way too.”
Now Joe just looked confused. David had effectively thrown him off. “Huh?”
Webster smiled. “Before I had a visit from my future self…I was far from having my priorities straight. I can’t even explain it really. All I cared about was school, and knowing the right people and being better than everyone else. Hell I thought I was better than everyone else. But then you…wow you really ridded me of that notion.”
Joe smirked at that, remembering the first time he’d ever picked Webster up in his cab. David had been so sure of himself, and of his ability to win Joe over. Joe had found him instantly obnoxious and had no qualms telling him so.
David continued with an amused look. “You were so wrong for me. At least I thought you would be. But you’re right. It’s like the moment I met you…I knew that anything that was going to come from then on out…you were going to be a part of it. We were inevitable. This was going to happen.”
Joe rolled his eyes. “You are so…”
“Right. Admit it.” David poked him in the stomach and Joe swatted his hand away.
“Lame.” He answered.
David shook his head. “The point I’m trying to make Joe…is that no matter what you did. Whether you did it yesterday or a lifetime ago….it’s never going to change how I feel about you. Maybe I don’t know everything from your past, maybe I don’t know your ‘real’ name. But I know who you are. You don’t have to tell me anything until you’re really ready to.”
The laughter still lingering in Joe’s eyes softened and he gave Webster’s finger, still at his stomach, a soft squeeze. “Thanks. Y’know you should probably get out of here.”
Webster shook his head and linked their hands together. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Dick Winters, Philadelphia, PA
Dick was more than exhausted at this point…he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep up with his own life.
Fly here, fly there, do this, do that. Find out you work for you parents murderers, keep betraying your own kind, discover that your brother is alive…
He could hardly remember who he was working for or against some days. What he was doing, why he was doing it, whether or not it was really helping anyone. But then he remembered the bottom line…that he had a family.
That in the end the all he really needed to know was that he trusted Bill and protected Babe. And they all relied on each other.
He was finally home and ready to get some sleep. Only then did he realize that technically speaking, the place he’d just referred to as home was a place he didn’t live.
Dick was standing outside of Bill’s apartment, his own personal key in his hand. He glanced at his watch. It was late, very late…and he hoped that Babe was already asleep. Hoped that he was safe…hoped that he didn’t wake him going in because he wasn’t sure he could handle seeing him right now.
He unlocked the door and opened it up as softly as he could manage. He got in because, of course, Babe never listened to them and the security chain hadn’t been used. He supposed he was grateful just this once.
It was dark inside and Dick automatically flipped on the light before doing a quick sweep of the apartment. He wasn’t surprised to find that it was empty.
He noticed Babe’s closed door and walked over silently before cracking it open slightly.
Despite not being certain he could handle seeing Babe…he knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep without checking on him.
Babe was sound asleep, sprawled out on his bed in pure teenage fashion, his comforter halfway to the floor and his body shaking slightly from the coolness of his room. Babe always complained that his room was too cold.
Dick walked in further and found himself looking down at the sleeping form of his brother. His brother…right there…alive, safe, everything he’d ever dreamed he would be and more.
The most amazing and wonderful kid that Dick had ever met. Smart, witty, fun, loud and bull headed (just like Bill)…he had their mother’s hair and their father’s eyes and Babe never even had the opportunity to know them and it killed Dick.
He would have loved them, and they would have loved him. Dick knew that he did.
He reached down and pulled the comforter up over Babe’s shaking shoulders. The teen stilled and his breathing relaxed.
Suddenly it all hit him at once and Dick drew a hand up to his mouth to silence his choked gasp. He briefly realized that this was the closest he’d ever come to hyperventilating and he turned and forced himself out of the room.
In the hallway, leaning back against Babe’s closed door, Dick was still breathing heavily and he couldn’t seem to still his wildly beating heart.
It was all too much and he became overwhelmed with the desire for Bill’s presence. To steady him, to reassure him, to remind him that they could get through anything as long as they were together.
He calmed himself and flattened his palm against the wall, navigating his way through the darkened hallway and over to Bill’s bedroom.
Normally when Dick watched after Babe he either slept on the couch or Babe stayed at his place. But Dick felt shaken up and before he knew it he was lying on Bill’s bed, curled up under the dark blue sheets and feeling more calm and safe and secure than he had since he’d left Bill in Manhattan.
The words echoed in his head.
“I love you.”
If he wasn’t certain about his feelings before...he was now. He sank deeper into the warm sheets, only wishing that Bill was beside him.
A/N: Sorry this chapter doesn’t appear to have too much going on, but I wanted to get all their emotional stuff out of the way before the shit hits the fan..and it will…fairly soon. And for those of you who have seen Heroes and are interested- the next chapter will be the “Company Man” chapter. I’m rather excited about it. Again, apologies on my lameness at updating.