Nathan's Christmas Carol
Title: Nathan’s Christmas Carol
Rating: R (mostly for language and dark themes)
Summary: A bit of Heroes, a bit of A Christmas Carol - with a few changes, of course.
Spoilers: Mild S3
Disclaimer: Heroes is not owned by me, but by Tim Kring. I’m simply borrowing these characters for non-profit entertainment.
A/N: This is the final chapter - and thank you to all those who've stayed with it this long. Hope you enjoy the conclusion.
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Chapter 4/4 Future:
Nathan already knew that a future without Peter that wasn’t possible for him. Any time he even thought Peter was dead he had nearly been destroyed. An emotional, borderline alcoholic wreck. Suicidal, angry, bitter, hateful. No one was safe. And he would do anything to even try to numb the pain of being without him.
How couldn’t he have known before now? He loved his brother, that was obvious. But just how deeply that love ran was only just now beginning to dawn on him.
There was nothing he wouldn’t do for Peter. Before he had become President and even now, nothing was out of the question. Not even dying for him.
He found himself soon saying that he would give anything to relive this night, to go back and fix it. To tell Peter everything. To save him again, to save himself, to prove himself.
All he needed was one of those famed Christmas miracles.
“Are you coming?” he heard Tracy ask him as they neared Angela’s front door.
Nathan stood there for a moment, stone still, trying to piece together the last few moments. Had it really happened? Had it really worked? Could he really save Peter this time? Only one way to find out, he decided.
Without a word he nodded and followed his wife into the spacious home.
So far it was everything he remembered from the last time. Though one thing was about to be very different. At least if Peter would speak to him and hadn’t already started drinking.
“Claire,” Tracy smiled as she leaned in to hug the younger blonde.
That would have been his cue to say hello to Sylar but he couldn’t waste the time. Instead he saw Peter talking to their mother, features twisted in aggravation and already he could tell they were talking about him.
“Well look who decided to show up,” Peter commented as he saw Nathan walking towards him.
Yeah, so far it was just like the last time.
“Can I talk to you for a minute?” he asked. Despite being a seasoned politician who could stop a nuclear war from clear across the globe without breaking a sweat, this had his pulse racing like never before.
Peter could see his uneasiness, not that Nathan was hiding it well. That made Peter curious and with that he nodded and walked to the foyer with him.
“Pete, I know I haven’t been there for you lately and I know you hate me for it -”
“Nathan -”
“No, I know I deserve it,” he stated as he gripped Peter’s shoulders. “But I’m here now and if you’ll let me, I’ll continue to be there for you no matter what. Despite my presidency, despite Tracy, you matter to me more than all of it. Someone has to be there to catch you when you fall and there’s no one better for that then me. You go, I go. I can’t live without you, Peter.”
His eyes had never left Peter’s and Peter was stunned into silence. Something had brought this on, he knew. He was almost afraid to ask what. Especially when he seemed so close to getting what he had been wanting for so long. Well, maybe not exactly what he had been wanting but surely close enough.
“I love you, Peter,” he finally added, knowing he had to tell him. Knowing he wanted to tell him. If this was still his night to die, even if he couldn’t change that outcome, he couldn’t let him go without knowing that.
“Who are you and what have you done with the President?” Peter finally asked him.
Nathan almost laughed. “I’m right here, Pete. This is me. I don’t know where or how I lost this clarity, but I’m here now. And I know I have so much time to make up for, but I promise you it’s gonna start now.”
“Have you been drinking?” Peter still couldn’t understand all of this.
“No,” he half-smiled. “I’ve just finally realized what you really mean to me. What we really mean to me.”
“I love you too, Nathan,” he replied, beginning to see that his brother needed to hear it as much as he had needed to for these last few years.
Quickly he glanced over to the rest of their family, relieved to see them busying themselves with the trimmings and table settings instead of watching them.
“There’s something else,” Nathan told him, finally dropping his hands back down to his sides.
“You bought me a car?” Peter asked.
That time Nathan laughed too. “No, I don’t just love you, Peter -”
“I know,” he nearly whispered. “I thought that was another reason you’d been avoiding me. How it would look and all, what it would do to your reputation. But I guess since tonight’s one for hearing each other out, I guess I owe it to you too -”
“Pete, you don’t have to -”
“I love you, Nathan. And I know what you’re gonna say, but I need you to know. For so long -”
Peter wasn’t able to finish his sentence because already his brother had his body pressed firmly to his and had captured his perfect, pink mouth in a long, hungry kiss that soon left them both dizzy and breathless. Perhaps one had led to the other, but right then all the brothers could focus on was the other.
“You just -” Peter tried. “What -?” Obviously the oxygen had yet to return to his brain.
“It’s stupid, but I had a dream today, or last night, I don’t really remember which. But I just know that in it you died and all I wanted was to have you back. There was nothing I wouldn’t do. I even tried to kill myself in the hope I’d see you again. That I remembered when you died the last time, everything I did, how I was, how nothing mattered. And then when you came back, I’d never been happier, not until now.”
“What about Tracy?” Peter had to ask. He may have been in love with his brother but he refused to be a home wrecker too.
“For one more year she’ll be the First Lady. But after that, once I’m done cleaning up her messes I’ll be done with her. And when I am, when it can be just you and me again, I’d like to think it will be you and me again. That is, I guess, if you’ll have me.”
Peter only smiled before moving in to kiss him again, this time lacking that fierce, primitive drive their first kiss had but certainly not lacking in passion or meaning.
And soon a very Merry Christmas was had by all.
The End