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Family Emergency	By : Bloodylocks Category: G through L > Heroes Views: 6221 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Heroes, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 14
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Less than a week later, Peter's health was beginning to improve. Upon examination of his sutures, Cusack noted a surprising pace the healing had taken. The two Petrelli brothers took the news with the optimism that Peter's abilities were beginning to return. How quickly they would all return and how fully remained to be seen. By the fifth day of bed rest, Peter found himself able to stand and walk around for a few minutes at a time.
"Can he go home soon?" Nathan asked the doctor when they were alone.
"From the way he's going, I shouldn't see why not," the woman replied. "As long as he gets plenty of rests and obeys what his body tells him, he should make a full recovery."
"I also need to discuss..." Nathan continued, his voice low and serious, "... keeping the baby here."
Cusack glanced at the lawyer, suspicious but uncertain of the man's inclination. "Keeping her here?"
"Until I can find a place that will take her."
Cusack's eyes narrowed. "Exactly what do you plan on doing with her, if I may ask? Leave her on the steps of a church and trust that some merciful soul will take her in?"
Nathan, not used to being questioned, instantly lashed back. "I don't believe I have to explain myself to you. All I know is that it's not healthy for Peter to be near that thing. The further away from him it is, the better."
The woman did not back away or stand down. It was obvious to everybody that she was not easily intimidated.
"Maybe Peter's reaction to his child mirrors your own," she said tersely. "He's afraid to bond with her daughter because he fears what you'll say if he does."
Nathan had never raised his hand to a woman, but he'd never been more inclined to do so than now. It took a great deal of his practiced self-control to keep his hands at his sides.
"Peter's not taking it home with him," he said coldly. "Unless you agree to keep it here, I'll be forced to find someone else that will. And I can't promise that whoever will take as good care of it as you do."
The steel in the doctor's gaze never faltered their staring contest went on for several seconds before she spoke again.
"Very well, then. Shall I make the arrangements for an adoption agency?"
Nathan's eye twitched in thought. "No, that won't be necessary. I'll see to it."
"Suddenly so concerned, are we?" Cusack asked, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in her voice.
"This is my fault and my responsibility. I'll take it upon myself to send her to her new home."
Clearing her throat, Cusack shook her head and turned away. "I see. Until then I'll see to her."
Nathan had brought some clothes during this visit to the clinic so that Peter would not be leaving in a flimsy gown. Due to the misshapen nature of his stomach following the birth, he still required maternity clothes, even though in his haste, the older brother had not chosen something to better fit his slowly shrinking figure.
He realized this only after he'd helped Peter get into the trousers and saw the amount of empty space between his brother's stomach and the waistline.
"Sorry about that, buddy," he said with a part embarrassed, part apologetic smile. "I'd sort of become used to seeing you wear nothing but those."
Peter glanced down at the sagging skin coating his abdomen and gave a frustrated sigh. "I'll look like a total freak for the rest of my life."

"Nonsense," Nathan objected. "As soon as you're fit enough to start exercising, you'll soon be rid of that." His brother did not look convinced and the older man sat down next to him on the bed, pulling him close.
"Hey Pete, chin up, okay? You're getting home today. You should be happy."
"I am, I..." Peter began to object, but his face read differently, and he knew it. "I don't know... yeah... I really want to go home now."
"Alright. You�ll be in the car soon."
Peter's arms wrapped around his brother's sturdy figure, returning the embrace, though more wanting than Nathan's.
"I don't wanna go out there. Can't you fly me home?"
"Nope," Nathan replied, nuzzling his brother's head. "It's just a short ride to the apartment."
"Somehow I feel more afraid to be seen now that I'm well again. It's not the way I look... I guess because it got so close to me dying..."
"And you're here," Nathan reassured him. "I'm with you. It'll be alright."
"What about the baby?"
Nathan had hoped to avoid the subject altogether, but supposedly it was impossible not to answer a direct question. "She'll remain here with the doctor," he said. "Until I can arrange something else for her, that is."
The look on Peter's face did not reveal much about his emotions regarding the infant.
"So... I guess this is the last time I'll see her?" he asked hesitantly.
"It might be," Nathan replied. "Does that bother you?"
"I... I don't know. I wish she'd never been born, and I feel I should feel bad, and yet I don't. Does that make any sense?"
The lawyer let out a short, humorless bark of laughter. "Nothing ever makes sense with you, baby bro," he said.
Peter tried to smile but the words hardly comforted him.
The car ride home was silent, and it took much longer to reach Peter's apartment than usual in this awkward stillness. A few times Nathan reached out and took his brother's hand, which was willingly squeezed in return, but otherwise they did not regard one another.
Shortly following their arrival, Peter slowly walked to his bedroom by himself and lay down on the bed. Nathan immediately placed pillows where his brother needed them and sat with him until the young man was asleep.
The lawyer, however, was not interested in sleep now. His thoughts dwelt upon the child still in Cusack's care back at the clinic. In the back of his mind, an idea had been forming as to what to do with the child. And soon, the professional side of him, the side that would have forced Peter to go through with the abortion months ago, was giving in to that idea.
He must not let Peter know. His sensitive baby brother would never accept such a solution, even though it would be the logical thing to do. Peter always chose to follow his heart, not his head. Lying to Peter had never bothered the older man, however. What his brother didn't know also couldn't hurt him. Hiding his intentions from Cusack would be the real challenge. Despite his grudging respect for her, Nathan still despised the woman strongly. She was obviously a person of strong principles, and her moralizing attitude to the brothers' relationship was proof enough that she would never accept Nathan's solution and perhaps even take measures to stop it. No, he must keep it hidden from her. Why did the nosey bitch have to be a telepath?
*
"How is he?" Cusack asked, when she saw the lawyer approach her desk.
"Sleeping," he replied. "Uncomfortable, mentally and physically. But he's doing well."
"That's to be expected," she replied, giving him a look bordering on conceit. "Considering what he's been put through..."
"Listen," Nathan said, eyes directly meeting those of the doctor. "I don't like you and you obviously don't like me, but we both care deeply about Peter. And you know I do. You're a god damn telepath, now look inside me and believe me when I say I care more about Peter than anyone else."
It was a dangerous chance to take, but he took it. For all he knew, Cusack might pick up on his intent to take the newborn away, but she did not look distracted in the way that she did when she read minds.
"I don't have to," she admitted, "I saw it inside Peter. Everything I saw between you and him convinces me."
Nodding gravely, the eldest of the Petrelli brothers continued. "We both want what's best for him."
"Yes."
"And that means we can't keep the baby. It means I have to take her elsewhere now."
"I know... but do you know in your heart that it's what Peter wants? You know him more than I ever will. Is he willing to let go?"
"Yes," Nathan said without doubt. "He knows he can't keep it. This isn't a homeless puppy we're talking about here. He's just a kid. He could never do it."
"Of course not, because you won't let him," Cusack argued. "Or are you too concerned of your own reputation to even give him a chance?"
"I'd be an idiot if I wasn't," Nathan snapped back. "Can you imagine the response if this came out?"
"Maybe you should have thought about that *before* you made your brother pregnant."
"Just take me to the kid so that I can get out of here. I'm sick of your holier-than-thou bullshit. Yes, I made a mess, and now I'm trying my best to fix it. Can you blame me?"
"This way, Mr. Petrelli," the doctor said. Her voice was fairly neutral but the force with which she rose almost made the chair tip over behind her.
Nathan smiled grimly as he followed her white-coated figure through the hallway.
"She's been fed, so you won't have to worry for another few hours," the woman stated as she handed a shoulder bag of essentials to Nathan, as well as the baby, wrapped up in a pink blanket.
The idea that she had been given with such supplies as though being taken home made the man feel slightly ill, but he shoved the notion aside and became his businessman self, hiding all the heart and making way for the mind.
"Where exactly are you taking her?" Cusack could not help but ask. Nathan hesitated as he turned away, but he had an answer which he held firmly in place in his thoughts in case the doctor decided to pry for the truth.
"I'm taking her out of state. Away from all of this."
Once he had exited the building, dusk was approaching. Perfect, he thought as he walked up a fire escape, holding the baby firmly against him, underneath his coat. She was still asleep and would hopefully remain so for the trip ahead.
Thoughts of his brother occupied Nathan's mind when he finally made it to the roof. He pictured Peter asleep in his own bed, tucked in under several layers of blankets, dark mop of hair splayed out over the pillow. He also wondered if his brother still snored, with no more bulge to put pressure on his lungs.
As if to remind him that she existed, the infant inside his coat made a small, snoring noise but without waking up. Nathan's hold on her tightened, and once more the grim insight of what he was about to do caught up with him. He was going to kill his own and Peter's offspring. He grieved not so much for the child but for his brother and Peter's reaction if he ever found out.
The older Petrelli brother hovered quietly a few feet above ground before taking off at supersonic speed, his destination not yet set.
He flew until the buildings below had vanished, replaced by highways and eventually woods. Based on the view, he guessed himself to be passing over the Appalachian mountain range. What state he had reached, however, was not clear. He slowed down, his altitude hiding his shape from any possible viewers from below. Every so often Nathan would pass a road or a house, and he pressed onward until all the he could see were trees.
Then he saw something: a column of smoke spouting from the forest. Descending closer, he saw amidst not but trees for miles around a cleared area. Based on the looks of the cabin therein, there could not possibly be any chance of telephones or other communication with the outside world. Whomever inhabited there had to be living like a wild animal.
Nathan knew he was taking a risk by descending onto the yard of the cabin; though he'd never himself encountered any, he was well aware that people out on the sticks did not always greet visitors with open arms. Old movies like "Deliverance" and "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" only worked to enhance that stereotype. Though the final ray of daylight had long since disappeared behind the trees westward, Nathan could see that almost the entire front yard was occupied by old car wrecks. The cabin itself was pretty much a wreck too and looked like it had been built some time during the Civil war. Could someone really still live here?
The lawyer peaked inside his coat to make sure the baby, quiet as it was, had survived the flight. Two large, brown eyes, so strikingly like Peter's that it left him shaken, looked right back up at him.
Nathan had at first thought to move on, but now he hesitated. The smoke escaping the crooked chimney meant that someone still lived here, even though the interior of the house was not lit. Stepping forward towards the porch with the most careful of steps, he removed the bundle from his coat and gently placed it on the uneven planks of wood.
The baby wiggled and began to fuss over her surroundings. She missed the warmth and security of her father's arms. Nathan tried to ignore the very idea and instead replaced his feelings with anger. Anger over Peter's near death, and the unfair circumstances leading to this moment...
Someone lived in this cabin and must have been nearby, he figured. If they came soon enough, they could take care of her and raise her. If not... too bad.
�I�m sorry.�
He briefly considered kissing her brow but dismissed the idea just as quickly. He had sworn to himself not to create any kind of emotional attachment to this child. It was not his. It was simply something, a lump of flesh, that had grown inside Peter like a cancer, and that's how he must regard it.
After Nathan had turned his back to it and started walking away, he could hear the baby starting to cry. He did not stop or even turn his head but steadfastly kept walking until he reached the dirt road leading up to the cabin. It was still night. Plenty of time to get back to Manhattan, to his brother. The infant's cries still sounding in his ears, Nathan Petrelli took off once more.
TBC...
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Family Emergency