Taken and Reunited

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I affiliated with, Heroes in any way

Note: Takes place during season four (not quite sure exactly where), some time after Peter finds out Nathan is really dead, but before the funeral so Nathan is still in the storage unit. Obviously contains spoilers

Peter entered his apartment and slowly closed the door, leaning back against it. he tilted his head back and closed his eyes, trying to block out the world. His brother was dead. Nathan was dead.

Peter shook his head, pushing himself away from the door and going into the kitchen. He grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with water, taking a long drink. He put the glass down, but it was too close to the edge and fell, shattering all over the floor.

"Dammit," he cursed, bending down and picking up the shards. He grabbed a larger one and it slipped, creating a long gash in his palm.

He stared at it for a moment, waiting for it to heal, before he suddenly remembered he didn't have Claire's power anymore. Peter cursed again. He stood and ran his hand under the tap, letting the cool water wash away the blood. As he watched it swirl away, it reminded him of a time when he was a kid...

"You got it?" nineteen year old Nathan asked his little brother.

"I got it," Peter said. The seven year old was practically vibrating with excitement as he adjusted his helmet and placed his foot on the skateboard.

"Alright, just take it nice and slow," Nathan coached his brother, crouching down to watch as Peter pushed off with his other foot. The board started moving and Peter smiled widely.

"Look Nathan! Look I'm doing it!" Peter shouted excitedly.

"I see ya buddy," Nathan said proudly.

Peter pressed forward and lifted his other foot onto the board as he picked up speed. He was smiling and giggling as he rolled across the large driveway of the Petrelli mansion.

He looked over at Nathan who beamed at him, but the smile fell when Peter started to wobble suddenly. He very quickly lost his balance and fell, hands scraping along the rough pavement.

"Pete! Peter!" Nathan ran forward as his little brother slowly turned over, his bottom lip trembling and large tears falling from Peter's eyes.

"Hey, hey buddy, you okay?" Nathan asked gently.

Peter shook his head vehemently. "It hurts Nathan!"
"Shhh, shhh, you're okay," Nathan murmured, "Let me see, that's it." He carefully took Peter's hands and winced sympathetically. They were only small cuts and scrapes, but he could imagine it must've felt awful to the seven year old.

"Come on," Nathan said, lifting his brother into his arms. "Let's get you cleaned up."

He rinsed Peter's hands carefully, washing away all the dirt and gravel.

"Feel better?" Nathan asked and Peter nodded, sniffing. "Good, we'll have you all patched up and back on that skateboard in no time."

"No," Peter shook his head, "I don't want to ride it anymore."

"Why not? Cause you fell?" Nathan asked and Peter nodded. "I know it was scary and it hurt, but you can't stop just because of that. If I stopped doing things just cause I was scared I'd never leave the house."

"But Nathan, you're not scared of anything," Peter said and Nathan chuckled lowly.

"Trust me Pete, there's plenty of things I'm scared of," Nathan said, thinking of the fear he'd felt when he'd seen his brother fall.

"Now, what d'you say me and you get some ice cream and watch a movie?" Nathan suggested.

"I thought you said I should try skating again?" Peter questioned.

"I think you should," Nathan nodded, "But sometimes when something's hard or scary it's okay to take a break and try again later. So today, ice cream and a movie. Tomorrow, we try the skateboard again, okay?"

Peter nodded, grinning as Nathan led him out of the bathroom and into the kitchen to get some ice cream.

Tears streamed down Peter's face. This wasn't the same as falling off his skateboard. Ice cream and a movie would've solve this. His brother was dead.

"Nathan," Peter whimpered brokenly. It was horribly ironic, he realized, that the one person who could've made him feel better right now was Nathan.

Peter dropped to his knees. "Nathan!" he screamed, eyes clamped tightly shut as he punched the floor. He felt a great surge run through his body and explode out, but he didn't care. He didn't are if he opened his eyes and everything around him was destroyed. Peter didn't care.

HEROESHEROESHEROESHEROESHEROESHEROESHEROESHEROESHEROES

Peter wasn't sure how long he lied there on his kitchen floor when there was a knock on his door.

Peter didn't move, fully planning on ignoring whoever it was and hoping they would go away. They didn't. The knocking persisted, growing more frantic with each passing second.

Peter growled in frustration as he got to his feet and stumbled over to the door.

"What?" he threw it open and stared, wide eyed, at who he saw. "Is this some sort of trick?"

"It's not a trick Pete, it's me."

"It can't be you! You're dead!' Peter shouted, backing away.

"I know Pete," Nathan said, stepping into his brother's apartment. "I was, but-"

"No! No buts! This is another trick!" Peter shouted, feeling more upset than angry at this point.

"Peter, listen to me," Nathan pleaded, "It's me, it is. I don't know how, but it is. I just woke up in a storage container and spent the past, I don't even know how long, banging on the door until someone came and let me out."

"It can't be you," Peter muttered to himself. "It can't, Sylar killed you. He killed you. He took you away. He took you away!" Peter slammed his and against the wall, wincing immediately as the cut on his hand pulled painfully. He cursed, hissing as he clutched his hand close.

"Peter?" Nathan was next to him in a second, grabbing hold of Peter's hand. "Damn Pete, what did you do?"

The cut was bleeding again.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up and we'll put a bandage on this," Nathan said, starting to tug his brother to the bathroom. Peter followed wordless, wincing slightly at the water pressure on his hand.

"Sorry buddy," Nathan mumbled, gently cleaning the blood off Peter's hand.

Peter still didn't say anything. He remained silent as his brother finished cleaning the cut and wrapped a bandage around it.

"There we go," Nathan said with a gently smile. "All better."

"Nathan?" Peter said quietly, his voice raspy from all the crying and screaming he had done the past couple hours.

Nathan looked up and smiled when he saw recognition in his baby brother's face.

"Yeah Pete, it's me," Nathan said.

Peter gave him a watery smile and immediately wrapped his arms around his brother.

"Nathan," he choked out, burying his face in Nathan's neck.

"I'm here Pete," Nathan said, holding his brother close. "I'm right here."

"This isn't a dream right?" Peter mumbled, "I don't think I could take it if I woke up and you were gone again."

"Not a dream, I promise," Nathan assured him. "This is real. I'm here. I'm here and I'm not going to leave you again."

"I love you Nathan," Peter said, squeezing his arms tightly around his brother.

"I love you too Pete," Nathan pressed a kiss to Peter's hair as he squeezed back, determined to hand onto his baby brother as long as he could.

First ever Heroes fanfic! I have so many ideas for more stories, but wanted to just dip my toes in the water before diving right in with a longer story (which won't be up for a while).

I had been meaning to watch Heroes for ages, but kept putting it off cause of school or other shows or something, but I've been on a bit of Milo Ventimiglia kick and ended up watching all four seasons in less than a week.

Really glad I did. I thoroughly enjoyed the show, wish we could've seen how everyone ended up, but since we can't I figure I'll just satisfy that need through fanfiction!

I was actually really hesitant on where to end this one cause my original plan was to have Nathan come back, like I did here, but then I wrote the flashback and I almost left it all sad and angsty. I decided I couldn't do it though and wrote it the way I planned, but honestly this is the first fic I've written where I would've like the ended either way.

Thanks so much for reading and let me know what you think!