Heroes Fanfic -A Capable Woman 20/28 - Peter, Nathan, Arthur, Angela, Bob & Linderman

Chapter 20

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March 2006
The Petrelli Home

Angela came home to faint noises coming from the bedroom. It was Sunday night and the house was usually quiet, but not tonight. Angela made her way up the stairs and as she got closer to her bedroom door she could tell the noise she heard was the sound of two men fighting. Two men in a heated argument and they were Daniel Linderman and her husband.

The Present
The Petrelli Home

Peter could feel his mother panicking, her heart racing, her breathing heavy and, without even knowing it, he let her free from what was going on.

Angela opened her eyes with a large breath and pulled away from her family. Her eyes were wet with tears and her face was red.

“Mom, what is it?” Peter questioned with all his concern.

“No. No.“ She shook her head, her voice was grainy and not like herself. “I don’t. I don’t want to relive that. I can’t.” She was scared yet demanding at the same time. “I won’t. No.”

“You can’t!?” Nathan was irate.

“Nathan–“ Peter tried to calm him.

“No. No,” he waved Peter off. “This is where we are in the story, Ma!” Nathan barged toward his mother “ You don’t get to stop this. Not now! You don’t get to decide for us anymore!”

“Some things in this world are meant to be private!” Angela snarled to Nathan.

“Leave her alone, Nathan. This is hard for her.” Peter walked halfway into Nathan’s path, but Nathan didn’t stop.

“Private!?” Nathan was practically in her face, but Angela didn’t flinch. “Private?” he greeted softly. “All of this, concerns us. It’s not private anymore. This was our lives you were playing with, Ma.. These secrets... they don’t belong to you anymore. They belong to us.”

Angela’s eyes widened as she recognized those words from her past, but she hardly let on.

“Don’t push her, Nathan.” Peter looked his brother straight in the eye.

Nathan looked at his mother almost disgusted. “You think I’m scared of you?! I’ve been burned alive and shot to death–“

“Well, I’ve been shot, burned alive, thrown from a building and stabbed to death, you really think you scare me.”

Nathan turned his back on his mother fed up with the whole thing.

“Not in front of the girl.” Angela said coldly as she caught sight of Claire, but Angela’s eyes told a different story, as they were wet with tears.

Claire didn’t know what to say. She just looked at Angela unsure and protective of herself. Peter and Nathan looked at Claire.

“What does this have to do with me?” Claire questioned, almost demanding.

“She deserves to know too,” Nathan said, looking at Claire, before looking back at his mother again. “She’s part of this, too.”

There was a short pause, which finally Angela broke.

“I think we all deserve a drink first.” Angela made her way over to a small bar set up in the corner of the room.

“What?” Nathan turned toward her.

“Well, not you and not her.” Angela took two glasses and placed them in front of her. She looked at Peter who gave her a non-verbal no. “I guess its just me then.” Angela said with a bob of her head and a glint in her eye.

“I can have a drink if I want to.” Nathan sounded as if he was defending his manhood.

“No, you can’t -“ Angela said matter-of-factly, not even looking at him. “Because you’re an alcoholic, that’s why.” She slowly poured herself a glass of scotch.

“What is she talking about?” Peter looked at Nathan.

Nathan shook his hand in Peter’s direction, waving him off, as if telling him it was no big deal. “In between the hospital and a week before we found you – I was upset, I started drinking – it was no big deal - “He started to get angry again. “That doesn’t make me an alcoholic!”

“But you are Nathan.” Angela looked at him hard and cold. “Just like my father.” She took a pitcher of water and slowly poured water into the second glass as everyone watched her. “You never met your grandfather.” She looked off for a moment.

“You’ve never talked about him” Peter was a little in awe, it was a subject he had never gotten his mother to talk about when he was young.

“He died when I was sixteen. He used to disappear every night and end up at the local bar. "She paused as if remembering it all. "By the time I was ten, everyone there knew him by name.” She looked at her sons. “And then one night he was so drunk the bartender took his car keys away from him, the safe choice of course - but safe choices don’t always keep you safe, do they? He was alone, no one to drive him home, he decided to walk."

Angela again seemed to be remembering the moment as if it was happening in front of her.

“And I watched as my father stumbled into oncoming traffic and was mown down by a street cleaner. I was twenty miles away.” Angela took a drink from her scotch glass and set it down, looking at it for a moment, before looking up. It was clear Angela was holding in her emotions. “I woke up moments before the police officer came to tell my mother, it was two hours later - it was the first time I manifested.”

“Like when I did...” Peter trailed off looking at his mother.

Angela looked at Peter. “Yes. Just like you, Peter.” Angela turned her glance toward Nathan and lifted the water glass in front of her in Nathan’s direction.. “So, what’s your choice, Nathan,” she waited.

Nathan walked toward his mother and took the glass of water. He just looked at her in silence before she walked away from him and the bar, leaving the scotch glass on the bar.

“Fine” Angela’s head bobbed for a moment with the strain of her emotions, at the strain of holding it all in. Holding it in for too long. She looked at Peter and nodded her head.

Peter nodded his head back to her and Angela took a step forward to join her family.

Claire was standing in front of Angela and the two women locked eyes. Two sides of the same coin. They glared at each other, two protective women trying to be strong. They all took hands, closed their eyes and began again.

March 2006

It was raining outside, Angela now remembered and she could hear the sound of the rain hitting the side of the townhouse.

Angela opened her eyes and found herself in that same hallway again. Hearing the same voices coming from her bedroom, that of Linderman and her husband fighting. She was able to step out of herself and back to a watching position and her past began again for all to see.

“Did you think I wouldn’t find out,“ she heard Daniel snarl as she opened the door. “Where is she, Arthur? Where’s the girl!”

“What is going on here?!” Angela demanded at the two men as she shut the door.

“I was bound to find out somehow, Arthur. That you had a granddaughter!”

Angela’s stomach jumped, but her face didn’t show it..

“Calm down!” Angela urged, but it just sounded like white noise to Arthur and Linderman as the two men talked over each other. “What is going on here!?”

“Did you really think you could keep this from me, from us!” Linderman scoffed at Arthur.

“I was protecting my family.” Arthur demanded.

“From me?” Linderman questioned.

“From us.” Arthur's face was stern, almost serene.

Daniel’s face tightened. “You’re weak!.”

“Just, stop it!” Angela shouted.

“Did she know?” Linderman took out his gun and pointed it at Angela.

“She had no idea. It was all me.” Arthur said stoically.

All Angela did was blink as her mouth stood open at the bombardment of thoughts hitting her. But Angela Petrelli knew the role she had to play, the role she had been asked to play.

“I find that hard to believe...” Daniel cooed.

Angela walked forward calmly. “I don’t know what you're talking about, Daniel. We have two grandsons. Nathan has two boys. Put the gun away, Daniel.” She stopped a few steps before him..

Daniel pointed the gun toward Arthur again, only this time he saw another gun looking back at him. “Well, isn’t this interesting?” Linderman smiled. His face got serious. “Don’t make us do this, Arthur. Tell me where the girl is.”

The two men, once war buddies, then friends, then colleagues, now enemies, faced off against each other. All Angela could do was what she did best, watch.

“Tell me where she is, Arthur? “ Daniel arched his eyebrow. “Or do I have to make Maury do it for you.”

There was a small moment of silence, but to Angela it felt like hours.

Finally Arthur spoke. “No, you're right...” Arthur lowered his gun.

Angela was in shock. Daniel smiled and lowered his gun. Everyone seemed to take a silent sigh of release, except Arthur.

He looked Daniel in the face with a soberness Angela hadn’t seen in a long time. “I thought that would be the route you were going for.” Arthur looked at Angela. “I’m sorry,” he said with the emotion in his eyes of a regretful man. It wasn’t just an apology for what had come to pass, it was an apology for what was to come.

And Arthur Petrelli took his Company-issue gun to his head and pulled the trigger - one shot through the head.

“Nooo!” Angela reached out, but it was all too late.

Daniel couldn’t believe Arthur had done it as Arthur’s body fell lifeless to the ground; while Angela stood still and silent in a state of shock.

“No. No...” Daniel said softly to himself. “No, No no! No!” Daniel’s words got louder and louder. “Damn him!” Daniel wasn’t happy one bit, but what was done was done. He walked away from the body and took a breath before walking back to Angela. “You didn’t know about any of this?”

“Nooo.” She said softly, her body imperceptibly shaking, she was unable to move. She was holding too much in. She couldn’t even look at Daniel.

“You didn’t know your son had an illegitimate child,” he positioned himself right next to her ear.

“Sometimes men confess certain things to their fathers,“ she gulped, her face was wet and full of horror.

“I believe you, Angela. I believe you.” Linderman put his gun away. He talked to her from her left, but looked at her with one eye. “It’s for the best. This is a very important time in our lives, Angela. He was weak. He would have brought us down, you understand that? He never understood the gifts that god gave him.”

“I understand.”

“Good girl. You’ll know how to take care of this, won’t you,” he told her, he didn’t ask. He knew what she was capable of.

Angela nodded her head and Daniel Linderman left the room. She waited as Daniel walked down her stairs, out the door closing it with a crack. It was when she heard the door slam that Angela Petrelli dropped to her knees letting out the most blood-curdling scream one could ever hear until she had no more air left to breath.

Angela & Nathan Petrelli
The Petrelli Home
Early the next Morning.

Angela Petrelli sat with her back up against the wall of the hallway outside her closed bedroom. Her legs were almost against her chest and she looked off into nothingness, her eyes red, her face swollen from tears and a twisted piece of tissue between her fingers. She’d lost her shoes somewhere, she couldn’t remember where.

“Ma!” she heard Nathan’s voice as he barreled up the stairs in one of his designer suits.

“Up here,” she tried to yell, but her voice was too hoarse and drained to be heard. She slowly tried to pull herself off the ground.

“Ma!” He caught sight of her as he reached the top of the stairs. Nathan ran to his mother as she stood.. “What happened?” Nathan demanded, but when he saw her face he knew.

It was the same face he would see months later when he opened his eyes in his hospital room, his body burnt and bleeding. And at the time it was a face that scared him, because he knew that face. Because he knew that face from this moment. The day his father died. The fear and pain all over her face. He had seen his mother cry, she could be very emotional, but it was rare that he saw her so disheveled and not in control of her full on emotions.

Nathan’s entire body felt like it would sink and his eyes showed it, but he held in his urge to collapse as much as he could, for his mother’s sake.

“He killed himself...” she said in a soft rasp.

Nathan took in a deep breath to again keep in his emotions. He was like his father that way; he was like his mother that way. Nathan reached for the door handle.

“No, Nathan, no.”

Angela put out her arm to try and stop him, but there was no way of doing so as Nathan walked into his parents' bedroom to find his father’s body, his hero, lifeless and bloody on the floor.

“No, Nathan.” Angela lowered her head.

Nathan walked out into the hallway shocked, knowing it was an image he would never be able to get out of his head.

“How could he do this?” Angela declared. “How could he leave this family, when it needs him so much. Damn him, Nathan --damn him to hell!” She was almost manic, wanting someone to blame.

“Ma, stop it.” He looked at her. “What happened? Just calm down and tell me what happened. What?! He just woke up and decided to kill himself!? Ma, it doesn’t make any sense! I mean.. I mean...” He looked at his mother, holding her from the shoulders, he just couldn’t believe what was going on.

“This isn’t the first time, it’s happened before...”

“What?” he greeted the words between his teeth softly. He wasn’t expecting that answer.

“His two heart attacks.” She sucked in her tears and was able to speak somewhat normally. She had her wits about her. “Before. We lied. They were failed suicide attempts. Both times.”

“Suicide attempts?” His mind was reeling.

“You know why he left the army?”

“Yeah... but that was trauma... from the war that was it. It happens, I know.”

“Delusions of grandeur they told me.” She was getting calmer as she wove her stories from half truths, stringing them together from a lifetime of experience. “It’s something he’s been fighting for years, we didn’t want to worry you and Peter. His reputation...” She nodded her head. “We especially didn’t want you to know. You look up to him so much.” She sucked in more tears. “No one can know Nathan. His reputation – his--”

“It’s okay, it’s okay...” he took his mother in his arms and held his hand on her head. “I’ll take care of it. It’s okay...” Nathan’s head felt like sandpaper and his stomach felt like mush. “I can call in a few favors--friends from the DA’s office – they’ll help me. Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it I’ll fix this.” And Nathan Petrelli tried not to cry.

The Funeral of Arthur Petrelli
New York

“O God, by Your mercy rest is given to the souls of the faithful, be please to bless this grave.” The priest spoke. “ Appoint Your holy angels to guard it and set free from all the chains of sin and the soul of him whose body is buried here, so that with all Thy saints he may rejoice in Thee forever. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.No one from the group came to the funeral.

Angela sat, stoic, almost motionless, her eyes moist, but nothing else. In public wasn’t the place for crying. Besides, she had already done enough crying. And she had learned long ago that crying changes nothing - Arthur was still dead.

Peter sat to Angela’s right and Nathan sat to her left. Peter held her hand. Nathan spoke, but halfway through almost broke down - he had to sit down.

Nathan sat through the burial and the church service holding inside of him the secret of his father’s death, living with it in silence. At least half of it. And Nathan lived with the fear that maybe, somehow, his father had discovered that his two sons were about to testify against him in court and perhaps he was to blame for his father’s death. It was something he just couldn’t shake. But Nathan told no one his secret, not even Peter. Peter and Nathan shared one secret while Nathan and Angela shared another. Angela shared secrets with no one anymore.

The American flag draped over the coffin was folded into a triangle and handed to Angela. She took it in her gloved hands and sat it on her lap. Peter looked at his mother thinking this would be the moment she might lose it, but she didn’t. He looked into her red eyes and smiled sheepishly. Angela breathed in through her nose and tried to smile back.

One-by-one, the Petrellis walked in front of the casket.

Nathan kissed his hands and set them on the edge of the coffin with tears in his eyes.. “Goodbye, Pop.”

Nathan took his sons' hands, letting each of them touch the casket with their tiny fingers before walking away. Heidi was still in the hospital.

Peter held his hand on the coffin for a silent moment before Nathan came over and set his hand on the his brother's neck, rubbing it before taking him away as tears started to run over their eyelids.

Angela was the last to walk past. She set her two hands on either side of the coffin and just stared at it - she didn’t move.

Peter turned back and saw his mother, standing alone and he walked back to her. “Come on, Mom.” He put his arm around her.

Angela leaned in and kissed the casket. She lifted up and set her fingers along the wood, as if she was admiring it. “I really did love him.” She said to no one in particular.

“I know.” Peter nodded his head and tried to get her eyes. “Come on. Let’s go back to the house.”’

Angela nodded her head through the tears she held tucked in and she let her youngest son walk her to the car.

The Wake of Arthur Petrelli
The Petrelli Home
Manhattan

Nathan had to leave his father’s wake after about two hours, it was too suffocating. As soon as he saw a clear space for the door, Nathan walked out of his parents' house, now his mother’s house, to get some air.

Angela needed a break herself, but instead of venturing outside, she sat in what used to be Peter’s room in a chair by the window. Angela lifted the curtain on the gloomy day, looking out as she saw Nathan approaching the front stoop. A long black car pulled up and lowered the window.

Nathan was surprised to see Linderman sitting in the car.

“Nathan...” Linderman called Nathan over.

“Mr. Linderman.” Nathan walked to the car, but stayed back a few paces. “I didn’t see you at the funeral.”

“I’ve been called back to Las Vegas on business, I can’t stay – I feel awful. I wanted to give my deepest condolences to your family. I’ve known your father for too long. It’s a real shame.”

“Thank you.” Nathan nodded his head.

“How’s that wife of yours?”

Nathan gritted his teeth, trying not to show how he blamed that man for so much pain in his life. “She’s doing better, thank you.” And he flashed that future politician smile.

“Good.” He smiled.

“If you ever need anything, you just...” he smiled a small smile. “You just let me know.”

“I’ll remember that.”

Linderman nodded his head.

“If you’ll excuse me...ah. I should get going..” Nathan seemed distracted for many reasons. “Thank you for coming.” Nathan turned away and went back into the house.

“You're not even gonna go inside and pay your respects,” said a voice from inside the car.

“Are you crazy.” Linderman’s voice was low and gruff. “There’s an empath in there. I’m not just giving my gift to just anyone. At least no one in that family.” Linderman motioned toward the front seat. “Kevin," he said to his driver. “The airport. I want to get out of this god-forsaken town. The cold is depressing me.” And he closed his window and the car drove off.

Peter & Angela

Peter found his mother in his old bedroom. She was just staring out the window as if looking at nothing, which wasn’t true. As always, Peter was concerned for his mother, for he loved her, because she loved him back and to Peter that was enough.

“There you are?” Peter said sweetly. “I thought you went invisible on me?” He walked into the room, but Angela’s eyes were still fixated out the window.

“No, I’m here..” She let go of the curtain and leaned back in the chair. “It was suffocating down there, I needed a break.”

“Take all the time you need.” He assured her as he walked closer.

“I think I will,” she said with a cocky assurance as she caught his eye.

Peter smiled. He liked that his mother was taking a stand for herself.

“I see you didn’t take any time changing my room over,” he said with a joking glint in his eye, rolling his eyes at the room.

“We cannot dwell in the past, now can we?” She smiled a melancholy smile as Peter sat down on the ottoman in front of her chair. They took hands.

“You know you don’t have to go back down there—“

“Noooo” She shook her head yes. “I do.” She looked at him with that special look she seemed to reserve for Peter.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to–“

“Is this your sixty-thousand-dollar nursing degree talking, or my son?”

“These people don’t deserve a piece of you–“

“It’s my job now..” She took a deep breath and rolled her head. “I am the widow, I need to play my part, make everyone else feel better,” she said sarcastically. “I just need a little time out – a little break.” She took her hand and ran it through her son's hair. “You need a haircut.”

“Mom.” He moved his head away so she would stop treating him like he was ten.

“Fine,” she put her hands up. “I won’t mention it again.”

Peter just looked at his mother with a loving glint in his eye.

“What?” she shook her head pretending she didn’t understand. “Is there something on my face?”

“I’m just checking in with you?”

“I’m fine, really,” she stressed, but Peter knew different. “He loved you, you know that?” Angela leaned in and spoke with all direct seriousness.

“Mom–“ he tried to stop her from speaking, he didn’t want to go there.

“He did.” She nodded her head and shook his hand as she squeezed it. “So, much so.”

“I know he loved me, he just... I don’t know— he had a lousy way of showing it sometimes.”

“It was just who he was.”

“And I don’t wanna talk about that, now –okay? Not here– it isn’t right–“

“He was a man of a different generation, Peter. But his family –That was most important to him. What he did, he did for us, for you – for you and Nathan – don’t forget that.”

“And what did he do for you?”

“For me?” She smiled and held the end of her son’s chin. “He did a lot for me, I assure you. He did enough.” She got a melancholy look in her eye as she lifted her fingers off her son’s chin. “He did what he could. I never really appreciated him for that, but I guess that’s just another regret I can throw on the fire.”

“You know I look back at my life growing up and I know we joked and we laughed, but I always got the feeling – somewhere deep inside of you – you were always... unhappy.”

Angela didn’t answer this time, she just looked at her son dead on, and loved him for who he was.

“You should get away.” Peter squeezed her hand.

“Get away?” she laughed and leaned back in her chair, letting go of his hand.

“Go away – travel — see the world. Get away from New York for awhile.”

“I’ve seen the world. It’s overrated.” Angela took her eyes from his gaze and looked out the window again.

Peter felt he should leave his mother alone. He stood. “I’ll be downstairs if you need me.”

Angela reached out and took his hand as if it was for dear life. “Okay.” She said softly and nodding her head. Angela turned toward the window again.

Peter walked to the doorway and paused, looking back at his mother’s reflection in the window. The sun was starting to set making the gloomy March day even darker.

“There’s hope out there, Mom.”

Angela’s face was stoic. “Sometimes Peter, I worry about you.”

“I worry about you too.” Peter meant it in an entirely different way than Angela did.

Angela’s demeanor was nothing but a cold front. “I wish you’d see the world for what it is Peter. I fear maybe I failed you in that way.” She still wouldn’t look at him, looking at only his reflection in the window. It was as if she was off somewhere.

“You started to sound like Pop.” He pushed his hair out of the way of his face.

“Maybe I’ve started to see that there’s very little time left.”

“Don’t talk like that —“ He didn’t like his mother talking about death at his father’s funeral, but Angela was talking about something else all together.

Angela turned to face Peter. “If you don’t shape up Peter, this world will eat you up, just like it did your father. The world eats hope for breakfast, Peter. It’s all nice to have a good heart, I wouldn’t want you any other way, but you let them get you, then what was the point in having it in the first place, if you waste it all away.”

“Way to be blunt, Mom.” He wasn’t sure what to make of her.

“I’m blunt because it saves time.” Angela echoed Kaito’s past words to her. “The clock is ticking.” Angela was of course referring to the bomb, the future, she just had no idea she was talking to it. She looked at Peter with all her spirit. “I don’t want it to be too late for you.”

“I can take care of myself, Mom.” Peter understood she was upset. “Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.”

Angela took a breath and looked away from Peter, she leaned back in her chair.

“Maybe on Tuesday you can come over and help your brother and I clean out your father’s things.” Angela looked toward her ring finger and played with her fingernails.

“I can’t on Tuesday I start work on a job – it’s my first day – I already interviewed, I just need to get a tour of the place, learn my way around– oh, that reminds me I forgot to mention– he said he knew you...Charles Deveaux, that name ring a bell– said he knew you. I never heard the name--”

“Yes, I knew Charles.” She threw it off. Angela’s eyes smiled for a moment and then they got soft and sad. “He’s sick?” She still wasn’t looking at Peter. She looked as if she was coming up with ideas. “I mean I knew he was, but I didn’t know—“

Peter walked back into the room.

Angela could hear his silence resonate. “You can tell me, I’m not made of glass right now.”

“You never were.”

“He’s dying?”

“Yes.”

“I see.” She looked down for a moment.

“I’m sorry. Were you good friends?”

“A long, long time ago,” she said soft and low. “Peter?” she asked after a moment. “Why don’t I stop by with you on Tuesday?” She asked distantly. “If you don’t mind--

“I think he’d like that.” Peter smiled and started to leave again, “In a few months, you’ll feel better. It will all be different. I promise you.”

“In a couple of months, everything will be different Peter, this I have faith in.”

Downstairs Nathan was agitated, he felt hot and claustrophobic and he hadn’t checked in on Heidi yet for the day. He wasn’t even sure where his kids were.

The house felt packed. Nathan wondered if everyone in New York City was there. In the foyer, the living room, even in the kitchen. Arthur Petrelli had been a very well-respected lawyer in New York City, which meant that many people came to pay their respects, or network, and angle for that next prime job. Everyone wanting to get a piece; while there was still something left to get a piece of.

With all Nathan was going through in his life, with his father, with Heidi, playing host or thanking people who barely knew his father wasn’t number one on his list at the moment, but it was what was done. In fact, he was so distraught and harried Nathan forgot to notice that not one close friend of Arthur’s or his mother'sseemed to show up at the funeral. Angela and Arthur Petrelli had hardly any close friends left from their normal life. None, really at all. It's just what happens when a certain life is lead.

Nathan caught sight of Peter coming down the stairs from seeing their mother.

“Hey!” Nathan called to Peter through the noise.

Just then Nathan found himself approached, almost accosted by yet another mourner, it was a one Bob Bishop.

“Mr. Petrelli, I am sorry for the loss of your father, he was a great man, a special man.” Bob put out his hand and Nathan shook it.

“Thank you, it means a lot to my family that you could make it.” Nathan gave his standard phrase for the day, he tried to get Peter’s attention with his eyes, but he was still stuck with Bob. Nathan looked Bob over. “I’m sorry, I feel like maybe we’ve met before–But with the day, I can’t quite--“

“Bob, Bob Bishop.”

Nathan was distracted, and he looked back at Bob again, “I’m sorry Bob--?”

“Bishop. Bob Bishop. I’m an old friend of your parents.”

Nathan nodded his head back toward Peter to signal him to come over to the side.

Nathan gave a final look at Bob. “I’m sorry, if you’ll excuse me. I have to – you understand. Thank you, really for coming. Thank you.” Peter was almost to Nathan and behind Bob.

“Pete!” Nathan motioned with his finger toward himself walking toward the doorway to take his brother over to a small area in the foyer. “Listen I’m swamped out there, where did you go?”

“I went to check on Mom.”

“We have our whole life to check on Ma, I need you down here. Simon and Monty are just runnin’ around crazy, I don’t know where. The partners from Pop’s firm just showed up. I have to call Heidi at the hospital. I need someone to play defense here.” He gripped his brother's shoulder. “Okay?”

“Okay. Yeah. Whatever you need.” Peter nodded his head understandingly. “I’m here for you, you know that.”

“Good.” Nathan seemed spent and upset which came out as frustrated arrogance. “Like I’m not doing enough around here.” His eyes darted around as he tried to stay focused.

“Nathan, you have every right—“

Nathan took Peter’s eyes. “No, no I don’t have time for this, right now. I love you, but this–“ he pointed to Peter. “I don’t want to talk about my feelings at this place and time, alright? Not now.”

Nathan turned to the kitchen as his two sons ran around his feet almost tripping him. “Peter!”

“I’m on it.” Peter turned to fetch his nephews when he caught sight of his mother watching them from the middle step on the staircase.

Peter and Angela caught eyes and he smiled at her and she tried to smile back - she was a vision in black. Peter gave one last sheepish grin and went after Nathan’s boys.

That was when Angela caught sight of Bob.

Bob looked up at Angela with that look of understanding he was famous for. A look Angela saw as nothing more than condescending, yet she suspected only those who knew him could see it. It felt like nothing but feigned sorrow to her. This was not a man who was present to pay his “respects”.

Bob nodded his head and approached Angela, who walked down one step as Bob stepped up to the one below her.

Bob nodded his head. “I’m so sorry, Angela.”

Angela nodded her head back to him politely, yet cold..

Bob took a step up the staircase, closer to Angela, and whispered in her ear. “Plans must be made for the line of succession within the Company.”

Angela’s demeanor changed from strength to held in anger. She glared at him and spoke in cold, passionate tones. “This is my husband’s funeral. The body isn’t even cold yet. Show some respect.” She gritted the word respect between her teeth so thick she almost spit on him.

And Angela Petrelli left the staircase to greet her guests.

That night Angela Petrelli put a set of wind chimes in her window. They could be seen from the street. For the clock was ticking. Claire had manifested, the bomb was coming and Angela Petrelli would haveto save the world and save her family all at the same time. It was something she felt she was very capable of. And now she would do it alone.

Next Chapter:Why the company was looking for Maury? Why did Angela steal those socks? And with Arthur gone who, if anyone, will Angela confide in?