Brotherly Love

[chimeramimicry]

I'm almost too late.  I can feel the surge of air in the room before I even pry open the door.  We're up at the penthouse level, the suites.  It's high enough for the broken windows to suck the doors closed.  I'm breathless when I push my way inside.  I see the scuffle.  I hear Nathan's labored breathing.  I have no idea what I do exactly.

It goes back to a time when I lost Nathan.  I was young when my brother went off to serve his country in the Navy.  We're thirteen years apart.  It's a lifetime, really.  I didn't understand that my brother would not be there to wake up to anymore, or to climb into his bed when the monsters came.

The monsters have come again.  One in particular.  One I'm not strong enough to fight.  And yet, he leaves Nathan to me. Badly wounded, hardly breathing, sure.  But alive.  I can almost feel my knees give out as I scoop him up to my chest.  I should go after Sylar.  But I can't move from Nathan's side.

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[chimeramimic.livejournal.com]

Thank God I know what I'm doing. My kit is here, it's so well stocked that i could probably do triage if I had to. Nathan looks so lost and so small, not at all like the older brother I've loved for my entire life. As I set about checking his dressings, I can't help but reminisce.

"Do you remember...last time I had you in bed and we were playing doctor?" It sounds so wrong. Playing doctor was always a sexual sort of game, but not for my brother and me. "I was six...so you had to be seventeen, eighteen. You sprained your ankle. I forget why, some sport you were being a peacock for. You let me change your ace bandage and I ended up coloring in perminant markers all over your legs while you slept."

I grin, and Nathan's doing the very best he can to grin too, despite the injury.

"I think that was right before my kindergarten teacher called mom to tell her that what i wanted to do when I grow up was marry you."

[prezstandsalone.livejournal.com]

I bite my lip to keep from laughing as Peter works on my dressings, it would hurt too much if I did. Peter was what I called a sweet terror when he was a kid.

He was shy with people he didn't know, but with me he didn't hesitate to pounce into my life whenever he wanted to. From jumping on my bed to coloring my legs Peter never failed to make me laugh, give me a hug or love me no matter what happened.

[chimeramimic.livejournal.com]

I'm an expert nurse and EMT. I am quite capable of doing anything for my brother that he needs, at least medically. I sigh, sitting back, a smile on my lips and in my eyes. "Almost good as new," I murmur. "I think I like it that you can't talk."

Maybe that's a little cruel. I pull off his shoes and then my own, stripping off my coat just after as I climb into bed with him.

"I can get a word in edgewise this way."

[prezstandsalone.livejournal.com]

I snort through my nose at him and give him a gentle swat in answer. Peter talked more then me and Dad put together. I was lucky to be able to take a breath when he was around.

I can't help myself I give Peter a nuzzle breathing in his scent. If he were to bottle it, he would seriously make a mint and then some.

[chimeramimic.livejournal.com]

"You'll rip your stitches!" I say as he pressed his face against my neck. I have to literally push him down by his shoulder and half lay over him to keep him still. My stupid brother. We've spent the last few months being enemies. I've had my gun drawn on him, he's had me tasered, he's made dirty deals for me with women he's been intimate with, he's lied about me, made me lose my job because everyone thought I was suicidal, he's used me for his own gain. The laundry list makes me press my face against his shoulder.

It doesn't matter. I forgive him so easily. I love him so effortlessly. He might be rotten to the core, but I know he loves me too.

I close my eyes and try to relax. We'll need our rest. I need to track down Claire after this. "Nathan..."

I wait for him to stop stroking my back as an answer.

"Promise that we can be together this time."

[prezstandsalone.livejournal.com]

I feel my eyes fill with tears and a few slip down my cheeks as I nod and squeeze Peter's hand in answer. I want nothing better then to be with him forever. He is my life, my heart and my soul.

I take a deep, deep, breath and speak my true heart for the first time since Peter was born. "I....love....you."

[chimeramimic.livejournal.com]

"I love you too," I say without hesitation. Nathan's told me this before and I've repeated it over and over. It's true. I love him. My smile is soft and I lift my head just in time to see him cry.

Why? These tears are not necessary. I lick my lips, afraid that he's in pain. I don't have sedatives stronger than the stuff you can get over the counter. I should have taken from from the hospital.

I wasn't thinking.

"I'll go see Claire," I whisper. "I'll bring her power back and heal you."