A Rude Awakening

Participants:

kaylee2_icon.gif peter7_icon.gif

Scene Title A Rude Awakening
Synopsis The illusions surrounding their relationship finally crumble, during an emotional argument, forcing them to face some hard truths.
Date April 28, 2010

Lower East Side

Peter's Apartment


« — another cloudy day here in New York City. You know Stephanie I woke up this morning and those escaped penguins from the Central Park Zoo were in line for coffee at the Starkbucks, I kid you not!»

Kaylee's eyes snap open, a jolt of wakedness rousing her consciousness. Blurry eyes adjust to the sights of a white painted ceiling, the drab gray light of daytime spilling through a partly curtained bedroom window, and the soft caress of the comforter on Peter's bed. It's like it was all one terrible dream.

«We've got some big news today regarding the weather and later on in the hour we have communicable diseases expert Ryan Ferguson from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on the show to talk to us about the H5N10 virus, how to recognize it and how to prevent it from infecting your kids…»

The television is on, loudly, and the nattering voices of a morning talk news program hums in Kaylee's ears along with the sound of blood pumping in her veins. She's laid out, like a decoration, atop the rumpled comforter on Peter Petrelli's bed, safe and sound, such as it is, in his apartment. There's daylight outside, filtered gray thorugh clouds, windblows snow blowing past the windows.

«But first at the top of the hour, our continuing coverage on the Blizzard of 2010. We already know from the bulletin put out by the Department of Homeland Security last month that the weather is an Evolved terrorist attack on US soil, but how exactly do we as Americans prepare outselves to defend against something like this? How do we stop it now and keep it from happening again? It's these tough questions that we present to our first guest today, live via satellite, chief scientific researcher at the Commonwealth Institute of Massachusetts and famed researcher into the Evolved, Doctor Mohinder Suresh. Thank you for joining us on the show this morning, Doctor Suresh.»

As the television continues to scream through the apartment, Kaylee's mind swims, disorientation comes in heavy, gulping doses and the anxiety begins to kick in the moment she tries to retrace her steps. There's nothing there. She can't remember how she got here, safe, how she got home. All she can remember is getting into the helicopter…

"No…" It's the first thing that is groaned out as she tries to think back finding… nothing. It was as if Kaylee stepped into the helicopter and then the next moment her eyes were opening. "No.. no no.." The word is repeated over and over again in a whisper as she continues to lay there, as if the cold stone of panic resting in her gut is weighing her down.

Swallowing, Kaylee rolls over to her side and slowly sits up, giving a huff of frustration at the way her head still swims. "Those fucking bastards." She hisses out, suddenly going from panicked to anger, her eyes blur as tears come unbidden. The thought that she went willingly in hopes to be given a glimpse of her father… denied to her.

Pushing off the bed, she sways on her feet, fingers clumsily moving to work at the zipper of her jacket so that she can get it off, but her fingers don't want to work and the zip sticks. She tugs at it with a sound of completely frustration in the back of her throat, when it doesn't budge, her arms drops with a barely contained sob of frustration.

There is something she has to do, so she carefully, hand on the wall, in case the spinning world gets to be too much., she goes for the phone. She has to let them know she's out and… what happened. She pauses near the phone, brows furrowing that fear dropping into her stomach again, making her feel weak in the knees. A thought hits her…

Oh god… I can't remember what they did to me.

Keys jingle in the door and there's a groan of disquieted frustration the moment that comes with the apartment entrance opening. Dark circles hang beneath Peter Petrelli's eyes, he's a few days unshaven, his hair is an absolute mess, stringy locks hanging in front of his face and he's dressed somewhat awkwardly in his work uniform despite not being on the schedule for today. Sunken cheeks, bruises on the side of his neck and bandages on both of his wrists indicate that it's been a long night.

"Kaylee," Peter breathes out as if her being here isn't anything weird at all, and he's the one that looks apologetic. "God I— I'm sorry I didn't come home last night I— " Peter's voice hitches in the back of his throat, legs tiedly carrying him past the doorway without so much as shedding his coat, one booted foot closing the door behind him before he moves to clear the distance between himself and the blonde by the phone.

The answering machine is blinking.

"Did you get my messages?" There's a lift of one of Peter's brows, voice hushed. "I— tried calling your cell but it was off I— " she's wearing her cold weather gear. "Were— you headed out already? It's only seven in the morning…" and he's just getting home?

Red rimmed eyes turn towards him and all Kaylee can do is shake her head, though as soon as she does it, she regrets it as it sends her head spinning again. "Oh.. god, if my head doesn't stop… I'm gonna end up throwing up." Her voice sounds strained and quavering from the fact she's trying not to cry. Her hand reaches the phone finally and she pulls it off the cradle, ignoring Peter for the moment. She has to do this now, not later. "I have to call Eileen." She murmurs.

Shaking fingers grip the phone and she starts to dial, teeth biting painfully into her bottom lip to keep it from quivering. The numbers on the phone are blurred, but she manages to tap in the numbers for one of the people within the Ferry she trusts the most.

Phone to her ear, listening to it ring, Kalyee turns slowly to Peter, a hand reaching out so that she can curl fingers into the front of his clothing and she can move to lean against him, forehead resting on his shoulder. "I'm sorry…" It's all she whispers, while she waits for the voice mail to pick up.

"Eileen." Her voice is shaky as she finally reaches the voice mail. The telepath works hard not to sound like she wants to cry as she explains, head coming up off Peter's shoulder so she can look at him, as she says, blue eyes watery with unshed tears, speaking just as much to him as the recorder on the other end. "I'm okay… I think… I'm at home. I… I need Dr. Brennan to look me over, make sure they didn't do anything. I'm not going near anything Ferry til then. I - I don't remember anything." Frustration is in her voice. "I don't know what the Institute did to me. But… we served me right up to them. I was a target… They knew who I was when they saw me. Said I was wanted by them." Her voice catches then and she has to look down away from Peter, as she says.

"I'm at home… um.. Peter's place. Let me know whether you want to talk to me here or someone else." Kaylee's eyes close, "I'm sorry Eileen. I had know idea." Swallowing against the lump in her throat Kaylee ends the call, before looking at Peter again. That is when she finally really sees him. Eyes widen with confusion, "Peter! What — what happened to you?" She moves to gently touch the bruising on his neck.

Click goes the phone when Peter snatches it out of Kaylee's hand, amber eyes wide and brows furrowed. "What is going on?" Suddenly the fact that he looks like he got roughed up in an alley — thankfully not still smelling like he did — is put aside to focus entirely on Kaylee's problems in perfect Petrelli fashion. "What did you do? What— tell me what happened." It's not a request, it's a demand, and Peter's demeanor seems a knife's edge sharper than it has in the past, perhaps it's the lack of sleep playing around his eyes that is making him so irritable.

"Who took you? Where? Tell me what happened?" He insists, tossing the phone sideways into the living room with a clatter of plastic against the floor, the phone splitting into equal parks shell, back and battery when it bounces on the floor. That same hand reaches up to snatch Kaylee's wrist, brows furrowed further and dark eyes searching Kaylee's far lighter ones. "What— what happened to you?"

The reaction from Peter, as Kaylee taking an involuntary step back, only stopped by the grip he has on her wrist. It — it wasn't suppose to happen like that." The young woman stutters out, wrist pulling against his grip lightly. "I was just suppose to be there to make sure a message was passed on…" Her head shakes a little in short quick jerks, her eyes looking anywhere but at him. "Nothing bad… I — I promise it was nothing bad." Or at least it wasn't in her mind.

Her eyes snap up to his and she takes a step closer, worried he won't believe her. "It was the Institute. The people that have my father. The — they knew who I was when they saw me." Her free hand reaches to grip at his clothing again, as she continues. "They told me they were wanting me for a long time. We didn't know that." The worry colors her town, she swallows her fear again, taking a deep breath. "They took me. I went peacefully cause it wouldn't do any good to run… plus… I was hoping they would let me see Ray."

Eyes close her expression pained, "I was so stupid to think they would let me have something like that. They erased my memories." She says that last softly, her head shaking slowly. "I — I don't know what happened. If they forced information out of me… I — I don't know. I just… woke up here."

"What's the Institute?" is the dumbfounded question on Peter's lips as he very subtly releases Kaylee's wrist. But he's quick to stumble over himself, not giving time for an answer and probably not wanting it either. "Kaylee I— I told you this was going to happen! I told you associating with them would only be trouble!" He's never yelled at her before, not like this, not with so much venom in his tone. For a moment Peter looks confused, something conflicting in him, a mash of emotions dancing across his face before his right hand starts to shake and he lifts a hand to the side of his head, brows tense and eyes shut as he turns away from Kaylee slowly.

Breathing in and out shuddering exhalations, it seems almost like a panic attack, until he pulls himself together. "It— it's fine, we'll be fine, my mother can— fix all of this somehow. You're not going anywhere near the Ferry, you're not talking to Eileen or Teo or especially anyone." Voice hitching in the back of his throat, Peter's left brow gives a twitch. "We— this— " there's a hard breath, and Peter struggles to keep everything together and the very delicately aligned jigsaw puzzle of his mind from rattling apart.

"Don't— call Eileen again. Don't— don't talk to anyone." Peter immediately retreats to hide his head in the sand mode. "I can't believe you even put yourself in a situtation where this could happen. Kaylee, we've— I've worked so hard to get you a normal life. Is this what you wanted?"

The young telepath looks just as confused as he yells at her, it stuns her enough that thoughts leak. Flashes of imagines, men with rifles pointed at her wearing body armor. A flash of the doctor she was there with. It doesn't' exactly help the situation but for once she doesn't notice she is projecting.

No..

The word cuts through his head sharply, before she says says just as sharply, "You are not going to stop me from warning the Ferrymen. I know things… this group — this government run group — could have gotten that from me if they had the means." Would have been a hell of a fight, though. There is some relief in that for her, though she doubt that will keep the Ferry from worrying.

"They said I protected." Kaylee adds, holding her ground, she doesn't move to him, her hands curl at her side. "But they needed me in regards of my father. And going with them as I had…" She shakes her head turning away, fingers moving to work at her jacket again. It's damn hot and she wants out of it. "… they wanted to protect my public image for some reason." She sounds completely frustrated about that. Why?!

Wiping a hand down his face, Peter paces around the apartment, thumb brushing over his cheek and palm smudged against his mouth. "Kaylee you can't trust the Ferry it's not safe! You have no idea what they put me through last night!" There's that sharp edge to his voice again, and Peter's lips creep into a one-sided frown. "Your— your father's dead Kaylee, he died at Pinehearst I saw it." No one has, as if yet, told Peter that Edward Ray may well be alive. Though Kaylee can't even be sure herself, if she did see him, she wouldn't remember. "They Ferry, this— whoever it was that did this to you, they're lying to you. Do you think they trust you, do you think they even want you around them? They don't trust me and I was there when the network was founded, right alongside Hana and Bennet."

Taking a step forward to Kaylee, Peter reaches out to lay a hand on her shoulder, wincing against the psychic words echoing in the back of his mind. "They probably think you're— I don't even know. They're psychotic and paranoid and dangerous." Squeezing Kaylee's shoulder more firmly, Peter lifts a hand up to try helping her unbutton her jacket, shakily moving forward as his hand slides around from her shoulder to move to her back, and he forsakes the jacket for just trying to embrace her.

"I'll call my mother," Peter explains quietly, "she'll know what to do."

Hands press against his chest and there is a whimp of a sound in the back of Kaylee's throat. "Don't… you hold me, I'm going to start crying." Her voice wavers, a hint that it's a close thing. "This doesn't effect our life… the normal one. This effects my work with the Ferrymen." She won't let him hold her yet, but she grips the front of his shirt, eyes firmly on his chest. "We don't need your mother's help on this. We're adults we can handle this." She gives him a matter of face look. "If we want this to work, we need to deal with all this ourselves."

"First being told I can't be at the Lighthouse… now this…" A hand lets go of his shirt to reach up and yank the dark blue cap off her head, letting it drop, her hair in a disarray. "I… I need you to understand…" Both hands lift to grip his head, Kaylee seems a touch frantic, worried. Her blue eyes search his dark ones, before she lets the memory of that night spill into his head. "Why would they take me if my father was dead?" She asks him, once the halting memory comes to an end. "Why would a place run by the government need me if he's dead?"

One hand brushes at the hair of his temple. "Peter… The Ferrymen helped make me who I am. They protected me from Adam. Showed me there was more. They deserve to know the danger." Taking a deep breath, shuttering breath, she adds, "I need to talk to Eileen. So many people could be hurt by them taking me." A tear manages to escape and slide down her cheek.

Don't… you hold me.

Peter's back tenses up, his hands come away from Kaylee, and his neck tightens as he tries to swallow; it's a wasted effort for all that his throat hurts. "You can't live a normal life and do this at the same time, you— you can't have it both ways, Kaylee. You can't keep trying to be the Ferry's golden retriever and then turn around and want to stay here and build a life. If the Ferry could help you they would have a long time ago, and none of this would have happened." Back straight, Peter levels a serious look to Kaylee, one that contains the troubled emotions swirling behind his eyes.

"This isn't a situation we can handle by ourselves. The— the government wanted you for something, my mother can find out what it is. Maybe— " no, he won't say maybe she authorized the mind wipe. But he is thinking it, and that horrible thought comes with a guilty swallow. "She wouldn't, Peter affirms, just in case Kaylee did hear him. "We can't turn to the Ferry, this is their problem let them deal with it."

Furrowing his brows, Peter shakes his head, dark eyes cast down to the floor. "Eventually you're going to have to decide whether you want a normal life, or whether you're going to stay with the Ferry. You— you can't do both," he says in a ragged, weary tone of voice, "it'd kill you."

Hands fall away and Kaylee looks like she is going to cry, turning away, she shrugs the jacket off finally and tosses it over the back of the chair. "I want normal Peter… I — I even want it to be you." Her hand stays on the chair, fingers gripping it and the jacket draped over it tightly. "For once… finally in my life, I feel like I can see a future.

"But…" Her voice trails off, head dipping down, brow creasing in thought. Kaylee, glances over her shoulder, looking at his form out of the corner of her eye. "…I just know… something is going to happen. It'll take this all away. I've been through so much and yet here I am and I'd still keep going cause I don't want the kids I could have someday to look back and think… 'My mom did nothing while everything went to hell.'

"I — I want kids Peter. I know that… I thought helping with all the Ferry kids, I could forget, but… Gillian told me to stay away from the Lighthouse." Cause of you… There is pain in those words and the thoughts that slip through his head. " Between them and the kids that pass through, I watch them struggle. Their parents struggle. Any kids I have, could face that kind of future.

"That is why the Ferry is there… more then the rest of it." Kaylee turns to look at him. "More then all that other crap. When you dig down in there, the Ferrymen are there to protect people." She turns towards him, her expression apologetic. "I can'tnot help.

"That's what makes everything so hard. I want to be with you… and I want to secure the future of my family." Kaylee's head tilts down and away, eyes closing as if afraid to look at him, not wanting to see rejection there.

Scared is the single word that describes Peter Petrelli's expression. Standing there and listening to Kaylee, fear laces thorugh Peter's features and pulls them taut in an expression of tension and anxiety. "Kaylee…" Peter breathes out the words, stepping forward to reach out for her, but coming short when he does. He's silent, silent for too long. Anger replaces fear, anger spurred on by what Gillian said, what Gillian did, but it's very short lived, fading away with a sag of his shoulders and the sullen look of depression. Peter brings a hand to his forehead, gloved fingers brushing across his brow as his eyes wrench shut.

"The Ferry just makes things worse. They're— killing people, fighting, they're doing everything wrong. Do you think there's ever going to be normal? What do you think is going to happen to the Ferry, Kaylee? Do you think they'll win a war with the government!?"

Raising his voice again, Peter becomes red in the face. "All they're going to do is get themselves killed and make it harder on us. They won't do what's necessary, they're reactionary, they hit back after being hit and eventually they're going to get so hard they're never going to get back up again! If they want a war than they need to accept that people are going to die, because a war is the only thing that could change this world!"

Gloved hands trembling at his sides, Peter's brows furrow, a vein throbs at the side of his head, and his dark eyes level squarely on Kaylee. "Is that how you want to raise a family? In a warzone? Take what we have— live with what we've been given— and make the best of the world instead of trying to hammer it in to a shape we want. If you stay with the Ferry— you're— "

Peter's voice cracks, "I'm going to lose you."

"Look at the past…" Kaylee comments softly, she takes a step towards him. "Look at what happened to the people that 'made things work'" Another steps is slowly taken. "Look at what happened when people did something to make sure things would be better. You can't tell me Peter, that your so blind that you can't see it."

Hands reach for him, Kaylee's expression pained. "I don't want to lose you… or you to lose me, but look at everything that keeps happening." Her eyes are wet with unshed tears again, when she gets closer, she could touch him now, and she wants too, but she doesn't not yet. "I almost lost you once already, Peter." She lets his see just how much that hurt her. The memory of her holding on to him as he lay bleeding in the cold snow and that thoughts of loss and loneliness. Of him being all that was left when her ability failed. Finding out he almost died and the fear in that.

"I know what it feels like, I don't want it again. With you.. with my family.., my friends. Things will keep happening." She searches his face as she finally does reach for him. "Can't you see we're heading for something bad, Peter… All of us. Even if you and I sit in this apartment and hope it doesn't." Kaylee's expression is pleading for understanding. "Do we turn our backs on our friends… our family? What are we going to do when it lands at our feet.

"I don't want to fight, but I will try to protect what I love." Kaylee's hand moves as if to rest on his cheek, her eyes searching his face, tempted to look at what is going on in that head of his.

"You're going about it the wrong way…" Peter offers in quiet answer, the fight draining out of him. It's clear he still disagrees, he's just lost the capacity to argue over it. Turning his back on Kaylee, Peter rubs one hand over his mouth, the leather of his glove tasting like chemicals he'd used to disinfect and clean it. Moving through the apartment, he makes his way into the kitchen and slouches forward against the island, elbows resting on the countertop and head in his hands, fingers raking through dark locks.

He's silent, for a long time Peter's silent. When he does finally speak, his words sound defeated and weary. "Go…" it's hushed at first, not everything he wants to say, but it's enough to be worrisome. "Go— see the Ferry. Go do what you think you have to do," while he resents her for it, "and when you're done, and when they've— " Peter closes his eyes and rests his head in his hands. "When you come back," and there's no room for doubt in his voice, "we're going to have a talk. When you're done with what they need, what they want, and when I'm— feeling better… we're going to talk."

He doesn't look over his shoulder, just struggles with himself and his emotions and the throbbing at the back of his head. "Go see them, and then when you're ready I'll be waiting for you. I— need some time to myself."

Watching him, Kaylee hates herself for causing what he's feeling now. The tears slide freely down her cheeks, she can't seem to stop them. He can't see it, but Kaylee nods, she wants to say more, so much more… but it's not the time. There is a soft gasp as she forces herself to breath, and lets out a shaky breath.

She moves to lift her jacket from the back of the chair, blue eyes seeks out his form even though it is blurred by the tears. There is almost a moment where she wants to reach out to him, to wrap arms around him, say she's sorry. To ask his forgiveness.

Instead the young telepath pulls on her jacket, moves to pick up her hat off the floor, and heads for the door. Swallowing she closes her eyes, Peter can feel the gently mental brush from Kaylee. There is so much conveyed in that brief mental contact, but the important thing she she offers him… I will come back.

Kaylee means it, there is truth in those mentally spoken words. Will it happen? It depends on what happens once she talks to Eileen. The Ferry could react any number of ways.

Never has she been so torn in her life. A struggle between staying with what she wants and loves, and going and doing what she knows in her heart is right.

Did her father ever feel this way when he walked out the door and left her and her mother? Did he ever have the fierce desire to go back?

Maybe… just maybe she was her father's daughter.


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