2007-04-17: Home For Snowy

Starring:

Elena_icon.gif Heidi_icon.gif Peter_icon.gif

Guest Starring:

snowy_icon.gif

Summary: Directly after Puppykinesis, Peter and Elena take Snowy home, and Heidi makes an unexpected stop.

Date It Happened: April 17th, 2007

Home For Snowy


Peter's Apartment

Peter was a sucker for cute anyways, but as he talks to the puppy, Elena laughs and leans back on her palms, and as he lays there, she looks up at the sun sinking slowly over the horizon. There's a small, if not absent smile quirking on her lips as both their shoelaces get tugged and pretty much get all disarranged. But when he addresses her again, she looks over at him. She can't help but smile back, her eyes crinkling on the edges at the returned, gentle expression. "You're welcome," she says, lifting a hand to tug lightly on a tress of black hair that's fallen over his forehead.

"Looks like it's growing out," she tells him with a laugh, settling down again so she can look at her gold and purple sky.

By six pm, Sam is at least good on her word, returning home and ever so grateful at the two taking over the reins of the puppy camp for her. Most of the puppies have been picked up, all except one - the stray that had been dropped off. When Peter lets Sam know that he's taking the puppy home, true to Elena's word, Sam is ecstatic. After a ten minute rant about how much she hates dropping off poor abandoned animals at the shelter because they didn't have the space for them, she even gives Peter some supplies for his new addition - including a couple of food/water bowls, a pouch of kibble, a few toys, and a puppy pillow. Just a few things to keep the animal comfortable.

It takes about half an hour more to return to Peter's place, Elena having come along to help carry everything. She waits patiently for the younger Petrelli to open the door, while she surveys the rest of the hallway. Absently she can't help but wonder what the transition was like, from a roomy estate, to a cramped hallway and a simple apartment.

—-

And a leash, even though he knows potty training will be limited mostly to newspapers laid all over the place for the first few months. Peter knows he'll need to take her to the vet soon, get her looked over, and make sure that she has all her vaccines, tags and various registrations. Even if he got the puppy for free, he knows there's more to it than that. Doesn't need to happen today, though. As long as none of the neighbors call the cops over yipping puppy. Once inside, he carries her over to the couch and sets her down, motioning towards Elena to set the things down in the front room area for now, before he goes and closes the double doors leading into the bedroom. Now.. he starts to look around for anything on the floor that the puppy might trip over, or fall on. Or try to chew up.

Making a spontanous decision based on fate isn't always good, but Snowy doesn't seem to mind, turning around a few times on the couch before she stretches out and yawns. She's still somewhat sleepy, it would seem.

"There's some juice…" Orange juice, apple juice and V8, "And water in the fridge, and Pepsi now too." The last belonging to Elle, actually, but he's not going to worry too much about it. "I'll just put some of this away." His first priority, though, would be to close the closet which contains his sporting equipment and his bike. He'll handle the food and water bowl as soon as he's sure the puppy has limited access to things.

—-

The rest of the stuff is deposited in the front, but while Peter cleans up a bit, Elena does him a favor by unpacking the things in the plastic bags and setting them on the kitchen counter in an organized fashion. She'll wait for him to clear up the floor a touch. Meanwhile, she carries the food bowls to the sink so she can wash them. "Mmmkay," she tells him cheerfully, and while he mentions there are drinks in the fridge, Elena busies herself assisting him. He doesn't need to ask, really. She was used to operating in such a fashion, especially when it came to housework.

Drying the bowls with a bit of toilet paper, she sets them next to the pouch of kibble. The chew toys she will leave on the counter - no use putting them on the floor now when Peter's making sure nothing was -on- the floor for the puppy to get to. In a sense, it was like babyproofing an apartment.

"Do you want anything from the kitchen?" she calls out, finally opening the fridge once it was done. She also hunts down a pair of scissors so she could set it next to the pouch of kibble. While she could always open it and pour it in the cleaned bowls, it might be better for the new kid on the block to recognize the hand that feeds him, so she'll leave Peter to do it.

—-

In a show of embarassed no-longer bachelorhood, Snowy somehow finds a bra that's on the couch he didn't notice was there, and starts to chew on it. When he turns from the closet and sees this, Peter puts a hand over his eyes and then steps over, "Snowy, let go— let go— good girl." He's slightly colored, though he hopes that Elena doesn't notice where she is in the kitchen, before he takes the bra and carries it over to the double doors. The puppy hops down and follows him, threatening to try and sneak into his bedroom, which he only opens a crack to toss the bra in, before he turns around to see her, looking happily up at him, tongue lulled out.

"Guess it's a good thing you're white. You'd be difficult to miss in the dark," he says softly, before walking around her to take off his coat and hang it up, and hang his carrier bag up too. He notes that the coat rack may need to get moved, when she sneaks up behind him and starts to look up at the dangling things in a 'toy?' kind of way.

Stepping into the kitchen, he smile sat her, "It'll be an interesting night, I can already tell," he says, taking the freshly cleaned bowls and filling the water bowl and setting it down, then setting the food bowl next to it. Pulling out a measuring cup from the cabinet, he accepts the opened bag of puppy food and knees down to tap the bowl a few times, and says, "Snowy, Snowy," to get the puppy's attention. She's almost too occupied looking up at the coats, but as soon as she hears the scoop of food, measuring out the 'recommended amount' for a small breed puppy, she looks over. And when the food goes into the bowl, she walks over with a steady gait to investigate the bowl, and the contents. Straightening up, he hands the bag back to Elena and says, "Put it in the cabinet next to the one with the Abe Lincoln stain," he points out the one he means.

—-

…..the Gods of Sanity are smiling at Peter today because Elena doesn't see Peter's mishap in the living room, her back turned to him while she's hunched over to look at the drinks in the fridge. She takes out one V8, simply because she knows Peter drinks the stuff and she knows its his, and one orange juice thing for her. She sets both on the countertop. She doesn't open them yet, but when she looks up, Peter is just emerging from the double doors leading to the bedroom. And she laughs, watching the little white thing follow him around like the proverbial lost puppy - which in this case, she was.

"Awwww," she says with a grin. She can't help it. "I think this is what they call imprinting. Instant attachment, except….not really because this wasn't straight from the womb." She take the dog food, replaces his empty hand with the V8, and stows the dog food into the cabinet next to….

"…the Abe Lincoln stain?" she says, looking over her shoulder at him. Finally, she just rolls her head back, and laughs. "I think I know why you went with this apartment in particular," she says between gales as she opens the cabinet and stows the dog food in. "Even its fixtures have character, not just the little things you bring with you."

—-

Heidi hasn't been to Peter's apartment in a long time, since before she was in a wheelchair, even. She remembers where it is after a little thought, and because of restlessness and the fact that she's already out, she doesn't see the harm in stopping by to see if he's home. 'Call first!' Nathan would probably tell her, and she probably should, all things considered, but… If she knocks on the door and no one answers, she'll just head off on her way. At least she'll have filled a little time.

In any case, she could have used a key, but she's never liked barging in on people, especially when she /hasn't/ called ahead. Thus, after making her way through the relatively dim-lit complex, she pauses in front of Peter's door and knocks. Almost as an afterthought, she pulls a plastic bag out of her purse, and this is /important./ It's a card, made by Simon and Monty, for their uncle Peter. It's a 'thank you' for watching them and Spike while mom and dad actually got a moment to themselves.

Notably, it's in a plastic bag because they made it out of glue and Cheerios.

Just to make sure she was heard, she knocks on the door again, a little louder this time.

—-

Running a hand through his hair, which is starting to get long enough to actually have hair to run fingers through, Peter smiles shyly, accepting the V8 in the hand she drops it in, and laughs at the comment, "Yeah. That stain's been there since I moved in. I kept meaning to take the door off, and repaint it, redo the whole cabinet, but— never really found the time. Too busy with classes and everything." Glancing back down towards Snowy, she looks up from the food for an instant while he's talking, but then goes back to sniffing at it. Only a minute or so later does she start to nibble and work on the food, so he can step back and give her some space, motioning Elena into the living room with him. They'll still be able to see the kitchen from there.

And this is when the first knock on the door happens. Nathan and Elle both have keys, so— he doesn't expect it to be them, but he steps around the puppy and peeks out the sight hole, looking to see who it is. "Oh, it's Heidi. That's Nathan's wife," he explains to Elena, before he sets the V8 back down on the table next to the door, and starts unlocking the door and pulls it open.

And in the split second the door is open, a little white fuzzball jumps between his legs and tries to look up at the woman, yipping lightly. Bending down, he wraps an arm around the small puppy and picks her up, standing with her pressed against his chest, while his other hand holds the door open.

"Hi, Heidi… come on in. I guess you get to meet the second new Petrelli in a few weeks…" She's the first Petrelli besides him to get to meet her, and she looks very excited, gray-blue eyes bright. New person!

—-

"That's understandable. It's the little things," Elena says, giving Peter a smile and grinning as he runs his hand through his hair. It was growing out. As long as he doesn't let it grow too long… she turns her eyes to the puppy, crouching down a bit to watch her sniff the kibble, and take a nibble. "Hopefully she'll adjust well," she says, quietly, almost to herself. Finally, she straightens up, and picks up her orange juice. When gestured to follow, she follows. "Was nursing school hard? I hear it's challenging, not unlike med school. Nurses still do have to take the board exam, if I remember correctly." Just like doctors do. Sometimes nurses could diagnose problems more efficiently than doctors can as well.

She's about to step in the living room when she hears the door knocking. Looking over at it, she watches when Peter opens the door for his sister-in-law. Wait…..she furrows her brows, remembering the picture from the Petrelli campaign that she dug up after the first night she had met Peter. It had been for the purposes of checking to make sure he hadn't been an impostor, since their run in was so hard to believe. But she remembers Heidi Petrelli in the picture. She remembers a wheelchair. This woman was not in a wheelchair.

….medical science has gone FAR these days!

—-

Not exactly what she expected upon the door opening. Okay, that's not entirely true - she did expect to see Peter, but about the last thing she anticipated was a puppy. Oh, and it /has her eyes!/ Kidding. But seriously, when she looks at Peter with that 'What the heck did you get yourself into' smile, her eyes are probably just about the exat same colour.

Of course, she can't possibly think to say that out loud or else she'd be a hypocrite. There's a new kitten in her own house that, while it wasn't an impulse on her part, certainly was a surprise for everyone else in the house! "Aw, Peter, it's adorable," she says almost helplessly, reaching out to scratch the pup's ear, when something else catches her attention. Rather, some /one./ Looking past Peter and the puppy (While one hand continues to fluff the little critter) Heidi focuses on the other person in the apartment.

She's sure she's not interrupting anything other than puppy-bonding, so instead she asks quietly to Peter, "Is that Elle?"

—-

Well, this would definitely have been an impluse on Peter's part. Abandoned puppy in need of a home, terribly cute, overly affectionate, with no visible problems up front. Sure, he'll need to get a vet to clear the puppy, make sure that she's physically fit and healthy, but it'd definitely been an impulse buy. Even if she's sick, he'd probably try to keep her and fix her up. With the puppy held against his chest, he holds the door open for her, and gestures for her to step into the small kitchen, which— well— doesn't technically have enough room for all of them. "Yeah, her name is Snowy. Couldn't say no to her."

Stepping back out of the way, he glances back towards Elena and hears the question. There's a pause, before he looks back and shakes his head, "No, this is— Elena. Elena Gomez. She's a… a friend of mine. She introduced me to the place I got Snowy from." Sounds legitimate, though still suspicious. He'd mentioned Elle, but she'd never met the girl, seeing as she'd gone on some kind of "family business" before Heidi and the kids moved in, and then hadn't been seen since.

Getting into his apartment with a wheelchair would have been difficult, but on her own two feet… it's not tough at all.

—-

That shouldn't be a problem. If anything, Elena could use her gift to detect whether the puppy had problems to begin with. She didn't feel anything abnormal when she held it for a brief time in the taxi, so it's all good. But she's also no veterinarian, so Peter would have to have the dog checked anyway. She's confident, however, that Snowy is perfectly healthy. When the new Petrelli is introduced to Heidi, she can't help but smile, folding her arms behind her back and turning her eyes to the rest of the apartment. It would be rude, after all, to interject in the conversation - after all, Heidi might be here for some important family business she had no right to butt into.

The question is heard, but only partly. It's enough to get her to make a little GRK! sound internally though. She had expected Heidi to have met Elle by now, so when she hears this, just as she takes a drink of her orange juice….she can't help but swallow wrong. She coughs, the can coming up to bury the reaction against the aluminum, blinking back water from her eyes. Hey. At least she didn't do the classic PFFFFFFFFFFFFFTspray thing.

She turns around quickly, as if NOTHING HAPPENED, and smiles at Heidi. It's cheerful, and it reached her eyes. She also looks incredibly sheepish. She opens her mouth to explain herself but Peter seems to have handled it for her. So she takes the initiative, taking a few steps forward and offering her hand. "Hi, it's Elena," she says with a laugh. "I was just helping Peter bring home the puppy's things. It's really nice to meet you."

—-

Nothing wrong with going with your heart, especially when it comes to fluffy puppies with cute eyes. coming inside, Heidi picks out a little spot against the wall so she's out of the way, but where she can still reach the puppy. She'd considered a dog, but she figured that Nathan would be much more likely not to yell at her for the kitten. Besides, she ended up with a pure show-quality Russian Blue… That the kids promptly named 'Spike.' Heidi's calling her 'Spica,' after the star, but 'Spike' stuck. Unfortunately.

Suspicious and Heidi don't mix. Normally, she's a very trusting person, and since she trusts Peter sometimes more than Nathan, she can't see anything wrong with this /at all./ besides, normally, she'd be perceptive enough to figure out if something's amiss. Possibly, the puppy is clouding her judgement.

"Ah, here," she states, holding out the bag to Peter. Inside, he'll find a nice card - again, made out of Cheerios - that's signed (with love) from Simon and Monty. And also Spike, who's become 'one of the guys' already, and has, in fact, walked all over the card, leaving little gluey pawprints in her wake.

Yes, it was a mess.

Nothing happened - right. Smiling a little, managing to hold back her own embarrassment at having guessed /wrong,/ she shakes Elena's hand. "Sorry; it's nice to meet you. I have a hard time keeping up with my own family sometimes." She's been gone for awhile, so it's kind of like diving headfirst back into a soap opera you haven't watched for months. You get the gist of what's going on, but you always have to wonder who all the new characters are. To Peter: "You know the boys are going to want to be over here every day as soon as you tell them."

—-

"Elle's back from dealing with things with her family, so you'll get to meet her soon. I'll bring her by the house next time, to meet Spike and the boys," Peter explains, bending down to release Snowy, who decides to weave around his legs before nosing her way back towards the food. Accepting the cheetos card, he laughs and smiles, shaking his head a bit before he puts it up on the counter top for the moment, avoiding the puppy as he grabs his V8 and walks to get out of the way of the kitchen and turn on a few lights. "Spike is Heidi's new cat. I watched her and the kids the other day." And after that gave them the balloon lobster. Which Spike prompty popped. But that's another story…

Starting with a desk lamp, then a couple other lamps, he stops to motion them to follow him, saying, "Might as well sit down for a few minutes. How have you been? I'm sorry I haven't been visiting as much since I started moving back in here," been some problems, really. He needed to get a hand, other things like that. Not something for conversation now, of course. As soon as he's settled, sitting on one of the solo chairs in the front room, Snowy abandons her food and weaves through legs to get to his feet, looking up at him attently with those blue-gray eyes. Patiently, he kneels down and helps her up into his lap, where she proceeds to try and climb on his chest.

"I'll have to bring Snowy by the house. I'm sure she'll love being able to play in a yard every couple of days, and the boys would like that too." And his apartment is distinctly lacking in a yard.

—-

She seems actually quite glad that Peter named the dog simply, inspired by the day's events, and didn't stick to a snooty name like….Prince Charles Waterford English III or some ridiculous names that she's heard on show dogs before. Then again, Elena did shy away from things like that. Her hand when it grips Heidi's is gentle - while it was a solid handshake it was also relaxed. She would also understand if the puppy cloud's people's judgment. LOOK at that face! No one says no to that face!

"I understand completely," she says with a grin, releasing Heidi's hand gently and sliding it in her pocket, one hand still gripping the can. "I have three younger siblings…" A rottweiler for a father, and a bunch of insane friends. But no need to send Heidi screaming to the other end of New York just yet. "And they all lead pretty active lives, so I can relate a little bit. Ummm…." She looks between Heidi and Peter. "If you two need to catch up, I can definitely clear out," she says.

She can't help but glance at Heidi again though. While she's familiar with Nathan's indiscretions through Drake's story on Claire, and what Peter's told her himself, she couldn't help but notice the eyes. Heidi's eyes. With the pale complexion and the dark, jet-black hair, her eyes stood out like a pair of iridescent Christmas lights. With the bearing of a politician's wife, she couldn't help but feel a little awkward in comparison. It didn't help that her hair was all tousled and windblown from the outside.

As if conscious of it, she removes her hand from her pocket to push it through her hair once to tame the waves just a bit. Whenever Peter pulls out the messy card, she looks at it….and she grins. She can't help it. "See, Peter? Nothing wrong with being the cool uncle if you get really cool arts and crafts in exchange," she teases.

—-

Heidi follows Peter into the front room, stepping carefully around any puppy toys that might have already found their way onto the floor. She'll have to remember to get something for the puppy, since they always like things to chew. Then again, Spike's ignored all the nice, expensive cat toys they got from the store, and has taken to playing with bits of string and lint she's found under couches and chairs. For some reason, those are much more entertaining. Heidi won't complain, as long as the small kitten is happy.

Heidi, for her part, is still completely in the dark about what's been going on. Sure, she's got suspicions that pop up now and then, but those are quickly quelled by the logic of 'that can't be real.' Still, she can sense that something's happening, that she's not getting the full story, and… That's a little bothersome. Why dwell on it, though? If she's meant to find out, she will. Once in the front room, she leans against a convenient wall, watching the puppy with a faint smile. "Snowy, huh," she says to herself.

Hardly judgemental of where people have come from in life, she states almost longlingly, "I was an only child. Sometimes I wish I had brothers or sisters, but I think I've made up for that with Peter." —Whom she will occasionally tease, though not in front of new company that she's never met before. "I just stopped by to deliver the card," is her reply to whether or not she and Peter need to 'catch up.' They do, but that can happen another time.

Unable to help herself, Heidi eventually crouches down close to the floor, holding out her hand for the puppy. This is something she /knows/ she's able to do now; wouldn't have given it a second thought before. But the mere act of standing, walking, /moving/, all gets her full concentration now. She's more aware of what she can do since she's had it taken away before. Looking upward, she asks, "Do you think Nathan would kill me if I got a puppy, too?" …she won't. It's just an idle thought.

—-

"Quite a piece of art, too," Peter says, gesturing towards the cheetohs card he put safely on the counter. Last thing he wants is for the puppy to chew into that. Giving her a light ruffle, he keeps petting her as she climbs up his chest, trying his best to get access to his chin, but failing because of gravity. Dogs are not made to climb, and she's too small. "And I never complained about being the cool uncle. It's certainly a good title to have. But you should stay as long as you need to, Elena. There's no hurry." There's an ulterior motive to this, even if he won't say it. If Elena's here, the less likelt he'll get asked questions he'll have to lie in answer to. Like why he's been occupied so much the last week when he doesn't have a job.

As the sister in law hints at a tease, he laughs, smiling at her, "And she does a good job of it, too, being the big sister I never had." Somewhat of a teaser, but more of a support figure than that. As she sits down, he leans over and lets Snowy drop to the floor, where she looks around curiously and then goes over to try and play with fingers. Wringling fingers. There's no toys on the floor, as they've not been unpacked yet, and Peter spent a few moments cleaning up the things laying around on the floor when they first entered.

"I doubt he'd kill you, but you might want to ask him this time. Already going to have to make sure Spike and Snowy get along."

—-

It always seems to happen that way, doesn't it? All the fluffy cat toys in the world can't compare to a box of tissues when left open, or a paper bag. Samantha had whined about it constantly the first time she got a dog and it ate her shoes instead of the chew toys. She can't help but smile when Peter explains who 'Spike' is. "He sounds like the hunter the blood of his ancestors made him to be," she says dramatically, her expression making it clear that she's only just joking. She hesitates for a moment, before she follows towards the living room, and sits down on the nearest space she can sit on without being much of an intrusion.

She wondered, now that Heidi was around, if the other members of the family knew about Peter's predicament. Really, she hadn't thought about it till now and it was so easy to assume it was the same as with her father: full disclosure, so long as danger was involved. He had the right to demand that much from her, he was the man of the house, and she was his daughter. Still, it was a good policy to have, when it came to family members. A contemplative gaze is sent to Peter's direction while he plays with the puppy. Still. It wasn't her place to ask.

Heidi's next words catch her attention. She looks over at her and she smiles. "It can be trying," she says with a laugh. "All my siblings are minors, and Juanita's turning eight this weekend. But if given a choice, I definitely wouldn't have it either way. I'm glad you have a surrogate in Peter, though. He's good at the big brother thing." The last few words sound foreign to her now, for some reason, but she is distracted from thinking about it when she watches the puppy paw at her new owner.

Ulterior motives or no, she'll be glad to stay - hell if she knows he needs the help dodging, she'll definitely stay, as nice as Heidi seems to be. At the same time…. well. If it comes up, she'll say it.

—-

"Well, you're their only uncle," Heidi points out matter-of-factly. Of course they're going to idolise Peter, because he's /awesome/ and probably has more tricks up his sleeve than they realise. Maybe they'll find out one day. Maybe Heidi will.

As soon as the puppy's close, Heidi drops to her knees and rolls Snowy over a couple times. Oddly enough, Spike's taken to the boys doing the same thing to her, so its kind of like having a puppy with really sharp claws and cat ears. There's nothing like the real, thing, though. Picking Snowy up, Heidi lets the puppy lick her face, and— There it is. Puppy breath. She's torn between 'ew' and 'awww,' but in the end, just decides that she could potentially hold onto the puppy forever if that were possible and humane. She will for /now,/ though. After all, she doesn't anticipate that she'll be staying long.

"I think a kitten's enough for now," she says. "A little easier to care for, too — /Her,/ actually," she corrects Elena. The mistake is easy to make, considering Simon and Monty named her 'Spike.' "And she's very spoiled. I'll be surprised if I get home and she /hasn't/ taken over the house." Eventually, she releases the wiggling Snowy, so that the puppy can eat, or go back to Peter, or /poop,/ or whatever it is that wiggly puppies end up doing.

Completely unaware of whatever predicament Peter (And possibly Nathan) is in, Heidi's only able to offer support for what she knows to be true. At the moment, everything seems fine. "Well, to tell you the truth, I came by to see how he was settling in, too."

—-

Oi, no pooping yet. Peter has yet to lay down newspaper on his carpet. Though he'll certainly be doing that soon. Also happens to have a very nice rug in the middle of the floor that sets off the whole room. Something he knows he'll likely need to move furnature around to remove that until the puppy understands that floor is not for peeing or pooping on. "Yeah, I know, I'm the only uncle. Just means I have to work extra hard on the cool part. Cause otherwise I'd just be 'the uncle'." There's a method to his madness. Still… as the puppy escapes Heidi's grasp and wanders back into the kitchen for the food and water bowl, the young man who owns the apartment stands up from his chair, walking to follow, though not being too far along.

"I try to be good at the big brother thing, yeah," he says with a smile, glancing back towards the two of them, even if he /definitely/ is younger than Heidi. But over ten years. "About 'Spike's name… I think the boys seemed to be in a weird mood. I think they've been watching X-Men Evolutions recently, cause they made some comment about it while Spike was playing." And low and behold, he vaguely knwos there's a character named Spike in that. A boy. You'd think they'd give the kitty a girl name?

In the kitchen, he starts to check through the bags, picking out the tagless collar, as the puppy hasn't gotten her tags yet, and uses this chance to fit the collar around her neck, while she laps at the bowl, and then chooses to nip at his fingers instead. He's going to have white fur all over his black clothes… but it's worth it. "I'm settling in okay, really. It's nice to be back in my own place. Now I just need to find a job… But Elena's going to help with that." Still in the kitchen, he asks, "Want anything to drink, Heidi?"

—-

That's true. Without competition, who's to really say? But when Heidi ribs on Peter she can't help but hide a smile. Which is easy, considering she's got a can of orange-drink in her hand and all she has to do was move it on her mouth to keep it from being visible. It was so easy to profess closeness to someone even if it's not the case especially when you share their last name, but it looks like Heidi's testament to it is true judging by their interaction. Watching Heidi play with the puppy, and look as if she could cuddle the thing for all eternity, she can't help but feel that smile tug wider on her mouth. She couldn't help it.

She takes a drink of her orange juice. When Heidi tells her of Spike being incredibly spoiled, she grins - showing it openly this time. "Sounds like she's picked her favorite spots in the house already," she says with a laugh. Which would…probably be the entire house. Images dance in her mind, of a female Mary J. Blige version of the cat, strutting down a grand staircase in a mini-boa, and very bling-y collar. Well that didn't take long. Then again, animals are exceptionally adaptable when it comes to new environs. It just takes a couple of days.

Peter -definitely- will have to invest in a lint brush, if he doesn't have one already. She swallows a laugh when Peter turns around and she can see white hair all over him already. No wonder the puppy follows him around, he's starting to look like her mother!

Her eyes wander through the apartment, and with them go her thoughts, letting the Petrellis chat while she looks out the window and runs through a list of things to do in her head. This is derailed, however, when her name is called. Looking up, she blinks a little bit at Peter, and when his words sink in, she nods. "You bet," she says, simply, to Peter and for Heidi's benefit as well. To the latter, she explains. "A new medical facility just opened up near Brooklyn and they're in their hiring period right now. I happen to work for the guy who runs the company who had the facility set up so…if anything, I'm sure I can get Peter in." Concern wells inside her however, remembering Jaden's current predicament. Yet another thing she feels she needs to help out in. It's amazing she isn't feeling so stretched all over the place. But there was so much riding on this that she just can't abandon Jaden to the wolves.

—-

Watching the puppy trot away, Heidi leans her back against the wall and eventually ends up sitting on the floor. "You don't even have to work at it, Peter. They just love you." She waves her hand at the puppy again, who seems to have lost interest for now. Really, she's like a kid, as dignified as she's /supposed/ to be, she never really gave up on innocence. Or, at least, the outward appearance of it; at the moment, she's all smiles and coos and whispers when Snowy is around.

"Well, they named their fish after a robot," she concedes. It makes sense that they'd name the cat after a cartoon character, as well. "I call her Spica," she reiterates, because it's a much more formal name, and looks much better on her registration papers! Especially coming from two show champions — nothing like little Snowy here, and while they probably won't be /showing/ Spike, Heidi… just wanted something nice. Something with a guaranteed temperament.

At the question of whether she wants anything to drink, Heidi waves her hand. "No, thanks," she states, and because she's getting a crick in her neck from turning to watch Peter, she turns back to Elena. So the two of them seem to have known each other for awhile, it appears, since she seems to at ease. "I'm looking forward to the arguments I'm going to have with Nathan about how he's got cat hair all over his clothing." …Nathan is such a girl sometimes. Honestly.

Heidi's brow furrows a little as Elena mentions her endeavor to help Peter find a job. Maybe now that the newness has worn off the presense of the puppy, the older woman is starting to think a little more; the wheels are turning, she's starting to wonder… "How'd you two meet?" she asks. It's a general question for either of them.

—-

It wasn't hard to imagine kids loving Peter. He just had the sort of temperament - it was easy to get along with him. So when the puppy trots away and Peter follows, Elena sinks further into her chair, pulling one of the throw pillows over to her so she could hug it. She finishes her orange juice, and sets the can aside to be recycled later. She listens to Heidi, and while Spica is a great name for a cat, she grins when she confesses that her fish is named after mecha. "Really?" she asks with a small laugh. "That's really cute. My littlest brother loves robots." Spica, though… "Ahhhhh it's all clear to me now." Spike. Spica. She can see where the boys got the name.

"Well, they make vaccuums for pet hair now," she offers helpfully. "Specifically designed to pick them up, some newfangled technology based on the weight and texture of most common pet hairs. They work on clothes as well as furniture and they're probably more effective than a lint brush or a lint mitt." Cleaning technology. If there was anything she knew how to do, it was to clean. It went with having a baby sister and two lazy brothers, and a father who worked long hours and came home too tired to do anything else. But when Heidi says what she does about Nathan being a girl, she can't help it. She bursts out laughing appreciatively.

Though at the last question, she rolls her head back. "Destiny," she says in response, her last conversations with Peter, laden with Fate and Destiny and all things surreal and shouldn't be interjected in normal conversations, still lingering at the back of her mind - as if the most natural thing in the world.

……….only once coming out of her mouth it doesn't SEEM remotely natural to a normal person. She raises her head from where it rests. Ack! Was that her inside voice? Her inside voice came out, didn't it? Oh christ! How to save this?! "I…….was working late," she continues, grinning sheepishly at Heidi as she mentally RUNS through the hallway in her mind and DOORSLAMS herself away from the part in her mind that controlled STUPID. "And then this guy." She jabs her thumb over her shoulder. "Comes walking in within literally seconds of closing time. I was having a rough day, he was having a rough day, so we chat for a bit and realize later down the conversation that the people we were trying to keep anonymous from each other turn out to be people we both know. So in other words, we've been running around the same circles but never actually met face to face until that particular moment." And there's the spin! They should've hired her for Nathan's campaign.

—-

"I remember Optimus Prime, the most expensive fish in the entire pet store," Peter comments from the kitchen, laughing mildly as he thinks back to that like… 800 dollar fish. Only he's wrong on the price. And even his tease. He's smiling at the rest, listening, nodding, but otherwise just trying to clean things up, since Heidi rejected the drink. Instead, he's moving a few things around in the cabinets to clear out room in the drawers for the doggie toys. He's moving aside some silverwear when the question is asked. He turns to answer, when Elena answers instead. …Destiny.

Between the two of them it's been kind of an inside joke, but in front of his sister-in-law… for a moment the former nurse looks like he got a frying pan to the face. Stunned. That's the one. Then the silverwear slips out of his hand and back into the drawer with a clang. As Elena launches into her version of their 'destiny' meeting in Starbucks, he closes the drawer, grabs a doggie toy off the counter, and walks back into the living room.

"Uh— yeah, that's… sort of how it went. It was really… strange, you know? We had so many friends in common that… uh— it seemed odd we'd never met before, and that we'd meet completely at random." Even if it's a very odd way to describe their relationship, he does nod towards Elena, and smile faintly, trying to lend her support. "Actually, Snowy's kind of the same way. Elena took me to a puppy day care to cheer me up and someone had abandoned this lovely little lady the same day." He looks down, and the puppy had followed him, looking up with interest, until he drops the little doggie fetch ball down, and she looks at it, tilting her head curiously. This is supposed to be toy? Fingers much better. …Oh hey, it moves when I paw at it! Paw, paw.

—-

"Optimus Prime," she says. "And it wasn't that expensive." It was. Just… Not 800 dollar expensive. "Didn't last really long, but they had fun with it while it did. Never did figure out if it was a boy or a girl. I wanted to get them something they could hold this time." And while Heidi's taking full responsibility for cleaning up after and feeding little Spike, they'll probably do the majority of the playing. Or, rather, she won't be doing the vacuuming and the like, and the hired help will probably get to the litter before she does, /even if she has the best intentions,/ and the idea of vacuums that clean up pet hair makes her face darken a little in a blush. She doesn't tend to wave around the fact that she doesn't really have to clean. Ever. Because there are people that do that for her.

Sometimes she just wants to go through the house with a mop and a dustrag, but someone's already beaten her to it /every time./

"Yeah, I'll… Pass that along," she says, looking downward at her hands. Of course, the mild embarrassment passes upon hearing one word - Destiny - which makes Heidi look at Elena as if she's just the slightest bit /crazy./ "What?"

Okay, the explanation makes sense, though Heidi offers a covert weird look in Peter's general direction. Likely, the comment about destiny will be forgotten in favor of the fact that Elena seems like a reasonably nice girl. Besides, the puppy is a good buffer zone, so it's soon out of Heidi's mind. "So you just never ran into each other," she summarises, as she searches around for the puppy again. "Why would anyone abandon her? She's adorable."

—-

Oh god, Peter. Don't look at her. Oh crap. She -knows- he's looking at her. She can feel it somehow. So Elena studiously doesn't look at him, and focuses her dark, amber-flecked gaze on Heidi. It had been no question to those who knew her that the young woman's willpower was a steadfast force of power that otherwise bolstered her physically-wussy self. In fact it was one of the reasons why her grasp on her abilities was advanced despite the fact that she spent most of her life unaware of what she really was and only learned of the mechanics recently. The sheer embarassment and horror she feels, she manages not to let it manifest on her face. To her credit, she doesn't blush even if she feels that if she let go of her self control for just one second, she'd be so red, nearby traffic would pull to the side and park to let her through.

She's grateful he's returned to salvage the situation though, even if Mrs. Petrelli was, probably, an incredibly smart and perceptive woman. Despite his reputation, Nathan didn't seem like the kind of guy to marry a Real Housewife of Orange County type. And not with those eyes. Those striking blue-grays were like spotlights.

If Elena knew that about Heidi however, she'd certainly respect that. Hell she'd probably like Heidi even more for it. She had always been antsy around rich people. The only exceptions so far had been Eric (but that was because he hid it), Peter (because he was Peter), and Jaden (because he was crazy).

"No. Never. Absolutely not. Until that day anyway," she says, nodding and latching onto the fact that Heidi seems to be able to let go of the comment. Though she inwardly groans. Whenever Heidi leaves, if Elena was still there, she'll tell Peter thank you before defenestrating herself out his window. And with the chance to change the topics, she takes it. "It happens sometimes, unfortunately. Especially in Sam's neighborhood," she says ruefully. "They have a pretty active dog community up there - serious breeders and show dog owners. So the puppies that are flawed tend to either be given away or abandoned. Sam sees it….not a lot, but often enough that I know about it when I come to help her out, when she's left to watch the reins of the daycare. Though to be honest I don't know much about dog shows enough to pick up a flaw in Snowy that would make her un-showable."

—-

Nudging the ball with the toe of his shoe, Peter steps further into the room after Snowy starts to get to work discovering how to move the toy around. She likes fingers more, but she discovers quickly that her mouth is too small to get around it, and that makes the whole thing a fun game, as she tries to bite down on it when her mouth is just too small. The 'covert weird look' gains a hint of a smile, and he shrugs, before he walks over towards poor blushing Elena who's avoiding eye contact and does the brotherly gesture… he puts his hand on the top of her head and pushes her around, a ruffling hair motion. "Yeah. The meeting ended up being really important. For both me and Snowy." And Elena too, and he's sure others have benifited from their meeting.

She's really a good kid. Turning back towards the puppy, he's trying to figure out why she wouldn't be show quality, but— he too knows very little about dogs, much less this particular breed. "I'm going to need to drop her off at the vet tomorrow and figure out exactly what she is, make sure she has all her shots, everything. I'm guessing she doesn't, just because why spend your own money on it when you're going to abandon her, but I can spend some money on her… I don't think even Nathan could say no to this face." He kneels down again, watching her try desperately to bite down on the ball, trying and trying, even as she fails.

—-

It was just a little slip-up! Heidi's been around long enough to know that 'kids' say weird things, like 'Destiny.' Sure, she isn't sure how old Elena is, though she can guess by appearances. Younger than Peter, at least by a few years, and even Peter sometimes has his moments (which Heidi teases him for, as is her job.) For the most part, despite the fact that she's married to a guy who is arguably a hard-ass on his best days, Heidi is easy-going and doesn't see the need to hold onto something that was obviously a slip-up. Even if it's kind of weird.

She certainly had her own humble beginnings, and she hasn't forgotten them. She might have even said that meeting Nathan was 'destiny' at one point, though considering the rather up-and-down life she's had since meeting him, Heidi would revise that statement a little. Maybe 'fate.'

Getting back to her feet, she shoulders her purse, looking toward the door. She hadn't planned on staying long in the first place. "Well, their loss, your gain, Peter." Unable to help it, she distracts the little critter from her ball, and rolls her over again, scratching the soft puppy belly. "Bring her by afterward. I won't tell the boys 'til you can. They'll love the surprise." Honestly, they probably would have rather had a dog than a cat, but they're adapting to Spike's presence well, so Heidi's sure she did well. "I'm going to take off. Take care, Peter." And, to Elena, "It was nice to meet you."

—-

The young woman just beams at Heidi, even as Peter's hand falls on her head and tousles her hair. And sure it was a little slip up, but it was embarassing nevertheless. Besides, it wasn't as if she hasn't lived through worse these days. Nothing tops the Robin costume. Unless Jaden finds something that would top that further. Which she knows he will. And when that happens….well. It happens. At the very least she'd have entertaining stories to tell.

When Heidi gets up on her feet, Elena smiles over at her. "It was nice to meet you too, Mrs. Petrelli," she tells her sincerely. Perhaps another indication as to how young she really was. But then again when meeting new people she tended to be formal. Jaden was only a couple of years older than her, and she called him Mr. Cain before he almost died at her feet and croaked at her to call her Jaden. No, seriously, it happened.

She doesn't say anything else until Heidi closes the door behind her, or when Peter sees her out like the gentleman he usually was. And after a few moments of silence, she just faceplants on the couch, and drags the pillow she had been hugging over her head. There is another pause before a mournful, muffled voice drifts out from the upholstery. "I can never, ever, ever look at your sister-in-law in the eye again." It's an exagerration, but that's how she feels at the moment.

—-

Peter shows Heidi to the door, opening and closing it behind her. And giving a simple, "Thank the boys for the card, and be safe on the way home. I'm so glad you stopped by." With the door closed behind him, he locks the doorknob and glances back towards Elena as she covers her head with the pillow, he can't help but laughing, walking across the room and setting down in the nearby chair. Laughing with her, not at her, honestly. "Don't worry about it, Elena. Heidi doesn't… draw conclusions unless there's something there, really." If she did, she wouldn't have listened to his bluffs to cover for his brother's cheating in Vegas.

"Why don't you finish your drink and… well, I'd offer to take you to the cab, but I don't really want to leave her alone just yet. Only place I know I could lock her up where she won't chew on my books is the bathroom, and that'd be a bit rude." Glancing towards Snowy, who has only just now realized that /someone is gone/ and she's now sitting in front of the door trying to figure out how they disappeared. Where they go? Her blue-gray eyes would like to know…

"Thank you again, for the cheering up, and for the puppy."

—-

"I wasn't thinking about that." They weren't like that. There were so many reasons why they could never be like that ever. But they weren't really concerns of hers, not at the moment. Extramarital affairs, flings, romances, whether people are together or not - her life was too full, and her personality to shove her own wants aside so she could take care of her own and what needed to be done tend to shuttle the usual teenaged girl things on the wayside. Elena tosses the pillow away and sits up to give him a look. "I don't know….what you have or haven't told her about…you know. Things." With a capital T. Meaning the other Things. "I didn't want to just assume you tell her everything. Or almost everything. And it's not my place to ask."

Suddenly, she was concerned about boundaries. It was strange, how she could be so free one moment, and not at the next. "Aaaand my drink's done, actually," she says, picking up the can and taking a deft wing at it across the room to sink it in an impressive arc into the trash can. She laughs - a simple thing can get her to laugh so easily, triumphant and clear.

She hops off the couch, and takes up her backpack. Slinging it over her shoulder, she looks over at him and smiles. "I didn't give you the puppy," she reminds. "I only led you to her. You're the one who took her home. I'll see you later, Peter." She turns around then, and heads for the door.

—-

"As far as I know… Heidi doesn't know anything about what happened last year," Peter admits, sounding a little guilty, but perhaps confirming her suspicions to keep things quiet. On the hush hush was a good idea. "Nathan said he'd tell her everything, but until I know for sure that she knows it all… I'm going to respect his right to tell her himself." He just hopes that his brother gets to it quickly. "I know she knows of Claire now, at least." Everything else… that's up in the air.

Standing up as she dunks the can, he smiles and gives a hint of a clap, before he walks over to the door to pick up the puppy. Better to avoid her trying to bolt out the door when Elena opens it. "You're right. But you still brought me to her." And that's important to him. "Be safe on the way home. And… don't forget you can call if you need anything. I'll let you know how her check up turns out, too." He'll wait for her to let herself out and close the door, before he puts the puppy down and locks up.

"Now, we just have to introduce you to Elle… and puppy proof this place more." He glances around at his bookshelves, well aware that's the first thing that needs to be changed…

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