2007-10-08: The Growing Numbers

Starring:

Elena_icon.gif Cass_icon.gif Benjamin_icon.gif Ramon_icon.gif Peter_icon.gif Nathan_icon.gif

Summary:

Later in the evening, Cass and Elena come back to the labs with clothes for Peter. They test Elena's blood for the virus and get a good number of surprise visitors. Headway is made in the case of who to speak to next and another person is diagnosed with the virus.

Date It Happened: October 8th, 2007

The Growing Numbers


Bat Country Labs

It's almost too late at night to be heading out deep into the city. But this is New York, purportedly the city that never sleeps. So if the city doesn't sleep, clearly, its constituents must suffer the same fate.

Worry emanates from her in waves. When Cass stops by Peter's apartment to grab some clothes for him, Elena had actually been on the verge of packing some, having intended to go to Bat Country herself to hand the duffel bag over, and ask Cass about her diagnosis on Peter's condition. It didn't help to hear from him that she and Jack could be infected as well, so that would mean she'll have to give up a vial of her blood. So, she accompanies Cass, her face a little tense.

"I should've called you sooner," she confesses to Cass whenever they get back to Seville Medical. "When…after Peter's run-in with the acid woman, he was already coughing. I thought he felt a little warm when I left for classes the morning after but…I thought it was just because he used so many powers the day before." She sighs, and rakes a hand through her hair. "This sucks," she mutters, oh-so-eloquently. "Do you know how…any idea how it's transmitted?"

It's been just as long of a day for Cass as it has been for the other parts of the city. What with finding Peter is sicker than everyone else, going through blood samples until her eyes hurt, being visited by Elle and Claudine and now getting those clothes she promised for Peter. Luckily, Elena was already there and she could explain the situation in the most succinct but informative way possible. "You didn't know. I'm still not sure they're totally linked." Just…suspicious of it. "I don't know as much as I want to about it. The most I can do right now is identify it properly." She sighs and holds the bag over her shoulder. "And I'm not sure. STD, possibly." Even in the face of these dire circumstances, Cass has to crack a joke. Because she's worried she doesn't know what else to do.

When Cass cracks the joke about the virus possibly being sexually transmitted, Elena stops and stares at her. "I…" she says, again that not-so-eloquence. She sighs, and rubs the back of her neck. "Alright, Peter told me he has it. He told me Nathan has it….if we don't know how it's being passed on…" It could mean anything. "Either way I'm pretty sure I would've been infected by now," she says, leaning against a wall once she's inside Bat Country and crossing her arms over her chest. "Either airborne, by tactile contact, or…." And she has the grace to look marginally embarrassed/mortified about saying this. But Cass needs to know. "…bodily fluid exchange. I'm hoping not but…" Chances are slim. If it looks like a virus, acts like a virus.

"It was a joke," Cass gives Elena a sympathetic look. Maybe trying to lighten the mood isn't the best course of action today. Down the steps they go and Cass punches in a few numbers and then lets herself into the labs, holding the door open for Elena as she goes. "If this thing is airborne, most of New York could have it now. I'm hoping it's something more like Mono. Needing another form of contact." Then, she stops for a moment and stares at Elena for a moment. Wait, what? She was kidding to ease Elena's mind about possibly having the virus. "Wait. You…" Blinking, she stares at the young Latina. "Really?" There's a wide grin, almost wolfish. She's starting to pick up a few of Lachlan's mannerisms at times. Then, it's almost serious again. "You used a condom, right?"

She shrinks back at the wolfish grin from her big sister figure. "N— I mean, we did, but…" Yes, really. Now instead of worry, it vanishes for a moment in lieu of looking ridiculously mortified at the big grin. "It was…it just happened we…" Stop talking. "It was on the roof and there was a door and— " STOP TALKING! "I've been on BCPs when I started dating in March as a precaution until I could find a way to use my abilities to prevent accidents," Elena finishes, looking so crimson she's practically purple. "I just— uh. Yeah. I know. It was dumb." The last is said sheepishly.

No need to be embarrassed! Cass isn't about to run off and tell Ramon (she may go and tell Lachlan, however). However, she gives the other woman a skeptical look at her blustering and what she says. "I don't have to lecture you on safe sex, Elena. Just because you might not be able to get pregnant…" Okay, she did say she wouldn't lecture her on safe sex. So, she just trails off and sets the bag of clothes on one of the comfortable chairs. Then, she keeps going back to the lab, so that she can get ready to actually take Elena's blood.

"I know," Elena says with a sigh. Great. The one time she takes a chance and it might've just screwed her in the figurative sense this time. "It was really dumb. I should've known better than to make the typical teenager mistakes." She follows the older woman to the very back, already shedding off her hoodie and tying it around her hips. "I'm going to be a doctor, for god's sake, I ought to be…you know. Paying attention to best practices and all that." She selects a stool, and takes a seat. It was a little chilly down in the basement of Seville Medical, so she's got goosebumps on her arms from the tanktop. "Are we….are we contagious? Are you going to be alright when you do this?" She was handling blood after all.

"It happens to everyone." Cass shrugs, not about to harp on Elena for it. Just the simple reminder will do for now. Getting a needle and the little rubber tubing, she ties the tub, rubs a little alcohol on Elena's arm and then draws enough blood for her testing. "I don't know. I mean, you all had to get it somehow." What they need to do is find out how and how fast acting it is. With Peter it seems to be going a lot faster than with everyone else. Especially since Elena doesn't even seem to have the most of the symptoms that even Nathan was exhibiting. That's good. "I'm testing my blood at the moment. But someone has to go through these results and I already have them, so. We'll just cross that bridge when we come to it."

"….why is it faster with him?" Elena says, frowning and getting back into a more serious track of thinking. "Because of his….spongeiness?" Not the most scientific term in the world, but it's the only one she could think of at short notice. She holds out her arm when Cass approaches her, the alcohol swab cold on her skin. She doesn't even flinch when she draws her blood. And while she looks alright, she does look a little under the weather - her eyes are somewhat bloodshot (though it could be from crying with worry though she won't admit it), and she looked tired and moved a little slower than her usual, energetic self. "…is…he going to be okay?" she asks, a little more quietly this time. "I'm sorry for all the questions, I'm just…" Worried. Especially now that Cass's told her it's affecting Peter faster than everyone else.

"I don't know." That's going to be the theme of Cass' answers for most of the questions that Elena has for her. She hates to say it, but that's all that she can give right now. "I won't know more until I talk to someone else who knows a lot about another virus this may be related to. Or may even be." When they pool their knowledge together, hopefully something will come to the forefront. Tossing the needle in the biohazard bin, Cass switches off the swirling machine for a moment, slips Elena's vial into a free slot and then turns it on again. "So far the symptoms just seem to be like the flu." But, if her father's right, well, it could lead to something far far worse. "No, it's fine. We're all worried. I've got a lot of questions, too. I just wish I had more answers for you. I can't tell right now, Elena. I would have thought his regeneration would take care of it. But it's not. It could be impeding his ability to heal himself over, cutting off his abilities." She frowns. "Are you having any problems using yours? Do you find it harder or more difficult to access them?"

"It's alright….we're just starting to realize that we could be infected, and that Peter and Nathan are infected." Of course Cass can't give her much else, but Elena accepts the truthful answer. This wasn't exactly the sort of situation where one could fudge on the details. She watches Cass work the machine, and she folds her fingers together on her lap, chewing on her bottom lip nervously. There could be a chance, but….it doesn't look very likely. Not when she and her boyfriend had… "I'm just hoping it's not airborne," she tells her softly. "Otherwise…" New York would be ground-zero for a plague. "And…I was able to access them just fine when Peter came back the other day on the verge of collapse…" She furrows her brows. "Why, it…has it been affecting his powers? What about Nathan's?"

"I know. And I wish I had more answers to give you to help with it." Because the idea of being sick and with Peter already so advanced, it's frightening. Cass is worried, too. Which is why she's planning on staying up as late as needed to finish Elena's results so she can have some answers, too. "You and me both. If it's airborne, we have more to worry about." There's a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know. It was just a leap. A guess. If the virus shut off his regeneration, that would supply why he was getting so sick." It would also relate to the virus her father talked about. And while that would be harrowing, at least they could identify it. "No, he didn't mention his ability being affected, either. Just…keep an eye on your health for me. Anything feels off, your ability starts to shut off or go a little haywire, tell me."

"I will…I didn't even…I was feeling a little under the weather the other day, but…I'd been running around the city since I got back from the weekend at Papa's house," Elena says. "With classes and midterms, I just thought it was stress. Hell, I'm hoping it's just stress. But…I'm not as bad off as Peter was when I left him to go to class. He could get out of bed, but he was coughing….I didn't even know he could get sick." She nods. "But I will…so far it hasn't been affected in any way, but I'm asymptomatic….not like Peter." Not yet anyway if Cass's results are positive. In the end, she sighs. "Ugh…" She rubs her face into her hand. "I guess I ought to just settle for hoping that this isn't crazy contagious." For now.

"We'll just hope for the best." And Cass will prepare for the worst. Hence why she'll meet with Mohinder and her father the next day and try to get to the bottom of this. And if it was that quarantine that is the cause of this, she'll find that patient in Texas and she'll try and get some more answers. However, all she does is give Elena a reassuring smile through all this. "No matter what the results are, we'll find a way to cure it. For all we know, it's an Evolved Flu. Maybe it'll just go away on it's own." That's a high amount of wishful thinking on Cass' part, but she'll say it if it makes Elena feel better. "Keep your focus on being healthy and positive thoughts."

Think positive. Elena gives her a small smile on that - she will, of course. At the very least, she'll try. "Thanks, Cass. And yeah, I'm hoping too. That this is just some sort of crazy Evolved flu." Peter was taking up most of her worries though, especially since Cass told her his case was a little more advanced than what she's seen so far. Still, she'll do it. Mind over matter, or something like that, right? She looks at Cass. "I'll wait for the results with you," she tells her. "I won't be able to sleep until I know anyway, and….if I do have it…I shouldn't be out there." Plus she wants to see Peter. That went without saying, and Cass probably knows. She exhales a breath. "So….aside from the crazy, how was your day?" she asks, shifting the topic to something a little lighter.

"It's going to be a little while," Cass informs Elena. It has to go through the spinner, then she has to run other tests on it to make sure. There may even be a microscope involved. "If you have it, my spare rooms are going to get very crowded." Because with Peter and possibly Nathan there, not to mention Elena. Might as well just have a huge sleep over. "Do my days ever not involve crazy?" she smiles a little and moves backwards a little to wait for the timer to go off on the spinner. "So far, my friends are getting sick, I don't know what is actually causing it and I don't know how to cure it. So, my day's been pretty bad, I've got to say." Not to mention the visit from the Company, but Elena already has enough to worry about without knowing that. Plus, it's over, with bad feelings all around. Status quo.

"I don't mind. You need any help with anything?" Elena asks. She might as well try and be useful with her own tests. Plus seeing Cass work, she might learn something new. But the rhetorical question causes her to quirk a small smile. "Par the course I guess, all the weirdness in New York seems to gravitate towards your front door. All of them. The bookstore. Your apartment. Bat Country." She can't help but tease her a little. "Though I guess being friends with us really doesn't help at all." Her expression softens. "I'm sorry you're having a bad day. If you've been working at this for a while you must be really tired." She does feel pretty bad about it, she tries to keep out of trouble but it keeps finding her anyway. "I'm sure all of us hope you get the answers you're looking for, too. Maybe Peter and Nathan'll wake up tomorrow to the news of you telling them that it's just the flu." She's hoping she doesn't have it.

"No, I think I'll be fine." There's a pot of coffee boiling, something that Cass will certainly be using if she works for as long as she may plan to. "Hey, I was completely and utterly normal until you freakish people started to overrun my life," she teases Elena right back. "I'm blaming it all on you guys." Of course being normal before knowing about the Evolved and everything is a total lie, but she'll pretend like it isn't for now. "I'll be fine. I pulled enough all-nighters in med school to know the stages and how to combat them. Mostly it involves a lot of caffeine. And sometimes hopping on one foot to keep yourself awake." Not that she would know at all. "I'm not going to get all the answers tonight. But, I'm hoping that I'll get them soon." The meeting with Mohinder and her father being a catalyst for more answers.

"Alright," Elena says, remaining where she is, and now that she's got her mind of other things, now she can smell the coffee brewing somewhere in Bat Country labs. But when Cass ribs the freaks about invading her life, she can't help but laugh. "You were asking for it when you willingly took over an occult bookstore!" she exclaims, grinning over at the tired, older woman, and some semblance of her old spirit and cheer returning. "And I hope you do too, Peter mentioned you….the night we….yeah. He mentioned the possibility of you going to your Dad about Evelyn." She frowns a little bit. "He actually told me before then that you found something weird with her but…" She exhales a breath. Of course, her mind then wanders to her own father, who'll probably be having kittens if she tells him she tested positive for it. Kittens. Figurative kittens, not Bulldog who he refuses to admit is his cat.

Normally not one to be out so late at night, Benjamin's doing a lot of things that are out of the norm for him. Detouring by the medical center on his way home, he heads down to the laboratory that Cass has claimed. Pretty much assuming the door to the lab is locked at this hour, if anyone is even there, he presses the buzzer to announce his presence.

"…You guys talked about me before you had sex?" Cass gives Elena a look that quite clearly says, 'are you insane?'. "You've seriously got to talk to him about his dirty talk." Waving a dismissive hand, she snorts. "There's crazy and then there's you all." Waiting for the test to come back on her blood, she nods her head. "I did actually talk to my father about Evelyn's test results without giving any names or identifying information. I can't figure this all out on my own." Which is why she's got a meeting set up for the next day. The buzz startles the store owner and she starts. Who in the world is going to show up at a lab late at night. "Uh. One second." Heading for the door, she opens it to see Benjamin there. "Benjamin! Hi! What…are you doing here?"

"What? No! That was at the beginning of the evening." Elena shoots Cass a look, which reads 'I'm not that crazy'. "It's not like we planned any of that, it just happened. He was…" She exhales a breath. "He was worrying about everything. One day he'd be so sure that going to the future was the right thing to do, and the next day he'll waffle…" Yes. Waffle. She said waffle. "…about that and get paranoid thoughts about him having made things worse or otherwise. And then later on it'll revert back to the same thing…" She rubs her face. "Maybe the future really was that traumatizing if he keeps on— " The buzzer emits a sound, and she slowly gets up from her chair. However, when she hears Cass speak Benjamin's name out loud, she blinks. "….." Well, yes. That was a good question. What was he doing there this time of night?

Benjamin doesn't try to push his way into the lab. "Hi, sorry this is so late at night. I probably could have just slipped a note under the door." Which he was going to do if there wasn't an answer. "The bookstore is closed by now, so I thought I'd swing by here, being in the area. Anyway.. I just wanted to let you know you'll be free of my evil, untrustworthy presence the next few weeks. I'm going to be AWOL, helping a friend." He manages to smile and sound like he's in good enough spirits.

Cass gives Elena a wry grin at her look and her protests. "It's okay. It's hard to stop talking about me. I understand." Not a woman with a very inflated sense of ego, she doesn't mind pretending to be so in order to tease Elena more. "He said that he feels responsible for this future because he changed the other one. I know it's selfish of me, but I can't say that I'm all that upset that what was in store for me in two years time has changed." She's actually a lot more comfortable not know what her future holds than worrying about some bomb that could kill her.

When she sees Benjamin there, Cass isn't quite sure what to say about his going AWOL. "I never said you were evil, Benjamin." She left out untrustworthy, though. She does think him that. "It's okay. I'm just surprised to see you." And she doesn't invite him in, exactly, either. "Well. I guess…good luck with that? Be careful." She doesn't know what it involves, but going AWOL doesn't seem to be a safe business with the company he works for.

"Well…between you and me you are pretty cute," Elena says, waggling her eyebrows at Cass and grinning back at her. But at the last, she nods. "He took it really hard," she says with a grimace. "He can't talk about it without….you know." Without withdrawing and sinking into some level of depression. "But you're right. There are good things with what he changed." Because the world doesn't operate that way, it takes the bad with the good. At least, she hopes that's the case, otherwise it'll just implode. Maybe. It has existed for about four billion years after all. But she remains silent as she keeps talking to Benjamin, easing off the stool and walking over to peer through the door curiously. Her hands slide into her pockets. She'll let them talk - she doesn't want to interrupt. But she can't help but listen in either. Compared to the two others in the room, she was a kid. Being nosy was part of the teenager thing.

No it's not safe business. While the reasons are straightforward, anything could go wrong. Benjamin still finds it in him to smile though when Cass says he's not evil. "Okay, the evil that I bring with me then. I also wanted to thank you for your help. I know it was on less than honest grounds, but you helped a lot. At any rate, I'm cancelling like a responsible patient for the next few weeks. I'll let you know when I'm back. So you at least have this one thing off your mind." He sees Elena approach the door and offers a wave to her. "Past couple of weeks have been insane as it is, now this. You look tired by the way, don't work too hard or I might pay you another visit just to make sure you get some rest. Night you two." He then turns to head away.

There's a grin shot Elena's way at the cute comment, however, she doesn't add anything to Peter's depression or the new future with Benjamin still in the room. Cass just gives Benjamin a smile at his statement. If only Benjamin not coming for the next couple of the weeks took something off her mind. Lose one Company Agent only to invite an entirely different one right into the heart of the den. "Thank you for being considerate." And she sounds sincere with that. "Believe me, I know a little about insane weeks." As for looking tired, she just shrugs. "We'll see how that goes. Good night, Benjamin. Stay safe." Because even if she doesn't trust the man, she still cares about his well being. "I'll see you when you get back."

"Hey, Mr. Winters," Elena says, lifting her fingers with a wave back and a smile. Though when he says he's leaving to….help out a friend, she does, indeed, look a little concerned. Was it going to be dangerous? But…he was still recovering from surgery! Wasn't he? She watches him as he turns around to head away. She returns her hand into her pocket, and she exhales a breath. "I hope he's okay…" she says softly. "Working for them seems to be sucking out what I remember of him before all this." This is said to Cass quietly from the side, whenever Benjamin manages to put enough distance between him and the door so he'd be out of earshot. "He and Papa still hang out on occasion though….deep down I think they're both grateful for it."

As Benjamin walks down the hallway, Cass watches him go for a little while before shutting the door. The automatic lock clicks into place as she does so. There's a sigh. "Yeah. I don't know what to do about it. I don't think he wants to work for them. But, he never seems to want to talk about leaving them." She liked the old Benjamin, the one she knew before he got mixed up in all of this. "I'm glad that he and your father are still talking. He probably needs the distraction. I just…can't let him in here with the others. I can't trust him to not go back to the Company and inform on them." Back to what they were talking about before, she nods. "No future is going to be without it's sorrows. But Peter's got to learn that whatever happens now isn't his fault. Everyone has a stake in what's going on. I doubt Peter would take credit for everything good that happened to this future, so I don't see why he should take all the burdens of what goes wrong onto his shoulders."

"No," Elena says with a shake of her head. "I understand completely. I just can't help but feel a little….bad for him. You think maybe the Company is brainwashing him into staying? Kind of like…I dunno. Battered Women's Syndrome, only for people who get suckered into working for them?" She glances at the centrifuge where her blood is spinning and spinning and spinning. "And I know, I've been trying to tell him that. That he shouldn't….take on too much on himself. But that's just the way he is, really. I don't know how to convince him otherwise. As cliched as it sounds, despite the fact that Sylar's still alive, Peter's his own worst enemy." She glances at the door where Benjamin had left, and she shakes her head a bit again, retaking her seat. "Everything'll work out for the best though, even for him. He just needs to have a little bit of faith."

"You mean like Stockholm Syndrome?" Cass quirks an eyebrow at Elena as she keeps a hand on the just locked front door. Almost as if checking to make sure it's really closed. Though it is late at night, Benjamin just leaving proved that she may get unexpected visitors at the most unexpected times. After a moment, she makes for the lab again so that she can check on the status of the machine and if it's ready for her to run it through another machine to get a read-out. "I wish I could say that that wasn't true, but we both know I'd be lying." Sighing, she doesn't go for the chair, instead she goes for the coffee maker. "Do you want a cup of coffee?" She might as well offer. "Though, really, if we're being on the safe side you should be drinking water. Lots of it."

SLAM.

The door hits the wall, courtesy of the flat of Ramon Gomez's outstretched arm. It rebounds, but he simply keeps the hand out until it gets the sense to /stay out of his way/. That dark, thunderous expression in his eye is his way of saying he's terrified with worry.

And it's kind of like knocking.

Maybe a bit like 'hello,' too.

You know. In Ramon-speak. All those reasonable questions too. That was in the door rebound.

"Yeah, kind of like both of those. Stay with people who are bad for you and who can potentially abuse you, so much that you can't recognize just how self-destructive it is. That sort of thing," Elena says. "I wonder maybe if it's like that." When Cass does admit that she thinks it's probably like that, she gives her a small nod. "Tricky business that," she says, trying to lighten her tone - and failing pretty much. She watches Cass move back to the centrifuge, and she continues to wait patiently for her results. Her fingertips come up to absently rub her thumb on the golden cross that hangs around her neck. "And coffee'll be great," she tells her with a smile. "Though water would be good too. Hell, I'll drink both. I'm not picky."

She looks over at Ramon - it's clear the man got her voice message. She lifts her hand in a wave, looking apologetic. "….hi Papa. Was traffic bad? No, we don't know yet but Cass is working on it." And she doesn't even have to be a telepath, she can understand Doorspeak just fine.

There's two guests in the basement of Bat Country Labs, and they've just finished a riveting game of Monopoly— in which— well— enough on that. Either way, there's two Petrellis in the building, and at the sound of a door crashing, it's Peter's obvious decision to go and investigate. As long as he hangs back quite a few feet it should be all right, right? There's a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. His hair is cropped much shorter than Ramon saw it last, and he looks pasty and pale, feverish. And suffering chills by the way he's wrapping the blanket around himself. Of course as soon as he sees the group, he blinks and says, "Sorry," in a hoarse voice. Even if Elena doesn't have something, her boyfriend does. And he hasn't seen girlfriend's father in quite some time… A lot has happened since then.

As Peter steps into the labs, Nathan emerges just behind him, leaning against the doorframe, eyebrows raising when he sees the small group that's accumulated, arms folded to keep the navy blue woolen jacket tight around himself. Since Cass had seen him last, he looks no better, probably a little worse, but certainly not look like they might collapse. Unlike some people. He inclines his head towards Cass, first. "Decided to crash," is the explanation offered for his presence, before glancing curiously towards Elena, Ramon, a hand raising briefly in greeting. He seems more tired than anything.

Of course, a locked door does nothing for someone who knows how to get in. Coming back with a mug of water for Elena (sorry, she has to be responsible) an coffee for herself, the slamming of the door scares Cass even more than the buzzing did. "Holy—-" escapes before she takes in Ramon's stature and freezes. Oh man. This is the worst case scenario ever. "H-hi Ramon." A little adrift in the subtext, what she can assume is that Ramon knows something may be up and is here to make sure that Elena is alright. It's a good thing she didn't make a joke about Elena and Peter on coming back otherwise she'd just have to toss herself into that centrifuge and hope that being slowly spun to death is better than Ramon's anger. "We'll…have a result in a little while." Handing over the mug to Elena, she eyes Ramon. "A-actually, while I have you here, it might be helpful if I could get a sample of your blood, too." Catching a glimpse of Peter behind him, she moves into a more protective mode. "Peter, you should be resting." Especially if it's late at night. He should be sleeping! And then is that… "Nathan?" Is it just a sleep over party at Bat Country Labs? Well, she's not really angry about it, just surprised. "Okay. Well. Um. Hi everyone. Why don't we move into a room that's not quite so cramped?"

Ramon turns in a slow, slow circle to take in a sick Peter and an exhausted Nathan and the slow crimson tilt-a-whirl of his daughter's blood going around…and around…and around. He steps all the way in, and takes off his suit jacket. He lays it over the back of a chair, his mouth working without any sound coming out. He starts very precisely rolling up the sleeve of his left arm. "What kind of virus?" That's as much as he gets to grate out. The idea that it might be fatal is too awful to consider.

"…..Peter! Nate!" Elena says, getting up slowly and looking surprised. She knows Peter had quarantined himself in the labs, but…. Nathan too? Then again, Peter probably would've called Nathan first. He was, after all, pretty bad off in the shared dream they all had. She takes the mug of water gratefully, and takes a sip. While she looks tired, her eyes a little bloodshot, and her movements a little less exuberant than her usual self, she doesn't seem to be as bad off as Peter, or even Nathan, who was getting there. Her first instinct is to hug her father and then the younger Petrelli brother….but….she doesn't know what the results would be. So she keeps to herself, and takes a sip of her water. "….she's right Papa," she tells him, looking over at her concernedly. "We don't know how…this thing is being transmitted, so…" But she does look apologetic. "And we don't know yet. We're not even sure where it came from though there might be the possibility that we all got it during that Mount Sinai incident several months ago. But that….doesn't make any sense, they tested us all before releasing us and we were clean. I don't get it."

"Sorry— I called Nathan and told him it might be best he come over here," Peter says, still wrapped tightly in his blanket. But he's not laying down like he probably should be. He doesn't look better, either. "Sorry— we can go back to our room. We got a— I just heard the…" He's stuttering. And then suddenly coughing a little. But at least he doesn't fall over or even need to lean on anything. "Where's less cramped? I don't want to get to close to… if they're not infected I don't want to…" he looks at Elena especially, a rather guilty look in his eyes. Oh, if only he knew.

Nathan watches Peter as he stammers out an explanation, and he actually has enough insight to smile apologetically at Cass. "He told me about the results over the phone," he says, a little grimly. "Don't know how much I need to be here but I figured I'd get more answers. And I could use a night off." Even if he did bring a laptop and a cellphone and a few bits and pieces so that he's not entirely detached from all the work he's otherwise leaving behind for a day or two. He takes his weight off the door frame in preparation to wander in whichever direction they're pointed.

Before Cass can answer Ramon, Elena does. And she doesn't have much more information to give about it other than that. "I'm working on it. Or trying my best to. I can isolate what it is in the blood stream, but I can't figure out much more about it yet." Looking around at the assembled parties, the varying spectrum of health, she frowns. "I don't know. But I don't think whatever that woman you saw there had the hantavirus. So those checking may not have any idea what they should actually have been looking for." Putting her mug down, her eyes shift between Peter and Nathan and Elena. "If you you all could remember who the doctors were you checked you out and anyone else who was with you, I'll track them down and talk to them." Blood samples from all! Her lab refrigerator is going to start to look like a vampire stocks it. "No, it's fine, Peter. I'm just…" worried. As is everyone. "Let's just go to the main room. You should be sitting." And that way he can hear what everyone has to say while still being involved. "As should you," she adds to Nathan. "I'm sorry I wasn't the one to tell you." Since she was the one doing the tests, but so much has been going on lately. "It's fine. No, it's good that you're here." Another glance over at Ramon. "I want to take some blood from everyone. Hopefully once I can actually run everyone's samples I can tell if it's contagious. Or maybe how contagious it is."

Ramon just sits down like a grumpy dog, right next to Elena. "I wasn't at Sinai when that hentai virus crap happened. I don't even know what the hentaivirus is." He thinks he's saying it right, he really does. He apparently doesn't care if it's spread by putting an arm around his daughter and squeezing tight.

She knows she's already infected. If kissing and tactile contact and the air didn't infect her, other activities certainly did. She gives Peter a small, reassuring smile. She knows the guilty puppy look. She's not about to make him feel worse by flailing at him. No matter how weird this strain is, a virus is still a virus. "I….the one who took my blood didn't introduce herself," Elena tells Cass, looking a little concerned. "But she looked like…" She gives a vague description of Bekah, but she has to leave out some details - not that she couldn't remember, but she had been wearing a Hazmat suit and she couldn't really see her face clearly from behind the plexiglass helmet thing she wore on her head. So when they all move into the main room, she takes a seat and her father plops next to her. She's afraid that if she has it, she might be contagious…but Ramon doesn't seem to be all too concerned about that. She gives him a small smile.

"Sorry," Peter adds when Nathan announces that he told him over the phone. It's true, he did— he couldn't help it, though. The news had worried him, terrified him even, especially considering the dream he'd had. With the blanket pulled tight around his shoulders, he starts towards the place where he can sit, but he puts a good distance between himself and the possibly uninfected. Hentai virus? If he were a little geekier, or Hiro, he might be laughing. "I hope we know if it's contagious soon— I know Nathan won't stick around long if he can help it— and I need to… I don't like feeling trapped or helpless." Which is kind of what this feels like. The helpless part he'll still have, but maybe if he can at least go out, talk to people, help in some way… he'll be useful. "There was also a nurse," he adds, describing the guise that a certain illusionist took that night. Not that he knows that. He keeps looking toward Elena. Guilt and longing all wrapped up in one. Probably not the way to look at a young woman in front of their dad, but he's feverish, give him a break.

In the main room, Nathan claims one of the comfy chairs, happy to be seated, let people who know better discuss what's going on while he listens. He shakes his head dismissively at Cass, waving away her apology - even he can see that she has a lot to do, after all. Important thing is that he knows now. He doesn't seem about to contribute to the conversation as to who was at the hospital, he barely remembers, but then he does remember something. A name, a face. "Dr. Samantha Applebaum," he chimes in, once Peter wraps up his description of the nurse. "She was one of the ones who saw my— my group, after we got separated. I'd met her at Sinai before," he adds, by way of explanation as to why he remembers the woman's name. "I don't have her contact details but she should be findable - got her name, work place."

"H-hantavirus." Though she doesn't mind mispronunciations, Cass can't really let that one slip. Because. Well. Just…there will be no hentaivirus in her labs. Of course, the correction is done softly, without much force behind it because Ramon can be scary when he's being all protective. "Alright." Taking in the descriptions of the two that Peter and Elena tell her about, she tries to commit them to memory. "I'm trying to figure that out. I think a test of Ramon's blood along with a few others who you've been in contact with should tell me how contagious it is or if it's airborne." Blinking at the name that Nathan gives her, Cass laughs. "I…I think that's the name of the woman who stitched me and Lachlan up after a car bomb exploded. Lachlan still complains about her because he thinks she was mean." It really is a small world. "Now that's a lead I can certainly look into." Since she knows what Samantha looks like and possibly how to track her down. In the other room, the centrifuge clicks off and Cass tilts her head that way. "Excuse me. I'll be right back."

Poor Cass. Ramon loves her to death, but right now the best she gets out of him is a grunt. All of this discussion is going straight over his head. His comment is simple and to the point. "What we need is that guy with that miracle cure. R-G-…it sounded like Regen 420."

She knows that look. A glance is cast to Peter, though she returns to the discussion at hand once Cass gets leads. Especially from Nathan who actually knows the name of his daughter. "….you mean Dr. Stan Gifford?" Elena looks over at the rest of them. "He injected Eric's IV with something when he was laid up on ICU a few months ago. And then the next day it was….he was just…I can't describe it but he told me that it was like the shooting never happened. R-Gen 400+ or something strange like that. There was an article in a medical journal afterwards that said that Dr. Gifford's drug was a sham. But….I don't know how else Eric managed to get better, he was…the doctors thought he'd never wake up." She digs around for her wallet. "I think I actually still have his card." She pulls out the plain, white cardboard thing, and shows it to Cass.

"Dr. Applebaum?" Peter's eyebrows raise for a moment, as if he recognizes the name, but the rest of the conversation draws him in a little bit more. The miracle drug used to cure Eric. The name of the doctor. RGN-400+ or something like that. It's. "…His name's really Adam," he suddenly says. "When I was in the Company cells— he was in the cell next to me. I didn't recognize him on sight, but when he spoke that day in Eric's room, I recognized him. We didn't talk— I didn't call him. We talked a lot the first two months I was there. The name I knew him by was Adam." He hadn't brought it up before because it didn't seem really important. But if he's got a cure that can help… It's confirmation that he's not normal, though, if he was locked in a cell right next to Peter Petrelli.

As Cass and Peter give implications that they know who he's talking about, Nathan sort of just smiles benignly and gestures in a vague 'there you go' kind of way. It's this talk of miracle cures that dictates the conversation, however, and Nathan doesn't contribute. He knows of one miracle cure, but that was injury, not sickness, right? Right. He stays quiet, listening, not quite the leader in this scenario.

She'll leave the card out for Cass if she wants to check out a possible cure - but like what Nathan is thinking, the RGN-400+ or something like that healed trauma, wounds, breaks…. she wasn't sure if it would do the same against disease. Elena blinks and looks over at Peter. "….why would he give us a fake name?" she wonders out loud. She nibbles absently on her bottom lip as she sits by her father, with the younger Petrelli brother looking crazily miserable on the other end. He also looked pretty cold, chicken soup seems to be the order of the day to aid with that, at some point. Nathan too, who looked like he was getting sicker by the minute. She rubs her eyes, suddenly exhausted. But she has to stick around to see hers and her father's results.

There's so much information flying around, that Cass is quick in her switching Elena's vial of blood from the centrifuge to the machine that will print out her results. Stoppering what she doesn't use, she quickly scrawls out a number code onto the vial and places it into the fridge. She can still hear what everyone is talking about in the other room through the open door and everything she's hearing is making her head spin with new possibilities. When Cass comes back into the room, she has her sweater sleeves rolled up and also carries a needle and everything else needed to take Ramon's blood. She'll get to that, though. "R-GEN 400?" Creasing her face in concentration, she moves closer to the chair where Ramon is seated. Putting down her supplies, she takes the card from Elena and studies it thoughtfully. "Dr. Gifford. Do you mind if borrow this?" she asks the Latina, holding up the card. Then, she looks over at Peter. "Adam?" Why is he using an alias? "Okay. Well. It's helpful to know both his names. I'll try giving him a call. And I'll try and find Dr. Applebaum, too." Especially if they're all going to be trapped in here under some sort of quarantine.

"He's probably using an alias cause some fuckers stuck him in a cell," Ramon says. He presents his arm to Cass. "Do I gotta do anything special? I don't go to doctors. I mean I take my kids to them." He manages to give the impression that doctors are mostly for kids unless one has a bullet wound or a deadly virus.

"If you'd been held in a Company cell for a couple decades, would you go around using your real name?" Peter asks, hinting toward at least part of their conversation of the months when he was there. With the test complete on his girlfriend's blood, he watches carefully, waiting to see if she makes a face at the results once they're done printing. He's definitely wanting to know what's going on. "Just be careful with Adam— if you need me to, I can call him. I may not be able to leave until we know if it's safe, but I can at least make phone calls." He wants to do something. He looks towards Nathan.

"It depends," she says rubbing the back of her neck as she looks between Peter and her father. "On whether he checked in voluntarily, or was grabbed and put there." Because Peter checked in voluntarily, she's not going to say that no one else in that facility had done the same thing, she doesn't know much about it. To Ramon, she shakes her head. "We'll see if you caught it first, Papa," Elena says, suddenly looking worried. Ramon might not show too much concern about getting infected, but she does. Her father was the most important person in the world to her, after all. She takes another gulp of her water, suddenly….incredibly thirsty. Only to see that she's got less than half in it, and she needs more. So she shifts a bit, moving to stand away from her father so she can get some water. Her hand rubs on her eyes though, looking more exhausted by the minute as she shuffles to go get some water.

Nathan raises an eyebrow when Peter glances towards him, giving a small shrug. "Then make phonecalls. I don't— " He pauses, and sighs. What be brings up next isn't quite on topic, but it's what's plaguing him (no pun intended). "I just want to know what we're supposed to be doing in the meantime. Peter doesn't wanna leave this place until he's sure it's okay to do so, but I don't have much of a choice, here." He has to go back to work eventually, deathvirus of doom or no deathvirus of doom. Okay, that may not be rational, but all the same. He glances about the room for an opinion from anywhere, a hand up to rub the back of his neck as if it pains him.

"No, I guess not." Cass replies to Peter. It makes sense. She'll worry about Company policy and what it means and why whoever this is decided to give false names later. Knowing that Peter is sure to be restless just sitting around, she nods. "That might be a good idea. He's more likely to talk to someone he actually knows about this as opposed to a total stranger who just happened to get a hold of his card." Delegate, keep the natives from getting restless! That taken care of she gestures for Ramon to roll up his sleeve so she can take his blood. "Nothing special. Not yet, at least. I'll test your blood, see if you're infected and we'll take it from there." As for Nathan, she nods. "I know. The election." Which will come no matter what. Sickness or health. "Stay here the night. I'm having a meeting tomorrow that will hopefully clear some of this confusion up. If not…just…" Just what? She doesn't know. "I don't know. We'll cross each bridge as we come to it." Noticing Elena's exhaustion, she also gestures toward another door. "Maybe you should lie down, Elena. You can stay here the night, too, and we'll wake you for your test results."

Ramon already has his sleeve up, so he just gives Cass his arm. "You…sink all the money and gas you were going to use campaigning into lots more television spots, tell everyone you're going Green' and 'considering energy', and you teleconference, because you're too responsible to go infecting everyone with horrible viruses because it might be an inconvenience." This to Nathan.

Peter's looking from one very important person to the next, between his brother and his girlfriend. Brother is worried about his campaign, as he should be, and girlfriend is looking really thirsty and also… "Elena…" he trails off, looking after her specifically while Mr. Gomez gives good advice to his brother about ways to handle this inconvenience. He's worried. "Are you actually feeling sick too?" He wasn't sure how badly she was actually feeling, wrapped up in what he's going through the last few days. "How long til we know the results?" he finally asks Cass.

"You already have the ex-pilot thing going for you, why not try the angle?" Elena asks Nate thinks her father's got the right idea. Besides, these days the malcontents were getting a little more vocal about not being in the pockets of oil companies anymore anyway. She refills her mug with water, and moves back to where the rest of them are, taking a thirsty pull from the cold ceramic. She doesn't know if she's infected for sure - not yet. But if she's not, she'll help Cass with some legwork on reaching the people she needs to reach. She can be like a gopher, setting appointments for Cass and things like that. But she also knows that chances of her not being infected are slim. Not after the last several nights. To Peter's inquiry and Cass's, she shakes her head slowly. "I'm okay, I just feel tired - I thought with midterms over and all I was just…running on empty." Unless, of course, her father sends her to bed. And she will obey like a good girl.

But. But. He has meetings and things to do on the outside world this week and— Nathan gestures slightly helplessly at Ramon before slumping even further back into his chair, if possible. He got kinda told, and it's not like Ramon made totally outlandish points, considering the curveball his campaign has now been thrown. He casts Elena a considering glance and sort of just shrugs. He doesn't like the idea of changing around all his carefully thought out campaign work weeks before the actual election. Timing, fate! "Well if worst comes to worst I'll have to come up with something," he relents, before gripping the arms of his chair and pushing himself up to stand. Christ, if he didn't feel old before, feeling constantly fatigued and achey is just helping that along, isn't it? "I'm going to go call Heidi," is his announcement to the rest of the group, a cellphone being slipped out of the pocket of his woolen jacket, and he leaves it at that, shuffling out towards the labs, likely to continue towards the backrooms. It won't be the first time he's called her from quarantine, official or not.

Having taken so many vials of blood from so many people, lately, Cass is starting to be automatic with her motions for obtaining them. Though gentle, she's quick and soon she has a vial of Ramon's blood all ready for testing. It'll be one of the first things she does after her own (as a control) and finishing analyzing Elena's results. There's a lot of work ahead for her. She gives Ramon a bit of a wry grin at his suggestion on what to do should Nathan be stuck here, but once her vial is full, she has to go immediately to put it in the fridge. She'll label it through her system as she goes, too. Though the test isn't finished, there's a page printed out from the machine she's had running and she grabs the sheet off the printer on her way back, studying it to see what she can gather from such a preliminary reading. It doesn't look good. Heading back into the main room, she keeps the sheet of paper unfolded in her hands. "Okay. So. This is just the first page of the results. It's going to take awhile longer to get the full work up, but so far it looks like the test is positive for the anomaly."

"I speak English and Spanish, Cass," Ramon growls. "I don't know what anomaly means. I do know what test positive means though, so you're telling me Chiquita is sick." One minute he's handing out sensible campaign advice, the next minute he's revealing a stunning lack of vocabulary.

"Get some rest, Nate," Elena says, watching Nathan move out of the main room so he could call Heidi and tell him he's in an UNEXPECTED QUARANTINE again. Though when Cass reads her piece of paper, and her father growling at what she says, she….well. She looks resigned. She expected it. "I thought so," she confesses quietly. There was no helping it. She told Cass why but it's a clear bet by the way she's not going into specifics that her father doesn't. The expression she casts on her father is apologetic, and she would've said something in Spanish but then, her phone goes off. It's not a ringtone, but a little chime that denotes that she had just received a text message. She pulls out the jPhone, and looks at it, reading the note… what she reads causes her to blink. "………what," she mutters, punching a few buttons to try and text back, only for it to not go through. A curse is bit back. But she does slide the phone back into her pocket. This time, when she moves, it's to sit next to Peter, sagging a bit on the couch.

Remember how the older Petrelli brother slumped into his chair just a moment ago? Before standing up to go call his wife? Peter slumps in his chair, hugs the blanket tighter around him, and closes his eyes. There's a strong feeling of 'please no' coming off of him. In some ways he should be relieved— at least now he can stand up, walk over and hug her tightly, but how could he be that selfish? It'd be better if she never had it in the first place. The night in Sinai— if that's how they got it— they were meeting that day for dinner, to talk and catch up. That's why they were both there that night, together. The blanket falls away a little as he reaches up to scrub at his face, then looks up at Elena. He looks like he wants to apologize. Even if he's not sure he's got anything to be guilty for. A glance toward Mr. Gomez makes him grimace visibly again. It's the jPhone that draws his eyes back, and her reaction— and then she sits down, next to him, and puts the phone away. "…what was that?"

Pointing out anomaly is English is probably not a response that would earn Cass good friend points. Instead of worrying about language, she's worried about Elena and what those test results mean. "Yes. Or, at least, she has the same thing in her blood that Peter and Nathan have." As well as Evelyn. Saying nothing about the text message or the vibes she's getting from both Ramon and Peter. This is not exactly the news she wanted to deliver, but she was sort of expecting it. "We'll find the cure," she says, determined. She just has to. Peter will call this Adam guy, Cass will try and find Dr. Applebaum and Mohinder and her father will be able to help her work something out. Everyone will come out alive and cured. That is the only acceptable outcome.

Ramon flips open his phone and grunts, then closes it up. He hugs Elena tightly and then lets her cuddle with her boyfriend if he wants. He goes over to stand by Cass, radiating dark upset again as he props an arm against the wall and stares aimlessly into space.

"I'll be okay, Papa. Like Cass says, we'll find a cure," Elena says, reaching out to hug her father around the shoulders tightly. "I'll be out before you know it." There's a hopeful degree of optimism in her voice, and she pulls back to give her father a reassuring smile. Whenever she lets him go, however, she lets her dark eyes follow the man towards Cass. She won't even dwell in the possibility that it could be fatal, whatever this is, but she's hoping that Ramon doesn't have it. Sitting next to Peter, she…well. She doesn't really cuddle him, but she does lean her head on his shoulder, and closing her eyes, giving into her exhaustion. "It's Eric," she tells him softly. "Just telling me he's coming home early from a business trip."

"Yeah, we'll find it," Peter says, allowing Ramon to get first hugs from his daughter, before he wraps an arm around said girlfriend and leans against her. He's warm, but cold at the same time. Warm to everyone else, cold to himself. It's a strange world, flu-like symptoms. "Oh. Eric," he responds, trying his best not to look jealous— and failing a little. Instead he closes his eyes.

The Capricorn-Sicilian thing was rearing its head again. Elena closes her eyes as well when he wraps his arm around her shoulder, and leans into her. Elena presses her lips gently on his cheek, and curls her arms around him. Okay, now she can hug him just a bit - but she'll insist on him going to bed soon. "He's just coming home," she tells him softly. He has nothing to worry about, even though that doesn't really help.

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