Necessary Indiscretion

A half an hour later, Peter and Nathan walked into the bar, a classy, upscale place which boasted a cherry wood bar counter, private tables, and soft lighting.

Nathan was back to feeling like himself, and he asked, “Is your special lady friend here yet?”

“No, I don’t see her. We are about fifteen minutes early, though,” Peter answered.

“Go get us a table, and I’ll get us drinks.”

“All right. Go easy, Nate, please?”

“Yes, I will. Maybe,” he said, winking conspiratorially.

When Nathan returned with their drinks, Peter was nowhere to be seen. “Good luck, Pete.” He raised his glass in a lonely toast.

***

Fifteen minutes later, Nathan was finishing the drink meant for his brother, and Peter slid into the seat across from him, placed a hand over his. “Hey. You doing okay, Nate?”

“Come on, Pete, you don’t have to fawn over me like I’m a patient,” Nathan said, covering Peter’s hand with his own.

“Yeah, I know, I’m sorry. Just a little worried about you, that’s all. Hey, come on over and sit with me.”

“I’ll just stay right here. I don’t want to intrude on your evening, Peter.”

“Oh, trust me, you won’t be intruding. The schoolteacher, you see her, right over there?” Peter nodded his head in the direction from which he had come.

Nathan glanced over surreptitiously, and said, “Unless I’m imagining things, there are two of her.”

“Twins. She said she had a sister, but I didn’t know they were twins. And I didn’t know she was bringing her.”

Nathan gave Peter a dismayed look, but he couldn’t hold it, and he started to laugh. “That’s a really nice thought, Pete, always thinking about me, always trying to be fair. One for you, one for me. But they’re all yours, you little devil.”

“I’m not telling you to cheat on your wife, Nathan, I’m just saying sit down, let’s talk to them, have a few drinks. You’re not hurting anyone.”

Nathan sighed in defeat. Peter had a point; just because he decided to sit in a bar with his brother and a pair of beautiful blue-eyed, red-headed twins didn’t mean he loved Heidi any less or was any less faithful to her. “Okay, okay. Never knew you had such good taste, Pete.” Peter went back to the bar, said a few words, and then beckoned him over. The two women looked expectantly at him.

Nathan smiled and said, “Hello, ladies.”

The two women were in fact twins, identical, strikingly beautiful. Natural, shoulder length auburn hair, slightly rounded faces, bright blue eyes. Both wore a different colored version of the same dress, one in midnight blue, one in emerald green. Both had an impressive selection of platinum and diamonds on their ears, wrists, and neck, but there were no rings on either of them. Single ladies. Nathan’s wedding ring seemed to burn on the third finger of his left hand.

The woman sitting to the left side jumped off her chair, and her mouth dropped open in shock. “Oh, my God, this is your brother, Peter? Stephanie, this is Nathan Petrelli! The sexy man from the billboards. He’s running for Congress.”

Nathan smiled, and said graciously, “Let’s not make a big deal out of that, all right? Tonight I’m just a regular guy out for a drink with my brother.”

“Absolutely. Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Petrelli.”

“Call me Nathan, please. And you are?”

“My name is Allison, and this is my sister, Stephanie.” The sisters took turns shaking Nathan’s hand, and Peter could see they were both enamored. He looked despondently down into his drink, whiskey this time; Mom wasn’t around to yell at him. Stephanie turned to Peter after a moment, realizing they were leaving him out. She bent closer to him so she could whisper in his ear.

“Don’t worry, sweetheart, I’m not going to forget that I met you first. Politicians aren’t my type, anyway.” She placed her hand high on Peter’s thigh and rubbed gently. “So, what do you do for a living, Peter?”

“If I tell you, you’re going to laugh,” Peter said, smiling shyly.

“Oh, no, I won’t. Why, are you a lawyer too? I think it’s sweet that brothers would choose the same profession.”

Peter laughed a little too loudly, a little too sarcastically, still smarting at the way Nathan had acted earlier in the evening.

Calm down, he apologized to you. Don’t take it out on her, he chastised himself.

Peter smiled and finished the last sip in his glass. “Now seriously, do I look like a lawyer to you?”

Stephanie scrutinized Peter for a moment, and her hand moved sideways, now resting on the inner part of Peter’s thigh. “No, not a lawyer. Are you in hospitality maybe? Or financial services?”

Peter laid his hand over Stephanie’s, and said, “No, none of those. I’m a nurse.”

“Oh, very nice. I should have realized you were in that kind of work. You seem like a very caring person. Not to mention, gorgeous.” Stephanie ran her free hand through Peter’s dark, longish hair.

“Well, thank you very much. May I get you another drink?”

“Absolutely.”

Peter summoned the bartender, and Stephanie continued, “I’m a teacher, like I told you, and so is my sister. She teaches fourth grade, and I teach seventh. It kind of runs in my family.”

“Yeah, I know what that’s like,” Peter mused.

Peter opened his wallet and slapped some money on the counter, but the bartender pushed it back towards him. “It’s all taken care of, Mr. Petrelli.”

Nathan must have started a tab, without him even knowing.

Out of the corner of his eye, Peter kept a close watch on Nathan while he talked with Stephanie. Nathan and Allison were having a light conversation about what else, politics. He saw that Nathan kept his left hand on top of the bar counter, his wedding ring prominent, and when Allison got too close to him, Nathan made it amiably clear that it was an invasion of his personal space.

As the evening progressed however, the more Nathan drank, the less he minded. When Peter saw Allison kiss Nathan, he decided to intervene. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell phone, pretending it had been vibrating. “Hello? Oh, hold on. One second. Nathan, it’s for you.”

Nathan gave his brother a sideways glance and Peter could see in his eyes that Nathan had drank a lot more than Peter had been keeping track of. “Why would anyone call your phone for me, Pete? I--” He noticed the look on Peter’s face and he said, “Oh, okay. Ladies, excuse me a minute, please.”

The two brothers crossed the room, found a low-lit corner, and Peter handed him the phone. Nathan made the motions of taking the ‘call’. Flipping the phone closed, he asked, “What’s the problem?”

Peter leaned into him, and said, “You’re making out with her right in the bar. Have you forgotten that people know you and they know you’re married? If you want to sleep with her, we have to get out of here.”

Nathan laughed. “Who says I want to sleep with her, Pete? I’ve been after you all night.” He squeezed Peter’s bottom playfully.

Peter gave him a stern look, half-serious, half-kidding. “Yes, I know, but come on, Nate. I know what you’re going to do, and it’s not up to me to make your decisions for you. I’m just gonna look out for you. We are not taking them back to my apartment.”

“No, we should take them out to the island, Pete. Your apartment isn’t exactly what we’d call…luxurious.”

“What? Do you hear yourself right now, Nathan? There is no way we could do that, and even if we could, how in hell would we get there? What about Heidi and the kids?”

“They’re staying at Ma’s tonight.”

“No, no, no! If you’re going to do this, which I know you are, then we have to get a hotel room, all right? We’re both too drunk to drive, you especially. We can take the train and pick up your car tomorrow morning. Okay?”

“Okay, Peter, okay. You can have them both, though, cause I’m not gonna sleep with her. I’ll watch.” Nathan winked at his brother and pinched him again.

“Don’t, Nathan, we’re in public.”

“No one can see what I’m doing,” Nathan whispered, sliding his hand down the front of Peter’s slacks. Peter drew in a sharp breath. It simultaneously thrilled him and worried him when Nathan did things like this in places where they could possibly be seen. Nathan was usually very careful, but still.

“Not to mention, they’re looking at us. Get your hands off me for a second, will you?”

“Sorry, you’re right. But they’re going to be all over you later, I promise.”

No, they won’t. Not anymore, Nate. Told you I was done.

Peter decided that he wouldn’t remind him about that certain point right this second, not with Nathan so intoxicated. “All right, Nathan, I’ll hold you to it. But let’s figure out what we’re doing first.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll slow down on the liquor too, I’m being a jackass.”

“Glad you noticed. Now come on, Casanova.”

***

Peter and Nathan Petrelli rejoined the ladies at the bar, and Stephanie remarked, “Oh, good. We were starting to think that pressing business had pulled you away from us for the rest of the night.”

“No, no, everything’s just fine. No pressing business in the world right now could tear me away. Now where were we?” Nathan asked, sliding back into his seat. Peter watched as Allison put a hand on Nathan’s thigh, much like Stephanie had done to him, and he knew Nathan was going to sleep with her.

Not that he liked the idea of Nathan cheating on Heidi, but Peter would prefer it if he did. A bitter thought struck him.

What, and Nathan sleeping with me, that doesn’t qualify as cheating?

Inevitably, Peter knew, it was going to be extremely difficult not giving in to Nathan; he could be quite persuasive in order to get what he wanted. It was going to kill Peter to end what they had. But it had to be that way. What normal brothers did things like that?

Yeah, and the Petrellis are normal.

“Peter, are you all right?” Stephanie’s voice broke his train of thought.

“What? Oh. Yes, I’m fine. Now, you were telling me about--about--” Peter could not for the life of him remember what they’d been talking about before he’d left the bar with Nathan. “I’m sorry, Stephanie,” he sighed, swirling the ice in his newly filled drink.

“It’s all right, I know you’re not ignoring me. You seem worried about your brother. I see you looking over at him every once in a while. If you’re worried about Allison saying anything, don’t. We’re very discreet about our sex lives.”

Peter was stunned at her bluntness, and without thinking, said, “Okay. Yeah. That’s good.”

What the hell did I just say?

“Oh, my God--I’m--I’m sorry. I apologize. That is not at all what I was worried about.”

Stephanie laughed, and said, “Sure you are. It’s all right. Nathan Petrelli’s reputation is safe with us.“ She leaned in and gave Peter a very chaste kiss.

Nathan turned to his brother and said, “All right, are we ready to get out of here, Peter? Stephanie, would you like to continue this elsewhere?”

“What about me?” Allison asked coyly.

“Oh, I thought you’d be up and halfway out the door by now, Allison,” he said, standing up and gallantly holding up Allison’s jacket so she could slip into it.

“One minute, and then we can go. I just want to tip the bartender,” Nathan said, reaching into his inside pocket.

As Peter watched Nathan walk over to the bartender, he got a very bad feeling about where this was all headed, and he suddenly wanted to make some excuse, anything, so that he could get himself and his brother out of this situation. Nothing came to mind.