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[Heidi's eyes went wide as she saw her ex brother-in-law at the door. She had been looking for Peter as a favour to Nathan for months now and now he was here, on her doorstep. She pulled him into a tight hug.]

Goodness Peter, I thought we lost you. Where have you been? Does Nathan know you're back yet? [She pulled back, looking at him. Her hand gestured to the scar on his face.] What happened here?

[Peter allowed himself to be pulled into the hug; he'd figured this would be the welcome he got, even if he wasn't the Peter she'd known. He waited for her to pull back, and then led her over to her couch and sat her down. Heidi might not be ready for any of what he had to say right now.]

No, Nathan doesn't know I'm here. And I need it to stay that way.

[He frowned, and then gave her his automatic response to her question about the scar.]

I had an accident during a swordfight...in my own time.

I'm not who you think I am.

Your own time? [Which meant he wasn't from here; that was a little disconcerting, he looked the same except for the scar.]

He won't here it from me, I promise. So who are you then? And what brings you here?

[He took a deep breath, wondering just how much of his own reality he ought to share. Heidi had always been very sweet to him, and he really didn't feel like getting into talk about how an alternate her had been sharing a bed with her husband's killer for years.]

I was traveling through time, and all of a sudden, I found myself here and couldn't get out. I've been here for five months now, and my teleportation still doesn't work.

We need to talk about Nathan. Your Nathan.

[Who, for all intents and purposes, seemed even worse than the one he'd been mourning for the last year.]

[She let what he was saying sink in. He had been here for five months and it took him until now to surface? She gave a little chuckle at the subject Peter wanted to talk about.]

Peter, Nathan hasn't been mine for a long time now.

[Not what he meant by that, but it doesn't matter.]

Yeah, I found that out my first day here. He was married to some crazy girl who tried to drag me off like I was a lost puppy. Never mind her.

I'd like to know what happened between you and Nathan.

[He could pull it out of Heidi's head without a problem, but he'd never do that to her.]

I mean... you two were made for each other.

[Even though Peter remembered being that pathetic sixteen-year-old kid crying himself to sleep on their wedding night. She didn't need to know about that either.]

Made for each other? You're kidding, right? True in the beginning I thought our marriage was pretty great but I had my accident and then things went downhill. He cheated on me, I didn't find that out until later mind you but it hurt.

[She shook her head.] Just after he had gotten elected he was in an accident. You disappeared and he ended up covered in burns. I tried to be with him during that time but he started spouting what I thought was nonsense, that he could fly. Your mother said it was the drugs and I believed her so instead of seeing their father as a shadow of himself I took the kids to my parents' house.

That was when he hit the bottle, though I think that was more about you than it was me. It has always been about you.

[Her emotions are so strong that they hit him like a physical punch in the chest. Peter had known about the cheating. Hell, Nathan had been cheating on her with him. He'd done his best to keep Heidi in the dark, protect her from the side of Nathan that didn't fit with his perfect family man persona.

His own guilt had never been powerful enough to end it. In the end, Nathan always got what he wanted.

The explosion... it was always the focal point of every reality he'd ever encountered in his mission to try to save Nathan. The way she told things didn't match up with his version of events at all. Where he came from, Nathan had let him destroy New York. But what had happened in his time didn't matter. He was here now.

Heidi had left Nathan because of him.

He is silent for a long moment.]

It wasn't about me, Heidi. It was about himself. It's always been that way.

[Heidi nodded.] Sure Pete, if you say so. We were never really that compatible you know, I was just too blind to see it.

[She gave a fond smile.] At least I have my boys, that is what is important.

[The mention of his nephews only worsened Peter's guilt. Back home, Simon and Monty had no idea their father was not who he claimed to be, and that was bad enough. In this time, they didn't have their father around because of him as well.

How could Nathan have been so selfish to give up everything he'd ever accomplished just because he thought Peter was dead? Peter almost wished Nathan were standing here right now so he could tell him what he thought about that. It wasn't his place to do so, but that didn't change his anger over it.]

Yeah, that is the most important thing. How are they doing?

They're fine, really. It was a little hectic at first I was practically raising them as a single mother but lately things have been a lot better now that we're here in New Jersey. They get to see their dad regularly, they love it.

[Peter supposed he should be thankful that Heidi and Nathan had worked out visitation. Children shouldn't have to suffer for the sins of the adults who were supposed to care for them. That was part of the reason for what had happened to himself and Nathan.]

One day I'd like to see the boys, if you think that's all right. I didn't get to see them much where I come from.

I didn't get to see you much either.

[Except on TV, next to the man who had his brother's face on.]

Of course you're welcome to see them. I'm sure they would be pretty happy to see you too. You've been missed.

Do you want to tell me about where you're from at all? It's okay if you don't, I've met many people who believe revealing too much of the future can hurt one's present.

[Peter frowned, knowing it was only fair to give her some explanation. After all, his existence was so divergent from hers that it wouldn't matter.]

I wouldn't call it the future, necessarily. I'd call it an alternate timeline.

Where I'm from, I caused a nuclear explosion that destroyed most of New York. Nathan covered it up, and used it to his advantage. He became President.

And then someone killed him. I've been trying ever since to fix it, and that's how I ended up here. I can't get home.

[Even considering how screwed up everything seemed here, this was the only reality he'd seen yet where Nathan was still alive. Did he really want to go home?]

[Heidi frowned, she hadn't been expecting him to say that. How horrible it must have been for him. She hugged him.] I'm sorry you had to go through that, Peter. Is there anything I can do?

[Two hugs in one day was more affection than Peter had been used to in a long while, and he hoped she couldn't feel his tension as he pulled back to look at her.]

Don't feel sorry for me, Heidi. It was my fault he died. I couldn't protect him, and I couldn't save him.

[And now he couldn't fix any of it. This Nathan was the closest he'd ever get to having him back.]

I'm pretty sure I met his new wife when I first got here. She seemed a little odd.

[No, batshit crazy was more like it.]

I'd like to find her without tipping Nathan off.

Ah yes, Amy. I'll agree, she is a little odd though I really shouldn't be saying that about one of my patients.

[She sighed.] Things are going to be even worse for her now that she and Nathan are getting divorced.

Amy is staying with a friend in Westchester. [She reached over and got a notepad, writing the address down for him.] It's very big, you can't miss it.