Title: A Capable Woman: A Life Story of Angela Petrelli

Winner 8 Heroes Het Awards 2009:

1st Place Best Angela Characterization, 1st Place Best Claude Characterization, 2nd Place Best Adam Characterization, 2nd place Angela & Arthur Best Character Pairing, 2nd Place Best Chapter Fic, 3rd Place Best Dramatic fic, 3rd Place Best Daniel Linderman Characterization, 3rd Place Best Male Characterization: Charles

Thank you for all who voted. And remember honest feedback helps the writer. :)

Chapter: – The Prologue (0/28)

Characters/Pairings (This chapter): Angela/Arthur Cameos: Nathan, Peter & Claire

Characters/Pairings (The Entire Series) Angela, Arthur, Peter, Nathan, Nathan/Heidi, Meredith, Claire , Charles, Maury, Linderman, Adam, Claude, Kaito, Kaito/Angela, The Haitian, Bob, Elle, HRG, mention of Hiro, Monty, Simon and the rest of the 12. (You do not have to be an Angela fan to read this series, she will come into contact with everyone.)
Category: General (with a splash of tragic love)
Status: In complete
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Allusion to sex
Spoiler alert: The entire series: Graphic Novel: War Buddies and one passing mention of the character from a different Graphic Novel. A cut scene from Godsend.
Summary: We are not all born full of sin, we acquire it over time.
Prologue Summary: We were all young once. Every story has a beginning; the point of no return. One's first weakness to something or someone. Angela Petrelli's first weakness was him.
Note: (Do not judge my prose by my notes, it is now 3am, when I post this)

Each chapter is written as one whole, separate, story and can be viewed as such - together they are a life. I have made each chapter short for that purpose.

This is my attempt of the life story of Angela Petrelli. I call it "A" life story – because it is one tale, not thee tale. I have decided to keep as close to canon as I possible can, taking all my ideas from the road map I see the show has laid out for me. I have decided not to guess the powers of any of the elders, other then Angela and except the ones we know. This is because we just don't have any clues -- and to spectate would be too far out of the ballpark, for my taste. So, I have decided to allude to any powers we don't know about or just show them in the only context the show has shown us : IE – what Charles has done as far as we have seen. Otherwise, I have planted little hints to fan theories, so feel free to pretend the founders have the powers you want them to have. I'd like to keep the same mystery as the show, for now, but I answer a lot of other questions for sure. As for Angela's power -- I have made a guess based on my own theories and the themes of my story. Enjoy.

I also like to use a third person multi POV since its similar to the way television works, if you were watching it – and I don't have great actors to convey the characters feelings. I however do have a rhythm and a reason to it and POV will only be of The Petrelli Family only: Arthur, Angela, Peter, Nathan and some Claire -- it is their memories, so to speak.

As I read someone "say' on a blog, "Feedback is love," please send feedback my way, good or bad, constructive or not. I worked very hard on this story and I would love too see what people think. It's become part of my heart. :

Thanks: To my beta JuneSea. I can't do any of this with out, remember that.

Prologue: Enter Pandora's box. Open the lid. I dare you.

A Capable Woman: A life of Angela Petrelli

We are not born full of sin, we acquire it over time.

"You don't know everything about me, Nathan, but … I know what you're capable of."

-- Angela Petrelli

Prologue

Arthur Petrelli was the first man to ever make love to Angela Petrelli and he was the last. She hadn't been a virgin on her wedding night, but Arthur was still her first. She felt connected to him in a way she had never felt with any other human being. It must be love, she told herself, what else could that connection be? She was young, she was only eighteen and she had no idea what was in store for her, she only had optimism and romantic schoolgirl notions in her head.

Arthur Petrelli always got what he wanted, and what he wanted was Angela. The sweet and feisty young girl he felt an instant connection with, yet didn't know why. Her pale white skin, her long, dark hair and her deep hazel eyes that looked brown in the moonlight, sent shivers down his spine. He knew when he saw her she had to be the one. He had never felt that connection with another person before. By the time they were engaged Arthur was 22 and Angela was only 19, he'd been with women, he'd seen the world and Angela yet hadn't. She was chaste and he liked the game, but as soon as he slipped that huge ring on her finger he figured her fair game and his for the taking.

He seduced her, that summer in 1965 in the boathouse of his parents Hampton's beach home.

"If you love me, you'll do this?" he told her.

All she had to do was look into his brown eyes and she was his.

The entire house was empty, everyone had gone to town. Arthur made some excuse to stay back and let Angela sleep in. She was quite surprised to wake up to an empty house - it didn't seem usual to her.

All she really remembered was the smell of salt water and the sound of the waves; the look in his eyes and the sound of the door closing behind her. The door creaked and a soft wind blew, as she heard the door shut. The sound caused Angela to turn quickly toward Arthur. She didn't understand why he closed the door.

He kissed her passionately, told her how much he loved her. She looked scared at first, yet willing. He ran his hand slowly around her waist.

It felt good and all she wanted to do was please him. It was before she knew better. It was before she had grown enough, maybe too much. She stopped, and at that moment he would have stopped if she had asked him to, but she said nothing.

"Angie..." he said breathlessly, but she covered his mouth with her fingers, the coldness of her ring hitting his lips. And she kissed him. He would be the last person to ever call her by that nickname; she was never Angie again.

He smiled and slowly unbuttoned her dress to reveal her slip underneath. He helped her out of it and laid her down backwards into the bottom of a small, old boat.

She felt goose bumps on her arms from an open window.

He'd tell her she looked like an alabaster China doll. Telling her she wouldn't regret this, as he took off his shirt. Oh, but she would regret so much. So, much more. This was nothing; just a blip, but it was a start.

"It's gonna hurt at first, just a little," he told her." He pushed her hair away from her face and behind her ear, lightly stroking her cheek. He saw small tears hit the corner of her eyes. She was always an emotional girl, he told himself. "But, I promise you, " he said with all his sincerity. "It will be the last time I will ever hurt you."

It was the first of many promises he would never keep. He meant to keep them, he just never could. And for Angela, like many of the things in her life that would first cause her pain, she would soon learn to enjoy it.

It didn't feel at all like she thought it would. She would soon learn the same was true for all of life's experiences; it never felt like one expected it to. She was just too naive to understand it at that moment; too young to make her own choices. Too young to lead, she could only trust and follow. She was lost; she was weak. It was a feeling she would promise herself, later in life, she would never let herself feel again - the weak pushed down by the mighty. She would learn the hard way. And if she wouldn't learn from her lessons, someone would.

For the moment she held onto his back for dear life, a mistake she would make a hundred times over -- before she became a strong woman. Before life had made her a strong person. Before she knew he had hurt her. And for a short time even after that, she would still hold on for too long. And she said nothing, no matter how much pain she was in, because she so wanted him to love her - she was still such a child.

This was the moment where destiny was hatched and there was no looking back – the moment Angela was first lost. Lost completely. Before she learned her lessons. Before she had children. Before her fall from grace. Not her life, not her soul, but love would be her downfall, telling herself years later that, "love was overrated." And to her it was, because the only man she truly loved, never loved her back as much as she loved him. He thought he did; she just didn't agree.

Married by 19, pregnant by 21 and an army wife by 22, Angela Petrelli's life had started out so idyllic, turning slowly into something lonely and scary. Little did she know it was nothing compared to the nightmare her life would further drift into. The future Mrs. Angela Petrelli had a lot of growing up to do, and she would learn none of it the easy way.

And one day when she would decide for herself that it was too late for her, and there was no turning back, Angela would vow that someone in her family would learn from her mistakes, if not herself. Someone would benefit, some good would come out of her descent into the madness; something just had to.

A mother always worries about the future. What will happen to her children when she's not around? An army wife feels the same about her husband. Angela Petrelli had felt a twinge in the summer of 1962, and flashes of it she couldn't understand in 1965, but it wasn't until the birth of her son Nathan that her ability would fully manifest -- manifest to an extent where she could fully understand it, as something out of the ordinary, when she would feel the full extent of her gift. And it was even longer after that before she could even refer to it as such. Even that time was short lived, for Angela learned what she could do was not a gift, it was a burden. Yes, it wasn't until Angela was much older that she really understood her full potential. And what it taught her was to always be careful what you wish for, to be tough. Because knowing more than you want to know is never a good thing - as much as one would think otherwise.

In the present, Angela lightly lifted her slender fingers off her aged black and white wedding photo, and set it back on the table where she had found it.

"So you want to know my story?" Angela Petrelli questioned ominously, putting out her hands to her family. "With Peter's help," she looked at her son, "I'll show you, then."

Peter nodded his head, claire nodded hers and Nathan did the same. They all took hands. Angela closed her eyes and with Matt's power Peter projected Angela's thoughts into Claire and Nathan's heads.

And so it begins. Be careful what you wish for.