Heroes Episode 4.04 Acceptance

Exiting the bathtub, Tracy regains her human form. She takes her time putting on make-up and selecting a killer outfit. Dressed to impress, Tracy enters a restaurant, where she immediately catches the eye of her old boss, Governor Malden. At Yamagato Industries, Kimiko pulls Hiro aside with good news -- Kimiko and Ando are getting married! Overjoyed, Hiro immediately agrees to Kimiko's request that he give her away at the wedding. Kimiko tells Ando the good news -- that Hiro said yes -- but Ando is worried. The wedding is over a year away. What if Hiro doesn't live that long?

Hiro occupies himself with his bucket list and his new mission to un-do the wrongs he's committed in his life. Ando thinks Hiro has a mission, but no mission control. Floating through time may kill Hiro. He needs to accept reality and tell Kimiko the truth. Suddenly the Dial-A-Hero phone rings! A man named Tadashi is about to jump off the roof of the Yamagato Building. Brushing off Ando, Hiro runs to the roof to save Tadashi's life.

Hiro is scared, but he climbs onto the building's ledge to try to talk down Tadashi, whom he recognizes as a Yamagato employee. Tadashi explains that he was fired a month ago for photocopying his behind at the Year End party. Hiro assures Tadashi that he's done silly stuff like that too, but Tadashi has been unable to live with the shame he's caused his family. Hiro offers to undo Tadashi's mistake, but the unhappy accountant insists that it's too late for heroic behavior, and jumps to his death. Hiro disappears.

Angela visits Nathan with a box of his personal memorabilia, hoping to prove to that Nathan's memories are his own. Nathan picks up a toy plane and immediately has a clear memory of the day he received it as a gift and decided to become a fighter pilot. But when Nathan picks up a baseball cap, he flashes back to when he was 20 years old, frolicking with a young woman by a pool. Despite experiencing his own personal Chappaquiddick, Nathan assures Angela that everything's fine.

Tracy tells Malden that a complicated family crisis pulled her off the face of the earth for a while, but now she's back and looking for work. As it turns out, Malden is in need of Tracy's special touch, cutting corners and charming regulators to ease through some legislation. Happy to have his tiger lady back, Malden arranges to meet Tracy for dinner that night so they can discuss the particulars.

Staring at his divorce agreement, H.R.G. is surprised when Peter knocks on his door, looking for help. Peter rolls up his sleeve, surprised to find that the compass tattoo that appeared on his arm last night has disappeared. H.R.G. would help, but what's he going to do? Search for Edgar and get all cut up again? He's just not up for it. Peter's disappointed, but he understands, and is just shaking H.R.G.'s hand when Claire shows up to visit her dad.

In Tokyo, past moments replay. Kimiko tells Ando that Hiro said yes, and Hiro pops in from his time travels with toner ink on his face to have Ando lecture him about telling Kimiko the truth. But Hiro's not listening, because he's concentrating on saving Tadashi, who should be back at his desk, now that Hiro has prevented him from photocopying his bottom at the Year End party. That's when the Dial-A-Hero phone rings. It's Tadashi, and he's still up on the roof and planning to jump.

Hiro runs to the roof to find out what's going on -- why is Tadashi going to kill himself now? Tadashi explains that he didn't photocopy his hiney at the Year End party, but at the Emperor's Birthday Celebration. Hiro tries to help, but Tadashi insists it's too late for heroics and jumps. Hiro disappears. Meanwhile, Nathan shows up at Peter's workplace, begging for five minutes of his time. Not only is Nathan now the Swiss Army knife of abilities, but he can touch objects and see their history. Not sure that what he's seeing is real, Nathan's on the verge of totally freaking out.

Nathan asks Peter if he remembers Kelly Houston, the woman who supposedly ran away and broke his heart 20 years ago. After touching his baseball cap, Nathan now thinks Kelly didn't run away, and may even be dead. Nathan asks Peter what he would do in this situation. Peter, of course would find out the truth, and offers to go with Nathan to visit Kelly's mother and Angela's old friend Millie, who lives nearby. Nathan refuses Peter's offer. It's his mess; he'll clean it up himself.

Claire admits that she stopped by to check up on her father. She's concerned. Ever since he lost his job and his wife, H.R.G. has seemed planless, and he was always the man with the plan. Claire suggests that H.R.G. find a job; after all, he was middle management at Primatech for over 20 years. H.R.G. doesn't think his skills of lying to family, breaking down doors and bagging and tagging are really marketable. Claire presses on, asking H.R.G. to role play an interview for a job in lumber sales. What's his greatest strength as a salesman? H.R.G. explains that if people won't buy from him, he can always shoot them.

Millie is surprised when Nathan stops by to ask if she's ever heard from her daughter Kelly. Is it possible she didn't really run away? Millie admits there was a time she thought Nathan knew more than he was saying, but she hired a private detective to make sure. Kelly used her credit card to buy a one-way ticket to Heathrow, and then disappeared forever. Kelly was a spiteful kid, Millie wasn't the most attentive mother, so it's no wonder she ran off. Late for the spa, Millie tells Nathan to show himself out, but he investigates the pool instead. Touching the diving board, Nathan relives the night 20 years ago when Kelly fell and accidentally hit her head on the side of the pool, killing her instantly.

Angela calls Nathan to meet her at a swank bar. Millie called and said Nathan was asking questions about Kelly. Does he have any idea what he's doing? All Nathan wants to know is why he can't remember any of it. Anytime there's a secret buried somewhere, he finds Angela, holding a shovel behind her back. Angela admits she "took care of it," and had the Haitian wipe Nathan's memory. It would have ruined his life, so she made the choice to protect him. Begging Nathan not to destroy his life over this, Angela leaves to reassure Millie that Kelly ran away because she was a bad mother. Millie's made her peace with it, and Nathan should, too.

Nathan makes a beeline for Millie's to confess everything. Kelly's dead. The accident was his fault and his family covered it up. Demanding to know what kind of twisted, pathetic game Nathan's playing, Millie orders him to leave.

Claire continues role playing with H.R.G.: What's his greatest strength? H.R.G. admits there's no one more dedicated to his job than him. Claire's delighted -- what lumber company wouldn't hire him? Dejected, H.R.G. looks back on his life, which hasn't amounted to much. Claire can't believe it; in her mind H.R.G. is a people person who always tried to help. But all H.R.G. can see is the pain he's caused other people - who has he ever helped? Claire points out that he's helped her, winning a smile and a hug. Claire waxes spiritual: life changes. Sometimes you have to remember who you were to figure out who you want to be.

Exhausted and covered in ink, Hiro pops back to the moment when Kimiko tells Ando that he said yes. Again, Ando scolds Hiro for avoiding the issue by not telling his sister the truth. When Tadashi calls from the roof, Hiro slinks out as Ando's words finally sink in. Up on the roof, Hiro and Tadashi sit on the ledge. Hiro has tried and failed to help many, many times, and nothing's working. It's time for both of them to face the truth, and the truth is that Tadashi must really hate his job. No one photocopies their butt 47 times without wanting to get fired.

Hiro gives Tadashi some advice: Find something he loves to do; and life is a gift both precious and short. He knows because he's dying and keeping it secret, which brings him to his third point: don't keep secrets from those you love, especially family. No matter what Tadashi decides to do, he has a friend in Hiro. The men shake hands, and climb down from the ledge. Downstairs, Hiro tells Ando he was right; it's time to tell Kimiko the truth. Afterwards, Hiro and Kimiko cry and hug, until Hiro is hit with a splitting headache. Kimiko screams for Ando to call an ambulance, but Hiro disappears before he can finish the call.

Tracy finds H.R.G. eating sushi in the restaurant below his apartment and informs him that she got her old job with Malden back. H.R.G. invites her to celebrate, but Tracy isn't hungry. She feels like something's missing, something needs to change. H.R.G. thinks the job with Malden is a good start, but Tracy knows that Malden's not about helping people. H.R.G. challenges her to quit, invoking Claire's words of wisdom. Maybe you can't go home again. Thanking H.R.G. for his advice, Tracy rushes off to meet Malden for dinner.

Malden is beyond thrilled when Tracy enters the restaurant looking amazing. It's just like old times. Tracy sits down and dives into the details of her new agenda: she wants to make a difference in people's lives, help those who can't help themselves. Malden chuckles. Tracy doesn't have to impress him. Why don't they take it upstairs -- just like old times? Tracy excuses herself. She starts crying in the powder room, shocked when her arms start turning to water. Pulling herself together, Tracy turns down Malden's offer, and struts off with a confident smile on her face.

Nathan pulls into a parking garage. He dials the local homicide division, then hangs up when he's put on hold. Exiting the car, Nathan doesn't see a man rushing up behind him to jab a syringe into his neck. Nathan hits the ground and passes out. Back at the carnival, Edgar broods, unhappy with Samuel's leadership of their clan. Hip to Edgar's dissatisfaction, Samuel pulls Lydia to another inking session. When her back reveals a portrait of H.R.G., Samuel snaps. Why would Lydia show him H.R.G., when he's no longer an issue? Lydia reminds that her back shows Samuel who he needs to see... maybe H.R.G. changed his mind.

Back at his apartment, H.R.G. starts a file on Edgar. Meanwhile, Angela meets Millie for dinner. Angela wants to know what Nathan said, so Millie relays the story, adding that she reminded Nathan that Kelly bought a plane ticket. That explanation is as close to closure as Millie will ever get. While Angela apologizes, the man from the parking garage takes everything but Nathan's clothes and buries him in a shallow grave. Once finished, he calls Millie, to confirm the deed is done. He drives off as Millie toasts Angela to closure on the whole incident. Neither woman could predict that Nathan/Sylar, now looking like Sylar, would claw his way out of a shallow grave...