Beastly Bob
Title: Beastly Bob
Fandom: Heroes
Rating/Genre: G/horror-fluff? Parental angst?
Characters/Pairing: The Bennet Family; Noah/Sandra (references to Bob and Elle)
Summary: Claire and Lyle want their dad to tell them a scary story, but Noah isn’t that good at making things up…
Word count: 1 491
Spoilers/Warnings: No./Don’t expect to be too scared…
Notes: Written for the Halloween challenge at heroes_faves and the prompt “Haunted house.” (I’m not too late now, am I?) I don’t have any strong bonds to Halloween, but I wanted to try this one and was thinking, “haunted house, haunted house… what can I come up with?!”… and then this idea popped up and demanded to be written.
Notes2: To those of you waiting for something else; as much as I am a fan of Noah/Angela (and Angela/anyone), I also have a soft spot for Bennet-fluff. Even if it wasn't shown much on TV, I'm sure that Noah loves his son, too!....
It is evening; the children are in their pyjamas and have already kissed him good night, when his wife asks him to help her.
“I’m very tired”, Sandra says, “and I have a headache, but the kids want their bedtime story…”
“Okay…” Noah gets up from the couch and leaves the crossword puzzle on the table, “I’ll read to them, give me the book.”
It is usually Sandra who reads aloud to their children, but Noah doesn’t mind doing his part sometimes. He likes it; it is nice, having their warm, tired bodies in his lap, their heads resting on his shoulders… It’s just that they prefer the way their mother reads.
But this time, they don’t even want him to read.
“That book is boring.” Claire dismisses the book Sandra has given him with a mocking sniff. “Tell us a new story. Make something up!”
“A scary story”, Lyle demands, already sleepy-eyed but determined to stay awake as long as possible, “because it’s Halloween soon.”
Noah looks at his children who are sitting up in their beds. Claire wears a pink pyjamas with teddy-bears printed on it, and Lyle’s is blue with red balloons. A scary story? They are so small and innocent; what’s wrong with fairies and unicorns? Or with books?
“Um…”, he says hesitatingly, “but I’m not very good at making up stories…”
“Mom can do it”, Claire says, and then, naturally, he has to give in.
Noah sits down on Lyle’s bed and puts his arm around his son, and Claire climbs out of her bed and snuggles up against them.
“Um, okay”, Noah says, “are you ready? Let’s see… Once upon a time, there was a brave knight who fought all these scary, monster-like people… but the knight had a friend, an invisible man, who helped him. And one day, he was sent on a mission to save a princess. The princess was just a baby, and she was trapped, um… by a wizard… in a burning house! But he got the princess out of there, and he felt that he wanted to protect her as if she had been his own baby. And he swore that he was going to protect her from all the bad people who wanted to get her because she was so special. And… and they lived happily ever after.”
Silence. Noah loosens his tight grip around Claire’s shoulders when he feels that she is wriggling under his arm. Noah smiles at his children, but they look sceptically at him.
“Is that all?”
“Not good enough. We don’t want a fairytale, we want a real, scary story!”
Noah sighs. He thinks that it is a very good story. But he can see their point… so what could he tell them that sounds more Halloween-like?
“Sorry”, he says, “I told you that I’m not good at this. But let me try again… Oh, yes, I’ve got it. Lyle, Claire-Bear… have I ever told you two about the haunted house?”
“No…” Lyle’s eyes went wide. “Is it a real house?”
“Oh yes”, Noah promises, “I’ve been there, many times. There are long, dark corridors in the basement, and sometimes, you can feel a cold wind blowing there… it’s the ghosts of all the people who have died down there, and they are haunting the place, making it very, very unpleasant for the people who are still alive, the ones who are locked up down there.”
“Wow”, Claire whispers with a shiver, “why are they locked up? Can’t the brave knight who saved the princess save them too?”
“But that was just a fairytale, Claire!” Lyle is lisping a little because his thumb has found its way to his mouth. “But this story is for real, isn’t it, dad?”
“Yes”, Noah said gravely, “but don’t worry, Claire-Bear; those people are villains and they deserve to be locked up. They’ll hurt people if they are allowed to break free.”
“You said you’ve been there… What were you doing there, dad?”
“Oh, but I… I sell paper, remember? Even people in a haunted house need paper to write on. Not the villains of course, but everybody needs paper; it’s one of the most important things in the world.”
“Who else is there?”
Noah can feel that he’s got their full attention now; their excitement is almost tangible in the air, and he smiles proudly. Sandra might have a better imagination, but he’s not that bad at telling stories himself!
“Many people are working there, for example the secret agents who make sure all the bad guys are locked up, and scientists who experiments…”
Again, Claire wriggles under his arm and he has to relax and remember that he can’t hold on to her too hard.
“But scariest of all the people in there is a man called… Beastly Bob.”
Claire gasps and asks why the man is called that.
“Because he is beastly”, Noah says grimly. “He keeps his own daughter captive there, and…”
Noah stops. Scary story or not; he can’t tell his children that. No; what they do to Elle is something that he has to bury in the deepest, darkest corners of his mind.
“And”, he concludes, “that’s a very bad thing to do.”
“So they are bad people?” Claire asks. “I thought that they were good people, because they capture all the villains…”
“Yes, of course.” Noah nods. “They do that, and that’s a very good thing. But the bad things that they also do sometimes… that’s probably because the house is haunted. It’s the evil spirits who live down there in the basement who make Beastly Bob’s heart so cold.”
That’s probably not it at all, Noah admits to himself, but it makes a good explanation for a story.
“And”, he continues, “you know, now that it’s Halloween soon… it will be even worse. The ghosts are very active this time of year.”
“Yeah…” Lyle sucks harder on his thumb. “I know…”
Lyle is seven years old and shouldn’t do that anymore, but Noah doesn’t have the heart to tell him; not right now.
“Hey, dad…” Claire looks up at him, “if you have to go to that place again… you’re careful, aren’t you?”
“Of course, Claire-Bear.” Noah smiles reassuringly. “I’m always very careful. I promise. And now it’s time to sleep…”
He tucks Lyle in and caresses his hair, a little worried that he has said too much.
“Sleep tight, little man… You will be able to sleep, right? I didn’t scare you too much?”
“No dad”, Lyle says with a yawn. “I know it was just a story… but it was better than the one with the princess.”
Noah smiles, and although his princess is wide awake and fully capable of walking on her own, he lifts her up and carries her to her own bed.
When he’s trying to put her down, she holds on to him and whispers in his ear:
“Dad, what if you have to go to the haunted house and one of the ghosts follows you home?”
“Oh no, I’m sure they won’t do that. They like their old house!”
She lets go of him and he can tuck her in, and he doesn’t forget to make sure that her favorite teddy-bear is there with her.
“Are you sure?” Claire is still not convinced. “What if the ghosts can take people and bring them to Beastly Bob?”
Noah crouches down beside her bed and looks her in the eyes, and he regrets that he told her the story.
“I won’t let that happen”, he promises, “I will never, ever let Beastly Bob get you; I will always protect you and Lyle just like the knight protected the baby princess.”
“But”, Claire observes, “you are not a knight.”
“Um… no, I guess I’m not. But I am a father, and every father can be a knight if he has to be, if his children are in danger. And I promise you that you will never even be in danger. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Okay, dad.” Claire smiles. “I love you, dad.”
“I love you too, Claire-Bear”, he whispers, and he leaves the door half-open when he leaves.
Sandra smiles when he comes back down and asks him if the children are asleep now.
“Yes”, he says, “almost…”
“Good”, Sandra says, “That wasn’t so hard, was it? And my headache is gone, so the night is saved. I think I’ll let you handle the bedtime stories more often.”
“No, please!” Noah begs, “at least not until we’re way past Halloween. I can’t take more scary stories.”
“Oh, Noah!” Sandra laughs and kisses him. “You’re such a wimp, a real softy!”
Noah smiles. He has done a good job convincing Sandra that he is just that - and sometimes, when he looks at his children, he’s almost convinced himself. But he is not too soft to take his wife forcefully in his arms and carry her upstairs.
.
Fandom: Heroes
Rating/Genre: G/horror-fluff? Parental angst?
Characters/Pairing: The Bennet Family; Noah/Sandra (references to Bob and Elle)
Summary: Claire and Lyle want their dad to tell them a scary story, but Noah isn’t that good at making things up…
Word count: 1 491
Spoilers/Warnings: No./Don’t expect to be too scared…
Notes: Written for the Halloween challenge at heroes_faves and the prompt “Haunted house.” (I’m not too late now, am I?) I don’t have any strong bonds to Halloween, but I wanted to try this one and was thinking, “haunted house, haunted house… what can I come up with?!”… and then this idea popped up and demanded to be written.
Notes2: To those of you waiting for something else; as much as I am a fan of Noah/Angela (and Angela/anyone), I also have a soft spot for Bennet-fluff. Even if it wasn't shown much on TV, I'm sure that Noah loves his son, too!....
It is evening; the children are in their pyjamas and have already kissed him good night, when his wife asks him to help her.
“I’m very tired”, Sandra says, “and I have a headache, but the kids want their bedtime story…”
“Okay…” Noah gets up from the couch and leaves the crossword puzzle on the table, “I’ll read to them, give me the book.”
It is usually Sandra who reads aloud to their children, but Noah doesn’t mind doing his part sometimes. He likes it; it is nice, having their warm, tired bodies in his lap, their heads resting on his shoulders… It’s just that they prefer the way their mother reads.
But this time, they don’t even want him to read.
“That book is boring.” Claire dismisses the book Sandra has given him with a mocking sniff. “Tell us a new story. Make something up!”
“A scary story”, Lyle demands, already sleepy-eyed but determined to stay awake as long as possible, “because it’s Halloween soon.”
Noah looks at his children who are sitting up in their beds. Claire wears a pink pyjamas with teddy-bears printed on it, and Lyle’s is blue with red balloons. A scary story? They are so small and innocent; what’s wrong with fairies and unicorns? Or with books?
“Um…”, he says hesitatingly, “but I’m not very good at making up stories…”
“Mom can do it”, Claire says, and then, naturally, he has to give in.
Noah sits down on Lyle’s bed and puts his arm around his son, and Claire climbs out of her bed and snuggles up against them.
“Um, okay”, Noah says, “are you ready? Let’s see… Once upon a time, there was a brave knight who fought all these scary, monster-like people… but the knight had a friend, an invisible man, who helped him. And one day, he was sent on a mission to save a princess. The princess was just a baby, and she was trapped, um… by a wizard… in a burning house! But he got the princess out of there, and he felt that he wanted to protect her as if she had been his own baby. And he swore that he was going to protect her from all the bad people who wanted to get her because she was so special. And… and they lived happily ever after.”
Silence. Noah loosens his tight grip around Claire’s shoulders when he feels that she is wriggling under his arm. Noah smiles at his children, but they look sceptically at him.
“Is that all?”
“Not good enough. We don’t want a fairytale, we want a real, scary story!”
Noah sighs. He thinks that it is a very good story. But he can see their point… so what could he tell them that sounds more Halloween-like?
“Sorry”, he says, “I told you that I’m not good at this. But let me try again… Oh, yes, I’ve got it. Lyle, Claire-Bear… have I ever told you two about the haunted house?”
“No…” Lyle’s eyes went wide. “Is it a real house?”
“Oh yes”, Noah promises, “I’ve been there, many times. There are long, dark corridors in the basement, and sometimes, you can feel a cold wind blowing there… it’s the ghosts of all the people who have died down there, and they are haunting the place, making it very, very unpleasant for the people who are still alive, the ones who are locked up down there.”
“Wow”, Claire whispers with a shiver, “why are they locked up? Can’t the brave knight who saved the princess save them too?”
“But that was just a fairytale, Claire!” Lyle is lisping a little because his thumb has found its way to his mouth. “But this story is for real, isn’t it, dad?”
“Yes”, Noah said gravely, “but don’t worry, Claire-Bear; those people are villains and they deserve to be locked up. They’ll hurt people if they are allowed to break free.”
“You said you’ve been there… What were you doing there, dad?”
“Oh, but I… I sell paper, remember? Even people in a haunted house need paper to write on. Not the villains of course, but everybody needs paper; it’s one of the most important things in the world.”
“Who else is there?”
Noah can feel that he’s got their full attention now; their excitement is almost tangible in the air, and he smiles proudly. Sandra might have a better imagination, but he’s not that bad at telling stories himself!
“Many people are working there, for example the secret agents who make sure all the bad guys are locked up, and scientists who experiments…”
Again, Claire wriggles under his arm and he has to relax and remember that he can’t hold on to her too hard.
“But scariest of all the people in there is a man called… Beastly Bob.”
Claire gasps and asks why the man is called that.
“Because he is beastly”, Noah says grimly. “He keeps his own daughter captive there, and…”
Noah stops. Scary story or not; he can’t tell his children that. No; what they do to Elle is something that he has to bury in the deepest, darkest corners of his mind.
“And”, he concludes, “that’s a very bad thing to do.”
“So they are bad people?” Claire asks. “I thought that they were good people, because they capture all the villains…”
“Yes, of course.” Noah nods. “They do that, and that’s a very good thing. But the bad things that they also do sometimes… that’s probably because the house is haunted. It’s the evil spirits who live down there in the basement who make Beastly Bob’s heart so cold.”
That’s probably not it at all, Noah admits to himself, but it makes a good explanation for a story.
“And”, he continues, “you know, now that it’s Halloween soon… it will be even worse. The ghosts are very active this time of year.”
“Yeah…” Lyle sucks harder on his thumb. “I know…”
Lyle is seven years old and shouldn’t do that anymore, but Noah doesn’t have the heart to tell him; not right now.
“Hey, dad…” Claire looks up at him, “if you have to go to that place again… you’re careful, aren’t you?”
“Of course, Claire-Bear.” Noah smiles reassuringly. “I’m always very careful. I promise. And now it’s time to sleep…”
He tucks Lyle in and caresses his hair, a little worried that he has said too much.
“Sleep tight, little man… You will be able to sleep, right? I didn’t scare you too much?”
“No dad”, Lyle says with a yawn. “I know it was just a story… but it was better than the one with the princess.”
Noah smiles, and although his princess is wide awake and fully capable of walking on her own, he lifts her up and carries her to her own bed.
When he’s trying to put her down, she holds on to him and whispers in his ear:
“Dad, what if you have to go to the haunted house and one of the ghosts follows you home?”
“Oh no, I’m sure they won’t do that. They like their old house!”
She lets go of him and he can tuck her in, and he doesn’t forget to make sure that her favorite teddy-bear is there with her.
“Are you sure?” Claire is still not convinced. “What if the ghosts can take people and bring them to Beastly Bob?”
Noah crouches down beside her bed and looks her in the eyes, and he regrets that he told her the story.
“I won’t let that happen”, he promises, “I will never, ever let Beastly Bob get you; I will always protect you and Lyle just like the knight protected the baby princess.”
“But”, Claire observes, “you are not a knight.”
“Um… no, I guess I’m not. But I am a father, and every father can be a knight if he has to be, if his children are in danger. And I promise you that you will never even be in danger. I’ll make sure of that.”
“Okay, dad.” Claire smiles. “I love you, dad.”
“I love you too, Claire-Bear”, he whispers, and he leaves the door half-open when he leaves.
Sandra smiles when he comes back down and asks him if the children are asleep now.
“Yes”, he says, “almost…”
“Good”, Sandra says, “That wasn’t so hard, was it? And my headache is gone, so the night is saved. I think I’ll let you handle the bedtime stories more often.”
“No, please!” Noah begs, “at least not until we’re way past Halloween. I can’t take more scary stories.”
“Oh, Noah!” Sandra laughs and kisses him. “You’re such a wimp, a real softy!”
Noah smiles. He has done a good job convincing Sandra that he is just that - and sometimes, when he looks at his children, he’s almost convinced himself. But he is not too soft to take his wife forcefully in his arms and carry her upstairs.
.