Intermission (Noah/Angela)
Title: Intermission
Fandom: Heroes
Rating/Genre: R/het
Characters/Pairing: Noah Bennet, Angela Petrelli (Claire, Nathan and Peter); Angela/Noah
Summary: Because Angela asked him to, Noah is digging up graves with her sons and with Claire. Then he asks for some alone time with her, thinking that there’s something she hasn’t told him yet. But Angela doesn’t feel like talking.
Word count: 2 494
Spoilers/Warnings: One or two lines have been borrowed from the “1961” episode/No.
Notes: Oneshot. For firstlady1408 and lynchgrrrl88, who both have asked, a long time ago now, for “more Angela/Noah”.
The buildings, the old barracks, are gray and almost falling apart, like empty shells of seafood leftovers on a messy plate. That’s what the place looks like, and Noah almost finds it hard to believe that the place was once filled with people, that it was tidy and organized… Now it’s nothing but a deserted, barren place where ghosts of old memories are chased around by the wind; ghost of memories like the clouds of dust that run aimlessly around in the air.
All of them have been listening to Angela’s story for a long time without interrupting it. They are trying to take in the fact that the place where they are was once filled with people who had hopes and dreams of a better future, and now all of them - except Angela and some of the other founders of the Company - are buried out there. They have spent hours digging up the mass grave. They try to understand why it happened, they listen when Angela tells them about her sister, and Noah thinks that he’s probably the least surprised one, because he is used to thinking about Angela Petrelli as a woman of many secrets. Naturally, the Company had to have been founded by someone at some point, for a reason - no one ever told him, and he never asked much, but he is not surprised to know that Angela had a part in it.
Noah can see confusion, sadness and anger in the eyes of Peter and Claire. He can see pain and shame in Nathan’s eyes. He can only imagine that this is what they are feeling, but the atmosphere is so tense and they are all connected. Noah Bennet wants to take Angela in his arms and protect her; he wishes that he could protect her that way and he wonders if she - or anyone else - realizes this.
Angela is not a woman who usually inspires this kind of thoughts. He suspects that she would laugh in his face if she could read his mind right now. Don’t be ridiculous, Noah, since when are you a romantic anyway?
He has always been dreaming of her, of course, but only in that way in which a young man can dream of an older married woman: secretly. And then during all his years comfortably stuck on middle management, rarely knowing anything about the greater picture in the minds of his superiors, he has kept this vision of Angela not as a lady in need of a knight in shining armour but as a warrior queen in command of an army.
In some of his fantasies, this queen gets a little bored with her king sometimes. Not because she wants Noah’s love, or because he would be able to give her something unique, but simply because it would amuse her. He pretends that she knows all about these thoughts and what he fantasises about doing to her, and pretending that she knows turns him on, and for all that he knows, maybe she is aware of it. He doesn’t think she would laugh in his face if he ever told her, but simply smirk knowingly. Of course you want me, Noah. But you don’t think you can have me, do you?
He has never thought that he can, not really. Another kind of man might have tried to court her in some way after the supposed death of her husband, but Noah never saw it as a serious option. And now because of everything that has happened to them lately, he has had too many things on his mind to daydream. If anything, he has fantasised about sending both Danko and Sylar off to that hot place where they belong. And strangely enough, he seems to have gotten closer to Angela in the process. She has been relying on him, and it has been personal. Because of Nathan and Claire. Their families; their family.
Noah stops his thoughts and looks at Claire. She’s not much older than Angela when she first came to Coyote Sands.
Angela has stopped talking.
“I need some water”, she says, “and I guess you’re all hungry and tired…”
“I brought quite a lot of food”, Noah Bennet says, “there’s much left from last night.”
When he arrived the night before, he found them all digging in the dark, with strong flashlights to guide them. All of them had been digging for hours and just found the first person when he came there. He had not known what to expect, Angela had told him nothing in advance, only that she needed him to be there. He took the time to fill up the trunk with things to eat and drink. He had not known what was expected of him, but he knew that he worked better when he was not on an empty stomach. The work Angela made them do there was not exactly appetizing, but they all had to eat sooner or later.
They eat, they drink, they make an effort to try to talk about something else for a while. It’s not that easy, because all of them think the place is creepy, and they want to do something but they don’t know what. What to do next? That’s Angela’s call, and she’s clearly not ready to leave yet.
Claire wants to talk to Angela alone. He needs to talk to Claire, too.
But Angela is looking at him, and he knows that he has to talk to her first. He knows her well enough to realize that there is something Angela has not told them yet, and he suspects that it could be something dangerous.
There; the protectiveness comes out again. Well; warrior queen or not, Noah knows that he’s the best fighter of all of them. Claire could get better in the future, because of her regenerating she would be unstoppable, but she sure doesn’t know how to fight properly yet.
But he hopes that they won’t have to fight anyone or anything.
Angela and the rest of the survivors had worked hard to protect themselves, their loved ones, and even the world. But now things are going wrong again. That’s why she brought them there. That’s what Angela had told her family; this must never happen again, we have to fight it. We must bring the Company back to life, because we created it for a reason.
But Angela could have told them that anywhere…
“So”, Noah says when they are alone in one of the barracks, “I asked for some alone time with you. Angela, I understand why you needed to come here, why you needed us to see all this. But there is another reason, too, right? Something that has to do with your dream about your sister. Do you want to tell me why we’re really here?”
“Of course”, she says, “I will tell you everything… but later, when I know…”
She sounds avoidant; tired, sad, but not defeated. No, she didn’t come all this way to give up hope.
”You never told your family that you had a sister? Why didn’t they know about this?”
Angela sits on the rusty skeleton of a bed, and he sits on one facing her. She looks at him.
“Have you ever done something so bad that you’re afraid that if you ever mentioned it you may never stop crying?”
Noah thinks about it in silence.
He thinks about his life; some of the things he has done are maybe not the kind of things most men would be proud of. And perhaps he’s not proud of all his actions during the years, but it has all been in the name of the Company - or, later, in the name of family - and does it keep him awake at night? No; in the way that Angela means, he doesn’t think he has done anything so bad.
Of course… That incident of a later date. Noah shudders when he remembers how close he came to doing something unforgivable. But it was Sylar who made him do it. He had been convinced that it was Sylar he was aiming his gun at, at the back of a familiar head covered in curly hair... So it wasn’t his fault, was it? But he was not the one to steer away from disaster. That had been his son’s doing. To think that he had been saved by Mr. Muggles’ need of pills…
“Let’s not…”, he says, “let’s not try to compare our sins and flaws…”
“No”, Angela agrees, “there’s no point in doing that.”
He intends to ask her about her plans for the immediate future, but he stops before the first words have left his mouth, when Angela gets up and walks up to him with two quick steps, she sits down next to him, and for a second, he thinks that she does it to be able to whisper something in his ear, but what she does is that she grabs him by the shoulders and makes him face her, and she presses her lips against his.
Noah is taken by surprise, but he is trained to react quickly. He responds to the kiss and wraps his arms around her; he wouldn’t want her to think that he doesn’t like being kissed by her. Not that there would be any danger of that. She grants him entrance with his tongue when he begs for it, and his head is spinning; he needs air, but at the same time he does not - the fact that they are kissing there and then is so absurd that it has to stop soon, but he doesn’t want it to.
It is Angela who pulls away - not far away, but enough for them to catch their breath and look at one another. Her chest is heaving and he thinks that his is, too. One of his arms is still around her waist and the other one is resting on her thigh, and all he wants to do is to take her in his arms again and cover her body with his.
She must see raw desire in his eyes and approve of it, because she smiles; only a little, but as if she is pleased and feels accomplished.
“I think you look really sexy in that outfit”, he blurts out.
Now where the hell did that come from? Noah doesn’t say things like that.
“Hush”, she says and the old bed squeaks when she leans closer again, “don’t speak.”
She kisses him again, softer this time, and it’s beginning to sink in to his head that she really wants this, now; he doesn’t understand why, but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t seize the moment. He explores her lips like a secret treasure. He kisses her face, her neck, and when she moans softly he begins to wonder how far they should - or can - go and how fast.
As if he had asked her out loud, she stirs in his arms and her hand is rubbing his thigh and she’s unbuttoning his jeans; purposefully, determined.
The bed skeleton squeaks under them. Even if these beds were designed for fucking in 1961, which he doubts, they are very inappropriate for it now. Not that Noah thinks that Angela belongs on a dirty old floor either, but it’s the best option, given the circumstances, and he thinks that she agrees. She’s a queen in his mind anyway, or an empress, or the president of the galaxy for that matter; she’s the woman who has haunted his dreams for years and years, and he drags her down to the floor, careful not to hurt her in the process, but with as much determination as she shows when she drags his jeans down to his ankles.
He groans; he can’t help it, and his fingers fumble at the button and the zipper in her black pants. He knows that someone can walk in on them any minute, if they start wondering what’s taking them so long. Claire, or even Peter, would be deeply shocked but get out of there immediately - but Nathan, Noah thinks, might want to try to kill him...
He shakes off these thoughts. Too late to turn back, too late to think, to care - to late to care about anything other than the panting Angela. In some of his fantasies, he has been making love to her slowly, almost sweetly, but he can’t do that now and she doesn’t seem to want that.
Her fingers dig into his scalp and he tugs at her clothes without any kind of finesse, only hunger; all he wants is to get rid of everything that is in their way, and when finally his fingers meet that slick wetness, she gasps and whispers to him - no, orders him - not to be so slow, not to be careful.
Noah doesn’t need to be told twice. Angela needs this as much as I do, he thinks. ‘Slow’ is for lovebirds with an eternity to spend; that is not what they are, but they are merging, coarsely - but sweetly, too, because this is pleasure…
She takes her pleasure from him, and gives as much as she takes, and stretching her neck, she closes her eyes and bites her lip as she heaves under him, and a few more moments, and it’s over.
Over, and he is shaking, sweating. He doesn’t know what to think, so he doesn’t think anything; he just holds Angela, and she lets him. Everything is quiet around them, except that the wind seems to increase, and although he knows that they have got to go out there soon, a part of him doesn’t want to.
But Angela begins to stir under him, and as much as he would like to stay where he is, even on that dirty floor, she doesn’t have to tell him to get off her.
They put their clothes back in order in silence, but not an uncomfortable one. As if what just happened was something completely natural and unavoidable. Angela looks at him without saying anything, and Noah doesn’t know if they’re ever going to talk about it, much less if they’re ever going to do it again, but he knows that the bond between them has not been broken.
He smiles a little. She smiles back, gives his hand a little squeeze. It’s okay.
But the wind that has been blowing stronger for a while is becoming difficult to ignore.
And then the door slams. Within seconds, the wind is so strong that Angela has to shout.
“This is what happened in my dream. It is impossible - but it is... It’s her. It’s Alice.”
The look on Angela’s face makes Noah feel like he’s already forgotten. He knows why she did what she just did; maybe because she likes him, but mostly to feel alive again, in this dead, empty place. But it was just an intermission after all.
Fandom: Heroes
Rating/Genre: R/het
Characters/Pairing: Noah Bennet, Angela Petrelli (Claire, Nathan and Peter); Angela/Noah
Summary: Because Angela asked him to, Noah is digging up graves with her sons and with Claire. Then he asks for some alone time with her, thinking that there’s something she hasn’t told him yet. But Angela doesn’t feel like talking.
Word count: 2 494
Spoilers/Warnings: One or two lines have been borrowed from the “1961” episode/No.
Notes: Oneshot. For firstlady1408 and lynchgrrrl88, who both have asked, a long time ago now, for “more Angela/Noah”.
The buildings, the old barracks, are gray and almost falling apart, like empty shells of seafood leftovers on a messy plate. That’s what the place looks like, and Noah almost finds it hard to believe that the place was once filled with people, that it was tidy and organized… Now it’s nothing but a deserted, barren place where ghosts of old memories are chased around by the wind; ghost of memories like the clouds of dust that run aimlessly around in the air.
All of them have been listening to Angela’s story for a long time without interrupting it. They are trying to take in the fact that the place where they are was once filled with people who had hopes and dreams of a better future, and now all of them - except Angela and some of the other founders of the Company - are buried out there. They have spent hours digging up the mass grave. They try to understand why it happened, they listen when Angela tells them about her sister, and Noah thinks that he’s probably the least surprised one, because he is used to thinking about Angela Petrelli as a woman of many secrets. Naturally, the Company had to have been founded by someone at some point, for a reason - no one ever told him, and he never asked much, but he is not surprised to know that Angela had a part in it.
Noah can see confusion, sadness and anger in the eyes of Peter and Claire. He can see pain and shame in Nathan’s eyes. He can only imagine that this is what they are feeling, but the atmosphere is so tense and they are all connected. Noah Bennet wants to take Angela in his arms and protect her; he wishes that he could protect her that way and he wonders if she - or anyone else - realizes this.
Angela is not a woman who usually inspires this kind of thoughts. He suspects that she would laugh in his face if she could read his mind right now. Don’t be ridiculous, Noah, since when are you a romantic anyway?
He has always been dreaming of her, of course, but only in that way in which a young man can dream of an older married woman: secretly. And then during all his years comfortably stuck on middle management, rarely knowing anything about the greater picture in the minds of his superiors, he has kept this vision of Angela not as a lady in need of a knight in shining armour but as a warrior queen in command of an army.
In some of his fantasies, this queen gets a little bored with her king sometimes. Not because she wants Noah’s love, or because he would be able to give her something unique, but simply because it would amuse her. He pretends that she knows all about these thoughts and what he fantasises about doing to her, and pretending that she knows turns him on, and for all that he knows, maybe she is aware of it. He doesn’t think she would laugh in his face if he ever told her, but simply smirk knowingly. Of course you want me, Noah. But you don’t think you can have me, do you?
He has never thought that he can, not really. Another kind of man might have tried to court her in some way after the supposed death of her husband, but Noah never saw it as a serious option. And now because of everything that has happened to them lately, he has had too many things on his mind to daydream. If anything, he has fantasised about sending both Danko and Sylar off to that hot place where they belong. And strangely enough, he seems to have gotten closer to Angela in the process. She has been relying on him, and it has been personal. Because of Nathan and Claire. Their families; their family.
Noah stops his thoughts and looks at Claire. She’s not much older than Angela when she first came to Coyote Sands.
Angela has stopped talking.
“I need some water”, she says, “and I guess you’re all hungry and tired…”
“I brought quite a lot of food”, Noah Bennet says, “there’s much left from last night.”
When he arrived the night before, he found them all digging in the dark, with strong flashlights to guide them. All of them had been digging for hours and just found the first person when he came there. He had not known what to expect, Angela had told him nothing in advance, only that she needed him to be there. He took the time to fill up the trunk with things to eat and drink. He had not known what was expected of him, but he knew that he worked better when he was not on an empty stomach. The work Angela made them do there was not exactly appetizing, but they all had to eat sooner or later.
They eat, they drink, they make an effort to try to talk about something else for a while. It’s not that easy, because all of them think the place is creepy, and they want to do something but they don’t know what. What to do next? That’s Angela’s call, and she’s clearly not ready to leave yet.
Claire wants to talk to Angela alone. He needs to talk to Claire, too.
But Angela is looking at him, and he knows that he has to talk to her first. He knows her well enough to realize that there is something Angela has not told them yet, and he suspects that it could be something dangerous.
There; the protectiveness comes out again. Well; warrior queen or not, Noah knows that he’s the best fighter of all of them. Claire could get better in the future, because of her regenerating she would be unstoppable, but she sure doesn’t know how to fight properly yet.
But he hopes that they won’t have to fight anyone or anything.
Angela and the rest of the survivors had worked hard to protect themselves, their loved ones, and even the world. But now things are going wrong again. That’s why she brought them there. That’s what Angela had told her family; this must never happen again, we have to fight it. We must bring the Company back to life, because we created it for a reason.
But Angela could have told them that anywhere…
“So”, Noah says when they are alone in one of the barracks, “I asked for some alone time with you. Angela, I understand why you needed to come here, why you needed us to see all this. But there is another reason, too, right? Something that has to do with your dream about your sister. Do you want to tell me why we’re really here?”
“Of course”, she says, “I will tell you everything… but later, when I know…”
She sounds avoidant; tired, sad, but not defeated. No, she didn’t come all this way to give up hope.
”You never told your family that you had a sister? Why didn’t they know about this?”
Angela sits on the rusty skeleton of a bed, and he sits on one facing her. She looks at him.
“Have you ever done something so bad that you’re afraid that if you ever mentioned it you may never stop crying?”
Noah thinks about it in silence.
He thinks about his life; some of the things he has done are maybe not the kind of things most men would be proud of. And perhaps he’s not proud of all his actions during the years, but it has all been in the name of the Company - or, later, in the name of family - and does it keep him awake at night? No; in the way that Angela means, he doesn’t think he has done anything so bad.
Of course… That incident of a later date. Noah shudders when he remembers how close he came to doing something unforgivable. But it was Sylar who made him do it. He had been convinced that it was Sylar he was aiming his gun at, at the back of a familiar head covered in curly hair... So it wasn’t his fault, was it? But he was not the one to steer away from disaster. That had been his son’s doing. To think that he had been saved by Mr. Muggles’ need of pills…
“Let’s not…”, he says, “let’s not try to compare our sins and flaws…”
“No”, Angela agrees, “there’s no point in doing that.”
He intends to ask her about her plans for the immediate future, but he stops before the first words have left his mouth, when Angela gets up and walks up to him with two quick steps, she sits down next to him, and for a second, he thinks that she does it to be able to whisper something in his ear, but what she does is that she grabs him by the shoulders and makes him face her, and she presses her lips against his.
Noah is taken by surprise, but he is trained to react quickly. He responds to the kiss and wraps his arms around her; he wouldn’t want her to think that he doesn’t like being kissed by her. Not that there would be any danger of that. She grants him entrance with his tongue when he begs for it, and his head is spinning; he needs air, but at the same time he does not - the fact that they are kissing there and then is so absurd that it has to stop soon, but he doesn’t want it to.
It is Angela who pulls away - not far away, but enough for them to catch their breath and look at one another. Her chest is heaving and he thinks that his is, too. One of his arms is still around her waist and the other one is resting on her thigh, and all he wants to do is to take her in his arms again and cover her body with his.
She must see raw desire in his eyes and approve of it, because she smiles; only a little, but as if she is pleased and feels accomplished.
“I think you look really sexy in that outfit”, he blurts out.
Now where the hell did that come from? Noah doesn’t say things like that.
“Hush”, she says and the old bed squeaks when she leans closer again, “don’t speak.”
She kisses him again, softer this time, and it’s beginning to sink in to his head that she really wants this, now; he doesn’t understand why, but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t seize the moment. He explores her lips like a secret treasure. He kisses her face, her neck, and when she moans softly he begins to wonder how far they should - or can - go and how fast.
As if he had asked her out loud, she stirs in his arms and her hand is rubbing his thigh and she’s unbuttoning his jeans; purposefully, determined.
The bed skeleton squeaks under them. Even if these beds were designed for fucking in 1961, which he doubts, they are very inappropriate for it now. Not that Noah thinks that Angela belongs on a dirty old floor either, but it’s the best option, given the circumstances, and he thinks that she agrees. She’s a queen in his mind anyway, or an empress, or the president of the galaxy for that matter; she’s the woman who has haunted his dreams for years and years, and he drags her down to the floor, careful not to hurt her in the process, but with as much determination as she shows when she drags his jeans down to his ankles.
He groans; he can’t help it, and his fingers fumble at the button and the zipper in her black pants. He knows that someone can walk in on them any minute, if they start wondering what’s taking them so long. Claire, or even Peter, would be deeply shocked but get out of there immediately - but Nathan, Noah thinks, might want to try to kill him...
He shakes off these thoughts. Too late to turn back, too late to think, to care - to late to care about anything other than the panting Angela. In some of his fantasies, he has been making love to her slowly, almost sweetly, but he can’t do that now and she doesn’t seem to want that.
Her fingers dig into his scalp and he tugs at her clothes without any kind of finesse, only hunger; all he wants is to get rid of everything that is in their way, and when finally his fingers meet that slick wetness, she gasps and whispers to him - no, orders him - not to be so slow, not to be careful.
Noah doesn’t need to be told twice. Angela needs this as much as I do, he thinks. ‘Slow’ is for lovebirds with an eternity to spend; that is not what they are, but they are merging, coarsely - but sweetly, too, because this is pleasure…
She takes her pleasure from him, and gives as much as she takes, and stretching her neck, she closes her eyes and bites her lip as she heaves under him, and a few more moments, and it’s over.
Over, and he is shaking, sweating. He doesn’t know what to think, so he doesn’t think anything; he just holds Angela, and she lets him. Everything is quiet around them, except that the wind seems to increase, and although he knows that they have got to go out there soon, a part of him doesn’t want to.
But Angela begins to stir under him, and as much as he would like to stay where he is, even on that dirty floor, she doesn’t have to tell him to get off her.
They put their clothes back in order in silence, but not an uncomfortable one. As if what just happened was something completely natural and unavoidable. Angela looks at him without saying anything, and Noah doesn’t know if they’re ever going to talk about it, much less if they’re ever going to do it again, but he knows that the bond between them has not been broken.
He smiles a little. She smiles back, gives his hand a little squeeze. It’s okay.
But the wind that has been blowing stronger for a while is becoming difficult to ignore.
And then the door slams. Within seconds, the wind is so strong that Angela has to shout.
“This is what happened in my dream. It is impossible - but it is... It’s her. It’s Alice.”
The look on Angela’s face makes Noah feel like he’s already forgotten. He knows why she did what she just did; maybe because she likes him, but mostly to feel alive again, in this dead, empty place. But it was just an intermission after all.