(no subject)
TITLE: Changes 10/10
AUTHOR: dragynflies
PAIRING: Elle/Gabriel
RATING: R
DISCLAIMER: Heroes cast is not mine. Heck, not even Noah is mine.
SUMMARY: The end! This is it, folks.
Thanks to cruiscin_lan for rockin' so much and thank you to everyone who has left comments and told me that they were enjoying this. Seriously, they make my day (Yes, I’m easy to please) and make me want to write more.
Three days go past in a scary sort of haze. You sleep on the bed, with your newborn son cradled in your arms. The basinet stands empty - you’re done taking chances with him.
You, Claire and Bennet have developed a shaky relationship. You don’t do anything that could be perceived at threatening, and Bennet mostly stays out of your way. You’ve caught him staring at your son more than once, and you can’t help but wonder what he thinks of baby Noah.
It’s before dawn on day four when you wake up to the sound of someone banging on the door. You fly out of bed, passing Noah off to Claire in what feels like a prearranged dance. Bennet raises his gun (right, that’ll help) and the two of you stand in front of the door. You flick your fingers and the door creeps open just enough for Grace to shove her way through.
“It’s me,” she greets, holding up her hands when she sees Bennet’s gun, “I’m Grace, I’m a friend, please don’t shoot.”
Bennet lowers his gun, glancing at you. You nod and he relaxes, stepping back.
“Where’s Elle?” you demand and Grace points to the door.
“She’s in the car,” Grace says, “I couldn’t carry her…”
You fly out the door and yank open the rusty passenger side door of the pick-up that is parked outside the little house. Elle’s head turns when she hears the door open, and when she sees you, a slow smile spreads across her face.
“You’re alright,” she says, reaching for you. You catch her in both arms, carrying her like a baby into the house, laying her down carefully on the couch while Bennet re-bolts the front door.
You’re kneeling on the floor next to the couch, and you can’t keep your hands away from Elle’s face. She’s alive and safe and here now, and the knot that has been tightening in your stomach finally starts to uncoil.
“Where’s my baby?” Elle whispers, looking around the room for him.
“Claire’s upstairs with him,” you start, and Bennet stands up.
“I’ll get them,” he tells Elle, and she relaxes, clinging to your hand.
“We left,” she tells her, her voice raspy, “we left that night but I wasn’t strong enough...Arthur doesn’t know about this house. We’re safe here.”
You nod, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Her hair is limp and she’s not wearing any make up, but you couldn’t care less - to see her in front of you, breathing and touching you, is a sight you’ve been dying for every minute since you kissed her goodbye.
“I missed you,” she breathes, and you can’t resist her, leaning forward to kiss her gently.
She returns your kiss, and you move from her lips to kiss her pink cheeks, her eyelids, her jaw.
“I missed you so much,” you tell her when you finally pull away. Grace and Bennet are speaking quietly, but you can see him watching you out of the corner of his eye. Surely he doesn’t think you’re a threat…that Elle’s any kind of threat…
Claire appears at the foot of the stairs, Noah bundled in her arms, and Elle lets out a gasping sob as Claire carefully passes her the little baby.
“Hi, Noah,” she whispers, struggling to sit up to see him better. You help her move, sliding in behind her so she can rest against your chest while she holds her son.
“He’s so beautiful,” she says, touching the locks of blonde hair covering his little head. “Look what we did.”
You kiss the side of her face, “He’s perfect.”
“What are we going to do?” she asks tearfully, holding Noah’s tiny hands, “We don’t have anywhere to go…”
“It’s all taken care of,” you tell her, as you fill her in on the plan that you have been developing with Bennet. “There’s a little house in the country in Minnesota…we can be normal,” you tell her, and wipe a tear away from her cheek with your thumb. “We can have our son, and a house, away from all of this.”
Elle nods, leaning back against you and tucking her head under your chin, “He’ll find us,” she says, “but at least this way it will take awhile.”
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Elle is still not strong enough to get up and walk without help, and you and Claire take turns taking care of her, making sure she eats and sleeps. She passes her days lying in the bed with Noah, talking to him and tracing his little features with her finger. She is absolutely focused on him, on what he needs, and how to make sure he has a childhood the complete opposite of hers.
You suspect this other side of Elle is scaring Claire and Bennet just a little - despite Elle and Claire’s shaky friendship, you still get the idea both Bennets think of Elle as a little spacey and absolutely crazy.
You don’t even want to think about how they perceive you.
The second day, Grace bids Elle a tearful farewell. She needs to leave now too, to make sure that Allison is kept away from harm. Elle cries in-between her apologies, wrapping her arms around her first friend.
“No one but you has ever done anything like that for me,” she murmurs to you later, lying tucked up against your side while Noah sleeps on your chest. “I don’t understand why people are helping us. How are we going to protect everyone?”
“We’re just going to do the best we can,” you tell her, kissing her forehead, “we can’t do anything else.”
Xxxxxxxxx
A week after Elle first arrived, she is strong enough to travel, and now it’s time to say goodbye to Claire and Bennet. You think the eldest Bennet is more than happy to see you off - just because he doesn’t think the two of you are killers anymore doesn’t mean he wants to start making friendship bracelets - but you swear that Claire goes a little teary when she passes Noah to Elle for the last time.
You take the silver car that Bennet offers you, and buckle Noah into the car seat that Claire picked out. It’s got little animals on a tan background, and Claire looks delighted with her purchase.
The car seat Elle picked out was blue, but it’s sitting empty in your apartment at Pinehearst.
“Thank you,” you hear Elle whisper as she hugs Claire. She hesitates for a minute when she gets to Bennet, then shakily holds out her hand.
You think she’s as surprised as you are when Bennet wraps his arms around Elle.
“I’m proud of you, Elle,” he murmurs, and you know he means for just Elle to hear, but you can’t help listening, “I’m so proud of who you’ve become, and I’m sorry for everything.”
The smile Elle gives him when he lets go her could light up half of the country, and she ducks her head and wipes her eyes. “Thank you,” she says simply, and you know she wants to say so much more…but there’s just no more time.
Elle slides into the passenger seat as you move to the driver’s seat, and she waves as you pull away from the little white house for the last time.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
3 years later
“Noah, if you don’t come downstairs right now, I’m sending Daddy up!” Elle shouts from the kitchen, “And you know what that means!”
Your tow-headed three year old son comes bouncing down the stairs, grinning. He’s too young yet to be any real good at sneaking up on you, but you pretend to be absorbed in setting the table, and shout loudly in surprise when he jumps at you, clinging to your leg.
“Means tickle fight, Mommy, but I’m gonna get him FIRST!” Noah attacks, digging his little fingers into the sides of your leg.
“Not the tickle fight!” you yell dramatically, peeling your son off your leg and throwing him into the air. Noah shrieks with laughter and Elle chuckles as you throw him over your shoulder and carry him into the living room.
“I meant it was DINNER TIME,” she shouts, “I didn’t realize I had two little boys!”
You poke your head around the corner to tease her, “Nothing little about me,” you say, grinning. “Besides, he started it.”
Elle turns the stove to low to keep dinner warm so she can come join you in the living room. You’ve got Noah pinned on the couch with his foot in your hand, and you’re making dramatic biting noises as he giggles. Elle rolls her eyes, but she can’t wipe the smile on her face as she reaches for Noah.
If you stop to think about it, really think about what you have, you’re worried you’ll wake up. You have a little house in a suburb, away from Arthur and Angela and Pinehearst and anyone else who thinks all you and Elle have to offer the world are a few abilities. Away from anyone who will tell Noah that he is special only because of his abilities. In fact, Noah learned early on that his abilities have to stay in the house, but you’ve never made him ashamed of what he is, and what he can do.
”Okay buddy? We have to keep the fire only at home with mommy and daddy only, because we don’t want anyone to feel sad that they can’t do it, alright? And if you have a bad dream, you just tell me or Mommy, okay? And we promise to take care of everything.”
Getting away from Pinehearst was the best decision that you’ve ever made. You’re so different now, better than you were before all of this started and you struggle every day with staying that person, being a daddy and a husband instead of Sylar.
The trade offs are huge, and you never think you’ve made the wrong decision.
You love living in Minnesota, because no one pays any attention to you. You have friends (friends) in the neighborhood, but no one looks at you like you’re different, like they’re scared of you. Noah has little play dates with children just his age, and Elle has more friends than she can count on both of her hands.
No one takes any special notice of the White family beyond bringing over chicken soup when they hear that you’re sick or offering to babysit Noah so you and Elle can have a date night. The only people you really see from before are the Bennets and, surprisingly Peter, whom Noah adores. They keep you updated enough to know that you’re still safe, but you dread the day when you’ll have to leave your little house.
Until that day comes, you’re just going to take things one step at a time.
After all, that’s what normal people do, isn’t it?
AUTHOR: dragynflies
PAIRING: Elle/Gabriel
RATING: R
DISCLAIMER: Heroes cast is not mine. Heck, not even Noah is mine.
SUMMARY: The end! This is it, folks.
Thanks to cruiscin_lan for rockin' so much and thank you to everyone who has left comments and told me that they were enjoying this. Seriously, they make my day (Yes, I’m easy to please) and make me want to write more.
Three days go past in a scary sort of haze. You sleep on the bed, with your newborn son cradled in your arms. The basinet stands empty - you’re done taking chances with him.
You, Claire and Bennet have developed a shaky relationship. You don’t do anything that could be perceived at threatening, and Bennet mostly stays out of your way. You’ve caught him staring at your son more than once, and you can’t help but wonder what he thinks of baby Noah.
It’s before dawn on day four when you wake up to the sound of someone banging on the door. You fly out of bed, passing Noah off to Claire in what feels like a prearranged dance. Bennet raises his gun (right, that’ll help) and the two of you stand in front of the door. You flick your fingers and the door creeps open just enough for Grace to shove her way through.
“It’s me,” she greets, holding up her hands when she sees Bennet’s gun, “I’m Grace, I’m a friend, please don’t shoot.”
Bennet lowers his gun, glancing at you. You nod and he relaxes, stepping back.
“Where’s Elle?” you demand and Grace points to the door.
“She’s in the car,” Grace says, “I couldn’t carry her…”
You fly out the door and yank open the rusty passenger side door of the pick-up that is parked outside the little house. Elle’s head turns when she hears the door open, and when she sees you, a slow smile spreads across her face.
“You’re alright,” she says, reaching for you. You catch her in both arms, carrying her like a baby into the house, laying her down carefully on the couch while Bennet re-bolts the front door.
You’re kneeling on the floor next to the couch, and you can’t keep your hands away from Elle’s face. She’s alive and safe and here now, and the knot that has been tightening in your stomach finally starts to uncoil.
“Where’s my baby?” Elle whispers, looking around the room for him.
“Claire’s upstairs with him,” you start, and Bennet stands up.
“I’ll get them,” he tells Elle, and she relaxes, clinging to your hand.
“We left,” she tells her, her voice raspy, “we left that night but I wasn’t strong enough...Arthur doesn’t know about this house. We’re safe here.”
You nod, tucking a strand of her hair behind her ear. Her hair is limp and she’s not wearing any make up, but you couldn’t care less - to see her in front of you, breathing and touching you, is a sight you’ve been dying for every minute since you kissed her goodbye.
“I missed you,” she breathes, and you can’t resist her, leaning forward to kiss her gently.
She returns your kiss, and you move from her lips to kiss her pink cheeks, her eyelids, her jaw.
“I missed you so much,” you tell her when you finally pull away. Grace and Bennet are speaking quietly, but you can see him watching you out of the corner of his eye. Surely he doesn’t think you’re a threat…that Elle’s any kind of threat…
Claire appears at the foot of the stairs, Noah bundled in her arms, and Elle lets out a gasping sob as Claire carefully passes her the little baby.
“Hi, Noah,” she whispers, struggling to sit up to see him better. You help her move, sliding in behind her so she can rest against your chest while she holds her son.
“He’s so beautiful,” she says, touching the locks of blonde hair covering his little head. “Look what we did.”
You kiss the side of her face, “He’s perfect.”
“What are we going to do?” she asks tearfully, holding Noah’s tiny hands, “We don’t have anywhere to go…”
“It’s all taken care of,” you tell her, as you fill her in on the plan that you have been developing with Bennet. “There’s a little house in the country in Minnesota…we can be normal,” you tell her, and wipe a tear away from her cheek with your thumb. “We can have our son, and a house, away from all of this.”
Elle nods, leaning back against you and tucking her head under your chin, “He’ll find us,” she says, “but at least this way it will take awhile.”
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Elle is still not strong enough to get up and walk without help, and you and Claire take turns taking care of her, making sure she eats and sleeps. She passes her days lying in the bed with Noah, talking to him and tracing his little features with her finger. She is absolutely focused on him, on what he needs, and how to make sure he has a childhood the complete opposite of hers.
You suspect this other side of Elle is scaring Claire and Bennet just a little - despite Elle and Claire’s shaky friendship, you still get the idea both Bennets think of Elle as a little spacey and absolutely crazy.
You don’t even want to think about how they perceive you.
The second day, Grace bids Elle a tearful farewell. She needs to leave now too, to make sure that Allison is kept away from harm. Elle cries in-between her apologies, wrapping her arms around her first friend.
“No one but you has ever done anything like that for me,” she murmurs to you later, lying tucked up against your side while Noah sleeps on your chest. “I don’t understand why people are helping us. How are we going to protect everyone?”
“We’re just going to do the best we can,” you tell her, kissing her forehead, “we can’t do anything else.”
Xxxxxxxxx
A week after Elle first arrived, she is strong enough to travel, and now it’s time to say goodbye to Claire and Bennet. You think the eldest Bennet is more than happy to see you off - just because he doesn’t think the two of you are killers anymore doesn’t mean he wants to start making friendship bracelets - but you swear that Claire goes a little teary when she passes Noah to Elle for the last time.
You take the silver car that Bennet offers you, and buckle Noah into the car seat that Claire picked out. It’s got little animals on a tan background, and Claire looks delighted with her purchase.
The car seat Elle picked out was blue, but it’s sitting empty in your apartment at Pinehearst.
“Thank you,” you hear Elle whisper as she hugs Claire. She hesitates for a minute when she gets to Bennet, then shakily holds out her hand.
You think she’s as surprised as you are when Bennet wraps his arms around Elle.
“I’m proud of you, Elle,” he murmurs, and you know he means for just Elle to hear, but you can’t help listening, “I’m so proud of who you’ve become, and I’m sorry for everything.”
The smile Elle gives him when he lets go her could light up half of the country, and she ducks her head and wipes her eyes. “Thank you,” she says simply, and you know she wants to say so much more…but there’s just no more time.
Elle slides into the passenger seat as you move to the driver’s seat, and she waves as you pull away from the little white house for the last time.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
3 years later
“Noah, if you don’t come downstairs right now, I’m sending Daddy up!” Elle shouts from the kitchen, “And you know what that means!”
Your tow-headed three year old son comes bouncing down the stairs, grinning. He’s too young yet to be any real good at sneaking up on you, but you pretend to be absorbed in setting the table, and shout loudly in surprise when he jumps at you, clinging to your leg.
“Means tickle fight, Mommy, but I’m gonna get him FIRST!” Noah attacks, digging his little fingers into the sides of your leg.
“Not the tickle fight!” you yell dramatically, peeling your son off your leg and throwing him into the air. Noah shrieks with laughter and Elle chuckles as you throw him over your shoulder and carry him into the living room.
“I meant it was DINNER TIME,” she shouts, “I didn’t realize I had two little boys!”
You poke your head around the corner to tease her, “Nothing little about me,” you say, grinning. “Besides, he started it.”
Elle turns the stove to low to keep dinner warm so she can come join you in the living room. You’ve got Noah pinned on the couch with his foot in your hand, and you’re making dramatic biting noises as he giggles. Elle rolls her eyes, but she can’t wipe the smile on her face as she reaches for Noah.
If you stop to think about it, really think about what you have, you’re worried you’ll wake up. You have a little house in a suburb, away from Arthur and Angela and Pinehearst and anyone else who thinks all you and Elle have to offer the world are a few abilities. Away from anyone who will tell Noah that he is special only because of his abilities. In fact, Noah learned early on that his abilities have to stay in the house, but you’ve never made him ashamed of what he is, and what he can do.
”Okay buddy? We have to keep the fire only at home with mommy and daddy only, because we don’t want anyone to feel sad that they can’t do it, alright? And if you have a bad dream, you just tell me or Mommy, okay? And we promise to take care of everything.”
Getting away from Pinehearst was the best decision that you’ve ever made. You’re so different now, better than you were before all of this started and you struggle every day with staying that person, being a daddy and a husband instead of Sylar.
The trade offs are huge, and you never think you’ve made the wrong decision.
You love living in Minnesota, because no one pays any attention to you. You have friends (friends) in the neighborhood, but no one looks at you like you’re different, like they’re scared of you. Noah has little play dates with children just his age, and Elle has more friends than she can count on both of her hands.
No one takes any special notice of the White family beyond bringing over chicken soup when they hear that you’re sick or offering to babysit Noah so you and Elle can have a date night. The only people you really see from before are the Bennets and, surprisingly Peter, whom Noah adores. They keep you updated enough to know that you’re still safe, but you dread the day when you’ll have to leave your little house.
Until that day comes, you’re just going to take things one step at a time.
After all, that’s what normal people do, isn’t it?