Am I Still Nathan Petrelli?, Chapter 7: Afternoon of Claire's Visit
It had been a quiet day for Peter. He was happy about that. A week ago, or two, he would have preferred more action because it made him feel like he was making more of a difference. Today, he was just glad no one was getting hurt. He was about halfway through his lunch break, sitting on the back of the ambulance with Hesam, when Nathan’s car pulled up. It was a pleasant surprise. All the more so when Claire got out with his brother.
“Oh, hello there! I didn’t know you were in town.” He greeted them and walked over to where they had parked. He gave Claire a friendly hug.
Claire grinned. “Just flew in this morning.” Peter glanced at Nathan. Claire punched Peter in the shoulder. “In an airplane, silly.” Peter chuckled. She seemed really happy. Now that he thought about it, Nathan seemed pretty full of himself too. Almost beaming.
“So… Nathan tells me that you’ve started seeing a certain someone.”
Peter gave Nathan a startled look. Had he been horribly wrong in trusting him? His voice carried an edge of warning to it as he spoke, “Nathan, what have you been telling people?”
Nathan heard Peter’s tone and responded to it with a slightly hurt, confused look. Claire glanced between them and tugged on Peter’s arm, trying to make the mood light again. “You have to introduce me to her.”
Peter blinked at Claire. “Huh?” He inhaled sharply. “Oooh. I get it.” He looked at Nathan, who was still standing back. “You set her up to this, right?”
Nathan smiled and relaxed a little. “You got me.”
“She’d better treat you right, Peter,” Claire interjected.
Peter chuckled and let her lead them towards a set of benches. “Yeah, I don’t want to be with anyone who doesn’t treat me right,” he said. They sat, Peter and Claire on one bench and Nathan opposite them. Peter went on, “But I don’t think things have gotten to that point yet.”
“Well, she’s your girlfriend, isn’t she?”
“No, not really. I mean, she’s a woman and she’s a friend, but I wouldn’t go that far. Where do you get your information, anyway?” He glanced at Claire and then across at Nathan with a slight smirk. “Are you having someone follow me? Because I thought I saw someone yesterday, skulking around.”
Nathan laughed. “No… honestly, I don’t know where I get my information. It just comes to me sometimes.” He spread his hands and looked heavenward. “Other times, I don’t get anything.” He looked back at them.
“Way to protect your source,” Claire grinned. “You’ll just have to keep a close eye out, Peter. Big Brother really is watching you!” They all laughed.
They had a good conversation, friendly and warm. If Nathan was a little distant from it and let Peter lead on most topics, Claire didn’t seem to notice. She told them about college and Annie committing suicide and Claire having a nightmare during Professor Fenton’s algebra test. Nathan was warmed that she left the discussion about her girlfriend, or possible girlfriend, between the two of them, not sharing it with Peter. It was a slow enough day that they made nearly half an hour after Peter’s break was over before Hesam called Pete for work. Peter left reluctantly, giving Claire another quick hug and reaching out to pat Nathan on the arm. Nathan grabbed Peter’s arm before he took off. “Pete?”
“Yeah?”
“I need to see you tonight. We need to talk about some things.”
Peter hesitated a second and said, “Sure thing, Nate.” He took a few steps away, turned backwards and waved at Claire. “See ya, Claire! Don’t be such a stranger!” He wheeled and jogged to the ambulance.
Nathan and Claire walked to the car. “You two seemed to have a weird vibe going on there.” Nathan glanced at her and opened the car door, saying nothing. She got in.
When he still didn’t say anything after starting the car, she said, “Okay, listen. My dad also said things might have changed around here. What’s going on?”
Nathan looked at her. His lips parted slightly and he started to shake his head, denying it. He changed his mind. “Let’s… go get something to eat. I’ll tell you over lunch.”
“Okay.” She smiled and looked out the window at the hospital as it receded in the distance. “I’ve been thinking maybe I should be an organ donor, you know?”
-----
At the restaurant, Nathan called his receptionist and had her move his appointments to the late afternoon. He double-checked when he needed to be back. After he rang off, he turned to Claire. “I’m sorry I can’t get out of all my appointments for you. I was on vacation all last week and everything’s kind of gotten backed up. But,” he picked up his napkin, “we can have a nice, long lunch,” he laid it carefully over his lap, “and we can talk… and we can see each other again… tomorrow? Are you going to be in town tomorrow?”
“Yeah, I think so. I was going to go by your house tonight. I can stay in a hotel, but I thought… as long as I was here…”
“My house?” Nathan looked startled.
“Yeah, your house.”
“You mean my apartment?” Sylar floundered. How the hell was he going to keep his hands off her if she was sleeping in his apartment? A surge of fear went through him. He didn’t need Nathan to tell him this was a bad idea. A really bad idea. Sylar didn’t trust himself with her. He was sure there was only so much Nathan could do to control Sylar’s behavior. If she was in the shower, or it was the late hours of the night… he felt a cold sweat starting.
Claire laughed. “No! You’re funny. I mean the Petrelli house.” She raised her brows at him and lowered her head. “Where Angela Petrelli lives - my grandmother, your mom?”
“Oh,” Nathan nodded. Sylar was relieved and disappointed at the same time.
“I haven’t seen her yet.”
“Oh, sure. Yeah, you should see her. Peter and I had brunch with her a few days ago. She was… kind of upset we didn’t call first.” He pulled out his cell. “Here. Use my phone, tell her you’re coming over tonight. She’s been… a little paranoid about last-minute schedule changes lately.”
“Sure.” Claire made the call. Of course Angela was “delighted” to have her over and “pleasantly surprised” to hear she was in town. Claire handed the phone back to Nathan. “What are you doing for dinner tonight?” she asked him.
“Well… I don’t know how long I’m going to be talking with Peter. This is something that… has kind of been a long time coming. He and I need to talk.” She tilted her head, obviously waiting for him to continue. “Last week… I was…” He looked at her intently, trying to read her reaction to this, “I was at a carnival. Not… exactly on vacation.”
“A carnival? Like, the Sullivan Brother’s Carnival?”
Sylar blinked. Was he being set up? How much did she know? Before his fears could spin out of control, she said, “I was talking to someone just the other day, who had gone to that carnival. She said it was like a family. They were trying to get people with powers to live together there. All together, and make a home for them.” She had a long pause as things started to make sense for her. Noah had said things might of changed… “Are you going back?”
“What? Me? No. I’ve got a home, a family. Peter came for me. It’s… it’s complicated. I need to un-complicate it tonight. If I can.” He turned his glass, fidgeting with it for a moment. “I don’t think… he understands what I was doing there.”
She laughed softly. “With a family like yours and mine, I can totally understand why you’d be tempted to run off to live with a traveling circus.”
He laughed easily. She nodded. “I can also understand why Peter wouldn’t really get that - that you need a break now and then, when you need to just explore what it would be like to be totally different, not you at all.” She smiled.
He smiled back. “Yeah… while I was at the carnival, I was… completely different. Not myself. I learned some really painful things about myself. I’m… I’m not a… I haven’t always been a good person, Claire. Not the kind of person I should be.” She shook her head, but he waved her off. “No, listen. I realized there was nothing there for me. Being that person, that different person, wasn’t getting me anything I wanted. What I wanted was already here. With you. With my mother, with Peter, my job, everything. Being a senator. Some of the meetings I have…” He leaned back and looked at the ceiling. Claire was amazed. Nathan had never been this open with her before. “Most of them are trivial stuff and really frustrating, but I can see where this is going, how I can make a difference in a lot of lives. It’s what I want to do. I figured that out. So no carnie life for me.” He leaned forward and smiled at her.
“Wow. Wow, Nathan. That is… really awesome. I’m so glad for you.” She reached across the table and put her hand over his. He looked at it. His breath caught. Her fingers were so nice, her touch soft. He was acutely aware he wasn’t getting any nerve pinch this time, or other warning pain. She went on, “I… my friend was trying to talk me into going too. And I thought I could just leave college and go with her.”
Nathan tilted his head. “No, no, Claire,” he said softly. “You don’t want to go there. It’s… not a good family. I was there. You’ve got a good family… Noah, Sandra, L…” Lyle. “Lyle.” He remembered, sickeningly, things he’d done to Noah, pretending to be Sandra, getting close to him, lying to him, destroying him. Sylar didn’t mind hurting Noah (the jerk deserved it), but he realized he’d also hurt Claire. Pretty badly too, if her family was so messed up now that she had thought about joining the Sullivan Brothers.
She pulled her hand back. Sylar missed its presence immediately. He wondered if he hadn’t broken up her family, if she would still be touching him. She looked around the restaurant and sighed. “Yeah, but… things aren’t good at home. They aren’t the same anymore. Everyone’s all over the place and there’s all this tension. Mom’s… there’s another guy living there.”
He perked up. “Another guy? Do you dislike him? I could get rid of him for you.” Anything for Claire. He was good at killing people.
She laughed and snorted a little. “Oh! Excuse me. I’m sorry. I just had a vision of you calling out a hit on him or something.” A hit? He’d do it himself! What was she thinking? She went on, “No, leave him alone. I don’t like him, but he’s… trying to fit in and I guess mom likes him. I’m not there very much so it doesn’t matter. My dad… we tried to have a family dinner the other day with everyone, including this new guy… and it was a debacle.” She talked about the dinner and time seemed to fly by, even for Sylar. He really wished he could be unaware of its exact, precise passage, like most people were. He knew when the time had come that they had to leave or else he’d be late. He couldn’t plead ignorance. He and Claire parted ways reluctantly, with him promising to clear a long lunch to meet with her again the next day.