Let's just keep it in the Petrelli family
Title: I Need You This Much
Characters/Pairings: Nathan and Claire
Rating: PG
Warnings: Nope, unless you are allergic to fluffy bunny feet mixed with a bit of angst
Spoiler alert: Pretty much spoilers for the entire season
Summary: This is my take on Nathan and Claire meeting up and exploring their family ties, or as I like to call it, "The Fic That Everyone And Their Grandmother Has Written Twice Already."
Claire Bennet found herself staring at a conundrum. Her father was a liar, her mother was now insane, and her brother was spending as much time as he could away from home lately. Her biological mother had turned out to be just as manipulative an untrustworthy as her father, and the only real person she could count on now was Zack, a sixteen-year-old boy. Her prospects were bleak at best, which was what had prompted her to take at least some of the money from Meredith, and head off to New York to find Peter Petrelli before her father’s Haitian friend could wipe her memory for real this time. The search for Peter had brought her to Nathan-her biological father-and many, many awkward moments that she could have done without.
Now here they were, standing on the roof of a thirty-story building in New York, Nathan up on the ledge, his hand held out, asking her if she trusted him.
Well, she trusted him to not kill her at least, mostly because he didn’t seem the type, and because he wouldn’t get very far if he tried anyway.
Deciding that she had nothing more to lose, Claire reached out her hand to his, and he pulled her onto the ledge, folding his arms around her, feeling so much larger and stronger than he looked from the distance that she kept between them. Or maybe he was the one keeping her at arm’s length all this time. It didn’t matter; he was holding her close now, and even if he walked away from her after this, she would always remember how he felt and smelled at this moment in time.
“Hold on tight,” he cautioned before leaning back and falling off the building, a feeling that Claire had managed to become accustomed to during her little “attempts” with Zack. What she wasn’t prepared for was the jolt when he stopped the freefall and began to take them back up. Bewildered, she looked up into his laughing, sparkling eyes. “Peter didn’t tell you?”
Claire shook her head dumbly and looked back down towards the ground, which was already indistinguishable as anything other than veins of bright, multi-colored lights. Nathan’s arms were strong and sure around her waist and she snuggled closer to him as cold air whipped at her hair and burned her skin. She was flying! She was really, really flying with her real father, and he was actually acting like he cared about her for a few minutes. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Peter had been with them, but she already knew that it was useless to ask Nathan where Peter was. Not only did it make him angry, but he seemed to look guilty, too, and she’d had enough lying for an entire lifetime, so she gave up even wanting to know what he had done to her hero-cum-uncle.
And then, just as quickly as it had begun, Nathan began speeding back to earth, adjusting her so that she was cradled against his chest. Claire tightened her hold on him and held her breath as he touched down smoothly, almost exactly where they had left from. She had expected him to set her down right away and once again put distance between them, but instead he simply stood there, holding her close, as if he were expecting her to approve of his power.
“That’s what I can do,” he said quietly, his voice rumbling over the words.
She couldn’t think of even one intelligent thing to say. One arm fell down at her side while she gripped his collar tightly with the other. “Wow.”
A slow smile split his face. It was both beautiful and a little frightening, but she found herself grinning back at him despite her inner feelings of trepidation. This could be just like her bio-mom’s demonstration, and he could be just like her, and this was all just part of a much larger manipulation. It was possible that he really didn’t want anything to do with her. She couldn’t help herself, though. She wanted to hope; she had to hope.
“I threw the rock at your car,” she said, cursing inwardly as she did.
Nathan was obviously brought back to reality by this admission, and he set her gently onto her feet. “You did what now?”
Claire smoothed her hair down and took a deep breath. “That day, at the trailer park? I stayed behind, and I listened at the window. I heard what Meredith told you…and then you drove away, so I threw a rock at your window.”
He put his hands on her shoulders, and she feared for a moment that he would try to choke her, but he didn’t. He pulled her against him instead, chuckling. “That’s something that Peter would do.”
“He would?” Claire looked up at Nathan hopefully. There had never been any point in anyone comparing her with someone else. She was an outcast, an outsider in everything she did. But now, now she could compare herself to her uncle. It was as exhilarating as flying. “Would he really have?”
Nathan moved his thumbs over her cheeks as he held her head in his hands. “Oh, yes, definitely. Only he wouldn’t have run away and hid; he would have stood there and called me out.” Nathan looked off into the distance and nodded to himself. “And then I would have kicked his ass.” He resumed eye contact. “But yeah, he would have told me that I was being a first-rate idiot.”
“Why did you give her the money?” Claire suddenly blurted out before she could stop herself. “She told me that she asked you for some, but why did you give it to her? She was obviously-OBVIOUSLY-just trying to, you know? What’s the word?”
“Blackmail me?”
“That too. Extort! She was obviously just trying to extort money from you, and you let her!”
Nathan gave another chuckle and squeezed her shoulders. “Yes, Meredith definitely extorted a hundred grand from me.”
Claire opened her eyes wide. “A h-hundred grand? She told me fifty thousand, and I thought that was crazy! Why did you give it to her?”
“Because that’s what I do, Claire. And she asked me for it because that’s what she does. I’m sorry you had to find out what losers we are this way, but it’s true. We are. Peter’s about the only person in this family with integrity, and I wish to God that you had found him before you found me.”
Claire nodded and tried not to cry, but it was pretty much a losing battle. “I know you don’t want me, you didn’t want to see me. I-I didn’t come her for-I just wanted-Peter, he can do what I can do, and he was the first one I saw who could. And then Meredith can start fires, and you can fly…for the first time in ages, I don’t feel like a freak any more. I don’t feel alone.” She placed her hands on his forearms and looked straight into his eyes. “Nathan, this is very important to me, so please listen; I did not ask her to get money from you, and I didn’t want it at all. I took a few grand from her because she offered it and I wanted to find Peter, and I had to get away from my home, but I wasn’t looking for you, and I don’t want anything like money. I would never…I just wouldn’t. I’m not like that. It’s not what I do.”
He seemed to accept this and nodded. “I don’t know where my brother is, Claire. That’s my confession. I tried to--I pushed him too hard, I think. I didn’t listen to him, and I kept trying to make him into something that he wasn’t. Honestly? If he knew that you were in New York, he would probably be here with you right now. He probably would have done everything in his power to stop you from even meeting me in the first place, because he knows what I’m like.”
“But you haven’t lied to me yet, and right now, that means more to me than a million dollars.”
Nathan pulled her in again and rested his chin on her forehead. It was something that her dad always did to her, and she wondered if men were taught it at “dad school.” When your daughter is hurting, hold her close and rest your chin on the top of her head. It is a sure way to get her to stop crying.
“Why did you run away from home? Did your parents…are they hurting you because of your abilities? If you need protection, I can give it to you. There are people out there that will try. I wanted to tell Peter about it, but I think I had already pushed him too far at that point, and he wouldn’t listen to me, but someone tried to kidnap me several weeks ago. He was tall and thin, and he had horn-rimmed glasses. He was with a very large, dark man. Like maybe African or something.”
Claire stiffened as Nathan told her about his would-be kidnappers. “Haitian?”
Nathan pulled back and looked down at her. “Excuse me?”
“Could he have been Haitian?”
He put his hands on her arms and leaned down so that he was eye-level. “You’ve seen them?” She nodded. “Here? In New York? Are they after you?”
“I haven’t seen them here, but I’m sure that they’re after me. The man? With the glasses? Nathan, he’s my…” she lowered her voice to a mere whisper, “…he’s my father.”
If she could bruise, then Nathan’s fingers would be leaving prints because of his tight grip. Being what she was, however, she hardly felt it.
“Don’t worry, I won’t stay here long. He won’t find you because of me.”
Nathan shook his head. “He won’t find you because I’m going to keep you safe. But you have to tell me everything.”
That was easier said than done. “Everything” entailed her mother’s mental illnesses that were brought about by the Haitian wiping her memory too many times, Zack, her father, Sylar, Peter, Meredith, her flight from Texas, and the fact that suddenly, being just a normal cheerleader with average abilities seemed really, really great.
Nathan listened to her the entire time she talked, though, and seemed genuinely concerned about her mother when she explained about her sudden mood-swings and forgetfulness. When she was finished, he took her hand and looked straight into her eyes.
“Claire, you’re going to come home with me now, and I swear-I swear to God-I’m going to do everything I can to find Peter and to keep you safe. Do you trust me?”
With a start, Peter awoke from his dream, gasping for breath.
“Did you blow everyone up again, then?” Claude asked from the window, his face half-bathed in soft moonlight.
“Not quite,” Peter answered, holding his chest. He could still feel Nathan’s hand covering his-no, Claire’s. He was Claire in his dream.
Things just got a whole lot more complicated.
The End
AN: The idea that Peter can embody other people in his dreams is something that has not been proven, but it is a theory of mine. I don’t think that he’s actually radioactive himself; I think that in his dreams, he embodies Radioactive Man. Still, there is no proof and there probably won’t be for a few more weeks, so until then, this is my interpretation of The Scene That Everyone And Their Grandmother Has Written.
After writing this, while it was being proof-read, I checked around some forums and was not so surprised to see that a lot of people felt that Claire needed some snorgling from her bio-fam, so I'm hoping that most of you will cut me some slack at the hugs she's getting in here. I really feel bad for her, and I'm hoping that her character really will be able to connect with the Petrelli's, or at least just Peter if Nathan just walks away.
Comments and especially concrit are welcome. This is my first Heroes fic, and I'm still getting a feel for writing the characters on this show, so don't hold back if something makes you roll your eyes. Just be polite, but you knew that. :-)
Characters/Pairings: Nathan and Claire
Rating: PG
Warnings: Nope, unless you are allergic to fluffy bunny feet mixed with a bit of angst
Spoiler alert: Pretty much spoilers for the entire season
Summary: This is my take on Nathan and Claire meeting up and exploring their family ties, or as I like to call it, "The Fic That Everyone And Their Grandmother Has Written Twice Already."
Claire Bennet found herself staring at a conundrum. Her father was a liar, her mother was now insane, and her brother was spending as much time as he could away from home lately. Her biological mother had turned out to be just as manipulative an untrustworthy as her father, and the only real person she could count on now was Zack, a sixteen-year-old boy. Her prospects were bleak at best, which was what had prompted her to take at least some of the money from Meredith, and head off to New York to find Peter Petrelli before her father’s Haitian friend could wipe her memory for real this time. The search for Peter had brought her to Nathan-her biological father-and many, many awkward moments that she could have done without.
Now here they were, standing on the roof of a thirty-story building in New York, Nathan up on the ledge, his hand held out, asking her if she trusted him.
Well, she trusted him to not kill her at least, mostly because he didn’t seem the type, and because he wouldn’t get very far if he tried anyway.
Deciding that she had nothing more to lose, Claire reached out her hand to his, and he pulled her onto the ledge, folding his arms around her, feeling so much larger and stronger than he looked from the distance that she kept between them. Or maybe he was the one keeping her at arm’s length all this time. It didn’t matter; he was holding her close now, and even if he walked away from her after this, she would always remember how he felt and smelled at this moment in time.
“Hold on tight,” he cautioned before leaning back and falling off the building, a feeling that Claire had managed to become accustomed to during her little “attempts” with Zack. What she wasn’t prepared for was the jolt when he stopped the freefall and began to take them back up. Bewildered, she looked up into his laughing, sparkling eyes. “Peter didn’t tell you?”
Claire shook her head dumbly and looked back down towards the ground, which was already indistinguishable as anything other than veins of bright, multi-colored lights. Nathan’s arms were strong and sure around her waist and she snuggled closer to him as cold air whipped at her hair and burned her skin. She was flying! She was really, really flying with her real father, and he was actually acting like he cared about her for a few minutes. The only thing that could have made it better would have been if Peter had been with them, but she already knew that it was useless to ask Nathan where Peter was. Not only did it make him angry, but he seemed to look guilty, too, and she’d had enough lying for an entire lifetime, so she gave up even wanting to know what he had done to her hero-cum-uncle.
And then, just as quickly as it had begun, Nathan began speeding back to earth, adjusting her so that she was cradled against his chest. Claire tightened her hold on him and held her breath as he touched down smoothly, almost exactly where they had left from. She had expected him to set her down right away and once again put distance between them, but instead he simply stood there, holding her close, as if he were expecting her to approve of his power.
“That’s what I can do,” he said quietly, his voice rumbling over the words.
She couldn’t think of even one intelligent thing to say. One arm fell down at her side while she gripped his collar tightly with the other. “Wow.”
A slow smile split his face. It was both beautiful and a little frightening, but she found herself grinning back at him despite her inner feelings of trepidation. This could be just like her bio-mom’s demonstration, and he could be just like her, and this was all just part of a much larger manipulation. It was possible that he really didn’t want anything to do with her. She couldn’t help herself, though. She wanted to hope; she had to hope.
“I threw the rock at your car,” she said, cursing inwardly as she did.
Nathan was obviously brought back to reality by this admission, and he set her gently onto her feet. “You did what now?”
Claire smoothed her hair down and took a deep breath. “That day, at the trailer park? I stayed behind, and I listened at the window. I heard what Meredith told you…and then you drove away, so I threw a rock at your window.”
He put his hands on her shoulders, and she feared for a moment that he would try to choke her, but he didn’t. He pulled her against him instead, chuckling. “That’s something that Peter would do.”
“He would?” Claire looked up at Nathan hopefully. There had never been any point in anyone comparing her with someone else. She was an outcast, an outsider in everything she did. But now, now she could compare herself to her uncle. It was as exhilarating as flying. “Would he really have?”
Nathan moved his thumbs over her cheeks as he held her head in his hands. “Oh, yes, definitely. Only he wouldn’t have run away and hid; he would have stood there and called me out.” Nathan looked off into the distance and nodded to himself. “And then I would have kicked his ass.” He resumed eye contact. “But yeah, he would have told me that I was being a first-rate idiot.”
“Why did you give her the money?” Claire suddenly blurted out before she could stop herself. “She told me that she asked you for some, but why did you give it to her? She was obviously-OBVIOUSLY-just trying to, you know? What’s the word?”
“Blackmail me?”
“That too. Extort! She was obviously just trying to extort money from you, and you let her!”
Nathan gave another chuckle and squeezed her shoulders. “Yes, Meredith definitely extorted a hundred grand from me.”
Claire opened her eyes wide. “A h-hundred grand? She told me fifty thousand, and I thought that was crazy! Why did you give it to her?”
“Because that’s what I do, Claire. And she asked me for it because that’s what she does. I’m sorry you had to find out what losers we are this way, but it’s true. We are. Peter’s about the only person in this family with integrity, and I wish to God that you had found him before you found me.”
Claire nodded and tried not to cry, but it was pretty much a losing battle. “I know you don’t want me, you didn’t want to see me. I-I didn’t come her for-I just wanted-Peter, he can do what I can do, and he was the first one I saw who could. And then Meredith can start fires, and you can fly…for the first time in ages, I don’t feel like a freak any more. I don’t feel alone.” She placed her hands on his forearms and looked straight into his eyes. “Nathan, this is very important to me, so please listen; I did not ask her to get money from you, and I didn’t want it at all. I took a few grand from her because she offered it and I wanted to find Peter, and I had to get away from my home, but I wasn’t looking for you, and I don’t want anything like money. I would never…I just wouldn’t. I’m not like that. It’s not what I do.”
He seemed to accept this and nodded. “I don’t know where my brother is, Claire. That’s my confession. I tried to--I pushed him too hard, I think. I didn’t listen to him, and I kept trying to make him into something that he wasn’t. Honestly? If he knew that you were in New York, he would probably be here with you right now. He probably would have done everything in his power to stop you from even meeting me in the first place, because he knows what I’m like.”
“But you haven’t lied to me yet, and right now, that means more to me than a million dollars.”
Nathan pulled her in again and rested his chin on her forehead. It was something that her dad always did to her, and she wondered if men were taught it at “dad school.” When your daughter is hurting, hold her close and rest your chin on the top of her head. It is a sure way to get her to stop crying.
“Why did you run away from home? Did your parents…are they hurting you because of your abilities? If you need protection, I can give it to you. There are people out there that will try. I wanted to tell Peter about it, but I think I had already pushed him too far at that point, and he wouldn’t listen to me, but someone tried to kidnap me several weeks ago. He was tall and thin, and he had horn-rimmed glasses. He was with a very large, dark man. Like maybe African or something.”
Claire stiffened as Nathan told her about his would-be kidnappers. “Haitian?”
Nathan pulled back and looked down at her. “Excuse me?”
“Could he have been Haitian?”
He put his hands on her arms and leaned down so that he was eye-level. “You’ve seen them?” She nodded. “Here? In New York? Are they after you?”
“I haven’t seen them here, but I’m sure that they’re after me. The man? With the glasses? Nathan, he’s my…” she lowered her voice to a mere whisper, “…he’s my father.”
If she could bruise, then Nathan’s fingers would be leaving prints because of his tight grip. Being what she was, however, she hardly felt it.
“Don’t worry, I won’t stay here long. He won’t find you because of me.”
Nathan shook his head. “He won’t find you because I’m going to keep you safe. But you have to tell me everything.”
That was easier said than done. “Everything” entailed her mother’s mental illnesses that were brought about by the Haitian wiping her memory too many times, Zack, her father, Sylar, Peter, Meredith, her flight from Texas, and the fact that suddenly, being just a normal cheerleader with average abilities seemed really, really great.
Nathan listened to her the entire time she talked, though, and seemed genuinely concerned about her mother when she explained about her sudden mood-swings and forgetfulness. When she was finished, he took her hand and looked straight into her eyes.
“Claire, you’re going to come home with me now, and I swear-I swear to God-I’m going to do everything I can to find Peter and to keep you safe. Do you trust me?”
With a start, Peter awoke from his dream, gasping for breath.
“Did you blow everyone up again, then?” Claude asked from the window, his face half-bathed in soft moonlight.
“Not quite,” Peter answered, holding his chest. He could still feel Nathan’s hand covering his-no, Claire’s. He was Claire in his dream.
Things just got a whole lot more complicated.
The End
AN: The idea that Peter can embody other people in his dreams is something that has not been proven, but it is a theory of mine. I don’t think that he’s actually radioactive himself; I think that in his dreams, he embodies Radioactive Man. Still, there is no proof and there probably won’t be for a few more weeks, so until then, this is my interpretation of The Scene That Everyone And Their Grandmother Has Written.
After writing this, while it was being proof-read, I checked around some forums and was not so surprised to see that a lot of people felt that Claire needed some snorgling from her bio-fam, so I'm hoping that most of you will cut me some slack at the hugs she's getting in here. I really feel bad for her, and I'm hoping that her character really will be able to connect with the Petrelli's, or at least just Peter if Nathan just walks away.
Comments and especially concrit are welcome. This is my first Heroes fic, and I'm still getting a feel for writing the characters on this show, so don't hold back if something makes you roll your eyes. Just be polite, but you knew that. :-)