Application for Claire Bennet (Heroes)
((Done with permission from the Heroes-muns. Spoilers for the whole first season.))
( I want to wake up kicking and screaming/I want to live like I know what I'm leaving/I want to know that my heart's still beating,/Is beating, Is beating, It's beating, I'm bleeding/Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain,/We're awakening/Here we are now with the desperate youth in pain,/We're awakening/Maybe it's called ambition, but you've been talk, talking in your sleep/About a dream, We're awakening )
( I want to wake up kicking and screaming/I want to live like I know what I'm leaving/I want to know that my heart's still beating,/Is beating, Is beating, It's beating, I'm bleeding/Here we are now with the falling sky and the rain,/We're awakening/Here we are now with the desperate youth in pain,/We're awakening/Maybe it's called ambition, but you've been talk, talking in your sleep/About a dream, We're awakening )
Oh, Jesus, of all the freaking people.
"Claire?"
He hadn't seen her, in weeks, not since... God. And now she was here? Exactly who else was going to show up? This was nearly the entire family of Bennets, apparently. There was Hiro. There was Sylar. Who next? Heidi? Meredith? ...Niki? "You... what..." It was the most awkward Nathan had felt around somebody. His own flesh and blood, and he didn't know a damn thing about her. "What are you..."
This couldn't end well. Nathan cleared his throat, adjusting the unbuttoned collar of his shirt and fixing Claire with a half a smile, one that probably didn't quite reach his eyes. "I didn't expect to see you here."
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Claire's eyes went wide and she froze, just utterly motionless.
Dad. Nathan. Bio-dad. Jerk-face who had been willing to let New York explode. Guy who had shown up at the last minute and done the right thing. Um, yeah, she was kind of at a loss as to what to call him.
Whatever his title, Claire had been sure he had been dead. It was a little like seeing a ghost. Making some strangled sound of disbelief, she started forward, only to stop again.
"You're alive."
Yeah, that was a good way to start.
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It had been one thing that Peter had been worrying about ever since he came here. Not that he was scared that Claire had gotten hurt in anyway, because he knew she hadn't - but simply that he hadn't been able to keep his promise to Mr. Bennet that he would keep Claire safe. Even though 'keeping her safe' rang synonymous with 'asking her to shoot him in the head'.
Ooh, who was Nathan talking to? Peter was going to kick his ass if Nathan was flirting again. Coming up behind him, Peter frowned. "Nathan, I swear if you don't stop-" He broke off, staring at Claire who he'd just spotted. "Claire?" Shock eased its way into a grin. "Claire! God, when did you get here?"
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He was kind of her hero.
So with a delighted shriek that only teenage girls could accomplish, Claire threw herself at Peter in a huge hug. "Oh my God, you're alive!" she said, beaming. "I thought you were dead! How are you not dead? Peter!" Literally too happy for cohesive sentences, Claire settled for hugging him tighter. She'd grieved him, mourned him, and now he was back. There weren't words enough to express the level of relief and joy.
So hugs would do.
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Give thanks for the loving uncle, right? For Peter who got the sudden embrace when Claire wouldn't even touch Nathan. He couldn't blame her for that, either. Nathan and Angela, and the big Save the World by Destroying Half of Freaking New York plan that Linderman had set in place... Shit, they'd shoved her in a fucking car and tried to ship her off to Paris. He'd just been trying to protect her - she was his daughter for God's sake - but who the hell knew what that looked like to her, right ( ... )
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His eyes slid over to Nathan, standing off to the side, and Peter shot his brother a look. The kind that said 'She's your daughter, make an effort!' If Nathan was going to stand there the whole time, Peter was going to give him a serious talking to after this ( ... )
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Her eyes followed Peter's to Nathan and the girl frowned. Actually, bio-dad Jerkface could just stay over there for now. Her feelings about Nathan were a scattered jumble. There was the longing to know her family, where she'd come from, who she was. But then there was the anger and disappointment over who her father had turned out to be. What he'd been almost willing to do. The fact that he'd shown up redeemed him slightly, but that someone could even consider doing what he had been... Claire didn't know if she wanted to hug the man or hit him. So distance was okay, right at the moment ( ... )
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And he was trying! If opening and shutting his mouth like some kind of drowned guppy was any resemblance of something resembling 'trying'. Just... what did he say right now? 'So what have you been up to for the last sixteen years of your life'? 'How's the adopted parents, you know, since I kind of thought you were dead'? 'Sorry for trying to send you away to Paris because I was kind of ashamed of having an illegitimate daughter'? Oh, yes, it would all end so well. Hallmark moments here, people.
Peter got a look right back, as Nathan shifted from foot to foot and let his eyes flicker back to Claire. Clearing his throat and... letting them ( ... )
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Still. Serious words were coming Nathan's way, as soon as they were alone.
He almost went to protest that he hadn't actually saved New York - it had been Nathan - but Peter stopped the words just in time. Claire sounded happy to believe that, even though she was finding heroic qualities in the wrong person. At the news that Claire wanted to learn how to be a hero, Peter's smile faltered slightly. God, she was just a teenager.
"Sorry about Nathan," Peter apologized, "I think he has a sore throat, been really hard for him to talk." Lamest excuse ever, but Peter had to try. "And I ended up here when I... ah, blew up." He looked off to the side, temporarily embarrassed. "But it's a great place, you'll really love it here."
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Stepping back from Peter with a frown, she gave him a crooked, rueful smile. "Yeah, I'm hoping." Rubbing her hands on the sides of her jeans, she looked back and forth between the brothers.
"Wow, we're really bad at this, huh?"
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At least Claire could manage to be straightforward about things. His own eyes riveted right to her own once she spoke again, and, yes, that was it exactly, thank you for somebody getting out in the open. ...Christ, Ma was right, Claire did get her mouth. "'Bad at this' is... a bit of an understatement," Nathan finally managed to get out, and throwing Peter a bit of a glare, as if to see, 'see, there is no sore throat, and you are a dumbass'.
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"We're all kind of bad at this," Peter shrugged, trying to get the tension out of the air. "But hey, that's understandable. You both found out about this at a really bad time." He smiled crookedly at both of them, looking far too excited. "And Claire, I know you have a family that you love, but I really think we could learn to be a family, too. More family is always good, right, Nathan?"
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"You were just going to let New York blow up! You were going to let Peter kill all those people!" Those weeks of thinking they were dead had simply compounded the frustration and disappointment and anger she'd felt at the time. "Ever since I found out I was adopted, I've been trying to imagine what my parents must have been like. Who they were. So I'd know who I was. But I don't want to be like you." Glowering, Claire set her jaw and met Nathan's eyes defiantly. "You could have done something, so people didn't get hurt. So they didn't die. You could have been brave. Why weren't you?" There was something so little-girl lost in her voice, in the tears that were threatening, even as the world-weary grief made her looks far too old for her years. That Nathan had come at the last minute wasn't enough. Not for Claire. "You're supposed ( ... )
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Nathan squared his jaw for a few long seconds, teeth gritting against each other as he conjured the right words in his head. He was a politician. He was a lawyer. It was his freaking job to come up with bullshit on the spot. But in light of situations like this? When what he said actually mattered? Nathan was total shit at this kind of stuff. Always saying the wrong things and everyone ended up pissed off. They could make a party out of it.
"Look," Nathan replied in a low voice, hand branching out to grasp at Claire's shoulder, as if to achieve some kind of familiarity with the girl. "I get it, all right? I'm a sucky dad. Maybe not for Simon, or ( ... )
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"He is a hero, Claire," Peter followed up, tucking his hands in his pockets and smiling at them both. Oh, he knew that Nathan had been prepared to let him explode and let half of New York get killed, but Nathan had also changed his mind and done the right thing, in the end. That was all that mattered to Peter. "He saved New York, when I couldn't do anything. Nathan risked his own life to save millions of people ( ... )
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"This is about New York," she hissed, gesturing to emphasize her points. "This is about you being willing to sacrifice all those people. You weren't protecting anyone but yourself."
She rounded on Peter. "He is not a good guy, Peter! He lied to you! He lied to me. He doesn't care about anyone but himself. And if he had done something sooner, then maybe things would have been better." She pointed at ( ... )
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