and then she'd say, 'it's okay, i got lost on the way, but i'm a supergirl and supergirls don't cry'

[lucked]

Up until now, everything's been easy. As strange as it might be for most people to imagine, Claire Bennet's leap off the Compound has been the best thing that's happened to her yet on Tabula Rasa. Maybe it isn't the healthiest- after all, where the leap from the Compound was supposed to help her shed that mask, come face to face with all that fate'

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[getemtiger]

Mary Jane had far more experience with the clinic than she liked. Two months spent there at Peter's bedside after Norman's attack, after the yacht party - if she had her way, she would never have had to set foot in there again, aside from visiting Meredith during her shift. Of course, having thought that only made her all the more aware of the inevitability of it, something she'd signed on for when she married Peter; it was practically part of the job description, a risk that would always be taken. She had just never expected it to be someone else she was going to see.

With the way news traveled, she'd come as soon as she was permitted, lingering by the door frame for just a moment before she walked in. If the sight of Claire there, bruised and broken and somehow seeming smaller for it, was at all unsettling (and it was, oh, it was), she didn't let it show. Instead, she summoned up what she could of a small, reassuring smile, having long since swallowed her worry. She'd come through it, at least; Mary Jane had been assured of that much.

"Hey," she said, quiet, as she took a seat in a familiar chair at the side of the bed. She had her suspicions, of course, of what had prompted this, but what Claire needed now surely wasn't to be berated. Any questions of that nature, she could get around to asking. There were more important things to take care of first. "How are you feeling?"

[lucked]

The familiar sight of red hair in the distance made Claire's stomach twist. More than anyone else she'd met on the island, Claire trusted Mary Jane, loved Mary Jane, thought the world of her and never wanted to let her down. But the difficult thing, sometimes, in dealing with someone so patient and strong, was that their smiles hid a great deal. The soft tone of their voice made everything quiet, hidden, Claire finding it impossible to fully read Mary Jane's thoughts on the matter. All she knew was that her cheeks were feeling warm, uncomfortably so, and Claire knew better than almost anyone that it was a tinge of something like shame.

She squirmed, with some difficulty, in her bed.

"Hey," she replied at last, glad that it was easy enough to return that greeting as given. Unable to turn fully toward Mary Jane, Claire allowed her head to rest on the pillow, licking her lips, offering a tentative smile. "...honestly? I'm- I'm feeling pretty guilty. But also really... really amazing. And I don't mean because of the meds."

[getemtiger]

"You mean because..." Mary Jane trailed off, lips pressed together in a knowing expression, not quite a smile. It was, she was pretty sure, confirmation of what she had suspected from the start, and that, in its way, was bizarrely reassuring. At least there had been no other intent behind it; at least this wasn't a horrible accident that Claire had to deal with the result of. The logic behind such a statement, she could even almost understand, though it was about as far from her experiences with Peter as it was possible to get. She remembered, though, what Claire had said when she'd told her about her ability back home, how she'd described herself as a freak. Of course there would be appeal in this. Mary Jane just had to wish that it hadn't had to go so far. Voice lowering slightly, she glanced toward the door, then leaned in. "Because you didn't just get better."

[lucked]

Her lower lip quivered as Claire nodded, wished that she could push herself off of her mattress, reach out for the hug from Mary Jane that she so desperately wanted. She wanted something tight, an embrace so tight that it'd hurt, one that shielded her from everyone, everything, every thought. But her body wasn't in the shape for it, and as comforting as that was on the whole, it also left Claire feeling a little cold, where she sat. But she nodded, and wiped furiously at the tears which kept on threatening to fall, and tried to keep her voice quiet enough to prevent passerby from overhearing.

"Yeah," she confirms. "I think... you know, I think that a part of me knew, or suspected, or... I never heard directly from anyone, that my ability wouldn't work here on the island, but so many people told me about how their disappeared; I can't have completely blocked that out. But I wouldn't know until I tried. Maybe I should have gone for something smaller, like. Stapling myself."

[getemtiger]

"Maybe," Mary Jane agreed, eyebrows raising in incredulous agreement. It was, admittedly, a pretty drastic step to take, but Claire clearly knew that; she wasn't going to make matters worse by reiterating it, or by pointing out that there were other options, too, people to ask, things of that nature. It should have been obvious, but it wasn't, and there wasn't any sense in harping on it. The best they could do was work with what they had now, and while that was, to be sure, very bad, it could also have been a lot worse. Claire was alive, the surgery a success, and apparently in good spirits, save for the tears visible in her eyes. "But now you do know. I'm just glad you're going to be alright." Pausing, she bit her lower lip. "Is there anything I can get you, bring you? I'm kind of a pro at the clinic visiting thing."

[lucked]

With some of Claire's visitors, she'd felt stifled by calm responses. Knew that people only held their breath to wait for Claire to come up with some sort of explanation, something to make it all better. But that had never been the case with Mary Jane, and Claire couldn't consider herself more grateful for it than right then, with Mary Jane just being a bastion of support, and furthermore setting an example that Claire only wanted to follow more by the day. She was always the proof that heroes and heroines didn't necessary have to come with cape and cowl. That the people who held down the fort were just as necessary, if not more, than people who charged ahead. Family always weighed over excitement.

"I'm going to be alright," she repeated, feeling more sure of it as her lips formed the words, looking up with a smile. "I think I'm okay with you just being here, for now. I guess when I kept on saying that I wanted to follow in Peter's footsteps, this should have been one of the ways I avoided, huh?"

[getemtiger]

"Well, if you had to wind up here," Mary Jane said, the emphasis intentional, as she'd still have preferred Claire not be here at all, "better it happened like this than at the hands of someone else." She and Tony may have made their peace, but that didn't change the fact that it was his fault that Peter wound up in here for a second time, and she wasn't even going to get started on what happened with Norman. This was drastic, but this was understandable. For anyone else to have laid a hand on Claire would have been a different story entirely. "I don't have anywhere else to be, though, so I'm free to stay until you can't take it anymore."

[lucked]

Her smile faded just a touch, Claire's eyes wide and watchful as she peered up at Mary Jane. She had never understood the entirety of what happened between Peter and Tony, the commotion after the event so overwhelming that Claire didn't think she really had the right at all to nose around in their adult affairs. But with it having been brought up again, her gaze grew distant for a second, before she looked back at Mary Jane. "Are things okay between the two of them? I know that I can't really understand half of what goes on between those two, and I don't know... nearly as much about your worlds as I'd like, but," Claire pressed her lips together. "I mean, I haven't heard about much going on between the two of them lately, so I'm trying to take that as a good sign."