Fic: What to Expect (3/3)
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,353
Disclaimer: Heroes characters belong to Tim Kring.
A/N: Well, this was unexpected (ba-dum ching). Not just crack crossover mpreg, but multi-chapter crack crossover mpreg, for goodness' sake.
Summary: Established relationship, post-series. Peter comes across the ability to turn into a woman, and he and Claude decide to take advantage of the situation. But, of course, it's never as simple as that.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
It was among the most tense ninety-three minutes of his life, getting to Peter’s apartment and getting him settled in the hospital, though Peter had relaxed and was breathing through his contractions and towels laid down did a good job protecting Noah’s passenger seat from a gush of amniotic fluid. Now, with Peter safely deposited on a bed and surrounded by nurses, Noah was at loose ends and feeling more like an intruder than ever. He took out his phone. “Claude, where are you?”
“I’m... I’m outside. By the entrance.”
“Peter’s doing okay. You know, it’s just a matter of waiting now.”
“Yeah.”
Noah shrugged, “Do you want to come in?”
“Dunno, do I want to shoot myself five feet from the end of a race?”
Noah smirked. If Claude’s sarcasm was intact, so was his sanity. “Okay, well, the nurses should be done fussing now, I’ll let you talk to Peter.”
He went into the hospital room to find Peter lying on his side. He smiled past his sweat-damp bangs at Noah, and gratefully took the phone from him. “Hey,” he murmured, “how are you doing?”
Noah stepped out of the room, and stopped short to see Sandra walking down the hall towards him, hands wrapped around the strap of her purse and honey-colored curls bouncing under the harsh fluorescent light.
He was speechless long enough for her to grin, “Hi there. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“What are you-?” he started, but ended up getting choked off by a wave of teenaged self-consciousness. “Uh...”
“I got a phone call the other day from a woman. Said her name was Angela and that there was a seat on a plane to New York waiting for me today, if I could spare some time.” She cocked her head and squinted, “This have something to do with that pregnant girl you said you were lookin’ after?”
“Yes, um... about that. There are some details you’ll need to know, about the situation.”
Sandra took a breath, seeming to steel herself. “Well, since this appears to be about bringin’ new life into the world and not ending or otherwise harming life that’s already here, I’ll stick around and help out.”
Noah felt a smile creep onto his own face, “Thanks, Sandra.”
She rolled her eyes and walked past him saying, “You’re just so damn cute when your helpless. Come on, let’s get some coffee and you can tell me all about it.”
Later, Sandra was better informed and fortunately still present. She walked into Peter’s room and took a seat in a chair near the head of his bed. “Hi, sweetie. I’m Sandra- your mother asked me to come give you a hand since she couldn’t.”
“Sandra...” Peter said, sounding exhausted, “Noah’s Sandra?”
She chuckled while Noah hoped she didn’t notice his blush, “Well, I suppose that’s one way of puttin’ it.”
He blinked for a moment, and said, “Thanks.” Then his body seized in a contraction.
“Oh boy,” Sandra said, standing up and moving to the other side of the bed where she could lean over and massage Peter’s back, “That’s it, honey, just keep breathin’ and it’ll be over before you know it.” She looked to Noah, “Why don’t you go sit with Claude a while? We’ll switch off in a half-hour.”
Noah did as he was told. When he stepped outside with two more cups of coffee, Claude glared at him as if he’d betrayed a state secret. “What are you doing out here? Peter needs you in there.”
“He’s not alone, he’s just fine. It turns out Angela’s recruited Sandra as her representative.”
Noah doubted there was much in the world that could have taken Claude’s mind off of the current proceedings, but this might have qualified. “Sandra’s here?”
“Yup, she’s in with Peter now.”
“You aren’t kidding...” Claude said, one hand running over the back of his head as he glanced around the parking lot, a few low laughs escaping him.
“She’ll be down here in twenty minutes or so. Then I’ll take my turn with Peter. Are you... is that all right?”
“Yeah, yeah... Christ, Sandra. ‘S been ages.”
“Good times, as I recall.”
That brought Claude’s eyes back to him, along with a smile just this side of sweet. “Yeah. It was good times.” He accepted the coffee Noah had brought him, and the pair sat down on the stone wall of a small raised garden. Dusk was fading, though the summer air still held heat. Noah counted floors and windows until he located Peter’s room and pointed it out to Claude. The man sucked in a breath and released it, eyes locked on the rectangle of light.
Soon enough, Sandra approached haloed by light from the hospital lobby. In his peripheral vision Noah saw Claude straighten up. “Peter’s takin’ a nap,” she said. She stared at Claude with her lips pursed in an achingly familiar not-quite smile. “Well, didn’t see this coming, that’s for sure. You gonna say hi? It’s only been most of a decade.”
Claude stood up and shuffled closer to her. She took the last couple steps to wrap her arms around him. Her eyes fell briefly on Noah before they shut and she squeezed Claude tight.
Eventually she leaned back far enough to look him in the eye and say, “Congratulations, daddy.”
Claude let out a nearly silent laugh, “Say that when this is over, and I can actually see the kid, and Peter.”
Sandra’s face filled with sympathetic sorrow, and she pulled Claude back into the hug, “Oh sweetheart, I’m sorry. I know it was the most sensible thing, but you must’ve been dying these nine months. I can’t even imagine.”
His head drooped down to her shoulder, and Noah watched them flicker slightly while Claude shuddered in Sandra’s gentle grip.
She led him back to the stone wall, and nodded for Noah to go take her place inside. “Get Peter up and walking around if you can. It’ll help.”
He made his way back up to the room. Peter was already sitting on the edge of the bed, rocking slowly back and forth. “How’s it going in here?” Noah asked.
“Not bad. Sandra’s great, really.”
“You don’t have to tell me. Anyway, I’ve been told you should do some walking.”
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” He held out a hand and Noah helped him lever himself off of the bed. He took slow, tentative steps, free hand on his belly.
“Let’s head over to the window,” Noah said, “There’s something you should see.”
They stepped up to it, and Noah found the two small figures sitting out in front of the raised garden. Claude stood and walked forward, waving his arms wide enough to flag down a plane. Peter let out a half-choked laugh and waved back before pressing his palm against the glass. His other hand was squeezing Noah’s almost hard enough to hurt. “He’d be up here if he could,” Peter whispered.
“Without a doubt.” Noah gave him another minute before saying, “Come on, let’s walk a little.”
Peter made a sound of reluctance, but let himself be led away from the window.
Sandra came up to relieve Noah, and he headed outside to find Angela perched on the stone wall as well. She smiled at him, “I was present for Simon and Monty’s births, I’m going to be as close as I can get to Neal’s.”
Noah blinked, “Neal?”
“Apparently, but she didn’t quite catch the middle name, so we’re on our own there,” Claude said, with something like his old humor. Noah found himself smiling too- Claude never did like precogs, it would figure he had a particularly powerful one as an in-law.
“So,” Noah said to her, “Are things going along as foreseen?”
Angela hummed and checked her watch. Her eyes lifted sharply to Noah, “You should get back up there. Right now.”
Noah turned on his heel and returned to the room to find Peter standing up, red-faced and groaning, flanked by Sandra, with a nurse and a doctor at his feet. “Good timing,” Sandra called to him and jerked her head towards Peter’s opposite side.
Peter started sinking down into a squatting position and Noah moved to help Sandra support him. “Okay,” the doctor said, “Here we go.”
With a lot of straining and a torrent of swears from Peter, Neal made his entrance into the world. The doctor and nurse made quick work gathering him up and cutting the umbilical cord. The nurse took him to a delivery table where they could clear his airways, clean him up, and swaddle him in sterile blankets while the doctor delivered the afterbirth. Peter was trembling and almost limp in Noah and Sandra’s arms, and he stared at the delivery table like it was the only thing in the universe. Even while they eased him up and over to the bed, he didn’t look away. Tears sprang to his eyes when Neal’s cry pierced the air. “C-can I hold him?”
“In a moment, honey, just as soon as he’s ready,” Sandra said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pressing her cheek to his hair.
Soon the nurse brought a purple, wrinkly Neal over and placed him on Peter’s chest. The crying stopped instantly and Neal fell asleep while Peter stared at him.
Noah stepped over to the window to find Claude and Angela sitting close together in the gloom outside. He gave them a thumbs-up, and had to stifle his laughter to see Claude sweep Angela into his arms and spin her around. Noah thought he could hear the man’s ecstatic shout from the room.
***
There was the option of changing Peter back very soon after the birth. They had decided he would absorb Claire’s power, healing him as well as restoring him to his proper sex. But when the time came, he refused. “Breast-feeding,” he explained, “Do you have any idea how beneficial that is to a baby, and the mother? I... I want to change back, you don’t know how much. But... my son is getting the best start I can give him. Understand?”
Everyone understood. Though it did mean Peter had to leave the apartment with Sandra so Claude could meet his son for the first time. Noah alone had the privilege of passing Neal into Claude’s arms. Neal blinked curious, ridiculously blue eyes at him and gurgled. Claude blinked back, expression utterly perplexed. “I don’t know how,” he managed, “but I seem to have had a hand in making a perfect baby.”
“Happy Father’s Day.”
Claude snorts, eyes still on Neal. “Hey, did Pete tell you what his middle name is?”
“No.”
“Well, we decided he’d have the ultimate say in a name, since he carried the little bugger. So last name’s Petrelli, first name’s Neal, of course. Middle name’s Bennet.”
Noah barely held in a gasp. “You... he’s...”
“‘Neal Noah’ sounded a bit crap, and this way we sort of got Sandra in as well.”
“You’re all right with that?”
“Course.” Claude looked at Noah, “Wouldn’t have got through this without you, mate.”
Noah stared.
Claude grinned, and said to Neal, “Come along, son, let’s give him time to reboot himself.”
***
About a month later, Peter decided it was time. It wasn’t an easy decision.
“What’s your worst fear?” Sandra asked.
Peter sighed, glancing at Neal where he napped in a rocking basinet. “That he won’t know me, after I change. Either that, or I won’t feel the way I do now. About him. I mean, how much of this is hormonal? Will those hormones go away if I’m not a woman anymore? Nobody can say.”
“But the alternative...”
“Is staying separated from Claude for... years, maybe. I can’t do that. It’s been hard enough...”
Sandra hummed in sympathy and squeezed Peter’s forearm. “Well honey, I’m no expert, but I believe a baby will know his mother no matter what she looks like. He spent nine months inside you, he knows you. And I also believe there aren’t enough hormones or lack thereof in the world to make you stop lovin’ that little boy with all your heart. And one more thing,” she leaned closer, “if it’s possible, I believe every child should have both parents around.”
So Claire came. “Oh my God, look at him!” she cried upon arrival, walking straight up to Neal in Peter’s arms. “You are just the cutest baby in the world. He really is, Peter, look at those eyes- whoa.”
“What?”
She blinked and smiled awkwardly, “Sorry, just- I haven’t... I didn’t know what you looked like. Took me by surprise. Your hair’s the same, I kind of forgot there was anything different for a minute.”
“Neal’s good at distracting people.”
She laughed, “No kidding. So, okay,” she held out a hand, “Here’s your ticket back to masculinity. You... want me to hold the baby?”
“No. Well, if it looks like I might drop him, but I don’t expect to.” He took hold of Claire’s hand, and yellow light flashed over their skin. Peter shuddered, and hunched slightly causing Claire to position her arms under Neal in preparation, but he stayed standing. Straightened back up. “Okay... okay.” He risked a half-smile, “How do I look?”
Claire returned it, “Like yourself. What do you think, Neal? Doesn’t that look like Peter?”
Peter held Neal up so he could see his face. Neal stretched out his arms, and Peter brought him in to snuggle against his chest. He took a shaky breath. “We- we have to let Claude know he can come home now.”
Claire smiled again, “He’s right outside. I’ll be back in a second.”
As soon as she poked her head out of the door, it flew the rest of the way open and Claude marched inside. He came up short a step away from Peter and Neal, expression unreadable. He reached out and laid one hand on the back of Peter’s head, and the other on Neal’s back. Peter took the last step, and Claude kissed his forehead.
Word Count: 2,353
Disclaimer: Heroes characters belong to Tim Kring.
A/N: Well, this was unexpected (ba-dum ching). Not just crack crossover mpreg, but multi-chapter crack crossover mpreg, for goodness' sake.
Summary: Established relationship, post-series. Peter comes across the ability to turn into a woman, and he and Claude decide to take advantage of the situation. But, of course, it's never as simple as that.
Chapter One
Chapter Two
It was among the most tense ninety-three minutes of his life, getting to Peter’s apartment and getting him settled in the hospital, though Peter had relaxed and was breathing through his contractions and towels laid down did a good job protecting Noah’s passenger seat from a gush of amniotic fluid. Now, with Peter safely deposited on a bed and surrounded by nurses, Noah was at loose ends and feeling more like an intruder than ever. He took out his phone. “Claude, where are you?”
“I’m... I’m outside. By the entrance.”
“Peter’s doing okay. You know, it’s just a matter of waiting now.”
“Yeah.”
Noah shrugged, “Do you want to come in?”
“Dunno, do I want to shoot myself five feet from the end of a race?”
Noah smirked. If Claude’s sarcasm was intact, so was his sanity. “Okay, well, the nurses should be done fussing now, I’ll let you talk to Peter.”
He went into the hospital room to find Peter lying on his side. He smiled past his sweat-damp bangs at Noah, and gratefully took the phone from him. “Hey,” he murmured, “how are you doing?”
Noah stepped out of the room, and stopped short to see Sandra walking down the hall towards him, hands wrapped around the strap of her purse and honey-colored curls bouncing under the harsh fluorescent light.
He was speechless long enough for her to grin, “Hi there. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“What are you-?” he started, but ended up getting choked off by a wave of teenaged self-consciousness. “Uh...”
“I got a phone call the other day from a woman. Said her name was Angela and that there was a seat on a plane to New York waiting for me today, if I could spare some time.” She cocked her head and squinted, “This have something to do with that pregnant girl you said you were lookin’ after?”
“Yes, um... about that. There are some details you’ll need to know, about the situation.”
Sandra took a breath, seeming to steel herself. “Well, since this appears to be about bringin’ new life into the world and not ending or otherwise harming life that’s already here, I’ll stick around and help out.”
Noah felt a smile creep onto his own face, “Thanks, Sandra.”
She rolled her eyes and walked past him saying, “You’re just so damn cute when your helpless. Come on, let’s get some coffee and you can tell me all about it.”
Later, Sandra was better informed and fortunately still present. She walked into Peter’s room and took a seat in a chair near the head of his bed. “Hi, sweetie. I’m Sandra- your mother asked me to come give you a hand since she couldn’t.”
“Sandra...” Peter said, sounding exhausted, “Noah’s Sandra?”
She chuckled while Noah hoped she didn’t notice his blush, “Well, I suppose that’s one way of puttin’ it.”
He blinked for a moment, and said, “Thanks.” Then his body seized in a contraction.
“Oh boy,” Sandra said, standing up and moving to the other side of the bed where she could lean over and massage Peter’s back, “That’s it, honey, just keep breathin’ and it’ll be over before you know it.” She looked to Noah, “Why don’t you go sit with Claude a while? We’ll switch off in a half-hour.”
Noah did as he was told. When he stepped outside with two more cups of coffee, Claude glared at him as if he’d betrayed a state secret. “What are you doing out here? Peter needs you in there.”
“He’s not alone, he’s just fine. It turns out Angela’s recruited Sandra as her representative.”
Noah doubted there was much in the world that could have taken Claude’s mind off of the current proceedings, but this might have qualified. “Sandra’s here?”
“Yup, she’s in with Peter now.”
“You aren’t kidding...” Claude said, one hand running over the back of his head as he glanced around the parking lot, a few low laughs escaping him.
“She’ll be down here in twenty minutes or so. Then I’ll take my turn with Peter. Are you... is that all right?”
“Yeah, yeah... Christ, Sandra. ‘S been ages.”
“Good times, as I recall.”
That brought Claude’s eyes back to him, along with a smile just this side of sweet. “Yeah. It was good times.” He accepted the coffee Noah had brought him, and the pair sat down on the stone wall of a small raised garden. Dusk was fading, though the summer air still held heat. Noah counted floors and windows until he located Peter’s room and pointed it out to Claude. The man sucked in a breath and released it, eyes locked on the rectangle of light.
Soon enough, Sandra approached haloed by light from the hospital lobby. In his peripheral vision Noah saw Claude straighten up. “Peter’s takin’ a nap,” she said. She stared at Claude with her lips pursed in an achingly familiar not-quite smile. “Well, didn’t see this coming, that’s for sure. You gonna say hi? It’s only been most of a decade.”
Claude stood up and shuffled closer to her. She took the last couple steps to wrap her arms around him. Her eyes fell briefly on Noah before they shut and she squeezed Claude tight.
Eventually she leaned back far enough to look him in the eye and say, “Congratulations, daddy.”
Claude let out a nearly silent laugh, “Say that when this is over, and I can actually see the kid, and Peter.”
Sandra’s face filled with sympathetic sorrow, and she pulled Claude back into the hug, “Oh sweetheart, I’m sorry. I know it was the most sensible thing, but you must’ve been dying these nine months. I can’t even imagine.”
His head drooped down to her shoulder, and Noah watched them flicker slightly while Claude shuddered in Sandra’s gentle grip.
She led him back to the stone wall, and nodded for Noah to go take her place inside. “Get Peter up and walking around if you can. It’ll help.”
He made his way back up to the room. Peter was already sitting on the edge of the bed, rocking slowly back and forth. “How’s it going in here?” Noah asked.
“Not bad. Sandra’s great, really.”
“You don’t have to tell me. Anyway, I’ve been told you should do some walking.”
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s probably a good idea.” He held out a hand and Noah helped him lever himself off of the bed. He took slow, tentative steps, free hand on his belly.
“Let’s head over to the window,” Noah said, “There’s something you should see.”
They stepped up to it, and Noah found the two small figures sitting out in front of the raised garden. Claude stood and walked forward, waving his arms wide enough to flag down a plane. Peter let out a half-choked laugh and waved back before pressing his palm against the glass. His other hand was squeezing Noah’s almost hard enough to hurt. “He’d be up here if he could,” Peter whispered.
“Without a doubt.” Noah gave him another minute before saying, “Come on, let’s walk a little.”
Peter made a sound of reluctance, but let himself be led away from the window.
Sandra came up to relieve Noah, and he headed outside to find Angela perched on the stone wall as well. She smiled at him, “I was present for Simon and Monty’s births, I’m going to be as close as I can get to Neal’s.”
Noah blinked, “Neal?”
“Apparently, but she didn’t quite catch the middle name, so we’re on our own there,” Claude said, with something like his old humor. Noah found himself smiling too- Claude never did like precogs, it would figure he had a particularly powerful one as an in-law.
“So,” Noah said to her, “Are things going along as foreseen?”
Angela hummed and checked her watch. Her eyes lifted sharply to Noah, “You should get back up there. Right now.”
Noah turned on his heel and returned to the room to find Peter standing up, red-faced and groaning, flanked by Sandra, with a nurse and a doctor at his feet. “Good timing,” Sandra called to him and jerked her head towards Peter’s opposite side.
Peter started sinking down into a squatting position and Noah moved to help Sandra support him. “Okay,” the doctor said, “Here we go.”
With a lot of straining and a torrent of swears from Peter, Neal made his entrance into the world. The doctor and nurse made quick work gathering him up and cutting the umbilical cord. The nurse took him to a delivery table where they could clear his airways, clean him up, and swaddle him in sterile blankets while the doctor delivered the afterbirth. Peter was trembling and almost limp in Noah and Sandra’s arms, and he stared at the delivery table like it was the only thing in the universe. Even while they eased him up and over to the bed, he didn’t look away. Tears sprang to his eyes when Neal’s cry pierced the air. “C-can I hold him?”
“In a moment, honey, just as soon as he’s ready,” Sandra said, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and pressing her cheek to his hair.
Soon the nurse brought a purple, wrinkly Neal over and placed him on Peter’s chest. The crying stopped instantly and Neal fell asleep while Peter stared at him.
Noah stepped over to the window to find Claude and Angela sitting close together in the gloom outside. He gave them a thumbs-up, and had to stifle his laughter to see Claude sweep Angela into his arms and spin her around. Noah thought he could hear the man’s ecstatic shout from the room.
***
There was the option of changing Peter back very soon after the birth. They had decided he would absorb Claire’s power, healing him as well as restoring him to his proper sex. But when the time came, he refused. “Breast-feeding,” he explained, “Do you have any idea how beneficial that is to a baby, and the mother? I... I want to change back, you don’t know how much. But... my son is getting the best start I can give him. Understand?”
Everyone understood. Though it did mean Peter had to leave the apartment with Sandra so Claude could meet his son for the first time. Noah alone had the privilege of passing Neal into Claude’s arms. Neal blinked curious, ridiculously blue eyes at him and gurgled. Claude blinked back, expression utterly perplexed. “I don’t know how,” he managed, “but I seem to have had a hand in making a perfect baby.”
“Happy Father’s Day.”
Claude snorts, eyes still on Neal. “Hey, did Pete tell you what his middle name is?”
“No.”
“Well, we decided he’d have the ultimate say in a name, since he carried the little bugger. So last name’s Petrelli, first name’s Neal, of course. Middle name’s Bennet.”
Noah barely held in a gasp. “You... he’s...”
“‘Neal Noah’ sounded a bit crap, and this way we sort of got Sandra in as well.”
“You’re all right with that?”
“Course.” Claude looked at Noah, “Wouldn’t have got through this without you, mate.”
Noah stared.
Claude grinned, and said to Neal, “Come along, son, let’s give him time to reboot himself.”
***
About a month later, Peter decided it was time. It wasn’t an easy decision.
“What’s your worst fear?” Sandra asked.
Peter sighed, glancing at Neal where he napped in a rocking basinet. “That he won’t know me, after I change. Either that, or I won’t feel the way I do now. About him. I mean, how much of this is hormonal? Will those hormones go away if I’m not a woman anymore? Nobody can say.”
“But the alternative...”
“Is staying separated from Claude for... years, maybe. I can’t do that. It’s been hard enough...”
Sandra hummed in sympathy and squeezed Peter’s forearm. “Well honey, I’m no expert, but I believe a baby will know his mother no matter what she looks like. He spent nine months inside you, he knows you. And I also believe there aren’t enough hormones or lack thereof in the world to make you stop lovin’ that little boy with all your heart. And one more thing,” she leaned closer, “if it’s possible, I believe every child should have both parents around.”
So Claire came. “Oh my God, look at him!” she cried upon arrival, walking straight up to Neal in Peter’s arms. “You are just the cutest baby in the world. He really is, Peter, look at those eyes- whoa.”
“What?”
She blinked and smiled awkwardly, “Sorry, just- I haven’t... I didn’t know what you looked like. Took me by surprise. Your hair’s the same, I kind of forgot there was anything different for a minute.”
“Neal’s good at distracting people.”
She laughed, “No kidding. So, okay,” she held out a hand, “Here’s your ticket back to masculinity. You... want me to hold the baby?”
“No. Well, if it looks like I might drop him, but I don’t expect to.” He took hold of Claire’s hand, and yellow light flashed over their skin. Peter shuddered, and hunched slightly causing Claire to position her arms under Neal in preparation, but he stayed standing. Straightened back up. “Okay... okay.” He risked a half-smile, “How do I look?”
Claire returned it, “Like yourself. What do you think, Neal? Doesn’t that look like Peter?”
Peter held Neal up so he could see his face. Neal stretched out his arms, and Peter brought him in to snuggle against his chest. He took a shaky breath. “We- we have to let Claude know he can come home now.”
Claire smiled again, “He’s right outside. I’ll be back in a second.”
As soon as she poked her head out of the door, it flew the rest of the way open and Claude marched inside. He came up short a step away from Peter and Neal, expression unreadable. He reached out and laid one hand on the back of Peter’s head, and the other on Neal’s back. Peter took the last step, and Claude kissed his forehead.