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Title: The Young and the Restless

Author: obisgirl

Characters: Paire Genre: Romance, Humor Rating: PG-13 Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes or the characters on the CBS soap opera, "The Young and the Restless."

Summary: Peter comes home from work early and finds that Claire is Tivo'ing an episode of The Young and the Restless…

Peter was grateful to get home early after waking up so early to attend to one of his patients. Since finding the rest of the heroes and saving the world, the last couple months had been uneventful. Not that it was a bad thing but it was good to relax. Peter removed his shoes, plopping down on the couch, picking up the TV remote. He really didn't have any program preferences when it came to watching TV so he figured that he'd sit there, eat some pizza and watch whatever was on and when he got bored of that, switch to a different channel.

He frowned however when the TV came on and realized that Claire was Tivo'ing something. After moving all her stuff in, she asked about the TV and if it could record shows that she liked while she was in school. Peter showed her how; she was a quick learner but until that moment, Peter didn't really know what type of shows she watched during the day.

Interestingly, Peter stared at the TV and couldn't bring himself to switch the channel. First of all, this was probably one of Claire's favorite shows to watch and secondly, it was rude to watch something else. She probably waited all day, anxiously watching the time in all her classes until her last class let out so she could go home and watch the TV show that she loved so much. Peter put down the remote, and leaned back into the couch, trying to get comfortable.

If Claire loved this show so much, Peter didn't think it would be a bad thing to watch it a little. Maybe it was interesting and fun.

It was 4:30 pm when Claire finally arrived home. She called for Peter and then noticed that he was already there, sitting in front the TV watching something. As she crept closer, Claire recognized the faces on the television and started laughing. She tried covering her face with her hands but she couldn't contain herself. Claire knew that sometimes Peter came home early from work but she never imagined a scene like this: Peter Petrelli sitting on the couch, intently watching an episode of The Young and the Restless. He was so into what was happening that he didn't even recognize that Claire was standing behind him.

Claire wanted to say something but she simply went around the couch and sat beside him. Peter finally turned, looked at her and blushed. Claire tried so hard to control her laughter but she looked at Peter as if she hadn't really noticed what he was doing. "Is that today's episode of Y&R?" she asked.

"Um yeah," he said quickly, "We only have one TV and I just thought I'd watch a little." Peter turned off the Tivo, putting it back to the main menu. "So, how was school?"

Claire grinned, leaning on the back on the couch. "You were watching the whole episode, weren't you?" It was more of a statement than a question. She knew he had been watching the whole episode.

Peter looked away from her. "No, I wasn't," he shot back, "Just small parts."

"So, what happened today?" Claire continued, referring to the episode.

Peter shrugged. "I don't know all the characters but this teenage girl, she looked to be about your age, black hair and blue eyes, she got stuck at the university with her art history professor because there was an unexpected ice storm," he explained and smiled a little, "They looked kinda cute together actually," he said.

Claire nodded, taking the TV remote from him. "Their names are Colleen Carlton and Professor Adrian Korbel. Colleen's supposed to be his research assistant and he's her professor but he's fallen for her and she's fallen for him," Claire explained, opening the Tivo menu and selecting the Y&R episode. The episode started playing.

After the first twenty minutes, Peter looked over at Claire. "How were your classes today?" he asked her suddenly. Peter always asked her that but this time, he really felt the need to know…especially if Claire had any hot male professors. Art sometimes imitate life, he reminded himself.

Claire shrugged. "Huh? What did you say? I didn't hear you," she said, wrapped up in the episode.

"How were your classes?" Peter asked again.

Claire turned and looked at him. "Oh, they're fine," she said simply, turning her attention back to the television.

"And what about your teachers?"

She perked up and looked curiously at Peter. "What about my teachers?" she questioned.

"What are they like?" Peter managed. "Are they good at what they do?"

Claire glanced at the TV and then back at Peter. Now, she knew where this was going. Peter wanted to know if she had any male professors, especially hot professors like Korbel. "They're awesome," Claire mused but she knew that wasn't the end of the conversation. It couldn't be.

"What do they look like? Your professors?" Peter added.

Claire paused the Tivo and turned her whole body, so she faced Peter. "Peter, I'm not having an affair with any of my professors," she said and he started to sit. "But don't get me wrong, many of my male teachers are very hot but I'm simply content to fantasize about them like the rest of my female classmates. I would never cross that line."

Peter smirked. "I wasn't implying that you would," he mumbled.

"Then why all the questions?"

He shrugged, taking the TV remote and unpausing the Tivo. "I was just curious, that's all," he said.

Claire grinned and leaned back on the couch, watching the rest of today's episode of The Young and the Restless with Peter…her new soap opera buddy.

The End