A/N: I don't own Heroes. This idea has been in my mind FOREVER and I can't get it out. I just had to write this. I know I'm going all the way back to Season 1 but I can't help it. I love Nathan/Claire – father/daughter bonding. The beginning is directly from Episode #01x15: Run. I don't own that either, but everything else that is in this story came from my brain and I don't want Sylar stealing it ;) I hope you enjoy this story. Please Read and Review.
Hey, everybody... after re-reading this in 2015, I had to go back and edit it. I just needed to because the punctuation and grammar hurt my brain… I couldn't leave it. So if you're re-reading this and it looks different, it's because I edited it. ;) I hope you guys re-enjoy it.
Claire-Bear to Flying Man
Nathan Petrelli has always been known as a rational man. However, for the past couple of weeks some things in his life have been far from rational. These things ranged from his attempt to deal with the fact that he can fly to his brother Peter thinking he was going to explode half of New York City.
Right now, he was pulling up to a trailer in Kermit, Texas to see Meredith Gordon. Last he saw her he was almost twenty years old and his daughter Claire was only eighteen months old. He had thought them both to have died in a fire fourteen years ago until he got the call that they were both alive. This was one moment in his life that was rational and somewhat normal.
He could deal with this.
Meredith opened the door and all Nathan Petrelli, aspiring Congressman and rational man could do, was just stare at her. He couldn't help it. He hadn't seen her in so many years and even thought her to be dead.
When they met, he was only eighteen and at that age, he became a reluctant father to a daughter that he was secretly hoping wouldn't hate him. Nathan entered her trailer and they had a seat at a small table.
"Look for what it's worth, I'm sorry for the way things turned out. You know I could've been a," Nathan crossed his legs and cleared his throat, "a much better person back then."
"You politicians you sure know your way around an apology," Meredith held a slight clip to her tongue. Those words cut through Nathan. He tried not to let it show, but it could be seen in his eyes.
She continued, "You and me we were never going to work out."
"In two different worlds," Nathan and Meredith said in unison as they both let out an uneasy laugh in an ill-fated attempt to cut some of the tension out of the conversation.
Nathan let out a long sigh. He took out an envelope from his suit jacket and waved it slightly indicating that this was the money he promised. After a quick glance into Meredith's eyes, he realized that that was all she wanted from him and nothing more. She looked at the envelope in anticipation ready to get out of the state. Once again Nathan found himself hoping Claire wasn't like her mother in that respect.
"I…uh, I hope this goes a long way toward making up for the fact that I wasn't there. For both of you," Nathan handed the envelope to Meredith.
Meredith just looked at him blankly as she took the money.
"So…," Nathan let out a little too loud, confirming his nervousness, "Where is she?" Nathan rubbed his hand against his leg in anticipation and an attempt to calm his nerves.
"Claire?" Meredith wondered.
"Mm-hm," Nathan affirmed even though he thought it was a stupid question. After all who else could he have been talking about?
"You just missed her," Meredith replied. She missed the slight disappointment in Nathan's eyes.
"She want to see me?" Nathan breathed. There was still a small part of him hoping Claire wasn't going to hate him after all these years. Perhaps she might even like him.
"Yeah… I snapped a photo of her," Meredith finally started to sound genuine. She actually started to notice Nathan's edginess.
Meredith took out her cell phone and looked lovingly at the picture of Claire, "Look how beautiful she is."
"I-I'm sure she is," Nathan was still scared out of his wits. He was worried his mother was right and that 'one look into those sad little eyes' and he'd be hers. He was fighting a battle within himself… and losing.
"Take a look, Nathan," Meredith handed the phone to the New Yorker. He took it and looked at the picture. From the second his gaze landed on it, he knew his mother was right.
He was hers.
"She came here with her bags all packed. She thought you were going to rescue her from her tragic life. That sound familiar?" Meredith explained.
In some strange way, it sounded to him like she was trying to dissuade him from seeing Claire by bringing up their past in an attempt that he might not want to have anything to do with her.
"I told her you were just here to pay your money and go," Meredith sighed.
Still holding the cell phone he continued to stare at his daughter's picture. He looked into her eyes and saw the anguish in them. They looked entirely too much like his own proving again that she truly was his daughter. Nathan found himself fighting another battle in himself while trying to also fight off tears. To top it all off, he was battling his mother's voice in his head contemplating whether he should see her or not.
"Did I speak out of turn?" Meredith questioned, "I-I could call her… I could get her to come back."
Still Nathan looked at the digital pixels on the LCD screen of her cell phone and came to the conclusion that looking at the real thing would be so much better.
To hell with his mother. He wanted to see his daughter, "Uh… yeah… yeah call her. I'd love to see her."
Slightly shocked at his answer, Meredith stood up as she took her phone back from Nathan, "O-Okay… just a minute."
Quickly, outside the window, Claire Bennet ran away from the window back to her car so that the occupants inside the trailer wouldn't hear her phone ring giving away the fact that she was sitting there the whole time.
"Hello?" Claire was slightly out of breath. Thankfully she didn't notice, "Mom?"
"Yeah, Claire, it's me. I was just wondering if you're not too far out already if you could come back?" Meredith asked. The way she phrased the question and the slight waver in her voice, Nathan thought she might actually not want Claire to meet him.
"Why?" Claire faked ignorance.
"Your father, your biological father is here and he wants to meet you," Meredith looked over in Nathan's direction.
"Really?!" Claire didn't even try to mask the excitement in her voice, "I didn't even leave the parking lot… Tell him I'll be there in a minute."
Claire didn't even bother saying goodbye as she hung up and let out a small cry of happiness. Finally there was going to be something in her life that was going to be real. She was going to meet her biological father – her real biological father.
"Claire's on her way back. She didn't even leave the parking lot so she'll be here any second," Meredith walked back into the room where Nathan still sat.
"Okay… I'll go tell my driver I'll find my own flight home," Nathan stood up and went outside to do as he said.
Within a minute he came back in the trailer hesitantly, looking around slowly to see if Claire was there yet. When he only saw Meredith, he let out a disappointed sigh. What Nathan failed to notice was that as he entered the trailer, a certain blonde, indestructible teenager was following him to the door.
Not a second after Nathan sat back down in the same chair he was in before, a knock came to the door. He let out an inaudible gasp as Meredith announced, "I'll get it."
"Hi," Claire greeted her mom again.
For a girl who has died and broken every bone in her body, she looked very nervous at the prospect of meeting her bio-dad as she dubbed him in her mind.
"Can I see him?" Claire rubbed her hands together nervously.
Instead of a verbal answer, Meredith stepped back and motioned her to the table where Nathan promptly stood up as father and daughter stood a couple feet apart in awkward silence.
"I'm going to leave you two alone for a little while. I'll be back in a bit… give you a chance to get to know each other," Meredith clung the envelope of money Nathan gave her to her chest and headed out the door, leaving the two in solitude.
"Hi," Claire broke the silence. Nathan remained speechless. Being the brave girl she was, she continued on a conversation that might prompt him to talk and come out of his shocked stupor, "I'm Claire."
"Nathan," He couldn't hide the small crack to his voice that surprised even him, "Um, so… do you live nearby?"
"Odessa actually," Claire replied.
Nathan sat back down and Claire took Meredith's spot. The tension continued to rise, "So where do you live? New York?"
"Yes I do actually… why? Do I scream New Yorker to you?" Nathan teased, gesturing to his three-piece suit. The tension started to lift away.
"No," Claire laughed. "No. Meredith actually told me that you lived in New York when I asked about you."
"Oh," Nathan nodded.
"Well, if I'm gonna ask, I should ask now and hope that it doesn't ruin any chance I have of a relationship with him," Claire thought, "Maybe he might even have an ability too."
"This is going to sound very strange, but could you follow me for a minute? There's something I need to show you."
She got up and headed to the kitchen. By the time Nathan reached her, she already had a giant steak knife in her hand.
"Claire!" Nathan yelled as he saw her cut her arm. The moment mirrored her reveal to Meredith before. Miraculously, the deep gash closed with dry blood on her arm as the only evidence she had done anything.
"Please say something," Claire echoed what she had said before.
"How?" Nathan furrowed his eyebrows. They walked side-by-side back in the other room and sat on the couch together, "How'd you do that?"
"It's something that happened to me about six months ago. I've been able to heal… regenerate like that for some time and I've actually healed through injuries a lot worse than that before," Claire was still scared she was going to scare her father off.
Hesitantly, she broached what had been on her mind, "This might sound like an odd question and even if it means I'll never see you again, I need to ask… can you do anything out of the ordinary?"
If there was one question he thought he'd never hear from his daughter that would be it. He was still coming to terms with his 'ability.' He could tell from the look on Claire's face, his answer would provide her solace and maybe even hope that she wasn't alone.
With a sigh, he answered truthfully, "Actually, I can… just not anything like that."
"What can you do?" Claire sounded a little more upbeat than before, even hopeful.
"I can fly," Nathan admitted, looking into his daughter's eyes. After omitting what he could do to someone he loves, the tension in his shoulders visibly lifted as if weights were taken away. Yes, even though he just met her, he loved her. After all she was his daughter.
"That is so cool," Claire lit up, "Can you show me? Like levitate or something?"
Nathan looked a little uneasy, but she gave him the "I-showed-you-my-power-so-now-you-show-me-yours" look.
He stood up and closed his eyes, concentrating, "Give me a minute… I don't really use it."
After a moment, Nathan levitated about half of a foot above the ground.
"I don't really know what this is, it just sort of happened to me," Nathan explained from the air. He was enjoying the fact that he could finally talk to somebody other than Peter about this openly. Though this was the first time he was talking about with acceptance.
"How fast can you go? Faster than a speeding bullet?" Claire lifted a teasing eyebrow.
"I don't know… but I'm far from Superman. Last time I flew, it was to get away from these two men who tried to kidnap me," Nathan told her, "I heard a sonic boom behind me, so I guess I can at least fly faster than the speed of sound."
"Someone tried to abduct you?" Claire looked concerned.
"Yeah, one guy did all the talking. He wore these horn-rimmed glasses and there was also a creepy-looking Euro dude with him. The one with the horn-rimmed glasses had a gun on him. He trained it on me and I had nowhere to escape but up," Nathan explained.
"Horn-rimmed glasses?" Claire looked uneasy. There was no doubt in her mind that her adopted dad tried to kidnap her bio-dad.
"Why? Did he try to kidnap you too?" Nathan's blood boiled at the mere thought of someone trying to hurt his daughter; his paternal instinct coming out full force.
"No… No he didn't," Claire's answer calmed his nerves some, "He's my dad. My adopted dad… I just found out he doesn't do what I thought he did and he does something completely different."
"He hunts people like us down?" Nathan put a hand on her shoulder, actually classifying them different from other people.
"I don't know… I was hoping, wishing that you could take me with you. Back to New York? Live with you," Claire's voice wavered.
"Claire…," Nathan started and Claire had the feeling from his tone, he was going to try to let her down easy.
"I'm in the middle of an election for Congress and…," Nathan began.
"You can't have an illegitimate daughter running loose?" Claire finished his sentence.
Nathan looked down dejectedly.
Claire's next words gave him some hope, "I promise that I won't go near any cameras and nobody will know about me unless you want them to."
"That could work," Nathan replied with a genuine smile not at all like the politician-fake smiles he usually gives the cameras.
"Looks like you inherited my brains."
They exchanged smiles.
"How are we getting to New York?" Claire asked as they walked out of the trailer and to Claire's car, "Fly?"
"If you're talking plane," Nathan smiled as he got in the car.
"Actually I was thinking traveling Nathan Express," Claire teased as she started the engine to head back to Odessa and get her things.
"I've never taken on a passenger before and I don't want you getting hurt," Nathan tried to dissuade her idea.
"I can't get hurt… remember?" Claire grinned.
"I'll think about it," Nathan looked at his watch, "Though that might be the only way I can get back to New York in time for some meetings I have tomorrow."
"Where will I stay?" Claire asked.
"Uh… I guess in the mansion," Nathan answered.
"Mansion? You live in a mansion?" Claire was completely shocked. Her fantasy of what her bio-parents would be like was coming true in her father.
"Yeah," Nathan started to think out loud, "I think the only person I'll be introducing you to as my daughter will be my brother."
"Rest of your family not as understanding?" Claire guessed as she kept her eyes on the road. They were making incredible time.
"It's not that… it's just that I guess I trust my brother more than anybody else," Nathan admitted.
"Can't wait to meet him then," Claire smiled as she pulled up to the Bennet's house, "You can come in so I can let my mom and brother know where I'm going."
Nathan just nodded as they both got out of the car and headed into the house.
"Claire?! Is that you? Dinner's just about ready!" Sandra Bennet yelled as she heard the door open.
"Yeah! Get in here, you dork!" Lyle yelled.
"That's my mom and brother," Claire turned back to Nathan.
"You got two other brothers too," Nathan told her, thinking about his two little boys he had with Heidi, "Simon and Monty."
Claire simply smiled again and went further into the house with Nathan staying a further distance away so he wouldn't scare her adopted family with a stranger in the house.
"Yeah! Mom, it's me and I need to tell you something!" Claire yelled back as she came into the kitchen and saw her mom scooping pasta out of a giant over-boiling pot of water.
"What?" Sandra looked up to her daughter for an answer. Claire turned around and motioned for Nathan to come closer.
As Nathan approached, Sandra was on alert, "Who are you?"
"He's my father… my bio-dad… real bio-dad," Claire corrected herself, knowing that they had met fake bio-parents Mr. Bennet had hired.
"Real bio-dad?" Sandra was confused.
"The people we met weren't really my bio-parents. They were people Dad hired to say they were my real parents," Claire explained without giving any implications of the Company.
"He a freak like you too?" Lyle raised an accusatory eyebrow. Nathan looked at Lyle with a cross of fear and confusion on his face, but when Claire punched him in his arm with a "Shut-up, Lyle" – he knew it was just sibling-rivalry teasing.
"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Mr…," Sandra started getting the pleasantries out of the way and drawled out the mister so he could fill her in on his last name.
"Just call me Nathan," Nathan waved his hand. He thought calling himself "Mr. Petrelli" in front of his daughter was too formal and not right.
"In that case call me Sandra," Sandra answered, "So what brings you to our humble abode?"
"I decided that I want to go live with him," Claire answered for him which received a shocked expression from the woman in the room.
"YES! I'll be an only child!" Lyle fist-pumped.
"Lyle!" Sandra scolded and turned to her daughter, "Claire, did you decide this on your own?"
"If you're asking did he make me? Then no… I want to go live with him. He can afford it… he's got a mansion in New York and I know he'll be able to take care of me. It's what I want," Claire pleaded with her mother, giving her puppy-dog eyes. It's not that she didn't love her she just needed to get away from Mr. Bennet.
"Are you sure?" Sandra cupped her face as Claire nodded. Sandra let out a few tears and looked to Nathan, "Then you had better take real good care of my girl or I'll find you and hunt you down."
"Of course," Nathan nodded with great respect toward the woman who had raised his daughter.
"How are you two planning on getting to New York?" Sandra looked back and forth at father and daughter.
"We'll fly… privately," Nathan answered. To Sandra it sounded like they were just going to be on a private plane but it was Nathan's way of telling Claire that she got her wish and she'd be flying "Nathan Express."
"You take care of yourself and call whenever you can," Sandra called after Claire who was already half way up the stairs to grab her stuff.
While Claire was getting her luggage upstairs, Lyle thought it would be wise to size-up Nathan to see if he was good enough to be his big sister's dad, "What do you do in New York, Nathan?"
"I'm a lawyer, but I'm currently running for Congress. If you were in New York right now, I'd just say "Vote Petrelli" and maybe give you a badge," Nathan let out a dry laugh, but when he didn't get a smile in return, he quickly shut up.
"Whatever," Lyle didn't really care about details. He just wanted to make sure she'd be okay. He figured that he was good enough to be his sister's dad and started reveling in the fact that now he'd be an only child.
Trotting down the stairs with an overflowing backpack of her stuff and clothes on her back, Claire grabbed Nathan's hand, "Let's go, Nathan. Our flight's leaving pretty soon."
Nathan just smiled knowing she meant she wanted him to take off in a few minutes.
"Goodbye, Claire," Sandra enveloped her in a huge bear hug, "And I mean it… call whenever you can."
"I will… I love you, mom," Claire hugged her mom back with equal vigor. She just waved at Lyle and gave him a quick punch to his arm.
"I love you too, Claire," Sandra waved while tears flowed gently down her cheeks. Nathan gave them sympathetic smiles as the duo headed out the door.
"Where do you want to take off?" Nathan asked.
"Before we go… there's one more person I want to say goodbye to," Claire looked around, "Nobody's watching now… can you take off here and I'll tell you where to go?"
Nathan looked around cautiously and nodded. It's not like anybody would recognize him in Texas anyway, "Yeah… hang on tight."
Nathan picked Claire up and shot straight up. He wasn't as high as he was before, but high enough so they could still see the rooftops.
"This is so awesome!" Claire squealed excitedly and Nathan smiled.
"There!" Claire pointed to a kid next to his bike tying his shoe in an empty park. It was Zach.
"I can't just land in front of him," Nathan protested.
"No… it's okay he knows about me. We can trust him," Claire reassured him, "He won't be freaked out. He'll just think it's cool."
Nathan seemed a little hesitant but trusted his daughter and landed a few feet in front of Zach.
"Whoa… Claire, where'd you come from?" Zach looked up from tying his shoe. He hadn't noticed her landing or Nathan behind her.
"Just came to say goodbye," Claire said.
"Goodbye? Where you going?" Zach failed at hiding the sadness evident in his voice.
"New York," Claire answered and gestured with her thumb to Nathan, "He's my bio-dad and I decided to live with him."
"Really?" Zach looked behind her, finally noticing Nathan.
This time Nathan answered for his daughter, "Yes she is."
"So… he like you?" Zach didn't want to out her as "Little-Miss-Miracle-Grow" to her father if he didn't know.
"Kind of," Claire shrugged. "He can fly."
"Awesome," Zach nodded and in an out-of-character move, he hugged her, "Take care, Claire."
"Bye, Zach," Claire hugged him back. Coming out of the hug, she started walking backwards toward Nathan, "Call me."
"I will," Zach smiled and then looked at Nathan, "Hey, say can I watch you?"
"Watch me?" Nathan furrowed his brows.
"You know, take off?" Zach looked thrilled at the prospect that he could watch a human being fly.
Nathan looked hard in the eyes. Zach shied away with an audible gulp. Nathan looked to Claire nodding her head and his expression softened, "All right."
"Claire, since we'll be moving a lot faster, I suggest you get on my back and hold on really tight," Nathan ordered. She did just as he said, jumping on his back looking like she was ready for a piggy-back ride.
"Bye, Zach," Claire waved and he nodded back at her. Nathan even nodded at him in acknowledgement as they shot up into the sky and broke the sound barrier.
"Whoa," Zach looked up in awe at the flying man.
Up in the sky, moving faster than the speed of sound to the Petrelli Mansion, Nathan decided to strike up conversation. The wind blew past them louder than his voice, "So! Is that Zach kid your boyfriend?!"
"What?!" Claire yelled in Nathan's ear. Her head was down from the wind. Her head was practically in his neck and if her grip on him were any tighter she'd be choking him.
Noticing her discomfort, he slowed down a little and asked again, "Is Zach your boyfriend?"
"No! He's just a friend. He's the only person I could trust with my secret," Claire spoke over the wind, her head up slightly since Nathan slowed down.
Nathan gave her a disbelieving smile, but let it go. In no time, he noticed the Petrelli Mansion coming into view, "Hang on, we're almost home!"
Claire nodded back into his neck as he started picking up speed again.
"We're here!" He slowed down and made himself vertical, slowly descending on to the terrace where his family had had 'family brunch' with the reporter.
"That was the most amazing thing I've ever experienced in my entire life!" Claire jumped off Nathan's back, "I bet you save a lot of money on airfare."
Nathan just laughed and walked inside as Claire marveled at the vast space.
"I have no idea where my brother is… he's been a little AWOL lately," Nathan told her as he took out his cell phone and dialed Peter's number.
"Can't wait to meet him," Claire repeated. Again he smiled, he was smiling a lot more genuinely after he met his long lost daughter.
"Finally! You picked up," Nathan said in his phone. He and Claire were in the family room as Claire sat down on the couch and Nathan continued to talk to Peter, "Where the hell have you been?"
"I've been training," Peter looked over at Claude who looked annoyed that they stopped because his cell phone wouldn't stop ringing.
"Training for what?" Nathan asked.
"To control my powers," Peter replied. "Remember? I'm going to blow up half of New York unless I can keep myself under control."
"Fine… but can you get over here? I need to tell you something really important. Take a break from your training," Nathan suggested. Peter didn't reply but Nathan knew he had a reluctant look on the other end, "You can go back to training afterwards, I promise… I just need you here for a little bit… Please."
"All right… where are you?" Peter relented.
"The mansion," Nathan answered, "Why don't you fly over, it'll be quicker."
"If you're going to be sarcastic, Nathan, then I'm gonna just hang up and go back to training," Peter was annoyed.
"I'm not being sarcastic… I mean it. I want you over here as soon as you can," Nathan looked to Claire. He wanted to be able to talk about his daughter freely with someone other than said daughter. Nathan heard a reluctant 'okay' and then the line went dead, "He's coming."
"Tell me about him," Claire looked up at Nathan from the couch, "Is he like us?"
"Kind of," Nathan shrugged, "I can't believe I'm even having this conversation and being serious about it. If this was six months ago, I'd deem myself insane… He can sort of absorb the powers of others."
Before Claire could respond, Peter came walking in the room. He noticed Nathan leaning in to Claire explaining something, but before Nathan could say anything else, Claire jumped up, "Peter!"
"Claire?!" Peter yelled, recognizing the cheerleader.
Nathan turned around to see his brother embrace his daughter in a huge hug like they've known each other for years and just now were reunited.
"Claire? What are you doing here?" Peter was astounded she was in New York.
They departed from the hug and before she could reply or make the connection that he was her uncle, Nathan interrupted, "You know each other?"
"She's the cheerleader I had to save in Texas," Peter explained, "You know, 'save the cheerleader, save the world' – that cheerleader."
"She's the girl you saved?" Nathan's eyebrows shot up. They were all connected beyond his wildest imagination.
"Yeah," Peter looked back to the girl he didn't know was his niece yet, "You still didn't answer my question. What are you doing here? In New York?"
"I'm going to live here," Claire was still too shocked seeing Peter again to make the obvious connection until she looked from her father to her hero. Finally, after a few seconds, reality set in, "Wait a minute… he's your brother?"
"Yeah," Nathan nodded, still slightly reeling from the shock that he indirectly almost stopped his brother from saving his daughter's life.
"How do you know Nathan?" Peter was confused.
Figuring it'd be better for her to explain instead of her shocked flying father she shook her head, "He's my biological father and that makes you my uncle."
"Father?" Peter couldn't believe it, "Nathan, you have a daughter?"
"Yeah… though, I thought she was dead. I thought she died in a fire fourteen years ago until her mother called me and said that she was alive. I went down to Texas to see for myself," Nathan explained.
"So the girl that I saved to save the world turned out to be your daughter?" Peter made sure he heard right. Father and daughter nodded their heads, "Well then she must be here to help us save the world."
"Let's save the world," Claire smiled confidently looking between her father and uncle/hero.
"I can't believe I'm buying into this, but I guess I shouldn't fight this craziness anymore. It's real and we're proof of that," Nathan started looking to his family finally realizing what they had to do, "We'll save the world… as a family."
Nathan looked straight into his daughter's eyes. All three of them had finally realized their destiny – to save the world.
THE END
A/N: I hope you liked this story. It was my first dive into the HEROES universe and I hope I gave each character justice and wrote them in character. Please be kind in your reviews. I can't wait to see Season 3 of HEROES: VILLAINS which airs September 22, 2008. Thanks for reading and don't forget to watch the new season because I know I will.
If you guys saw my top author's note, you'll see that I've edited the story with the same premise, just tweaked a bit. Hope you enjoyed and might check out "HEROES: REBORN" in Fall, 2015. Even without the Petrellis...