Okay, this little idea visited after a recent episode and wouldn't leave me alone. I couldn't write for Elle Saves The Day with this plot bunny attacking me, so I went with it. It was supposed to be a oneshot, but then my exposition got out of control and took on a life of its own and I was suddenly 10+ pages. So I found a nice spot and stopped there. I hope I can control myself and it will be a twoshot or something. Seriously though, my Sylar was supposed to be in this story and where is he… probably stalking Mohinder or something.

Sigh, I want Elle and Sylar to be super awesome, morally ambiguous best friends who just chilling at Pinhearst for now, but might switch sides for fun and then they make out when they get bored. They'd have fun times where they help each other's love life, like Sylar pretends to go after Claire so Elle can save the day or Elle scares Mohinder with her girl parts and Sylar is there to comfort him. Instead the show has an incredibly bipolar Elle, who is admittedly awesome at times, but who forgets that she totally made the mile high club with Claire and a Sylar who is just on whatever side the person he's hanging with tells him too. DUDE, maybe that's like somewhat screwed up empathy…err I just ranted didn't I. Well, forgive me. I'm sorry.

I don't own Heroes, 'cause if I did… well see above paragraph.

p.s. The title was chosen for 3 reasons…

1. It's a Heroes quotes and I have a fondness for them.

2. Dude, it's Angela.

3. A lot of this chapter is a story and I had a couple of How I Met Your Mother jokes in my head while writing this. (By the way, actress plays Angela is also Ted's mom and I always got the slut vibe from her, like she could be Matt's and Hiro's mom too… crossover anyone. Haha hust kidding.)

Have You Met Their Mother

Chapter One- Of Course Claire's The Catalyst

"But that isn't fair," Claire shouted at the Patrellis. Angela, Peter and Nathan had ganged up on her, all wearing severe faces, to exclude her from helping. The rest of their little Primatech group, Daphne and Matt, were standing to the side a little awkwardly, figuring this to be a family moment.

"Listen Claire, it's important for you to stay here. I think it's best if we keep you as far away from Pinehearst as possible," Peter explained in what Claire saw as a condescending tone. Nathan stood off to the side, letting Peter handle it. He did feel concern for Claire, his daughter, but knew she was most receptive to Peter and that it was best to let him try and explain it to Claire. Unfortunately, things weren't going so well.

"Peter, I'm not gonna hang around here while you guys go and get yourself killed. I'm unkillable, I can help… even if it's just an emergency blood transfusion," Claire stated fiercely.

"We're not going in there to fight," Peter stated as calmly as possible, "Just find out what we can. Nathan's advisor, Tracy, has somehow gotten Nathan into see Dad; the rest of us are just… just back up. We are just going to find information. Daphne only knows so much and this may be our only chance before everything goes to hell."

"I'm not an idiot," Claire hissed, that same bitter tone coating her voice that her Dad had become so used to lately. She curses herself for wishing he was here right now because, no offense to the Petrellis, but Peter was powerless and none of the rest had any real offense power; at least not against the powerhouse that was waiting for them at Pinehearst. "There is a very real chance that this will come to blows, and I will never be able to live with myself if something happens to you and I could have prevented it."

Peter looks like he has more to say. His face hardens, just a bit, and his eyes focus sharply on Claire. Her entire body seems to straighten out in an instant, with arms crossed and defiance written on her face. She has been through a number of speeches from her dad lately, and she knows, having been lectured by Peter before, that Peter's speech will not compare to her father's. She can win this one.

Only it's not Peter's voice she hears next. Angela Petrelli steps forward, making sure to put her hand on Peter in a way that's probably meant to be comforting. Claire thinks it looks controlling; dominating.

"Claire," Angela says quietly, "This is not about you. Your power is extraordinary, but it won't help you at all in this situation. The people don't want to kill you, they want to capture you. People will always want to capture you; your blood can heal any wound in an instant. Do you realize how much we have to lose? If we bring you along, you will be all we can think about. You would not be that important in a fight anyways. The best you could do is distract possibly one powerhouse. Less if they just lock you away and return to the fight. And, in case you have forgotten, there is a very real possibility that you contain the catalyst that my husband is obsessed with. He might not know this, but if you are there it will most definitely be on all of our minds and he will find out and be after you more than ever. So if you want to doom any chance we could possibly have, then go ahead, come with us." Angela finishes her speech with a superior look on her face and her words are drenched in soft venom.

Claire swallows back a scream, so sick at being special; the freak among freaks. No matter what happens, no matter who's in danger, she can't help. She is always stuck sitting on the sidelines or waiting to be saved. It was one thing when she first discovered her power and had a serial killer after her. Her entire life was crumbling around her and she would have done anything for somebody to save her. Peter came and saved her, but only from Sylar. Her family was just as screwed up as before and just continued to get worse. She didn't want to be protected anymore. She couldn't die or get hurt and nobody seemed to want to protect her feelings. The only two white knights she found were both useless; one who couldn't understand her and the other turned out to be her uncle. The only person who knew what she was and had still treated her like an equal, like it didn't matter, was a complete psychopath; and even she had abandoned Claire. She was sick of getting left behind and it was happening again. Didn't anyone care?

"Fine," Claire choked out, arms rigid against her side as she glares at Angela. "Then I'll leave you to your scheming. I'm going to the mall; I assume you won't be here when I get back, so good luck I guess." And with maximum teenage angst, Claire stomped upstairs to get her purse. They had all headed back to the Petrelli's to regroup, and the house still had some of Claire's old things from her former visit. She also could have sworn there were things she didn't remember. As soon as she had her purse, though, she was heading for the door. Nathan stopped her just as she was leaving the house.

"Claire," he started, clearing his throat uneasily, "I know you don't agree with what's going on, but it really is for the best." Claire just glared at her bio-dad. She had given him a small chance when she first found out about him, but then she discovered that he wanted to bribe her out of his life and her opinion of him continues to sink further after that. Nathan continues, "Listen… just… here. For the mall."

Claire accepts the small card from her biological with a small frown. From the beginning she would have rather known him than had money, but obviously Peter, the black horse of the family, was the only Petrelli worth knowing. She takes the credit card and leaves without a word, quickly headed to the bus station. She's not going to confront anyone, Angela made good points, but she is going to get herself situated near the building just in case. After all, she didn't say what mall she was visiting.

----

Claire was extremely lucky. It was pretty obvious, actually. There were many possibilities on who could have adopted her, many who would have used her as a test subject. She was lucky to be given to her dad who, despite having many badass and outright evil moments, loved her and did everything in his power to keep her safe. It was definitely good fortune that her power happened to be healing. She had experienced many injuries that would have killed her, even before she was actively involved in any sinister plots. She was accidently tacked and her head did a complete 180 for Christ's sake. Yet her infamous luck seemed to have disappeared today.

Claire was sitting in a small café, connected to a mall in New Jersey, drinking a coffee she bought with Nathan's credit card. The mall she went to, the café she's sitting just happens to be very close to Pinehearst. So close, in fact, that from the table she's sitting at, she can see the entrance way. It wasn't hard to get here either. The bus took longer than plane, but she wasn't nearly as far away as she was before. And she already made it here once. Now she didn't know what to do.

She had decided to travel near Pinehearst when she was angry and upset; she had no rational plan in mind. Now she sat, sipping coffee, and wondering where to go from here. She hadn't seen Nathan or anyone else show up, and for all she knew he'd visit his father via the roof, and she knew that they wouldn't call her even if the worst happened. They probably wouldn't even tell her the truth when she talked to them later in the house. She was too stubborn to head back now, even if the possibility of helping was practically zero. So she was going to sit in a coffee shop all day, staring at a building. That was the plan…

"Claire?!" somebody yelled and, before she could even turn around and see who it was, there were suddenly arms around her. For a second she felt terror, well in the 'my dad is gonna kill me' way and not the 'Sylar's ripping my head open' way. She had been caught. And then she realized that whoever just grabbed her had not, in fact, grabbed her, but had… glomped her. She struggled a little and her mystery hugger released her and jumped back slightly, keeping their arms linked loosely, to reveal a grinning Elle.

"What are you doing here, cheerleader? Did you change your mind about Pinehearst?" Elle asked, still grinning madly. Claire stiffened and shifted her body out of Elle's light grip, eyeing the other blonde warily.

"No, I'm just shopping," Claire answered in a clipped tone. She sized up Elle, who had finally dropped the grin at her answer and was looking at her nervously, and noticed that Elle looked better groomed than when she had abandoned Claire at Pinehearst. Her hair looked less frazzled and her clothes less wrinkled, not to mention she looked like she had gotten a couple good nights of sleep. Her eyes narrowed as she realized what that most likely meant.

"Me too, I was looking for a pres-" Elle started anxiously before Claire cut her off.

"The fixed you..?" Claire questioned in a low tone, not quite sure if she was happy for Elle.

"Well," Elle started, "I… it was sort of Pinehearst… mostly I mean. I think my powers shortening was a little, or all, psychological… that's what Claude had said and nobody actually physically did anything for me. Like no drugs or shots or anything… it was just Gab- umm they just talked to me and it helped dramatically… plus I expelled so much electricity so that might have helped… but yeah.. I ummm got fixed there." She gave a small, unsure smile and scooted a little closer to Claire.

"I guess that's good for you. I hope it was worth it, you know, leaving me and Peter there to become company girl 2.0," Claire hissed, suddenly glaring. She didn't move away from Elle, though, so Elle decided to take a chance.

"I'm sorry," she blurted, "I know we were in this together, but I was in so much pain and I was just following through with the plan. I don't deviate from the plan, especially not when all signs point to it working."

"Wait," Claire sputtered, "You're not implying that I was in the wrong. Peter was thrown out the window and needed help, and you just left us." She was now looking in incredulously at Elle, and Elle did hear the hurt that was in her voice. "I should have expected it, you know, but I thought that we were becoming a little bit like friends."

"I thought so, too," Elle interrupted. She grabbed Claire's shoulders and forced Claire to look directly at her. "I wasn't trying to imply anything. I just… the pain was so much and getting rid of it was all I could think about. If I thought more I might have realized that it wasn't smart, but I don't do that. I am impulsive; even my decision to join with you was all impulse. And I could care less about Peter. He's a jerk face. I don't know who wouldn't take the opportunity to throw him off a building. I just… I said sorry to you when I left you because I didn't want to leave you. And I am sorry. I still want to be… a little bit like friends. We can hang out today, at the mall. I have somewhere to be later, but for now…I… just… please."

Claire's hostile expression didn't change, even as she shrugged herself loose from Elle's grip. If Claire still felt pain, Elle might have tried to shock it off her face. But as it was Claire just stared at her; thinking. Elle seemed apologetic, repentant, but Claire knew she would probably make the same choice again. And Claire was right; she should have known. After all, Elle didn't really understand loyalty.

The only person Elle was ever loyal to had been her father and Claire understood it was forced loyalty. Abuse, experiments, manipulation, erasing memories, probably even mind control; Claire knew Elle was doomed from the start. Claire had been an idiot to think she could become a real person in a day or two. Now the only person Elle cared for was herself. An experimentation gone wrong; a monster without a master. No matter how sad or remorseful Elle seemed, Claire needed to remember that it was fake, even if Elle didn't realize that.

At the same time, though, if Elle was Pinehearst's new attack dog or whatever, then it would be best if she wasn't there for the Petrelli family meet and greet. At least this way Claire could was contributing, even a little. So she put on a fake smile stuck out her hand.

"Fine then, let's start over," Claire said, acting the part of a cheesy movie that Elle had probably never seen, "Hi, my name's Claire Bennet." Elle's nervous, tentative smile exploded into 100 watt grin and she grasped Claire's hand and shook almost violently.

"Elle Bishop, it's nice to meet you."

---

Despite what Claire apparently thought, Elle was not an idiot. She knew that Claire was still pissed off and angry and didn't want to hang out with her. Claire may have done some company-like work and captured Doyle, but she doubted subterfuge was involved. Still, she didn't know why Claire was faking and that was enough reason to go along with it. Maybe she was faking, but hoping the lie would become truth; Elle had done that often enough. Elle doubted it, though, because she didn't think Claire really wanted to be her friend. But maybe, if she was awesome enough, Claire would end up enjoying herself and forgive Elle. Elle could hope, so she put on a big smile and grabbed Claire's hand and began to pull her away from the café.

---

Claire stared at the closed changing room door in exasperation. She was a normal teenage girl, able to spend hours at the mall, but Elle was trying her patience. The majority of it was that she had been standing outside the changing room for ten minutes now and Elle hadn't reappeared. A small part of her exasperation stemmed from the fact that she was actually having fun. They had only started clothes shopping. So far they had just stopped at the food court for a greasy lunch and looked at some new DVDs, along with the hour Elle inexplicably spent trying on watches, but spending time with Elle wasn't bad. She was funny and amusing, despite her obvious neurosis. It had been a while since she had just hung out with someone, though, but that was no excuse for how hard she had laughed when Elle shorted out the computer system for the store with the rudest clerk ever. Elle was right in this instance, though, the bitch deserved it.

Claire snapped to attention as the door opened suddenly. Elle reached out and grabbed her, pulling her into the small cubicle.

"What are you doing," Claire said, startled.

"I just need your help. I can't decide between these two tops and I want your opinion," Elle stated hopefully, already pulling off one shirt and grabbing a new one.

"T-t-that's fine, Elle, but you don't need to pull me in here. You could have just showed me out there," Claire stuttered, shocked at Elle's boldness. She sometimes wondered if Bob had taught Elle any normal social boundaries.

"You…want me to change in front of the whole store?" Elle asked giving Claire a queer look. Claire just closed her eye and leaned against the wall. Nope, no boundaries.

"Never mind Elle, show me the second shirt."

---

It was a couple hours later and they were resting on a bench with their many purchases lying on the floor. At first Elle was hesitant to buy anything, but once Claire, feeling defiant, insisted on using Nathan's credit card, they both went wild. Elle was all for acting out.

Now it was getting late and Claire was sure she should probably head home soon, hoping for the best. Elle hadn't gotten any phone calls or anything, though, so she wondered if the family meeting had happened. Wouldn't they have wanted as many people there as possible? Claire glanced over at Elle, who was leaning against her with arms linked again and one hand absently playing with Claire's hair and the other fiddling with her phone.

It was really weird how touchy feely Elle was, touching her constantly. Before she hadn't really touched her at all, staying as far away as possible, but it did make sense. Before she was shocking things all over the place and, while Claire didn't think Elle minded shocking people, she did hate the loss of control. Now Elle had control again, and Peter had said that Elle acted weird with him too. Claire had figured it was her socially messed up version of seduction, but maybe it was just being socially messed up. Claire figured she never had the normal hugs and whatnot when she was younger, so Claire let her be overly touchy. It was weird, but so was Elle.

Well, if she wasn't a distraction, if it didn't matter that she had spent the day with Elle, then maybe she could get some information out of it.

"Elle," Claire said, causing Elle to hurriedly flip her phone away for some reason.

"Yeah," Elle said nervously, looking a touch guilty before it disappeared and she looked normal.

"Umm well earlier when we were talking about Pinehearst and you said they had only sort of helped you, what did you mean," Claire asked, hoping this was a good starting point for an inquisition. Elle looked at her a little disappointed and Claire got the distinct feeling that Elle knew this was coming.

And she did. Elle had known that Claire had a reason for hanging out with her, and it wasn't because she wanted to make nice. Claire kept checking her phone and would space out while Elle was talking, like she had something more important on her mind. Not that Elle really minded, because she didn't. Sure it would be nice to have Claire's full attention, after all Claire was supposed to be hanging out with her and having fun. She could have at least pretended better, but Elle knew that it was selfish to think like that. Elle didn't even deserve the second chance; she was lucky Claire was even willing to spend time with her. Besides, Gabriel said they were being better people now, and that meant making amends. If part of making amends was telling Claire about what happened to her, or some worthless information about the company, then so be it.

Of course, she wasn't going to admit to how badly she almost got screwed. She would skim over the part where her stupidity and thoughtlessness got her shackled and thrown in a dirty cell in two seconds flat. And she couldn't say anything that might get Gabriel in trouble, or make Pinehearst get rid of her. She really could care less about their goals or whatever, but she was a company girl… she really had no other option. Not after Mrs. Petrelli fired her and what perfect revenge, working with her husband. Plus Gabriel might need her help and she wanted to stay close by. After all, no matter what way this Claire ended, she still had him.

"Well, umm, when I went into the building I wasn't feeling to happy, I mean, I really did appreciate that you helped me. I wasn't lying, so when I made it in the building I went a little haywire… because apparently my shocks were mental. So I'm there just spazzing out and then I'm out. Like blacked out. I don't know if my body finally had too much electricity or if someone tranqed me, but next thing I know I'm waking up in… a room. There were…precautions to keep me in the room and I was just stuck there for a while, shocking myself. And umm, you have to promise not to freak out," Elle stopped and looked at Claire expectantly. Claire furrowed her brow in confusion and nodded.

"Okay, well I was in the ce-room shocking myself when Ga-Sylar came in-"

"What! Sylar-" Claire exclaimed, standing up suddenly and pulling herself out of Elle's light grip. She was glaring again, but also looked a little worried. Elle reached up to grab her again, desperate for Claire to wait, to listen, to not leave.

"Claire," Elle said quietly, but with urgency, "Sit down and let me finish." She knows what's coming and knows she needs to get it out there; let Claire know all the facts. The problem is that she knows how Claire will respond. Claire won't approve, will speak harshly with a voice dripping with criticism and venom. Or worse, she'll talk quietly in that demeaning tone; like 'be a good girl, Elle, or you won't get a treat.' Or 'Elle, what have we said about shocking people…' The way her father used to talk to her; the way Mr. Petrelli talks to Gabriel even if he doesn't see it.

Claire would see it, though, because Claire's dad is similar. He's never used his praise, his love, his approval as a system of control; not with Claire. Not as far as she knows… But he's a manipulator. After all, he has messed with Elle's mind in the past, many times. Sometimes with the Haitian, whose loyalties have always been questionable, and sometimes not. She could have forgiven him, she guesses, because she didn't think any of his manipulations were that harmful. But some of the things she's learned lately make her hate him.

The gift of memories, a final bit of bargaining to sway her allegiance, told her things she really wished she didn't know. Like how forgiving Gabriel really is, considering what she did, and the part Bennet played. Not to mention how he screwed with his own family; she knows that the Haitian is familiar with them and it gives her a rush of empathy. Well, she calls it empathy, and Gabriel agrees, but she was told by shrinks that these feelings are just narcissistic tendencies, feeling bad for herself by seeing similarities between herself and others. She doesn't know what the truth is; all she knows is that Bennet isn't a nice man. He is a family man and a company man, and, with him, both lifestyles have a fair amount of deceit and control in them. If Claire is going to trust her, forgive her, then Elle knows she must blaze through, no lies and no omissions. She hopes Claire won't be too mad.

"Fine," Claire stated stiffly, sitting back down. Elle scooted closer, so she could keep her voice down and still show the importance of the story. She also wrapped her arm around Claire's again, loosely so Claire wouldn't think she was trying to stop her from leaving. Although, it was there to make Claire think twice about jumping up and taking off, and if Claire was even the tiniest bit like her, the human contact might give her comfort. At the very least it would give Elle comfort in getting through the tale. She took a deep breath and clenched her fist to keep her nervous nelly fingers from playing with Claire's pretty hair.

"So S-Sylar came in and, well, even if you hate the rest of the story, you'll enjoy this part. I saw him and I, well I guess I froze for second 'cause you know. But then I zapped myself a little and it all came crashing down. I completely freaked out and started letting loose as many volts as possible while screaming at the top of my lungs. I'm pretty sure this went on for hours and I lost count of how many times I killed him," Elle breathed, still getting a little rush thinking about letting out that much electricity and the target still living. Claire wasn't smiling, though, Elle noticed. Elle hurriedly pulled her hand out of Claire's hair, it had somehow got tangled there while she was talking, and grasped Claire's hand to keep it from happening again.

"So, if it wasn't for me," Claire started in a soft voice, "he would be dead, repeatedly… now he's never going to quit." Elle looked at her sharply, only able to hear because of her awesomely smart move of sitting so close. She really had so much to tell Claire; so much Claire needed to know. But she had to do this in the order. Still…

"If," Elle started nervously, "it wasn't for me; Sylar would have been stopped a long time ago." It's so much more complicated than that, but that's all she can bring herself to say right now. At Claire's inquiring look, she hurries to get through with the rest of her story, "I'll get to that in a minute. So I was electrocuting Sylar, zapping him with all I had, and it was awe- well it was like he could have stopped me, but he didn't even try. He just let me keep going, keep zapping him, and not a little bit. A lot. And he said d…deserved vengeance for my father so I could unleash it all on him. He said he could take it, although by the way he was screaming… he must have been in such pain. It was pretty insane," Elle said with this strange lilt in her voice. It was easy to tell that she didn't think it was insane; she thought it was incredible. Claire felt a shot of anger, but not at Elle.

She knew the rush that came with using her powers with someone else, someone similar. It was what drew Claire to West in the first place. He was attractive, but she had pretty much despised him as soon as he opened his mouth. Him finding out about her powers, even if it was because of his creepy stalker tendencies, was what made the relationship work. He accepted her and thought her powers were cool. In retrospect, it wasn't a very good relationship, but at the time she had been willing to forsake her father for him.

If she was completely honest with herself, she was so upset because Sylar was using her powers to create that connection. It was like he was using Claire to make Elle like him. Claire could have done it, taking the electricity, like on the plane. She would have helped Elle if asked, and she's sure she would have felt that connection again.

"I…I didn't tell you everything before, in your house," Elle stuttered, suddenly nervous, "but my dad, well you know he wasn't the nicest guy. Not even to me. He screwed me up; it's his fault I'm so… weird, even your dad would agree, and when he died without telling me he was proud of me or that he lo-, I felt sad and guilty. But I also felt free and relieved, and I hated myself for it. Claude said that might have been why I was hurting myself, but all I know for sure was that attacking Sylar, giving it all I had, was the closest I could come to avenging my dad and stop being a bad daughter. It was hard because it hurt, but I deserved it and Sylar deserved it and then… then he started talking." Elle was quiet for a moment and Claire swallowed hard, knowing she wouldn't like whatever Elle was going to say next. Nothing that came out of Sylar's mouth was good.

"He said… he said that I needed to forgive myself. He said that it was my father's fault and some of the things… just he talked like he knew me, could understand me, and he said so many things. Suddenly, I didn't hurt anymore and Gabriel, because he's not Sylar anymore, Gabriel was able to use my power without killing me. He was so happy, he was crying." Elle practically gushed, not even noticing how Claire had become very still.

Claire's thoughts raced as quickly as her heart and she felt a rush of anger towards Elle. It wasn't the same kind of anger that she felt when her father was working with Sylar, though, and she knows it should be. Instead it's a twisting rage that makes her want to scream at Elle, tell her she's being an idiot, yell about how she's being so obviously manipulated.

"What happened next," Claire asked quietly, careful not to let the anger show in her voice.

"We spent the next hour or two talking, and me showing him how to use the electricity. It was awesome; I've never been able to help someone like that. I've never actually been useful, irreplaceable. We talked about our parents and how much they suck. About my…my memories and how his nature mom's a bitch and his nurture's not much better. I don't know how you can stand it, her hanging around all the time telling you what to do," she finished with a sour look, ready for the part of the conversation where they moan about their crappy authority figures. She could think of a million different ways to insult Mrs. Petrelli, but she wants to hear some of the ones Claire has no doubt thought up. Unfortunately, the only thing she gets is confusion.

"Who?" Claire asked, trying to keep her tone mild. She couldn't care less about all the ways Sylar's parents screwed him up, he was irredeemable in her eyes, but if she was working with them, she needed to know. And if she wasn't working with them, then it was best to keep up with his lies. All the better to refute them.

"You know…Mrs. Petrelli. Can you believe her, though," Elle continued, anxious to get to the Angela Petrelli bitchfest, "She fires me because my work was sloppy and then goes and hires her kill happy son? By the way, any perceived sloppiness, not my fault. I was still fairly new to field work and got sent out on high level cases without any sort of worthwhile partner. I mean, at least I didn't kill my main objective. It serves her right that he found out the truth. She was all, 'You're my son, we had to put you up for adoption, but I'll love you if you do my bidding.' And Mr. Petrelli totally tossed that out all, 'Actually, she dreamed of how much of a monster you'd be and tried to drown you. I saved you and I'll love you if you be my little monster.' They both suck," she finishes slowly, grin long gone.

Elle might not be the most social savvy person around, but only someone deaf, dumb, and blind could miss Claire's reaction. Her hand had gone numb because of Claire's death grip and her breathing made Elle wonder if she should find a paper bag. But it was Claire's look of complete horror that makes Elle wonder if she never heard any of this story before.

"He…what? Sylar…is…my uncle?!" she mutters incredulously, hysterically. She's not even looking at Elle, doesn't seem to remember she's still there, too busy staring at nothing and sputtering nonsensically. She gives a little disbelieving laugh and takes a gasp of oxygen before she's able to start making sense.

"Why didn't anyone tell me…does anyone else know?" she questioned, demanded. Elle hesitated at Claire's despondent eyes, but she had promised herself to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

"I thought everyone knew, but the only ones who I had been explicably told about were the wicked bitch and Peter."

"Peter?! Peter knew and didn't tell me?" Clair was really starting to freak out. Tears were starting to escape from her eyes, and Elle wondered how close Peter and Claire were. A tiny voice whispered that this would be the perfect time to win Claire over. A few carefully worded truths dropped at the right moment and Claire would be running with her to Pinehearst or wherever Elle wanted to go. Gabriel had given her lots of information to work with, strangely enough, and the tale of Petrelli sacrificing that girl for Gabriel, Peter trying to save Gabriel, or even Bennet's contribution to the creation of Sylar. Elle could easily rationalize that Claire deserved to know this information. Yet, for some reason, Elle elected to give Claire some recovery time. Claire wrenched her hand from Elle and made the move to run, and Elle didn't stop her with seductive, manipulative words. Instead she reached out and hugged Claire tightly, ignoring her struggling as she pulled her back to the bench.

"I'm sorry," Elle kept whispering into Claire's hair until she had calmed down. She let go and pretended she didn't feel the wetness on her shirt. Elle swallowed nervously and wondered what she was supposed to do now. Claire just sat there, staring silently, with a look Elle couldn't decipher.

"Should I… do you want me to continue?" Elle questioned hesitantly and received a silent nod.

"Okay, so that's basically why Sylar's working at Pinehearst now, and I really don't know what they're up too. I don't really care, either. The thing is… I don't want to be a company girl anymore. The main reason I'm still there is Gabriel, and I know you don't approve, but you don't understand. The way he is acting right now is like a flashback to my childhood. Hell, it's a flashback to a month ago. I don't know why he doesn't see it. He gave me some blood, I'm not sure whose exactly, but it wasn't yours. It didn't fix everything, maybe there wasn't enough or something, but I do remember some things that used to be a haze and one of them is part of why I'm trying to help Gabriel. It's… listen you're going to hate me after this, I know you will, so can we do this tomorrow? Just to give you some time to process things, so that I'm not just overloading you. I need time, to build up my confidence, and stuff," and maybe she's a coward, but she really wants Claire to be her friend and she knows her next story will destroy any chance of that. At least she still has Gabriel, as much of a lackey as he's becoming.

Claire furious at first; it's a cop out, somebody trying to protect her, she's sick of being lied too. But she's also exhausted. It has been a long day and Elle was more informative than her own side lately. She should also check the information she's been given. She turns to tell Elle okay, but not nicely because she is angry, but instead sees how tired and fearful Elle looks. When Claire decided to go along and hang out with Elle, she told herself not to fall for it again. The kicked puppy looks and strange solidarity pulled her in last time, made her trust and feel again, but look how that ended. Yet, once again, she feels that pull of emotion and instantly forgives Elle, if not for whatever she'll explain tomorrow, then at least for making her wait.

"Alright," Claire allows, trying to form a reassuring grin, "We'll meet tomorrow. And if it helps any, I promise to hear you out before I declare my never ending hatred."

"Promise," Elle says weakly.

"Pinky swear."

Elle lets out a squeal and pulls Claire into a quick hug. The two girls leave the mall, heads equally filled with thoughts and head to their respective homes. Claire takes note that Pinehearst is still standing, but really doesn't care. As she takes the bus home, she wonders how she is going to deal with her family. She is glad, though, that at least her bio mom doesn't have any hidden psycho uncles for her to worry about. Elle watches the bus leave from her hiding spot, just to make sure Claire made it to the bus safely, and wonders what she should do now. She figures that she'll rent a room tonight because, while she owes Gabriel her alliance, this isn't something she should share just yet. And she knows that if she sleeps at Pinehearst tonight, she'll eventually feel guilty enough to spill. Or worse, Mr. Petrelli, who she doesn't owe any loyalty to, will rip the meeting out of her head and use her to get to Claire. She leaves a quick message for Gabriel on his phone, so he doesn't wonder, and heads to the nearest, nicest hotel.