A.N: I don't know how to describe this one, really, slightly angsty, dark Paire set in 5YG. Oh, and it's canon, so be warned. I wrote this to Pass This On by The Knife, so the lyrics included don't belong to me.
Warnings/Spoilers: Season 1/Ep 20, but up to the end of Season 1 to be safe. (But Claire doesn't die in this). Incest, so don't like if you don't read, and implications of sexual situations.
Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes, as that belongs to Tim Kring and NBC, and I don't own the lyrics to Pass This On, which belong to The Knife. (Amazing band!)
"I'm in love with your brother, what's his name?
I thought I'd come by and see him again."
Claire began to develop a crush on Peter Petrelli about five seconds after she'd bumped into him at Homecoming. Quirky grin, dark floppy hair and kind eyes, once she'd looked past the possible paedophile-factor (after all, how many twenty-something year old guys hang out in a high school at night?), she had to admit he was very, very handsome.
Then he saved her life by literally dying for her, and Claire was hooked.
"You're totally my hero."
She realises how cliché that must of sounded to Peter when he first heard it in the jail-cell but, hey, give her a little credit, she was a girl with a head-over-heels obsession with a guy that could pop his bones back into place just like she could. She felt like they were connected somehow, like, how did Peter put it? Like they were destined.
So when she was told by the Haitian that they were flying to Canada, Claire's thoughts immediately turned to better places to run…
Like Peter Petrelli's apartment in New York.
Of course, she didn't for a second connect the man that she'd thrown rocks at in a dusty trailer park in Kermit to the kind-hearted person who'd saved her life that night.
That's why it came as a shock to her when she found a picture of her bio-dad and Peter on the mantelpiece; her heart shattered and her stomach turned.
But of course, he hadn't known either. And maybe, just maybe, these feelings Claire had been having were just to do with blood, kinsmen ship, a subconscious tug in the back of her mind.
"Has he mentioned my age, love?
Or is he more into young girls with dyed black hair?"
Nearly five years to the day that she first met him, and 'Sandra' can't forget. Not ever. Her body hasn't aged with the times, but she can pass off as twenty-one easily with her newly dark hair.
Keeps her under the radar of the Government too, for what little liberation that brings her.
She's started going out with a boy that works in the diner, Andy, and he's nice, she supposes. But that doesn't stop her creeping downstairs in the middle of the night to stand in the dark alleyways.
It's then that Claire returns, bought out by the depths of his eyes and the low chuckle that greets her as he takes in her appearance.
"You look like Nathan."
The words send shivers down her spine, but they're nothing like the shivers she gets as he presses hot, open-mouthed kisses to her mouth and neck, winding his hands through her hair.
She struggles to keep up with the pace he's setting, and settles instead for threading her arms around his neck, pulling him towards her with fervour as he picks her up and sets her hard against the concrete behind her – the stone such a stark contrast with her own temperature it almost burns.
After it's over, she's supposed to feel ashamed of herself, but she doesn't, she's gotten over that a long time ago. Peter doesn't say much, but he never does, really, and before he disappears into the night Claire traces the scar on his face with almost reverence, and he places a feather-light kiss to her forehead.
She supposes that's their way of saying I love you, because she knows they'll never say it aloud. It makes the whole thing too real to comprehend, and Claire can't imagine her life without Peter in it, so she keeps her mouth shut.
So when he's gone, Claire straightens out her clothes and tidies her hair, sneaking back into the flat quietly. Andy doesn't suspect a thing the next morning as he kisses her on the cheek, and Sandra gives him a sad little smile in return, only feeling half as guilty as she should do.
Because she's already getting ready for the next time she gets that phone call to come outside.
"If I asked him once what would he say
Is he willing, can he play?"
It's a few weeks later and the rendezvous are occurring more frequently. He seems to grow tired of the alleyway and slips her a piece of paper and a key to a motel room, and Claire doesn't know whether it's a romantic gesture or not but she feels dirty, like she's a secret to be kept hidden away.
That's the night he tells her about Niki and what she's been through, and for the first time since all this began, Claire begins to feel guilty, even when, for the first time, Peter truly makes love to her, treating her with such veneration she feels she might cry from the exquisiteness of it all.
"Stay," she pleads, clinging to him between the cheap cotton sheets, "I need you."
It's the nearest she's ever been to saying those three words, and she can tell it's made an impact.
She doesn't hear from him in two months.
"Does he know what I do?
You'll pass this on, won't you?"
I love you.
Sandra's taking an order when the messy, slanted writing appears on her notepad, seemingly out of nowhere. She inhales a deep breath and fiddles with the engagement ring on her hand; giving an apologetic smile to the customers she's serving before rushing to the alleyway behind the diner.
He appears suddenly, and even though Claire knew it was him in the first place, the sight still startles her as it's the first time she's seen him in the light of day since before Kirby Plaza.
He looks pale and tired, worn out from endless fighting with the new President of the United States and all the complications that go with it.
"Niki told me that if I came here again, she'd leave," He says in place of a greeting, confirming the suspicions in Claire's mind that the older woman had known about them from the beginning.
"I'm engaged," is her short answer, "I'm happy now."
He laughs loudly, almost with warmth in it, almost like his old laughter from years ago, "No you're not. I love you, so you can't be happy, because you love me too."
There's a conviction in his eyes that scares her, like he knows exactly what things to say and what buttons to press to make her cave in, "The Government know where I am. My dad's told me to leave."
"You should listen to him for once," Peter's face darkens again as she mentions her most recent update from Noah Bennet.
A pause.
"Come with me. I'll take care of you."
Claire bites her lip and glances again at the ring on her finger, a visual representation of the weight on her shoulders for the past five years, the lie she's had to lead in place of the life she's been dreaming of.
It takes her less than a second to decide.
--
When the Head of Homeland Security, Matt Parkman enters the Burnt Toast Diner two days later and asks for Sandra McBride, he's told that she left in the middle of the night with no explanation as to where.
He curses loudly and orders a cup of coffee, realising the President's fears were right.
Peter Petrelli would always get to Claire Bennet before anyone else could.