Title: Doppelganger
Fandom: Heroes
Claim: Paire
Set: #31
Prompt: Doppelganger
Word Count: 718
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Claire Bennet thinks she is going insane. She's seeing Peter everywhere, even as she walks with a tray full of her breakfast and a cup of coffee for her Dad in a downtown Manhattan coffee shop.
Notes: Crossover with Gilmore Girls. Sets after 'How to Stop an Exploding Man', slightly AU. Written for fivebyfiction challenge at LJ. Beta-ed by the magnificent karathephantom at LJ.
Doppelganger
- Noah and Claire Bennet, New York, a day after the explosion -
Claire Bennet thinks she is going insane.
She's seeing Peter everywhere, even as she walks with a tray full of her breakfast and a cup of coffee for her Dad – her adoptive dad, not Nathan, because it was just last night that Nathan and Peter blew – no, flew, she reminds herself, flew – up to the atmosphere, and are now nowhere to be seen.
Claire has been telling her mind that perhaps they're just stranded in Africa, or on a remote island in Indonesia, or even on that mysterious island from LOST. She has been telling herself anything except that they're dead to avoid a messy breakdown, which she certainly doesn't need.
There's been too much drama in her life. She doesn't need hallucinations adding to her already troubled mind.
But she's sure that she sees Peter, right there in the downtown Manhattan coffee shop.
She thinks she may not be imagining things, this 'Peter' that she sees leaning on the counter does seem somewhat different than her Uncle Peter.
For example, he's certainly younger, as is indicated by his clothes (t-shirt and jeans and sneakers) and his hair (shorter and a bit curly with absolutely no bangs). He even tucks a thin paperback into the back pocket of his jeans, and instead of a trench coat he has a leather jacket in his hands.
If she was really just imagining things, Peter would have a trench coat with him, in the memory of him saving her in that Homecoming night, and not a leather jacket.
But how can she mistake that crooked smile he's displaying to the girl behind the counter?
Claire shakes her head. She is definitely crazy.
Maybe she isn't that indestructible after all. At least, her mind isn't.
She takes a moment to regain her composure, then continues towards the table where her Dad is currently waiting. Putting a cup of coffee in front of her father, Claire quickly looks down to her own cup of milk to avoid eye contact.
He looks up from the specials and instantly knows that something is wrong. "What's wrong, Claire?"
She doesn't want to answer, but her stupid lips refuse to cooperate. "My mind's playing tricks on me." She pauses a little. "I thought I saw Peter."
That last sentence secures her Dad's attention in a flash.
"That's impossible," he comments, though not unkindly, but more matter-of-factly.
"I know," she still doesn't lift her gaze up to meet his. "As crazy as it sounds, Dad, I saw him on the counter, right there," she lowers her voice for the last part.
She jabs her fork into her omelet, still focusing her eyes on anything other than her father's, causing her to miss his stare traveling to the counter in search of this so-called 'Peter'.
"I'll be back soon, okay?" He says. "I'll find us some- paper."
"Okay," Claire mumbles, wondering if her father believes her instinct and is trying to find her some hard evidence of Peter or Nathan's return, or if he thinks that she's crazy and is just being nice, trying to change the subject.
But it seems that the thought of his Claire-Bear going crazy is the last thing he has on his mind, as he rushes out of the coffee shop just in time to see the figure in the leather jacket – and messy hair – walking off.
"Hey!" He shouts, running to fetch 'Peter'.
The young man turns around, startled at the feeling of someone grabbing his arm.
A look of shock passes over Noah's face. Claire isn't crazy, because if she is, then he is too. The man in front of him strikes so much uncanny resemblances to Peter Petrelli.
But if he doesn't recover quickly, his name isn't Bennet. "Hey son, what's your name?"
'Peter' looks annoyed. "Why does anyone want to know?"
The similarities to Peter obviously stop there. "What a jerk."
"Because somebody who looks a lot like you stole my car the other day, and was stupid enough to leave his I.D. behind."
The young man is still obviously unhappy, a scowl on his face. "Well, his name wouldn't be Jess Mariano, okay? Now, the interrogation's done, officer?"
The comeback stuns Noah, but he slowly walks to secure a newspaper from a stand close by, as Jess strides off silently.
FIN.
Final author's note: I just want to clarify, I love Jess! But unfortunately Mr. Bennet thinks he is a jerk, because… Well, can you imagine Jess being fully nice and cooperative to a stranger's question like that? LoL. But, honestly, I just want to play with the idea of Jess Mariano exists in Heroes universe, or Peter Petrelli in Gilmore Girls, and when I thought of this 'doppelganger' prompt, the idea of this fic suddenly sprang to mind!