Authors Notes:

I'm Tasha, a long time ago a wrote a lot of fanfiction, which is still stored around the place and on , I've been reading some Heroes fanfic and have decided to dabble in some writing again. I hope you enjoy.

Of course I don't claim any ownership to Elle or Claire or any part of Heroes, I'm just playing with the characters for my own amusement.

This is Femslash – if you don't like the idea of two girls together I suggest you stop reading right now.

This is set in AU future loosely based around what we saw when Peter went forward at the start of S3. Most of this is my own imagination or based on what I've seen in season three.

Claire screamed in agony as the white hot lightening engulfed her. The second she started screaming the lightening stopped and she slumped to her knees. She started crying, great heaving sobs, of relief. It had been years since she'd felt pain and suddenly she was completely paralyzed by it. She felt warm arms wrap around her but she was still too caught up in the aftermath of the overwhelming emotional impact of actually feeling pain. It was too much, the pain ebbed and her body regenerated but the complete shock and joy of feeling pain caused her to completely break down. She cried, she cried until she fell asleep and the next thing she knew was waking up in an unfamiliar room.

Whenever Claire and Elle ran into each other over the years somehow they ended up in bed together. This was after Elle had parted ways with Gabriel and left him with a child to raise. Claire had already been numb from pain for years when she and Elle met up. Elle was rouge, not even part of Peters group or any group. She was alone, more of a mercenary as she would pop up as Claire was hunting down others. The first time had been rough, bites and kisses. Their fight had been the result of a completely chance run in at a motel they were both staying at, the fight had taken an about face. Claire still didn't know how it happened, who kissed who first, when the first item of clothing was removed, she doesn't remember the mechanics of much of it only that she felt more alive in the moments with Elle than she had in a very long time. Claire had tried using sex to fill the numb in her life, to feel alive, sleeping with men never worked, so she tried sleeping with women which helped. But it was nothing like the sex she had with Elle, filled with anger and passion and a history of two women whose live were inexplicably interwoven. Every time they met they fought, there was a weak intention and unspoken knowledge that they were enemies, but fights always turned into something else, someone would land on top and instead of another blow there would be a rough kiss and it all changed.. Elle would spark and fry Claire, a lot, when they fought and when they fucked. It never hurt, but Claire always attributed the amazing sex to the feeling of electricity over her skin, burning it, the unique sensation of electric shock without pain. But that night, one final night where Claire knew they weren't going to fuck because this time the orders were directly to kill Elle, to remove her. Before that night Elle had never been the target or the plan, she just appeared sometimes. But that night Claire was there to kill Elle and Elle knew it, she could feel the tension and see the determination on Claire's face. Elle had to protect herself so summoned up the most powerful electric charge she could. When that blast hit Claire it hurt, despite her supposedly being unable to feel pain, that bolt of lightening crackled through her and brought her to her knees. It was the most agonizing pain she had felt and it was fantastic.

Claire heard a child playing as she moved through the house she had woken up in. She had quickly realized it was in fact a house that was once her home. She wandered into the kitchen and stumbled across an image of perfect suburban bliss. Gabriel is making waffles; Noah is playing with his toys on the floor of the dining area and Elle is reading the paper with a cup of coffee. Claire felt like she had stumbled into some sort of commercial it all looked so normal. It felt so surreal to see a woman who had been her lover and her nemesis sitting at the table like a normal person, her son playing, her husband cooking. But Claire knew Elle had left Gabriel, so why were they here, why of all places did Elle bring her to his home.

"Good Morning Claire, would you like some waffles?" Gabriel smiled at his niece.

Before Claire could answer she was wrapped into a warm hug from Elle. She hadn't even noticed her move but somehow she had closed the distance from the dining room table and enveloped Claire into a bear hug.

"Thank God you're awake, that you're Ok" Elle pulled back and grinned at the younger blonde.

"Sorry, but what the fu-" she glanced at Noah on the floor making car noises "What on earth is going on?" Claire was so confused and kind of angry, angry that her lover would bring her here, was she trying to rub her nose in the family's domestic bliss?

"I didn't know where else to take you" Elle had released her and was realizing that perhaps this wasn't the ideal place to have brought Claire. The Petrelli family didn't really get along with each other. Except for Peter and Gabriel but that was still a somewhat frosty alliance. Not many could see past the memory of Sylar and recognize Gabriel as a caring man.

"This is a safe place for you both" Gabriel smiled softly "I wish Elle would visit more often but she knows this is a safe place she can always come to"

Claire really didn't understand anything, she didn't understand why it had hurt, why she was alive still and had no idea how she had ended up at Gabriel Gray's home, which was once her home.

"I should go, I need to go" Claire mumbled.

"Wait" Elle grabbed her "Don't, please don't. They think you're dead Claire. Everyone is shaking in their boots that I did something and now you're gone." She paused "I'm shaking in my boots that I managed to hurt you."

"I shouldn't be here Elle, this is all too weird" Claire pulled away and headed for the door. Elle stopped her in the hallway, now out of earshot of Gabriel and Noah.

"Claire you can't walk away from me, I know it's strange to be here of all places. But you have to understand that Gabriel is just a friend, and I owe it to him to be around at least sometimes for our son." Elle took a deep breath and held onto Claire's shoulders, staring into her eyes "You were made for me Claire, I know this. I'm not some big romantic and think there is someone destined for all of us, I like to think we make our own lives and our own destiny. But Claire, you were made for me" Elle paused and Claire rolled her eyes.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Claire shook her head, it was all too much, she just wanted to go home. To her studio apartment in New York and then go back to work. Something flickered across her mind that she still had an assignment to kill Elle but she knew she couldn't do it, not anymore, so she swatted the though aside.

"Claire, Gabriel used to say we worked well, I would fry him and he could heal and it was a match made in heaven. But he stole that power from you, I could pump out as much electricity as I liked and it not only wouldn't scar you though, it didn't hurt."

"You never claimed some great romantic concept before, we just fucked" Claire pointed out.

"I know, because you being able to take the overload didn't really equate to some great romance to me either. But last night, that made me realize that you were made for me, that lightening I sent at you Claire, that wasn't just charged with my ability, it was charged with everything in me. I knew you were going to kill me and I had to do something so I pushed everything, all my emotions, my desires, the fear, I pushed it all into a bolt of lightening and when it struck you it HURT you."

Elle sent a quick jolt of electricity at Claire, it scorched the skin but Claire felt nothing. Then she watched Elle concentrating hard on a new glowing ball of electricity and this time when the crackling white light hit her it hurt.

"Ouch!" Claire rubbed the spot as it healed, but her heart rate sped up and she felt adrenalin at the feel of pain. She looked at Elle in complete shock, nothing ever hurt, the first zap hadn't hurt, but somehow Elle made the second one hurt.

"We're connected me and you Claire, somewhere deep down we were made for each other. Gabriel was right, the ability to heal perfectly complements me, but he stole that from you Claire. You were made to complement me"

Claire frowned, she was skeptical of the whole made for each other nonsense, but she felt something for Elle that was stronger than anything else. There was a reason she always fell into bed with the older blonde, because she was incredibly attracted her both, both physically but also the wild spirit of Elle Bishop drew her in. Elle could touch her in a way no-one could even before she could make her hurt. But Claire had no idea where things would lead from here, it was messy and complicated and Elle was babbling like it was going to be some fairytale.

"Elle, I don't believe in all that crap, I don't think that just because you can hurt me makes us made for each other, and me being able to heal would surely be useful to a lot of peoples powers. I doubt you're the only one who has trouble controlling them when they orgasm." Elle blushed furiously as Claire pointed this out. Then looked away, she released her grip on Claire and realized the younger blonde was going to leave. She was no sap, she had laid all the rubbish out there because for some reason she loved Claire Bennett with all her heart, and for her the only way to explain it was that there was something kismet for the two of them. Elle didn't really know how else to explain falling deeply in love with someone she knew she shouldn't love and someone who for all intensive purposes was her mortal enemy. It was hard for Elle to even grasp onto the concept of love, Gabriel had tried to explain that he loved her but it never really made sense. Love was all so human, destiny was heroic. But Claire was going to leave her, there was no destiny.

"But Elle" Claire cupped the older blonde's cheek, "Even if I don't believe in all that crap, I can't walk away from you. Because you make me feel things no-one else has in a very long time, even before you could hurt me and let me feel pain." She paused, tempted to tell Elle she made her feel loved, made her feel safe. She almost said 'I love you' instead she placed a chaste kiss on Elle's lips. Soft and quick, unlike any kiss the pair had shared in the past; it was always rough, hot, furious. She pulled away and looked into Elle's eyes.

"Let's see where this thing takes us then"