Title: Inevitable
Rating: PG (for intent on murder)
Genre: Drama/General
Pairings: Peter/Claire
Warnings: Spoilers for S3 trailer and kinda-sorta the 15 minutes of leaked footage from S3E1. But only kinda-sorta.
Summary: She would never be faster than him. She never could be. Written for pairechallenge on LJ.

He was here.

Claire knew it. She could feel his presence, as prominent as the weight of the gun in her hands. Claire's hands tightened instinctively around the grip of the gun, her finger flexing anxiously before the trigger.

He was running towards her.

Claire tried her best not to think, opting to instead repeat his name continually inside her head: Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter, Peter. Everything would fall apart if he knew what truly was going to happen. He couldn't be faster than her. Not this time.

A second later he rounded the corner, his head glancing quickly over his shoulder at something she couldn't see and she (quite frankly) didn't care about. After a moment he slowed down, continuing towards her in a walk as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Good, Claire, you're here - we have to go. Now. Before they-"

He cut himself off, his eyes suddenly noticing the object in her hands. He eyed the pistol warily. "Claire?"

Tears stung at the corners of her eyes, but Claire blinked them away quickly as she swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat. "I have to."

His dark gaze quickly shot up from the gun to meet her eyes, bewildered and hurt. "What? Claire. Claire, no."

"I'm so sorry, Peter." Claire kept her gaze fixed on his, unmoving as she slowly lifted the gun; she steeled herself, speaking at him with a coldness she hadn't even known she had the capability of. "I always loved you."

She jerked the pistol upwards, the shot ringing out through the tunnel before she could have second thoughts about it.

But he was already gone. The bullet had embedded itself in the opposite wall, and Claire let the pistol drop from her grip to clatter to the ground.

Only then did Claire Bennett let the tears roll down her cheeks as she stared at where he had been.

Peter Petrelli was always faster. She would never be faster than him. She never could be.

I'm not really sure what I think of this piece, truth be told. I like it, but I don't love it... I kind of wrote it in a rush. Maybe I'll look over it again a bit later. :) Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it. Review?

-WS