Gretchen sat on the floor in their dorm room, knees pulled to her chest, hand hanging defeatedly over her knee. She held onto her phone that she had been using to try to get ahold of Claire, Mr. Bennett, anyone who could tell her it was going to be okay.
Hours earlier, Gretchen had walked into the cafeteria and seen the television: Claire falling over and over off the ferris wheel. Gretchen didn't hear what the speculative reporters had to say; she couldn't hear anything, couldn't move, forgot to breathe. She ran up to her room and tried tirelessly to get ahold of Claire.
Eventually, she gave into the full impact of her realization. Sobs came over her body in waves. She had never felt so helpless. They'll take her away. I'll never see her again, she thought to herself. And I only just found her. A fresh wave of tears struck her. When she finally recovered her breath, she leaned forward and back, bumping her body against Claire's bed. She knew she had more than a simple crush on Claire, but she never imagined she would feel like this at the idea of losing her.
There was a click and Gretchen immediately turned her face to the door. It flew open carelessly, hitting the wall behind it. Claire came rushing in, and Gretchen didn't even feel herself get up. But she felt them collide. She felt Claire's arms wrap urgently around her neck. She felt their bodies press firmly together, and she felt her arms shake she was holding onto Claire's body so tight. They cried into each others' shoulders out of pure relief. Gretchen opened her eyes to take in what was in front of her, but out of the corner of her eye she saw the door was open and reluctantly broke contact to reach out and close it.
With this change, Claire opened her eyes as well and took the moment to re-situate herself. She sat down on the floor by her bed, leaning against it the same way Gretchen had done earlier. Gretchen came over and sat next to her.
Gretchen's voice shook a little when she spoke. She wanted to be understanding, support Claire no matter what. But it hurt her to think that Claire didn't think of her before jumping. "I figured they'd take you away. I thought I'd never see you again. You're dad is capable of those things, I know that much," she said.
"I know," was all Claire could let out. Gretchen wanted to yell at her, ask her why she didn't think it through, but she could see the fear in Claire's eyes. Getting mad wouldn't solve anything. Claire just sat there staring at Gretchen's bed. Her eyes weren't focused on anything, and they soon began to well up with tears. She let her head fall into Gretchen's arms as she began to cry silently. Gretchen held her close, rubbing her back gently.
"I messed up," Claire said into Gretchen's shoulder. Gretchen didn't know what to say, because agreeing out loud didn't seem productive. So she kept rubbing Claire's back.
Eventually Claire sat up and looked Gretchen right in her big, hazel eyes. "If they do take me away...I--". She wasn't really sure how to say what she needed to say, so she did what Gretchen had done when words failed her so many months ago. She let her actions speak for her.
Their lips met forcefully, as all their fears and pent up hunger spilled into each other. Claire pulled herself on top of Gretchen's lap, knees on either side of Gretchen's hips. Their hands roamed freely, tugging at clothing, eventually tugging it all off. They made love in Claire's bed, taking refuge in each other. Claire knew this could realistically be the last time she ever saw Gretchen and she knew for a fact that she spent it the best way possible. Gretchen wasn't thinking about the future. She was completely lost in Claire, in her eyes, in her body. Everything she had wanted and more was right there in her arms.
They slept peacefully that night. Claire's phone rang early in the morning. It was her father and she ignored it, putting off the inevitable. She wanted to stay in bed with Gretchen forever. She wanted to take back what she did. She remembered back to when Noah was suffocating in the trailer, and his dying wish was for her to never expose herself. She ached inside for going back on her word. She knew he was right. The world simply wasn't ready for her, for them. She had her reasons for jumping, but she knew it wasn't her place to make that decision for every special in the world.
After thinking it through a bit, Claire rolled away from Gretchen, making sure not to wake her. She got up and put some clothes on, then checked her messages.
"Claire," Noah's voice said through her phone. "I need you to call me back. I know you think you did the right thing, but everything is already starting to fall apart. I need you to tell me where you are. We think we have a plan. I get that you had your reasons and you don't want to change it, but it must be changed. We have to take it back. Hiro said he would help. Claire, please, just call me back."
She took one last look at Gretchen before going out into the hall. The phone only rang once before Noah answered. Before he could start repeating everything he had said in the message, Claire cut him off.
"I know, Dad. I was wrong. I'm sorry. I made you a promise and I shouldn't have gone back on it. I want to take it back. What's your plan?" She wasn't very good at admitting when she was wrong, especially to her father, so she raced through the explanation. It got the point across though.
"Good," he replied. "Hiro is going to teleport to you and take you back right now. He has a letter that will explain to me what happened. When you go back, just say 'no comment' to the reporters and everything will be fine."
"Give me a few minutes, please," she asked.
"Okay, but we don't have much time. Ten minutes."
She hung up and went back in her room. She sat down on her bed and stroked Gretchen's hair lightly. Claire leaned over and kissed her cheek, her nose, her eye lids and then her lips, gently. Finally, Gretchen stirred a little and woke up, smiling from ear to ear as she stretched out her limbs. Her smile fell when she saw how serious Claire looked.
"Hiro's going to be here any minute to take me back to the carnival so I can fix this. You might want to get dressed," she ended with a small laugh. They shared their first good morning kiss and held onto each other for a moment. Claire took a deep breath as she ran her hand up and down Gretchen's long, smooth back. Just then, Hiro arrived.
"Oh, my! I so sorry. Bad time. I sorry," he said, turning his back to give the girls a little privacy. Gretchen pulled the sheet up covering herself and laughed, falling back onto the pillow.
"My dad said ten minutes!" Claire said as she grabbed Gretchen a shirt and handed it to her.
"Yes, I sorry. I wait ten minute, but I teleport a couple minutes off. Betty sorry."
Claire bent over and kissed Gretchen goodbye. When she went over to Hiro, he put his hand on her shoulder and his face wobbled in focus. Just before they disappeared, Claire and Gretchen both realized what was about to happen.
"Wait!" they both shouted in unison. But it was too late. Claire would go back in time, and Gretchen wouldn't remember their night together.
Claire and Hiro arrived back at the carnival and saw all the reporters. Claire followed through with the plan, giving no comment, giving Noah the note. She didn't care about that anymore. She hurried as quickly as she could to get back to her dorm. She asked Hiro to teleport her there and he said yes.
He dropped her off in the hallway outside of the room and said goodbye before disappearing. Claire opened the door to find Gretchen sitting inside at her desk, reading the book she had borrowed from Claire. She ran over to Gretchen's side and pulled her into a kiss that would have made Gretchen's knees weak had she been standing.
"I'm so sorry," Claire said, holding Gretchen tightly.
Gretchen was speechless for a long moment. Her eyes were wide open. "Sorry for what?" she asked.
"We were together. I didn't even think about you not remembering. I'm sorry."
"What are you talking about? You aren't making any sense."
Claire composed herself a bit and pulled Gretchen over to her bed. "I just came back from the future." She paused there, letting Gretchen really hear what she had just said. "I was at the carnival and I exposed myself as a special in front of a bunch of news cameras. They swarmed and everyone freaked out. It was horrible. I was just trying to do the right thing but--. Well, anyway, I came back here and you were crying and you thought my dad was going to take me away and I knew I had messed up and we..." A smile pulled at her lips. She wasn't exactly sure how to say this next part. "We...you know."
"We what?" She genuinely had no clue what Claire was talking about.
Words escaped her again, so she kissed Gretchen with as much passion as the first time. Gretchen's eyes were wide again.
"Oh we...oooh," was all she could say.
"It was perfect," Claire said, smiling wide. "But Hiro came and took me back and I didn't think about bringing you with me so you could remember what we did until it was too late. I'm so sorry."
"So...huh, this is weird. You've seen me naked, and like...well you know." Claire thought it was amazing that Gretchen could make a joke about this, but it made her feel a lot better. "Well that simply isn't fair."