Title: Good Tidings to Elle
Characters: Elle, Mr. Bennet, etc.
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: S2-volume 2, umm...aspects of the finale, but I'm also including some spoilers that were discarded!
Summary: Written for paynesgrey, who requested "Elle+Bennet family interaction. Something cracky." Merry Christmas! Hope you enjoy.
"Peter, stop levitating your food. We eat our food around here, not play with it."
On the night before Christmas...
"Claire, stop healing your wounds at the dinner table."
...every creature was stirring...
"Elle, stop electrocuting your sister."
...and running from the house...
"Lyle, put down the PS2 and come to the table."
Mr. Bennet sighed and resumed his seat at the head of the table, waiting until everyone had calmed down enough to take their own seats before speaking. "All I want for Christmas is a nice family dinner," he said quietly, steepling his fingers over his plate as he studied the people around him, "one without any destruction or blood, thank you."
Sandra smiled at him from the opposite end of the table and cuddled Mr. Muggles close. On her right, Peter Petrelli sat stoically, his eyes regarding everyone else on the table without emotion. That was a new thing for Peter. Before the whole incident of Peter losing/regaining his memory, trying to destroy/save the world, and losing his brother just after the debacle, Peter had been easily read. His eyes had broadcast his every emotion, but these days Mr. Bennet was hard pressed to read Peter at all.
Claire sat to Peter's right and Mr. Bennet pretended to ignore the way she held Peter's hand under the table. She was his daughter, his bright and beautiful daughter, and he wasn't surprised that it was she that Peter turned to for comfort in this difficult time.
It didn't mean, however, that he had to like it.
On Sandra's left, Elle sat and stared around with eyes made wide with wonder.
Mr. Bennet felt a surge of sympathy and for the first time that he could remember, he didn't try to repress it.
Elle had never had a Christmas before.
She'd dressed for the occasion, taking her cues from Claire on this, and was wearing dark green slacks with a matching red silk blouse. She'd pulled back her hair into a chignon and her resemblance to Claire was striking in the bright lights cast by the chandelier.
Soon after Nathan's assassination the entire truth of the situation had come out. Angela Petrelli's place in the Company and in her son's death, and the systematic manipulation of the people around her. Elle had been one of those people for almost her entire life.
One of the big secrets that had spilled out from the woman's mouth as she watched the Company she helped build fall had everything to do with Claire and Elle's relationship, and the fact that they were sisters through a woman named Meredith Gordon.
They were only half-sisters, but Mr. Bennet was beginning to realize that they were more alike than anyone had known. Underneath the sociopathic violent tendencies Elle manifested, she had the same shining personality and contagious cheer that Claire had.
To Elle's right, and Mr. Bennet's left, sat Lyle.
Sweet, normal Lyle, without a special gift or ability to distinguish him from the pack.
Mr. Bennet rubbed his son's hair in affection and silently thanked God for it.
One less person to worry about exposing them all.
Still smiling, he began to speak again. "We've all had a tough year," he began, only to pause when Elle cleared her throat and batted her eyelashes at him. He smiled tightly, and continued, "And some of us have had a bad life, but what's important is that we're all here and all together. We have come through the hard time with minimal damage-"
"To ourselves," Claire added with a concerned glance at Peter, her hand clenching around his momentarily.
"-to ourselves, and the future is looking brighter," Mr. Bennet added in a bright tone, clapping his hands together and gazing around at his 'family'. "Soon we will destroy the Company in a violent confrontation and we can all go about our lives without looking over our shoulders."
"Until a new Company arises from the ashes," Elle ad-libbed into the conversation.
"We'll deal with that then, Elle," Mr. Bennet scolded gently and not a little paternally. He softened the scold with a warm look before standing and picking up the large knife at his side. "Now, who wants turkey?"
A chorus of ayes rose from the small table, one excited, two hungry, and two mellow. Mr. Bennet began to carve the small bird with an ease that spoke of years of experience and Elle watched him closely.
It was fascinating to her, the way this family did things so smoothly and without thought. Even their conflicts seemed to "fit" them.
She'd always had to struggle. Her fights with her Daddy had been turbulent and made her feel out-of-place, even in her own life.
Here, though?
Here she felt like she 'fit'.
Like she'd always been meant to be here and only just now realized it.
Conversation throughout dinner covered a wide array of subjects, from Claire's cheerleading to Mr. Muggles' competitions (which could now resume), even stretching from Elle's early childhood to Lyle's sullen teenage angst.
After the turkey and stuffing, the mashed potatoes and corn on the cob, after the pie and ice cream, most of the family slowly made their way into the living room to relax and try to fight off the sleepiness that would plague them until they succumbed.
Elle and Mr. Bennet were the last to rise from the table, her because she didn't want this feeling to end, he because he was always the last. It was tradition.
Silently, and in harmony, they began to clear the dishes from the table, the quiet clink of glass against glass and ceramic against ceramic providing a nice music to the situation.
Again and again, they moved back and forth between the kitchen and the dining area, occasionally brushing shoulders and chuckling as they did.
With the table clear and a portion of the dishes soaking they stood in the dimly lit kitchen quietly. Muffled voices from the living room echoed down the hall, reaching their ears but not penetrating the contented bubble around the two of them.
Their eyes met as Mr. Bennet dried his hands on a towel and Elle found she could no longer resist the temptation.
Closing the small distance between them, she wrapped her arms around his middle and buried her face in his chest. "Thank you."
"For what, Elle?" Mr. Bennet asked as he threw the towel in his hands on the counter beside him before wrapping his own arms around the slight girl.
"For giving me Christmas."
He smiled at the child whose voice had slid through Elle's own and let himself hold her for several minutes.
They'd been enemies for the past year, forgetting the years of camaraderie that had existed between them while working for the company. In her younger years, he'd felt a good deal of sympathy for her but had been unable to help her in any way given her father's presence in their lives. He'd had to make do with sly humor and evoking smiles from the broken little girl who was used up and manipulated by the company.
Elle released her tight hold on him and stepped back, pretending to not have shining tears in her eyes. "Is it..." She started to ask but stopped, suddenly unsure.
"Is what?" He asked with as much kindness as a morally grey former Company agent could muster.
"Is it okay if I come back next year?"
"Well," Mr. Bennet hesitated, "I'm sure Claire and Sandra would be happy if you came back before a year had passed."
Elle smiled and it was a mirror of Claire's. "Thanks...Daddy."
She turned and went to join the family in the living area, passing Sandra in the hallway and giving the woman an impulsive hug. Sandra had an incredulous look on her face as she joined her husband in resting against the counter, leaning over until her head rested on his shoulder.
"Soo..." she said with a lazy smile and a loving look, "we've adopted another lost puppy, huh?"
"So it seems," Mr. Bennet acknowledged as he brushed a kiss across the love of his life's forehead.
"At least this time you can't blame it on me."
A small burst of light from the living room had the cozy couple jumping.
A lone voice called out and broke the silence.
"Mom! Claire is letting Elle electrocute her again!"
All in all, it was a nice evening, and a nice beginning to a new tradition.