Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes…at least not yet, mwahahahaha
Summary: Elle thinks of the day that comes only once a year.
Elle rolled over onto her side, keeping her eyes closed and breathing steady, being careful not to alert the stirring man beside her to her wakefulness. She spent her entire year dreading this day. It brought back unhappy memories of her childhood. Her father had tried to make up for her pain, but there wasn't much he could do. There wasn't much anyone could have done. It was part of her and had shaped her into the woman she was today. She had grown used to being disappointed on her birthday; but she never liked it. She hoped that it was going to change. Life couldn't be that unfair. But the truth was; life is always unfair.
"Happy birthday to me."
Her ninth birthday was by far the worst. She didn't get anything that any normal nine year old would get. No birthday cake, no birthday party with her friends and family, not a single gift. Instead she was stuck in a glass room with an I.V. of lithium in her arm. She hadn't meant to lose control; but once the floodgates were open, she couldn't control the electricity gushing out from her body. At least that day hadn't lasted too long, the lithium had seen to that. Not like some others.
"Happy birthday to me."
She barely remembered any of her birthdays before that. Only something from when she turned six. She remembered cuddling a stuffed dog and returning her daddy's happy smile. She remembered how pleased she was. She remembered that wherever she went, the dog went with her. She remembered naming the dog Snoopy, because she liked the cartoon where the doggy would lie on top of his pointy doghouse. The only reason she thought she remembered those particular things and that particular birthday was because a month later, she had accidentally set her grandmother's house on fire. And she never saw her cherished Snoopy again.
She felt a tear begin to form under her closed eyelid. She desperately forced it back. She was over that and had been for a long time, just like she had gotten over everything else. She felt the bed sink slightly as the man next to her sat up and yawned loudly. She listened to him climb out and move around the bedroom as she kept her eyes shut and pretended to sleep.
"Happy birthday dear, Elle"
She remembered that on her eighteenth birthday, she didn't even get a happy birthday from her father. He was on one of his stupid trips and had promised that he would call. She had surprised herself by eagerly waiting by her phone, anxious for the loud, annoying ring. She had often childishly picked up the phone to check that it was working. Then she had begun to fear that her father had called when she took the phone off the hook. She was surprised even further at how upset and disappointed she was when the call didn't come.
None of the other employees at The Company wished her a happy birthday either, they never had. She was surprised when she discovered how much she longed for those three words: 'Happy birthday, Elle.' To have just a small hint of normality in her twisted, unordinary, electrically-charged life.
She had been so upset by her father's failure to wish her happy birthday that she went and visited Adam in his cell. He had always talked to her when she visited; even of it was just a simple hello. It was more then anyone else at The Company had given her, it was more then anyone else at The Company had said to her. She told herself she didn't care. But every time she said it, the more she knew it wasn't true. She wished she hadn't done what happened next with Adam. It had been an unpleasant experience for both of them. Whenever she visited him again, he often joked that he was still recovering.
She stirred slightly as she felt the man's lips brush her cheek and his whispered words in her ear.
"Happy birthday, Elle."
Elle opened her eyes and watched Peter leave their shared bedroom, softly closing the door behind him. She smiled and in a happy, sing-song voice, finished the song that she had been singing in her head.
"Happy birthday to me."