title: a little lower than the angels
author: medie
rating: PG
word count: 1581 words
pairings: Nathan/Heidi
note: for dragonsinger's Against All Odds Ficathon.
summary: Somewhere out there, Nathan is in trouble; she can feel the certainty of it in her bones.
a little lower than the angels
The phone rings and Heidi runs to answer; just because she can. She bypasses several until she reaches the one in Nathan's office. She's breathing hard when she answers, hope in her heart as she starts to speak.
"...I'm afraid my daughter-in-law is quite indisposed at the moment," Angela is saying, cool tones warmed with a touch of maternal care. "The excitement of the election and my son's victory, well, you understand."
The reporter answers, respectful to the last in the presence of Angela Petrelli, but Heidi doesn't listen to his response. She lowers the phone quietly to its cradle and walks away to the window. Hugging herself, she looks out at the New York morning. Somewhere out there, Nathan is in trouble; she can feel the certainty of it in her bones. That certainty is what demanded her return from Nantucket and keeps her here, no matter how much disapproval her mother-in-law manages to radiate.
"Ah, you're awake," Angela says, sweeping into the room. "A reporter called."
"I know," Heidi doesn't turn. "You handled it."
"Of course I did," Angela sniffs. "Someone has to take care of these matters until Nathan and Peter can be found." The implication is clear, but Heidi refuses to rise to the bait. She isn't in the mood to fight with her mother-in-law. "I've contacted someone to assist us. Should Nathan be gone much longer, we'll need to put up an appropriate front."
"An appropriate front?" Heidi says, a cynical edge on the response.
"Mmmhmm, Candace will be quite useful," says Angela. "No one can know that Nathan has disappeared and no one ever need know." She comes to stand at Heidi's side. "No one ever will know if, of course, you play your part right."
Heidi smiles faintly. "When haven't I?" She's played her part in this for years, playing long before Nathan came into the picture, and she knows it well.
Angela looks at her, visibly unimpressed, and Heidi again wonders how much her mother-in-law really knows. "Yes, well, that is not a conversation that we should be having right now." But will have later, the unspoken message says and Heidi suppresses the urge to roll her eyes. She reminds herself that won't be baited.
Smiling, Angela pats her shoulder awkwardly and Heidi thinks a Great White would have better more maternal. "It really is quite good to see you up and around dear," she says. "A true miracle." The word sounds shallow on her lips, the way it had sounded coming from Nathan on the night of the election. "We're having brunch in the dining room. When you feel ready, you can join us there."
She leaves and Heidi lets out the shiver that she's been holding back. Nathan and Peter aren't the only ones in trouble.
"I don't know how you can put up with that woman," Claude says. His sudden appearance surprises her, even though it shouldn't. Claude has always had difficulty with the basics of polite society. "I were you, I would've put a boot in her gob years ago."
"Luckily, I'm not you," Heidi tells him, turning away from the window to find him sitting in Nathan's chair. "Don't sit there," she says, sharper than she'd intended. "That's --"
He rolls his eyes. "Yes, yes, I know, this is the domain of your darling husband; he of the wandering eye and sundry other bits." Despite his sarcasm, Claude gets up to prowl the room, picking over things as he goes. He stops, a hand on a statue, and looks at her. "Speaking of the Brady Bunch, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know that your stepdaughter has emerged quite unscathed from the crisis." He grins and flops onto a couch. "As she is wont to do, of course."
Heidi presses her lips together, exhaling a breath out her nose as she counts to ten in a bid for patience. "As a matter of fact, I am happy to hear Claire's all right," she says."
"You're not surprised?" Claude lifts his head to look at her, a suspicious glint in his eye. "You never mentioned you knew about the girl."
"Nathan told me some time ago," Heidi says calmly. "At the time, he was under the impression she died in a fire. He thought I deserved to know before we were married." Taking Nathan's seat, she leans back into the leather and closes her eyes. The faint scent of his cologne surrounds her and she blinks away tears.
It's a moment before she can add, "If you're wondering, yes, I knew she was here." She curls up the corners of her mouth in a wry smile. "I may play the dutifully clueless wife, but that doesn't mean I actually am."
"Oh, never said you were!" Claude looks amused. "Jackie O. might like to believe it, but those of us in the know aren't fooled." He puts his feet up and Heidi winces at his muddy boots. "Those of us who remember the real you, well we remember the hellion behind the ice queen." He turns his head, grinning manically at her. "You were more fun before you sold your soul to Mama Petrelli."
"I haven't sold my soul to anyone, Claude," Heidi says, pinching the bridge of her nose, "And I am not an ice queen."
"Could've fooled me," he tosses off. "Why, I remember a day you could make the earth move with a smile."
"Don't tempt me," Heidi warns, smiling despite herself.
Claude chuckles, saying, "Would that I could." His amusement falters and he's almost sad when he says, "You've buried your power so deep the Hubble telescope couldn't track it down."
"I wish," says Heidi bitterly. She can always feel it, waiting beneath the surface of her thoughts. Like the embers of a fire, all it needs is that push of oxygen to bring it flaring back to life.
Making a disgusted noise, Claude pushes off the couch to resume prowling the room. Heidi sits back in the chair to watch him, palms flat on the desk, spine straight. She thinks if she tries hard enough, she can fool herself as much as him. "I never wanted this, Claude."
"Oh, like any of us did," he snorts. "You ran and hid, Heidi."
She raises one brow. "You told me to."
He stops and looks at her. "You ran into the bloody lion's den! I didn't tell you to do that."
Heidi shushes him with a frown. "Do you want them to hear you?" Rising from the chair, she crosses the room to close the door, but not before she checks outside. "If Angela finds you here –"
"Not a whole hell of a lot Jackie O. can do at the moment," Claude says, pleased. "What with that plateful of trouble in her lap; master plan all fallen to bits, Linderman dead, millions all inconveniently alive. Her daughter-in-law picking up the old ways would be the least of her concerns."
"I'm not picking up the old ways, I have no old ways to pick up," Heidi points out.
He grins at her. "Yes, you do."
They look at each other until Heidi's gaze slides away from his, uncomfortable with the memories he's deliberately jogging. "Why are you here, Claude?"
"Well, world very nearly went boom the other night," Claude says cheerfully. "As you can imagine, that's got all sorts of people running scared." He leans forward, confiding, "While your boys were off blowing up, an old friend of mine was causing some chaos of his own."
He disappears for a moment, slipping into invisibility long enough to close the distance between them. She leans against the door, arms folded, as he appears beside her in the same posture.
"Am I to take it this is a good thing?" Heidi asks, her tone long-suffering.
"As a matter of fact, you are!" Claude agrees brightly. "See, this old friend's about to be a new friend of yours." He nudges her with his elbow, grinning. "Claire's adopted father."
"Bennet?" she says.
"The one and only," Claude says. "Turns out, he did us quite a favor."
Silence stretches between them as Heidi counts off the seconds in her head. She knows he's waiting for her to ask. "And exactly what kind of favor would that be?"
"Thompson is dead."
Heidi sucks in a breath and looks at him. "Dead?" Thompson has been her own personal boogeyman for so long. "Really?"
"Really," Claude says, too cheerful for the subject. She would forgive him that, if he had any reason to seek forgiveness from her. "Our dear friend Bennet has always been a rather efficient bastard when given a good reason."
"Claire," Heidi says.
"Precisely," Claude looks pleased. "Always thought that would be what won him over. Anyway," he claps his hands together, "I thought you should know. All things considered, you're in dire need of good news." Standing before her, he sobers. "If I find anything –"
She smiles weakly, "Thank you."
The moment is awkward between them as Claude smiles back. It's a mercy when he shimmers into nothing at all. Heidi thinks she feels a brush of fingers on her cheek before the door opens and closes.
It's oddly reassuring to watch the door move on what seems to be its own.
When she joins the boys downstairs, Angela sees her smile and frowns. Her obvious disapproval has Simon and Monty trading curious looks across the table.
Heidi's smile widens.