Title: Doppelganger

Author: Cesia Illuser/Warangel88

Fandom: Heroes/Pathology Crossover

Pairing: Claire/Ted with some Claire/Peter

Warnings: Slightly AU for the ending of Homecoming, Ted is probably out of character

Author Notes: Claire and Ted are dating in this fic, and Claire didn't go to check up on Peter after he fell with Sylar. Could be taken as a Sequel to my Visitation Rights. Thanks Ellie for betaing

Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes or Pathology

He was honestly surprised when they rolled two bodies into the Morgue.

One was of a high school cheerleader who showed the same signs of death as the waitress at the diner, but the other guy was of particular interest to him.

He could almost pass as his twin if it weren't for the fact that his hair was a bit longer than his, something that his girlfriend would probably consider emo-ish.

But nonetheless, he could pass perfectly as his twin.

"Ted?" A soft voice questioned and his dark eyes trailed to his girlfriend's petite figure, who looked like she'd nearly died or something. Her white and red cheerleading outfit was stained with blood, along with her golden locks.

He instantly moved to embrace the cheerleader, wrapping his arms around her as she sobbed lightly into his chest. It was clearly obvious that she witnessed the cheerleader's death and even perhaps his doppelganger's death.

"Are you alright, Claire?" He questioned, pushing all of his thoughts of his twin out of his mind, as it was clearly obvious that Claire needed him more.

Claire silently shook her head, "No."

He pressed a light kiss against the top of her forehead as a series of coughs from behind them caused them to pull apart, and both of them looked over at the body on the silver examining table, wide eyed. His doppelganger had slightly shifted his body to the side, coughing, still dressed in his bloodstained clothing.

"How come I always get the people that rise from the dead," He muttered slightly under his breath and from the corner of his eye he could see a slight smirk on his girlfriend's face.

"Because you're special," She uttered back, smacking him on his arm gently, and it honestly seemed a bit weird that they were cracking jokes in the morgue.

But he supposed it was better than the alternative, and at least it somehow got Claire to smile again, not a bright smile like he was accustomed but he knew this was as big a smile as he was going to get tonight. Especially after the ordeal that Claire had been through, not like she had really told him anything yet, but he supposed he could blame his twin for that.

In the back of his mind he slightly wondered if his look-alike had the same power as Claire, considering she was the only other person that he knew could heal.

But if he was able to heal then shouldn't he have already done so after he had fallen? Unless his girlfriend had to the ability to raise the dead simply by her presence, which was probably even more ridiculous.

"Where am I?" His twin questioned in between coughs, hardly being able to catch his breath quite yet and, God, he even sounded the same as he did.

"Odessa Morgue," He offered to his twin helpfully, "You were dead for almost twenty minutes."

He noticed his eyes narrowed slightly, absorbing the information before turning to look at him and his girlfriend. "You don't seem very surprised by that fact."

"It happened to me before," Ted offered, sharing a slight smile with his girlfriend, whose cheeks glowed a light pink color, clearly remembering their first meeting or, more accurately, the fact that she had been naked the first part of their meeting. Not necessarily one of their finer moments, considering she had been cut open moments before.

"I think I'm more surprised on how similar we look."

He can silently feel his gaze studying him, "You're right, we do look similar."

"So are you an only child?" His look-alike questioned curiously, wondering if he might have been some relation to him, "Adopted?"

"No, and no," He answered, "You?"

"I have a brother, and I sometimes wonder how I'm related to my family," He mused lightly, the last part more of an afterthought than anything else.

"Are you able to heal?" Claire questioned softly, cutting in the conversation between them, staring at the man that she had met in the hallway of her school on two different accounts, though she silently preferred their first meeting to that of their second one.

"Is that your power?" He questioned softly, staring at the cheerleader next to him, and a faint reorganization washed over him. Claire nodded softly, "Is that yours?" (You can change that question if you want.)

"No, not really. I have the power to absorb people's powers when they're nearby."

"So you pretty much jumped off the school roof even though at the time you thought you couldn't heal?" Claire questioned softly, "Why?"

"Save the Cheerleader, Save the World," He uttered softly under his breath, causing a look of confusion to wash over her face.

"But what do I have to do with the world?" She questioned softly, and she could slightly feel Ted's hand squeeze hers lightly.

"I'm not quite sure yet," He admitted softly, almost a bit shyly. It had sounded like a great idea at the time, 'Save the cheerleader'.

Ted silently watched the verbal exchange between his mirror image and his girlfriend. Not like he was necessary feeling jealous of the guy or anything, he was honestly glad that his twin saved his girlfriend from an awful death.

The three of them slowly made their way out of the morgue and Ted lead Claire to his car. He had offered his look-alike a ride, which he refused. Claire paused slightly, glancing at the man who saved her earlier that night.

"Hey, what's your name?" She called out as he paused slightly; glancing back at the cheerleader he saved earlier that night from the psychopath who wanted to kill her.

"Peter," He answered.

She nodded slightly, "I'm Claire."

Peter gave her a soft smile, and in the back of his mind he slightly wondered if he would ever meet Claire and his doppelganger again.

The End