Author's Note: speculation fic, set directly after the season 1 finale, I may hint towards some spoilers of season 2, but who knows. XD... and as usual I do NOT own anything you RECOGNIZE... ;.;
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The ambulence just left, Kirby Plaza felt eriely empty. Especially now that more then three fourths of the people that were actually there were now gone. Two of them being mortally injuried. Claire and Noah Bennet were just leaving when they heard a high pitched whistle, causing both of them to glance up towards the sky.
What they saw was smoke, it looked like an airplanes' trail heading straight for the plaza. It took only mere seconds for the smoking figure to crash land into the fountain around the orange helix sculpture in the middle. A large splash rippled through the relatively large fountain, causing it to over flow with its' newly added object.
Claire instinctively ran towards it, leaving her adopted father in the dust to slowly catch up. The water ran over the edges causing a puddle to encompass the area around. Claire splashed through it with her heels, no longer caring for the expensive cloths that she had been wearing.
"Nathan." She breathed as she peered over the fountain, finding her biological father sprawled out, laying at the bottom of the fountain covered in water; making no attempt to come up for air. He was unconcious. She quickly doubled over the fountain, reaching into the water and grabbing Nathan and pulling him up. He was much heavier then she could manage and it exhausted her just to get his head above the water. She pulled him back, using the side of the fountain as leverage and pulled his badly injuried body over her legs and onto her. She was basically as wet as he was now.
"My god." She heard her adoptive father sigh as he knelt down to the two, scanning the congressman over. Over half of his body was badly burnt. His cloths were ripped and tworn, and most likely not considered clothing anymore. Noah placed a hand from his uninjuried arm on Nathans' neck, hunting for a pulse.
"He's alive." The adoptive father sighed in relief. Claire let out a breathe she didn't know she was holding.
"He needs to get to a hospital." Clair said immediately after, gently fiddling around, pulling herself from underneath the congressmans' limp form.
"We can't take him there, there'd be no way to explain his injuries." Noah told his daughter. Claire looked at him with wide eyes.
"We can't just leave him here! He'll Die!" Claire nearly shouted. The bond between her and Nathan was far stronger than she ever imagined.
"His mother and family are in Washington DC. We can take him there, They can take care of him." Noah said, then looked at Nathan, trying to find the best way of carrying him to the car without causing the poor man more pain. Even if he was unconcious, the burns should not be agitated. Claire helped as well, and between the two of them they were able to carry Nathan to the car that Noah, Matt, and Ted came here in. Claire got into the backseat first, pulling Nathans' limp form over herself so his head lay in her lap. Noah closed the door on them and went over to the drivers' side and they were off.
"These need to be treated quickly dad." Claire said from behind, scanning in depth the extent of Nathans' burns. They were red and angry, most of them third degree burns, and they covered nearly fifty percent of his body. He definitly had a rocky road ahead of him. She stroked what was left of his hair as her adoptive father made a pit stop just outside of New York City. It was a local gas station.
"I'll be right back." He said quietly, and left the two alone.
Claire sat in silence with her biological father in her lap. She could not help but love the man. She thought he was a coward for leaving his brother to destroy the city, but how wrong she was. Nathan proved to be the bravest of them all. He showed no fear as he took the burden from Claire's hands and flew Peter into the atmosphere, away from the city. He was a true hero.
"You can't die, Nathan. Your my father, I want to know you..." She whispered to him quietly. "Your my hero." She hadn't realized the small tears falling down her right eye. It fell from her chin onto Nathans' badly burnt forehead, and he shuddered. His breathing had taken a sharp turn, from the almost not breathing, to the quick shallow agonized ones. Claire gasped at the sudden movement, and leaned closer to him.
"Shh..." She tried to soothe, which only caused him to groan in agony, shaking from the intensity of the burns. Claire only began to cry harder, attempting to soothe the cries, but nothing really couldn't be helped.
Luckily, her adoptive father returned then. He opened the door to see his daughter trying to calm the congressman. He dropped his utensils that he had bought and took hold of Claire to let her know he was there. It hurt him deeply to see her cry, and always did his best to stop it.
"He's in so much pain, Dad. You gotta do something." She whimpered, her hand still stroking his scalp gently. Noah went to work quickly. He knew everything he had gotten for the man was far from enough, but it was the best he could do. He lifted Nathans' head so he was looking square on with the congressman. The unburnt part of Nathans' face was contorted into a face that could only be explained as truely agonizing.
"Nathan...Nathan." Noah coaxed the congressman to pry his eye open just slightly enough. "I know it hurts, but I need you to swallow this." Noah removed four pills, two from two different containers. One was ibuprofen and the other was nyquil liquid gel pills. Hopefully the ibuprofen and nyquil combination would put the poor man back to sleep. Nathan forced his mouth open about a millimeter, it was all that his current condition would allow.
"Good." Noah said quietly, sticking the pills into his mouth, and pushing up on the congressmans' chin to close the mouth for him.
"Claire plug his nose." Mr. Bennet instructed, and the girl did what she was told. Noah then massaged the injurieds' throat so He would swallow. Once the procedure was done Nathan was hurtled into a coughing fit. He gasped for air and struggled against everything, though it was futile. His movements were small and nothing that Claire couldn't handle.
"I need you to keep him still." Mr. Bennet eyed up his daughter as he picked up a large roll of white bandages. "I need to cover these burns, and I can't have him moving." Noah told her. Claire nodded silently, gently placing her arms around Nathans' shoulders. He struggled weakly against her hold.
"This is going to hurt." Noah said quietly as he started to bandage the wounds. Nathan being the strong congressman that he was, made it through nearly half of it before passing out. It was far more then Noah had expected for the man in his condition.
"Good. Now we need to get him to DC." Mr. Bennet spoke closing the back door on them once again and returned to the drivers' side, once more it was a silent drive.
He could hear Claire mumbling softly to her biological father, and it cut him deeply. He knew Claire was bonding with the man, even though he was unconcious. Their bond was growing tough, and it is going to be hell when they have to leave him with his family. He knew he would have to drag her away from him. He knew now that everything had changed.
It took the car a couple of hours to reach DC. The pills managed to keep Nathan unconcious the whole way, in which Noah was glad for. Not that he cared for the man, he just didn't want to have his daughter see her biological father in such pain and not be able to do anything. Plus it kept the ride quiet.
When they reached the perimeter of the DC area, Noah called Angela Petrelli. He told her what happened, in which see didn't seemed too suprised by (he found that extremely odd), and asked for specific directions to her place.
Within an half an hour they pulled up to a mansion. It was at least three stories, and probably held over two dozen rooms. Noah sighed, rich people. He looked back to find Claire had fallen asleep, her hand protectively around Nathans' head. He reached back and tapped her slightly, it was enough to wake her instantly.
"We're here." He said quietly, removing himself from the car and moving towards the mansion. Claire stayed with the injuried one once again.
It wasn't long before three people approached the car; Noah, Angela, and Heidi. Claire eyed up Nathans' wife, and half wondered if she knew the truth. It also dawned on her that the last time she saw Heidi, she was in a wheel chair. What happened with that.
"Oh My god, He's worse then you said." Angela growled as the door was pulled open. Heidi nearly fainted at the sight of her husband. Claire took that as she did not know the truth, or at least not the whole truth.
The three then gently took Nathan from the car and to the mansion. Claire followed behind them, as they trailed through the rooms.
"The guest room." Angela said directing them slightly as they stumbled through the house. "The boys don't need to see their father like this." Heidi spoke in agreement. They rested Nathan on top of the bed, then Angela turned to Claire and Noah.
"Why is he wet?"