A/N: Pretty AU from episode 3.07 so forget almost everything you know from later on. And for those of you who are reading my Crystal Prism story don't worry I haven't abandoned that, I just couldn't get rid of this idea.

Whistler: There are moments in your life that make you, that set the course of who you're gonna be. Sometimes they're little, subtle moments. Sometimes... they're not. I'll show you what I mean.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

"Elle, help me get him in the car!" Claire cried, trying to support Peter's weight as she carried him across the ground.

The blonde woman looked from Peter and Claire to the building. Peter had said that his powers were taken from him, could the same thing be done for her? She didn't really want to lose her power, it was the only thing that made her special, but she didn't know how much more of this agony she could take. Elle wanted to sleep, wanted to eat and, god, she needed a shower. But was it worth losing her power for? What if she could learn to control it? She wouldn't have to lose it than.

Then there was Claire. Despite herself, she was beginning to like the little perfect cheerleader, who, as it turned out, wasn't so perfect after all. Elle had never had a friend before, unless you counted Adam, so she didn't know how to tell whether Claire liked her too. She thought she did and that was something new and worth grasping onto.

But the pain was unbearable. She looked towards the door and back to Claire who was watching her with pleading eyes. It confused Elle that the cheerleader wanted so much for her to come, after all, who was she to her? Just another pity case with a messed up head because Daddy wouldn't stop playing around and now she's broken, and she doesn't think anyone can fix that.

As if to empathise her point a painful shock ran through Elle's body and she shut her eyes tight, trying to keep in a scream. Seeing this, Claire shook her head.

"Elle, we'll find another way to control our powers, but we have to go," the blonde told her.

Elle shook her head. "We can't, whatever's wrong with us this is the only place that can fix it."

Peter grunted in pain as Claire made a rather sharp step towards her.

"These people aren't going to help you, Elle. They're not safe. My own father had me thrown out a window; he tried to kill me, Elle. Think of what he'll do to you," Peter cautioned, just getting the words out through the pain. He didn't know what to make of Elle, she'd killed Caitlin's brother and for that he doubted he'd ever forgive her. But he still remembered that time at the company when she'd told him her life story, and the bitterness that had sounded so out of place in her normally bright voice. And he couldn't hate her.

Finally Elle nodded, still looking doubtful, and helped Claire lead Peter to the car. "You're just a sucker for trouble, aren't you, Peter?" Elle muttered and Peter smiled while Claire just looked confused.

...

Elle's breath hitched as another electric shock ran through her. She sat in the backseat beside Peter as Claire drove; she was currently cleaning some of the ex-sponge's wounds. Sometimes working for the company did have its benefits, even if it was just first aid.

Peter frowned, concerned. "You OK, Elle?"

The blonde smiled falsely. "Perfect." Another shock ran through her body, contradicting her words.

"What's wrong with your ability?"

Elle bit her lip, she always hated admitting weakness. "I can't control them. We're lucky I didn't crash the plane on the way over."

"Yeah, you could've told me that was going to happen before we got on," Claire spoke up from the front seat.

"How was I supposed to know my powers were going to go all kablooy? It's a random thing, you know?"

"Well, you could've at least told me you were an anxious flyer."

Peter smirked. "You're afraid of flying?"

Elle snorted in disbelief. "Of course not; Pom-Pom's deluded. Now hold still." He did so, grin still firmly in place, as she taped up the last of his cuts.

"So, do you guys know each other?" Claire asked.

"Peter was what you'd call an old toy of mine," Elle said nonchalantly, packing up the first aid kit that had luckily been stowed away in the car.

Peter cleared his throat. "I prefer acquaintance."

"You are what you are," was her happy reply.

"You know what? I don't want to know," the cheerleader concluded.

"Good choice," Peter told her.

Elle looked away and out the window. The situation was so surreal that she couldn't even trust herself to believe it was actually happening. And even more strange was the fact that she felt like she actually fit here, and she'd never fit anywhere, not even back at the company.

Suddenly the most painful shock yet, they seemed to be getting more so all the time, came and Elle let out an agonised scream, unable to hold it in. The jolt ran throughout her body, leaking into every pore of her being and making her feel the utmost pain in places she didn't even know she had. Elle couldn't believe she'd given up the chance of getting rid of this forever for some not-so-perfect cheerleader and her lying uncle.

The blonde felt the car pull to a halt; clearly Claire didn't want to be driving with screaming in the background. Some rushed conversation was taking place between the other two travellers but Elle barely noticed; the sound of her own screaming was too loud for that. Elle could feel tears trickling down her cheeks and would've cursed herself for the sign of weakness if she could.

Her side door was pulled open and a fuzzy looking Claire appeared in front of her; everything was starting to look a little fuzzy now.

"Elle?"

The blonde could feel the last of the shocks leaving her body and as it did she fell forward into the stunned cheerleader's arms, just as her world went dark.

...

When Elle woke up she was in Peter's arms as Claire once again drove in the front seat. She shifted slightly, her whole body aching, which alerted Peter to her consciousness.

"Hey, you OK?" Damn Peter, always the caring one.

"Sure." She could tell he didn't believe her.

"Has that happened before?" Claire asked concerned. "Passing out after one of your overloads."

"Yeah," Elle admitted, gasping in pain as she tried to sit up. Peter gently pushed her back down so her head was once again in his lap.

"Don't try to get up just yet," he cautioned.

"How many times?" the blonde asked, concern rising.

"'Bout seven," Elle answered nonchalantly, all the while glaring at Peter. "The worse time was in my car about a month ago, ended up in hospital for about a week."

"What?" Both Claire and Peter exclaimed simultaneously.

Elle shifted uncomfortably. "It's no big deal." She scowled. "Although I would like it to stop."

"We can go to the company, see if they can help," the blonde cheerleader suggested.

"There is no way I'm going back to that place," Elle said through gritted teeth. Peter looked down at her confused and she struggled to get up, this time he didn't stop her.

"Elle, it may be the only chance of fixing your power," Peter reasoned.

The blonde snorted. "For all I know they're the reason I'm like this in the first place."

"Mum wouldn't let that happen."

"You have no idea what that woman has let happen."

Peter looked at her; confused as to the meaning behind her words. She didn't bother to straighten it out for him.

"Well, we don't have to go to Mrs Petrelli, we can go to dad instead," Claire suggested.

"Oh, and he's so much better," Elle commented sarcastically only to be ignored.

"We can't go to mum anyway, she's in a coma."

"Come on, Elle, what's the worst that could happen?" Claire asked optimistically. Elle didn't even want to start on the list of things that were piling themselves up in her head.

"Fine," she conceded finally, though she doubted Mr Bennet would be much help – he wasn't any other time why would he be now?

"That's good, 'cause we're almost there," Claire said with a smile.

Elle chuckled. "So it didn't really matter what I said? We were going to go there anyway."

Claire just grinned.

...

Noah was shocked to say the least when he saw not only Claire getting out of a car and walking towards him but also Elle and Peter. But of course it was Monday so he should've expected it – strange things always seemed to happen on Mondays. Peter was limping along and Claire was alternating between supporting him and the other blonde woman who seemed about ready to collapse; very strange things.

"Claire, Elle, Peter," he greeted. "What a surprise."

"Yeah, well, there's been a lot of surprises lately," Claire muttered, glaring at him. "None of them good." It was obvious she was thinking about what he'd done in his pursuit to rid the world of Sylar. Bennet sighed and moved in to help Elle hobble across the foot path so Claire was free to help Peter but the electric blonde withdrew from him. He sighed, what he'd done to piss her off more than usual was anyone's guess, and turned to help Peter instead. The other man gratefully accepted and Claire went about helping Elle who was looking exhausted, her hair in disarray.

"Do I even want to know what happened?" he asked as they made their way towards the company building.

"Not really, but I think you should," Claire told him.

Noah nodded; he hated it when that happened, it usually meant that something bad was going to come and mess everything up. He looked over at Elle and wondered what was wrong with her, she didn't appear to have any physical damage, and why weren't Peter's wounds healing?

"So, who messed you up?" Bennet asked Peter.

"My father."

"Of course," he replied, it took a lot to surprise him and this was no exception even if the old bastard was supposed to be dead. "I should've guessed." Noah really hated Mondays.

...

Noah looked down at Elle's sleeping form in the infirmary. Peter was on his own bed beside her, chatting to Claire. He could still remember the many times he'd had to see Elle in this exact bed, most of those times when she was still a child.

"How you doing, Elle?" Noah Bennet asked taking a seat beside Elle's bedside. Her father had just done another test on her and the Haitian would soon come to wipe her memories of the event. It hurt him every time this happened; Elle was so much like baby Claire and seeing the way the tests along with the company were changing her was almost exactly like watching it happen to his own daughter.

She looked up at him with dull eyes. "Is Daddy mad at me?"

He stared at her. "No, of course not."

"Then why is he doing this to me?" It broke Noah's heart to see the utter destruction her father had caused in the little girl's ice-blue eyes.

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "I'm sure it'll stop soon." Elle could still remember all the tests from the past week as the Haitian hadn't erased them yet and Bennet couldn't help but wonder whether it would help at all when he did; could anything get rid of brokenness he now saw in he?

"No it won't," she told him. "You've said that before."

Bennet stared at her; he had said that before but no time that she could remember. If Elle could remember that than what else could she remember?

"Have I?"

She nodded weakly. "I think so."

"Well it will," he said, knowing it was a lie.

Elle nodded; she did too. "You're going to leave me soon, aren't you?"

"Well, I do have to get home; I'm supposed to be looking after Claire-Bear while Sandra goes out."

She shook her head. "I'm not talking about today. I mean forever. You're going to leave me forever soon."

"Of course not." It was a lie, he probably would, and being around Elle was just too painful.

"You're lying. Everyone leaves eventually," she told him, voice calm like nothing could reach her where she was. "Mummy did, grandma did and so did Ms Elfa."

He sighed; there was no use lying. "Yeah, I probably will."

She nodded. "That's OK. I forgive you."

There was a knock on the door and they both looked up to see the Haitian standing there, looking regretful about his coming task. This was not something Noah wanted to witness again.

"Well, I better go," he said, getting up. He was however stopped by a tiny hand.

"Mr Noah, will you bring Claire-Bear in to meet me one day?" Elle asked. "I don't have anyone else to play with." He could still remember when the sweet way she said his daughter's nickname then became a mocking strike in the future.

Noah didn't much want to bring Claire into this place but it seemed to be the only thing he could do for Elle. "Yeah." Although how the girl expected to have fun with a barely two year old was beyond him.

She smiled for a moment but it all too quickly disappeared. He left the room, leaving behind the Haitian and little Elle; Bennet would never forget the dull look in her eyes when he stepped out the door.

...

Sighing, Noah Bennet leant forward and placed a soft kiss on the sleeping woman's forehead. "I'm sorry." He was sorry for everything. Sorry that the little girl first brought into the company was erased just like the rest of her memories over the years. That she had to be the way she was, that he hadn't helped her.

Over the years Bennet had never allowed himself to feel guilt over the many things he'd done but he'd allow himself just this once, for Elle; she deserved that much at least.

He turned and walked towards Peter and Claire who had been watching his interaction with Elle in open confusion but luckily didn't comment.

"Is she going to be OK?" Claire asked and Noah wondered where her sudden concern for the petite blonde had come from.

"Until we find out what's causing her abilities to malfunction and how to stop it there's no telling. It's not much of a surprise that she passed out earlier, from what we can tell Elle hasn't eaten well in a long time and the lack of sleep you told us about was also a factor." He paused – they were getting towards the sore part of the topic. "Her ability has caused a lot of damage to her internal organs, if the shocks continue there's no telling what could happen."

"But you'll be able to find a way to get it under control right?" Peter asked.

"The last time Elle's ability over loaded like this we couldn't find a way to stop it," he admitted. The last time Elle's ability overloaded like this she was ten.

"What happened?" Claire asked.

"She died." There was a shocked pause following after the admittance. "Fell in a swimming pool and electrocuted herself. Mr Lindeman revived her. Elle doesn't even know it happened, although she's always had a major fear of water ever since . . .regardless, her ability was back to normal afterwards so we didn't have to find a way to control it."

Claire bit her lip guiltily. "We should've let her go to your father. He's probably the only one who can help."

"There's no telling what Arthur Petrelli would have done to Elle, Claire. She probably would have been in more danger there than she's in here now," Noah said in a consoling tone. He frowned. "And why the sudden change of heart, last time I heard you wanted her head on a pike?"

Claire glanced towards the hospital bed where Elle was sleeping peacefully. The company had given her a sedative in an attempt to calm her electrical outbursts and it seemed to have worked. But it was certainly no solution to the problem, Elle couldn't spend the rest of her life in a drug induced coma.

"I guess I found out that she wasn't who I first thought she was."

Noah chuckled at that. "Elle's never who you first think she is." He paused glancing over at the older blonde. "You should probably call your mum, tell her you're alright . . . Also, although we're going to be doing all we can to try and find a way to help Elle, she doesn't need to be here the whole time, she certainly won't want to be. Maybe your mother might find it in her heart to offer up the spare room."

"Whoa, hold it right there," Claire cried holding up her hands. "I admit I don't hate Elle now but what you're suggesting, that much time together, one of us is bound to kill the other! Not that I can die but you get the point."

"I reckon it could be fun," Peter commented with a smirk. "She'll be like the sister you never had."

"And never wanted," Claire muttered.

Noah grinned. "No, I seem to remember a certain amount of begging; 'Mum, can I have a sister?' 'Dad, can I have a sister?' 'Please, please, please!' Then of course you got a brother instead."

"That's beside the point. Elle and I just won't survive that long without ripping each other to shreds; it's just not in our nature."

"Then Peter can come along as a buffer."

"Wait, what? When did I come into this?" Peter asked, shocked.

"Around about a few seconds ago," Noah told him. "Or if you want to be exact, when you fell out that window."

"Look, Mr Bennet, Elle and I kind of have a history, if anything Claire would be working as a buffer between Elle's fingernails and my face."

"Yes, I heard," Mr Bennet said with a smirk. "But Elle's really not someone to hold grudges if you don't give her reason to."

"You heard about that?" Peter asked. "How?"

"I have my ways."

They were stopped from saying anything more on the subject by the sound of Elle stirring in her bed; clearly the sedative was wearing off. The blonde blinked her eyes open and looked around her, nearly falling out of bed in surprise when she saw the other three staring at her like she was some sort of porcelain doll that might shatter at any minute.

"Good sleep?" Claire asked.

Elle grinned and there seemed to be a bit more colour in her cheeks than earlier. "Best one in weeks." She turned to Noah. "Did you find out what's wrong with us?"

"Not yet, but don't worry, we will."

Elle nodded, though she didn't look convinced, and sat up. She was still in yesterday's clothes as were Claire and Peter. "So, what's on the itinerary for today? It's going to be hard to top yesterday's events."

"Thank god," Claire mumbled.

"Oh, come on, Pom-Pom, you can't tell me yesterday wasn't just a little bit fun? How many people can say their plane almost crashed?"

"Yeah, fun!" Her tone of voice suggested otherwise and Elle grinned. "And what's with all the peppiness, how can someone be peppy at 7:00 in the morning?"

"Only the crazy ones," Peter informed her lightly. Elle glared at him playfully and crawled out of bed, making her way over to Peter's and jumping onto it. Smiling evilly she extended a hand toward a nervous Peter and let a small jolt grace his nose. Peter jumped in a mixture of pain and surprise. Claire snorted and Noah smirked.

"I warned you not to offend her, Peter," Mr Bennet said as Elle took a seat, cross-legged, on the bed beside Claire. Noah hadn't seen her this bubbly in a long time and it made him smile involuntarily. But it seemed as though he'd spoken, well thought, too soon for a shock ran through her body and she stiffened. It was only a quick one but it immediately dampened the blonde's mood. He sighed and turned back to Peter who was looking at Elle in concern. God help him, Elle hated pity and concern wasn't that far off that in her eyes.

"Claire and I were just discussing the topic of where you are to stay while the company works on finding out what's wrong with you," Noah cut in when it looked like Elle was about to snap at Peter.

She turned to face him, surprised. "You mean I don't have to stay here?"

"Not if you don't want to. I know that after spending your whole life in the company the thought of coming back is far from appealing so I was thinking you could stay with Claire, you might even get around to going to that amusement park you've been pining over all your life."

"That's nice an' all but I do have a place to stay," Elle replied looking offended at the idea of such charity, that or she thought he was keeping her under tabs, something that he'd anticipated.

"And where exactly are you staying? A motel?" he retorted.

"It's a nice motel!"

"Look, I need someone around to protect my family now that Meredith's working with me. Peter can't because he's lost his ability and although yours may be malfunctioning it is still working," Noah lied; she'd never know the difference.

"Alright, fine, but you owe me," Elle grumbled. Bennet smirked and shared a look with Peter and Claire who'd caught onto his master plan all too soon. Claire still seemed to be having trouble coming to terms with the fact that she might just have to share a house with the electric blonde for an extended period of time.

"Back to the subject of your powers, I've been thinking we could use the ability-represent pills, see if they work," he suggested.

Elle chuckled darkly. "Yeah, just one problem with that theory, I'm allergic."

Noah stared at her; he hadn't even known that she'd been on them before.

"Daddy gave me some when I was little, something about not liking the way I kept playing with the company's power and all that jazz," she waved her hand to demonstrate and Noah nodded; he remembered that. "Anyway, my face blew up like this big balloon. Which is really strange, 'cause the only thing I know I'm allergic to is peanuts."

Bennet frowned; that certainly crossed out that idea which was the worse possible thing they could've hope for; if they couldn't find a way to control Elle's ability again and they couldn't use the pills either there was no doubt in his mind that she'd die.

"We'll have to do some tests, see what you're allergic to and maybe we can change the ingredients in the tablets." Noah didn't miss how she flinched at the word tests and his face softened. "Just some blood tests, Elle, nothing too extravagant."

Claire and Peter looked at him confused and Elle nodded stiffly, unhappy that she'd been caught.

"Claire, ring your mother," Noah announced suddenly. "It's time for you to go home, and you're taking Elle with you."

...

Elle stared out the window as Claire pulled the car to a stop outside her house. Peter had decided to come back with them, just for a few days, and now sat beside Elle in the back seat. Every few minutes he'd glance over at her as if he expected her to fall to pieces any minute. Elle wasn't the only one who'd found this annoying, Claire had snapped at him a few miles back. Well, maybe not snapped; the cheerleader was too sweet and innocent for that.

Peter, always the gentleman, was out of the car and by her door in a matter of seconds, pulling it open and offering her a hand out. She glared at him and got out on her own, he then opened the door for Claire who actually let him help her.

"So, your mum's OK with this?" Elle asked, brushing nonexistent dust off her jeans in a nervous habit.

"Well, she didn't seem non-OK with it," Claire said hesitantly.

"So, that'd be a 'no'?" Peter asked helpfully. Claire glared at him and Elle rolled her eyes.

"I'm just going to get this out of the way and say 'I really hate your house'," Elle began suddenly; it didn't really matter which house Claire was living in at the time, she just hated wherever Claire lived. "Considering that all of two times I've been in it I've found myself soaked and in a state of electrocuting myself. Odds are it's going to happen this time too."

"Yeah, well, if you don't go about electrocuting anyone this time around I think you'll be fine," Claire retorted.

"Doubtful, if your mum doesn't end up electrocuting me I probably will."

"I don't remember you being this pessimistic," Peter commented.

"Yeah, well, it's a wonder you remember me at all what with that job the Haitian did on you," Elle muttered as they reached the door. Claire listened in confused silence whilst taking out a key to unlock the door. It was yanked open before she could complete her task however and the blonde was engulfed in a hug from her mother.

"Oh, Claire, it's so good you're back," Mrs Bennet murmured, hugging her closer.

Elle watched the spectacle silently, a bout of jealously twisting and clawing at her insides. God, how she wished that was her. A little shock ran through her body and she winced; the blonde had to learn to control her emotion or she'd make like barbecue chicken and fry. The next jolt was a little –well, OK, a lot – stronger and she clamped her teeth together to keep back a scream.

"Are you OK?" Peter asked.

"Do I look OK to you?" she hissed in response.

Claire extracted herself from her mother's embrace just as a cry escaped Elle's lips. The younger blonde made her way over and took Elle's hand in hers. A sigh of relief escaped her as the electricity flowed into Claire and slowly ebbed away to nothing. The two smiled at each other and Peter and Mrs Bennet shifted uncomfortably, feeling as though they were intruding on something private.

"Thanks, Pom-Pom," Elle muttered, taking her hand out of Claire's grip and looking away. Claire sighed and made her way inside, followed by her mum.

Peter made his way over to Elle, gazing at her curiously. "Is it just me or are you trying really hard not to be her friend?"

Elle smiled at him sadly. "I gave up being attached to people a while ago." With that she followed after Claire.

Peter made his way indoors, silently closing the door behind him. This was bound to be an interesting stay.

...

Anxiously, Elle looked around for any other of the house's occupants. She certainly didn't want anyone to catch her doing this, boy that would raise a lot of questions. Seeing no-one, the blonde made her way over to the computer desk, the same one she'd sat at not too long ago. Hopefully no-one would interrupt her this time.

Hesitantly she typed in Bennett's password, hoping against hope that it's the same one he used at the company (the same one she spied him typing when she was sixteen and Elle had the best of memories, as long as the Haitian never intervened). Elle smiled when access was granted and hastily rifled through Noah's files until she found his company one. The blonde may have pretended that what Bennet had said never happened but that didn't stop her urge to know, her desperate need to prove him wrong.

Finding the archive on people at the company – its workers and its prisoners – she quickly typed in 'Elle Bishop', her breath hitching nervously when the mouse landed on her folder. She could back out now and go on pretending that her Daddy was the picture perfect one she'd always believed. Who could say that Bennet hadn't lied anyway and this folder would probably prove that. But a stronger sense of foreboding sunk in at that thought; or it could prove that he hadn't.

...

Claire made her way inside the house, expertly juggling a shopping bag and a pile of library books as she hung the keys on the rack. Lyle was at a friend's house and her mum was at some book club whilst Peter was meeting with Nathan, which unfortunately had left only her to do the shopping; a task that she didn't enjoy in the least.

Claire paused on her way to the kitchen; there was something like the sound of screaming coming from the computer room. The noise was faint but she was sure that's what it was. Hesitantly, the blonde dropped her luggage on the living room table and headed towards the room. The door was left slightly ajar and it creaked when she opened it.

The computer was on and there was some sort of video playing across the screen. There was no-one at the desk and she wondered whether it was something left over from when Lyle had used the computer last; there was no telling what that boy got onto. The theory however was stopped short when she got closer to the computer and her eyes widened.

A little girl, no older than eight, was strapped to a gurney, her short blonde hair plastered to her head by beads of sweat. Electricity pulsed from the girl's body as she let out bloodcurdling scream after scream. Tears ran down the girl's face and Claire winced when they caused the electricity to attack its owner.

"Bob, maybe we should stop for today," a voice she recognised as her father's suggested.

"No, Noah, my girl's tougher than this you'll see," Bob replied.

"Daddy, please," Elle pleaded in a voice that made Claire's heart wrench.

"Now, Elle, we talked about this. You want to make Daddy proud don't you?"

"But – it –hurts!" Elle cried in-between screams.

"It'll stop hurting as soon as you do what I tell you. Now, put as much as you can into this machine here."

Claire strode forward and pressed the close button on the window, unable to take any more of it. Her eyes narrowed when the whimpers and the crackling sound of electricity from the video didn't completely disappear. She turned around slowly and there crouched on the ground, huddled up, was Elle. Electricity pulsed over her body but she didn't seem to notice, even though Claire was sure it must have hurt.

"I remember." Elle's voice broke. "I remember everything."

Claire's hand went to her mouth to contain a sob and she made her way towards the broken girl. Crouching down in front of her, the cheerleader wrapped her arms around Elle and was surprised when she didn't protest. Claire ignored the electricity that flowed from Elle's body into her own and instead held tighter as she sobbed into her shoulder. The blonde hated her sob, it was unlike any other she'd ever heard – it was the sobbing of someone who'd lost everything.

"He always said I was special, why wasn't I special enough, Claire? Why?" Elle's words were muffled against her shoulder and only half made sense but she got the gist.

"I don't know." She held Elle tighter as though if she didn't the older women would slip away forever. Which was probably true. "I don't know."

Whistler: Bottom line is, even if you see them coming, you're not ready for the big moments. No one asks for their life to change, not really. But it does. So, what are we, helpless? Puppets? Nah. The big moments are gonna come, you can't help that. It's what you do afterwards that counts. That's when you find out who you are.