Nothing was right. Nothing was how it should be.
When she was little, she dreamed her life was a fairy tale. That someday she would live 'happily ever after' as all princesses should. How come the wait had to be so long? How come her life had to be twisted and kicked until she was happy?
Nothing made sense. Nothing was believable.
Claire let the tears fall down her cheeks, as she pitied herself. There were two men in the whole world she loved more than anything. Her uncle, her hero, had perished. Her father, her real father, had let himself go.
"You should be happy. Most have less than you."
They kept telling her that, but the more they said it to her, the more Claire disbelieved it. How could someone have less than her? Her whole heart had been torn a part.
Reaching under her pillow, Claire pulled out a small picture she had stolen from the Petrelli home. Peter and Nathan starred at her, happily. She wanted to tear the picture, to never look at it again. They looked so innocent to the fate that was about to come to them.
Picking up her cell phone, she dialed in his number, quickly before her eyes blurred. She knew he hated her when she called him. She knew that when she called him, she reminded him of everything that had happened. But, he was her only comfort.
"Please…just stop calling, Claire." He begged in a greeting.
"You and I both know that's not going to happen until you stop answering the phone." She said to him. He didn't say anything. "I just…"
"Claire, just go live your life." She waited for him to hang up on her, but he didn't.
"I miss him. He shouldn't be dead! He didn't deserve to die." She tried not to sound like she was crying. "All he ever wanted was to save everyone." She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve. "Dad?"
"Your Dad probably doesn't want you to talk to me." She knew he was referring to Noah.
"But I need to." She explained to him.
"Why?!" Nathan asked. "Why can't you just move on? He's never coming back."
"I'll move on when you do." Claire said to him. She waited for him to reply, but he was silent. "I can't do this. Here, I'm not supposed to be who I really am. I hate hiding."
"Life sucks, get over it." Claire hung up on him, this time.
It was a stupid game they played. Claire would call him, he would answer, she would try to open up to him, he would make rude remarks, and then one would hang up on the other. This happened almost every night.
-
"Hello?"
"Hey, you actually answered with a normal greeting." Claire marveled.
"What do you want, Claire?" He asked.
"I want a lot of things." She told him.
"Don't we all!" He almost yelled.
They were both silent for the longest time. "I should have shot him. Maybe if I had shot him before you flew him into the sky he would be here. Maybe…"
"No, he wouldn't." Nathan snapped.
"He wasn't supposed to die!" Claire sobbed. "He didn't deserve to die." She could hear Nathan hanging up, but Claire continued to hold the phone to her ear. "He wasn't suppose to die…" She sobbed.
-
"Stop calling."
"Are you drunk?" Claire asked.
"It's none of your business." His words were slurred, and she could tell he was drunk.
"Please don't do this, Dad."
"Do what?" He snapped.
"Peter wouldn't want you to let yourself go like this."
"What do you know about Peter?! You don't know him!"
"I know him more than you and he's your own brother!"
She was again met with the dial tone.
-
"I'm sorry about yesterday. I didn't mean what I said." She apologized when he answered.
"Do you ever give up?" He asked her.
"Peter taught me never to give up. Never to stop believing." She told Nathan. He was silent. "You never realize how much you love someone until you loose them." Claire paused. "That's why I don't want to loose you."
"You hardly know me." He accused her.
"I know you enough to love you. You're my father, for crying out loud." Claire hung up on him, this time.
-
"Dad! Guess what!" She said when he answered.
"What now?"
"I was thinking. Peter could still be alive!" She told him. She was greeted with the dial tone. He must have hung up. Sighing, Claire redialed the number. It rang for the longest time, and Claire thought he was going to ignore the call when he answered.
"Go away. Please."
"Just listen. I got really bored to day, so I cut off my toe, and-"
"When you get bored you amputate your limps?" He asked.
"-And, it grew back." She continued.
"So?" He asked.
"Don't you get it?" She asked him.
"No." He answered.
"I have thought of every possible way somebody could get hurt, and every time I healed. So, if Peter had my power, he must have healed. He could still be alive!"
"THEN WHY INS'T HE HERE?!" Nathan yelled at her.
Claire was silent.
"I'm sorry." Nathan apologized.
"I thought that you of all people would believe it. Would WANT to believe it." And Claire hung up on him.
-
"What?"
"I'm beginning to think there is no 'happily ever after'." She confessed.
"What the hell are you talking about?" He asked her.
"I can't help but wonder how much more longer this little charade will last." She told him. "Something has to happen."
"Nothing is going to, though." He told her.
"What do you think it would be like if everything was back to the way it was?" She asked. "Before everything started to take place? If nothing took place?" He was silent. "Obviously, I would have never known you, and you would have never known me. Peter would still probably be a nurse. And you would be making your way up to Presidency. I would still be in Texas; fooling myself into thinking I was normal. I could be sitting in the living room, at our old house, right now. I could be watching you on the news, giving a speech, with that big political smile. I could be looking right at you, and have never known that you were my Dad. I would have never known that I was ever related to such a great man as Peter. I probably wouldn't have even known him, unless you mentioned him or something."
"I think I would prefer that." Nathan said.
"You would prefer you never knew me at all?" Claire asked.
"I would prefer the part where Peter was alive." Nathan told her.
"I know. Atleast in that scenario, we would all be safe and alive and healthy." She told him.
"Are you saying I'm unhealthy?" He asked her.
"That is exactly what I am saying. You need to stop drinking."
"Feeling nothing is better than feeling pain." He told her.
"And being dead is better than being alive?" She asked him.
"Right now, yes."
Claire was silent. "I had a dream last night. It was of Peter. He was somewhere far away. He was confused and hurt. He needed our help."
"I think I had the same dream." He confessed.
"Did you wake up?" She asked him.
"Yes."
"I didn't." She told him. "In the dream, he needed our help. But we didn't know it. We were too busy mourning him to believe he was alive."
"It was just a dream." He told her.
"What if it wasn't? What if he really is alive somewhere and needs our help?" She asked him.
"That's ridicules." He told her.
"Just as ridicules as being able to fly? Or to heal?" She asked him.
"Claire, you are trying to fool yourself into believing that. You WANT to believe that."
"And you want to believe he's dead?" She asked.
"No, I believe the truth!" He told her.
"You would believe the thing easiest to believe, not what you should believe!" She said to him.
"I have to go." He said after a long silence. "Goodbye, Claire."
"Bye, Dad."