Title: Ungodly Hour
Characters: Peter Petrelli, Claire Bennet
Spoilers: 3x04: I Am Become Death
Summary: Claire finds home in the most unlikely of places.
Author's Note: Written for the Livejournal community pairechallenge, for the prompt "Family Values".
Word Count: 517
She knew the space intimately, had woken upon that very slab dozens of times. She knew the feel of the cold metal beneath her naked back, slick steel made tacky by drying blood. She could give names to every color blood could take on when splashed across various surfaces, mixed with different poisons, and spilled by different weapons.
Claire Bennet knew death. She could smell death as it clung to her clothing, could sense it in the dry air that circulated again and again through the rattling vent above her head. She could see it in the pallor of his skin. She could taste it on his lips.
Claire knew that with Peter dead, she had other things that needed her attention. There were others within his terrorist cell that needed to be captured, not to mention that Gabriel Gray had loosed Sylar on the world again. Even as she stood there, at his side, watching his doppelganger breathe quietly mere feet away, her cell phone was vibrating at her side. Her phone display heralded six missed calls and two voicemails but she didn't attempt to touch the small machine. Now wasn't the time for business.
It had taken Claire four long years but she finally felt like a true Petrelli. She felt the strength and the power that came from that name. She knew the sad facts of the price it came with.
Every family had different priorities, a different set of unspoken rules. For the Bennets, the rules had been simple. Live quietly and love unconditionally; between a cold-blooded killer, a dog enthusiast, a girl with the ability to heal any wound, and a boy who ranked #23 on the World of Warcraft Hall of Fame website, the Bennet had been unusual but tight-knit. In the wake of Sylar's attack not even they had been able to make Claire feel safe.
The Petrelli family was a completely different animal of ethics. Every act, every word, every thought was made or said for the greater good. It was always a question of the good of whom, however. For the good of themselves, for the good of the world, for the good of the country, for the good of family; there was always a clear purpose.
Claire's purpose had become that of the Company's, right from the beginning of her formal induction to the family. Hunt down those with special abilities and prevent them from using them inappropriately; it'd seemed fairly simple to her. She'd never realized that doing so put her in opposition to one particular member of her family. She'd never realized that she and Peter would become so very separated, both physically and emotionally.
His face was slack from lack of life, certain features held taunt by the scar running down his face. There was the slightest twist in his mouth, a hint of his crooked smile that made her own lips curve a reflection.
Claire knew death like an old lover; the scent and feel of it bringing back memories both good and bad.
She knew death, but death did not know her.
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