G O I N G T H R O U G H T H E M O T I O N S

A/N o7.o7.o7 My computer screwed up and accidentally put chapter two in the chapter one spot for a second there and there were two chapter twos in one story which completely didn't make any sense if you haven't read chapter one. Haha, that was probably confusing there but I fixed it. Sorry if this caused any confusion for new readers but THIS story contains more than one chapter (this chapter being the SECOND one)

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! Keep 'em coming if you all still want more!

Summary: Takes place 4 months after the bomb explodes. Claire is tired of having to live a sheltered life and just wants to be free, unaware of the consequences that will come with being liberated from her "family". Peter introduces her to a girl who has struggled with the pain of tragedy and loss all because of her. Little do they know, the girl is hiding a secret of her own.

:: Peter no longer has his emo hair, PS ;'[ As we all know, he has cut it and in my opinion it's very becoming of him D So seeing as this would be "Season 2" were it on TV and Peter is no longer with his famous bangs in reality, I saw it only appropriate that the Peter in my story would be the same. I happen to adore his new haircut ;)

:: This ideally would be "Season 2"

:: So yes, it does take place 4 months after the bomb and Claire is living with her biological father, Nathan Petrelli [which will all be explained in later chapters.

++ DISCLAIMER: I own nothing except the new girl and her family.

\ c h a p t e r t w o \

Anna Rae Hutcherson walked over to a newly occupied table to take the customers' orders. She sighed as she made her way over. How long should she have to work at this place? Wasn't this illegal anyway? She was only 14 and she was serving alcohol. She quickly shook off all of these thoughts when she saw a familiar face sitting at the table.

"Peter?"

"Hey Rae." He smiled gently.

So, he does remember… she thought. Nobody really ever called her "Anna"—nobody except her family. They called her Anna Banana most of the time. Her parents made up the nickname for her, that is, when they were still alive. Something's different about Peter. She thought to herself.

"Haircut." He nodded, reading her thoughts. "I got a haircut."

"I thought you looked different." She smiled. Her attention shifted to the blonde sitting next to him whom she realized couldn't be only but a bit older than she was herself. "What are you doing her at this hour?"

"Well can't a man enjoy a drink at his own leisure?" he replied smoothly, laughing softly at how out of character he just sounded. Rae smiled to herself, secretly loving it when he did that. "I also wanted to check up on you," he added quickly.

"What? I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me," she shook her head, glancing at the blonde girl again. "What can I get for you and your… friend?"

"I'll take a beer—light. And my friend here'll just have a water with lemon." He nodded. "How's the rest of the family?" he asked as she took down their orders.

"They're good. They're at a sleepover right now otherwise I wouldn't be here." She laughed awkwardly. "Can I get you anything to eat—nachos, anything?" Rae now noticed the blonde suddenly look down almost in guilt.

"Nah, we're okay. You ever need anyone to watch the kids you call me, okay?" Peter told her.

"I'll keep that in mind." Rae smiled thankfully at him before turning around.

"Hey, Rae?!" Peter called after her.

"Yah?" She turned back around and started walking towards them again.

"I almost forgot to introduce you to my friend. This is Claire, Claire Bennet." He motioned to the blonde girl who now looked up slowly. "Claire, this is Anna Rae Hutcherson."

Rae froze momentarily at the blondie's last name and held her hand out. Claire took it and the shook hands briefly.

"Nice to meet you Anna." Claire said softly, offering a small smile.

"Nice to meet you too, Claire Bennet… and please, call me Rae." She responded with a forced cheesy smile through gritted teeth and walked away quickly.

Claire looked at Peter as Raw walked towards the bar.

"Did you bring me here to guilt trip me?"

"No. You wanted reality I'm giving you reality. This is serious, Claire."

"I think I've had enough reality for now…" Claire groaned, scooting closer to Peter and resting her head on his shoulder. She closed her eyes, taking it all in. This girl looked so… old—not in a bad way like wrinkles or anything, but just aged and wise above her years. She had been through so much, her eyes looked distracted, as if she was still hurting. Claire couldn't blame her. She probably wouldn't have taken this situation any better. How could she, herself, Claire Bennet, be the reason and cause for so much pain? It was all her fault. She wished she was never born if this was supposed to be her purpose in life: to cause devastation and loss to so many other people. Too bad I can't die… Claire thought.

Peter put an arm around her and frowned at her thought. "Not everything bad that happens in this world is your fault," he reassured her. A smile slowly crept onto his face as he watched her, her head on his shoulder, her eyes closed… she almost looked peaceful. Peter, however, knew that the last place she was at in her mind was peace.

"I know, Peter…" she spoke in a gentle voice and slowly opened her eyes. "Right now I just feel as if the weight of the world is on my shoulders."

"And that's what I'm here for her." Peter's smile grew and he kissed her forehead.

Rae stormed into the bar, grabbing the first beer she saw (clearly caring less about whether it was light beer or not) and got a cup to go with it. Oh, he might want some limes… if he wants limes, I'll give him limes. She thought as she picked up a handful of limes and slammed them into Peter's beer cup. How dare he bring her here, Rae went on. She poured Claire's cup of water and set it on her tray, then thought about it for a second. Psh, they don't need a tray—no, they don't deserve a tray. They don't deserve ANYTHING. She angrily pulled the scrunchie out of her hair and shook her auburn tresses out. She walked over to the small mirror on the wall and looked at herself, analyzing her features a little too critically. Her eyes had lost any feeling they had in them when part of her family died. It made her come off as cold and insensitive. Her sister's death was devastating to her, seeing as they were super close and whatnot, but her father's death affected her most of all. She took out a tube of nude pink lip gloss and reapplied some onto her lips, running her hand through her smooth, wavy brunette locks.

Once satisfied with her appearance, she walked to the tray where the drinks were set. The beer was almost at room temperature already and the ice in the water was half-melted. She let out a deep sigh and replaced both the beer and the cup of water. What did he bring her here for? To remind me of what I lost? Rae quickly snapped out of it was she felt her eyes welling up with tears. She picked up the tray and made her way over to Peter and Claire's table once more.

Claire watched as Rae walked back over to their table with their drinks, clearly unaware of how much time had passed that she took to get just TWO drinks. She was distracted from her conversation with Peter.

Rae could hardly pass for 14. She piled on so much make up—no to the point of looking like a clown but just enough to pass for 18, maybe even over 20. She's tall enough to be in her 20s, Claire thought but then looked at her shoes. Oh, it's just the heels on her boots. Hey, those boots are really cute actually…

Peter had to let out a laugh at that one. Claire looked at him, quickly realizing why he was laughing. She slapped him playfully.

"You really need to stop doing that." Claire said as her cheeks started turning a pale shade of pink.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." He flashed her a smile and Claire sighed, knowing she couldn't resist.

"Just promise to stay out of my head, okay?"

"Fine," Peter promised as Rae finally reached their table. She slammed their drinks down and flashed an obvious faked smile. "Damn, Rae, you think I can get anymore limes?" he joked when he saw the beer cup filled practically to the brim with limes.

"Anything else I can get you?" she asked, ignoring Peter's previous remark.

Peter felt his stomach grumble and knew Claire heard by the smile growing on her face as she suppressed a giggle. She quickly regained her composure.

"Yah, Pete, I'm hungry too." She nodded with a smirk.

Rae desperately wanted to roll her eyes but had to be nice for her costumers.

"So the nachos you mentioned earlier are sounding pretty good right about now." Peter grinned.

Why must he smile like that? Rae thought, groaning inwardly at that trademark left-hooked smile. "Nachos, coming right up." She hurriedly walked back to the bar and into the back kitchen, leaning against the door and letting the aromas of all the food relax her. So chicken winks are sounding good right about now…She sighed and stole a freshly cooked wing, popping it into her mouth conveniently and chewing the meat off of the bone. She smiled in relief when she found newly prepared nachos all ready to go for her to just pick up and serve. She finished off her chicken wing, grabbed the first nachos basket she saw, and went back over to their table, propping the food down and rushing away to other customers before they could say anything else.

"Someone's in a hurry," Claire stated as she popped a cheesy nacho in her mouth, then realizing why Rae was in such a rush to get away from their table. She sighed to herself quietly, eating more nachos to cover it up.

"Duty calls." Peter smiled, digging into the food himself. "Anyway, why'd you make me promise not to invade your thoughts anymore? It's not like they were bad or anything."

Claire almost choked on the nacho in her mouth and downed half of her water in order to stop herself before she threw up or something. "It's an invasion of privacy," She merely stated as she reached for another nacho.

"Uh-huh…" Peter smirked, eyeing her suspiciously. 'Trust me, you don't even realize how controversial it would be if you were constantly reading my mind—especially around you…' Peter heard her think. He looked at her in confusion and shook his head, trying to make sense of what he just heard.

Munching on more nachos, Claire felt a pair of eyes burning holes into the back of her head. She whipped her head around to find Peter staring at her. "What? Am I stuffing my face too much or something? 'Cause I really don't understand why every girl and their frickin mom is so worried about their weight and you aren't really helping my theory by looking at me like I'm eating too much. I mean seriously, just eat in moderation. Diets suck. Exercise, you know? And build some inner-confi—" she stopped her rambling as she realized why he was looking at her so curiously. "Dammit, PETER." Claire cried, hitting his arm just a tad harder than how she hit him before. "You promised to stay out of my head!"

Peter looked at her laughing it off innocently. "I AM out of your head, Claire. I think you're beginning to get paranoid." He nodded.

"… I am not being paranoid," she shook her head as he flashed a small smile. "Fine," she rolled her eyes, irresistibly smiling back. "I believe you."

"There you go!" Peter chuckled, scratching his short haired head, still thinking about what she could possible mean by 'especially around you'.

Rae eyed her no longer emo haired friend and his blonde beauty. She couldn't blame him for hanging around her so much. Claire was beautiful after all. They were having so much fun over there. Damn them, she thought as she scribbled down the customer's orders: 1 cosmo, 1 peach bellini, and 1 margarita.

Rae smiled at the three ladies she was serving. "You orders will be out in a bit." She nodded, heading back to the bar.

Sighing heavily, Rae grabbed the glasses she needed for the three drinks and started off with the margarita. She rubbed a lime wedge around the rim and dipped it in salt. As she finished it up she started on the other two and soon found herself walking back to the women's table. She was getting the hang of this. Rae smiled to herself while she served the ladies their drinks.

"Anything else I can get you three lovely ladies?" She grinned when she saw them enjoying their drinks.

"No, I think we're fine." The one with the cosmo nodded. "These are amazing! We might need a couple more rounds." She joked, laughing softly.

"I'll be sure to check up on you ladies regularly then!" Rae joked back, slowly turning around. She walked back to the bar and grabbed a cup of water, chugging it down almost instantly.

"You're getting really good at this."

Rae turned around and found Tony, the real bartender, looking straight at her with a big approving smile on his face.

"Yeah, you better watch your back." She smirked.

"Now, now, Anna Rae Hutcherson!" he laughed. "Watch your head. I think it's getting so big you won't be able to fit through the door anymore."

Rae laughed. "I won't let it blow up that big, I swear."

Tony caught her attention straying elsewhere as the smile on her face quickly faded. He followed her gaze to Peter and Claire's table. "Who are they?"

"Oh, no one." Rae shook her head.

"You seem very jumpy for them to be no one, but hey, who am I to judge?" Tony went back to work as more people made their way over to the bar. Rae smiled as she watched him make people's drinks in record time. His theory was that people don't go to a bar for theatrics; they just want to get wasted. She found herself chuckling at that thought and looked back at Peter and Claire—so happy… why couldn't she be like them?

They probably need refills, she mumbled, grabbing the pitcher of water and another beer. She started walking over to their table, trying to keep herself from snapping. The next thing she knew the beer went flying and crashed onto the floor, breaking into a million pieces and the beer inside spilling everywhere, and the pitcher of water fell back onto her, drenching her clothes. She immediately started picking up, ignoring the sopping wet clothes she had on.

"Dammit, I'm sorry—I'm so clumsy. I really need to watch what I'm do—" she glanced up at the man she bumped into, eyes widening slightly by the minute.

"Nathan?!" Peter and Claire muttered at the same time under their breath.

"Mr. Petrelli…" Rae caught herself whispering softly, her eyes still on the also drenched politician.

"Hey Anna Rae, sorry I messed up your clothes." Nathan Petrelli apologized, smiling his famous "Vote for Petrelli!" smile, except this time, there looked to actually be meaning behind his smile.

A/N: Keep those reviews coming! You know how much I love them ;'D