Chapter 2

"Claire?!" Comes Peter's shocked gasp as he takes in the petite blonde before him. He watches as she slowly turns around and his heart breaks as he sees the look of desperation in her eyes. Peter doesn't even think as he pulls her into his arms, holding her trembling body tightly to his. It only takes a moment for Claire's barely contained anguish to come rushing out and she begins to sob against his chest, as her body goes limp, her bag dropping to the ground beside them as they begin to slip to the ground in front of Peter's apartment. Peter runs his hands along Claire's back, trying to soothe her as he gathers her small form into his arms and rocks her back and forth, not thinking about what it means, just that he wants to comfort the anguished girl in front of him.

Neither have any idea how much time has passed before Claire's sobs turn into small sniffles and hiccups. She slowly pulls back from Peter's chest and her eyes widen as she realizes that she's been in the lap of a half-naked man. Peter follows her eyes and blushes as he realizes that he didn't bother putting a shirt on when he ran to answer the door.

"Um, yea, how about we go inside?" He asks hesitantly as Claire backs out of his arms. She nods quickly, embarrassed that she just broke down in his arms without any warning. Peter helps her to her feet, grabs her bag, and places his hand on the small of her back to lead her into the apartment, closing the door behind them. He leads her over to the couch and lightly pushes her into a sitting position, dropping the bag on the floor next to her, with a murmured statement about grabbing a shirt.

Peter grabs the first thing he can find and pulls the T-shirt over his head before returning to his living room where he finds Claire sitting in the same position he left her staring blankly into the space in front of her.

"When was the last time you ate or slept?" He asked coming to stand in front of her taking in the dark circles under her eyes and her prominent collarbone.

"Umm, I don't really know." She responded in a whisper. "I've been on a bus for the last few days, and it's all kind of a blur."

"Well, then I guess I know what the first thing we're going to do is." He says grabbing her hand and pulling her up from the couch, leading her into the kitchen. Claire quietly follows, letting Peter take charge, glad to let someone else make the decisions. She's embarrassed by how quickly all of her strength and resolve that had kept her going the last few days fled the moment she was in Peter's arms.

He sits her down in a chair at the kitchen table and walks over to the refrigerator, searching for something quick and easy to make to get some food into Claire's system. He settles on bread and butter, regretting not keeping the refrigerator better stocked. He takes a glass out of the cabinet, fills it with ice and water and brings it and the plate over the Claire. She raises her brow slightly at the small offering and he shrugs in reply.

"So I'm the stereotypical bachelor. I don't have any food. I'll go out tomorrow, plus you shouldn't eat too much anyway if it's been as long as I think it has since the last time you ate."

Claire smiled at him in thanks as she took a small bite of the bread and closed her eyes in pleasure. Peter waits as Claire finishes the bread, silently going over the questions that his has for the girl that he hasn't seen in a year and who suddenly show's up at his door.

Claire finishes her snack and leans back in her seat looking at Peter expectantly knowing that he has tons of questions. Peter stares back at her and says the first thing that had popped into his mind when he saw her at his door.

"Why me? Why now?"

Claire gives him a slight smile at the abrupt question understanding his shock.

"I told you that you're my hero. And I really needed a hero right now, so this was the first and only place I could think to go. To you."

"What happened, what made you finally leave?" Peter asks leaning forward in his chair, elbow's resting on the table, and his bangs falling into his eyes.

"My dad. Right after you saved me, I found out that he wasn't who I thought he was. He doesn't work for a paper factory. He hunts people like us down and he studies them. He has people, who have powers like us working for him. One of them, a Haitian was sent to take away my memories. He had already taken my brother's and my best friend's memories away, and now it was my turn. I'm sure my dad thought he was protecting me, but he took away the only friend I had, the only person I could trust." She stops and takes a deep breath. "Sometimes I wish he had taken them away. I still don't understand why he didn't. It would've been easier if I was just able to forget, forget what I can do, forget that he has taken away my friends and family. It was so hard to pretend that everything was okay, that I was a normal girl with no worries, a girl whose daddy didn't kidnap and kill people and take away their memories. I managed to do it though. I really did. I didn't cringe when he hugged me, I didn't go looking for my birth parents because I wasn't supposed to remember that I wanted to find them, but the one thing I couldn't do was stay away from Zach. I told him my secret again; I showed him what I could do, just so I could have my confidant back. I should have never done that. I guess my father thought it was weird that Zach and I were friends again, I don't know if he had people watching us or what, but a few days ago the Haitian came back, he told me that he had already taken Zach's memories again and that he was ordered to take mine. That's when I knew that no matter what I did I was living in a prison, so I left. I found your address and I came right here."

"Claire that's horrible." Peter says softly when she finishes.

"I'm so sorry that I just showed up here, that I woke you up, that I didn't even call, but I didn't know what else to do, I had nowhere else to go, you're the only person that I know that's like me and I just hoped that you could help me." She babbles and would keep going but Peter quickly interrupts her.

"Don't be sorry Claire! I'm sorry that I didn't know; that I never checked up to see how you were doing. Maybe we could've figured out someway to help you."

"Nothing could've helped me. Even if you came to see me or contacted me I had to pretend I didn't know you, and if I didn't pretend then he would know I remembered and this just would've happened sooner." She laughs harshly when she thinks back to the last year. "The only good thing about waiting this long is that I've graduated and I'm almost 18."

Peter shakes his head at Claire's never-ending optimism in the face of everything that has happened to her. He looks at the clock just behind Claire and cringes realizing that a night of sleep has been lost. He stands up from the table and stretches the strained muscles.

"I'll be back in a minute." He tells Claire walking from the room.

Peter walks into his bedroom and pulls the sheets from his bed. He puts them in a pile on the floor while he goes into the closet and takes out a fresh set. He makes up the bed with the new sheets, picks up the ones from the floor and heads back out to the living room. He starts to make up the couch into a suitable bed, when he hears Claire clearing her throat from behind him.

"Are you sure you're okay with me staying here, I mean I just showed up in the middle of the night, no warning, what I mean to say is that I don't want to put you out."

"You're not putting me out." He replies, finishing with the couch. He picks up her duffel and asks her to follow him as he leads them to her room. He puts her bag on the edge of the bed.

"The bathroom is just through that door on the left and tomorrow I can reorganize some things to make room."

"Peter you don't have to do this. I can sleep on the couch. I'm smaller anyway it'll be more comfortable for me to sleep there than you."

"Don't worry about it. I'm usually wandering around at night anyway and end up on the couch at some point, that way I don't need to worry about waking you. Plus I need to organize my stuff anyway there's more than enough room for your stuff. Is that all you have?" He asks pointing at her duffel.

"I wanted to travel light and this was the easiest thing."

Peter nods in understanding already making plans for a shopping trip to pick up the things Claire will need. He leans past her and grabs one of the pillows off the bed to bring with him and smiles at Claire.

"Get some rest. You're safe now."