Chapter 3. Please review! :)


The reporter from the New York Times sat down across from Nathan and Elle. "Thanks very much for inviting me Mr. Petrelli," he said. His eyes were glued to Elle as he sat down.

Nathan noticed his interest in Elle so he decided to start with that. "Mr. Tucker, this is my cousin Elle. She will be staying in my house for a few weeks, her parents are touring the Bahamas and she needed a place to stay."

"I see," Mr. Tucker responded, his eyes still on Elle. "How very generous of you."

Elle was devising a plan in her head and wasn't really paying much attention to the conversation.

"To tell you the truth, when I first saw her here I assumed you had a new girlfriend," Mr. Tucker confessed.

Elle laughed. "Ew no. He's just my favourite cousin. And he's definitely not into incest, not sure I can say the same about his brother though..."

Nathan choked on the coffee he was drinking. Mr. Tucker's eyes widened. "His brother? You mean Peter?"

Elle nodded, trying to hide the smirk she knew was on her face. "Yeah, Peter. I was staying with him last week and all he talked about was Claire. Claire this, Claire that. It got rather tiring, and kind of creepy."

"Claire is...?" Mr. Tucker asked. Nathan gave her a glare that Elle easily ignored.

"Nathan's illegitimate daughter." She replied.

Mr. Tucker and Nathan's mouths dropped open. "Wait, he has an illegitimate daughter?" Mr. Tucker asked, his gaze changing from Nathan to Elle and then back again.

"Oh yeah," Elle said. "One of Nathan's affairs from back before his politician days. Wait, you didn't tell the public about Claire?" Elle turned to Nathan with a shocked expression on her face.

If looks could kill, Elle would have dropped dead. "I only found out about Claire a year ago, and at the time I didn't think it was necessary to have that poor girl surrounded by media." Nathan gritted through his teeth.

"Yeah, I guess," Elle shrugged.

Mr. Tucker was still in shock. "So, Elle, what do you think about Mr. Petrelli's campaign?"

"Oh, it's great. Nathan's an amazing person, he just soars above the rest of his competitors. Just flies past the others."

Nathan's mouth dropped open again. He could not believe Elle would go as far as to hint at his ability.

Mr. Tucker nodded. "I see...anything else?"

Elle nodded. "Oh yeah. This is a whole new year, a whole new election. Nathan doesn't want people to remember his mistakes from the last campaign. You know, associating himself with Linderman, his one-night stand with the Las Vegas stripper. This is a whole new ball game." Elle couldn't help but crack a smile at the look of horror on Nathan's face.

"Elle. Hallway. Now." Nathan hissed.

Elle smiled at Mr. Tucker. "Excuse us," she said politely as she followed Nathan out into the hallway.

"What the hell!" Nathan whispered angrily. "I can't believe you! Who the hell do you think you are?"

"What? Did you forget?" Elle asked in mock confusion. "I'm the girl that had a crush on Sylar, remember?"

Nathan's eyes narrowed. "Wait, all of this is because of that?"

Elle folded her arms and nodded.

"Frig Elle, I was joking around with you! I was trying to catch you off guard."

"Oh you did," Elle said. "And now I caught you off guard. And that Mr. Tucker guy."

Nathan glared at Elle. "Upstairs, now."

Elle hesitated for a moment but then obeyed. She had done her work here.


An hour later, Nathan opened Elle's bedroom door and shut it behind him. "You are so lucky that I cleared things up with Mr. Tucker. You're also so lucky I keep my word. If hadn't told Peter I'd let you stay here until he got back, you'd be long gone."

Elle rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I feel lucky." She said sarcastically.

Nathan ignored her. "Listen, if we're going to be living in the same house for a couple weeks we need to get along. I won't go snooping around about your past and you won't be telling the press lies about me."

"I didn't lie," she corrected him. "I was telling the truth the whole time. Except for the Peter and Claire thing. But he does talk about her a lot."

"Fine then, don't go telling the press things they don't need to know. Ok?"

Elle sighed. "Fine, whatever."

Nathan nodded. "Good. I think this will work out fine."

"Yeah right", Elle thought.


Chapter 4 will be up tomorrow or Friday. Please review! :)