Hi Guys! First off I am so sorry for being absent for almost 9 months! Turns out the second year of uni can get quite busy and I spent all summer trying, unsuccessfully, to get out of my overdraft. But here it is my next update. It's short, I know, but I am already working on the next one and I'm hoping to get it up asap for you. I also have the next 4/5 chapters planned out so it should, in theory, take a lot less time for me to update :) Anyway, enough rabbling, on with the story and don't forget to review if you like it!

Disclaimer: As always I do not own Claire, Noah or any other Heroes character, as much as I wish I did!

Chapter 8 – Girlfriends and Happy Memories

The girls climbed into Claire's car and pulled out of the driveway. Claire knew roughly where they were going so Max didn't need to give her any directions until they were closer. They sat in silence for a few minutes. Now that they were alone again Claire started to think back on the events of the previous night. She smiled as she remembered how it felt to have Max lying in her arms. She glanced at Max who was gazing out the window at nothing in particular. Turning back to watch the road Claire gave Max more time to her own thoughts.

After another few minutes Max turned to face Claire.

"Last night… did that mean anything to you?" Claire glanced at her before turning back to the road.

"What do you mean?" she replied.

"Well… did you do it because you like me or because you felt sorry for me after what happened?" Max started to stare at her shoes as she spoke. When Claire didn't respond for a minute she looked up, nervously eyeing the blonde girl beside her. Claire's brow was furrowed telling Max that she was thinking carefully about what to say. It did nothing for Max's nerves.

Another minute passed before Claire finally responded. "I really like you Max. I don't know what it is but something drew me towards you that first day, something that made it impossible to just walk away from you. The things that happened between us didn't happen because I felt sorry for you; they happened because of that something about you that draws me in." Claire glanced at Max again and placed a hand on her leg. "And I certainly wouldn't be against it happening again, if you wanted it to." She looked at Max as she felt her hand entwining with hers and the smile on her face was answer enough.

"Turn left here, the warehouse is just at the end of the road." Max said pulling Claire's attention back to the road. Although she had been paying attention to the general direction that they were travelling in she hadn't realised how close they were until Max pointed it out.

They pulled up by one of the doors that led into the warehouse and got out of the car. As Max closed the car door she said in a light-hearted voice, "I guess this makes you my girlfriend," before walking to the door and opening it. Claire watched as Max walked into the warehouse, "yeah. I guess this does," she said giving a small smile as she followed Max.

The warehouse was huge and mostly empty, but Claire could see the scorch marks on the concrete floor from where Max had unintentionally created a wall of fire to stop the men who had shot her father from getting to her. She turned away from the marks and walked over to the small area where Max kept her things.

There was a small worn sofa with a wooden crate next to it. On the crate was a photo frame. It didn't take much for Claire to figure out that the handsome man stood next to Max in the picture was her father. They both looked so happy together in the picture. 'You'll be happy like that again, one day, I'll make sure of it!' she thought as she turned to look at what Max was doing.

Max picked up an old rucksack and dumped it on the sofa before carefully picking up the photo frame, wrapping it in a t-shirt and placing it in the bag with a few other items of clothes she had in there. The she knelt down and lifted up the fabric of the sofa which hung down to the floor, covering the gap between the sofa and the floor. She pulled out the battered guitar case that Claire had seen her with before, her dad's guitar. The smile on Max's face was one of grim satisfaction. "I was never able to leave this at home. Couldn't risk it getting damaged or destroyed." When she stood and turned to face Claire her eyes were tear bright. "He would have liked you, you know, my dad. Strong, smart and caring… yeah he would've liked you." Claire stepped forward, closing the small gap between them and pulled Max into her arms.

They stood there, holding each other, for what felt like forever before Claire pulled back slightly so that she could wipe the tears form Max's cheeks.

"You sure he would've liked me even if I was dating his daughter?" she gave a small smile, which widened when she got one in response. Max nodded, "yeah. He knew about me being into girls before I'd even fully realised it. He told me all that mattered was that I loved them, they loved me and we looked after each other." She looked Claire in the eyes, "so yeah, he really would've liked you."

The next thing Claire knew Max's lips were brushing against hers. She pulled her closer and let her mouth melt against hers. When they finally broke for air, Claire picked up the rucksack and put it over her shoulder. "Come on, let's get home so we can sort everything out and relax for the rest of the afternoon."

"Ok." Max replied with a twinkle in her eye as she picked up the guitar case and took Claire's hand. As they walked back to the car Claire wondered if there would be anything relaxing about the afternoon and realised that as long as her afternoon involved spending time with her new girlfriend, she didn't care.